Long Time Friends and Great Times

Things here are going good.  We've been busy, busy, busy, but everyone is doing well.  Abbey had a rough couple of weeks with having some normal kid sickness stuff.  She started off having a cold and by Tuesday it had turned into a pretty yucky sinus infection.  She woke up with her eye looking really yucky so we called our oncologist and he sent us to our regular pediatrician since it wasn't anything to do with her leukemia.  So we took her to the doctor and she said she had an ear infection in her right ear, the right side of her throat was irritated and red and it had gone to her right eye.  She has been on an antibiotic since Tuesday and is feeling much better.  Her numbers were still low the day that we went for her MRI so her body is just having a hard time fighting anything off and I think that's why her cold turned into the sinus infection.  We go this Friday for her to start the next month of maintenance so she will get chemo through her port and will be on the steroids for five days starting Saturday.  She has been in great spirits though and overall is doing really well.  If her numbers are still low this Friday, they may adjust her home medications... we shall see.  Her hair continues to come in beautifully.  It is officially longer than her brothers so that's exciting!  The picture below is from Jacob's 6th birthday party.  I will do a post soon on his birthday celebration :)  I also will add a picture of his amazing birthday cake that was made with love by Beth who is a sweet girl who started following our blog a while back and who I had the privilege of meeting this past week.  Thanks Beth!!  The cake was not only adorable, but absolutely delicious!! 

Within a week, two of my very closest friends came from out of town to visit.  Theresa and Laura were my closest friends all four years of college.  They were both in my wedding and I in theirs.  We all live far apart now, but our friendships remain strong and as life changes and we change, we still all have a very special bond.  There's something about living with girls in college for four years and spending 24/7 with them.  We can go for years without seeing each other (and only talking on the phone) and then we get together and it's like we've never skipped a beat.

We now all have families of our own and it was so fun to get to spend time with them and their families.  We laughed together, cried together and had late night talks just like we were back in school.  I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and to be able to spend time with them this past week was wonderful! 

This is Theresa and her son Andrew from North Carolina.  They were our first house guests and we had a wonderful time catching up on life and spending time with them.  They are a beautiful family :)

A few days after Theresa and Andrew left, the Williams came from Pennsylvania (Dan, Laura, Alayna and Grady)

Notice the picture of Dan and Abbey at the bottom and their thumbs up.... Dan also was diagnosed with cancer last year.  He had hodgkins lymphoma.  He had six months of chemo and treatment and is completely cancer free and done with his treatment!  It is amazing to think that one of my very best friends and myself both walked this same road this past year.  Abbey and Dan were diagnosed within a couple of months of each other and both of our families have grown and seen God's hand in our lives more than ever over this past year.  I have always had a special bond with Laura, but we now have seen someone that we love more than ever have to fight cancer and we are both so thankful to have been able to have each other as we've gone through these difficult times.  

We feel blessed beyond words to have the most amazing friends ever (that includes all of  you too!) and love you guys!  Thanks Theresa and Andrew and Williams family for coming to visit!  We loved every second of being with you all!!