Praise the Lord!!!

Larry is doing fabulous!!! He is amazing docs and nurses. They said he would be in ICU for at least 2 days but he was able to leave the day after surgery and he was walking in his room by himself!! Then, they took the epidural cath out today and they expected him to be in a lot of pain but he was able to walk up and down the hall!! They got the results back on some tests that were still out and there was cancer in about 5 of the lymph nodes that they took out. They took out 27 lymph nodes, I think. He will have to go thru some more chemo but they said he has a VERY good chance of being cured. So we are so VERY thankful for everything God has done. We went to visit him yesterday and he is in very good spirits.

Larry

The surgery went very well. As far as they can tell they got all of the cancer. They went in with a scope first to take a look around and see if it was worth going ahead with surgery. The cancer did not invade other organs. Naturally they can't predict the future but they said his chances are very good. He may have to have more chemo. He will be in ICU for a day or 2. It will be a long road of recovery for him but there is relief in knowing the extent of everything. Not knowing if the cancer had invaded other organs was the hard part for everyone. We are just praising the Lord for answered prayers and for being close in our time of need. We don't understand why some things come into our lives but there is comfort in knowing that God is still on the throne. They think that he has had this tumor for over a year so it is kind of amazing that it did not go to other organs. Usually with stomach cancer by the time you discover you have it, it is to late. So we are very thankful that the outlook is positive. Thanks to everyone for your prayers. I know that Larry and Debbie appreciate it dearly. He is going to be in a LOT of pain so continue to pray for him. I believe he has an epidural cath in place right now.

Happenings......

One quick update, Larry will be having surgery tomorrow. So pray that everything goes well and that God will give all persons concerned strength. He will be in the hospital for about 2-3 wks. At least that is what they told us. My 2 oldest will be going to youth camp today and will stay till Sun. Cody is not really old enough to stay on his own but my brother and sister-in-law are there and they said that he could stay with them. Actually all of the boys except the baby will be staying with Tovie and Germayne tonight. That way Steve and I can both at the hospital tomorrow. I think I am a little more nervous about tomorrow than I thought. I thought I was doing pretty good but it's all I can think about today. Which I guess is pretty normal. A lot of things are on my mind of late. The boys schooling, Larry's surgery, Steve's job. So many major decisions to make and so many things uncertain. Steve is laid off right now which I guess works out ok since he is currently in truck driving school. On a lighter note I was teasing Steve and I told Germayne that it was a good thing that they were not going to be anywhere near our area cause Steve was going to be in a truck and she said maybe I don't even want to be in Michigan. I said yeah maybe not, things could get messy with Steve at the wheel of a semi. The bad part about this being laid off thing,is you have to wait weeks for your money to come in. But I guess all will work out. The issue with the schooling is the gas. I drive 160 miles per day to take them to and from school and honestly we can't afford it without God's help. My only other option is homeschooling and that is not on my dying-to-do list. The Lord knows what we should do, the problem is us knowing what the Lord wants us to do. Anyway, keep us in your prayers.

Happy Birthday

I'm a day late on this but I want to say Happy Birthday to my mom. She is the best mom ever. She is a great example for me. I love you. Oh, and you have some awesome kids!! :-)

Tannen & friends

This is Tannen with a couple of "friends". Left to right is Tirzah, Tannen, & Liberty. Tirzah & Tannen are a week apart. Tirzah is Chad & Adileah's baby. The other little girl is Liberty and she belongs to Destiny & Adam. I hope I spelled their names right ;-) They are so cute!!!

Favorite list

The one of Justice in the stream I took but Germayne fixed it up for me the rest of these she did. These are at the top of my favorite list.

The family

The one picture where you can hardly see Tyler didn't turn out right so we are going to redo it next week when they come up for youth camp.

Germayne's work

The last time Germayne took pictures for us the store wouldn't let me print them out because they said they were professional and I needed her signature.

Part of our photo session

Germayne took family pictures for us again while we were there. Here is just one of each of the kids. There are others and just like last time I love them all. She just has an eye for this stuff!! I know I'm there mother, but my boys are so adorable!!! Or I guess I should say handsome.

Me and my bro

We're back!!

It was nice to get away but nice to be home as well. We had a great time with Tovie and Germayne. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of stuff but we went swimming, did some 4-wheelin', and mostly just hung out. Germayne and I went out for coffee one day and did some shopping. Well, she had coffee. I'm not a coffee person but she is a big coffee person. Tristen really enjoyed riding Zach's dirt bike. Just before we got down there he had a bit of an accident on someone elses dirt bike. He ran into a barbed wire fence and scrapped himself up pretty good. He had one gash on his cheek about an inch long that was pretty bad but he was a tough little guy and he got right back on the bike and wanted to ride some more. Steve almost flipped on his 4-wheeler. He said that he isn't really sure how it didn't flip on him. He was doing a jump and another guy they were riding with was in front of him and just stopped. Steve was to far into the jump to stop and he landed on his back wheels on the side of the ditch they were jumping with the rest of the quad straight in the air!! Other than that no other damage to any one. These pictures are not from vacation, they are my mom, Ward, Tristen and Paris. These are pictures that Germayne took when mom and Ward were down there. Paris is my mom's only grand-daughter.

Vacation

We are leaving today for vacation to IN. My brother lives in Shoals and we are going down there to ride 4-wheelers. Can you imagine that!! :-) Anyway, Justice said good-bye to his girl yesterday. I felt really bad for the 2 of them. He might think I'm just blowin' smoke when I say I know how he feels, but I really do. I'm old but not that old, I remember what it's like to like someone so much you feel like your heart could break. If it's any encouragement to them at all, I have always wanted to go to Alaska. So you never know. In a round about way I do have family there. Ward, my moms husband, has 2 daughters that live there. Justice wanted to have Kaitlin go 4-wheelin' with us while she was here but it didn't work out. Maybe they will get a chance sometime. From the sounds of it, Kaitlin likes to ride just as much as the rest of us. Hopefully I will have pictures of vacation on here when I get back. Until then, take care. Everyone is waiting for me in the car. :-)

Bath time!!

I gave Tannen a bath today and he was so cute!! He kept trying to grab the stream of water and put it in his mouth. He was trying to rub his face and he stuck his head in the water and got some water up his nose, after that he was done with the bath. Up until then he liked it.

Family Reunion

We had a great time at the reunion!! I forgot my camera so I'll have to get pics off of Germayne. So when I get them I'll put them on here. It rained off and on the whole week-end but it was still fun. My mom and Ward live in CO so I don't get to see them very much and they were able to make it. We also seen a bear and her 3 cubs. That was exciting!!! She came right up behind our cabin. I guess she was looking for food. Tannen also got his first tooth over the week-end. It seems like he is doing something new everyday. He is going to crawl any day now. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks but he doesn't have his hands and knees coordinated yet. He is growing so fast!!