Our Family...

New Life...

This past Sunday our family celebrated a new beginning for Braydon. He accepted Christ as his Saviour on August 15th of this year and was baptized by his dad on October 10th. He along with 5 of his best friends were baptized and we had a great celebration to follow. My mom, dad, sister, 2 neices, a nephew, my father-in-law and my best friend and her family were there to celebrate it with us. Enjoy the pics!

The latest with Braydon...

I haven't given a medical update in a while and I know everyone is wondering what is going on....it's a lot of information but all very interesting. Braydon hasn't seen his neurologist at MD Anderson in two months. For the most part things have been pretty uneventful. He is still on the same medicatin (Depakote) and his seizures are less frequent than in the past but not gone. Right now we are in a time of seeking "alternative treatments" (i.e. non-precription drugs/treatment).

After more research and meeting with and talking to more doctors, we have come to the conclusion that the Ketogenic diet is probably not the best option for him. While his condition is serious (seizures for 11 months with unsuccesful treatment by at least three different anti-seizure medications-only 24% of all seizure patients don't respond to medication by the third one), his condition might not be serious enough for that diet in particular. The diet is so extreme, any doctor hates to see us try it because it is hard. And a three year committment. If he was having convulsive seizures and the medication side effects were severe in nature then they would have us go for it, but praise the Lord this is not the case!

We have also been to see a homeopathic doctor in Rowlett that we really like. We did some in depth blood and urine tests at that office that showed us (literally showed us on a screen-we got to see all of Braydon's cells and blood through a microscope and have it all explained to us). His cells are healthy and normal but he has a large amount of toxins in his body. That's not that surprising with what all medications and the amount of meds he has had. We have started Kelation pushes to help the body rid itself of toxins and also doing several supplements and diet changes to get the body as healthy as it can be. We are also testing for gluten sensitivity and doing a metals test. We don't have a lot of answers yet, but we feel like we are on the right track. We do know that since we have changed his diet and started the supplements we are seeing the least amount of seizures we have ever seen. We started th Depakote and saw a decrese (lowest was 3-4 a day) and since the supplements and diet changes we are now down to two a day!!! PTL!

An ingredient check on the Depakote revealed that the medicine is made with heavy metals and the same key component that makes anti-freeze. That is scary. Our goal is to continue to get the body healthy and the seizures gone so we can start weaning him off this dangerous poisonous medicine he is having to take. It's not time yet. But that is the goal! Keep us in your prayers...especially Braydon's body and health.

A great date...

We went out this past weekend with some friends of ours, Jason and Diane Barnes, and had the best time. We went to an outdoor concert, a steakhouse and a butter factory. YES a butter factory! Jacoby took us on a tour of his company. He has worked there 8 years and I've never even walked in the building so it was a real treat to me to see how it all works. We had to get suited up in our hair nets, safety glasses, lab coats and all! Best time I have had in a while! Definitly not the outdone dinner and a movie date! Enjoy the pics!

"Welcome" Fall...

We welcomed fall by doing "apple-pie-on-a-stick" over a campfire in our back yard over the weekend.

"UN-welcome" Fall...

Deacon's first shiner...he fell into the fireplace. Ouch!!!

Mineola Nature Preserve...

Just for fun one day and to get out of the house, we went to the Mineola Nature Preserve. We definetly plan on going back...it was beautiful!



I love this picture! Deacon was chasing Braydon like "wait bubba!"




Jacoby swinging on a vine like Tarzan. LOL.

Fall Funnies...

Just funny pictures I've taken over the last week....Enjoy!




Deacon found an old pacifier somewhere in the house. He hasn't taken one in 6 months, but he tried it out again to see if he liked it. Good thing I took it away when I did, or this might be an actual event...cap'n'gown pics with a paci!!!! YIKES!


Braydon dressed himself one morning and then walked out of his room and said, "I bet you ain't seen a cowboy like this in a while?" LOL. He is right...it's been a while!


And this is just a glimpse into my daily life. I will cherish this picture for years to come! YOU PROBABLY NEED TO CLICK ON THIS ONE TO ENLARGE IT AND GET THE FULL EFFECT!

Homeschool Day at Cowboy Stadium...

The Dallas Cowboys hosted Homeschool Day last week and we went to get a VIP tour of the new stadium. It was really unbelievable and a little unnecessary if you ask me, but it was fun to see and hear all the facts. For instance...did you know that the stadium has 700 consession stands? 1600 bathrooms! Ford has a small car lot on one of the end zones! Over 3000 tv's!!! See what I mean? A little over the top....but we enjoyed and got some great pictures! The boys favorite part was running all over the field-Braydon threw footballs and Deacon he just ran wide open! Enjoy the pics!


My favorite picture that I took that day


The locker room




There goes Deacon...


The boys sitting in a suite...


These suites rent out for $4000 and HOUR!!!!!!


Braydon in the ESPN press box

It's a wrap...

We've tried to spend the last days of summer enjoying being outside and just relishing the simple life...ice cream sandwiches on the porch, catching frogs and butterflies, catching, cleaning, and eating catfish, riding the golf cart, parades, etc. It's helped to take some of the stress off of all of us during these current trials. Enjoy the pics!

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