Katherine is almost 10!

This was taken in September of 2014, she's not even 9 in this pic!

7 1/2 and doing great....

I know it's been a LONG time since I last updated this blog, and in a way it's a good thing...I think; though I feel badly for leaving our faithful readers hanging and without any update. Katherine is now 3 years and 3 months post chemotherapy treatment completion and doing absolutely beautifully!! What a praise!! God has shown us his faithfulness through all of this--the entire journey from before diagnosis, through treatment, and post treatment. Katherine continues to be our strong little girl!! Her clinic checkups are now spaced 4 months apart, and each visit is an answer to prayer, and a continued witness to God's faithfulness, His love for us and His protection over our precious princess. Katherine has grown up into a beautiful 7 1/2 almost 8 year old, and is going into second grade. She is strong willed, determined, persevering, loving, kind, gentle, yielding, helpful, and just a joy to be around!! She's NOT perfect though; she's got the typical 7 1/2 almost 8 year old sassiness of any girl this age--the rolling the eyes, the struggles with selfishness, the wanting things her way, feeling frustrated and angry--but what girl her age doesn't struggles with these things? I'm 37 and I still struggle with every single thing that I've listed and more....it's a daily thing we work on, and we get a little better each day. Her brothers love her, and she loves them, though I think, secretly, she still would love to have a baby sister! :) Here is an updated picture of our little girl, or should I say, young lady :)

Almost 7

Katherine today...almost 6!

Here is our daughter today...she glows from the inside out...

to see more pics of Katherine visit Her Post

Waking up with a heavy heart...

I've woken up today with a heavy heart. Everything is well in our house. Katherine continues to do well post treatment, and post surgery. Every blood check has come back with beautiful counts, and she is just growing up into this beautiful young lady. She continues to have a love for music and dance, and we are delighted to watch her "dancing" shows when she decides to put one on. The girl should be a ballerina. She's been out of dance class for almost two years, yet her form is impeccable! :)

Going to back to my mood this morning. Like I said, this morning I've woken up with a heavy heart. Late last night I received an email from the sister of a close friend of mine. She wanted to get some input, some encouraging words for her friend, whose 3 year old daughter was just recently diagnosed with ALL. My heart sunk, and goes out to that family this morning as I drift back, emotionally, into the days when we received our Katherine's diagnosis. The reason for this post is to ask you, all of our followers to pray for this family. I don't know them personally, but I do know first hand the feelings they are encountering, the fear of their uncertainty and the devastation of their daughter's diagnosis. As you prayed for us, I ask you to pray for them. The little girl's name is Abigail, she is 3 years old, and I can only imagine how beautiful and precious she is.

Port is out, she's recovering...

First off thank you for all of your prayers. Katherine had a successful surgery for port removal on Thursday morning. Everything went as smoothly as can be expected, I guess. I say that because we did hit some bumps along the way, but the actual surgery and recovery were without much incident. The surgery was scheduled at 8am, and she was to be at the hospital checked in by 6am that morning. So, daddy and Katherine were out the door by 5:55 to get there on time; which they did. The boys and I arrived promptly at 7:45am to see her off to surgery. Well, at 8:37am we were still sitting in the same little room; the boys getting ansy (mostly Oliver). I needed a little break and walked out to the nurses station to find out what the delay was. To make a long story short, I was told that Katherine was not actually on their schedule until 9am, and that due to a short case in front of her, it would probably be 9:30 before they'd take her back. So, plans changed and I took the boys to church for mornings for mom, came back and waited. I planned to see her off to surgery, go to my new OB appointment and be back in time for her to be coming out of anesthesia. Well, as they say NOTHING goes as planned. First we were delayed for the actual surgery, 2 hours and a half, and then I was stuck at the OB's waiting room for about an hour before I actually saw the doctor. Why didn't I reschedule you ask?? Well, it was a "new patient" appointment. I had already gone about 6 weeks since my last checkup and I was afraid that if I called to reschedule, not being an establish patient with the dr would push me out to mid may!! I should have known better. When I finally told the dr that I had a daughter in surgery at St. Francis he proceeded to attend to me more quickly. Nonetheless, I did NOT make it back in time to be there when Katherine woke up. It was 1pm, my appt was scheduled for 11:20 that morning!! So, I headed over to pick up the boys, and just met up with daddy and Katherine at home.

Katherine has done extremely well in her recovery. She has pain every once in a while, but a little tylenol usually keeps it under control. She went to school on Friday and was excited to take her port in a baggie for show and tell. I asked the teachers to call me if she complained of pain. I picked her up at 1:30 that afternoon, and found her in good spirits. I asked how her day had gone, and if she had shared with her friends about the port. She said "yes mommy, the boys all said 'holy cow', and the girls said 'wow!'"

Here are just a few pics of the morning prior to surgery....

Sorry for the delayed update, after surgery my body must have felt some relief and the freedom to come down with a major cold. I have been in bed feeling crummy since yesterday afternoon!!

Surgery is scheduled

So, a quick update to say that surgery is scheduled for 8am tomorrow morning, Thurs 4/14. Please be praying that all goes well. I will update when we are home from the hospital. This should be an outpatient procedure, so we should be home in the afternoon. Also be praying for my first OB appointment with the new doctor. It's tomorrow morning as well...we are still figuring out logistics...but it will all work out, I know.

thank you!

After 3 years the port is coming out...

Life has been busy. It's been a LONG time since the last update, but not due to lack of activity in this household, rather lack of time!! In fact, this year is busy!! Katherine started school!! Granted, she's only in Pre-K, it's been an adjustment for the entire family--well, I should say more for me than for the kids. They accommodate to whatever routine I throw at them, it's ME that has to adjust!! :)

Katherine celebrated her 5th birthday in November of last year, and is such a big girl. She's happy, joyful, creative, smart, and full of life! Praise the Lord!! She loves to sing, she loves to read, she loves to play, she loves to help, she loves to love, especially on her baby "sister" on the way (she's convinced it's a girl, even though we have no idea yet, and haven't decided if we will find out or not). Yes, we are pregnant and expecting baby #4 in early september. Katherine is the most ecstatic about baby coming, and she's crossing her fingers for a baby sister, so she can show her all the ropes, but most importantly so she has someone to share her room with.

As noted in previous entries, Katherine finished chemo treatment in April of 2010. And now, it is time for the port to come out. After 3 years, she is scheduled to have "port removal" surgery on Thursday of this week!! Yes, in TWO days. We are excited to cross this milestone, and yet I'm a little nervous about our subsequent checkups with the ONC. You see, in the beginning of treatment the nurses and doctors assured us that Katherine would get used to her "push pushes" (or the accessing of her port). However, that has NOT been the case. She's never been "okay" with going into clinic and getting a poke to draw blood. It's a fight every time. You can imagine how much stronger she has grown since the diagnosis! So much so, that I can't hold her on my own sometimes. So, I don't know what to expect once the port is out, and blood has to be drawn from her little arm. I imagine it may be tough, but I know we'll get through it, just like we have so far. Though the port is being removed, she will continue to have check ups in the clinic every 2 months this next year. The following year, the appts will space out even more, and on down the road until we hit the 5th year post end of treatment. So, we still have a long road ahead, but this road is easier to maneuver seeing how well Katherine is doing and knowing that she is in remission. So, please do continue praying for our little girl and our family when we come to mind! :)

Wish Trip Photos and Sage Culinary Party Photos

I've FINALLY uploaded the photos from our Wish Trip to Disney. You can view a slideshow of them here PHOTOS

Also, this weekend was SUPER busy. However, in the midst of chaos we were able to celebrate Katherine with a fun "COOKING" party, courtesy of some wonderful ladies in town and their business who put it together. Katherine, Joshua and their friends got to have a fun hour and half of cooking! We went to the Sage Culinary School and they made spaghetti pies, and decorated cupcakes. All this while the parents got to chat and fellowship in the schools smoothie and coffee cafe! I'm downloading pics right now. Will post a slide show of these later today! Again, thank you ALL of you who have consistently been in prayer for our little girl.





I know this family photo is NOT complete, but Oliver was peacefully sleeping in his carseat!!

and if you want to see ALL the photos from the party, click HERE

Katherine's wish...

The time has come when we can travel and fulfill Katherine's wish. It has been quite a couple of years for us, and she is more than deserving of all the magic in the world. So, we are in Disney for the week.

DAY 1: Wednesday morning we had an early departure. We headed to the airport to catch our 8:30am plane, but not before stopping at the hospital to meet our newest little friend James Allen :). We made good time, and actually had to wait to board the aircraft. Joshua and Katherine were so excited to see airplanes, and even more so to ride in one. Our flight from Tulsa to St. Louis was uneventful, the kids did great, and the time flew. When we arrived in St. Louis, grandma Hambone was waiting at the terminal for us--I don't know how she managed that one, but we were able to spend a few mins with her before boarding our flight into Orlando. After 2.5 hrs on the plane, the kids were ready to be at our destination. No naps, and no meltdowns quite yet, not until we were at the car rental place, and trying to get carseats installed. They were able to nap from the airport to the village. We are staying at the Give the Kids the World Village Wow, what an amazing place, and a resort in itself. We are looking forward to exploring every bit of this cool place, and venturing out to many of the parks in Disney. The last three days have been so much fun--exnhausting, but lots of fun. The kids have really had their share of sun, heat, and sweat amidst laughs, huge smiles, and excitement.

DAY 2: Thursday morning we headed to the Magic Kingdom, and spent the day at the park. We walked, and walked, and walked. We ate ice cream, rode some of the rides that are most appropriate for little ones, and just enjoyed being out. Fun in the sun does not equate to happy kids all the time, though. We had our meltdowns, did we ever! No naps for us, means crabby kids, and we had them after 3pm. But we managed to last til about 5:30 when we headed back home. We have many many photos, but I'll have to upload those later as I have not downloaded a single photo off the camera. I do have to add that our best behaved little monkey thus far, is little Oliver. We borrowed a baby bjorn before we left Tulsa, and it has been a life saver. I really don't know what we would be doing if we didn't have that little pouch. Poor baby is going to think he's a little joey when we get through with the trip. He absolutely loves being in it, facing out. He loves to people watch, and is so calm. He has not minded the heat, or the sun and is content as can be. When he gets exhausted, he simply falls asleep without much fuss!

DAY 3: Friday morning, after having a healthy breakfast, we headed to Sea World where we enjoyed most of the shows, got to feed dolphins, and stingrays, and we also saw sharks. We started our day with the Shamu Believe show, and ended with the dolphins. The kids asked lots of questions, and were intrigued by all that they saw. The clouds started rolling in late afternoon, and we decided to call it a day just in time for the storm. We barely made it home before it started downpouring. The kids were exhausted. They fell asleep on the ride home, and transferred well to their beds. They were asleep for the night at 5:00pm, and didn't get up until about 6am this morning....

DAY 4: We decided that after a couple of busy and exhausting days, today should be a day of relaxation and staying in. So, we've had a slow day. Saturday mornings are quiet here, and on our stroll to get breakfast this morning we found the ponies. So, the kids enjoyed a pony ride before breakfast, which they both seemed to enjoy. After breakfast, Dan and the older two kiddos headed out to do an air boat ride. When they got back from their outing, I was informed that Joshua enjoyed the outing a LOT, and he apparently did not want to get off the boat after the ride. Katherine had a different opinion though, she simply said "no, I didn't like it..." but what was most funny was the response she had given Dan right after ride. You have to know, that we had to convince her to go this morning. She was wanting to stay with Oliver and I, and not have anything to do with a boat ride. But we said it would be fun, and she reluctantly agreed to go with the boys. When they were done, Dan asked her if she had had fun...her response, "no, I didn't, but you did daddy!"....smart girl or what?? :) That made me laugh! We had lunch, ate ice cream, rode the mechanical car endless times, drove remote control boats on the water, played with the train station buttons a lot, and are now on our way to visit our friends, and see the beach. It's kinda stormy here, which is nice in that the day has cooled off, but that may mean we only SEE the beach and not actually get to play...we'll see.


We only have a few more days here, and lots we want to do like...plane rides, visiting the animal kingdom, playing at the Sea World water park, riding the rides we forgot to do the first day at the Magic Kingdom, play in the pool, and play with our friends some more.


Photos to come later.