Randy bought me this new fancy camera!! These are the first pictures we took. They are so clear. I love it. Here is a picture of Cameron in his new play tents. They connect with the tunnel. When I put it together, Cameron couldn’t get enough of it. I just had to try out the new camera to see how it would take in the tunnel. I think it is some of the cutest pictures of Cameron. You can decide for yourself. I also put up a picture of my hair. Everyone is asking about it, so I took a picture to show what I am talking about. I can’t believe how long and curly it is. I am having so much fun with it. I never thought that curly hair would look good on me. Now that is not me being stuck on myself saying that, that is from the compliments I get from others! I had to explain. I am doing good still. The kids are having much with all their toys. Especially the Wii. I never thought it was this much fun. My brother in law had one that they all played with in Utah when we visited them. I never tried to play. Wow, was I missing out on fun. I think I am addicted. This is such a fun family game time. I know that sounds bad probably to the Doctors out there, but I can’t help myself. At least we are exercising also. The sports package is so much fun. I haven’t tried the boxing yet. Little Michael did. He was so cute! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Love ya!!!! Rebecca:)
Merry Christmas! What a great year this was. Here I am at home celebrating our Saviors Birthday with my boys. A lot has happened since the last entry. I have been too busy with life. I talked about the back issues, well I had to go to Physical Therapy three times a week and then to Chiropractic a couple of times. I still think I can’t handle being popped. I have to admit though I felt a lot better afterwards. At the same time with all of this, I had a issue with Cameron. I spotted a lump on his back in July when I bathed him. It worried me a bit. We had to go through a bit of time before I could get a MRI. First we had cream to out on him (didn’t even touch it), then we had oral medicine (nothing either!), So finally we got a appointment with a pediatric surgeon . He felt it and mentioned that it was either a Hemangeoma (blood vessel) or a Lipoma (fatty tissue). I fought to get a MRI instead of a Sonogram. It worked! He had his MRI on the 12th. That was hard on me. I sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star while they put him to sleep. I was so strong until I had to leave the room. Then I cried. A lot. I don’t know how parents can have their children go through surgery and be so strong about it. That was so hard on me. I soon calmed down. The facility was just amazing. They helped me keep Michael busy. Cameron did great waking up too. Sweet thing. Then we had to wait. Here we go again the waiting game. After his yearly check-up she called! He has a Hemangioma (blood vessel). It is not cancerous and it is not attached to the spine! I was so relieved. We can handle this. Well sort of. We were referred to a Vascular Surgeon that specializes in children. I learned that there is only four in the United States, two of which are here in Dallas! Wow. We are so blessed. He has an appointment on January 15th to talk about surgery or not. Keep praying please.
Onto a better subject. I had my scans in Utah at the beginning of December. They are all clear again!! I am so happy. I fought the battle and am still winning! Thanks to all the support and prayers we received. Thank you.
This week Michael learned to ride a two wheeler!! He just asked his Daddy to take off the wheels. I was so surprised! He just does things on his own time. He’s amazing. So now he is a big boy now!!!
In our neighborhood we have a Santa Clause. The boys loved seeing him and we didn’t have to wait in the long lines to get a picture with Santa!! I can’t believe they do this every year. I am so grateful for them.
Yesterday was Christmas Eve. We had a couple of friends over for dinner. These are the same friend we spent Thanksgiving with. We were joking around saying who’s house for Valentines Day! I just love hanging out with them. We played a game and then we read the story “The Night Before Christmas” and then a book my parents gave us, “I Believe in Santa Clause”. Randy is such a good Narrator. Then we opened presents, which are always a new set of Pajamas. The kids love this. I know I loved it when I was little. We ate cookies that I homemade. Surprising huh? I found a great recipe for thin mints. Yummy! We went to bed while we waited for Santa.
Today is Christmas. We are so happy to be together here. Santa Clause came and brought us a Wii! Now I can get a great workout! Laugh Laugh. The boys were so surprised. They have been asking for one for quite awhile. We are going to have some good family times with this one. We also got a lot of other fun things. Cameron received a lot of Elmo toys. You should have seen his face with each one. The wrapping paper couldn’t come off soon enough! I was shocked how many fun new things we received. I’m going to have fun with the boys. Ricky and Michael got a lot of Tech Decks and Star Wars toys. They are set for life. Randy got some socks that he really needed and some nice shirts and all the goodies. I received a lot of Cricut fonts and tools. I also got a new camera!!! I love it. My other one is five years old. You know the ones that are huge and bulky while everyone around you can take theirs out of their pockets! That one. My new camera is so small. It also takes great, clear pictures. Now I can take my camera more places. This Christmas was so fun. I hope I never forget how I felt waking up here this year in my own bed. Last year I was in Utah fighting for my life. Who would have known how far I would be last year. I am practically back to normal. My strength is getting better everyday. I just need to keep doing my exercises. That is hard to do with the little ones around. Thank goodness they like to watch Sesame Street. It’s an hour long, that is what I need. Here is the letter I sent out to some in our Christmas Card. I realized that I have missed more people than I wanted to. I have way too many address books. I need to put it in one book sometime. Anyway I thought I would copy and paste it in fro you all to read. We also have a picture of our family in Santa hats. Mine says princess and Randy’s is a Cowboys hat his brother gave him. We had fun taking them. I hope to write soon. Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts. “Merry Christmas to all, and to all have a good night”.
Rebecca:)
Dear Family and Friends,
Here it is that time of year that we all celebrate the birth of Christ. I remember last year being Mrs. Bah Humbug.Let me explain: Last year as most of you all know I was diagnosed with Cancer in July. I thought I would go to Utah for treatment and come home by Christmas. We just moved in our house a year ago and I wanted to celebrate another year in our new home. I’m sure you all can relate. Well it didn’t happen. I was still in treatment. I remember thinking “why me?”, “Why right now in my life?” Christmas morning I woke up and tried to be happy for the kids. Wow that was hard. I ended up sitting back and watching while my family laughs and open presents. I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s Christmas. Then a thought came to me. This Christmas isn’t all about the presents or where I was at. This was Jesus’ birth. He came to this earth to give us life. He even died for us. And now here I was being very selfish wanting to be home. I couldn’t believe how I was feeling. Here I am with all my family, in Utah, and I’m still alive! Anyone else in my place would have been happy to be with everyone and not in a hospital bed. I soon changed my attitude. Then no sooner later, I open a present with a pair of pajamas that had Disney’s Eyehore on it and it said “Lighten Up”. Now that was funny. We all had a great laugh with that. After that I sat there thinking about Jesus and how lucky I was to have him on my side. During my journey with Cancer, I have never been so close to my Heavenly Father and Jesus. I know that prayers were answered. Heavenly Father listens. I felt Him near me at all times. I was saved. I had Hope. Now I have another Christmas to celebrate. And celebrate at home!!
This 2007 year was the greatest. Randy didn’t have to commute anymore on the airplane. He joined his carpool again. You should have seen how happy he was to return home again. He didn’t want to go on another airplane ride again. Southwest Airlines was the best job he could have ever had. Randy also changed his job title from Manager of Distribution to Business Analyst. He loves it. He came home, kissed me, and said “Why haven’t I changed this sooner?” Working on computers is his hobby. I’m so glad he loves his job. He also is a great Father to his sons. They love it when Daddy comes home.
I am a stay-at-home mom. I love it. When we returned home in June, I put Ricky to work. He helped me a lot with the kids so I could relax and get my strength up. I have had a few bumps and bruises but all in all I am not complaining. I went on a scrapbooking retreat in November. Oh yeah! That was a blast. I love to scrapbook. I’ve been getting some done. I don’t think I will ever be caught up, but I don’t mind. I love doing it anyway. My calling in church is the Visiting Teaching Coordinator.I just love it. I have a huge testimony of Visiting Teaching. I don’t know what I would have done without mine in Utah. They were always there for me. I loved seeing new faces and talking about something besides Cancer.
Ricky started third grade now, can you believe it? He has grown up so fast. He loves to read and do his work. He doesn’t like to miss school either. He also was baptized on his birthday in May. He asked me to lead the music for him too. I hadn’t been able to lead music since July of last year.He stays busy in Cub Scouts, playing basketball, and being a big brother.
Michael & Cameron enjoy being home with me. They keep me running around and keeping me in shape.Michael just turned 5 and really wants to go to school like his big brother. He can’t wait to play soccer this spring. I keep him busy with pre-school activities and taking care of Cameron.Cameron just turned three and will be going to school in January.He has a smile that will last a lifetime and a kiss that would melt a glacier! He enjoys playing and just following me everywhere around the house.
We give thanks this year to the Almighty for his love and willingness to listen to our most sincere prayers.We could not have made this journey without each of you.May we all remember why we celebrate this joyous time of year, He lives!
Wow things here are great! It sure is fun to be able to spend some holidays here with the boys and my hubby. Randy and I went to a Pirate Party without the kids. It was so much fun. I missed it last year since I was in Utah. This family goes all out and decorates it so well. I’m sure it took them the whole month of October to get everything done. We even went on a scavenger hunt dressed up!! In public!!! Hopefully no one will recognize me. Still it was a blast. Yesterday was Halloween and the boys had a blast. Ricky was a Motor cross driver, Michael was Batman, and Cameron was Tiger. When we pulled out the costumes to get ready on Monday to go to our church Trunk or Treat, Cameron got his costume and wanted it on. He danced around the house after we put it on. It was so cute. Ricky and Michael were so excited just to go get the candy. There was a great turn out at the church. The boys got way too much candy. I guess that is how it will always be on Halloween. I know I loved getting lots and lots of the candy. On Halloween night my neighbor and friend Rachelle invited us to their church Fall Festival. Wow. It was a blast. They had everything there. Here is just a list of a few things: games galore inside, cookie walk, cake walk, toddler room of games, then outside they had rock climbing, bounce house, picture on a fabulous motorcycle (a real one) with the driver, free cotton candy, popcorn, and snow cone. That is just a few of the things they had. It was wonderful. I posted some pictures of the boys in their costumes. Now on to my hair. IT IS CRAZY!!!! It is out of control. It sure is going to be curly. The back is really curly. Lately I have been trying to put gel in and blow dry it. You can see in two of the pictures, Cameron wasnted to blow dry his hair. He had to have it one too. I wouldn’t let him have it on more than a minute so he wouldn’t get burned. He had fun though. I have asked some of my girlfriends if it looks ok and they say it is the in thing. I’m still not sure about it. I also posted a picture that Michael took of me. You’ll see the craziness. Now onto my back and neck issues. I had to get another MRI on my back because I was having severe back pain. It showed early signs of degenerative disease and a herniated (I have no clue how to spell it) disc in my neck. The Doctor thinks that going through physical therapy will help it. I have been going to physical therapy for a couple of weeks now and it has helped my back a lot. I guess when I was a quad last year I never strengthened my core. Unfortunately I had no idea. So now I am trying. I feel stronger. The therapist is great. At first it was a lot of laughs and now there is a lot of “wow you doing great”! I love it. I joke around with him and say he is my personal trainer. It is a workout when I go. The woman in my church and my neighbor have been so wonderful in taking care of our boys. They have to watch them three days a week. I feel bad because they stay home for a reason and that is not to babysit someones kids! I know they love to do the service though. I know I would help out in a heart beat as well. I’m just learning how to accept service still. I just don’t like to be without me kids. I’m sure everyone agrees with that one. Enjoy the photos. Hopefully I can start writing more. I feels great to share this with everyone. Love ya!
We finally made it to Sea World! All I wanted to do when I was in the hospital was take a trip to Sea World when I got home. I just love Sea World. You can’t help but feel so happy when you are around all the animals. Flights were full so we drove the 4 1/2 hours to San Antonio. Our friends Brenda and Matt live there so they were so nice to let us stay at their house. They have a little dog named Charlie. The boys loved playing with him. We drove Friday afternoon there and spent the night. Then we went to Sea World on Saturday and drove home that night. The boys were amazing. This was their first road trip. They are so spoiled! We rented s few movies and took the DVD player. They loved the ride. Michael at first kept asking when we were going to be there, but after awhile he stopped. Thank goodness. At Sea World, Randy surprised me with VIP backstage passes. It is a hour long tour of the backstage area. We saw Dolphins being fed and rubbed down. We saw Sting Rays in a tank where we were able to touch and then feed. Ricky wouldn’t feed them but Randy, Michael, and I all did. You put a chunk of fish between your fingers and then lay them flat on the bottom of the ledge, then they swam over your hand and ate it! It felt so neat. In the video you see me scared, but that was the second time I fed them and the sting ray surprised me. Well I tried to upload the video of the Sting Rays but for some reason it isn’t showing the picture. I will try someting else. I just loved this experience. Last time I was at Sea World I wouldn’t touch even a Dolphin! We then walked over to a shark tank and touched a shark that was being held in a little cage so we can safely touch it. It’s skin was rougher then I thought it would be. Again, Ricky wouldn’t touch it. I didn’t mind. I was in his shoes before. I didn’t want to force him to do it. But he still said he had a blast seeing them. Oh, I forgot to say that Brenda and Matt gave us their popcorn bucket and drink cups so we only had to pay for the refills. My other friend Amber, in Corinth, also gave us some of their drink cups. They are too nice to us. That really saved us money. We saw the Shamu show. We all loved it! I just love to see how big they are, but still so gentle. Cameron was so excited to see them jump out of the water. It was cute. The boys went on a log ride while Cameron and I watched. I wasn’t too sure if I could go on rides yet. You never know. It was funny, Ricky ducked when they went down the hill so you couldn’t see him in the picture that they take. It was funny. Ricky, Michael, and I all got a necklace of some sort at the end for our souvenirs. I thought they would pick out something else but I guess that since I was looking at them, they thought they were neat so they picked one out. We didn’t mind. They probaly were cheaper than anything else they may have picked out. I am so glad Randy did all of this for me. He is one heck of a man, husband, father. I am so lucky to have him in my life. Just an update on me. I am doing great. I am still getting stronger everyday. I am organizing my scrapbook stuff to get ready for the scrapbook retreat I am going on with nine other women. We go to this house and just scrapbook day and night. We only stop to eat. I can’t wait. I am so behind in my scrapbooks. I did a little in Utah also. Thank goodness, or I would be even more behind. Scrapbooking is such a great thing for me to do. It is my journaling for me. Randy supports me too. It can be a little expensive. I try to keep it simple. My hair is coming in more and more everyday! It also looks curley in the back. I think I will have curley hair!!! Yeah!!! Needless to say, things here are going very well. I’m not complaining. I am home with my family. It can’t get better than that. I have to say, I don’t take anything for granted. I just take one day at a time and make sure my family and I are doing what we want to and staying happy. Thank you all for being there for me through this. I will keep posting every so often. This is fun. Here is the video of feeding the Dolphins and them here are some pictures you all can check out:
I know it has been awhile since we’ve updated ya’ll. Things here are going great. I am now off the pain meds. I can now drive everywhere. My freedom is finally here. Ricky started school this week. He is in 3rd grade now. He loves riding the bus with our neighbor, Jack. I am able to do pretty much anything again. It’s hard to believe that a year ago I was a quad. I think I got off pretty easy compared to some people. I have a new calling in church now. I am the visiting teaching coordinator. It’s fun. I stay busy with the boys of course. I think it is a good thing that we have a house with stairs. It sure has strengthened my legs for me. Since I’ve been home I’ve had a lot of friends supporting me. I am blessed. Here are a few pictures. We went to a birthday party with Michaels friend Vanessa. She wanted a pony carraige ride. It was so cute. I couldn’t believe they painted their hair and feet! The other pics are of our newest addition to our family. Randy really didn’t want to get a dog, Ricky is allergic to cats, so we agreed on Turtles. Our friend told us about the mall that sold these little turtles. They are so little! I just make sure the boys wash very well if htey touch them. I’ve heard they carry a disease. We’ll be careful. Have fun!
