Rough start...

Happy New Year! This year is gonna be a great one for our family and we just KNOW IT! But it has gotten off to a bit of a rough start for my babies! Please keep them lifted up in prayer.

Deacon has an ear infection and has had a cold for two weeks. The guy never even complained! :-( We discovered it by accident really while getting Braydon checked out!
Braydon is a sick little boy right now but God has healed him before and WILL do it again! Braydon has been fighting a cold for a couple of weeks as well but didn't seem to be doing as well as Deacon. He had had a few sinking spells where he just seemed exhausted and shaky. He had some headaches and some justweird stuff going on. He was due to be at the doctor in Houston for his check-up with his oncologist in 48 hours but I thought I might get him checked out just in case cause something didn't seem right. Boy was I right! The lower lobe of Braydon's left lung is collapsed. There is no medicine to cure this so a hospital admission or prescription was not necessary BUT we did come home with a cool little breathing device and he basically has to "work out" that lung. EVERY 15 MINUTES for 2-3 days (except while sleeping).
Tomorrow we head to MD Anderson as planned. X-rays to follow later this week.

We also found out the results of his Nuero-Cognitive testing at MD Anderson from back in November. Braydon has been diagnosed with ADHD. At this point (especially since I homeschool him) we have decided not to treat it with medicine but just to change his diet, treat him naturally and just work with him on some behavioral/discipline things.
Will keep yall updated....just keep praying! God listens friends!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Braydon putting out reindeer food.

Catching a little snow on his tongue.

Watching the snow fall.

Looking at pictures of Christmas' past.

Here comes wild child!

GLAD...

GLAD to be entering a new phase of life. Anything that DOESN'T have to do with moving is great to me! So although I am glad Christmas is here, I am thouroughly exhausted from this move and ready for what is next! And as the old saying goes, "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all"....SO I am just going to post pictures. Enjoy

Braydon singing in the Shannon Oaks Kids Christmas Play

Deacon enjoying a blueberry sucker!

Jacoby enjoying a burger in froont of the painting he did in Muddy Jake's

More artwork he did at Muddy Jakes

Remembering a Star, Honoring a Hero!

Today we are remembering a Star and honoring a hero....please say a prayer for the Nuckoll's/Smith/King families today.

Here we go....

As most of you know Jacoby and I put our house up for sale a little less than a month ago and we had a contract on it in THREE DAYS! Yes that is good but a little faster than we had anticipated. Luckily for us we had a place to go as soon as it sold and we could be out very quickly. Our plans are to build on family land in the next 9-12 months. In the meantime my mom has a mobile home in Winnsboro that we can live in for next to nothing. It sits on the land we are building on so that works out perfectly.
We have spent the last two weeks packing our house and cleaning the house we are going to. The house has been vacant for three years so it did need a good cleaning. During the cleaning process we noticed a small leak in the roof and some shingle repair that needed to be done. Unfortunately once someone was up there to repair it, they noticed it was a bigger problem than anticipated....MOLD!. So it appears that the house needs a while new roof and the insurance company requires the house is unoccupied while repairs are being done. Of course we don't want to be there with a mold problem anyhow.
So...we are expected to be out of our house this weekend and just found out we can't go where we thought we were going. We are going to have to put our furniture in storage and move in with my mom and step-dad for 2-4 weeks. They live TWO DOORS DOWN from our house we just sold....so we are basically moving next door! LOL.
Oh well. We are keeping our eyes on the prize, we have a great plan for what's ahead and GOD is all over it! He was all over this...just think...it would have been HORRIBLE to move into a house with mold and have to move back out or worse, have gotten sick from the mold!!! And we have a place to go stay with family. Lots of people would not have that and would have to go rent a place....so we still feel super blessed. God said he would he would help us to achieve the desire of our heart (to build) if we would listen to Him and let it be in His timing (it was)...He didn't say the road would be bump free. So we are hanging on tight!!! (TO HIM)!!!

Meet the Amish...

We went to a cosutme party Saturday night. We won Most Creative for the 2nd year in a row. Enjoy the pics!!!

This year....the Amish.

Last year's pic...Jacoby was a basketball player and I was the three point shot! Yes that is my real pregnant belly painted as a basketball!

He cares about the little things....

God, as we all know, can do BIG things. My son is proof of that...he has been healed of cancer at the hands of his Heavenly Father. But just when I start asking God for help with the BIG things, he takes care of those and reminds me he IS concerned with the little things in our lives too.
Before this trip most of you know I got a call from MD Anderson Hospital letting us know that Deacon was not allowed on the premises of the hospital due to H1N1. No children under 12 were allowed-no exceptions, not even a nursing baby who refuses a bottle. Braydon was having 5 appointments including being put to sleep for an MRI that would take place over a course of 7 hours. I obviously was concerned about how we would pull that off. Jacoby would be in the hotel with Deacon but what would we do if he just screamed and cried and refused the pumped bottle. Of course I was going to be with Braydon...he needed me more at this particular time. All the scenarios of what could/would happen were running through my mind. On top of that, the hotel we usually stay at which is connected to the hospital by a sky bridge, was booked and I was unable to get a room, even though I called two weeks before the appt. Everything was just looking stressful and like the trip was not gonna be good.

Not only did our trip go well, it went GREAT. Better than I could have ever imagined. God was in every detail. GOD IS SO GOOD. On the way there we made such good time that we decided to go down to the beach at Galveston for a couple of hours. I got some amazing pictures. We were so impressed with the hotel we unexpectedly ended up at that we plan to stay there from now on. Everything went so smoothly at the hospital with Braydon's appts that we even had an unexpected two hour break between the 3rd and 4th appointments. I got to go back to the hotel and nurse Deacon so there was never a problem with him having to take a bottle. I was able to nurse him right on schedule. GOD IS GOOD.

The MRI which was being conducted to ensure the shunt in Braydon's brain is functioning properly, not only showed the shunt to be functioning properly but that the white matter abnormalities in the brain (caused by chemo) had decreased in size. HAVE I TOLD YOU GOD IS GOOD?! And to top it all off everything went so smoothly the whole day at the hospital that we were done by 3 pm and got to head home a whole day early!

So nothing but good reports again!!! Even though I know how much he loves us I still get blown away by how much he cares about the "little things". Be Blessed friends! Enjoy these pictures from the beach!!!

These are the words I would say...

Mommy wow, I'm a big boy now!

Look what I can do.....

sit up.....and crawl!

and I have two teeth!!

A wasted trip....

We left yesterday morning to go to MD Anderson in Houston for Braydon's Nuero-Psych testing. We got all the way to the Woodland's 30 miles north of Houston and Braydon spiked a fever of 102.5. SO I called the clinic and let them know. They felt the same way I did. For one, Braydon didn't need to be up there exposing all those children on chemotherapy with weakened immune systems to whatever he has. And two, he wouldn't perform well on the testing if he wasn't feeling his best. Se we had to cancel our reservations at the Rotary House, find another hotel in the Woodlands where we had made this discovery. Then drive all the way back home this morning with nothing more accomplished than blowing money on gas, hotel and eating out! FOR NOTHING! It's all just a little frustrating. BUT God is GOOD. We made the best of it. We are back home safe and sound and we are going to visit Dr. Conner tomorrow to check Mr. Braydon out! Say a prayer against the flu, for quick recovery and that Deacon doesn't get it!