if only...

I wish there was better news, but there really isn't. To bring you up to speed, this is the basic of what is going on right now.
My step dad Ma​rty has been sick since May. His kidneys were shutting down for unknown reasons and he has been on dialysis. After scans were done on 7/26, it was discovered that his kidneys were blocked. Stents were placed to open the kidneys. The scans also detected masses on his hips and pelvis. These masses appear to be cancer and biopsies were taken. All of the results will be coming back on monday night. If you are a prayer warrior, please keep my dad Marty in your prayers, as well as my mom. This is not an easy time by any means. 7 years ago he was diagnoised with stage 3 colon cancer, so you can imagine this isn't an easy time.
Thank you friends...

What's going on?

SO much is going on ... here's some quick updates.

- Daniel will be going in the first of November for an official day of diagnosis testing. It's a full day thing, and by the end of the day the "experts" give an official diagnosis on what they think your child struggles with. He has been doing really well this summer, verbalizing even more and even imitating sounds.

- It's official... our good friends Maria and Alfie are going to come visit us in October.. I am SOOO excited!

- On a more serious note, things back at home aren't so great. My step dad who recently had kidney failure and has been on dialysis, has a lot of other health issues going on as well and he is in the hospital. Just 6 years ago he has stage 3 colon cancer and God totally healed him, and now with all of the issues he is having they found a tumor on his hip. We don't know yet if it is malignant or not... Please pray for my family in the Midwest. It's so hard being over here while stuff is going on over there. Please pray for strength for my parents, wisdom to the doctors, and God's healing touch to come down and bring health and life back to my step dad. I'm going to be headed there for a quick weekend in a couple of weeks by myself. I'm hoping the boys will be okay without me (last time i left them for longer then a night we had some serious seperation issues with Daniel).

- Hard times seem to be all around but... there is still hope.

glimpses

It's been a fun and tiring two weeks. I've been all over from the very northern part of california to seattle and almost everywhere inbetween. Here is a look into the past two weeks here with my neice. I think she was a little irritated with me with how often i took pictures, so i only posted a few of her. :) what can i say, i'm a proud Auntie and i think she is a very beautiful young lady and i never get to spend time with her!

GOON DAY!

I have a friend. She's one of those forever friends. We met in high school in gym class over 11 years ago. We've been through a few things here and there that could break a friendship (really just things on my end, but she is graceful and forgiving and we've grown to understand each other), but the bond of our friendship is strong. She's been there for me through so many hard times, and i know for a fact that i would have not been able to get through many days unless i was able to hear her voice on the other end of the line. We have lived over a thousand miles apart from each other for the past 8+ years (right now we live exactly 1,756 miles away from each other) ... but it has not drifted us apart. When i went off to Canada she stayed a faithful friend. And boy am i glad she did, because along with meeting my wonderful husband in Canada i met her husband in Canada! When i met him i knew he was the man for maria :) my favorite and pretty much only matchmaking attempt ever. Anyway.. rabbit trail.. sorry.
I can be myself around her. She knows me and understands me and i can call her up and bawl my head off or tell her the most recent hilarious thing my children just did.
Ours is a friendship that will last, we're less like friends and more like family now. She is my closest friend and I will treasure her friendship forever!




Every year around July 19th we celebrate a special day just for us and our unique friendship, GOON DAY. Though we have not spent goon day together since the first establishing on the day... It's still one of my favorite times of the year.
This year Maria sent me a goonday present that i will treasure! I was so excited when i opened the box and i met Hagwick... Now for those of you who do not know, i really like yard gnomes. Yep i know... strange, and i don't even have any in my yard ( i did have two but the boys completely destroyed them). But now thanks to maria i now have a gnome friend... Check out her blog post about goon day and him visiting some of the places that are "ours".

And now Hegwick has made it to Washington...



he barely survived meeting ferdinand, ferdinand thought he was a tasty treat just for him.



Hegwick, meet Katy!


Happy Goon day Maria! Hopefully someday we will be able to celebrate goonday in the same state!

I feel like I've been having more bad days then good lately with the kids. You know those days that you are tired of them needing something from you every ten seconds, someone is ALWAYS whining, the house never stays clean, you feel like a bucket of crap and you don't want to get out of bed in the morning and they just want to eat breakfast?? Kinda like that. Not a ton... but enough to make me a hard mommy to be around. My husband recognized my need for some alone time and he so graciously took the kids today for 4 whole glorious hours. He really blessed me this weekend...
When he got home from going out hiking with the boys we had such a nice time relaxing and watching some cartoons together. Elijah was so warn out he fell asleep snuggling with Matt.



On top of taking the kids out I got my fire pit!!!! I've wanted to start one, but Matt wasn't as excited about it as i was, but after having friends over this weekend and deciding to roast some smores we established a spot!



and he even made me a bench!


So come on over for a visit ... enjoy the animals, the view, the comapany and we can sit around the fire and share life!

Now i have a visit from my niece to look forward to and a mini vacation down to southern oregon with the inlaws, so my mommy tank has been refreshed and i'm ready for a another round. It's amazing what 4 hours and a fire pit can do to boost up my motivation level.

all over the place

This post is going to be all over the place so hold on.
This weekend was a great vacation for me. We had the opportunity to go to camp prime time. The boys had a great time and it was refreshing for me to not have to do so much housy stuff... but to just be able to enjoy my family. I'll post pictures later.. i just wanted to write a quick post.
Anyway I've been lacking some serious motivation lately. NOT ANYMORE. I just need to get 'er done! enjoy the life that God gave me, and be thankful for the little things. It's helpful that I've got a very full summer and lots to look forward to this coming fall (like my closest friend and her husband possibly coming to visit, a friend expecting her first little boy after having two girls). I do well when i have things to look forward to.
My niece is coming out for a 2 week visit. I'm excited to spend some time with some Minnesota family! I use to watch her all the time when she was just a wee one.. but i missed her being a little girl because of being away at school and then living out west. It's hard to be so far away and just hear about things over the phone, there is only so much you can do and so much you can connect through long distance. I'm more of a be there, do things type person. SO even though my mom and my sister think I will be spoiling my niece, I've got lots of things planned. It's not just about entertaining her... because I'm not concerned with entertaining her... i just like doing things and having her here gives me an excuse to have fun! And it's fun to be the Aunt out on the west coast that is a hippy who has a farm with all sorts of animals and likes to go to Seattle on day trips and spend time on the beach and in the mountains.
I'm so relieved that Daniel can hear. I've questioned on and off if he could.. and it always seemed like he could... but when people make comments about how they think he may not hear, i really questioned if maybe i was wrong and he had a hearing problem. Now i just need to call down to OHSU and see what is taking them so long on getting Daniel scheduled in.

We were at the grocery store yesterday and Joshua was being his usual exuberant and animated self. There was a lady there that made a comment to her husband that obviously that (my) little boy already had to much candy. I hugged Joshua and said loudly so that she could hear, "you don't eat candy do you Josh? You are just a happy and excited little boy and there is nothing wrong with that." I'm not sure if she heard it or not, but i was again reminded of how people who do not know him may view him.

Matt is now 100 percent on board with homeschooling Joshua, and he is even getting excited about teaching him things. He was okay with it before and he trusted my judgment.. but now he is firmly against public school for him. THANK YOU JESUS! *public school or private school are not total evil or a bad option, just for our family, it is not a good choice for our boys.


Well I'm going to go set up some sort of water play for the boys outside... it is such a nice day out there!