Out of Touch

It's been a month a a half since my last post. A lot has been going on in our family during this past month. Many of you have been praying for our family and are aware of what is going on through Facebook. But I definatly wanted to blog about this season in our life so I can have it in the blog book I publish each year.

On April 1st, our "normal" life changed. After having terrible back pain, going to doctors, and having tests done, the news was finally delivered to Darron's dad.....cancer. While is appeared to be kidney cancer, we soon found out it was actually pancreatic cancer that had already spread to his kidney and liver. While Darron had been told cancer, none of us knew the type or seriousness of the cancer for a few hours. I received a phone call early afternoon from his sister and brother-in-law to let me know the seriousness of the situation. Terminal cancer. The most painful, fastest spreading cancer. Darron was in an appointment with clients and didn't know yet. So I called some close friends who dropped everything to come and be with my children. Darron's sister, T, picked me up and we headed to his office. When his clients left, we walked in. He could tell from our faces something was wrong. Telling my husband that his dad is dying from terminal cancer has by far been the hardest thing I have ever had to do in our nine years of marriage. I'm in tears now just thinking of that moment.

Keith and Ann boarded a plane to Hawaii that night because they needed time away, together and alone, to process things. They were gone just under a week. During that time, Darron and his sisters and brother-in-laws begin working on remodeling his dad's bathroom to make it functional and comfortable for him. They surprised him with this when he returned from Hawaii.

Much has happened since April 1st. There have been many doctors appointments, chemo once a week, many family dinners and time spent together, enough tears to last a life time, more prayers being lifted than can possibly be counted, and more worry and stress than we bargained for.

At this time, we don't know if the chemo is working or not. The tumor in Keith's pancreas is inoperable and he is in Stage 4. The chemo is hopefully shrinking the tumor to allow for less pain and more time. We've heard anywhere from six week to a year left with Keith. Only the Lord knows.

It's amazing how much life can change in one day. We are learning to live a new "normal" of being together with Darron's parents, the kids and I being alone much more, being more spontaneous and less planned, cutting back on outside obligations and responsibilities, and learning to support each other through it all.

During this season, we are also experiencing lots of change.
-Darron is now on his own at the office....Keith was planning to retire in July but has not worked since April 1st
-Darron is moving to a new office at the end of the month
-Our neice is getting married in a week and the family has been busy, busy
-I am leaving a school I dearly love and have been teaching at for 8 years
-We are having a baby in June
-Lots of different family is beginning to come in town to visit Keith and the family

We solicite your prayers and say thank-you to all of those who have already been praying. While we feel as though we are walking through the "valley of life" right now, we do fear no evil and feel strengthened and uplifted in the Lord daily. I will keep you updated, and I will post pictures of the family soon.

Family Pictures 2010

Payton Turns Two!

I can't believe that my "baby girl" is already two years old! Payton turned two on March 3rd! We decided not to have a big celebration this year, but we just kept it low key instead. Here is a sweet profile of my baby girl and her cute pony tail. Anytime I pull her hair up like this she feels it and says, "tuute" (cute)!Preston, Darron, and I took Payton to Chuck-E-Cheese to play some games and ride some rides for her birthday. Here she is on the horse. Darron went birthday shopping and came home with dishes for her new kitchen and this Easter hat. She loved the kitchen, dishes, AND hat!

This was my feeble attempt at a cute birthday cake. A friend from work had given me this bear cake pan a while ago, and since Payton loves bears and babies, I thought I'd try it out. It turned out cute, and yummy.....I just wish I knew how to REALLY decorate instead of just throwing on lots of sprinkles!

My closest girlfriends came over later that night for our weekly Bible study. We all sang to Payton and they brought her gifts. She loved the attention, the presents, and the cake!

We are so blessed by our little girl. She gave me a rough start (coming too quickly for the epidural to take much affect), and began having seizure at about two weeks old. She was a pretty fussy and demanding baby to say the least! But we believe God has a mighty plan for her! The Lord completely healed her of seizures and has instilled a very happy, joyful, outgoing, spunky personality in her. She is very sensitive to correction (I have NO idea where she got that from!), and while she has a strong opinion and personality, she wants to please.

Payton LOVEs her big brother, Preston, and seems to be excited about having a new baby in June. She LOVES baby dolls, purses, and jewelry (she is so NOT my daughter)! She is still extremely attached to one specific blanket (that we have three of) and her two fingers on her left hand....they are her security and comfort.

As of this past week, Payton and Preston are sharing a room. Darron built bunk beds (a post and pictures soon to come) and Preston sleeps on the top while Payton sleeps on the bottom in a toddler bed. She has made a SMOOTH transition and we are so proud of her! She is now called our "big girl."

We love this little girl so much and we are so thankful for the joy, happiness, laughter, and love she has brought to our family! Happy second birthday Payton!

Las Vegas

There is just something about Vegas. People either tend to love it or hate it. Darron and I love it....every couple of years at least. We stopped over in Vegas on our way to Texas when I was pregnant with Preston. We really enjoyed it and just over two years ago Darron TOTALLY surprised me with a 4 day trip when I was pregnant with Payton (surprised as in "get up and pack, our plane leaves in a few hours.")

Now that I'm pregnant again, we had been talking about not wanting to leave this baby out....we needed another trip to Vegas! :) Actually, we just really wanted to leave reality and parenting for a few days and spend some time together before baby number three joins our world. For us, Vegas is "close", "cheap", and fun.

So, we left the kids with Darron's family (we are forever grateful for them) and headed to Vegas for 5 days (but it actually turned in to six days since we gave up our seats and got free vouchers on the way home). Here are a few pictures from my iphone. We stayed in the Paris hotel and really enjoyed it. It's in the middle of the strip, and we were upgraded to a corner suite for free. This is towards one end of the strip looking back at our hotel (this is the day we flew in so I was pretty tired as you can see)!
On our last day, we put a $10 bill into a penny slot machine. We had been playing differnt penny slots while we where there, and had our favorites. This was a new machine we thought we'd try out while killing time before heading to the airport. We struck it rich!! Well, for penny slots anyways! We turned our $10 into $155......it was so fun!

Eating crapes at the Paris hotel.

View from our room.....we had a half view of the strip and could see the Bellagio Water show from our room.

Eating lettuce wraps at PF Changs. We had here almost every day for lunch. We LOVE PF Changs.

We had such a wonderful trip together. We tend to travel out of Alaska a couple of times a year, but it is generally to visit family....which we love. But there is something to be said for flying with no children, staying up late and sleeping in, eating when you want to without being interrupted, and not listening to a whiney two year old! :) Being parents makes you appreciate every moment of an adult only trip! It was so relaxing and a great marriage booster. And yes, we definatly missed our kids and are thankful to be home with them (most days anyways)! :)

San Diego

This is a long overdue post, but better late than never! Just after Christmas, we flew to San Diego to visit my brother and his family. My parents also met us there for a week. Unfortunately, Darron and I forgot our cameras, so these pictures are all from my iphone. We had a great visit, and LOVED warming up in the sunshine some! We took the kids to Legoland, Seaworld, and Coronado Beach. Here are some highlights from our trip....Preston and Payton admiring each others apples. I just thought they were too cute in their sunglasses looking at each other.

Preston and Darron rode the Roarin' Rapids ride. THey came out soaked, but had a great time!

Preston and Maggie on the Elmo ride....

Payton and her daddy!

I had to include this sweet picture. This is my typical Payton....two fingers from her left hand in her mouth, and rubbing the corner of her blanket!

Collecting shells at Seal beach.

Maggie and Peepaw

Preston at Legoland....it was a really cool place!

Sweet Payton learned to take her naps in her stroller because we were on the go so much. Wish I could have been snuggled in next to her! :)

While standing in line for a ride, these two starting hugging each other. It was SOOO sweet!

My sister in law took some great pictures throughout our trip and they are on a CD....somewhere. Now, if I could only remember where I put that CD......