I CANNOT BELIEVE IT'S BEEN FOUR MONTHS SINCE I UPDATED THIS BLOG! OK, now I got that out of my system. July 25th...so much has happened since then. Lots of major life events. When I explain, you'll understand why it's been hard to find time to catch up. I have some things I've wanted to write about to get off my chest, but figured I'd better catch up on life first.
Cancer
I hate it. I hate it. It took my dear friend Kelsey on July 5th, and although she's been with Jesus since then, her husband, daughter, parents, sister, and all of her friends and family are left here trying to figure out life without her. I have watched her family grieve and it has been an encouragement that God has been honored through their worst days. On a personal note, I miss that girl. She was a precious friend and one of the blog posts I want to write is about all of the many things that she taught me.
So, just when life was slowing down from that, my mom and dad made an emergency trip back to the States to treat what we found out was thyroid cancer. I was thrilled to see them, but in shock and devastated at another cancer diagnosis, especially close to home in my own Dad. Praise God that if you're going to have thyroid cancer, this is the kind to have. On August 15th (8 years after I had my skin cancer removed...to the day!), all of the cancer was removed by surgery.
Soon after that, another dear lady at our church was diagnosed (again) with esophageal cancer. Crazy stuff, but her husband battled it and won ten years before and now she was going into her second round against this nasty, deadly cancer. I'm happy to report that she had a successful surgery and is learning a new way of life, but she is alive and back to tirelessly encouraging other people!
There are others in our church that have battled it recently. Ugh. Cancer makes me so mad!
Marcus
This is written in chronological order, not in order of quality of blessing or even importance. See, even cancer can be used by God to bring great blessing. In this case, He went above and beyond to bless our family. Let me explain...
Surgery on August 15th and then Mom & Dad came up to stay here in Norman for the remainder of their sixty day leave of absence! By the time they got up here, I was ready to have this baby. I still cannot believe that they got to be here for Marcus' birth and then the first five weeks of his life. What?!? So cool how everything worked out just perfectly.
On Tuesday, August 26th, I went in for my 37 week appointment and they gave me the heads up that things were starting to progress. (I was hoping that this would be the case because I was miserable and the sooner Marcus could come, the more time Mom & Dad would have with him). I could have kissed Jennifer (the NP) and I danced my way out as much as I could with a giant, pregnant belly.
Sure enough, that night I started having contractions. I was up all night, timing and when they were five minutes apart, we went in. Big bummer...they weren't strong enough. So I was sent home with strict instructions to come back when they were three minutes apart. All day I had contractions every five minutes. We went to the mall and walked. I went to church, hoping that things would progress. Got home from church, and Dad walked around the block with me (well, I waddled), and sure enough...the contractions stopped. Big, big bummer!
Thursday and Friday were the days that I did all of the things I was "too pregnant" to do just weeks earlier. I was picking things off the ground. I trimmed the hedge in the front yard. I walked for miles, powering through the swollen ankles. Nothing.
Saturday morning (August 30th), I got up and decided "Hey, it's the first OU game day. I'm just going to enjoy it and Marcus can come another day." You see where this is going. So we relaxed. We went to Ozzie's and ate a big breakfast. I sat around and watched football all day. Blake and Dad had tickets to the game so I drove them to the stadium. (Funny story...they had tickets, we lost them, and they bought new ones). I got home, put Jordan in the bath and...my water broke. Five minutes into the first quarter of the game. THANKFULLY, Blake answered the phone. "No, I'm not joking. You need to come home, now." So, they rushed back and we went to the hospital. Crazy, crazy Marcus...you just had to make an entrance!
Did I mention it was a blessing to have Mom & Dad here? Dad was already here with Jordan and knew exactly how to take care of him. I had ZERO worries about him and was able to focus on Marcus.
Marcus was born at 5:30 am on August 31st, about three weeks early. And what a sweet, sweet blessing he is to our family. He is an easy baby. He is so sweet and snuggly. And we are so thankful for his life. He is almost three months old now and I've only cried one time about him...compared to the many times I've cried about Jordan in that time! :)
Mom & Dad were here off and on for five weeks. They were so much help with both boys. I was able to adjust to two so that when they left, it was pretty easy to jump back into real life!
Back Pain
Before I got pregnant, I lost 20 pounds. I was on a roll, so I was ready to get back into the exercise groove a few weeks after Marcus arrived. I worked out a few times and it felt great. Then, I started to have some pain in my rear (insert pun here) and nothing seemed to help it. It progressed to the pain shooting down my leg. Sometimes, it was so intense that I had to fight back nausea. The pain started to creep into my foot and then my foot started tingling and I had the sensation of a lump on the bottom of my foot. This is when I went to the doctor.
An MRI, X-ray, and physical therapy and then the report came that I had a severely herniated disc in my lumbar region. Yesterday, I went to the neurosurgeon. My biggest fear was that it could not be fixed and I would have to live with the pain forever. My second biggest fear was major surgery. Praise the Lord, Dr. Hux will be able to fix it with a minor outpatient surgery. So, I am excited to get this done so I can start living my life again. Constant pain is exhausting and sometimes depressing. There may be future surgeries in my future, but I plan on getting back into shape and building up my core to be as preventative as possible.
So, this is where we are today! About to celebrate Thanksgiving. Enjoying our boys. Learning so much about God's provision in difficult times. Thankful for the hope we have in Christ. Having opportunities to share that hope with others. Could we ask for more?
Cancer
I hate it. I hate it. It took my dear friend Kelsey on July 5th, and although she's been with Jesus since then, her husband, daughter, parents, sister, and all of her friends and family are left here trying to figure out life without her. I have watched her family grieve and it has been an encouragement that God has been honored through their worst days. On a personal note, I miss that girl. She was a precious friend and one of the blog posts I want to write is about all of the many things that she taught me.
So, just when life was slowing down from that, my mom and dad made an emergency trip back to the States to treat what we found out was thyroid cancer. I was thrilled to see them, but in shock and devastated at another cancer diagnosis, especially close to home in my own Dad. Praise God that if you're going to have thyroid cancer, this is the kind to have. On August 15th (8 years after I had my skin cancer removed...to the day!), all of the cancer was removed by surgery.
Soon after that, another dear lady at our church was diagnosed (again) with esophageal cancer. Crazy stuff, but her husband battled it and won ten years before and now she was going into her second round against this nasty, deadly cancer. I'm happy to report that she had a successful surgery and is learning a new way of life, but she is alive and back to tirelessly encouraging other people!
There are others in our church that have battled it recently. Ugh. Cancer makes me so mad!
Marcus
This is written in chronological order, not in order of quality of blessing or even importance. See, even cancer can be used by God to bring great blessing. In this case, He went above and beyond to bless our family. Let me explain...
Surgery on August 15th and then Mom & Dad came up to stay here in Norman for the remainder of their sixty day leave of absence! By the time they got up here, I was ready to have this baby. I still cannot believe that they got to be here for Marcus' birth and then the first five weeks of his life. What?!? So cool how everything worked out just perfectly.
On Tuesday, August 26th, I went in for my 37 week appointment and they gave me the heads up that things were starting to progress. (I was hoping that this would be the case because I was miserable and the sooner Marcus could come, the more time Mom & Dad would have with him). I could have kissed Jennifer (the NP) and I danced my way out as much as I could with a giant, pregnant belly.
Sure enough, that night I started having contractions. I was up all night, timing and when they were five minutes apart, we went in. Big bummer...they weren't strong enough. So I was sent home with strict instructions to come back when they were three minutes apart. All day I had contractions every five minutes. We went to the mall and walked. I went to church, hoping that things would progress. Got home from church, and Dad walked around the block with me (well, I waddled), and sure enough...the contractions stopped. Big, big bummer!
Thursday and Friday were the days that I did all of the things I was "too pregnant" to do just weeks earlier. I was picking things off the ground. I trimmed the hedge in the front yard. I walked for miles, powering through the swollen ankles. Nothing.
Saturday morning (August 30th), I got up and decided "Hey, it's the first OU game day. I'm just going to enjoy it and Marcus can come another day." You see where this is going. So we relaxed. We went to Ozzie's and ate a big breakfast. I sat around and watched football all day. Blake and Dad had tickets to the game so I drove them to the stadium. (Funny story...they had tickets, we lost them, and they bought new ones). I got home, put Jordan in the bath and...my water broke. Five minutes into the first quarter of the game. THANKFULLY, Blake answered the phone. "No, I'm not joking. You need to come home, now." So, they rushed back and we went to the hospital. Crazy, crazy Marcus...you just had to make an entrance!
Did I mention it was a blessing to have Mom & Dad here? Dad was already here with Jordan and knew exactly how to take care of him. I had ZERO worries about him and was able to focus on Marcus.
Marcus was born at 5:30 am on August 31st, about three weeks early. And what a sweet, sweet blessing he is to our family. He is an easy baby. He is so sweet and snuggly. And we are so thankful for his life. He is almost three months old now and I've only cried one time about him...compared to the many times I've cried about Jordan in that time! :)
Mom & Dad were here off and on for five weeks. They were so much help with both boys. I was able to adjust to two so that when they left, it was pretty easy to jump back into real life!
Back Pain
Before I got pregnant, I lost 20 pounds. I was on a roll, so I was ready to get back into the exercise groove a few weeks after Marcus arrived. I worked out a few times and it felt great. Then, I started to have some pain in my rear (insert pun here) and nothing seemed to help it. It progressed to the pain shooting down my leg. Sometimes, it was so intense that I had to fight back nausea. The pain started to creep into my foot and then my foot started tingling and I had the sensation of a lump on the bottom of my foot. This is when I went to the doctor.
An MRI, X-ray, and physical therapy and then the report came that I had a severely herniated disc in my lumbar region. Yesterday, I went to the neurosurgeon. My biggest fear was that it could not be fixed and I would have to live with the pain forever. My second biggest fear was major surgery. Praise the Lord, Dr. Hux will be able to fix it with a minor outpatient surgery. So, I am excited to get this done so I can start living my life again. Constant pain is exhausting and sometimes depressing. There may be future surgeries in my future, but I plan on getting back into shape and building up my core to be as preventative as possible.
So, this is where we are today! About to celebrate Thanksgiving. Enjoying our boys. Learning so much about God's provision in difficult times. Thankful for the hope we have in Christ. Having opportunities to share that hope with others. Could we ask for more?
