Merry Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas. My sister had her baby on Christmas Eve at 1:13 pm. His name is Talin Justice Smothers. He weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz and was 19.5 inches long. He is so cute!! Jenny is doing well too. She is really sore from her cesarean section. The boys got new bikes. They are so funny to watch. Logan looks so big on his big boy bike. I would love to post new pictures but my camera broke. Matt and I are now in the middle of cleaning the house and putting up new blinds. Well I have to go. Logan needs help going potty. I'll post more later.

It's Christmas time!!

This weekend it hit me. We are so close to Christmas. It's next week. It's crazy how time flies by!! This weekend we went to my Grandfather's Christmas party. He is so cute. He seemed so happy to have everyone come to his party. However, I have to give a lot of the credit to my Aunt Kathy because she is really the person who put it all together. It was lovely and the food was great!!! Today we went to my Grandmother's house in Winter Haven. We always get all of my mom's side of the family together the Saturday before Christmas to celebrate Christmas. We eat and eat, then open gifts, then eat some more. The kids were so good. They had such a wonderful time. They played outside and rode their bikes all afternoon. It was a beautiful day!! On our way home we went to my Uncle Gary's house to see it. He just moved there and his house is gorgeous!! I am really happy for him.

Tomorrow Noah is going to be an angel in the church Christmas program. I will post pictures if I can later. He is so excited about it.

On a different note, tomorrow is exactly one year ago that Matt had his biopsy of his chest and was diagnosed with cancer. We didn't know what kind of cancer it was or how severe it was, we just knew it was bad. But God brought him through it and now he can stand here and say that he is CANCER FREE!!! He has been clear for four months now and doing EXCELLENT!!! I am so incredibly thankful to God for giving me a second chance with my husband and for providing for us in our time of need. I thank all of you for your love, support, and friendship this past year. No words could express how grateful we truly are for each of you!!! Merry Christmas!

Long time no post...

Well where do I start. The weekend before Thanksgiving we went camping with the boys for the very first time. We went to Kelly Park which is right down the street. Thank goodness we chose to go there because we went with Richie and Rachel Grubb and the first night Friday night the temperature got down to 38 degrees and Rachel and I (being the wise people that we are) took the boys home and took nice hot showers and slept in our nice warm beds. We went back to the campsite the next morning and ate breakfast and hung out all day. While the boys were napping, Rachel, Matt, and Richie went and bought space heaters for the tents. We actually slept out there the next night with the heaters, 4 blankets, and our body heat. It was 44 degrees. Yeah, it was cold. I worked on Thanksgiving. It was my only holiday to work this year. Matt and the kids went to my parents. Friday after Thanksgiving I went shopping with my cousin Angela. We had a great time. Matt went shopping on his own. Saturday we went to Seaworld with the Akers. The boys had a ball!!! They are still talking about that experience!! This weekend, Matt took the kids to his parents to visit them. I helped set up my sisters baby room for her. She is getting really close to having her baby. I am sooooo excited!!! Yesterday Matt and I went to Dolly and Jason's house and painted 2 rooms, washed all of the baby bedding, and painted a book shelf. We were trying to help them get their house ready for their new baby. Anyways, I am at work and I have to go now. I will write sooner next time.

Jenny's shower...

Jenny had her shower yesterday and she was totally blessed. She received so many things that she needed it was awesome! Everything turned out beautiful!!! She was so pleased with the way everything looked and ran so smoothly. I was exhausted by the end of the day. After everyone left I helped Scott get their crib down from my parents attic and some other baby items. On Tuesday I am going to help her get everything together and try to look for a dresser for the baby. She needs a tall thin dresser or an armoir. Their house has no storage and space so organization is a MUST!! Reece is so excited about his little brother!! He loves to feel on Jenny's belly and talk to him. Yes he finally has a name but no I am not going to tell anyone. It feels good to be able to call him by name and bond with him more. I can't wait to meet him. Matt had our boys all day yesterday. They hung out at home and played outside all day. They went on a long neighborhood walk and found leaves, acorns, and saw all kinds of animals. My kids thought they were on a nature hunt. It was cute to hear them talk about their day when I got home. Anyways, to sum up, the shower went wonderful and Jenny felt honored, so the goal was accomplished and I was very pleased.

Preshower update...

The cake finally got ordered. I ran to 3 Michael's stores and 2 Joanne fabric stores only to realize that the cake topper that I was looking for was no longer in existence. So I bought ribbon and made my own. Actually my mom made it for me but none the less, it is now done and the cake will be ready by 9am tomorrow. The flowers are done and at my moms house. Her house is already decorated. The food is bought and ready. The gifts are wrapped, and the games are prepared. I finally feel like I have a handle on the situation. Tomorrow I just need to go to the grocery store and pick up the cake and the few last minute items and finish setting out the food. AHHHH, that is the sound of relief for the moment. Matt has the boys today. I am on my own so that I could finish everything. Yes, my house sounds quite and yes I am thoroughly enjoying it!!! I will blog again tomorrow and post pictures of the shower.

Upcoming baby shower...

Well as you know, my little sister is going to have a baby and yes he still has no name. I know... it is very frustrating to me too to keep calling him "boy" when I talk to him or about him, but what can I do? Anyways, my mom and I are giving her a baby shower this Saturday. I am really excited about it because with Reece, she wasn't exactly excited about the timing of her pregnancy and so with this one, she can really enjoy all of the things that you "do" when you are pregnant. Anyways, back to my story. So today I went to Publix to order her cake (yes I know I should have done it sooner, but life happened and I didn't.)and the lady there told me I was confusing and complicated and she couldn't help me. She told me to come back tomorrow and talk to the actual cake decorator and see if they could do what I wanted. She said they might be able to do it in time. AHHHH!!!!! The stress!!! So first thing in the morning I am marching my behind back down to Publix to talk with a decorator to see if it is possible. I even have a drawing of what I want. If not, I need to put plan B into action and find a cake decorator that will do it for me. Otherwise, I am up a creek. Yikes!!! I know it will all work out. Then I was on the phone tryng to get a hold of a person about the food for 45 minutes when I finally gave up and realized that today was one of those days that I was going to accomplish nothing, and I needed to be ok with that and enjoy my kids. The next 2 days they will be with our babysitter and I can completely focus on her shower. I did however get to put together her stroller for her that her volleyball team bought for her. That was so kind of them. Anyways, I will keep you posted on the shower drama. Jenny has another doctors appointment tomorrow. I will let you know how that goes.

Long time no blog...

Well as you can see I am a horrible blogger now that life is back to it's normal crazy routine. Matt is obviously back in town. One of these days I will have him do a blog to tell you about his trip. And one of these days I will take pictures of my kids and post them. Today I went with my sister to her ultrasound appointment. She is 31 weeks and 3 days pregnant. They are still having a boy. There is no denying that he is a "he". The baby looks like Jenny as a baby where as Reece looked like Scott from the beginning especially with the lips. You are probably asking yourself how can you tell from black and white photos? Well some were black and white and some were the 4D color photos. He has chubby cheeks too. It's crazy to think that something so precious and so wonderful would be in a woman's body and yet so many women disregard the precious gift of life that God has given them. I love watching or hearing his heart beat. I love watching or feeling him move. It is truly a miracle. But yet people don't view it as that. It really saddens me especially because there are people who would love and treasure those children but those children won't ever get that chance. Ok, I need to stop talking about this subject because it is making me really sad adn emotional. Anyways, it was a really cool experience to be with my sister and get to experience her pregnancy with her. Maybe one day we will get to do it to. I am now on facebook so if you want to contact me there that is a fast and easy way.

Matt trip...

I know I said I would email you sooner however, it is just now I have information to email you. remember I said in my previous blog that sometimes communication can be a bit challenging. So here goes. On Sunday the guys were at green camp all day and had several services at the church and I think maybe some in other places in other places too, I am not so sure. Again, I will be able to give lots of details when Matt gets home and can give them to me. They spent that night there and Monday morning they drove back to the city. I am not sure what they did during the day but I do know that they met with the pastor of the biggest church in Guayaquil call Centro Evangelico. I am sure I spelled it totally wrong. But anyways Matt gave his testimony about his cancer and what he has learned from it and how God has prepared us and provided for us throughout all of it. So after that meeting the guys went back to the Embassy to eat their dinner and the plan was to eat and go to the Heart of Titus meeting. In the middle of their dinner they got a call and it was Pastor Lore (the senior pastor of the big church) asking Matt and Tony to come preach at the church that night. That is a HUGE honor down there. You don't just get to go preach at that church. Anyways, 21 people got saved that we know of. God is so awesome!!! Today they went to the market place. Matt said they had a really good time. Tony left today to come back home. Matt, Scott, and my dad will return Thursday night. HALLELUJAH!!!!!! If I hear any more news I will keep you updated.

Please keep praying for my precious kids. They are still very sick. It is quite pitiful actually. One of these days I will post new pictures.

Matt mission trip...

Yesterday Matt left for a week long trip to Ecuador on a mission trip. He went down there with my dad and my brother in law Scott. They met up with a man named Tony Nardella and they have a crazy agenda this week. They got in Guayaquil, Ecuador around 1030pm. They are staying at the Christian Embassy in Guayaquil. Scott and Matt are sharing a room. My dad and Tony have their own room. Maggie is the live in house keeper and cook. She made them a huge breakfast this morning and then they went off to Green camp. Green camp is about 4 hours away from the city and the people are very poor and very needy. They live in huts with dirt floors or on the streets. They have one church in the middle of the village. A team of Ecuadorian men and woman make this journey weekly to provide for the needs of these people and share the gospel with them. When the guys get there with the team, they are going to help provide the people with a meal. Matt and Scott are going to preach on the streets, and my dad and Tony are going to hold a church service in the church and meet with the local pastors. At least I think that is the plan. Their days are very long there. They start at anywhere between 8-9am and finish anywhere between 12-2am. There are no naps. The meal schedule is off. Snack bars become your best friend. I will keep you updated as he keeps me updated. If he is in a place with email then he will email. My dad bought a phone from Ecuador with prepaid minutes on it so if they are in a place with reception, they can call us. All that is to say, I will keep you updated.

On a different note, both of my boys are sick:( It started out with just Logan. I actually had to call into work Thursday and Friday because he was up all night with fevers and breathing trouble. I had to give him breathing treatments all throughout the night. Poor baby. I thought it was just allergies and the fact that he was getting his 2 year old molars in until Noah started today getting a raspy voice. I will have to keep an eye on it. I don't want to have sick boys. It has been hard especially with Matt being gone. I hope Noah doesn't follow Logan's path because I don't want to call into work this week however, my kids come first. With Matt being gone, I have no other choice. I will just have to pray against that!! Anyways, I need to go put my big boys to bed now. I will write tomorrow after I hear from Matt.

This week has been a really good week. Noah is well adjusted to his new preschool. He is making new friends. It is really adorable to hear him talk about "big boy" things. Logan is getting used to Noah being gone during the day. He enjoys his time with us individually. His personality is really starting to bloom. Noah and Matt went on a guy date this week to the movies. They had a great time. Noah felt so big and special. They went to the dollar theater to see Hollywood Chiwawa. I probably spelled that wrong. Sorry. They went all out and bought popcorn and a drink together. Logan and I hung out at my mom's house. My grandmother is in town this week and it is so nice to see her. She is a really special lady!! She has endured many things in her life and through all of the hardships she has glorified God in it all. I want to be like her when I grow up. I am definitely still a work in progress. We have our young marrieds group from church coming over tonight. I made brownies so we can have brownie sundae's. It is going to be the first time that any of our friends have seen our new house. On that note. I need to go get ready for everyone to come over. I will try to write sooner that I did this week. I am working Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday so no blogging then. Sorry.

We're all moved in...

That's right... we finally moved back into our house. All of our floors, baseboards, painting, and carpets are done. We have a new air conditioning unit inside and out. All of our clothes, dishes, and china are all clean. All of our bedding and furniture are clean. It is like a completely new house. I love it!!! Matt has been working so hard to get our house back in order. I am so grateful to have him. He is truly a wonderful husband!!

Well I guess I will catch you up on our life since I have not blogged in a while. Matt is still working on light duty at the fire department. He installs GPS monitors on all of the fire hydrants in the county. After work he has been diligently working on our home. Noah has entered his 3rd week of preschool. This week the letter that they are focusing on is the letter "B". They are also working on their shapes and numbers. Logan has enjoyed his one on one time with whomever is keeping him while Noah is in school. He is such a big boy. He is really talking well and trying to do "school" with Noah. I have been doing the same things as always. Working up a storm, taking care of my precious men, and trying to put our house back together. With that being said, I really want to thank my parents for allowing us... all of us, including Riley stay at their house for the last 3 1/2 weeks. You guys truly have blessed us and we will miss being at your house and enjoying your company. I love you so very much!!!!!

Update on baby Maggie... she was put in a step down unit of NICU. She is breathing on her own and eating breast milk. She had to go back on Morphine because she was having withdraws. Please continue to pray for her and her family. She will be 4 weeks old on Wednesday.

Thanks again for sharing our life with us. We truly appreciate your friendship!!

Pictures of boys...

Noah turned 4...

That's right. I have a four year old. His birthday was Saturday the 27th and we had a spiderman birthday party for him. He had a blast!! He has gotten so big. We had a swimming party at my parents house and we had a spiderman pinata. You should have seen all of the kids with that. It was so cute! More pictures to come.

Our house is finally having some progress made on it. We had our wood floors installed this weekend. Our new air conditioning unit is finally in. Tomorrow we are installing our baseboards. On Thursday the mold guys are coming out to bomb the house with their mold cleaner. Friday we are getting all of our upstairs, the stairwell, as well as the furniture cleaned. Then at the beginning of next week we will finish painting. When all that is completed, I will have a house cleaner in to do a serious deep cleaning on my house before we move back in. So as you can see, there is a plan for progress to be made.

Maggie is having ups and downs. She has not been able to eat yet. Her bowel is not working right. She has been going through withdraws from Phentanyl. However, she has been held by her parents and grandparents. Please keep praying for her continued healing as well as strength for her parents.

As far as our fertility goes... it is a waiting game to see what will happen. We were told to be patient. Patience is not something I am very good at, however, I know that God has a plan and we are not done having children... which ever way that is going to happen. So for now, we are waiting on God to perform a miracle and to give us peace about the issue.

Well that's the scoop on us. Thank you for being a part of our life and for praying for us in all of our different journeys.

Baby Maggie update...

Today was a great day for my friend's baby Margaret (Maggie). She is now off of all of her blood pressure medications as well as her nitrous oxide. She is only on 30% oxygen on the ventilator and she is taking breast milk through a feeding tube now. She no longer has pulmonary hypertension or pneumonia. Today was a huge breakthrough. Praise God for all of the healing that He is allowing to take place in her little body!!! Please continue to pray for her and her family. I know they could all use it.

Overdue update...

We are doing well. Still no progress on the house. None at all. I am a little bit discouraged about that. However, it has been really nice to be able to stay at my parents house. They have been so wonderful to us!!! I don't know what I would do without them! They are a true gift from God. Noah started his first day of preschool today. Yes, I did get a little bit teary eyed watching him walk in to the classroom and become a truly "big boy". He was so excited about going to school. Logan kept asking what Noah was doing and when he would be back. He did good though. He went with my sister and I shopping and had a special day of his own. He is really turning into such a big boy as well. He is so funny!! He says and does the cutest things. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with him today. Matt is going to go to Ecuador on a mission trip at the end of October with my dad and my brother-in-law Scott. He is really looking forward to seeing everyone down there. They just finalized all of the dates and flight information. On a different note, Matt and I have had a very emotional week. As I stated in one of my previous blogs, we decided to start our fertility treatments again. As it turns out, the chemotherapy has affected Matt and his fertility. We originally went for help because I have problems. We are just trusting God to give us the desires of our heart because we know that we are not supposed to be done having children. Please pray that we will have clarity for the situation as far as what we should do and that we would have peace throughout the process. We have a doctors appointment on Friday to help give us options as far as what we are up against. Please continue to pray for baby Margaret Elizabeth Panzella. She is still in the NICU on a ventilator. She has definitely had her ups and down. Please pray for her family as well. It is very difficult being on a constant emotional roller coaster. Thank you for all of your support!

Not a lot has gone on since I have last posted. We are still living at my parents house and will probably be here for at least 3 more weeks. Everyone is doing well. We are finally starting to feel a little bit better. I kind of had an emotional day. My friend Carrie and her husband John delivered their first baby and things did not turn out so well for them. Carrie is healthy and fine, however, their little girl is not. She had very thick meconium (baby poop) inhaled into her lungs at birth. She is having a really hard time breathing and keeping her oxygen in her blood. She is on a ventilator and is in a lot of need of our prayers. She has improved a little bit since this morning, but she needs to continue to get better. So you ask... why am I blogging about my friends personal business. The answer is because they are desperate for God to do his work in their baby's life and they need everyone to pray for her. So I know that God has a plan for this little girl's life and this is going to be a testimony of his goodness and faithfulness. We all just need to be faithful and do our part and pray as well.

Here's the scoop...

Well we have moved out of our house as of today for who knows how long. There is so much mold I don't know where to begin telling you the story. Basically, we had our house flooded because our windows leaked and our air conditioning unit leaked. We need to replace our entire air conditioning unit. We have torn up all of the carpet down stairs and the tile as well as all of the base boards. We are not going to put in our wood floors obviously until we get this problem solved. As far as the upstairs is concerned, we need to tear up all of the carpet on the stairs. We have to move all of our clothes, bedding, mattresses, etc. out of our house. Yeah, very overwhelming!!! So, sorry I have not blogged in a while. Been very busy with a sick family and a crazy house situation. But the reality is... we have already been through the worst. You know, not even 6 months ago, I didn't know if my husband was going to live. So my house is not cancer, surgery, or anything serious like that. It is all material stuff. The important thing is that we found out our problem and my family is safe.

On a lighter note, my kids are growing up so fast!! Noah has his 4 year old birthday in about 2 weeks and he is going to start preschool. He is totally in love with anything spiderman. He is so smart and witty. He says the funniest things. Logan is 2.5 years old. He is talking up a storm. Sometimes I think he talks just to hear himself. He is our "Mr. Me too". Everything that Noah does and says, he wants to do or repeat. He is our comedy relief. They are both truly precious gifts from God! Matt is doing well. He still has his cough from the mold, but he went to the doctor and got some different medication. His PET scan results came back with a clean bill of health. PRAISE GOD!!! He is so precious to me! He is such a wonderful husband. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful man!!! We started our infertility treatments again. Hopefully we will be blessed with another child soon. I am working a lot at the hospital and continue to try to be there for my kids so I don't miss an ounce of their life. Tricky I know. All in all, we are very blessed and very loved and I thank all of you for being a part of our lives.

Crazy week...

Well, this has been a very interesting week. Our whole family has been sick. It has been tons of fun! Matt stayed home from work Wednesday and Thursday. The boys were sick Sunday-Tuesday. Now it is my turn. I think the mold is starting to get to us. We are much better when we are not home. The mold guy is supposed to come out tomorrow at 10am to inspect our house. Praise God!!! We finally heard back from the insurance adjuster and he said that we are getting enough money to cover the floors. They are not going to cover any damage to furniture, however, the claim is good for 5years so if we notice anything, we can call it in and they will send someone out to reimburse us. This is the fun part of owning our own home. We did however finally decide on what floors we wanted. I am glad that is done! On a different note, the boys are loving their bunk beds. They both are sleeping through the night, staying in their beds, and being obedient at night. I don't know why we didn't put them together sooner. They are so cute!! They actually get excited about going in their rooms to go to bed. I know that will probably wear off soon, but for now, it is AWESOME!!!!! Matt had his PET scan today. That detects any cancer in his body. We will hopefully know the results of that test this time next week. I am not anticipating them to find anything. The doctor said he will get scans every 3 months. After one year of being clear, they will call him in remission. After three years of being clear, they will call him cured. I can't wait for that day to come!! Anyways, thank you for all of your prayers. No words could ever express how much they have meant to us!!!

We have bunk beds...

This week we moved Logan into Noah's room and they are doing really well with it. Our friends John, Carmen, and Kendrish Aker's came over and helped carry the bed up stairs and put it together for the boys. The kids were so excited. All of Logan's clothes are all moved in and everything! We have only had a few incidences where they have been wild monkey's, but overall they understand the rules of the bed and know that it is a privilege. Yesterday the kids started to get a croupy sounding cough. I am hoping that it is nothing major. It is hard to tell if it is because they have been staying in the house or if they are starting to get sick. When I give them cold/cough/allergy medicine though it takes care of the problem right away. Who knows! We have been shopping for flooring everyday trying to find what we like for a reasonable price. It is very difficult. Hopefully we will hear from our insurance adjuster tomorrow. We are also waiting to hear from a mold and moisture guy. Tomorrow I have jury duty. Fun stuff!! Matt is making me crazy!!!! I am sitting here blogging and he comes into the office where I am and starts to move very heavy furniture. Finally after a few scolding words by me and he telling me that he feels fine and to call his surgeon to tell me that he is fine, he finally gives in and lets me help him. What am I going to do with him? Just continue to love him with all of my heart I guess! Lt. Willis, if you read this... you have my full blessing to kick Matt's butt in his workout this week. If he feels he can move furniture, than I am sure you can come up with some routine to make him burn a few muscles!!! P.S. Time for dinner again! On that note, I think I need to go supervise my wonderful husband!!

Update on house...

So this thing with the flooring in our house is a bigger deal than I originally thought. I worked Wednesday and Thursday this week, so Friday Matt and I went floor shopping. There is so much to think about. We have been doing our research so we have an idea what we want and don't want. However, it is still very overwhelming. We finally had the insurance man out Friday afternoon. We do not have our estimate back yet. He has to send someone out who can detect mold and moisture in the house. I am not sure when we will know what we are eligible for as far as how much insurance is going to cover. All I know is that we need floors in our down stairs and we need them in this week. The kids can't be down stairs because it is concrete, dirty, there are still questionable mold areas, etc. As a result, the kids have been barricaded upstairs when they are home and they are not happy about it. I have been trying to keep them out of the house as much as possible though. I do have good news. Matt bought the boys bunk beds today. He found them off of Craig's list and they are awesome. We figured that since the boys end up in each others rooms every night anyways, we might as well move them into Noah's room together permanently. We need to buy a full size mattress for the bottom bunk and the bedding for it first before they can sleep in it. The kids are so excited!! Matt took our 2 boys along with his friend Steve and his 2 kids and their friend Chris to see a movie at the dollar theater. I know he is very brave. I don't know that I would take 4 kids to the movies at dinner time. I am looking forward to hearing how it went when they get home. Well I guess I should go try to get some cleaning done in my house.

Vacation picutues continued...

Vacation pictures

We're home!!

We are home and our vacation was wonderful!! It ended too soon of coarse! Sorry I did not blog more while on vacation. We could not get our wireless Internet connection to work in our condo. We had to walk to a different building to get the connection. Which by the time we got the kids fed, bathed and in bed and the kitchen cleaned, it was far too late to be walking somewhere to blog. So I will tell you all about our time now.

The kids had a fantastic time playing in the sand, burying each other, making sandcastles, and playing in the ocean. The adults had a great time watching them. They are our free entertainment! They say and do the funniest things! The 3 boys act more like brothers than cousins. It will be interesting to see how the dynamics change next year with the new baby around because let me tell you... all of them took turns being the boss. We had superhero's galore going on at the beach this year!! They were all really well behaved though. Reece had to go to the hospital on Saturday night because he was running a high fever. (103.3 degrees with the ear thermometer to be exact) Turns out he had swimmers ear. Poor guy :( He wasn't allowed to swim underwater for the rest of the week. He was a trouper though.

When we got home tonight we were greeted with a rather strong funk!! It kind of smelled like...let's see, how do I put this nicely? Rotten eggs, dog farts, beer belches, and mold all combined. Lovely huh!?! Yeah that's what I thought! My wonderful husband whom loves me so much decided that he would go ahead and rip up all of our carpet in the living room and take that funky stuff out to the curb before any of us started to have side effects that would not be so lovely to watch or experience. I didn't even have to ask him to do it. He just did it. He's so awesome!!! The insurance man is not going to come out until Friday afternoon. Note... the episode happened on Thursday evening. That goes to show you how many people were affected by the tropical storm. Please continue to pray for the people who have had a much more difficult time than us. We are fortunate, that is what we need to remember. I am very grateful for God's provision's in our life. We are blessed!

Beach day 1

Ok so we FINALLY made it to our vacation!! We left yesterday afternoon and came to the beach and got settled at our beach condo at New Symerna Beach. It is beautiful here. It definitely took our mind off of our house. Yes our house is still flooded down stairs. The entire living room and part of the dining room. However, it did not go into the office, bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room. It could have been much worse. We will think about what we are going to do after vacation. For now, we are thoroughly enjoying our family time and building memories together. Today it was bright and sunny. Really bright actually. The sun was glistening off of the sand beautifully. The waves were really rough though because of the left over storm. The kids had a ball digging in the dirt and finding sea shells. My dad and Scott (my sister's husband) flew a kite together because it was really windy. The boys thought that was really neat! My sister's belly is growing. She looks so cute in her bathing suit and "the boy" as Reece calls him, just hanging out in the sun. Around 1pm we came in and ate lunch and took great long naps. Everyone fell asleep. Reece woke up with a 103.3 degree fever. He has an ear infection again so Jenny and Scott had to take him to an emergency room to get antibiotics because no doctor's offices or walk-in clinics were open. Pray that he will recover quickly so that his vacation will not be dampered. My boys are having a wonderful time. They are truly enjoying all of the undivided attention from "Gramie and Grandad" and Reece. They are their 3 favorite people in their world. It is really cute to watch! Anyways, I am going to get back to my family now. I will post more tomorrow and post pictures hopefully.

Well we have been quite busy in our household. In case you did not know, we were supposed to go on vacation today to the beach. We decided to postpone our trip until tomorrow because of tropical storm Fay. We are all packed and ready to go when I noticed a puddle in the middle of our living room floor. We have an area rug so I pulled back the rug only to find that most of my living room is flooded. Matt checked all of the walls and they are ok so it is not a leak. He checked outside... of course it has been raining non-stop for 3 days now, however, everything looked ok out there. So the only thing we can think of is we must have a crack in the foundation of our house and all of the water is seeping in. He called the insurance company but they said they have so many claims coming in related to storm damage, they are taking them in accordance to priority of severity and priority of claim arrival. I understand that, but selfishly, I want to have my house looked at ASAP so I can still go on my vacation tomorrow. Sounds stupid and selfish. I know. Many more people have it much worse than us. Well on a good note, my friend Kim Canada had her baby girl Hayley today. They both are doing well and are healthy. I'll keep you posted on what we decide to do about the house and our vacation. Please pray for those people who truly do have it hard during the storm and have lost everything. Thanks!

Sorry I have not blogged in a while. My technical support person (aka my cousin Angela) has been out of town and I have been having trouble with my blog site. I can't seem to down load any pictures or movies. She gets back in town tomorrow, so hopefully then I can post new updated one's for you.

I will save you all of the day to day boring details of our everyday lives and only tell you the interesting things that have been going on since I have last written you. Thursday night my parents and one of Matt's lieutenant's came over for dinner (Lt. Anthony Willis). I grilled out chicken, sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, and then I made carrots and broccoli. It was really good. They all hung out and talked until 945pm. We had a lot of fun. Friday night after work Matt and the boys picked me up and we went to the Orlando race track for a benefit for the baby I told you about in previous blogs... Camden Kibler's family. The fire department and their friends were trying to raise money to cover medical bills for their family. We had a great time. Saturday Matt's parents came over for the afternoon and then we went out to dinner with them. They offered to take the boys back to Clearwater with them for the night so we could have a night alone and we took them up on the offer. Shortly after they left, We decided to go to Clearwater Beach ourselves and get a room on the beach and hang out all day. So that is what we did. Today we enjoyed a beautiful day at the beach and hung out by the pool and ate entirely too much food. Around 0530pm we went back to Matt's parent's house and picked up the boys and came home. Now here we are. I work the next two days so I doubt I will blog again until Wednesday, but I promise I will as soon as I can. We leave Thursday for our vacation so expect more pictures soon!

Let's play catch up...

Sunday we went to church in the morning and it was awesome! After church, Matt and I went to a going away/surprise baby shower for one of the doctors that I work with. Her name is Dr. Jenny Carl and she is totally awesome!! It will be VERY hard to come close to filling her shoes. Herself, her husband Leighton, and their daughter Miriam are moving back to Texas. So anyways, that is what we did. We partied all afternoon with the doctors that I work with on a regular basis and nurses from my unit. We had a wonderful time. Sunday night we had our "young marrieds" group from church get together at a house and hang out. The adults are at one house, and the kids are at another with babysitters because there isn't a house big enough for all of us. Besides, we like the few hours to talk to adults without being interrupted.
Monday I worked all day again. I know to those of you who work at jobs that require you to be there 5 days a week I must really sound like a whiner. I give you all credit because I don't like working 3 days, much less 5 days. However in my own defense, I do work extremely long days and get up at 430am to go to work and still don't get to quit and go to bed when I get home at 8-9pm. Then my other job begins. I have kids, husband, house, and laundry to catch up on. The truth of the matter is, I am sure like everyone, I too would love to stay home and hang out with my kids and friends all day and eat gourmet meals every night(cooked by someone other than me of course!), but that is not reality. So I guess if I have to work, I love my job, but like all jobs, you have your good and your not so good days. Matt on the other hand had a wonderful day. He went to the tallest building in Orlando (Bank of America) and climbed the stairs, walked around Lake Eola and learned more about his health and fitness.
Today I worked, but I actually had a decent day. My co-worker became a grandmother. Congratulations Maria!! Aubrey is beautiful! I bounced around from assignment to assignment and did a little bit of everything today. Matt walked around Blanchard Park as a part of his exercise and rehab routine today. He said it was a really nice day out while he was walking. After that he had a lot of work to get caught up on. He had a good day. He is enjoying his position in the fire department now. He likes getting to see people he would normally have never seen or met, but under the circumstances has had an opportunity to do so. When I got home from work, the kids were watching Spiderman. They are very big into superhero's. The had both taken off their shirts so they could be like daddy. They are so cute. They are really growing up so much!! Well I have to go now. I'll blog more later.

It's a BOY!!!

My sister is 18 weeks and 4 days pregnant and just found out she is having another boy. We are so happy!! No names yet though. Their oldest son Reece (who will be 5 in November) is so excited! He could hardly stand keeping that a secret until I got off work and got there so he could tell our whole family at once. It was great! Well that's our big news. Let's get caught up on the last few days. I have worked two 13.5 hour days, that of which I have been so busy I have only peed once during my shift, eaten while standing up for 5 minutes (but I guess that is better than no food at all right!) and now I am exhausted!!! Probably too much information for you. Sorry. Thursday I got home and Matt went out and the kids stayed up all night so I got only an 1.5 hours of sleep. As you can imagine, on Friday I was feeling pretty tired. After work last night, I came home and crashed...HARD. Then at 3am and 5am my work called begging for me to come in and work. Yeah, that did not happen today! Matt worked Friday for the funeral of the baby boy I told you about in my previous blog. He said it was beautiful! He said their was laughter and tears and that Camden was well remembered. It can be very difficult when you are in the middle of great trials to really believe in your heart that God did not forget about you or that He does have a plan for you and your life. I KNOW, I have had many moments like this when Matt was going through his cancer or when we were going through infertility treatments. But the truth of the matter is, we don't know what His plans are and we never will. However, God is ALWAYS there and He never forgets us or our loved one's, or the wants and desires of our hearts. It just might not be the right timing. So, on that note, I ask that you will please continue to pray for Camden's parents in their time of need as well as anyone else that you know is struggling with something they are dealing with.

Sorry about the delay in the posting. We have had a rather busy and emotional few days. I worked yesterday and so did Matt. One of Matt's firefighter coworkers lost their 5 month old baby boy to cancer yesterday morning. Matt has been busy trying to help Lt. Anthony Willis set up arrangements and assist the family with whatever they need. Their blog is http//camdensjourney.com if you want to be praying for their family I am sure it would be greatly appreciated. We both were exhausted after work as you can imagine so Matt fell right asleep. I got a text from my mother at 11pm telling me to turn on the news. So of course I did and I discovered that the kids I used to nanny for were taken from their mother's custody from their father, he was now in police custody, however, the kids were still missing. So I woke Matt up and we started praying. All that is to say that we did not sleep very much. This morning I had my kids because I was not working today. My grandmother watched them for about 2 hours while I got my hair cut. On the way to my appointment I talked to my friend (with the missing children) and she said that because of the news and every one's prayers, the police found the kids around 1230am. PRAISE GOD!!! They were unharmed. They had been missing for 61 days. Anyways, my hair looks great, I am very pleased with it. Matt continued to work with Lt. Willis on things for the Kibler family. When he got home we went to my parents and we ate pizza together and went swimming to wear everyone out. The goal is to get the boys in bed by 0830pm tonight. With that being said... I will try to write again tomorrow.

To the Lopez family in Ecuador: I am very glad that you guys follow my blog every day. We love you guys and miss you very much!! I will definitely try to write more often in the blog for you. Hugs and Kisses XOXOXO Praying for you guys! Love, Stacy and all of "my men"

Matt's 1st day...

Well it's official... Matt is back at work!! His first day was yesterday. He had a nice day but a busy day trying to get everything back in order like getting his badge to work and things like that. A lot of running around. It felt good to be back though. Meanwhile, the kids and I cleaned the house, cooked dinner, did laundry, and got hair cuts so that he would be surprised when he got home. Which he was. After dinner we went to IKEA for the first time. WOW!!! That place is awesome! We didn't cover it all of course. The kids had fun playing in their play area and didn't miss us at all. We are looking for beds so that we can put the boys together in Noah's room. They end up in each other's room every night anyways, so we might as well make it official right? Ok... enough for now. More later. Have a good day!

Volleyball Day...

Today Matt and my brother in law Scott played in a volleyball tournament in Deltona and won the tournament! Matt is going great!! He is tired and sore of course, but over all great! For those of you who don't know, Matt is a fantastic beach volleyball player. He is used to playing 4-6 days a week and playing in lots of tournaments in the men's AA divisions. Of course that has died down quite a bit sense the kids came along, however, he still jumps at the opportunity whenever it arises. We took the kids with us and they hung out and watched for a while, then we went over and played in the nearby water park area for kids. It was a beautiful day!!

GUESS WHAT!!!!!!

NO MORE RADIATION!!! We are officially done with all cancer related treatments today. Matt has a PET scan scheduled in August. Other than that, no more shots, IV's, surgeries, or radiation!! Praise God!! We are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Matt will start back at work on Monday morning on light duty. He is looking forward to coming back to work. The kids had their last swimming lessons today. I am very glad to have them done. The last few classes Logan has not wanted to cooperate very well. Let's just say it has been a bit of a chore getting him to work. I am scheduled to work again tomorrow. I am kind of getting a little burnt out of working all of the extra hours that I have been working, but hey... it's job security and a pay check. At least I like what I do for a living. Anyways, I will write more later when the kids aren't running around so crazy.

More Pictures

Pictures from our trip!

Our weekend...

We went away this weekend for Matt's birthday (that was his gift) to New Port Richie. We left Friday morning around 0930am and returned Sunday around 0700pm. We went with Matt's brother Scott and his girlfriend Michelle. Now kids allowed!! It was great! Our friend Amanda watched the kids. She is so great with them and they love her. They didn't miss us at all. In fact, they got up this morning and asked me when she was coming back. (Just a side note.) Anyways, back to this weekend... we took the jet ski's down with us and bikes (which we never rode) and a whole lot of other "stuff" and we had a blast! We stayed in a 2 bedroom 2bath house with a pool on a canal that led to the Gulf of Mexico and they had a 17ft skiff boat we could use for free. Friday we hung out at the house, went out to dinner, and hung out in the pool all night. We had a lot of fun! Saturday we got up ate breakfast got ready and loaded up the boat and jet ski's. We went to Anncloate island (I probably spelled that wrrong...sorry) and the sand bar next to the island and parked the boat with all of our stuff. We took the jet ski's out and played around with them in the water. We saw dolphins, Scott and Michelle saw a stingray, we saw crabs, sand dollars, and then Matt and Scott caught scallops for dinner. We hung out at the sand bar and swam all day and ate a lot as well. When we were done, we went back to the house and got in the pool and then got ready for dinner. We grilled out steak, potatoes, scallops, and veggies. It was delicious. Matt's friend from high school came over and hung out later for desert. Sunday Scott made us chocolate chip pancakes and eggs for breakfast. When we were done we loaded up the car and then Matt and I took the jet ski's out for a spin and then we met up with Scott and Michelle at the ramp where they picked us up. After we got loaded up we went to Matt and Scott's parents house for a short visit. They seemed happy to see us. When we got back to Scott's house we washed to jet ski's and cleaned out the engine's and then we went to a pressure washer place so we could do it even better. The kids were happy to see us when we finally got home and life isback to normal now.

Matt's birthday...

Yesterday Matt turned 34! Happy Birthday old guy!!!! I can say that because I will always be younger and crazier than him. We had a great day. I had my nephew Reece and My mom and I took my boys and Reece to Rock Springs/Kelly Park to play while Matt had radiation and then Matt brought lunch and met us there when he was done. We played in the springs, played in the sand, and went on the nature trails. We had a blast! When we got home, everyone napped and then we went to swimming lessons. Both boys did awesome! Reece hung out and swam in the pool with them too. We ate a big dinner together with my parents. Matt went to the fire station and hung out there and ate with them and played cards. All in all, we had a great day and Matt was very blessed! His big birthday treat will be this weekend. I am taking him out of town with no kids. We are taking the jet ski's and going to New Port Richie. I'll fill you in later on the details later. I'm at work so I need to go.

Surgery day...

This morning Matt had his surgery to remove his port. He is doing wonderful! We were discharged from the hospital by lunch. He was very hungry so we stopped at IHOP on the way home so he could eat a large meal. When we got home, we both took a nice long nap because we had been up since 0345am. Matt's parents picked the boys up from the babysitters house and took them to swim lessons. They did awesome!! They learned how to dive in the pool and touch the bottom. Even Logan (our 2 year old) can do it. Matt's parents are spending the night at our house to help watch the kids. Matt and I are at my parents house because he couldn't handle the kids jumping all over him. He will have to keep his dressing on for 3 days then he will be unrestricted. The surgeon said start out slow with working out and be smart about what he does, but he will be ready to start retraining for active duty when he returns back to work. It feels so good to finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Matt has been such a trouper throughout everything and I am ready for him to not have to do any other cancer related treatments again once he finishes radiation. Thank you so very much for all of your love, support, and most importantly your prayers throughout all of this.

Matt's free time...

I would like to share with all of you what Matt does in his "free time".
Some of you have said to me... "what does he do all day?" Well he is finally starting to feel better so he try's to get on the floor and act like one of the kids and play with the kids as much as he can. He rides bikes with them, takes them to swimming lessons, plays baseball with them, and anything else that he can think of to help them know that their life is "normal" and everything is going to be ok now. We both want to instill fun memories in our children so they will look back one day and smile when they think about their childhood. Today Matt had his radiation as usual. His only complaint is that he gets tired from it. However, nothing is as bad as going through chemo or having his chest cracked open. He met with one of his chief's today regarding him coming back to work. His official first day back to work since December will be August 4th. He will go back on light duty so he can regain his strength back until he can go to regular shift work. Hopefully that will only be for a couple of months. We will see though. He is really ready to go back to work. Not that he doesn't like hanging out with all of us, but he misses all of the people he works with. The boys started their second session of swim lessons yesterday. I was working so I have not met their new teacher. Matt said the day was a little bit chaotic. I will take them tomorrow as long as we don't get rained out. They are so adorable! I am looking forward to finally being able to see their lesson tomorrow. I have been working a lot lately. Friday my mom will take them because Matt will have his last surgery! Hurray!! Well on that note, please continue to pray for Matt. I will update you after his surgery on Friday. Thank you!

Matt started his radiation therapy yesterday. He is doing good so far. He went on Wednesday and got all marked up so they know where to go. He will undergo 3 weeks of radiation. I will keep you updated on his progress. The kids are doing wonderful! They are done with their first session of swim lessons today and they start the second session Monday. I have been working a lot lately. I am ready for another vacation. Work has been extremely busy and stressful. However, that means there is good job security. Next Friday Matt will get his port removed. He is really excited about this because it is one more step back to being normal and he will be able to begin to work out again. Well I hate to make this a short blog, but Logan is now climbing all over me and making it very difficult to write any more. Thanks for your prayers!

Happy belated 4th...

We had a wonderful 4th of July. We went to Michelle (brother in law's fiance) parent's house in Lake Placid. All of her family was there and all of Matt's family was there. We hung out by the pool all day and they live on a canal that connects to a lake so the scenery was beautiful. The boys had a blast swimming. Around 7pm we left and Matt's brother Scott came home with us. We were trying to catch a fireworks show for the kids, but we never found one. It was still cool though because we saw them everywhere when we were driving. When we got back to Scott's house, we were able to see the Taveres firework show ending and his neighbors were doing them as well. All of the boys sat on Scott's truck and watched them together. It was so cute! Saturday we went over to my sister's house and went swimming at her house. We ate lunch out by the pool until Logan decided that he was ready for bed. After their naps, I ran errands while Matt kept the boys at home and hung out with them. When I got home, I made burgers and Matt grilled them up for us. We had the Aker's over for dinner and domino's. Today we went to church, took naps and went and hung out with more friends from church. We have had a very busy weekend and are ready for bed! Please don't forget to pray for Matt this week as he is going to start radiation on Wednesday. Thank you!

Beach trip...

Well I didn't have as tough of a week as I originally though I would have. On Monday I was put on call for from 5am-11am, then they gave me an authorized day off from 11am-7pm. So we seized the opportunity to build memories with the boys and we decided to pack up and go to the beach for the afternoon. It was the first time that Logan had never napped all day and he did really well. They had a ball! They were so adorable to watch! Our friends had a hotel room in Daytona so we met up with them and the kids had a great time playing with their kids. I want our kids to look back at their childhood and remember us taking them to fun places and really playing with them and truly enjoying them. I don't ever want them to look back and think that we were too busy for them or that we didn't value family time. Ultimately in the end, that's what really matters is loving each other no matter what and being there for each other.

1 Corinthians 13 says that the greatest gift of all is love and I want to give that to my kids so that they can know how to give that to others. Anyways, that's my soap box for the day. Next issue at hand... swim lessons... well they have been cancelled 4 times in 2 weeks. I am hoping that we can have makeup days next week before 5pm so that we might be able to beat the rain. We are supposed to talk to the instructor today about it as long as we don't get canceled today. Matt starts radiation on Wednesday. I don't know if I told you that yet. It will last for about 3 weeks and he will be done on the 31st. Perfect timing because he wants to come back to work on light duty the first week of August. He is going to get his port out on Friday the 18th at 7am. We are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. All in all, we are doing really well. God's grace has been sufficient and He has provided and will continue to provide for all of our needs. Thank you for all of your prayers and support!

Matt bought the boys Spiderman outfits for bed on Friday and they think they are "hot stuff"! They are totally into the whole super hero thing. You name the character, they like them. They are so adorable! Not that I am prejudice or anything!! We gave them to the kids Friday night after swimming lessons because they completed a week and did a wonderful job following directions, not crying about anything, trying and succeeding at everything that the teacher was asking them to do. I was so proud of them. I was able to get off work an hour early on Friday so I could go see them swim for the first time for their lessons and I felt like the proudest parent in town! Saturday we took the kids to a birthday party for their friend Austin. It was so fun to watch all of the kids play slip and slide, swim in the little pools and play with the water balloons. They were not into the organized game at all with the water balloons, but once they started to let loose free style with them it was all over! They had no mercy!! Even Logan got some good throws in. We had a great fun filled weekend and have another busy week ahead. I am working 3 days in a row... which is totally not fun, but I wanted to have a really long weekend for the 4th so I scheduled myself that way. Hopefully we will hear something from the oncologist on Monday or Tuesday regarding when Matt will start his radiation therapy and what all that will entail. He also wants to call the surgeon and make an appointment to take out his port but he can't make that appointment until he knows what is going on with radiation. You gotta love this feeling of going with the flow and not being in the know! I'll keep you updated.

Spoke with doctor's office...

Last night we got a call from the oncology office and they said they finally got a hold of Dr Moore with Duke University. They decided that Matt still needs to go through radiation just not as much. I am not sure what that means though. I don't know if that means less days, less intensity, or what. Our oncologist Dr. Castillo is going to meet with the radiologist today to discuss the plan for Matt. We will keep you updated as we find out more information.

Update con't with pictures...

Monday-

I worked my normal shift 12 hours that turned into 13 hours with lunch finally at 3pm. You know... busy as usual. I was the lead triage nurse again which means that even though I might have fully taken care of half of the patients that came through the door, I was responsible to meet all of the patients, know their case, review their tracings and their charts, and sign off on them before they were discharged or admitted. Fun stuff. Matt took care of the boys until around 9am then he dropped them off at Claudia's house. He had to go to the DMV to renew his driver's licence. He looks much better in his new photo. He ran more errands, fixed our toilet that the handle broke off on (potty training can be rough), and then picked the boys up at 4pm. They ate a snack and played until it was time for their first swimming lessons. I asked him to take pictures for me because I couldn't get off work, but he couldn't find the camera. Oh well! They did awesome. Matt said that Noah was a little cheerleader to all of the kids saying things like "you can do it; don't be afraid; the water's not cold its perfect;" etc. He has a large vocabulary that's for sure. You never know what is going to come out of his mouth. Logan did wonderful too. Of course there were a few times that he got out of the pool when he wasn't supposed to, but I think that is normal for a 2 year old on his first day. When I got home from work they were so excited to tell me all about "swimming school". Matt was beaming with joy from watching them. He is such a proud dad.

Today-

We had a wonderful day thus far. We went to my grandfather's house and swam in his pool so he could see the kids. He loves to watch them grow up and interact with them. Matt is a big kid in the pool as well which the boys think is awesome! We swam for almost 2 hours and then we came home and ate lunch. The kids are finishing the last 5 minutes of Nemo while I am blogging before nap time. Matt is trying to debate what he wants to do for the rest of the day. He is starting to get kind of restless sitting around the house all of the time. He is looking forward to going back to work. Matt is a project oriented man, or better yet a very task oriented person. Since he hasn't been able to really do much around the house or anywhere for that matter the last 6 weeks, he has kind of been twiddling his thumbs if you know what I mean. At least this season is almost over! We talked to the oncologist office today, they have still been unable to discuss Matt's case with the oncologist at Duke University. So we are just waiting and are really in no rush to make a decision regarding radiation because he essentially has no more cancer in his chest. They said it will be a while before they do another PET scan because they have to wait until all of the internal inflammation goes down from Matt's surgery. Otherwise, it will give false results on the scan. So long story short, we will keep you posted on what ever we find out.

Long time no update...

Sorry about that. It has been a busy weekend. Lets get started...
Friday-
I worked and it was an incredibly wonderful day. I was the triage nurse and I only saw 2 patients all day long. VERY RARE! When I got home it was 8pm and I picked Logan up at my parents house. I ate dinner with them because Matt took Noah to a softball game. We came home around 930pm and put the boys to bed. Matt made doctors appointments in the morning, then he ran errands in the afternoon, and then he walked to my parents house. He ate dinner with them and then took Noah to a softball game with him. It was also Matt's brother Scott's birthday. Happy Birthday Scott!!!
Saturday-
Matt went down to Auburndale to help my uncle pack boxes to move from 830-330. When he came home, he rested in our room for about an hour uninterrupted. That is precious in this house. It can be a little bit chaotic here. As for myself and the other men in my life, well we had a grand old time together. We got up, got ready, watched the favorite movie of all time in this house (Mr. Incredible) while I was getting ready. Then my sister Jennifer kept Logan for me and I took Noah with me and we went to buy a new cell phone. Now for those of you whom have not seen my old phone it was ancient of days. I have had it for 6 years. I think it might have been one of the first models of camera phones. However, Noah manages to break that part of my phone when he was 8 months old. So as you can imagine it was pretty beat up. Ok... here goes the story... so I walk in the store, the guy goes (I believe his name was Christian) "can I help you", I say "well I think I need a lot of help, you see I have not updated my phone in 6 yrs so I don't really know where to begin". His eyes got so big and he got this huge smirk on his face like you've got to be kidding me, where has this chick been, stuck in the ice ages or something? So just when he regains his composure, my phone rings and I pull it out of my purse to silence it. Once I am done he asks to hold it. He takes a good look at it and announces to the store, "He guys, have you ever seen a phone so old before? Come check it out. It still works." They were all amazed by it. It was so embarrassing, which is pretty bad because it is really hard to embarrass me. After all, I am a nurse and have pretty much seen, heard, and smelled it all. So long story short... I have a new phone!! Later that afternoon I babysat my cousin's baby Jacob who is now 6 months old and weighing in at 12 lbs. He was born 10 weeks early. He's so cute!
Sunday-
We went to church... which was awesome! We really enjoy all of the friendships that we have developed there. God is so faithful and he meets our needs and is always there for us even when sometimes we feel alone in our circumstances. After church the fire department put together a benefit in Matt's name at Johnny's Filling Station. We had an excellent time getting to know different firefighters within his department. Our son Noah had a blast as well. I think he must have bummed at least $10 off of people for candy. I don't know for sure how much though. He won't let us touch it. He hid it in his night stand. We were so overwhelmed with emotion at the amount of love and support that everyone there showed. There is really no words to express our gratitude to all of you for everything that you have done for our family. There is no amount of time trades, no amount of money, no amount of food, or cards, or telephone calls that could EVER come close to repaying or expressing how much each and every single one of you have meant to us throughout this journey whether we know you or not... THANK YOU from the very bottom of our hearts! We love you and I can truly say that we do pray for all of you that God will bless you and meet your needs like He has blessed us and has continually met ours when we have needed Him to.

This morning the boys woke up so excited. They knew Reece was coming over and we would be doing something special. I was not feeling so wonderful when they woke us up. I think it was because I ate my lunch from the cafeteria grill at work yesterday. Matt took the kids downstairs and made them a bowl of cereal so I could sleep another 30 minutes to see if that would help, which I appreciated it. Once I woke up, we got ready, Reece came over and we went to Orange Lake Timeshares. It is over by station 32. They let us in to use their facilities because Matt is an Orange County Firefighter. We went on the lazy river, swam in the pool, and went on the beach and played in the sand. We had an awesome day! We were all completely worn out by the end of it. The boys were swimming under the water like fish. Even Logan! I was so proud of them! Noah and Logan are scheduled to start swimming lessons on Monday night. I thing they are going to be ahead of their class in some of the things they will be learning. That will be good for more reinforcement. I have to work again tomorrow and my sister will have the kids. Matt is going to have another day to himself to make more phone calls and get things done. Our home phone has not been working for a week now so that is on the top of his honey do list. We will post more later. Kids are crying.

The Present...

So our dog hates the rain right... I'm not sure if any of you have that problem or not but we do. Riley James Butschek is our 2 year old, 65 pound Golden retriever we adopted at the SPCA about a year ago. He was found in the pouring rain under a fence in the middle of no where with no tags. No one came to claim him, so 1 week later Matt adopted him while I was at work. Surprise!! At least he is a good dog. So back to my story... this dog is deathly afraid of rain, thunder, lightening... you get the picture. He pants, follows you around so you trip over him, whines if you go out of the room and won't let him go with you, and so on and so forth. So Matt gets home tonight after I put the boys to bed right (he went to get a movie) and Riley looks up at him, hears rain and thunder as he opens the door and vomits all over the floor. What a wonderful present!! The End! Isn't that great. I was laughing so hard. I guess you should have been here. It was pitiful to see the dog and Matt. Very sad, yet very funny. Now I'll back up and tell you about our day. I worked all day and we were so busy that we had to put a patient in the hallway until we could get a clean bed. (It was a full moon last night.) Matt on the other hand had a wonderful day making phone calls, he took a 3 mile walk to my parents and went swimming with the kids and hung out there for the rest of the evening until I picked them up after work. The boys stayed with my parents last night and today because Matt still can't lift them and care for them on his own. My parents put the jet ski's in the lake and swam all day. The boys had a blast! Still no word from the oncologist. We will keep you posted!!

Today was a lazy day at home hanging out with the boys. Usually we try to go swimming or to the park or do something to expend some energy in the morning. However, the thought of being out in the sun was definitely not appealing to me. My belly and forehead hurt the most, but mainly my belly. Clothes rubbing on it just stings, much less a seat belt and kids jumping all over me. Oh well. So with that being said, we hung out and played with our inside toys and watched Nemo. After our nap it started pouring down rain so we rented Bambi and ate chicken nuggets for dinner. We had a lot of fun having a family night watching Bambi. Wow! What a difference between today's movies and yesterday's movies. It was cute though. I definitely had to find things to point out to them to keep their attention during the movie. We usually don't let our kids watch TV/movies all day. I promise. This was just a really weird day. Both Matt and I were very lazy today. I don't know what our problem was. Matt just left to go out with some guys tonight. I think they went to go eat wings at Gators and play darts. It is good for him to get out and enjoy guy time every now and then. It's kind of like sex. If he doesn't get it every now and then, he gets grumpy. (But don't we all!) Anyways, tomorrow will be a much busier day. I am going to have my nephew Reece (who is 4 years old) all day. The plan is to go to the park and ware all of the boys out so they will take a great nap. We still have not heard anything from the oncologist so hopefully we will know something this week as far as if Matt will have to undergo radiation or not. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors and for us to know what we should do. Thanks!

Happy Father's Day!

Our weekend was jammed packed with lots of activity. On Friday I worked and Matt packed to go down to Clearwater Beach. His parents are out of town and allowed us to stay at their place for the weekend (kid free). We had a chance to visit with all of Matt's old friends from high school this weekend. It was great! Saturday we went out on Chris and Heidi Robinson's boat with Del Sable and his girlfriend Amanda. We went to an island and hung out all day. Even though I reapplied my lotion three times I got fried. Not good!! Definitely hurting today!! I am so upset with myself though. I am horrible at remembering to take pictures. I brought the camera with us so I could get some pictures and of course I still didn't get any. That night we went over to Chris and Heidi's house and hung out for about 40 minutes before we went to dinner. They just had a little baby boy they named Logan. He is 2 months old and just adorable. Then we went to the restaurant on the water at the sponge docks. We met up with Jeff and Heidi Lacy, Brad Toddle, Tim Sheridan along with Chris and Heidi. We had a great time getting together with everyone and hanging out. We can't wait until we can come back and bring the kids next time. Today Matt and I slept in and went out to breakfast together for his father's day. Then we went to Toy's R Us and Walmart. We had a lot of fun together. Like two kids in a candy store. When we got back to Matt's parents house we cleaned up, packed up, pottied the dog, and came home. The kids were so happy to see us. They are so adorable! I think they have grown since we have been gone. Matt thinks I am crazy. Noah was just talking up a storm just having a meaningful conversation with us about every little detail of his weekend and ours and Logan was trying to follow along. Logan and Noah both are 2 little brown bunnies. They are so tan I can hardly believe it. I think Logan's hair has gotten blonder and longer, which it needs a hair cut anyways, but still. I know, call me crazy... I guess that's why it is good to get a way every now and then so you have a chance to miss them and appreciate them and all of the chaos that comes with them. They are very worth every minute of it though!!! Happy Father's Day to all of you father's out there. I hope you have a very blessed day!

Oncology appointment...

Today we met with our oncologist Dr. Castillo. He was very pleased with Matt's progress and how well he is controlling his pain. He was also impressed with the amount of physical activity he has been doing. However, I feel the most important news to share with you is... brace yourselves... Matt might not have to go through radiation! I know... very exciting! However we are trying not to get too excited because Dr. Castillo is going to call the lead oncology doctor at Duke University to consult with him about Matt's case. Apparently research from 10-15 years ago states that with Matt's type of cancer he should still undergo radiation even though the surgeon removed the remaining mass left over from chemotherapy. New research articles are showing that it might not be necessary for him to undergo the radiation. Since Duke University heads up and "officializes" all acceptable research in oncology practice, it only seems logical to consult with that doctor before progressing with any further treatment. Radiation is not as easy as everyone makes it out to be you know. It has a lot of side effects especially where they would be performing it on him which is why Dr. Castillo, Matt and I feel it is necessary to make certain it is or is not the right decision to proceed with radiation. Please be praying for wisdom for the doctors as well as for Matt and I as we face this decision. Thank you!!!

Mid week update...

Well I have worked the last 2 days hence the reason there has been no blog update so let me start from the beginning.

Monday-
I worked and we were extremely busy. I guess with the weather changing, woman were coming in like crazy for all kinds of reasons. When I say crazy, I mean "crazy". It was like we had a psych ward. Very bazaar day. Matt decided he was tired of sitting in the house so he walked to my parents house. For those of you who don't know where that is it is about a 5-7 minute drive using back roads. He told me after the fact of course because he knew I probably wouldn't have approved. I personally feel that 3 weeks post-op after you have had your chest cracked open walking about 3 miles in 90 degree weather without telling anyone is a little risky. I'm just glad he didn't pass out of heat exhaustion! Next time, he has agreed that he will notify someone of his plans if he leaves like that again. As a side note, I am very proud of him for accomplishing that goal though. He is trying to slowly build up his stamina so he will be ready to return back to work. Rebekah Dunn picked up our boys at Claudia's house and watched them until I got home. Then my dad brought Matt home. Thank you Rebekah for keeping our little boys.
Tuesday-
Another day at work for me. Again, psych ward all over again. It was a busy day and then finally at the end of the day around 5pm it slowed down. I was orienting to be the charge nurse all day so that was fun and different. All in all, it was a good day. We had a great team working. Matt had a good day too. Julius took him to the podiatrist because he has 2 bumps on the bottom of his foot that are bothering him. The doctor said it is scar tissue and he can either (a) live with it and ignore it, or (b) have surgery to remove them. I think we are going to just live with it and look into more natural ways to get rid of scar tissue. After that he and Julius hung out the rest of the day. They went to the movies and saw Narnia. He said it was a lot of fun to get out of the house and hang out. Ally Bess picked up the boys from Claudia's house and kept them until Matt got home. Thank you so much for helping us out with our kids. We really appreciate it.
Wednesday-
I have my nephew Reece today and the kids are loving the extra company. We have played and played all morning. They got so dirty outside this morning I had to hose them off outside before I could bring them in and then I had to take them straight upstairs to give them a bath. Oh my gosh... they were a mess!! They are all boy!! I love them though. Matt and I fed them hot dogs, corn, fruit salad, and cheese sticks for lunch. We had a ball! They are all napping now and I think it is my turn to go nap so I will write more later.

Isn't the weekend too short?

I always think so! It started out with yesterday me getting the boot out of our bed. I don't know what happened. I am supposed to be the queen of the house (only because we have no girls) and I'm the one who gets kicked out. I don't get it. Oh well, I thought it was cute and I know it is only a very short time that this will continue to happen before they grow up and become "too cool" for us. It started out with the Logan waking up at his normal time and coming into our bed. He actually fell back asleep within 3 minutes. Amazing! Next toddles in Mr. Noah. Then he fell back asleep again too. Now here comes the clincher of the story... they wiggled, and shimmied, and Logan eventually stole my pillow and that's when I gave up. The three amigos were so adorable in that bed. Noah woke up around 915 and we had a "Noah Mommy date" until around noon. Logan and Matt slept until 1115am. Crazy... I know! It was like the old days. You know... bc (before children), when we could sleep in and waste our day away. Ah good times. Anyways, Scott and Michelle brought our boat over around 1230pm and Matt's dad Gabe came over around 12pm because we (meaning the guys) were going to fix it. Matt and his brother share a 27ft boat that their parents gave them. Last year, Scott took the boat out and the boat caught on fire in the engine cavity so the men had to replace almost everything. Us girls certainly did our part though. We took the kids shopping all day. They were actually really good. I say that because they did not nap and because we are both shopaholics by nature, we forgot to feed them until 345pm. Ops! They never got fussy on us though. Logan had to do his usual pee in his pants in the middle of target and I of course didn't bring extra shorts so he had to wear a pull up for the rest of the day. Yeah... totally looked like a hillbilly. Should have painted freckles on my face, knocked out a few teeth, thrown on some overalls, and lost my shoes and I would have been good to go. What are you going to do. At least he is only 2 years old and cute so he can still get away with it. We came home ate dinner, bathed the boys and put them to bed. Matt had a good day with the guys. He didn't get to do manual labor, but he could hand them a thing or two (as long as it was 5 lbs) and hang out with them. He enjoyed their company.

Today we got up and went to church like we do every Sunday. Work called and wanted me to come in today extra. They must have been desperate because they know I don't work on Sundays!! When we got home we were eating lunch and Logan (a complete daddy's boy) got down from his seat, moved his chair next to Matt's, moved his food in front of his chair and then climbed back up and started eating like it was nothing. We asked him what he was doing he said "me sit by daddy" as if it was an every day occurrence. He's so cute. We all had great naps. Noah slept in our room because he won't nap in his room he only plays. We have Young Marrieds home group tonight with our church so we needed him to nap so that's how we accomplished that. He was all over the place. When he finally landed. His head was in Matt's armpit (poor Noah) - just kidding, and he was laying diagonal in the bed with his feet in my rib cage. I finally gave up and got up when those feet settled there. Anyways, I hear little feet upstairs, I need to go check on them. Thank you for all of your continued blessings, prayers, love, and support. We truly are grateful for everything!