May you have a Joyful and Peace filled Christmas!

*APOLOGIES I AM STILL UNABLE TO POST PICTURES*

We survived our first semester with all 8 of the school aged children in school! It has been an adjustment but ALL of the children have excelled academically. So very thankful for that! Only God!!

What a great reminder of Gods Grace! Dezirae missed one whole year of school and homeschooling was very sporadic last year between appointments and surgeries and yet she received all A’s and B’s! To Hod be all the Glory!

When I reflect over the past 2 1/2 years I am overwhelmed. We are all over whelmed, exhausted and emotionally spent. We all deal with this journey we are on in different ways and more times than not we are too lost in trying to deal with our own brokenness to have grace and patience with each other. ;(

None of us will be sad to say good bye to 2018!

January started with a 9 day stay in the hospital after Dezirae’s second thoracotomy. We learned that instead of 2 benign lung nodules she actually had 5 malignant tumors!

February we enjoyed a trip to TN and a stay at Great Wolf Lodge, thanks to generous friends! Unfortunately we learned that one of Dezirae’s closest friends from her chemo days would soon see Jesus.

March started off with a raging trauma teen. As a result we spent months of Children’s services, the courts, law enforcement and probation officer involvement. 4 days a week in home therapy….. rewind a bit…..36 hours after this all came to a head, I learned that I was pregnant!! Then the all day sickness began!

April-Dezirae said goodbye to her dear friend Lexie and a little hope left her. Yet a new determination to beat this stupid disease. The children were great through this time as I was too sick to do much besides fix supper.

May….for the most part was a blur! We learned that medically speaking Dezirae’s Osteosarcoma was incurable and all options were to buy more time. I had some pregnancy complications that put me on restrictions for the remainder of my pregnancy. I left my job of 14 years as a nurse at Dayton Children’s to care for Dezirae. We cried most of this month and braced ourselves for another chemo regimen to begin in July.

June brought planning and preparation for surgeries, Dezirae’s Special Wish trip, school, hospital stays and a baby! Dezirae had her leg lengthened. The end of June we left for St Simons Island GA! We stopped at my cousins in NC on the way…

July St Simons Island was all that we hoped for and more! We stayed in Myrtle Beach, SC on our way home(compliments of my Aunt and Uncle)! July 8th we drove straight through from North Myrtle to Cincinnati where Dezirae had pre surgery labs drawn. July 9th was a 6+hour surgery, July 13th was another surgery. Somewhere in here we decided Chemo wasn’t the right fit for Dezirae or our family. The end of July I was took the 5 youngest to MN and we bombarded friends(well they used to be anyway, lol!)

That brought us to the beginning of August when we started Juicing! Juicing and going to Rife therapy consumes 25+ hours of our week! Again God has provided through each of you! Meals, Kroger cards, gas cards, prayers and the list goes on and on! Dezirae’s went to school on the first day alongside her siblings!

September was rather uneventful as far as I can remember! We have 3 birthdays and 2 adoption days in September!

October we had scans and another leg lengthening! Her scans were stable!! Praise God! Another birthday and adoption day this month.

November 7 was my due date. It came and went….Maxwell Robert arrived November 8th! He is exactly what we didn’t know we needed! He is a content baby. He sleeps and eats well!

December another leg lengthening. Tonsils and adenoids out for Felicity and another palate surgery with bone graft for Isaac! We have enjoyed time with family. Our house is a little messier this year but these last few days have been some of the happiest we have spent as a family in months!

The kids like to exchange names and shop at the dollar store. The kids and I went to Jungle Jim’s international market early Saturday morning. It was a rushed trip but fun! We do family gifts if we do any at all. Saturday they opened those and we have enjoyed making gingerbread houses, playing various types of ball and crashing into each other with inflatable body suits!!

Sunday we hung out. Then the kids opened their gifts from Travis’ parents while we FaceTimed! Christmas Eve we attended our churches candlelight service! What a blessing that we could all go! Definitely don’t take that for granted!

Our Christmas Day traditions are breakfast, stockings and getting Chinese take out for lunch. We then eat it on my great grandmothers china…..these are the important things to the kids.

We would love to know your traditions?!

Love to all! May you find Joy and Peace during this holiday season despite whatever you may be going through!