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!

A Worthy Cause

On Saturday we went to Longview to the East Texas Angel Network Meet-n-Greet with Neal McCoy. We go every year the last weekend in September which is called the Angel Weekend. If you didn't know, Neal is an amazing philanthropist. ETAN is his charity. It provides financial support to over 200 families from Northeast Texas that have children with life-threatening, debilitating diseases. He keeps it local which I think is awesome! During Braydon's treatment, our family was a recipient of some of that help. So the last weekend of September every year he and some of his "friends" get together and meet their "angels". Past friends over the last four years have included: Charlie Pride, Jamie O'Neal, The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Kevin Sharp, Joe Nichols, Jack Hanna...the list goes on! Below are pics from this year's event...

Me and Braydon with Neal McCoy

Me and Braydon with Kevin Sharp. Kevin Is married to Neal's wife's sister. They are brothers-in-law. Yes that is Jack Hanna behind me-he is signing Braydon's book.

To donate to this worthwhile charity to change to lives of sick kids in the North East Texas area go to http://www.easttexasangelnetwork.com/

Ready Set Crawl!

Sometime back in the first part of the summer, I received a call from Ina Gore, the Hopkins County Fall Festival Board President. She asked me if I would be interested in hosting the 1st Annual Baby Crawling Contest during the Fall Fesival which is always held the third week of September. I gladly accepted and MOPS sponsored the event. The event was a big success and exceded my expectations. It was so much fun to be a part of. Winners below are left to right: Jacie Boles 2nd place ($25 gift card to VF Outlet), Kylee Fatland 1st Place ($100 Gift basket from Paris Baby), Mazie Ferrell 3rd Place ($50 gift certificate to Sellebrate Kids!). Enjoy the pics!

I am looking forward to hosting the event next year.

A day of firsts...

Today Deacon had a lot of firsts...
his first tooth broke through the gumline. I couldn't get a picture of it because when I tried to open his mouth with my finger to take a pic he would just lick all over my finger and his tongue was in the way.
He took a sippy cup for the first time. 1 part juice, two parts water, HE LOvED IT!!! And cried real tears when it was gone!

He also went to his first Fall Festival/Stew Contest. He has NO IDEA how many of those are in his future. I have lived here for 22 years and still look forward to it every year! Daddy and Deacon at the Fall Festival below.

And he also did his first set of push-ups today. I am just so glad the camera was close by. This is a million-dollar shot!
So glad you are all here with us for our firsts!!!!