Wednesday, December 9, 2009


Hi :)! Hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season :)!

I think every year Christmas gets funner as the kids get older and get more into our traditions. We enjoyed decorating all our trees this year as we have a big one in the family room and then each kid has their own personal small one in their rooms. The lights of trees just make the house so cozy and warm. I love this time of year! We had fun with Christmas pictures too! The picture of the four of them is one of the many that we took for our Christmas card picture. It was a runner up, but I'm saving the one that we are using on our card. Jim always does great getting the kids to laugh and I snap away until I get a good one. We make a good team :)!

Caleb will be 6 weeks tomorrow (see new pictures of him below :)! It is so amazing how fast that time has gone. It feels like we just had him, but then again we can't remember him not being here. He is doing great! We can see him growing already and he is giving us some smiles here and there. I have yet to catch him smiling to show all you, but I'm sure I will get a good shot of it soon. He also is starting to make some cooing sounds, which has got to be one of the most rewarding things early on.

Abbey has been feeling great since her last fever. She's had no issues since then so for that we are thankful! We went to clinic last Friday for her vincristine in her port. Her numbers looked great and she is tolerating her medications well. She just finished her 5 days of steroids (yay!!)! We had lemon chicken 2 times this week (if you've been following us a while, you know how much she loves that when she's on the steroids), but other than her increased desire for salty food and being a little more sensitive then normal, she handled them well. The picture of her with her blonde, fluffy hair is from clinic Friday. Her doctor said he thinks she gained 5 lbs. from her hair coming in so much :)!

I had a really awesome opportunity yesterday to speak at our church's mom's group. It's called MnM's (Moms Need Moms) and I shared our journey through Abbey's leukemia. I have been devoting every free minute the last couple weeks in preparing my talk (hence my lack of posts!). There were about 35 women there and it was a wonderful group of ladies! It went really well and I truly felt God's presence there. My prayer was that they would see the peace and hope that could only come from God in a situation like ours and I truly felt God use our story.




Next week is Jacob's last week of school before Christmas break. We are very much looking forward for him having two weeks off! His Christmas program is this Friday at school. On Saturday evening we have something really fun coming up too. Continental Airlines puts on a really fun night for kids with cancer. We will go to the airport Saturday evening (along with many other families with children with cancer) and we will board a plane. The plane will taxi on the runway (pretending to fly and land) and we will land in the "north pole." We then will get off the plane, meet the reindeers and go to a party where santa will come with gifts for all the kids. It is supposed to be an amazing night and we are very much looking forward to it! We are really living it up this weekend with going two places as a family :). Can't wait to get out and do some fun things. Please pray that Abbey is protected from sickness as we will be a little out of our comfort zone.

Thanks for checking in! I will be sure to get pictures of Jacob in his Christmas program and pics of our trip to the North Pole :)!

8 comments:

Cindy Bailey said...

Thanks Shelley for the new pictures, I can't decide who has changed the most, Caleb or Abbey. I can tell he's growing...and Abbey's hair has grown so much and it's beautiful! I'm happy to hear that Abbey's numbers are good and that you all get to go to see Santa at the North Pole. Will be praying that Abbey as well as the rest of your family stay well. Happy Holidays and God Bless!~

G Family said...

ADORABLE-BEAUTIFUL-SWEET little Colbert angels!!!! LOVE the pics and love you all, too!!!!!

Sewconsult said...

What a wonderful picture of the happy children. I think that would make for a great Hallmark moment!
Beckie in Brentwood, TN

Sara said...

What a cute idea! Just wanted to say--I know it must have been heartbreaking to watch Abby lose her hair all those months ago, BUT how amazing to see those curls coming in NOW! She didn't have all of those curls before did she? What a sweet and wonderful thing and so fitting for that precious face of hers! God bless you in every way this holiday season!

Allison said...

Hello Colbert Family! I have been following your blog for a few months now and was extremely touched by your strong faith through all the obstacles you have faced.
I am a Kindergarten teacher in PA and I am always trying to teach my students that there is more to Christmas than recieving presents. So with that said, every year we make something for someone we are thinking about. I told my students about your daughter Abbey and they wanted to make something special to make her smile. We have our things all ready and I was hoping you could email me your address so we could send our things to Abbey in time for Christmas! (my email adress is allison.dicola@yahoo.com)
Thank you so much and God Bless your family this holiday season :)

BOWquet said...

Beautiful blog and beautiful children!

Nicole's Mom said...

I have been following your blog for about 10 months now, and I just wanted to say what a Beautiful family you have. I seen on fox 8 news Abbey's trip to the north Pole. She looked like she had a wonderful time. God Bless you and your family.

Anna said...

Hi Colbert Family. I've been following your blog for a few months now. I went back and read every single post that you've ever written, and wanted to tell you a few things. First off, I am completely astonished as to how much faith you guys have had throughout your journey. You guys have a beautiful family. Everyone is changing growing. Caleb is getting so big, and Abbey's hair has grown so much. The pictures are adorable. I'm only 10, but I love reading your blog. It's great that Abbey's numbers are normal, and you get to go out and have fun. Hope your trip to the North Pole was super. I pray every night for you all, and will continue through out the holiday season. I hope that you all stay well. Have a very merry Christmas, and god bless you all.

Anna