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

2 days postop

So here I am 2 days postop from reconstruction. I thought I was doing great until today. I woke up so sick with a headache and nausea most of the day so I stopped my pain meds and am now just on Tylenol. The pain is really minor compared to the mastectomy with the drains and all. The only pain I have is on the right side, because he had to do a lot of work on that side to make it even with the left which was radiated. He said I was very challenging which is not what you want to hear! There was about a 3 cm difference in position so he had to lift the right side up using donor tissue called Alloderm. I had a little of this from my first surgery already. He told me he was thinking of using fetal pig tissue called Stratus but the day of surgery as they rolled me in to the OR, he said my insurance did not approve the Stratus. So great...here I am about to drift off and he tells me this! Oh well, I am happy with the result and I think overall I look pretty "even." haha I think it is hilarious that he actually sat me up un surgery to see which implant fit the best. Very hard to imagine!!

Anyway, I am glad it is over. Now the sore part is the sutures because he had to suture the alloderm to the outside of my skin to hold it in place and he had to suture excess skin to my chest muscle. I am really glad I have taken 3 weeks off of work now! So I will be catching up on my reading and Parenthood over the next few weeks since it will be awhile before I can drive again. Just feeling so thankful that this is hopefully my last step in this journey.

I also started physical therapy last week with an organization called Turning point. They only do therapy, nutrition and counseling for breast cancer patients. Plus, the therapists are either survivors or had some impact with breast cancer in their lives. The first visit last week was actually very emotional for me. I left there and had a breakdown. It was just so strange to fill out the paperwork about what daily activities were difficult for you or caused pain. I didn't realize how bad my range of motion was until I went. I had even wondered if I should go, but my radiation oncologist encouraged it after my six week visit with her. I still have strain reaching for things, closing the van doors, lifting the boys, opening doors etc but I just kept telling myself it would get better. Now I know that it really won't unless I do something about it. My therapist said all I told her was completely normal but she wished I had come in sooner. She massaged my pec muscles and taught me a few stretches and said we will be doing a lot more once I am cleared after this surgery. She also said radiation contracted my muscles on the left even more and that the effects can even worsen over a year which explains why my pain seemed to be getting worse lately. Anyway, even after my first session my range improved so I know she will be so helpful. I am so thankful to live in a city where we have access to this type of thing. She told me women drive for hours to get there.

So that's the update on me. Just so thankful that this journey is coming to a close and God has been so merciful to us. There are no words to describe how grateful we are.

Nashville

My mom and I took a girl's trip to Nashville a couple of weeks ago for Patrick and Catherine's first wedding shower. We had so much fun spending time with them on our own.

The shower was so cute and they got these adorable towels from the Loveless Café where their wedding reception will be

This is the beautiful chapel where they will get married. There was a wedding going on when we visited so we got to peek in. We also got to have breakfast at a coffeehouse where the rehearsal dinner will take place. It is just perfect for them and I am so excited about the wedding weekend!

On our way home, we got to visit Margaret and Daron and family to meet new baby Carter! Here is big brother Truman!

We got to see Marge's mom and dad too which was an unexpected treat!!

And here is a photo from our big boy's sixth birthday! I can hardly believe it! He wanted to go bowling on his bday so we took a family trip and had a blast

School Days

These cuties are getting so big! Ashton started kindergarten and Collin is in K3. We decided it would be good for him to do K3 again since his birthday is so late. He loves it and loves his new teacher!

A little Late...Ashton and Collin's Birthday Party!

Yesterday I had my reconstruction surgery so I actually have time now to blog while I'm sitting around! These pics are from the camping party we had for Ashton and Collin before school started back. It was such a fun theme!

We rented the Settles Bridge park pavilion so the kids could play on the playground.

 

Little Anderson and mommy

I actually found a tent piñata on amazon and we had fun filling the treat bags with flashlights and compasses

The kids loved making handprint campfires with finger paint

Wes brought our tent and the kids loved playing in it!

We are fun camping snacks. Apples and carrots with sunbutter, piggies in blankets and had a make your own trailmix bar!

My parents made this awesome Camp York sign!