A Whole Lotta Christmas 2014

My sweet Granddaddy asked me if I quit the blog last week which inspired me to post. It seems like life has been such a whirlwind since Christmas and London. All my days off have been spent potty training Embry and at doctor's appointments, dentist, eye doctor etc for the boys and me. Wes has been out of town a lot and then we had ice storm last week followed by snow this week!

 

Today Embry had his observation to get into GAC next year for the three year old class. The teachers who we have had the past 3 years now and know us well, told me he did wonderful....but he pooped in his pull-up and they had to change it while he was there for only ONE hour. He had not gone in 2 days and learning to poop has been miserable for both him and me so as soon as I leave him for his big boy class, he poops what must have been a big one! Of all the hours he could have chosen. I was so embarrassed! haha My parents can't stop laughing about it. My mom says it's like pooping in your job interview! Oh well Embry one day you'll read this and know what you did. You made your grand entrance to GAC. The teachers were so sweet and laughed about it.

Ever since we got back from London, I have been working so hard on potty-training and the main reason is to go to school and that is all we have talked about! Ah the irony of today! hahaha At least they will still let you in!

On a sweet note, your brothers adored having you there even for a short time. You got to peek in on both and they gave you big hugs along with their classmates. Also, Mrs. Wood said you chatted the whole time which is not something she is used to from the Yorks!

 

So back to Christmas and I hope to soon post London!

 

This photo is from the school Light the Night event that Santa comes to!

This was from our last daycare Christmas party at Linda's! She does a huge event yearly and welcomes Santa who sits all the kids on his lap and gives them each a special gift. What sweet memories we will have of Miss Linda yelling and getting so excited when she hears Santa on her roof!

All three boys decorated their own mini trees in their rooms this year. So fun!

Collin's class performing their Christmas songs at church

church foyer after Collin's performance

Christmas Eve. I got P a Luncheonette mug since we both have become huge Parenthood fans this year and we by the way sadly watched the last episode last week. Such a wonderful show and we both admittedly were very emotionally attached to it.

GG opening a gift with three helpers

Collin's favorite gift was a tiny Mike the Knight! My mom laughed that of all things, this was his favorite. So sweet!

GG did well getting Ninja Turtle stocking hats!

And for little E....his beloved Mickey!

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And church Christmas Eve. What a night! Boys were on stage for the story and Embry was on stage winking at Wes who had recently taught him how. Hilarious! What a ham he is. Then Collin insisted on holding his own candle and fought me for it during Silent Night. Then Ashton was careless with his waving it around and almost caught Wes's sleeve on fire and the man behind him grabbed it. Moments we will never forget!

Glad to have GG with us!

Christmas Morning!! Embry had asked for the Mike the Knight dragons for months from Santa

Superheroes and Legos are in full swing for this guy!

Rescue Bots are also a huge thing for us right now!

Who doesn't LOVE Little Critter???

We were so blessed to have all of our family come to us this year. Wes's family came up Christmas afternoon! The Shepherds always have Christmas firecrackers. A Fun tradition!

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Cousins

Another Lego set. He got several and  This boy was in heaven and had most of them put together the next day!

We framed some photos from the Shepherd's Europe trip

The annual Hess truck was a space shuttle launcher and very awesome this year! They loved them!

We loved having Aunt Janet join us this year! We had fun playing Apples to Apples with all the grownups late that night

Not too old for daddy's lap!!

And this is the ONLY photo of me dressed on Christmas Day. Yep, just  the back of my shoulder... Life of a mommy!

Spiderman handcuffed Edwin

Back to Christmas morning, this was Collin's idea as a gift for daddy...a cookie cutter of a marching band student. Thank the Lord we found it easily online from some place in Missouri!

My cuties...And there's a Christmas wink for you!

 

The next day we celebrated again when Catherine came into town! We love the umbrellas she and P gave the boys!

So excited for wedding day in one month!!

 

 

 

 

And here's the fleet! Collin set this up Christmas night. Such a sweetie!

God's Mercy

I do love my job, but sometimes it's hard after a patient has yelled at me and stormed out of the office to come home just in time to see my kids only for dinner and bed. But sometimes, God gives us teachable moments and tonight was one. I was tucking Collin in after we had read our Advent Bible story and Wes had run out on an errand so Collin told me that "daddy was wanting to spray my mouth for saying a potty word outside...but he forgot" When the boys say "potty words" we spray their mouths with vinegar water (an awesome trick we have learned from a friend). It definitely teaches a lesson! Anyway, tonight I made a quick decision to show Collin some mercy and tell him I would not spray his mouth because he was honest with me. I wish everyone could see the sweet and peaceful grin on his face as he asked me to sing Jesus loves me to him in his bed after that. It also gave us the opportunity to talk about why Jesus died and how he forgives us. He asked several questions.  What an awesome moment that turned out to be. Our sweet little Collin truly has God working in his heart. Just last week he told me something else he had done and was feeling guilty for and so we prayed for God's forgiveness together. It is just so amazing to see God working in he and Ashton's hearts. I wanted to document tonight as a special marker in Collin's spiritual journey.

I am so thankful for the boys' teachers both at church and school who also instill God's truth in them daily.

Fall Family Fun

 Last weekend we had such a great time with Patrick and Catherine! Saturday we went on a chilly but fun hike up Sawnee Mountain and then that night, P and C and Wes and I finally had our first double date to dinner and see All Sons and Daughters and Crowder at the Tabernacle! We had an amazing time and were so happy to have them stay with us for the weekend. We can't wait for Catherine to be our official "Aunt Catherine"

Aunt Catherine gave the boys a mini electronic drumset! This is our little family band. Ashton on the mickey keyboard and Embry on the maracas!

Tonight we had a ball with cousins and family at Uncle Gregg and Aunt Jeannie's house. My cousin Laura and her three kids were in town and my granddaddy also came to be with al the great grands!

 

And we have a...girl!! Isn't she beautiful? This is Cheney, the newest addition to our family and the only girl among all these boys!

Aunt Jeannie has a ton of fun educational toys that the boys loved from her many years of teaching!

Thanksgiving dinner. Ashton and Collin made some really fun headpieces at school. Ashton made an Indian vest too. Notice my sweet granddaddy's shirt in the background! It's an awesome Mickey shirt he wore for the kiddos who loved it!

And Embers loves wearing his winter hat even with jammies!

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Halloween 2014 and Teal Pumpkin Project

We had so much fun tonight celebrating with my parents and my grandfather who came out to help me since Wes was at his football game. We missed him but also made some great memories with the boy's great grandfather and grandparents! Ashton and Collin and I were Ninja Turtles and Embry wanted to be Mickey so he wore Ashton's Mickey costume from a few years ago. They looked so cute! Embry really was able to get into everything this year and he was so proud of his costume and excited. He loved all the candy! At the end of the night we all went out and watched some fireworks our neighbors set off in our cul-de-sac. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the night...



My mom made this cute vegetable skeleton to go with our dinner

Ashton was so into his poses! It was cracking me up and he told me that he has been practicing in the shower!!

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Collin got into the posing too!

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Mr Mickey was so cute and came outside singing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse right away!

My dad and granddaddy Earl! Granddaddy had told me he was going to dress up and said he has worn this mask for many Halloweens!!

I can't remember how E was entertaining us right here. He is such a ham!!

She is a superwoman and I am so proud to have her as my mother!

This is what we call EMBRY style. Many nights at dinner he will hold a utensil in both hands and shovel the food in! 2 fisting it is the only way to go for this boy!

Ashton and his mummy pop that his mummy made!

Here I am in my usual spot! Glad someone caught it on camera! Tonight I made chili. Last night I was up very late making cookies and HAlloween chocolates for the boys. Halloween is always a rough time for food allergies so I make and buy lots of treats that we swap out for the candy they get. I found an awesome Halloween mold that I used to make chocolate lollipops with! This year allergies are more visible with the teal pumpkin project, a food allergy awareness thing to paint a pumpkin teal showing you have nonallergic treats. I loved the movement and we posted our printout and had tattoos and stickers and enjoy life bars! There was another neighbor who did it that has a daughter allergic. So glad this for food allergy awareness! It is truly a passion of mine!

My sweet boys with their great granddaddy! what  special memory!

The boys had their annual pumpkin patch and tractor ride at school where they dress up as farmers and cowboys! You can see the awesome pink ribbon pumpkin my friend at work made me!

 

 

Don't waste your cancer...started Otober 3

Today AShton was supposed to have a field trip to Jaemor Farms but it got rained out. So we have a very disappointed boy on our hands. To make his day better, I brought him Chickfila to school and we had lunch together. Now I am at Starbucks waiting a few hours until I get to go read to his class since he is star student this week! Last night he learned a big lesson. He told me we should pray four times that God would not let it rain today so he could go on his field trip. Seeing the forecast,  I explained that sometimes God does not answer a prayer in a way that we would hope but it is only because he knows the best. He said well God loves us and would want us to go on the field trip. I told him yes, but someone somewhere might need it to rain and pray for rain today. He replied, "well then it's a tie." phew this boy is good! I then told him perhaps somewhere some farmer needs it to rain so that his crops can grow and he can feed his family and maybe that was more important than our field trip. He couldn't argue with that one. I wonder if this will stick in his little head though that God may not answer our prayers the way we ask him.

Today is October 3, the third day into breast cancer awareness month and pink is EVERYWHERE. It is my last week day of my recovery and I have to start back work on Monday. Six months ago I was a few days away from my mastectomy. It is hard to believe. What is even harder to believe is that almost exactly a year ago I found a breast lump and prayed so very hard that it was nothing...and I was told by more than one doctor that it was nothing for about 5 months. Then in March I got a different answer and God answered my prayer in a different way. Now the question is... why? I am doing so very well and I am so incredibly overwhelmed with gratitude to God that I was spared from what could have been so devastating, but I am still wondering why did I go through this? LAst week Wes and I watched a Parenthood together where Kristina tells her husband she has breast cancer. It was so emotional for him, I don't think he'll be watching much more with me, but it brought on a deep discussion between us. Now that we are on the other side of this, what were we supposed to learn and take from this? We know a couple in our class at church who are exactly a year out from treatment of the husband's testicular cancer. They tell us that a week before his diagnosis, their marriage was on the rocks and they prayed desparately for God to do something in their lives. They can honestly say they are thankful for cancer and the way God used it to transform their marriage. Well I cannot say that I prayed for a life changing event before I was diagnosed and I can honestly say it is difficult to be thankful for this. I can say that I have seen and felt God's presence throughout and no doubt He has changed the way I look at life and my children but is there more? I can see the way that God has allowed me to view my patients differently and the women I have been able to bond with through this diagnosis are amazing women that I am so thankful to now know. I had lunch with my new friend Tricia the other day whom I would have never met had it not been for cancer. She is such a sister to me now and we say often that no one in the world can relate to each other the way we can. I also am so thankful for the extra time these two recoveries and a summer of radiation gave me with my children due to all the time off work I have gotten. Especially in this last three weeks, I have had so much one on one time individually with my boys and been able to do more for them at school and pick them up from school which has been a huge blessing.

Then last Sunday in our church class, we talked about Hebrews 12 and God's discipline. Since the couple I mentioned earlier was there and we were too, our teachers posed the question, "can we say that cancer is punishment or God's discipline?" Wes and I both wanted to just run out of the room and held back tears during the class. I couldn't wait to get out of there and I know that no one in my class would say Blakely must have done something to deserve this, but it is a difficult thing to imagine and sure, I have had thoughts like that. All I know at this point is that God spared me and His mercy to my family is incredible and I don't want to miss what He is going to do through us because of what we have been through.

This brought me to read David Piper's pamphlet this week called, Don't Waste Your Cancer. Someone in our church class recommended it and I am so glad I read it, although it was difficult.

In the pamphlet, Piper has several items he challenges not to miss and if you do, he says you waste your cancer. The first one is basically not to think of cancer as judgment for us as  Believers, because Christ took on our judgment. Although all suffering is a result of sin, and in a sense judgment, we in Christ can instead think of it as "labor pains of a new creation."  His second point is that God permits everything for a reason and therefore our cancer is designed by Him. This one is hard to stomach but he points to Job and how Job said that his boils were from God.  I have thought all along that God knew even as a little girl that one day I would face this obstacle. I am so thankful He prepared me for it and can honestly say although this was a shock to us, Wes and I both believe He had prepared us for this. I have written before about how God used Gideon's story even before my diagnosis to strengthen me. It is evident in the way friends and family have supported us and He has taken care of all of our needs. He gave me the most incredible husband to walk me through this and I have said countless times how thankful I am for my boys' ages right now. I think only Ashton will remember bits and pieces of the last 6 months which is why I am trying to write about this. Their sweet little minds did not have to worry and I am so grateful. The third point that really hit home with me was "we waste our cancer if we seek comfort in our odds rather than from God." He quotes 2 Corinthians 1:9 " we felt that we had received the sentence of death. BUt that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead"
I will never forget the 24 hours after I received the call of my diagnosis or the 45 minutes in the MRI tube before we knew the extent of my disease. It was my darkest day but I have never felt so intensely my need to rely on God. I knew things could go either way, but that God was there in that horrible tube with me. THAT was relying on God and I can say I have experienced it and know my need for it daily. And maybe that was what I needed. I know I may never know all these answers, but I don't want to waste my cancer or miss what God is trying to teach me. I hope my children will one day read this and God will use it for them. God showed me Psalm 106:8 the other day, "Yet he saved them for His name's sake that He might make known His mighty power." People tell me I am so courageous and I chose such an aggressive treatment that was so brave, but I am not brave.
Hillsong's Oceans has played so many times in various places during my treatment. I love the song and it reflects everything I feel. I asked them to play the Fish in the MRI tunnel for me and God gave me this song. God has definitely taken me where my trust was without borders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9nwe9_xzw