Softball and TBall season have officially ended at our house for the year. Both Kendall and Jed had a great time playing. Now we begin preparing for Reagon's freshman year of basketball. Summer is quickly flying by and we still have several things we want to do with the kids before school starts back! Last year we spent most of the summer under "house arrest" due to germs and were right in the middle of Jed's hardest chemo months so this summer we want to enjoy some traveling with our kids!
On the weekends, you can find us at one of three places. The lake. The pool. The river.
Josh's parents have a pool and my family has a cabin on the river and we live three miles from a beautiful lake.....sounds like a perfect set-up, huh? We love to go out on Poppa's boat or with family on their party barge and spend a day laughing and playing in the water and enjoying time each other.
We have worked quite a bit in our yard this year. Josh has helped me build new flowerbeds and he also built Kendall some new ones around her playhouse. The heat is horrible on my flowers so every day I have to drag a water hose around the house to get my watering done. Sometimes, my water hose is out of commission because it is doing more important things.........
This summer has been so enjoyable to me. I guess it's because last year I felt like we were not able to do much of anything and we didn't get to spend time with our family like we wanted to. We have sure enjoyed having family at our house this year.
Problem solved! His new "watermelon eating place"....lol
I am still working on taking pictures of the kids each Sunday before church. It's fun to look back at each week and see how fast they grow!
Thank you all so much for praying for our last scan appt! Jed was a little more nervous than usual and honestly, Josh and I were too! I don't think it ever gets easy or normal to have your baby scanned for recurring cancer.
Our life seems to be returning to the "pre-cancer" way a bit more each day. I find myself not thinking about it as much although I do think it crosses my mind at least a couple times a day, every day. I don't research as much as I used to on the disease although at times when the house is quiet and everyone is asleep I will look up recurrent statistics. I don't spend much time looking at the numbers because fear starts planting in my heart and that is something I have to fight.
For those few who followed my blog before cancer became the main topic, you will be happy to see what I have started doing again.....
Something else we are all smiling about....our precious baby Samuel! He is growing sooo fast! Jed just loves him but he DOES NOT love it when Momma holds the baby!
Last year during the 4th of July holiday, Jed had one of his worst hospital visits. He was so very sick. I remember blogging about how heartbreaking it was that Jed wasn't allowed to be moved from his bed to the windows to watch the huge firework display at our state capitol. You can see the capitol building from our hospital windows but Jed was so very sick, they didn't allow us to move him. I cried so hard that night. Over cancer. Over fireworks. Over his future. And here I am, one year later with a precious, rambunctious little boy with a head full of Justin Beiber hair and beautiful long eyelashes and no sign that cancer ever touched him other than a port in his chest and a few surgery scars.
I am very much reminded that although I write to you today from a comfortable office chair with Jed playing at my feet, there are still many fighting this horrible disease. Some of our very dear friends are still in the hospital, still fighting, still begging for prayers as their child goes up against a horrible monster. Please remain bold and persistent in your prayers for these children and their families. I can close my eyes for one second and still feel the helpless, terrified feelings. Every doctor or nurse that entered our room carrying a chart sent fear straight to my heart. I always had a feeling that in an instant, our whole world could suddenly change. This past year we have experienced Jesus carrying us through days we didn't think we could possible survive. I am so thankful for those of you He brought into our lives to carry some of our burden when it felt too heavy to carry alone. Let us all continue to pray. To pray that not one single cancer cell will ever be found in Jed's body again. That every child and family suffering this path will find healing and most importantly, find Jesus.
John 11:4
When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."
