Catching up...

Surprise! I know you can't believe I finally have a new post up! Well, don't get used to it! LOL! ;-) No, seriously I feel really bad that I haven't kept my blog up lately because this is how I keep up with our memories so it is important to me and I really want to do better! I need to start MAKING time for it and not making excuses as to why I can't do it. I do have a good reason though...my computer has had a lot of issues since my last post and was not working until just recently! :-) Needless to say life has been extremely crazy! I thought once we got past the holidays things would slow down but that was not the case at all!! We had a really blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas! We also had a really busy holiday season. To catch up a little....the week before Thanksgiving Luke had surgery to remove his tonsils. We heard many horror stories of other people's experience with the same surgery and we were terrified! However, we tried to prepare for the worst in hopes that it wouldn't be as bad as we thought! Yeah, while that was a good idea, it didn't work! :-( The surgery itself went well, although I think they sent us home too soon. We were told we would stay there until the nurses knew he was keeping something down but that didn't happen. Shortly after we got home Luke started vomitting and then continued to vomit the next 24 hours. He wasn't even keeping water down. I can't even imagine the pain he was in! I can't imagine just having my tonsils cut or burnt (however they did it) out of my throat and then vomitting uncontrollably! :-( He began to show signs of dehydration so we ended up in the Emergency Department. To make a long story short we had to go back to the ED the very next day. He received morphine and fluids on both visits and they changed his medicine. While he did get better from the dehydration he was very sick and in a lot of pain for pretty much an entire week. He started slowly improving the second week but it took a while to get back to "normal." Even now it still feels a lot different so I guess it's a new normal that takes a while to get used to! Anyway, getting your tonsils out as an adult is a horrible experience!! We are so thankful that is behind us!!

The week after Luke had his tonsils out we traveled to be with family for Thanksgiving. The past couple of years Luke's mom and dad have so kindly included my family in their Thanksgiving meal. The Johnson's and my grandparents live in the same town so that has been really nice to be together with both sides of the family!

Her 1st Thanksgiving!

Brayden took this for us! :-)

On Black Friday the ladies on my mom's side of the family have a tradition of going shopping together. We have been doing this for several years now and we have the best time. It's not really about the deals either we just like being together! It is exhausting though considering we shop through the night and shop for a total of 15-17 hours!! Yeah, we're crazy! LOL! ;-) For the first time we did a before and after picture!

Before

After! HaHa!

The week following Thanksgiving my Dad had major surgery for his colorectal cancer. I haven't been able to blog about this yet...I don't really know what to say or how to describe the feelings. Sometimes it still doesn't seem real. Eight days after Hannah Grace was born Luke came home in the middle of the day and said he had to talk to me. My heart immediately sank and then was broken in pieces after I heard the news. The next few weeks were extremely difficult as we waited for more appointments and more results. He started chemo and radiation two months after the diagnosis. Treatments lasted between 5 and 6 weeks. He responded really well to treatments and handled it really well. He had surgery on December 5th. The surgery went really well and was successful! Praise the Lord!! He had a lenghty recovery period that he again handled really well! Adjusting to life with an ileostomy bag has been challenging to say the least. It's been amazing to watch my parents in this trial. I have been reminded just how blessed I am to call them Daddy and Mama! Their faith in God has never wavered! I never heard them complain! I watched their love grow stronger! I could go on and on. Now this doesn't mean there hasn't been difficult days and there hasn't been tears because that's happened. Some days are harder than others. This has certainly been one of the hardest trials of our lives. However, we have clung to our Savior and His Word. He is good, even when we don't understand. We know He doesn't make mistakes and that His plan is perfect! His ways are much higher than our ways. We have to trust Him. My daddy is having surgery again on Wednesday, February 25th to reverse the first surgery. Please pray for him as this part of the journey is almost over!!

On December 20th Luke and I celebrated our 11th anniversary! That doesn't even seem right!! Why does time have to pass so quickly?! We were able to take a little trip and get away for a couple of days! It was so nice to be alone and relax together! We stayed at a cabin in Pigeon Forge! We had a great time! Thanks to my brother and his wife for keeping the kids! That was a huge blessing and made this trip possible!

   

The week after our anniversary was the week of Christmas. Since we moved in January this was the first year we had to travel for the holidays. It made things different but we are thankful we are still close enough to be with family during these special times. We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed seeing all of our family!

Her 1st Christmas!

Well that gets me caught up to the new year so that'll have to do for now. Sorry for the book! I really do hope to do better. At least I'm not as behind as I was! LOL!