Roller Coaster Rides

I love roller coasters, the faster, the more they hang upside down, the better. Well here lately that has been my life. Some of you may know that When I took Courtney for her annual check up (11-4), we had them look at this lump on her ankle. Well they sent us for a x-ray (same day), one week later (11-12) to a foot specialist to look at it. He thought is was just a cyst, easily removed, but wanted to send her for a MRI (11-15) just to see exactly what it was touching. On Wed, 11-19, the foot Dr. called me to tell me Courtney may have a malignant tumor and he was referring her to Baptist Hospital. She was going to see the head of the Adult Orthopedic Oncology Department. Now, when he called me at was volunteering at the boys' school and just lost it.

I was so scared, I left the school and went straight to Paula's house and crashed for the day. There she let me just do whatever, play with Andrew, love on Ashleigh, talk on the phone as it began to ring constantly. I had to call Danny and tell him. I only told him and then Dana for the 1st several hours. I just didn't want to say it out loud, making it real. Dana did the reasearch on the tumor and found great info for me later in the day. As the day went on, I began telling people, asking them to pray for Courtney, me, and to put her on every prayer list they knew of. As our prayer request went out, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of concern for all of us. My home and cell phone rang constantly and my email was overflowing. God was showing himself through our church family and our friends. Just Amazing!

11-25 our appointment at Baptist: Dr. very knowledgeable, told us he doesn't believe the tumor is malignant. They scheduled the surgery for 12-15 so Courtney only has to miss one week of school and then it is the Christmas break. They will remove part of the tumor and do a biopsy right there. If it is benign they will stitch her up and she stays the night. If they find cancer, they will remove everything around the area, even her skin. That will be much more invasive and she will be there for several nights. She would go back eventually for skin graphs.

We had so much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. We enjoyed our time with our family and the great shopping on black friday! Yes Danny and I went out at 3:30am and were done by 8am, home and in the bed.

I have also had some of my own stuff going on the past 2 weeks. Some really high highs and some really low lows. It just makes me wonder what God is up to. I firmly believe Jer 29:11 and Phil 4:13, but that has been hard this week.

So now we wait until Monday. With a week in between these dr visit, we rested for a bit. Now reality of the surgery is back and I must make plans for next week. We don't know what time the surgery will be, so it is hard to figure out what to do with the boys. I am thankful for my mom friends who I can call at the last minute to get the boys.

This weekend will be crazy with 2 different Christmas cantatas and bell ringing and wrapping to do.

So as much as I love roller coasters, I have decided that I love them because the are over in 1 min and 37 sec. Not the ones that last for a month and counting.

Hanging Rock, NC

So last October we went up to Hanging Rock with Paula and Andrew. The leaves were amazing, we loved it so much we skipped church the next Sunday and went back with Danny. So this year we went up again on Vet's day. We headed up and took a lunch with us. We did 2 new trails and waterfalls. The leaves were not as good as last year, a lot of them had already fallen. So as we were getting ready to leave, Danny pulled the my keys out of his pocket and all he had was the remote to the van!! Courtney had gone back to the van to put away her lunch, and apparently when she handed him back the keys, my van key came off the ring. We searched the area where we had eaten, but it was not there. So I had to go into the office and call my mom to rescue us. She went by our house, got the extra set of keys and drove them up to us!! Brownie points big time for mom. As she arrived 1 1/2 hour later, the office staff came to let us know that 2 hikers had turned in my key about 20 mins earlier! We were relieved to have my key back and it is just a funny story now. Note to self: from now on, I keep the keys in my pocket and trust no one! LOL

Fall Leaf Traditions

2002
Stephen

Nathan

Leaves at Deep River Friends

Double Trouble, Double Blessing

Courtney

Every fall since the twins were born, we have gone and taken pictures at a local church. The kids are a little big for it now, and just go along with it. Afterall, that's what traditions are all about. So here are a few pictures from this year. I hope you enjoy! The oldest picture I have on my computer is from 2002, look at how small the kids are!

Fireproof

We finally went to see the movie Fireproof. I had heard so much about it and it lived up to it's name. I cried on and off the entire movie. If you have ever gone through a rough patch in your marriage you can relate to this movie. Some of the acting was a bit cheesy (Danny struggled with that) but the message is so valuable. God intended for our marriages to last forever. I loved the salt and pepper analogy (you'll have to see the movie). What a great visual. Although the movie has been very popular, we were one of only 2 couples in the whole theater! It was cool to laugh as load as I wanted and talk w/ Danny about scenes without disturbing anyone.

Please go see the movie!

Cardboard Testimonies

Ok, I am not sure if this will work or not but I will give it a try.
At church on Sunday they showed a video that really touched me. These people are on stage with cardboard signs that tell of a problem and then they flip it over and it tells where God has brought them. Some are common, some are cute, and others will burst open your heart. I hope you will watch the video, it last for 8 minutes or so. We all have something that God has brought us through and made us whole again. Some of us may still be struggling with something, this is proof of the mighty God we serve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ

Happy Halloween

After much debate about going out this year, the kids had a great time trick or treating. Stephen had said all year he was not going out, he wanted to stay home and give out candy. Even at our Trunk or Treat at church he enjoyed giving out the candy the most. At the last minute he changed his mind. Courtney dressed up as a rainbow, Stephen a boy scout (he couldn't come up w/ anything) and Nathan a skelaton. Danny took them out this year since I was at the Women of Faith Conference. Our good friends the Cutchin family come over and all the kids went out. They have a son the same age as my boys and he was also a skelaton this year, so him and Nathan looked like the twins. The girls also dressed alike (after much, much, much discussion) 13 year olds you just have to love 'em. They all got plenty of candy that I can't wait to get my hands into :)

As for the conference, it was great. Great speakers and awesome music (Natalie Grant, Nicole C. Mullen). I was volunteering for World Vision helping to get children sponsored and that was a blessing for me. We had over 350 children sponsored. I got to talk about my 2 trips to Uganda and show my pictures, what's not to love! One lady even got all teary eyed looking at my pictures. I plan to help them again next year when they return to GSO. Maybe one of these years I will actually get to work for World Vision for real! You never know what God has in store but He has certainly given me a strong desire to do whatever I can for the families of Uganda, Africa.

I've Been Tagged!

Ok, my friend Cheryl tagged me so that I would post something on my blog!

I am so new to this blogging stuff and it is exciting to have been tagged.

1. Growing up I always wanted to have twins, not sure why. I thought I wanted twin girls, thank God he gave me twin boys. Which is funny because as soon as I found out I was having twins, the only thing I wanted was for it NOT to be twin boys! Now of course, I wouldn't trade them boys for anything.

2. I love Duke, even though my family loves Wake. Football season, not so much fun, but then we always have basketball to look to! Go Duke!

3. My idea of a perfect vacation would be sitting on the beach watching the waves roll in, with a book in one hand and a fruity drink in the other.

4. I sleep with a teddy bear Danny gave to me, his name is Wilson (from the movie Cast Away)

5. I love to listen to music, very loudly. I sing at the top of my lungs. It is therapy for me. It can lift my spirits no matter what kind of day I have had. My favorite is Contemporary Christian, but I listen to many different types depending on my mood.

6. I have been to Uganda, Africa twice with World Vision. It was an experiance I will cherish for the rest of my life. It has opened my eyes to the blessing I have of being born in the USA. The things I saw changed my life forever. The families I met, including the child I sponsor, were so generous. They know the meaning of hospitality and hope and they live it everyday. They fully rely on God for all their needs and they are content happy, so very happy. How many of us can say that? I will go again someday and my kids will go with me.

7. I am a proud 12 year member of the cult called scrapbooking. I have many albums completed and many in the works. I seriously love it. I have more stickers than should be allowed to any one person.

That was hard for me. I can talk about my kids no problem, but talking about myself is much harder.

Since I am new at tisI don't know 7 bloggers so I will tag the ones I know:

Dana (my sis-n-law she will do great at this)

Mel (fellow cult member and book club friend)

Jenn (sis-n-law in Denver, newest member of the cult)

Have Gals!

Rock Wall Victory!

Last night we had a Trunk or Treat at church. We decorated the back of my van with spider webs, spiders, pumpkins and a flying bat. We even had scary music cd we played. All the kids love the flying bat. I will have to look for another one this weekend when everything is on clearance. They had a rock wall there for the bigger kids to enjoy. Well my kids have never been able to get very far up the wall. Both boys tried and (their words) only got about 1/8 of the way up. At the very end of the night Stephen wanted to try again with me watching. So he got up and ended up getting all the way to the top!! I was so exstatic and proud of him. Now of course, I had left my camera at home so all I have are pictures taken with my cell phone. They are not great but they show him at the top! By the way, it was freezing out there!

Nathan's Glasses

Nathan was so glad to finally get his glasses! He got them the afternoon of the 1st day of school. On the way home from the eye dr he was talking about how he could now see the shape of the leaves on the trees! It made me feel sad that he had been missing that all this time. So now they both have them and I am so confused! For the past year I have been able to tell them apart right away, even from behind. That 1st night I was getting to mixed up and it was freaking me out completely. I am back to just calling a name and seeing who turns around. They are very understanding of their poor mama. I am thankful that the boys don't mind wearing glasses. They both want to get sport goggles to wear for football and basketball. More on that later.

School 2008

Stephen

Nathan (he got glasses the very next day)

Courtney

I can't believe I have an 8th grader, and 2 5th graders!! Where did all the time go? They were all excited to start back this year. They have great teachers and we are very thankful for that blessing!

Summer 2008

Stephen on the pier in Carolina Beach. A trip he was very thankful to be on with us!

Nathan, Andrew, Courtney, and Stephen enjoying the baby pool. They spent as much time there with Andrew as they did the big pool. He was in hog heaven.

Our friend's daughter Lexie spent the day with us and went swimming.

Cheerwine commercial

My boys on Folley Beach, one of my favorite beaches.

We had a fantastic summer. It was nice having Danny around, especially since he is now gone during the weeks. Since we spend our free time at the beach and pool, here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Our Wedding

June 22, 2007

I can't believe it has almost been a year! I still have to remind myself when signing my name sometimes! Danny and I are still putting together all the photos from the wedding and honeymoon. He recently put together a DVD of photos set to music. It is wonderful, very professional looking.

Africa 2008

Here these boys carry 3 or 4 water jugs back home. This is the primary chore for the children. They get water in the mornings and afternoons. Some have to walk 1 mile to the shallow well. These boys are blessed to have the bike to tie the jugs to, most have to carry 2 at a time. The jugs are 5 gallons = 40lbs each! Can you imagine. I tried to carry one, just one, and I could barely lift it. These are small children doing this work.

These school children look through the door at the "Monzungos", white skins, who were visiting. They were perfectly quiet and just stared at us. Some of them had never seen white skins before. We scared plenty of babies on this trip, they think we are ghosts! This is one of my favorite pictures.

In Kassangombe, the children use whatever they can find to cover their heads when it is raining. Here these children walk to school with plastic covering them. They didn't even have shoes. Some walked with no shoes, no jacket, no covering.

Charles is the child we sponsor. It was wonderful seeing him again. His mother almost knocked me down when she saw me coming down the road to their home. She came running and jumped at me! It was like something out of a movie. I was able to meet his 2 sisters and give them all gifts. They also sent gifts with me. It was bitter-sweet since I do not know if I will ever see him again. We do send letters back and forth to keep in touch. His smile says everything.