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Wednesday, December 19, 2007 7:04 AM CST

**EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY DECEMBER 23, 2007**

Just a quick note to let you all know we are doing okay. Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. I will update after Christmas and hopefully have lots of pictures to share. Love and Hugs to all!!

Angela


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Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been unable to get on the computer. I don't have my computer and so I have been quite lost lately. Not being able to check on everyone or update. I don't know how long it will be until I get my computer back. (long story) Things are just not getting much better here. Anyways Charlie and Emily are doing good. They are really getting excited about Christmas. Yestarday we were finally able to put the Christmas tree up in our house. (again long story) The kids decorated it last night and they did a great job. 3 more days left of school and 6 more days til Santa comes. They just can't wait!!

Saturday I took the kids to the zoo with Uncle Tom, Aunt Nicki, Katelynn and Tyler. The kids had so much fun. They have a new stingray and shark exhibit. Emily was very scared to touch the stingrays but she finally did with the help of Uncle Tom. Charlie loved the stingrays and he even got to feed them. He also tried to touch the sharks, but they were to far down and he couldn't reach them. Then we walked around the zoo and saw the rest of the animals. I have lots of pictures, but I am unable to put them up since I don't have my computer to load them onto. Hopefully I will be able to do that soon. (SIGH) The kids had a blast. After the zoo we took all the kids out to the cemetary to put a small Christmas tree at Grandma's grave. Every year I usually do this. This year I thought the kids might like to do it. They decorated it and strung garland and we put a picture of Grandma and Grandpa out there. They were all happy that they got to do that this year.

Sunday we stayed home all day and didn't do much of anything. Monday the kids went back to school and I took off to finish Christmas shopping. I am usually the type of person that is done by November with Christmas shopping. This year has been a challenge with all that is going on. My husband doesn't even want Christmas to take place this year. SO shopping has been rather hard for me to do. I am however pretty much done. (I think!) Just some little things left to get.

This saturday we are going out to Papa and TommyeSue's house for our annual family Christmas party. We are so excited that it is out at Papa's house again this year cause that means we are going to go on a hay ride and sing Christmas carols. We always have so much fun doing that. The kids and I are really looking forward to going. It will be lots of fun.

Thank you all for checking in and praying for us. Please keep praying that things mellow out here and we are able to have a great Christmas. Hopefully I will get my computer back soon. I am so lost without it. As soon as I do I will load the pictures and post them. If I don't update again before Christmas, I hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:57 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Not much is going on here. Emily and Charlie are doing good. They are really looking forward to Christmas. Considering all that is going on in our house I hope to be able to make this a good Christmas for them. It has been very cold and rainy here. I have come down with a cold, but luckily the kids have not gotten it yet. Hopefully they won't.

We haven't really done much lately. Sunday I did take the kids out to watch Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium. It was good movie and the kids really enjoyed it. Then we went and hung out with Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki. The kids haven't seen them in a while and they had fun being with them. All in all Sunday was our best day.

Other then that it is all about the same here. We are getting through everyday and hoping for better ones to come. I want to thank you all for continueing to pray for us. It means alot. The kids have a week and a half of school left and then they are out for 2 weeks for winter break. They are looking forward to that. Well just wanted to come on and let you know we are all doing ok.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, December 6, 2007 8:04 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Sorry for not updating. Its been a rough week. Emily and Charlie are both feeling good. Charlie is doing better in school. Still having some emotional issues because of what is going on here at home, but he is back to loving school and applying himself 100 percent.

Tuesday I got a phone call from Emily's teacher. A problem arose that he wasn't sure how to deal with. Emily is in 4.1 reading and the book they chose to read is Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the story, but I will brief you a bit on it. It is set in Japan 9 yrs after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Sadako is a 12yr old little girl that becomes gravely ill with Leukemia, an after effect of the atom bomb and the radiation it put off. Recalling a Japanese legend Sadako sets to work folding paper cranes. The legend says that if a sick person folds one thousand paper cranes, the Gods will grant her wish and make her healthy again. In the end Sadako folded 644 paper cranes and then she dies. The story itself is a good story. It shows the courage of this little girl and the hope that she never let die. But in the end she does die. Well Tuesday the class read the first chapter and talked about it. Emily's teacher does not look at her any different then any other kids, so when it came to this subject he did not think about whether it would effect her or not. Well a couple of the kids in the class made some comments about Emily having cancer and why didn't she die. Emily got very upset and angry. She lashed out and all day she stayed angry.

So the teacher wanted me to read this book and let him know what I thought about Emily reading it. Now I don't think it would be a bad thing for her to read, but with Emily she reacts in 2 ways about her cancer. She either gets really mad, as she did on Tuesday, or she cries alot. So given that we decided that maybe it would be best for her to be moved to a different reading class to read a different book until they are done with this one. Sometimes we forget that even after 2 1/2 years of remission the subject of cancer is still very touchy with her. I hope that one day she will be able to read this book without any ill effects. It really is a good story.

Ok so what have we been up to? Well we didn't really do much of anything this weekend. Saturday night the kids and I decided to stay home and watch Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer. It was raining so much and we just didn't want to go out driving in it. We had a great night though. We made some popcorn and cuddled up under a blanket and watched the movie. It was a great movie. Sunday I spent most of the day running errands. Getting done some stuff that has been put off for a while. Then the week started and everyone went back to their schedules. Back to school and back to work.

I would like to ask that you continue to pray for the kids and I. Things have been so hard for us and they just don't seem to be getting any better or easier. Thank you.

Thank you all for checking in and for your messages. We have been checking them daily and they mean so much to us. Also thank you for your continued support and prayers. (((HUGS))) to all!!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, November 30, 2007 0:23 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Little Charlie and I are feeling much better. Emily never did get it thankfully. We are doing okay. Our week has been up and down. The kids are getting very excited about Christmas. They want to start decorating and helping me bake cookies. I don't know when that is going to happen, but hopefully soon we will be able to do that.

I want to ask for some prayers for Little Charlie. He is struggling in school right now. That is not like Charlie. He is usually right on the ball with everything in school. There is lots of stress here at home and I think that is what is doing it. Emily is continueing to do good in school.

I think this weekend I am going to try to take the kids out to see that movie they wanted to see. It will be fun to get away and go do something just the 3 of us. We'll have to wait and see how things go. Other than that I don't have any plans for the weekend.

I want to thank everyone for your messages, emails, phone calls and prayers. They mean so much to me. Our situation is still about the same. Not much seems to be working out the way I had hoped for or planned, but I am not giving up hope. Please continue to pray that something good happens.

Thank you for checking in. Here are some of the pictures I've taken over the last couple weeks. There's not many, but enjoy. Hopefully I will be able to get back to getting some good pictures of the kids soon.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 9:21 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Sorry for not updating sooner. Little Charlie and i have been sick the last 2 days. I think it is like the stomach flu or something. We have been miserable. Today Charlie is feeling better and went to school. I am on the mend as well. Emily thankfully did not get sick. She is feeling great.

Saturday The kids and I went to my sisters for my nieces birthday party. The kids had so much fun. It was nice to be out and among family and friends for the day. We stayed out pretty late that night and when we got home we all just crashed. I have pictures to share, but I just haven't gotten them on the computer yet. I still have the ones from when Little Charlie went to nascar. UGH! When I get a chance I promise to get them up and share them.

Sunday we just stayed around the house mostly. Monday was when Little Charlie and I woke up very sick. I got Emily to school and Charlie and I stayed in bed all day watching movies and trying to rest. It was a miserable day. We were suppose to go watch Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium last night with HopeKids. We were pretty excited about seeing this movie, but we were in no condition to go anywhere. Emily was pretty upset. I told her that if we were all feeling better this weekend then maybe I could take them to see it then.

Not much else is going on. Hope you all had a great weekend. Thank you for checking in on us and praying for us. It really means so much to us. We love you all and God Bless! (((HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, November 23, 2007 0:54 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Our plans to move on wednesday didn't work out. It was probably the most miserable day I've had in a long time. I made it through it though. I am not sure what my plans are now, but please keep praying.

Emily had her music show on wednesday and I am thankful that I was able to make it to the show. The theme was proud to be American. The kids did a great job and they were so excited to have a real air force color guard there to present the flag for the national anthem. I am so proud of how great she did.

Thanksgiving did not happen at my house. So the kids and i went to Rob's house and spent Thanksgiving with Rob, Susan and their family. I am so thankful to have them in our life. We had a wonderful day over there. The kids played ping pong, drums, video games, board games, climbed trees, and we went to the park and played frisbee and football. It was so much fun and it was nice to be surrounded by a bunch of wonderful people. The kids were a little sad that Daddy wasn't there. (Daddy stayed home) Thank you Rob and Susan for inviting us to spend the holiday with your family. It truly was a blessing. We love you guys!

The kids are out of school friday, but I believe Daddy will be at work. I don't know what we will be doing, but I hope to just spend some good quality time together with my kids. Things are rough around here and Emily and Charlie could really use some extra prayers right now.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you for checking in and praying for us. It means so much and we really need it right now. (((HUGS)))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, November 20, 2007 10:43 AM CST

Hi Everyone! I don't even know where to start this entry. Emily is doing great. I guess that is a good place to start. She is healthy, no pain, and no complaints. For that I am thankful. Little Charlie continues to do great as well. Tomorrow (wednesday) is Emily's music program at school. She is really excited about it and I will be sure that I will be there.

With that being said, tomorrow is going to be the hardest day for me and my kids. Alot of things have gone wrong with our family over the last month. My husband is lost and right now is self destructing. Tomorrow the kids and I will be moving. It is the hardest decision I have had to make, but believe at this time it is what is best for all of us. We are all unbelievably sad. We love him so much and really just want nothing more then to be a happy family together. Right now he is just so broken and really needs this time to focus on getting better. He is devastated over us leaving and wishes that it never had come to this. Please don't think badly of my husband. He really is a good guy, but very lost. I pray that someday he will find peace within himself. He loves us more then anything in the world and I know he would like nothing more then for us to stay together. He does however understand that this is what needs to happen at this time. I don't know what will happen from here. I don't know if we will be together again someday or if it will never be again. Whatever happens though I do hope that we all find happiness and peace with our decisions.

Please pray for my kids. They don't really understand all of this. They love their daddy and don't want to live away from him. Please pray for strength for me to deal with whatever lies ahead for us. I am so heartbroken over this decision that I've had to make. Please also pray for my husband. Pray that he gets the help that he needs and that he can be happy again. Pray that he makes it through all of this emotionally and is strong enough. The love we all feel for one another is very strong and we pray that one day we will be together again. But above all we pray that happiness and peace will find each one of us.

I would also like to ask for prayers for my brother in law. He is having heart surgery today. Please pray all goes well and he recovers well also. We are all worried, but optimistic. Thank you!

After tonight I don't know when I will be have internet access again. I hope to have it soon, but can't be sure. So this may be the last update for a little bit. As soon as I can I will come back and let you know how things are going. Until then, thank you all for your prayers and support. Again I also want to ask that if you have anything negative to say please keep it out of the guestbook. My email address is at the bottom. Feel free to email me with anything. We are going through enough right now and the guestbook should only be used for those that are going to leave encouraging messages for us. Thank you and God Bless you all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, November 16, 2007 0:04 AM CST

Hi Everyone! I don't have much to talk about tonight. The kids are doing well. They are getting excited about the upcoming holidays. We really haven't been up to much this week. Things are kind of falling apart around our house. So tonight I would like to ask for prayers for me. Please pray for strength for the situation I am faced with. Please pray I will know what is the right decision and I will stick to it. I don't feel this is the place to discuss what is really happening. Just know that I have some tough decisions to make and it has not been easy to do so. I appreciate all your support and prayers for us. One thing I do ask is if you have anything negative to say, please direct it to my email. I want to keep that off Emily's site. Thank you.

We don't have any plans for this weekend, but I hope to be able to take the kids out and have some fun doing something. Next week Emily has her music show at school on Wednesday. She is pretty excited about it and has been working hard at learning the songs. I always enjoy these music shows. I am always so proud of the kids. They are both doing great in school still. Emily has been doing much better with following directions and listening to her teachers. Charlie has not had any problems with those boys since I spoke with the school. He is back to enjoying going to school. I am so glad about that.

Thank you for checking in and for your prayers. I know I still haven't gotten the pictures up from last weekend when Charlie went to the nascar race. I will try to do that soon. He is pretty excited about some of the pictures and really wants me to share them. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, November 12, 2007 9:50 PM CST

First we would like to wish my sister Jodi a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! (Nov. 13th)

(message from the kids)

We love you Aunt Jodi. Hope you have the best birthday ever.

Hi Everyone! We are doing okay. Emily is feeling good. No pain or coughing. Little Charlie is also feeling great. He had fun on his field trip to the science center on friday. Then Daddy picked him up early from school and took him to the nascar truck series race. He had so much fun out there with Daddy. They even came home with a tshirt and cup for Emily. Emily and I went to dinner and then went and watched Bee Movie friday night. It was a cute movie. Emily really liked it. We had fun just the 2 of us.

Saturday was mostly spent at home. Just getting things done around here. There is still alot to be done here at the new house, but it all seems to have come to a stand still. Just to much going on. Sunday Daddy went to the Nascar Nextel cup race. The kids and I spent the day at home. We played outside, watched a movie and went to the grocery store. It was a good day. Monday the kids were out of school. We didn't really do anything at all. They spent all day outside playing with their friends and I stayed inside cleaning and stuff.

I sure wish I had more to talk about. The truth is we haven't been doing much of anything. We've pretty much just been staying home. I do have pictures to share from when Daddy took Charlie to the truck series race. I just haven't gotten them into the computer yet. Maybe I will get that done tomorrow and post them.

Thank you for checking in and praying for us. I really could use some extra prayers right now. Thank you to everyone that has left us a kind message or taken the time to email me. It means alot to me. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, November 9, 2007 7:28 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Emily and Charlie are both doing great. Charlie hasn't had any problems with those boys at school since the principal talked to them. Hopefully it stays that way. Today is Charlie's field trip at school. They are going to the Arizona Science Center. He is really excited about that. Then Daddy is going to pick him up after the field trip and they are going to go to the Nascar truck series race. Another thing he is really excited about. Emily and I are going to have a girls night out. Probably go to dinner and a movie. Emily really wants to see Bee Movie. So I think that is what we will be seeing. It will be fun.

We haven't made any plans for saturday as of yet. Sunday Daddy is going to the Nascar race with some friends from work. Not sure what the kids and I will be doing. They have been b ugging for me to take them to the big park down the street, so maybe we will do that. No matter what we decide to do I am set that we will have a good weekend.

I want to thank you all for your prayers for us. Some of your prayers have been answered. It is nice to have some things behind us. We still have hurdles to get over, but I believe that we will make it through them.

Thank you for checking in and praying for us. Maybe I will have some new pictures at the end of the weekend to share. Hope you all have a great weekend. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, November 7, 2007 11:25 PM CST

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. Things have not been so great around here and I really just haven't known what to say. Emily is feeling alot better. Seems whatever was going on was very short lived. Emily is doing much better in school also. I am glad that she is really trying harder to follow the rules and listen to the teacher. Little Charlie was having some trouble in school. It seems there was some boys that were teasing him everyday. He never told me about it until they threatened to beat him up. The worsed part about it all is they were picking on him and they were going to beat him up because he is white. It is sad that at thier age they are already like this. I talked to the principal and she took care of the problem. So far he hasn't had any other problems with the boys. Hopefully that is done with. He was to the point where he was afraid to go to school.

This past weekend we stayed home and just hung out. My birthday was not as relaxing and good as I had hoped, but it was ok. There really is not alot going on here that I can talk about. Just alot of emotional stress. Please pray that I figure it all out and can get past it.

So far we don't have anything planned for the rest of the week or the weekend. Sorry I don't have much to report. I wanted to come on and let you all know that Emily is feeling better. Thank you all for continueing to check in on us and praying for us. I hope to have some upbeat things to report after the weekend.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, November 1, 2007 11:17 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Today I got phone call from the school nurse very concerned about Emily. She went to the nurse today with chest pain and wheezing really bad. She didn't want to come home though. She stayed at the nurses office and relaxed for a little bit and then went back to class. Tonight her breathing is still a little noisier then normal. I know there is some kind of bug going around right now and so I will just watch her and see if she gets any worse. Right now she is peacefully sleeping.

I want to share a couple things that happened today. This morning I was taking the kids to school and we heard on the radio that a dentist in our area is doing something special. Your Halloween candy can actually help in the effort keep America safe. VALLEY DENTIST MARK HUGHES IS trading candy for Chick Fil-A Meals at his office at 66th Ave. and Thunderbird in the Thunderbird Ranch Professional Plaza until 7 p.m. Then, that donated candy will be given to Packages from Home where it will be sent to the troops in Iraq. Emily heard this and thought that is was really cool and asked if she could donate all her candy that she got to this dentist. Her only request was that he doesn't do any dental work on her while she is there. LOL! I am going to call them tomorrow and find out if she can still bring it in. Now what 8yr old do you know would willingly give up their candy from trick or treating? I have one great little girl.

Then I went to pick the kids up from school today and everyone was asking if I saw the local newspaper today. I said no I hadn't. Well Emily has a surprise for you then. I couldn't wait to see what she had. Well she came out and pulled a newspaper clipping from her backpack. She made it into the sports section of the newspaper today. Here is where you can view that article, Newspaper Article. Emily was just going nuts when she saw it. This picture was taken last year at Christmas time. They brought the kids a gift basket with games in it. There is a golf charity event going on and it goes to benefit HopeKids. Even though she wasn't metioned in the actual article, she was excited that her picture was in there. That made her whole day.

Not to much else is going on. Thank you all for your continued prayers for our family. Not sure what is going on this weekend. I hope to do some relaxing though. Maybe that can be my birthday present. A day off for Mom. LOL! My birthday is on sunday. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 11:25 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY NOV. 1, 2007**

I wanted to come on and share a picture I took last night of the kids. They really were in no mood to stand still for pictures so this is the best one I got. They had a great time trick or treating. They got lots of candy, but only ate 1 piece. Enjoy the picture.


Emily and Charlie

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. (just in case I don't update before then.) We don't have any plans for the weekend as far as I know. It is my birthday on sunday, But we never really do anything to celebrate. Anyways thank you for checking in and praying for our family. (((BIG HUGS)))

Love and Hugs,
Angela






Hi Everyone! I've been meaning to update, but things have been kind of crazy. Emily is starting to complain of aches and pains again. She also has no appetite. I really don't know what is going on with her. She goes through these phases every once in a while. Please pray that is all it is and that she will be over it soon.

The kids are getting very excited about halloween. Emily is going to be a charmed witch and Charlie is going to be a phantom. This past weekend they got to wear their halloween costumes. Saturday night we took them out to the sports complex where they played carnival games and trick or treated. They had so much fun. The rest of the weekend was spent at home. We just wanted to have a relaxing weekend and get some things done around the house.

Here are a couple pictures of the kids in their costumes on Saturday night. I will definately get more on halloween and post them. Here is a sneak peek though.


Emily and Charlie


Charmed Witch Emily

I would like to ask for some silent prayers for my husband and I. There is so much going on right now and so much stress.

I don't really have much else to talk about right now. I will be back tomorrow night with pictures of the kids. My niece and nephew are going to trick or treat with us also. That should be fun. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, October 26, 2007 1:03 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!**

Hi Everyone! Today was parent teacher conferences. Here is the report.

Emily: 3rd grade

Reading 4.1 (4th grade level) B
Oral/Written expression B-
Spelling B-
Math B
Arts and science ~ Excellent and Satisfactory
Study and social skills ~ Satisfactory

Teachers comments ~ Emily is making good progress. My only concern is her disregard for directions. I would like to see her more focused during class.

At the conference her teacher told me she likes to talk alot and that she thinks she has a total seperate set of rules that apply to her as opposed to the other kids. She is not being a bad student, just a little disruptive during class. He is afraid it is effecting her work. We are putting together a plan to take care of that problem. Overall though she is doing good.

Charlie: 4th grade

Spelling B
Science/Health A
Language C (due to turning in his book report late)
Reading 5.1 (5th grade level) A
Math A
Social Studies A
Art B
Music A
P.E. A

Teachers comments~ Pleasure to have in class. Overall GPA 3.533

At the conference his teacher said he is doing great in class and is a joy. He is easily distracted, but is set back on track quickly and it is not effecting his work. Overall he is doing great.

I am very proud of both the kids grades. Emily promised that she would work on not talking so much and focusing more on her work. Alot has happened over the last few months that has thrown us all for a loop and I hope that now that we are getting settled in our new place and things are starting to go back to normal that Emily will also.

With that being said we have had a string of bad luck hit us once again this week. Please pray that things start going upwards for us.

We don't have anything planned for this weekend. Hopefully getting our shed put together in the backyard so we can get the ton of boxes off the back patio. Other than that I think we are going to spend the weekend at home.

Not much else to report on. Thank you all for checking in and praying for our family. I am going to leave you with the slideshow of our family pictures. Just in case you didn't get to see it before. (((HUGS))) to all!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 3:05 PM CDT

I ADDED A COUPLE PICTURES TO THE END OF THE SLIDESHOW THAT YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE. THEY ARE GREAT!!!!


**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 24, 2007**

I had to come on and share with you our family pictures that we took a month ago with HopeKids. We can't thank them enough for these pictures. I think they came out great. Hope you enjoy the slideshow. There is 2 copies of each picture. One in color and the other in black and white.

*NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM*

Hi Everyone! As you can probably tell from the photo above, Emily is doing great. We have been so busy. Emily and Charlie are really loving where we are living. They have like that they can go outside and play and not have to worry so much about the traffic. There is hardly any over here. The house is slowly going together. That is the good thing about unpacking, I can do it at my own pace. I've gotten alot done though and it is really starting to look good.

Friday we took the kids to the state fair. We got free admission tickets through HopeKids and so we took everyone with us. The kids had so much fun spending time with their aunts, uncles, cousins, Papa and TommyeSue. We walked around the exhibits, played some games, ate some food, and rode some rides. We all had so much fun.

Saturday and sunday were spent getting some much needed food shopping done, cleaning and unpacking some more. We also went out to the cemetery to bring flowers to Grandma since saturday was her birthday.

Monday evening Emily and I went to the annual fundraising event for HopeKids at Tom Lehman's house. He is a professional golfer. Tom and his wife Melissa are wonderful people. This was our third time attending this event. Emily was so excited when she walked through the door and they remembered who she was. (we weren't there last year) The first year we attended this event was during treatment and Emily was bald as could be. They have really enjoyed watching her grow up along with several of the other kids that attend each year. I did find my camera that afternoon and good thing I did. The picture at the top is Emily stuffing her mouth with fruit. LOL! There were some other people there that she got to meet as well. Pictures are in the photo album. Be sure to check them out. Grant Hill from the Phx Suns was there and there was also a former Utah Jazz player there as well. I don't remember his name, but Emily just couldn't get over how tall he was. (over 7ft) Emily was walking around the silent auction table trying to steal the Kurt Warner signed jersey and she turned around really quick and walked right into Grant Hill's knees. She stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes got really big. The look on her faces was priceless as she looked WAY up at him. He was very nice as was his wife. While Rob was doing his speech Emily couldn't see and so the guy from the Utah Jazz picked her up and held her. She had a huge smile on her face the whole time. When he put her down she told me that it was so cool that she could see over the top of everyone's head. LOL! It was a wonderful night. We enjoyed spending time with Tom and Melissa, the other HopeKids families, and all the wonderful people that came out to support HopeKids. The funniest thing happened at the end of the night. We walked out and gave our ticket to the valet. Before they brought my car around I gave Emily a dollar to tip the valet guy. So when he pulls up she walks around and gave him a little bag of candy and kept the dollar. We got in the car and she said, "I gave him candy." I said, "Did you give him the money?" She said, "No, Why? All he did was drive our car over here." I told her that is what his job is and she had to give him the money. So she jumped out and gave it to him before we drove off. It was just too funny that she thought she was being nice by giving him candy. LOL! He appreciated the candy and thought it was cute. Here are a couple other pictures from last night that I took.


Emily and Rob


Emily and Eric Feldt (another HopeKid)

Be sure to check out the other pictures in the photo album. Not to much else is going on. Thank you for checking in and praying for us. We are still waiting to hear from the rental company on our security deposit for the other house. Crossing our fingers that everything was up to their satisfaction. We have a few important things coming up that we would like to ask for some silent prayers for. Much love and Hugs wo all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, October 19, 2007 1:43 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY MORNING. OCTOBER 23, 2007**

Look for a full update with pictures in a little while. We had a great weekend. Promise an update today.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! We have had one very busy week. Emily is doing great. No more complaints of pain in her leg or any other complaints. The kids are loving the new house and they have already made friends with several kids in the neighborhood. School is going pretty good. Charlie is doing great in school. Emily is having some issues with a couple kids in her reading class, but that is being dealt with. I have parent teacher conferences next week and I will get their report cards then.

Saturday was our big move. It didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, but we got it done. Thank you to all that helped us. Sunday we went back to the old house to pick up the last of the odds and end things that we didn't get over on saturday. I spent the rest of the day sunday setting up the kids rooms. Monday I took the kids to school and then spent the whole day getting the old house cleaned. That was a huge chore. Cleaning 1850 sqft of house all by myself. I was completely wiped out by the time I was done. I turned the keys in and now I am just waiting to hear about how the walk through went. Please pray everything was to their satisfaction and we will get our security deposit back. The rest of the week has been spent unpacking. There is still so much left to do, but I've made alot of progress. The house is really coming together.

Our old house was on a main road and it was very noisy with traffic all the time. We are now back in a neighborhood and it is so quiet. We love that. The kids have a big backyard to play in and they love that they can play out front and not have to worry about so many cars. I truly believe we are going to be happy here.

We have a few things planned with HopeKids this weekend. The kids are pretty excited. It will be nice to take time out once again from the unpacking and have some fun. If I can find my charger for my camera battery then I will hopefully have some new pictures to share after the weekend.

I want to ask for some silent prayers for us. I don't want to go into detail here, but I believe God knows what we need prayers for. Thank you to all that continue to support us and pray for us.

Thank you for checking in. I hope to be able to get some much needed rest this weekend. I think I will start with the unpacking again Monday. It really is so much work moving. I hope we won't have to move again for a while. Not to much else is going on. Just trying to get settled in here. Thank you for all your messages. I will update again after the weekend. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, October 12, 2007 1:49 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 17,2007**

Just a quick note tonight to let you all know that we are all moved. The move went well. We've been super busy since the weekend, but I promise a full update tomorrow.

Emily is feeling good. Her leg is all better. Thank you all for your prayers. Come back later for a full update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! Emily's cough seems to have left the building finally. Her breathing is still sounding about the same. Today she came to me and told me her left leg was hurting. She hasn't had leg pain in a while. Well I asked all the normal questions, did you fall, did you hit it, did you hurt it in any way. The answer to all was no. Tonight her leg is all swollen. I am not to sure what is going on with it. She has gotten up 3 times since going to bed 3 hours ago in pain. I gave her some motrin and an ice pack. Please pray that it will feel better tomorrow when she wakes up. If the swelling doesn't go down I am going to call her doctor and see if he will take a look at it. Other than that she is doing great. Both kids are getting both excited and sad about the move. They've made friends with the neighbors and don't want to leave them, but on the other hand they are excited about a new house. We all love this house we are in and don't want to leave it. But we also believe that all things happen for a reason. I hope there is a good reason behind this move.

This week I've been very busy packing. The kids have helped a little bit, but they are trying to get lots of play time in with their friends. There is still alot to get done in such a short time. I have been working late into the night and not getting much sleep. I think I am going to need to sleep for a week after we are all moved. LOL! I hope to get some much needed rest tonight. After tomorrow I will be offline for the weekend. I hope to have internet back up monday. So if you send any emails my way they will be answered as soon as I get my internet back. I don't want anyone to think I am ignoring them. LOL!

Nothing else really to report. If anyone needs to get ahold of me please call my cell phone. My home phone will be shut off tomorrow and we will be getting a new number when we move.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Please pray for no pain and no swelling in Emily's leg when she wakes up. I will update again as soon as my internet is back. Thank you for all the messages as well. We really enjoy reading them. (((HUGS))) to all!!!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, October 7, 2007 11:42 PM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!**

Hi Everyone! We had a great weekend. Emily is still not feeling so good. She still has that nasty cough and her breathing still doesn't sound so great. It really doesn't seem to be keeping her from playing and stuff. She did complain today that she was feeling very tired and dizzy. We've had a very busy weekend. She really hasn't had time to rest and relax. Hopefully she will start feeling better soon. Little Charlie is still doing great. He has been very helpful with packing and moving stuff. He is excited to move.

We had so much fun on saturday. We went to the HopeKids event at the railroad park. It is always one of our favorite events of the year. The kids have so much fun. They always have lots of inflatable slides, bouncers, obstacle course and more. Plus the rock climbing wall, petting zoo, build a bear, pony rides and this year they even had a camel. As soon as we got out there the kids headed straight over to do their build a bear. They had special bears that were made just for HopeKids with special little tshirts on. The kids were very excited about them. After that we decided to get our pictures done. They had the people out there doing Hippie pictures. They are the same people that did the luau picture and the old western picture. We had so much fun doing the hippie photo. Little Charlie looked like he was right in his style. He was made for the hippie style. LOL! You will see it in the photo's below. Once we got oour picture done we set the kids loose to play. Emily quickly found Mason and was attached for the rest of the day to him. She went and got her face painted. On one cheek she got the cardinals emblem and on the other cheek she got a red heart with M+E inside it. (Mason + Emily = Love) Is what she says it meant. She walked around for a little bit with her hand over her cheek so no one would see it and tease her. Then she went around telling everyone all about it. There is also a picture of it below. I did get a few pictures of Emily and Mason and also one of them with Rob. Emily always loves to take pictures with them. Emily was excited to see the camel. At first she was a little scared of it. She was afraid it would bite her or spit on her. She swore camel spit. Well she warmed up to the camel and then she didn't want to leave it. LOL! The camels name was Chip. I got a few pictures of him to. Aunt Jodi, Uncle Eddie, Uncle Jason, and their cousins also came out to have some fun with us. After leaving there we all went out for dinner together and then hung out for a few hours. It was nice to have one day away from the house and away from packing. One day where we didn't have to think about anything that we are going through and just have fun. And have fun is exactly what we did. I am sure yo will be able to tell in the pictures. Enjoy the slideshow!

Friday, October 5, 2007 0:35 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Things are busy, busy, busy here. Emily has not been feeling to good the last couple days. She has one heck of a nasty cough and her breathing is sounding loud and horrible again. I've been giving her some medicine for her cough and it seems to help. So far no fever or anything, just the nasty cough. She went to the endocrinologist yestarday. They are pleased that she is staying on the same growth pattern for the last year and a half. She is around the size of a 6yr old, but is still growing normally. We were happy to hear that. She is not really gaining any weight though. They are not concerned with that right now though. She is at a healthy weight. So all good news. I have to take her for another bone age xray. This is the xray of her wrist. We got one about a year and half ago and it showed a bone growth delay. They want to see if there is any change with that. I will probably try to take her sometime next week for that. (it is on a walk in basis) Other than that she is doing good. Little Charlie continues to do great as well. He is doing good in school and his reading is really improving.

I've been busy packing and trying to get ready to move. Not much else going on. Saturday we are going to the Annual Hope Day with HopeKids to the railroad park. The kids always have so much fun there. They will have their build a bear booth there again, big inflatables, rock climbing wall, pony rides and new this year, camel rides. The kids are very excited. It will be nice to take some time away from packing and have some fun.

I want to ask for some silent prayers for our family. There is so many things going on right now that we are trying to deal with. I know we will get through each one in its own time. Some things are just harder to deal with then others. Thank you for your support and prayers.

I will have pictures to post after the weekend. Thank you for checking in and praying for us.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, October 2, 2007 3:49 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Sorry for no updates. Everything here has been very busy. Emily is feeling is doing great. She was a huge help this weekend at the yard sale. We had a great weekend together, just her and I. Little Charlie and daddy had so much fun camping also.

Daddy and Little Charlie left Friday afternoon to head out camping. It was awefully quiet here without them. LOL! Emily and I went out to dinner with my sister and her kids friday night. It was nice to spend some time with them. We don't get to see each other much. After coming home we got all the stuff together for the yard sale. We got up early Saturday morning and my sister came and helped me set up. Thank you Jodi, you were a huge help. The kids ran around and played while we visited and tried to sell as much as we could. My dad and brother Jason also came and hung out with us for a few hours. It was really nice to spend time with them as well. I definately don't get to spend as much time with my dad as I would like. Emily had so much fun with Jason. She was, in her words, making him pretty. LOL! Jason is 15 years old and he was such a great sport while the girls did his hair and put pretend makeup in him. LOL! Saturday's yard sale went fairly well. We still had alot of stuff left over when we closed up. Saturday night we went to dinner with Jodi, Eddie and the kids. Then we came home and crashed. It was such a long day and we were so tired. Sunday we tried the yard sale thing again. It was a very quiet day and we didn't really sell anything. So all in all I think we made about $100 and the rest of the stuff is going to Thriftsmart. At least I know that it is going to a good cause.

Daddy and Charlie came home on sunday morning and helped with the yard sale also. Charlie had lots of stories to tell me about their camping trip. He was so excited that he caught 2 fish and a whole bucket of crawdads. I have some pictures that they took that I will share soon. I just have to take the time to get them on the computer. He is excited about going again, hopefully soon. We will wait and see how the move goes and when they can plan another one. It was good for them to spend some one on one time together and Emily and I had lots of fun to.

The last 2 days have been spent packing. The worst part about moving is the packing and unpacking. It is so much work. I didn't realize we had so much stuff in this house. I think I am getting it done fairly quickly though. I just wanted to say again, that because of things going on in our life right now I am not going to put our new address on this site. So if you would like it then please just shoot me an email and I will send it to you.

I would also like to ask you to please say some prayers for my husband. He has alot of things coming up that is really stressing him out. We know it will all work out in the end the way it is suppose to, but we do hope that it works out in our favor. He also has some doctors appointment coming up. Please pray for answers.

Emily has an appointment with her endocrinologist on Thursday. He is monitoring her growth every 6 months to see how she is doing. She is small for her age, but the last time that we went he said that she is staying on a good growth pattern. So he was not to concerned and just wanted to watch her every 6 months. Please pray that she continues to stay on that growth pattern.

Other than that we are just packing and getting ready for the move. Thank you for checking in and praying for us. Thank you all for your kind messages and continued support for our family.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, September 28, 2007 0:33 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Everything is going ok here. Very busy. Emily is doing great. She went to the Phoenix Symphony today with the 3rd grade for a field trip. She was so excited to go. Mostly cause they said they had to dress very nice. We went to the second hand store and bought her a dress and some dress shoes. Her shoes are what she was most excited about. She loves the shoes with a little heel on them. LOL! The picture at the top is from today. She really liked the symphony. Little Charlie is also doing great. He is so excited about this weekend. Daddy and Little Charlie is going camping for the weekend. This will be Charlie's first real camping and fishing trip. He really needs this time with Daddy. They are both excited about it. Emily and I are going to hang out at home and have a yard sale. I am sure we will find something else to do as well.

Today we were told we did get the house we were hoping to get. I already turned in the papers for the kids to stay at the same school. The school already told me it wouldn't be a problem. The kids are very happy about that. Now if I can just get them to get up and get ready a little quicker. Emily is not a morning person at all, but since we will be further from the school we will have to leave a little earlier to get them there on time. I am just happy to know that we have a place to move to. I was worried that we wouldn't find a place in time. Now we are trying to sort through our stuff and get rid of a bunch of things we don't need. I didn't realize how much stuff we've accrued over the years. I have been busy packing and sorting all week. This weekend Emily and I are going to have a yard sale. The move in costs are alot and any extra money we can earn will be a huge help. Now if I can just get everything together by saturday. LOL!

I've decided that because of everything that is going on within our family I am not going to put our new address on this site. I know there are many of you that send Emily and Charlie little cards and stuff so if you would like the new address just email me and I will give it to you and the date we are moving in. There has been alot that has happened over the last 6 months and we are hoping this is God's way of giving us a new beginning. A fresh start in a new place where certain people just don't know where we are. (long story)

I want to thank you all for your prayers. When I got the first phone call from the rental company they seemed a little iffy on if they wanted to give us the house. Our credit is horrible was their exact words. That was Tuesday. So when they called me today and said, okay your all set, the house is yours if you still want it. I was pretty excited. We have a few big items we are selling to come up with some of the move in cost. So I ask that you please pray that the sales go through and those people don't back out on us. Either way I am confident that we will have the money and be in our new home in no time.

The kids are doing great in school. Emily is getting better about talking out in class. She is finishing all her work and worrying more about her stuff and less about others. I am so proud of her. Charlie is reading more at home now. He was starting to fall a bit behind in reading. He seems to be doing better since he started reading again at home. They continue to love school.

Not much else to talk about. We really haven't been doing much besides packing and sorting. The kids have been playing with the neighbor kids as much as they can now. They are sad that they will be leaving their freinds, but I promised them that we would come and visit them once in a while.

Wish us luck on our yard sale! Anything that I don't sell I am donating to a new thrift store called Thriftsmart. Thriftsmart is a new store that will be opening on Oct 6th. 100 percent of the profits from ThriftSMART is donated to four local charities - HopeKids, Phoenix Rescue Mission, Young Life, and Food for the Hungry. This has the potential to be a huge blessing here in the Valley. It will be nice to know that even though I cannot donate money to these charities, I can still help them by donating to Thriftsmart. Anyone living here in Phoenix can visit this store at 32nd Street and Thunderbird on the south east corner.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Thank you for the messages to. They have been very uplifting for all of us. (((BIG HUGS))) to all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, September 24, 2007 0:16 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON SEPTEMBER 27, 2007**

We have been approved for the house!! We are so happy that we found something that is in our price range for rent and will work for us size wise. It is smaller and we are losing the garage space, but it will be big enough for us. I've been packing and sorting through our stuff. I am going to have a yard sale this weekend and try to earn some money for the move in cost. It is alot of money up front to move and we are a little concerned about that, but I know we will get it all ironed out. The biggest battle was finding a house. The other good thing is it is not too far from where we are now. Even though it is out of district for the kids school they assured us it would be ok for them to keep going there. They are very happy about that. I will do a full update later this evening. Going back to my packing now. UGH!!

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was pretty good. Emily has had no complaints of pain all weekend. She is not eating well though. Not to sure what is up with that, but otherwise she is doing great. Little Charlie is also doing great.

Saturday we went and watched Evan Almighty with HopeKids. We really enjoyed the movie. It was very funny. We also got to see Chloe and Ben. It was so great seeing Chloe. I've really missed her so much. This was our first time meeting Ben. He was so darn cute. He really seemed to like Emily. Even though we didn't get a whole lot of time to talk and visit, it was great to see them. I sure wish they could stay longer so we could have another day to visit. Please pray for a safe trip back home for them on Monday.

After coming home on Saturday from the movie we started going through some of our stuff. We think we may have found another house. It is not to far from where we live now. It is however out of district for the kids school, BUT I talked to the school and they told me that if I could transport the kids back and forth then they would grant them a variance so they can keep going to that school. They were very excited to hear that. The house we found is smaller then ours, but big enough for us. The backyard is at least 4 times the size of what we have now. Its HUGE! It is a little more expensive then what we pay here, but still under what we said our top that we could afford would be. It is through the same rental company. That is really nice cause we won't have to go through the whole application process again. It is an older house, but I like the older ones better anyhow. I sure hope we get into this one. We haven't found any others that are not to small or too much rent. This one I think is just right. I am going to call them tomorrow and find out what the total move in will be. (that is always the most expensive part of moving) Then we will have to figure out when we want to be our official move in date over there. We have to be out of this one by Oct 15th. The owner said that if we want our security deposit back right away then we will have to make sure that this house is ready to be put on the market right away. So we will have to have our move in date a little earlier then our move out date so I have time to really clean this house. I am sure it will all fall into place somehow. I am just glad that we found someplace that we are all happy with. I will keep you posted on whether we get it or not.

Sunday was spent running around picking up boxes and sorting through the stuff in our garage. The new house doesn't have a garage so we have to get rid of alot of stuff. Eventually we will try to buy a shed for the backyard, but right now we just can't afford one. I didn't realize how much of a packrat I am until I started going through stuff. LOL!

We've had great weater here also. We have been in the upper 80's low 90's. It was great for the kids. They've spent the last 2 days outside rising their bikes and playing with their friends from down the street. They are going to miss them when we move. All in all it was great weekend.

This week I will be doing lots of packing and sorting. UGH! I always hated that part. I do love to unpack and set up a brand new place though. Daddy's birthday is on Tuesday Sept 25th. Don't have anything planned,but maybe we will surprise him with something special. On Friday Daddy and Little Charlie are leaving to go camping for the weekend. Little Charlie is so excited about having this one on one time with Daddy. I just know they are going to have fun.

So that is how things are going here. Please continue to pray for our family. We have some things coming up that we are very fearful of how they are going to turn out. I am trying to positive, but in this situation it is kinda hard. We appreciate all the prayers. Thank you for checking in and for leaving messages. I will keep you posted on how things go with the house. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, September 21, 2007 1:30 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Well the mood at our house is down big time. We are sad about the resent news of having to move out of our house. We are getting discouraged more and more with every place we look at. I know its only been 2 days that we have been looking, but we have looked at so mnay houses. All either to small, to expensive, or just to far away from where we would like to be. We've told the kids that they are probably not going to be able to stay in the same school. They are very sad, but I think they are dealing a little better since I told them I would still take them to visit their friends. I hope that we will not have to move to far from the area. Many of the houses that we looked at that were within our price range are about an hour or more from my husbands work also. We are trying to be patient, but it is hard. I know it will all work out somehow. Thank you for the prayers and messages.

Emily has been feeling great. No complaints of pain this week. That I am happy about. We got midterm report for both kids today. Overall they are both doing great. Charlie is starting to fall behind a little in reading. He is going to start reading a little more at home to hopefully get back to where he was. Emily is still having talking out issues and worrying about other people in the class rather then herself and her own work. The teacher is working with her on it and he said she is improving.

Saturday we are going with HopeKids to watch Evan Almighty. The kids are very excited. I am excited because Chloe is going to be there. ( Ellie's Mom ) Its been way to long since I've seen her and it will be really nice to see her again. Also it will be nice to get out and put all these issues on the back burner for one day.

Other than that we don't have any other plans for the weekend. Hopefully we will just have a good weekend. I know its not much of an update, but I really don't have much to talk about. We've just been house hunting and that is about it.

Please continue to pray for our family and that everything works out for us. Many things just are not going right, but we are hopeful for a good outcome. Thank you for checking in and for all the messages.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, September 17, 2007 11:07 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT SEPTEMBER 19, 2007**

The kids were out of school today so we spent the whole day looking at houses. Unfortunately it doesn't look like we are going to be able to keep them in the same school. The houses around this area are way more expensive then what we are currently paying and much smaller then the one we are in. We did find a couple that are in our price range, but pretty far from where we are right now. The kids are very upset at the thought of having to change schools, but I know if they have to then they will adjust. We are going to give it a little longer and keep looking. We also have some friends that are keeping their eye out for us. Thank you for the messages and prayers. I will keep you posted.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2007**

Today I got a phone call from the rental company that we rent our house from. We've been here for about 4 1/2 yrs now. The owner has decided to sell the house and we need to be out by October 15th. We are so sad. We are hoping to find something in the same area so the kids don't have to leave their school. Please just pray that we find something by then. No matter what we have to be out by the 15th of next month. Thanks for you prayers.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was good. Emily is feeling good. She is still not eating much, but other than that she has only complained once of her belly hurting in the last 3-4 days. That is pretty good considering it was happening everyday. Little Charlie is also doing great. They are both continueing to do well in school. Emily had her school pictures taken last friday. I will share those when I get the proofs. I am not sure when Charlie takes his. His open house is this thursday though.

Saturday we went and got our family pictures done. It was so much fun and I can't wait to see how they turned out. They started off by taking several pictures of Emily by herself. Then they took some of Charlie and Emily together. Then they did the family pictures. They took several shots in different poses. Then they took a few shots of just my husband and I . Then last but not least they took pictures of Little Charlie by himself. I was watching some of them on the screen on her camera and they looked really good. I am so excited!! After leaving there we went and did some shopping and then headed home. I took Emily back up to the place where we got our pictures done so we could get some pictures of her with Mason. They were so cute together. They took several pictures of them together, hugging, looking at each other, standing back to back, holding hands and just looking cute. When they were just about to wrap things up Emily asked the lady if she could do one more picture. (All Emily's idea) She said she wanted a picture of her giving Mason a kiss on the cheek. The lady thought it was too sweet so of course she said yes. Well Mason and Emily were so embarrassed that they wanted us all to turn our backs except the lady taking the picture. I just know that picture came out cute also. I will be sure to share all of them as soon as I get them back. I believe it will be a couple weeks. I am so excited and can't wait to see them all.

Sunday Daddy and the kids took off and went to the swap meet to look for some camping stuff. Daddy is real excited about taking Little Charlie camping. They were gone for a few hours. I stayed home cause I didn't think it would be good for my sprained ankle to walk that far. I got some laundry done and a little bit of cleaning while they were gone. Once they were home it was time for nascar. Of course the kids popped their hats on their heads and cheered on their favorite driver. My favorite part of the race day is listening to the kids and daddy tease each other when something happens with their drivers.

So that was our weekend. Not to much, but it was a good weekend and that is what counts. This week the kids are out of school on Wednesday for staff developement day. Thursday is Charlie's open house. Other than that nothing else is going on. Maybe I will get some time to rest my ankle this week. Saturday morning we are going to watch Evan Almighty with HopeKids. The kids are excited about that.

Also I am SO excited about Chloe and Little Ben coming to Phoenix on Friday. ( Ellie's Momma and Brother ) The last time I saw Chloe she was pregnant with Ben and now Ben is over 1yr old. It has just been way to long and I really hope we are able to get together. Can't wait to see you Chloe!! (((BIG HUGS)))

I do have one prayer request. I am not really sur ehow to ask for you to pray without saying what it is. It is something that I don't think needs to be talked about on here. But we could really use your prayers for to turn out in our favor. This has the potential to be really bad for our family. It is not a health issue, so no worries there. I believe God knows the specifics. Please just pray! Thank you!

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Thank you for the messages also. I also want to thank David for all the HUGS. Emily just loves to see that coutner keep going up. She loves that you hug her every morning. (cyberhugs anyways) Enjoy the new pictures!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 3:32 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY MORNING SEPTEMBER 14, 2007**

Everything is going great here. Emily's doctors appointment went good. She was so excited to see her doctor. She hasn't gained any weight or grown at all since he saw her last in may, but otherwise everything else is great.

Today is school picture day for Emily. Tomorrow is family picture day for all of us. I will post them as soon as we get them back. Hope you all have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and praying for us.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





glitter-graphics.com

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours turned out to be a very good one with lots of GOOD family time together. It feels good to say that. Okay first I want to let you all know that the doctor did call me and Emily's MRI came back NORMAL. We are excited to hear that. Still frustrated at the fact that we have no answers to her pain, but excited to hear that it is not cancer related pain. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Emily has been feeling good overall. Last night she had a bad headache, but other than that she has not complained of headaches. Belly pain is still off and on. I just continue giving her tylenol and zantac and hopefully it is taking it away. She doesn't tell me either way. Friday Emily went to a sleepover at a friends house. This is the first time she has spent the night somewhere, without her brother, and at someones house that wasn't family. She had so much fun. I could hardly get her to leave when I got there on saturday to pick her up. Little Charlie also went and stayed the night at a friends house friday. He had so much fun also. It is good for the kids to go places and do things seperately. They really enjoyed themselves.

Friday night Daddy came back. It was a nice quiet night for us with the kids being at their friends house. We sat and talked and I think we have alot of stuff figured out. We've had communication problems for a while now, so it was really nice to sit and be able to really talk to each other. It really is important to do that.

Saturday I went and got the kids and they were so excited to see Daddy at home when they got there. Daddy's friend (that he hasn't talked to or seen in over 2 yrs) came over with his kids. Our kids use to be very close. With our life problems and his friends life problems we all grew apart. It was so good to see him and the kids. I couldn't believe how big his kids had gotten. The kids all had so much fun playing. They stayed for most of the day. After they left we went out and ran our errands and did some food shopping.

Sunday we decided that we were going to stay home all day and just spend time as a family. We watched some tv, played games, and did a few chores around the house. It was a great day. It was a wonderful weekend.

Monday the kids went back to school and Daddy went to work. I went out paying bills and shopping a little. This saturday we will be going to have family pictures done. (something HopeKids is offering the families) We all decided that we are going to wear blue jeans and white tshirts for the pictures. So I had to go out looking for white shirts for all of us. I managed to find them all except Daddy's on clearance for $3 a piece. I was pretty happy about that. I am excited about the pictures on Saturday. The last family picture that was taken was when Little Charlie was a baby and I was pregnant with Emily. Yikes that was a long time ago! Anyways Today I went to the ER cause I messed up my ankle somehow. I believe it was from when I was running around the house chasing the kids. LOL! I guess that is why us moms always say "Don't run in the house!" I got xrays done and thankfully there is nothing broken. I have a severe sprain and tendon damage. They put a splint on it and told me to wear it whenever I am walking or on my feet. Otherwise they want me to put ice on it and keep it elevated when I am sitting down. It hurts like crazy. Hopefully it will be better soon. The doctor said it could take up to 6 weeks to heal completely. I hope it doesn't take that long.

Wednesday Emily has her appointment with her oncologist. She is pretty excited about seeing him. She hasn't seen him in 6 months. Its just a routine visit. I expect it all to go great. Little Charlie is going to be in chorus this year. He really enjoyed the group he was in last year and was upset that he couldn't be in it this year. They just sent out papers for auditins for the winter program and he joined. He will start practices every wednesday after school starting tomorrow. He is very excited. Then Saturday we will be getting our family pictures done. (as I said before) The people that are doing the photos will send them to us on a disk. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I will be sure to post them as soon as we get them back. Other than that nothing else planned. Daddy and little Charlie are trying to put together a little camping trip for just the 2 of them. Little Charlie wants some Daddy son time and Daddy is very excited about this. I think they are going to go the end of the month. Emily and I will find something to do just for us also.

Today also marks the 6yr anniversary of the Sept 11th terrorist attacks. Please remember those that lost their lives that day and say a little prayer for those they left behind. Also please pray for all our troops that are overseas.

glitter-graphics.com

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Thank you all for the messages as well. They mean so much. I hope to have some new pictures to post soon. The kids have not been cooperating with me on pictures. LOL! (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, September 5, 2007 6:31 PM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2007**

I promise to be back later for a full update. Just wanted to wish my neice Katelynn a very Happy 9th Birthday today. Check back later for more about our weekend.


glitter-graphics.com


glitter-graphics.com






**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2007**

We are home now from Emily's MRI. We got to the hospital at 8am. They called us back about 8:30am. Emily got really shy as soon as we went back. They explained what they were going to do and she wouldn't even look at them. She was fine until we got back into the MRI room. She instantly started to cry. Then they asked her to get up on the table and breathe into the mask. She fought with us in true Emily fashion. She refused to breath into the mask. She kept hitting the anesthiologist (sp?). He was relaly great with her though. The nurse held her hands, the tech held her legs and I stood next to her with my arms around her. The the anesthiologist (sp?) held the mask over her face and sang to her until she fell asleep. They were so good with her. The whole time before she fell asleep she was screaming, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" Then she just layed back and was out. They then asked me to leave and wait in the waiting room. About an hour later they came and got me. She was still out but was in recovery. So I went back there and she started to stir. Then all of a sudden she sat straight up, started shaking her head and yelling, "Let me out of here." and tried to yank out her IV. They told me she would wake up a little grumpy, but she was just plain ole mad. We managed to calm her down and she fel back to sleep for about another 10 minutes. When she woke up the next time she she cried and said her head was hurting her real bad. She was mad and just wanted to leave and go to school. We told her she was going tohave to stay home for the rest of the day and that just made her even madder. The nurse asked her if she thought she was ready to get up. Emily was ready to get the heck out of there so of course she said yes. She sat up and jumped off the bed and nearly fell right to the floor. Guess she wasn't as ready as she thought she was. She said she was feeling very dizzy and her head hurt real bad. I helped her get to the bathroom and then we made our way out of the hospital. On the way home I got her something to eat and drink and that made her a little happier.

They told me it would be 2-5 days before the doctor got the results. So we wait again. Please keep praying for good results. Right now Emily is complaining of her head hurting and her 2 IV sites hurt. She is cranky still. I think we are going to try to take a nap before going to pick Charlie up from school. Thank you for checking in and for praying. Thank you for all the messages as well. Emily's been reading them and loves to hear from you all. I will let you know as soon as I get the results.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Just got the phone call from the doctor. Ultrasound was NORMAL! Which means we got good test results but NO answers to the belly pain. At any rate we are excited to hear that all is normal. One test down, One more to go. Tomorrow is her MRI. Please pray that all goes well with this test and we get good results from this one also.

I want to thank all that have been supporting our family. I want to thank you for your kind words and your prayers. Thank you for being my friends and always being there for my family. You all mean alot to me.

With that being said I feel I need to address the 2 people that felt the need to be negative in the guestbook. I don't know why you feel it is fair for you to hide behind your computer and judge me or my family. If you feel the need to write stuff like that at least have the guts to write it to my email and sign your name. My children read the guestbook and those are not comments they should be reading. Please have respect for my children. If you can't write something nice in the guestbook then please just don't sign it at all.

Anyways I just felt like I needed to get that out. I will update a little after I get home and let you know how the MRI went. I probably won't have results til next week, but I feel pretty good about the results since getting the all clear on the ultrasound. Thank you for your prayers and for checking in. (((HUGS))) to all!!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, September 4, 2007 10:41 PM CDT

**EDITED WEDNESDAY MORNING SEPT 5TH**

I am once again coming on here to ask that you please keep the negative comments out of the guestbook. My email address is right at the bottom of the page. PLease direct anything negative to my email. My kids do not need to be reading these comments. Everyone is free to say what they want but please don't do it in the guestbook. Thank you!

The update below is the new one from last night, in case you haven't read it yet.



glitter-graphics.com



**NEW PICTURES ADDED TO THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend. Ours started out great and ended on a very bad note. Anyways first let me start out with Emily has been feeling good for the most part. She has complained a couple times of belly pain over the weekend, but has said nothing about her head hurting. I still have no results from her ultrasound yet. They told me probably Wednesday is when the doctor should have them. I am hoping and praying that I hear from them tomorrow. It has been on my mind since friday. Please continue to say extra prayers for good results, but hopefully results that hold some answers as well. I will update as soon as I hear from the doctor. Thursday we go for Emily's MRI of her brain. Again I am feeling very uneasy about this test, but feel it really needs to be done. Please pray for all to go well during the MRI and for the results to be good as well.

Little Charlie is doing good. He continues to love the fourth grade. I am proud of how great he is doing. This weekend Daddy came and we spent the whole weekend with him. The kids were loving having daddy here. We really enjoyed ourselves. Saturday we went out shopping and went out to lunch. We spent the whole day out and about doing a whole lot of nothing, but spending time together. Daddy took us on Sunday afternoon to see Rush Hour 3. It was a good movie. If you liked the first two then you will like the third one as well. After the movie we went and ran a couple errands and then went home. We were having such a great time being together.

Monday our world was turned upside down. I don't want to go into detail about it. I just want to ask that you please pray for our family. Please pray that our family is not too broke that it can't be fixed. Pray for guidance for my husband, strength for me, and understanding for the kids. Its such a complicated mess we are in as a family. I sure hope it turns around and gets better for us.

Okay so this week I just have Emily's MRI scheduled. Other than that I am relaxing while the kids are at school. I am also thinking about going back to work. I have been out of work for over 3 years now. I love being a stay at home mom. I love being able to take the kids to school and pick them up and help them with their homework. But I think that maybe it is time for me to go back to work. I have also been thinking about taking up photography classes. I love taking pictures and would love to learn all that I need to possibly take it further then just a hobby. I guess we will wait and see what happens.

Thank you all for checking in and leaving a message. Thank you for all your prayers for our family as well. They do mean alot to us. I will update as soon as I know any results from her Ultrasound. Don't forget to check out the new pictures I posted in the photo album.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 10:12 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY NIGHT AUGUST 31, 2007, 7PM**

Sorry I didn't update sooner. Ok so Emily was not happy this morning about going for this ultrasound. Mainly because she wanted a drink of water and couldn't have anything to eat or drink before her test. Once we got there she was fine though. We got called back and she went right in there and jumped up on the table. The tech started the ultrasound and about half way through she started asking me alot of questions about Emily's cancer and where it was located. She asked about her treatment and asked if it involved any other organs then the ones I told her about. She had me a bit worried with all the questions she was asking and the way she was asking them. Emily was happy to get the goopy stuff off. Then the tech asked her if she liked princesses and she gave her a sticker of each disney princess. Emily was happy with that. We left and I took her to school. She got to school just 45 minutes before lunch. I think that really made her happy. She was hungry!!!

Anyways I have no results and the tech wouldn't even give me a clue as to what to expect. She told me we probably wouldn't hear anything until at least wednesday. So now we just wait. Then on Thursday is her MRI of her brain. Thank you for checking in and prayng for us.

Love and HUgs,
Angela






**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY MORNING AGUST 31, 2007, 7:30am**

We are getting ready to leave here in about 20 minutes or so to get Emily's ultrasound done. I ask that you please say some extra prayers for her. She is having pain in her belly this morning. I can't give her anything cause they don't want her to have anything to eat or drink or anything before the ultrasound. We ususally are ot able to get the results for a few days, so I most likely won't have official results, but I am hopng to get a hint from the tech. Crossing my fingers that they will give me some idea. Anyways I will update after I get home.

Thank you for checking in and for your prayers.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone. Sorry for not updating sooner. So much has been going on. (Some good and some bad) First I would like to ask you to please continue praying for Bonnie and her family. They are still in waiting mode, which is not the best place to be sometimes. Please continue to pray that this will turn out to not be cancer afterall. I can't imagine what they have gone through over the last 4-5 days, but I sure do hope that it turns out for the best. Please keep praying with me for this wonderful little girl and her amazing family. (((BIG HUGS))) Shelton Family. We Love You!!

Okay so here is what is up around here. Emily is complaining of the belly pain again. Still not admitting to headaches, but again I saw her sneaking a tylenol the other night. School is going fairly well for her. She is still acting out a little. I guess she is done with the crying fits and now she is just talking out and not completing her class work. I know she is under alot of stress with all that is happening here at home, but she has to know that she can't do this. The teacher has had several talks with her and I think he is getting a handle on the situation. Its nice that her teacher is being strict with her, but at the same time understanding of the circumstances. She really does have a great teacher. Charlie is doing wonderful in school. Well I did find one ting that I was not very happy with. He hid his spelling test from last week cause he didn't want me to see the bad grade that he got on it. He has always been a great speller and gotten A's. This was far from an A. I was not very happy and told him that I expect him to writehis words everyday and then I will test him on them from now on. This year he has 30 spelling words to memorize. In the years past it been no more then 15. So I am cutting him a bit of slack because of that. Otherwise he loves school and all his teachers. Emily has open house Wednesday night at her school. So we will be going to that.

Saturday morning Daddy came over and we hung out for a while at the house. Then Aunt Jodi and Uncle Eddie came and picked up the kids. They were so excited about going to their house. My husband and I got ready for our night out. We went and had a nice dinner together. Then we went bowling for a little while. We haven't been bowling in a long time and we had alot of fun. Then we took a drive out to the casino. We didn't have much money but we had fun. We ended up walking out of the casino 3 hours later with the same amount of money we left with. I would say that is a good night of fun. Didn't win anything, but we didn't lose either. It was a wonderful night spent, just the 2 of us. I don't remember the last time that we enjoyed each others company as much as we did that night. I told him that we need to set aside at least one night a month where we go out just the 2 of us and do something. I think it would really be good for us. Here is a picture that was taken saturday night before we went out.


10yrs of marriage (8-23-07)

Sunday we got up fairly early and took off to get the kids. Geez we got to my sister house and they didn't want to leave. My sister said that Emily was crying the night before that she wanted to go home and then we got there and they didn't want to leave. We tried to leave them behind but that wasn't working so good. LOL! After picking up the kids we went and did a little bit of food shopping and then went home. Daddy stayed for a little bit and then he left. The kids and I were all sad to see him leave. It was such a good weekend we hated to see it end.

Monday the kids went back to school and I stayed home all day cleaning. I practically moved everything inmy hosue and cleaned everything and everywhere. Why, you ask? I have no idea. I just felt like cleaning for some strange reason. My house is the cleanest it has ever been since we moved in. LOL! Tuesday I continued on my cleaning spree. I think I am finally done. LOL!

Wednesday night is open house at Emily's school. (as i said earlier) So we will be going there. Then the next thing planned is Friday morning is Emily's ultrasound. I am glad that is coming soon. I really hope we are able to get to the bottom of her belly pain. They never give me results there. I usually have to wait a few days. Then of course we have to take into account the weekend. So probably nothing until sometime next week, but I am going to try to get the tech to tell me what they think. If there may or may not be something of concern. I will let you know how that goes after I get home from the appointment. It is scheduled at 9am on friday. Then Thursday September 6th is her MRI. Please be praying for this test as well. We are still up in the air about what they are using to knock her out. Reguardless I think we really need to have this test done so I am not canceling. My husband will be out of town that day so I will be going to this alone with her. I usually try not to schedule things like this when he is gone out of town. Both times she was diagnosed I was all alone and he was out of town. I am definately not thinking about that though. (trying not to anyways) Just trying to stay positive and hoping they get to the bottom of her pain. That is what is important.

I also want to once again ask you say some extra prayer for my husband. He has been really trying to deal with his problems over the time that he has been gone. Some things he has been able to deal with, others are a little harder. He was making such great progress and then Friday he got a phone call that was not good at all. (long story behind that) Anyways his whole world came crashing down on him once again and all the progress that he made went away. I know he can pick himself up again and pick up where he was at. He just has to believe he is strong enough. Please pray for strength for him and pray this horrible situation that he has gotten himself into (nothing to do with me and the kids) will work out for the best. He wants to come home so badly, but doesn't want to come home until he knows he is truly better and ready. We love him and miss him so much. Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for checking in on our family. Thank you for your messages and prayers. Chloe thank you so much for calling me and being a great friend. I can't wait to see you next month. I miss you guys so much. To anyone that has emailed. Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I will be doing that either tonight or in the morning. I promise I am not ignoring you. I love you all and (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, August 24, 2007 0:18 AM CDT

**URGENT PRAYER REQUEST**

Our very good friend Bonnie has relapsed again after over 2 years off treatment. I am still in shock over this news. Emily and Bonnie's stories were almost exactly alike. The pain they both have experienced since they went off treatment for their relapse has been the same. We have gotten so close with this wonderful family and my heart is breaking for them right now. Please keep them close to your hearts and in your prayers.

Bonnie we love you and are keeping you in our prayers. You are a strong little girl and such a fighter. You can beat this!! Mary'beth, my heart is just breaking for you. I want you to know that I am here for you for whatever you need. Email or call anytime. (((BIG HUGS)))

Thank you for keeping our friend and her family in your prayers. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! First I want to thank you for all the messages and emails reguarding Emily's MRI. I think we are just going to leave it as scheduled and get it done. I do have a call into the doctor to be sure of what they are using and if it will require a tube or not. If so I will be pushing for sedation rather then anesthesia.

Emily has not complained of any pain, but I did catch her tonight getting a zantac and a tylenol after dinner. I think it is safe to assume that she is still having the pain justnot telling me. I don't kow how frequently she is having it, but whats important is to know it is still there. She continues to do wonderful in school. This week has been much better then last week. No phone calls from the teacher all week. YAY!!

Charlie continues to love 4th grade and all his teachers. He is doing great! Open house is next week at school. Charlie and Emily are going to Aunt Jodi's house Saturday night so mommy and daddy can go celebrate 10yrs of marriage. Yestarday my husband brought me a very sweet card and some flowers for our anniversary. He is in Texas tonight and will be back in town on friday. I think he is planning to come visit with us then also.

Not to much has been going on. It has been very hot so we haven't been doing to much. I really don't know what we have planned for this weekend either. Well other than going out with my husband. Even that is a surprise for me. It will be nice though. I know we need to start making more time for just him and I. We don't get to do that often enough. Anyways I will be sure to fill you in after the weekend.

So Emily will be getting her ultrasound done on August 31st and her MRI done on September 6th. Please pray for these tests. Also pray that she has little to no pain until then. All the lab tests they've gotten back so far have come back normal. So that is great news.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Thank you all for the messages, they are very encouraging and we love reading them. Hope to have more exciting things to talk about after the weekend. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, August 19, 2007 11:01 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY AUGUST 23, 2007**

HAPPY 10TH ANNIVERSARY TO MY HUSBAND!! Today is our 10 year wedding anniversary. We are sad that we are not together on such a special day. The truth is even if we weren't living in seperate places we would still be celebrating our anniversary seperate. He is in Texas for work. Anyways I just wanted to wish him a very happy anniversary. I have all the faith in the world that we will be back together and happier then ever soon.

Now I need some advice about something. I got a phone call from Emily's pediatricians office. They scheduled her MRI for Sept. 6th. The catch is they scheduled her to have anesthesia. (sp?) They feel that since she will have to stay completely still for at least an hour, that she should be knocked out for it. I thought they were just talking about sedating her, but instead they are knocking her totally out. Which means possibly a tube during the procedure. That scares me cause Emily's right lung doesn't work to 100 percent capacity and she has a tough time when they remove the tube. Now the other thing they told me is if she stops having the headaches before then for me to call them so they can cancel the MRI. They feel that if the headaches stop then there is no use in doing the MRI and knocking her out. The problem I am having right now is that Emily won't tell me when she is in pain anymore. She won't tell anyone, cause she is afraid that I am going to take her back to the doctor. She is dead set that she is not doing anymore stuff. She has dealt with the pain of her head, belly, leg cramps and much more and just not said anything. So what do I do? Should I go ahead with the MRI with knocking her out or what? I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. I am worried that they may put a tube in her and then there being complications when they take it out, but I am also worried that if I tell them she is not having headaches, cause she isn't telling me about them, that something will really be wrong. Help me please. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Thank you all for checking in. Lots of love and hugs to all.

Love and hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. After our horrible day at the doctors, (check last journal if you didn't already read about it) we had a good weekend. Emily has been feeling pretty good. Only complained once of a headache. No belly pain complaints. She has set her mind to the fact that if she doesn't complain then she won't have to go back to the doctor. I truly hope that she is not having pain and not just not telling us.

Friday I took her back to school and decided to wait until Saturday to take her for her labwork. I found a lab that was open on saturday. Friday night she went to a friends house to watch High School Musical 2. Her friend was having a bunch of girls over for a little movie night party. Emily really wanted to go and she had a blast. She loved the new High School Musical movie. We got up saturday and got ready to go get the bloodwork done. Just as we were getting ready to leave the kids started going nuts and telling me to hurry up and look out the window. I took a look out the window and there were tons of motorcycles going by. We live on a main road. So we went out front and there was motorcyces as far as the eye could see. Thousands upon thousands of them. They were waving and honking their horns at the kids. Emily and Charlie were so excited and we stood out there for the next hour watching them all go by. I have never seen anything like this before. I later found out that this weekend was the annual Freedom Run. My dad participated in this last year and he said there was more then 15,000 bikes last year. I believe they must have had that many this year as well. All different kinds of motorcycles, men and women, and many with American flags on the back of their bikes. It was the most amazing thing to watch. I got a few pictures also I will share below. So because all these motorcycles were there we couldn't leave our house yet. They get the same privileges that funeral processions get. Police escort and all. So it was impossible for us to leave until they all had gone by. We finally got to the lab at 10am and had to wait an hour before they called us back. Then the fight was on. First Emily refused to sit down, then refused to straighten her arm. She fought with all her might. I finally sat her on my lap and held her arm out straight. The lab tech was great. She got the needle in quick and without any trouble. Emily hardly felt it. Then Emily thought it was funny how the tubes was sucking the blood out. All was well after that. I feel bad she is going through all of this, but we need to know what is going on. I know she understand that, but she is tired of all this.

After labs were done we left and met Daddy at the house. Daddy and I took the kids to JC Penny to get them a nice pair of shoes for school. They have a brand new store that opened up down the street from our house. We usually can't afford to shop there but they were having a great sale on Saturday. We got the kids each a pair of Nike's for school for $20 each. I thought that was a great deal. They were so excited cause this is the first pair of name brand shoes they have ever owned. Usually we just buy their shoes at walmart. Anyways then we went and ate lunch and then went home. Daddy hung out with us all day long and then stayed for dinner. The kids were so glad to spend a whole day with Daddy and Mommy and it be a good day. When it was time for Daddy to leave it was a very sad moment. The kids cried and begged that Daddy not have to leave. It made us both sad. Daddy promised them that things will get better and told them that he loves them and they settled down.

I am very proud of the strides my husband has made to find himself and deal with some issues that he has within himself. It has been very hard for him, but he is making progress. Please continue to pray for him.

Sunday the kids and I went outside early and mowed the backyard and cleaned up. Then we did a bit of housework and hung out most of the rest of the day. Overall we had a good weekend. We don't have much planned for this week. I have to try to get into the dentist and I have to make Charlie's last appointment with the dentist as well. I hope to hear soon about when Emily's MRI of her brain will be. I will let you know as soon as I find out. Her unltrasound will be on August 31st. Plese pray for comfort until then.

Thank you for checking in and praying for us. Thank you for all the wonderful messages left in the guestbook. It is so comforting to know there are so many praying for us. I have some pictures that I took this weekend to share. Don't you just love the picture at the top of the page. Beautiful big brown eyes and gorgeous smile. Well enjoy the pictures. (((HUGS))) to all!!!!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007 11:15 PM CDT

UPDATE FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2007 1:22PM

This doctors appointment was the worst experience I have had with Emily in a long time. She was not cooperative in any way. She fought us on everything. It started with peeing in a cup. Emily has always refused to pee in a cup. Took us nearly a half hour but she finally did it when they told her she couldn't leave until she did. Guess she wanted to leave so bad that she gave in. Then they wanted to poke her finger to check her glucose and stuff. They were trying to rule everything out. Oh that was terrible and she is so strong. We did finally get that done though. Okay so the urine came back clear and the blood tests were within normal range. So then it was time to listen to her lungs and feel her belly. She is breathing horribly today which had the doctor a little cocerned. Then she pushed gently on Emily's belly and Emily imediately pulled her legs up and started cry. She started yelling at the doctor for pushing to hard and hurting her. She refused to tell the doctor where it hurt though. She really was frustrating me. I realize Emily is scared, but if there is something wrong we need to find out. She refused to answer any questions or help in figuring it out at all. So then she told us that she never had a headache or belly pain. She said she lied. I could clearly tell she was lieing then and not before. She wanted to leave the doctors office and not have any tests done so bad that she just said that she was lieing about it all to get out of there. Well it didn't work and she finally did come clean with us and tell us where it hurts and what it feels like. So after 2 hours at the doctors office we finally left. They gave us orders to get an abdominal ultrasound and full blood workup. I am going to take her for the bloodwork today after school. The ultrasound is scheduled for August 31st at 9am. That was the soonest they could get us in. The doctor is also going to call in orders to the hospital for an MRI of her brain. They should be calling me with the date for that the first part of next week. Lots of things happening and she is not happy about it. Please keep her in your prayers. Pray that she will be as pain free as possible, pray that she will understand why this is so important that we do these tests.

Tonight is the much anticipated High School Musical 2 on Disney Channel. Oh Emily is so excited. She had to wear all the things High School Musical today. Thats our plans for tonight. We are going to pop some popcorn and cuddle up on the couch and watch High School Musical 2. This is bigger to her then anything I've seen in a long time. LOL! No other plans for the weekend. I think Daddy is going to come on saturday and hang out with us for a while. Thank you for checking in and praying.

Love and Hugs,
Angela






**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY NIGHT AUGUST 16, 2007**

I want to start tonight with asking for prayers for Emily. She is still having headaches and belly pain. Each morning she is taking tylenol and zantac and then again each night. Her appetite is next to nothing and she is very moody lately also. She has a doctors appointment at 10:15am friday. I will update about that as soon as we get home. Please just keep her in your prayers.

This first week of school has been great and interesting. Charlie loves 4th grade and loves all his teachers. He said he feels small in that school though. I think its because that school is 4th-8th grades. So it is mostly bigger kids. As where the other school was K-3rd so it was mostly little kids. Anyways he loves it and is doing great.

Emily has had quite the rough week. She loves school, but is also having difficulty. She has been in the nurses office everyday since the first day. She has broke out in tears in the middle of class for no apparent reason at all. She has been throwing little tantrums as well. Like her class was playing a game with math problems. They had to figure the problem out on the board and they were timed. Well her time ran out before she was done. So she stomped off to the back of the class yelling and crying. The teacher handled it very well though. He told her that if she wanted to cry that she could cry but she had to sit in the back of the room and couldn't play the game anymore. But if she wanted to continue playing she needed to stop crying. He knew that she has been emotional lately so he wasn't to hard on her, but at the same time he couldn't just let her throw her fit. Anyways she did instantly stop crying and went back to playing the game. I am hoping that she will feel better soon so that she can enjoy school the way she always has.

Thank you for checking in. I will update again after Emily's appointment so be sure to check back later. Thank you for all the prayers and emails.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! I meant to update earlier, but there has just been a lot going on. Anyways everyone is doing good. Emily is still having her headaches. They don't seem to be as bad as they were, but still complaining each day. The doctor doesn't seem to be that concerned right now.

My weekend away was wonderful and loads of fun. We stayed at the Embassy Suites friday and saturday nights. It was me and three other mom's in HopeKids. Oh it was great to talk to them and hang out. They helped me in so many ways. I got there friday night just in time for happy hour. The hotel has free happy hour for 2 hours each night. That was nice. Although its been a while since I've drank, I had a few drinks and hung out. Saturday we went swimming, went to the mall, went out to dinner at Chili's and made it back to the hotel for happy hour again. LOL! By sunday morning we were all missing our kids and we were ready to check out by noon.

Daddy and the kids had alot of fun this weekend also. Saturday night Daddy took the kids to see the Simpson's movie. They were pretty excited about that and said they really liked it. They really didn't tell me any of what else they did over the weekend. They just said that Daddy played with them outside and they had alot of fun with Daddy. I am so glad they got to spend that time with him. They really have been missing him and I think it did them all alot of good to have that time together. Sunday afternoon when I came home I got a hug from everyone and then they were off to play with the neighbor kids. Guess they didn't miss me that much. LOL! I did talk to them alot while I was gone though. Sunday night we got all their stuff put in their bags and picked out outfits for the first day at school. They were so excited and I had no problem getting them to go to sleep that night.

Monday morning they got up at 6am, ate breakfast , got dressed, brushed their teeth, put their shoes on and was ready to walk out the door at 7am. I was in shock. I am usually fighting with them all morning to speed things up. Boy they must have been pretty excited about school. Here are a few pictures I took of their first day of school.


Charlie and Emily on their first day of school. (Emily is wearing her much loved Mary-Kate and Ashley outfit. the only one I gave in and bought her.)


Charlie on his first day of 4th grade.


Emily on her first day of 3rd grade with her high school musical bag. (that bag is bigger then she is. LOL!)

They enjoyed their first day at school alot. The only thing they got upset about was they got homework on the first day of school. They don't waste any time I guess. I think it is great though. Tuesday morning didn't run as smooth as monday did. The kids were slacking this morning and really just didn't want to get ready for school. They had another great day at school though. Hope they continue to have alot of good days at school and keep on enjoying it.

For now that is all that is going on. We are just taking everything day by day. Please continue to pray for our family and especially for my husband. He really needs some guidance right now. Thank you for checking in and hope you enjoyed the pictures. Lots of Love and Hugs to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, August 10, 2007 2:23 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! It has been a rough week for us around here. Emily is continueing to have headaches and belly pain everyday. I give her a zantac and tylenol and it seems to help. Tonight her headache was really bad though and she said the tylenol was not helping. I am going to see how she is feeling in the morning but I will probably try to call her doctor. Emily and Charlie continue to struggle without Daddy here. It has been very tough emotionally. Hopefully it will get better soon.

We have been hanging out at home most of the week. We have been enjoying doing puzzles, playing games, watching movies, and going outside in the evening time after the sun goes down. Trying to make the best of our last week of summer.

Friday morning we will go to meet the kids teachers. Emily got a card in the mail telling her who her teacher is. She is going to have the same teacher Charlie had last year for 3rd grade. Charlie really liked his teacher last year and I have no doubt that Emily will to. He was a wonderful teacher and really pushed Charlie to his full potential. That will be good for Emily. She was a little upset. I guess there was a teacher that she liked and really wanted. I know she will be fine with her teacher when school starts though. We didn't get anything for Charlie's teacher. Hopefully he will like his teacher also. Charlie is a pretty easy going kid though and is happy with just about anything. They are very excited about going back to school though.

Friday evening I am going with a couple other mom's in HopeKids to spend the weekend at a hotel. Its just a weekend for us mom's to get away for a couple days without the kids or husbands. I really need this weekend. It will be nice to be out with other mom's and be able to talk to someone. Daddy is going to come and spend the weekend here with the kids. They are so excited about that. I think he said he was going to take them to see a movie. Not sure what else, but whatever it is I know they will enjoy their time with Daddy. Please pray that everything goes okay this weekend.

Don't you just love the picture at the top? I took this picture the other day and I just love it. Thank you for checking in and for the messages. They mean alot to us. I probably won't update until after the weekend. I'm sure I will have lots to talk about then. Have a great weekend. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, August 6, 2007 4:23 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Hope your having a great monday and had a great weekend. Emily and Charlie are doing good. Emily has been still complaining about her head hurting mostly everyday. She takes some tylenol, lays down and watches some tv and seems to be better in an hour or so. They are both getting very excited about school starting next monday. This friday is meet the teacher day. Emily already knows most of the 3rd grade teachers, but she is really excited to see which one she has. Charlie is getting very nervous about going into 4th grade. It is a seperate school from the K-3rd and he is kinda scared. I know he will do great and will love it on the first day. They are pretty much all stocked up on what they need for school.

Friday Daddy came to visit after he got off work. He stayed for a few hours and it was a great visit overall. He sat and helped the kids with some puzzles and played with them. Then we sat and watched a little bit of tv before he headed back to where he is staying. It is always sad to see him go. The kids get very upset when he leaves. They are getting better with it though. I know they understand what is going on, its just hard to have Daddy gone.

Saturday Daddy came over early afternoon to take the kids to get shoes for school. They found shoes they wanted already so we headed over to get them. Well unfortunately they didn't have Emily's size, but Charlie go this. After that we decided to go eat some lunch. Daddy stayed with us all day and it was a great day. Saturday night was our Annual Summer HopeKids Luau. It started at 6pm and ended at 9pm. About an hour after we arrived it started to rain. The sky was black and we thought for sure they were going to close down the pool. Very fortunate for us there was no lightning, so they let us stay. The kids had so much fun. We ate, swam and took that crazy picture you see at the top of the lage. LOL! The people that took the old western pictures at Bumblebee this year took these luau pictures.

I have a very cute little story to share about Emily and Mason. If you have been following Emily's site for a while you will know that Mason is Emily's boyfriend. They met when they were 5 years old and both in the hospital for a relapse. They have been attached at the hip ever since. They really do adore each other and swear they will get married some day. Well saturday night Mason gave Emily a ring. He said it was a friendship ring. She was so excited and she put it right on her ring finger. Everyone was asking her where she got it and she would get so embarrassed and try to hide it. It was so sweet and funny. Emily and Mason were inseperable the whole night. As you will see in the pictures. Here are the pictures from saturday night.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007 10:59 AM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY NIGHT AUGUST 5, 2007***

It is very late, but I wanted to come on and let you know we had a pretty good weekend. Check back Monday afternoon for a full update and pictures. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY AUGUST 3, 2007**

I posted some new pictures in the photo album of the kids at the park with their cousins on Thursday Aug 2nd. They had lots of fun playing with them. Things are so so around here. We have our up moments and our down moments. Today Daddy is coming to spend some time with us. Crossing our fingers it will be a good visit. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! First of all I need to say thank you to all of you that have left messages and sent emails. They really mean alot to us. Thank you for all your prayers and kind words. With that being said there seems to be a few that don't have such nice things to say. I would like to kindly ask that if you feel the need to be negative in anyway please send it in an email to me. Emily and Charlie read the guestbook everynight. They are definately going through enough right now and don't need to read negative comments about their Daddy. They love him very much and miss him terribly.

With that being said I also feel the need to clear something up. My husband did not just up and walk out on us. Over the last month things have not been going good here and it was a mutual decision to have time apart. None of us like it. He misses us terribly and we miss him so much, but right now it is what is best for our family. I asked for prayers because we really want our family back together and happy. I am sorry if I offended anyone by bringing this onto Emily's caringbridge site. I kept it off of here for a long time. One message to me said that caringbridge is no place for something like this and everyone has family problems. This site is about our family and this is what is going on with us right now. I am sorry. Anyways I just wanted to touch on that first off and clear the air. Please respect my children enough to keep the negativity out of the guestbook. My email is at the bottom of the page. Feel free to email anytime.

The last few days the kids and I have been very busy. Monday we spent the day cleaning out closets and making room for their new school clothes. My nephew made out in the deal. He is smaller then Charlie so he ended up with tons of new clothes. Some of which never was worn or only worn a couple times. He was so excited when I brought it all over monday night. Monday we also went out looking for school shoes. We didn't find any yet. I bought the kids shoes at Kmart last year and they only lasted them about 4 months. I really wanted to get them a decent pair of shoes this year. I think I am going to take a look at the outlet store maybe this weekend.

Tuesday we went and paid a couple bills and then stopped into our favorite second hand store and got the kids a couple pairs of nice jeans for cheap. Then we came home and planted some sunflowers in the backyard. The kids have also been growing watermelon plants and so we planted them in the ground as well. We are excited to see if they actually contnue to grow or not. A few weeks ago we planted some sunflowers in the front yard and the plants are really growing. We can't wait until they get real big and the flower starts to grow. I will be sure to take pictures when that happens. I love sunflowers. Last night Daddy came over to spend time with us and have dinner with us. The kids were really happy to see him.

Don't know what we have planned for today. I know we are going to go get the rent paid, but I think that is about it. Maybe tonight we will go to the park if it is not raining. We have had a few evenings of rain the last few days. They have been bugging like crazy to go to the park. Hopefully we will be able to do that tonight.

This weekend is out annual summer luau with HopeKids. Its always so much fun to get out there with all our friends and have a big pool party. The kids are really excited about that. So far that is all we have planned.

Again I want to thank you all for checking in and for your kind messages and prayers. They mean so much to my family. Big Hugs to all of you.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, July 30, 2007 2:44 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Before I tell you about our weekend I would like to ask that you please say extra prayers for our family. It has been an incredibly hard weekend for us. The kids are doing well all things considered. They are feeling very sad right now. Health wise they are both doing well. Emily has been complaining about headaches and belly pain quite a bit over the last 4-5 days. Please pray that this is just stress related. I know that sounds a bit weird but you will understand once you hear about our weekend.

I know you all have been saying extra prayers for us with little details and I want you all to know how much they are appreciated. I am still not going to give all the details, but I will try to explain some. Daddy has been having a very rough time. The last 4 years has been incredibly tough for him and our family. It all started with his mom being diagnosed with cancer and passing away 6 months later. One week after she passed Emily was diagnosed, then her relapse. When she relapsed I quit my job to care for her, leaving him with all financial responsibility. Once Emily went into remission his dad was diagnosed with cancer and passed away about 4 months later. Then the normal everyday things that happen, car trouble, financial burdens, health scares. etc. With each tragic event my husband has pushed it down and not dealt with it. Over the last couple months there has been more family issues that has happened. All these issues have caused my husband to basically lose hope for the life he wanted for us. He feels as though no matter what he does bad things always come our way. All in all many things have happened that is causing our family to break up.

Friday night he came home and it was not a good evening. It was decided that we needed time apart and he needed time to find himself and decide what he wanted. I was trying to get him a suitcase from the garage so he could pack some clothes. Well the suitcase was on the bottom of a pile of boxes. I held the boxes up while pulling on the suitcase. What I didn't know was that about 5ft above my head was the extra leaf to our dining room table. As I tugged on the suitcase, the leaf slid off the boxes and came crashing down right on top of my head. (it weighs about 30lbs or more) I never even saw it coming. It wasn't until after he left about an hour later that the pain started to come. It was so intense. I took some ibuprofen and went to sleep for the night. When I woke up Saturday morning the pain was so bad and I couldn't ease it with anything that I did. My eyes felt like they were going to pop right out of my head. My ears were throbbing and my head felt like it was going to explode. Daddy came and stayed with the kids while I went to the hospital. After 4 hours at the hospital and a ct scan they told me that I had a concussion. They sent me home with pain meds and told me to get lots of rest.

When I got home from the hospital Daddy said his goodbyes and left. He rented a room from someone about 20 miles or so away until the end of August at least. The kids are devastated. Even though we understand why this is happening, it is very hard on all of us. The kids and I are very sad and miss him already. Saturday night he called to tell the kids he loved them and goodnight. For the next 2 hours the kids were up crying cause they said they could not go to sleep without giving Daddy hugs and kisses. This is not the result we were hoping for. We were hoping that together we could get through all this, but it doesn't look as though that is going to happen.

Sunday was just a mellow day for the kids and I. My head is hurting very much still. I can't take the pain meds they gave me during the day cause they make me very drowsy. So I have been taking ibuprofen and tylenol to help take the edge off the pain. The doctor told me he was surprised that I didn't get knocked out cold and that it isn't worse then what it is. I just hope that the pain subsides soon. I have been trying to keep the kids busy so they don't think about Daddy not being here as much. It is very hard when your head feels like its going to explode, but we are working on it.

Please pray that this works out for the best for us. Pray that he finds what he is looking for and comes home to us with a clear head and happier. He is very sad about not being here with us also.

On a happier note, the kids and I went and picked up most of the rest of their school stuff. The only things they have to get now is tennis shoes and pants. Luckily the pants they won't need for a few months still so they are not a must have before school starts. 2 weeks til the first day of school and the kids are really getting excited. On August 10th we will go and meet their new teachers. They can't wait.

Tuesday Little Charlie goes back to the dentist for the rest of his dental work. Please pray that he does just as great this time as he did the last time. They will be doing more work this time then last. Other than that not to much planned.

Thank you for checking inand praying for us. Thank you for the emails and messages. Thank you Chloe for calling and checking up on me and just being an all around great friend even though you are all the way in Montana. I love you and you always have a way of making me feel better no matter what. I am keeping the hope that our situation will get better. Please continue to pray. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, July 24, 2007 10:33 PM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM** (posted 7-24-07)

Hi Everyone! I know I haven't updated much over the last month or so. Sorry if I have made anyone worry. Emily and Charlie are doing great. They are doing a good job at keeping busy throughout the day. Emily has been feeling great. She has had a few breathing incidents in the last week or so, but nothing that sitting down and taking a break from playing hasn't helped. Although they are enjoying being home with me all day, I think they are ready to go back to school. We have gotten some of their back to school shopping done, but we still have some more to do. Emily is very much into High School Musical and wants all her stiff for school to be centered around that theme. She has the bag, lunchbox, and a tshirt already. Charlie is going a bit more grown up and doesn't have a theme this year. Just basic school stuff.

I don't really have a whole lot of fun stuff to talk about. The kids and I have been taking off in the evenings sometimes and going to the park. We Have been having fun playing ball, frisbee and just running around enjoying our time together. The kids and I have really needed that time away from the house to have fun. Daddy has been staying home. Today I took Little Charlie to the dentist. He had some filling done and got some crowns put on. They only did one side of his mouth today, so he has to go back next Tuesday for the other side of his mouth. He is doing great though. He said he doesn't have any pain.

We don't have any plans for the rest of the week. We have been trying not to make plans in advance. There is so much going on here that I really don't want to talk about on here. It has filled our days with lots of stress and uncertainty. Please just pray for us. Mostly I would like to ask if you will please say extra prayers for my husband. He sure could use some hope and guidance.

Thank you for checking in and for your messages. They mean a lot to us. Sorry its not the updates that I usually have for you. I hope and pray things get better here and I have more exciting things to update about. Thank you for your prayers. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, July 17, 2007 5:05 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to give a short update about how everyone is doing. Emily and Charlie are doing good. They continue to enjoy their summer. They are also looking forward to school starting soon. They go back to school August 13th.

Our weekend was pretty good overall. Saturday we went shopping for some school stuff for the kids. Emily is really into High School Musical right now. She got a bag and lunch box of that theme. Charlie is steering away from the character things. He is going into 4th grade and wants to be more grown up. We were at Walmart looking at clothes and Emily wanted everything that was Mary Kate and Ashley or Thats so Raven. She said everyone else is wearing cute stuff and she wants that stuff to. I kept trying to remind her that she is 8 years old and she shouldn't be doing that at least for a few more years. LOL! She did get a couple cute outfits and Charlie got some to. They were so excited. They love to shop.

Sunday Daddy stayed home while the kids and I went out to visit with Papa. The kids had fun helping Papa pick up branches from a tree that he was cutting up. Then Papa took them 4 wheeling in his truck. After that was done we all went swimming for a little while.The kids and I always enjoy going to visit with my dad. We should do it more often.

There continues to be lots of other personal and very emotional things going on between my husband and I. I just ask that you please continue to pray for us. I want to thank you for all the prayers and messages we have gotten. Also thank you Chloe for calling and talking to me yestarday. It means so much to me everytime we talk. It is so nice to know that you are there for me. I love you guys.

Thank you for checking on our family. Sorry this isn't much of an update. I hope it will start being more upbeat soon. Thank you for all your messages and prayers for our family. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:38 PM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everybody! Don't you just love the picture at the top. The kids are doing great. They are continueing to enjoy the summer. They have been going to the neighbors house to go swimming in the mornings before it gets to hot.

We haven't been doing much of anything this week. My husband and I are continueing to have many problems. Please keep the prayers coming for this to resolve soon. While daddy is at work though the kids and I have been trying to have some fun and keep busy. Last weekend I bought the kids each a pair of rollerblades. They have been outside everyday practicing on them. They are getting very good. Although I have no idea how they possibly can stand being outside skating in over 100 degree temps. YUCK! A couple mornings this week they went to the neighbors house and went swimming. Today Charlie learned how to swim under water. We've never lived anywhere with a pool so neither of my kids learned how to swim. So he was pretty darn proud of himself that he learned how to swim under water. Emily is still to scared to take her floaties off. Hopefully we will be able to get her over that fear and teach her to swim soon to. On Tuesday the kids and I planted sunflowers in the front yard. They have been bugging to do that ever since we went out to my dads. They saw the huge sunflowers that he has growing and they really wanted to grow some to. So I bought some seeds at the store the other day and we planted them. They are excited to see them start growing.

Other than that not much is going on. I don't know what we have planned for this weekend. Last weekend we took the kids to the movies and to waterworld for their nightsplash event. They had so much fun. Charlie is finally tall enough to go down some of the slides. He was so excited about that. Emily on the other hand is still to short so she and I spent most of our time in the wave pool with my sister and her 2 kids. We all had so much fun though.

Thank you for checking in and for leaving messages. I also want to say thank you to all that have emailed me. It means alot that you care so much. Please continue to pray for us. We really need it right now. I hope to have a better more upbeat update soon. (((BIG HUGS))) to all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Saturday, July 7, 2007 11:44 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

OMG! Thursday night I did this long update about what has been going on and I thought it posted but apparently it didn't. I am sorry for keeping everyone worrying. Emily and Charlie are doing great and enjoying their summer. It is getting WAY to hot outside to be out during the day so we have been trying to do stuff early in the morning and later in the evening.

Let me give you the short version of whats been going on. My husband went to jury duty and got picked to be on the jury. He went back to the doctor and they think he has either f racture in his leg or bleeding internally. From the fall while ice skating on fathers day. So they did xrays and we are just waiting for those results. If its a fracture they will cast it for 6 weeks. if it is bleeding they will do surgery to drain the blood, find where its coming from and repair it. Either way its time missed from work and he is already freaking out about that.

I went back to the doctor about the pain I am having. She sent me to the ER for more tests. I spent 15 hours at the Er and they told me that they don't know why I am having this pain. They can't find anything wrong so they sent me home on antibiotics for another UTI. Which my doctors office told me I do not have. UGH!! I am still in pain, but dealing with it well. Its not so bad all the time, just sometimes. I am looking into a different doctor.

Saturday June 30th was my nephews 1 year old birthday. I can't believe its been a year since he was born. Wow how time flies. They just grow up wway to fast. So we went to his party and had lots of fun. The kids played with wwater balloons and squirt guns. Even the big kids (some adults) got involved in the water fun. It was quite hot out. There are pictures in the photo album of that day.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were a nightmare around our house. In those 3 days so many thing happened that I really could have done without. I really don't want to get into it here. I just ask that you please pray for our family. I know you dont have any specifics, but please just pray for peace and healing in this area. Thank you.

The 4th of July we hung out at home. It was 116 degrees that day. It was so hot and we just decided to stay inside the house where it was cool. We did go out to dinner that evening though. About 8pm I took the kids outside to play with their poppers that I bought them. They had a lot of fun with those. Then we came back inside around 9pm to watch the fireworks on tv. I know its not the same as watching them in person, but it sure wa a whole heck of a lot cooler.

Thursday and Friday not much went on. We have been trying to focus on our family. We are just taking it one day at a time. Today we are going to take the kids to watch a movie. Other than that I am not really sure what else we have planned for the weekend. I am going to try to get some new pictures up of Emily and Charlie. I haven't been taking any pictures lately.

Thank you all for checking in and for the messages. Please continue your prayers for our family. We really need them at this time. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 4:53 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURS. JULY 5, 2007**

So sorry for not updating, but things have not been so great around our house. We have managed to squeeze in some fun around the problems though. I promise to update tonight and tell you all about it.In the meantime please pray for for peace for our family.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. Not much time has been spent on the computer over the last week. Emily and Charlie are doing great. They are enjoying their summer and managing to keep themselves busy here at home and playing with the neighbor kids.

So much has been going on. Remember back on May 21st, I went to the ER for abdominal pain and they told me that I had a UTI? Well on Thursday evening June 21st the doctor from the ER called me. I thought it was kind of odd since that had never happened in the past. Well he asked me how I was doing. I guess he took care of me for the first part of the time that I was there and then another doctor took over. Well he was reviewing my chart and saw that my CT scan was abnormal. It appeared that my appendix was bad, but the doctor that discharged me didn't wait for the results before sending me home. So they asked if I could come back to the hospital to repeat the scan so they could see what was going on now. I went back and had the ct scan done again. It was 6 hours before the doctor came to tell me that my appendix looks ok and there is nothing they can do until it flares up again. He told me it will for sure flare up and that is when I need to go back and have it removed. So basically it is a ticking time bomb inside of me that I am just waiting for it to go off.

Friday was a lazy day for the kids and I. I was at the hospital until 1am and so friday was a recouping day. Saturday Walmart was having a health fair. Well HopeKids had a booth set up at one of the local walmarts so I took off to go help them with that. I was very surprised at how many people were just NOT interested in our booth. All the other booths had something to give away and we didn't. Guess free stuff talks. Oh well. It was nice to get out of the house, without the kids, and visit with some of the other mom's. I was there for a couple hours and then I headed home. After getting home we took off to Mason's birthday party. The kids had so much fun there. They played on slip and slides and water slides and with water balloons. Emily gave Mason an 8x10 picture in a frame of them 2 together that was taken at the ice skating event. He absolutely loved it.

Sunday morning I got up with pain in my right side. It was a pain that just came and went and didn't concern me much. Daddy had to go take Grandpa to the store, so the kids and I just got the chores done around the house. After Daddy got home we relaxed for most of the rest of the evening. I still continue to have the pain and at times it is really bad. But the pain seems to stay for about 30 seconds and then disappears. (it always come back though) Today Daddy got up and his throat was hurting and so he called the doctor and they think he might have strep throat. He is at the doctor right now. Daddy has jury duty tomorrow. I figure if my pain gets any worse then I will be heading back to the hospital. I don't want to take any chances with it rupturing.

So thats what has been going on. I meant to update the site a couple times in the last few days, but always got sidetracked by something. Thank youfor continueing to check in and pray for our family. I will keep you posted on how everything goes. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 4:53 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURS. JULY 5, 2007**

So sorry for not updating, but things have not been so great around our house. We have managed to squeeze in some fun around the problems though. I promise to update tonight and tell you all about it.In the meantime please pray for for peace for our family.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. Not much time has been spent on the computer over the last week. Emily and Charlie are doing great. They are enjoying their summer and managing to keep themselves busy here at home and playing with the neighbor kids.

So much has been going on. Remember back on May 21st, I went to the ER for abdominal pain and they told me that I had a UTI? Well on Thursday evening June 21st the doctor from the ER called me. I thought it was kind of odd since that had never happened in the past. Well he asked me how I was doing. I guess he took care of me for the first part of the time that I was there and then another doctor took over. Well he was reviewing my chart and saw that my CT scan was abnormal. It appeared that my appendix was bad, but the doctor that discharged me didn't wait for the results before sending me home. So they asked if I could come back to the hospital to repeat the scan so they could see what was going on now. I went back and had the ct scan done again. It was 6 hours before the doctor came to tell me that my appendix looks ok and there is nothing they can do until it flares up again. He told me it will for sure flare up and that is when I need to go back and have it removed. So basically it is a ticking time bomb inside of me that I am just waiting for it to go off.

Friday was a lazy day for the kids and I. I was at the hospital until 1am and so friday was a recouping day. Saturday Walmart was having a health fair. Well HopeKids had a booth set up at one of the local walmarts so I took off to go help them with that. I was very surprised at how many people were just NOT interested in our booth. All the other booths had something to give away and we didn't. Guess free stuff talks. Oh well. It was nice to get out of the house, without the kids, and visit with some of the other mom's. I was there for a couple hours and then I headed home. After getting home we took off to Mason's birthday party. The kids had so much fun there. They played on slip and slides and water slides and with water balloons. Emily gave Mason an 8x10 picture in a frame of them 2 together that was taken at the ice skating event. He absolutely loved it.

Sunday morning I got up with pain in my right side. It was a pain that just came and went and didn't concern me much. Daddy had to go take Grandpa to the store, so the kids and I just got the chores done around the house. After Daddy got home we relaxed for most of the rest of the evening. I still continue to have the pain and at times it is really bad. But the pain seems to stay for about 30 seconds and then disappears. (it always come back though) Today Daddy got up and his throat was hurting and so he called the doctor and they think he might have strep throat. He is at the doctor right now. Daddy has jury duty tomorrow. I figure if my pain gets any worse then I will be heading back to the hospital. I don't want to take any chances with it rupturing.

So thats what has been going on. I meant to update the site a couple times in the last few days, but always got sidetracked by something. Thank youfor continueing to check in and pray for our family. I will keep you posted on how everything goes. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, June 18, 2007 11:53 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! We had a great weekend. You don't know how happy that makes me to be able to say that. Things have been rather rough around here lately and this weekend was a nice change. Hoping and praying that it continues.

Emily and Charlie are doing great. We had a busy weekend planned and they were pretty excited about that. I have lots to share with you about our weekend and some pictures and video as well. I want to start with something special first though.

June 18, 2004 I took Emily to the hospital to later find out that she her cancer was back and had taken over her whole right lung. That day 3 years ago was a very devastating day. But look at her now! She has come so far and I am happy to say that she is healthy and happy. I have this great little montage to share with you that I put together. It is over 9 minutes long so be sure to watch it when you have the time to spare. I hope you enjoy it.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Okay so onto our weekend. Saturday we tried to get everything done around the house. Saturday night we went to Firebird Raceway for the jet cars verses funny cars. The kids loved them. The kids really wanted to go to see Robosaurus. They have been wanting to see Robosaurus for years, but it is so expensive to get in there. Well thanks to HopeKids we got to go and they got to see him. They were so excited and the show was great. It was pretty hot out when we first got there. (about 108 degrees) But when the sun started to go down it wasn't so bad. The kids didn't care though, they were just excited to be there. We had great seats, right at the start of the track. The jet cars we very loud, but what a great show. The show got over at about 10pm. We walked out to the parking lot but didn't leave until midnight. It was horrible trying to get out so we just hung out in the parking lot until most people were gone. It was a long and tiring night, but lots of fun. I got some video to share of Robosaurus. He's huge and pretty cool.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sunday we slept in. We were so tired from Saturday night. When we got up on Sunday we made breakfast and then the kids gave Daddy their cards they got him. He didn't want any gifts but the kids wanted to make sure he at least got a card. Then about 3pm we left to go ice skating with HopeKids. Ice skating was from 3:30 until 7pm. The kids had so much fun. I decided not to skate this time. Daddy and the kids were doing great though. Emily fell quite a few times but thats cause she was trying to do fancy circles and turns. LOL! Towards the end of the evening daddy attempted to turn quickly and ended up falling hard on his knee. It is a pretty shade of purple now and still a little swollen. Emily and Mason skated together alot again to. Charlie was doing great. He was skating all over and wasn't hanging onto the wall as much this time. I wish I could catch on as quick as the kids did. Maybe I will try it again next time.

Monday we got up and finished chores around the house that we didn't get done over the weekend and did some food shopping. Mostly though we relaxed from our busy weekend. Then Monday night the kids and I went to my sisters house. My cousin is in town from Florida and I haven't seen him in about 12 years. So I went over there to catch up a little and introduce him to Emily and Charlie. Nothing else going on that I know of right now for the rest of the week. Here are some pictures from our weekend. Hope you enjoy.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. It means alot to us. Hope you had a great weekend. Have a wonderful week as well. I hope you got to watch all 3 slideshows and enjoyed them. If for any reason you had trouble just shoot me an email and I will send you the link to view them online. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, June 12, 2007 11:45 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY JUNE 13, 2007**

Here are some pictures from the birthday bash that I promised. Hope you enjoy.


Emily and Rob


Emily got 2 Bratz dolls. Mason to the side opening his gifts.


Emily's necklace that she got. Its a heart with a cross in it.


Emily and Mason.

I didn't really get any pictures after that. The kids grabbed their cards and took off to go play games. Hope you enjoyed.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Things around here have been crazy. Seems to alwasy be one thing after another. Anyways Emily and Charlie are doing great. I think they are burnt out with the summer already. LOL! They are getting bored staying home. We are doing things on the weekends but during the week we prett much stay at home. Maybe we will be able to get out and find something to do soon. This past weekend was yet again another weekend where it was good and bad.

Saturday was a relaxing day at home. We did some chores around the house and got mostly everything done that day. Unfortunately that night wasn't all that relaxing. Please pray that things get better.

Sunday was the birthday bash with HopeKids. The kids had so much fun. First we ate pizza and then Rob gave out presents to the birthday kids. Emily got 2 bratz dolls and a necklace with a heart and cross on it. She loved them. Then Rob gave out game cards to all the kids. They all got 2 hours of unlimited game play. They took off and they were in heaven playing all the games as much as they wanted to. I got to hang out with some of the other mom's, which was really nice. Emily got to hang out with her little boyfriend Mason. I have some pictures to share from that day. I will probably post some tomorrow. We stayed there until about 4pm and then headed home. We relaxed for the rest of the night.

Monday Daddy had to go to El Paso for work. He didn't get home until Tuesday. The kids and I stayed home mostly. They went and played with the neighbors kids also. Tuesday I had my doctors appointment. They are still trying to figure out what is causing me so much pain and discomfort. They ran some more tests and I hope to have those results back in a few days or so. Other than that not mush else is going on.

I want to ask that you continue to pray for my Dad and his health. He started some new stuff this week. Please also pray for strength and comfort for TommyeSue. Just keep on taking it one day at a time. (((BIG HUGS)))

Thank you for checking in on our family and praying for us. It means the world to us. I will try to post pictures from this past weekend tomorrow. (((BIG HUGS))) to all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, June 8, 2007 1:24 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Hope you've had a great week. Ours has been up and down, but it does seem to be getting somewhat better. I wanted to let everyone know that has asked, we did stay through the credits of Pirates of the Carribean 3. We were told to make sure we stayed that there was an extra scene. So even though we had already been sitting for 2 hours and 45 minutes and most of us really had to stretch and go to the restroom, we stayed. LOL!! Glad that we did though. I won't give it away for those who haven't seen it.

We really haven't done to much of anything else this week.The kids have been staying busy painting, playing games, watching movies and playing with the neighbors kids. Mostly trying to stay inside to avoid the heat. UGH!

Tonight though we went to see High School Musical at the Herberger Theatre. It was a private performance for HopeKids that the Valley youth theatre put on before their opening night Friday. It was a wonderful show. I've never seen the movie and really wasn't sure what it was all about, but I really enjoyed it. The kids love the movie. They've seen it at school and I guess they said it comes on the Disney channel in the evening time. They loved the show. They said the performance tonight was even better then the movie. Emily sang every song and the smile never left her face. Charlie was also singing along and I even saw him dancing to. It was so nice to get out and have some fun. Daddy is out of town so he missed the whole thing. Emily totally fell in love with Troy and had to get a picture with him. She wants to go back and see the show everynight now. LOL! She also got a picture with Sharpei and Gabriella. Although she was most excited about getting the picture with Troy. She didn't stop talking about him all the way home. LOL! Here are the pictures I took tonight at the show.


Charlie and Emily before the show started.


Emily and Troy. She was so excited about this picture.


Sharpei, Emily and Gabriella.

Not much planned for this weekend. Sunday we are going to a birthday bash with HopeKids. They are holding a huge birthday party for all the HopeKids with birthdays in May and June out at Gameworks. The kids are pretty excited to go. Other than that I think we are going to try to relax a bit this weekend. Next week and next weekend is going to be kind of busy for us.

Thank you for checking in on us. Thank you for all your prayers, messages and emails. Each one means so much to us. I also want to ask that you continue to pray for my Dad and his health. Also please pray for strength and comfort for TommyeSue, Jason and Alisa. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. For anyone here in Arizona, the High School Musical show at Herberger Theatre is well worth going to. Hope you all have a great weekend. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, June 5, 2007 12:22 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!**

Hi Everyone! Sorry for slacking on the updates. There has been so much going on in our house for the last couple weeks. I am hoping that soon it will work itself out and get better. Anyways I wanted to come on here and tell you about our weekend and share the pictures.

Friday we decided that we really needed to get away. So we planned a trip up north to Sedona. It has been a long time since we've gone anywhere and we really needed to. So we got up early Saturday morning, packed some snacks and a cooler and drove up to Sedona. The kids have never been there before. It is about a 2 hour drive and it is so beautiful up there. We were going to go to slide rock, but never did make it there. We pulled over and walked down to a creek shortly after arriving in Sedona. The kids were having so much fun. We ended up staying there for a couple hours and let the kids play. I took nearly 200 pictures. LOL! The weather was perfect and we were all having so much fun. We left the creek and we were all hungry so we decided to go find something to eat. Emily went crazy when she saw a 2 story Burger King and just had to eat there. So that is where we ate. We took the kids by slide rock so they could see what it was and promised that next time we would go there. Then we decided to head back home. It was probably one of the funnest days we've had in a long time. I put together a slide show. There is about 102 pictures in the slide show. If you are having trouble with it loading or viewing them, just drop me an email and I can send it to you by email for you to see. You can tell by the pictures how much fun the kids were having.

Monday, May 28, 2007 9:22 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY NIGHT JUNE 3, 2007**

Hope Everyone had a great weekend. Ours was good and bad. Saturday we took a small trip out of town up to Sedona. It was beautiful up there and I have lots of pictures to share. Sunday was a horrible day in our house. I really can't get into it, but please pray for us.

If you didn't come back friday to see Emily's haircut pictures, they are still below. She is happy she went and got it cut, but very upset that she has no more curls. Because she got about 2 inches cut off, it took off her curls. She is hoping that when it grows some more that the curls will come back. She does like her hair though. Well it has been a stressful day I really need some sleep. I will try to update tomorrow and share the pictures from Saturday. The picture at the top is from Saturday. Thank you for checking in and praying for us.

We also want to wish Uncle Tom a Happy Birthday! (on June 4th)

Love and Hugs,
Angela




** EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY NIGHT JUNE 1, 2007**

I took her for her haircut and we both survived it. LOL! I was very happy with who we went to and she did a great job. Emily got about 2 inches cut off. I notice and Emily notices, but Daddy said that he can't really tell. I am glad that we decided to do this. Her hair look healthier and I know it will help it grow more. Here are the pictures.


Before!


After!

Have a great weekend!

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**Edited update Friday Morning June 1, 2007**

So far summer is going pretty good. We really haven't done much this weekend. The kids have gone and played with the neighbor kids and we found them some craft projects to keep them busy this summer also. Hopefully I find some other things we can go do in the mornings before it get too hot outside.

Today I am going to take Emily to get her first haircut in nearly 4 years. (actually it just may be longer then that)I don't remember when she last got her haircut, but it was before she was ever originally diagnosed. I know she is probably overdue for a haircut or at least a trim, but I have been really struggling with this decision. I am afraid that whoever cuts it will mess it up or cut it to short. I know that sounds crazy but she has been growing it for 2 years now and she loves her hair. (I love her hair to) Someone reccomended a place and someone, so I will be going there today. Emily is excited. I will post pictures later.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! I posted some new pictures in the photo album the end of last week. So be sure to check those out if you haven't. Emily is doing great. Charlie is also doing wonderful. They are officially out of school for the summer. They are happy about summer vacation. Last week was a fun week for the kids at school cause they didn't do much schoolwork. They both said they got like 4 reccesses a day. LOL! I think they must have spent more time outside playing then anything else. Friday they had a half day. They got their report cards also. Here is what they had to say.

Emily's report card: End of 2nd grade

Reading: A - 55 WPM at 3rd grade level
Comments from reading teacher: Way to go! You made great progress this year by working hard! Keep reading during the summer.

Oral/wrotten expression: B
Spelling: A
Math: B
Arts and Sciences: All excellents and satisfactory
Study/social skills: All excellent and satisfactory
Comments from teacher: Make sure to keep reading and practicing math all summer

Grade assignment for next year- 3rd Way to go Emily!

Charlie's report card: End of 3rd grade

Reading: B- - 72 WPM at a 5th grade reading level
Comments from reading teacher: Charlie has made good progress this year. Keep practicing fluency and comprhension at 5th grade level during break. Have a super summer.

Oral/written expression: A
Spelling: A-
Math: A
Arts and Sciences: All excellent
Study/social expression: all excellent
Teacher comments: I loved having Charlie in my class this year. Can I keep him? Have a great summer!

Grade assingment for next year- 4th grade, Way to go Charlie!

I am SO proud of my kids. I can't believe they are in 3rd and 4th grade already. Well I want to share many pictures with you today. Here is the first set of pictures. These are just some various pictures that i've taken over the last couple weeks. I got a new camera and I've been playing around with it alot. LOL! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This weekend was busy and relaxing. Saturday we ran all our errands and did chores around the house. We tried to get everything done in that one day so we could spend the day at Papa and TommyeSue's house on Sunday. Sunday we got up and did a few more things around the house and then we headed out to Papa and Tommyesue's house. We got out there and Aunt Jodi and Uncle Eddie was there with the kids. The kids were all excited to see each other. We were there about 20 minutes and the kids were beggin to go swimming. So TommyeSue took all the kids out to go in the pool. They had so much fun. Before long they were joined by Papa, Daddy, Aunt Jodi, Uncle Eddie, and Jason. They were having so much fun. I did end up getting into the pool later on. I got lots of pictures and will share them in a bit. After everyone got out of the pool Papa fired up the grill and we all sat and ate. Everyone did end up going back in the pool after eating. The kids were having so much fun. After awhile everyone was getting cold and Jason had fired up the fire pit. After drying off Emily asked Papa if she could have a ride on his motorcycle. So TommyeSue helped her get a helmet on and get up on the back of the motorcycle and Papa took her for a ride. Emily had a blast. She's been wanting to do that for a while now. After Emily came back Charlie went for a ride. Then we got Kylie to sit up there for a picture, but she wasn't interested in a ride. After that we just all hung out and talked. It was nice to be out there and spending time with family. I want to ask that you please keep praying for my dad's health. Things are not as good as we would like them to be. Also can you keep TommyeSue, Jason and Alisa in your prayers. Please pray for strength for them. Here are some pictures that I took out there on Sunday. Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Monday was spent at home not doing much of anything. It was a good relaxing day. Tuesday night the kids and I are going to see Shrek the 3rd. The kids are so excited about this movie. We will be going with HopeKids. Emily is excited about seeing Rob. The rest of the week so far we have no plans. Hopefully the kids and I will find something to do. It has been pretty warm outside and will only get hotter. We'll see.

Thank you for checking in and praying for us. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, May 22, 2007 10:40 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Sorry for no updates. Emily is doing great. She is happy, healthy and loving life. We did notice today that she has a bald spot on the top of her head again. It is in the same spot the last one was. It is a small one right now and we hope it doesn't get as big as the last one did. Other than that she is doing wonderful. Little Charlie is doing great as well. They have 3 days left to school. They are really excited about the summer. They are looking forward to staying home with me. Hopefully we will find some fun things to do. Today Charlie has a play at school that I will be going to. He said that his class has been working hard on this play. I am always excited to see the kids perform. Tomorrow he gets to go take a tour of the west campus. That is where 4th-6th graders go. He is really excited about that. I can't believe he is going to be in 4th grade already. Time just flies by way to fast.

This past weekend we really didn't do anything. We pretty much stayed home and got cleaning done. This last week has been a really horrible week for us. We are having many personal family problems that I pray will work out for the good of everyone. I can't stand it when everyone is fighting and not speaking. I guess time will tell.

Monday I spent the day in bed. I was having horrible pain in my stomach. It got to the point that I couldn't stand it anymore and I went to the hospital. Turns out I have a severe UTI. The doctor said it is one of the worst cases he had seen in a long time. He said he was surprised I hadn't come in sooner in all that pain. Guess it was something that I had and didn't know it so it went untreated and just got worse. I am on antibiotics now and hope the pain will go away soon.

Not to much planned for this week. Just staying busy with the kids and the last couple days of school. I have some pictures to share. I will probably post them either later today or tomorrow. I am going to get some rest before I go to Charlie's play. Thank you all for checking in and praying for our family.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, May 14, 2007 9:21 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY NIGHT MAY 15, 2007**

Hi Everyone! Emily's doctors appointment went good. The doctor is happy with the way she looks, sounds and feels. He had no input to give us on her tummy issues. I guess if they keep coming back then we go see the pediatrician. We did have one issue. The nurse has changed again. In the 3 1/2 years that we have been going to this doctors office there has been 3 nurses. The first 2 Emily absolutely loved. This one she does not like at all. She is very short and not so friendly. Just came in did what she needed to do and didn't talk to Emily. She really didn't like that. The doctor came in and Emily said, "I want Kim or Marge back." For anyone that is new to the site or didn't know, we go to a 1 doctor and 1 nurse office. It is not a clinic like most go to. I have always liked the office being just one doctor and one nurse cause it is more personal then a clinic. I really hope this nurse realizes that if she is going to work in that office with kids that she really needs to talk to them. I think they will respond to her better. Anyways the appointment really did go well overall. The best news and sad news is we have the whole summer off. We don't go back to see the doctor until Sept 12th. Now that is great news cause that means is so normal and doing great that he doesn't need to see her as often. It is also sad cause she REALLY misses him when she doesn't see him often. She just loves her doctor and hates to go too long without visiting with him. I am overjoyed to be able to have 4 months free from the doctor. Just another hint of normalcy.

After the doctors appointment we went to Mcdonalds to eat and off to the movie Spiderman 3. Charlie loved the movie! Emily liked it but there were many parts that scared her and it was much more violent then the other 2 spiderman movies. It was also very long. Seemed like 2 1/2 hours at least. I thought it was a good movie. It was more action packed and there was more fighting in this one.

Well its late and I am wiped. I am going to head off to bed now. I just wanted to make sure I let you know how her appointment went. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend and wonderful Mother's Day. Our weekend was good. Emily was feeling great and still is feeling great. She hasn't complained much about her belly hurting. She has a doctors appointment Tuesday at 3:15 with her oncologist. I am going to be sure to tell him that she has been having the pain again and see what he suggests. Other than that though I expect the appointment to go great. Then Tuesday night we are going to see Spiderman 3 with HopeKids. The kids are so excited about seeing this movie. So tomorrow will be a busy day, but should be fun. I will update about her appointment tomorrow night after we get home from the movie.

Saturday we were up at 6am. Emily was so excited about her party that she got us up thinking everyone would get here quicker if we were ready for them sooner. LOL! That didn't quite work. We finished decorating the house and getting food ready. Then I took off and picked up the cake. Friday afternoon Emily got a special package in the mail for her birthday. It was from a dear friend Sue. Emily opened it up and pulled out the dress you see her in at the top of the page. She loved it and decided that she had to wear it for her party. It looked very cute on her. Thank you so much Sue. We told everyone noon for her party. When noon hit and no one had shown up, Emily started to get upset thinking everyone forgot her. LOL! It was about 10 after and everyone showed up. So she wasn't upset for long. LOL! We threw hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and had some lunch first. Then out came the cake and presents. She was very happy with everything she got. There are pictures below of that day. Despite some things that upset that day, she had a good birthday party. It was also Aunt Nicki's birthday. We surprised her with a Movie size poster collage picture frame full of pictures. She loved it and I am so glad.

Sunday was another early morning. The kids woke us up early. Not sure why they were up so early. We decided to go out to the cemetery early to put flowers out at my Mother-in-laws grave. The kids like going out there and bringing flowers. They cleaned off the headstone and placed the flowers. There are a couple pictures from that also in the slideshow below. We went home and Daddy and the kids made breakfast. The kids also gave me their gifts that they made. Emily made me a hanging heart that said #1 MOM. Charlie made me a card with a big tissue paper flower on the front. Inside it had a poem. Here is what it said.

My Mom

My Mom is cool.
She likes to go shopping.
She always is helpful.
Sometimes she cleans our rooms.
But the best thing about my MOM is, She loves me.

It was wonderful. There are pictures in the photo album of the things they gave me. Very sweet and I loved them. The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home together. We watched Nascar and just hung out. We had a good weekend.

The kids have less than 2 weeks left in school. They are getting very excited about the year ending. Hopefully we will find some fun things to do this summer.

Well nothing planned for this week. Well except for tomorrow. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. I promise to let you know how her doctors appointment goes, but it probably won't be up until tomorrow night. Enjoy the pictures and don't forget to check out the ones in the photo album.

Thursday, May 10, 2007 11:04 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! I don't really have anything new to report. Emily's belly is still hurting her. She is taking her zantac in hopes that it will help. Seems like it does help some, but the pain never really goes away completely. She is not letting it stop her from doing anything that she wants to do though. Please pray that she will be pain free for her birthday. I would like the pain to go away for good, but I especially want her to have a good birthday. She has been looking forward to it for weeks. Friday I will be out running all the last minute errands. Making sure we have enough food, getting the cake and the rest of the decorations. I pretty much have everything but there is still quite a bit to get done.

I wanted to share some pictures with you as well. As I browsed through my pictures in my computer yestarday I couldn't believe how much Emily has changed each year at her birthday. From just before diagnosis to today. She has grown up so much. I wanted to share with you one picture from each year at her birthday.


Charlie and Emily (4yrs old)- May 11, 2003- Just 5 months before Emily was diagnosed.


Emily (5yrs old) May 2004- This was taken 3 months after completing treatment and 1 month prior to her relapse.


Emily (6yrs old) May 2005- 3 months off treatment for her relapse.


Emily (7yrs old) May 2006- 15 months off treatment


Emily (almost 8yrs old) May 10, 2007- 2 years 3 months off treatment.

Notice how much her hair grew each year and how much she changed? I am so glad that I took and still take so many pictures of my kids. I found so many pictures that made me laugh, cry and remember.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed watching Emily grow into the beautiful young lady that she is today. Nothing else to report tonight. I hope that you have a great weekend. To all the mom's out there reading this, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!! I don't know if my husband and kids have anything planned for me. So as far as I know the only thing we have planned for this weekend is Emily's party. As you know I will have many pictures to share monday. Thank you all for checking in and praying for our family. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, May 6, 2007 11:09 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY MAY 9, 2007**

Its seems just when you get use to life being normal and great something creeps up on you and throws it all out of whack again. Sunday night Emily was having a little belly pain. She took a zantac and went to bed. She slept through the night so I figured the belly pain went away and she was okay. Monday morning she woke up in so much pain. She got very upset when I said she could stay home and insisted on going to school. So I gave her some zantac and tylenol and she went to school. When she came home she told me the pain was still there. Here we are at wednesday night and the pain still has not gone away. She goes to the doctor on Tuesday May 15th so I am hoping to be able to hold off on taking her in until then. Even though she continues to tell me that it hurts really bad, she is still getting up and doing all the normal things that she would normally do. It just amazes me the way she handles things. Tuesday afternoon I went in her room to tell her something and I found her curled up in a ball on her bed crying. When I asked her if she was okay and what was wrong, she said, "Nothing. I'm okay." Please pray that her pain will go away again and stay away this time. Also please pray that she will be feeling wonderful for her brithday party on Saturday. a couple more days and my little girl is going to be 8yrs old. Wow where has the time gone?

I will update again tomorrow and let you know how things are going. I also have a couple pictures that I found that I want to share. I will post those tomorrow as well. So be looking for them. Thank you for checking in and for your prayers.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES POSTED IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was great. We had lots of fun this weekend and had beautiful weather. Emily and Charlie are doing wonderful. No complaints of any kind. I am loving that! Don't you just love the picture at the top? I took tons of pictures this weekend of the kids and our family. I have many to share.

Saturday we had a yard sale. The kids helped out alot while daddy took his grandpa to the grocery store. We didn't have alot of people stop by, but it was very nice out and a good day to hang around outside. We closed up about 1pm. Then Uncle Tom, Aunt Nicki, Katelynn and Tyler came over. We always have lots of fun with them when they come over. The kids just love to play with their cousins. I also took lots of picture saturday night. I bought a movie size poster collage picture frame. It holds 41 pictures and I am excited about filling it up. I am going to do something very special with this frame. I want pictures of my whole family in there. It is hard to get everyone to sit still long enough to get a picture, but I got a good start. I am happy with the pictures I did get. They may not be the best pose or the best smiles, but boy do they have personality. LOL! I have a very goofy family and most of them do not like their picture taken. It is quite a chore to tackle to get one good picture for my frame. Many, many goofy faces before I finally get one where they are smiling. It was great though. Many laughs!

Sunday we watched the Nascar race that was suppose to be on saturday night but was cancelled. Then Aunt Nicki and Uncle Tom brought Katelynn and Tyler over to play on the slip and slide. I took so many pictures of them all sliding on that thing. They had so much fun. They spent much of the day outside playing. Again another beautiful day out and we had so much fun. I've put together a slide show of some of my favorite pictures from this weekend. I couldn't share them all of course because then it would take all day to watch. LOL! The first pictures are from saturday night and the slip and slide ones are from sunday afternoon. Hope you enjoy the slide show.

My husband continues to do great with not smoking. He has made it just over 3 weeks now. I am so proud of him. Tom and Nicki have also started taking the same medicine to quit smoking and they have been 5 days without smoking. They are truly amazed. They never thought they would be able to do it. I really am proud of all of them.

This week Little Charlie has his field trip on Monday. He is pretty excited about going to the desert botanical gardens. 3 weeks left until school is out. The kids are getting very excited about that. They always miss their friends during the summer, but love being home with me. I hope we can plan for some fun things this summer. Emily's birthday is on Saturday May 12th. I ordered her cake today. She is going to love it. She shares her birthday with her Aunt Nicki also. We made Aunt Nicki a very special birthday present so that she won't feel left out with all the attention being on Emily that day. Can't wait to see her face when she gets her gift. You'll have to wait until next week to find out what it is. Sorry don't want to give it away in case Nicki is reading this. LOL!

Thank you all for checking in and continueing to pray for our family. Hope you enjoy the slideshow below. Don't forget to check out the pictures in the photo album. I got some really good ones. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!!!

Sunday, April 29, 2007 10:52 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY MAY 3, 2007**

Hi Everyone! I really have nothing to report from this week. Everyone here is doing great and we have had a very normal uneventful week. The kids have 3 weeks left until they are out of school for the summer. Emily was telling me today that she has 16days left in school and then she will be a 3rd grader. She is pretty excited. Charlie on the other hand is not as excited. The school they go to is seperated. One school is K-3rd and the other school next door is 4th-6th. He is afraid to go to a different school and Emily is a little upset about being seperated from him. I know they will do great though. This year flew by so fast. I can't believe it is time for summer already. Hopefully the kids and I will find some fun things to do this summer.

Nothing planned for this weekend as far as I know. Emily's 8th birthday is coming up. It is on May 12th, next saturday. She can't wait. I am just about ready for it. The only thing I haven't done is order the cake. I guess I better do that this weekend. LOL!

Well anyways thank you for checking in on our family. Hope you have a great weekend. Hopefully I will have more to talk about after the weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY AFTERNOON**

Here are the pictures that I promised. Some are from this past weekend and others from our little projects for our troops last week. The kids made cards and I made friendship bracelets. They put together little goodie bags and were very excited about getting them mailed out. Enjoy the pictures!

Wednesday, April 25, 2007 0:14 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Sorry the update is late. I didn't have a very good day today. I don't want to go into it, but I do want to ask if you could say a couple extra prayers for us. It is nothing to do with anyones health, its just some personal issues. Emily is doing great. Today she had field day at school and really enjoyed herself. Charlie is also doing great. He had field day on Friday and loved it. Thursday night he will be going to dinner to perform with Kids with Character for the governor and some very important people. He is really excited about that.

Our weekend was good. We mostly spent it hanging out at home trying to get all our stuff back into our house. We are almost totally done. I know its been a week since the new carpet was put in, but we have been just slowly putting the house back together. I just have my room left. Mostly everything is back in there, but there is still work to be done.

My husband had his doctors appointment on monday. The doctor was very proud of him for quitting and sticking to it. He also took him off of 2 of his meds. He was really excited about that. One of the meds that he was taking was really nasty and upset his stomach everytime he took it. He is glad to not be taking that one anymore. I do want to ask for prayers for him. He is under alot of stress right now and the habit is telling him to smoke. He is not having any cravings for cigarettes, but he is use to smoking when he gets stressed. Please pray that he will be able to overcome this feeling and continue to do great.

I know this is not one of my better updates, but tonight I am just not up to updating much. I did promise an update and I wanted to come here tonight and let you know that things are going well. Thank you for checking in and I hope to have a better update next time. Thank you for the prayers and the messages. Plese keep them coming we could really use them right now. I will update again in a couple days.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, April 19, 2007 11:06 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY NIGHT APRIL 23,2007**

Sorry for the lack of updates. I promise to do one tomorrow. (tuesday) It has been so busy here and I haven't had the time to sit down and update. Be sure to come back later for an update on our weekend and also on my husbands doctors appointment. Everyone is doing great though.

Love and Hugs,
Angela






**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Things are going great here. Emily is doing wonderful. She had her field trip today. They went to Phoenix College. She said it was really cool. They did a tour of the college and talked to some college students. Her favorite part was when they went to the gym and auditorium. She said they showed them the room with all the dress up clothes for the drama department. The people that were giving the tour dressed up and did a little skit for the kids. Who would have thought she would have ahd so much fun touring a college. Charlie is also doing great. Tomorrow is field day for him. He is so excited about that. Only about 5 more weeks left to school. Then its out for the summer. Wow this year went by so fast.

This has been a very long and tiring week. We started on Saturday moving stuff out to the garage. I really didn't think it was going to take me 3 whole days to move all our stuff, but it did. Tuesday the guys came and put the new carpet in. It took them all day, so we really didn't get much moved back in. Just the beds and the tv. Wednesday while everyone was at school and work I worked on moving as much back in as I could. I moved so much stuff and still feel like I didn't make a dent. Wednesday night my sister and brother in law came over and helped us move some of the heavier stuff. Thank you Eddie for doing that. It was so hard for me to move things out and it really helped that I didn't have to move it back in. Today I spent the day moving more stuff in and still don't have it all in. UGH! We definately have way more stuff than I thought. I'm thinking that I should have the rest of the stuff moved back in tomorrow. At least that is what I am hoping for. This makes me really never want to move. LOL!

I am happy to report that my husband is doing great not smoking. He hasn't had a cigarette in 6 days. I am so proud of him. Thank you to everyone that has left encouraging messages for him. It really means alot to him. He doesn't usually have alot of confidence in himself and you have helped him believe in himself. He is really doing great.

As far as I know right now we don't have any plans for this weekend. Hopefully just alot of relaxing. Its just been a long week and I am ready to sit and do nothing. Probably won't happen, but thats okay. I am a little late posting this slideshow from last weekend, but as you can tell we have been very busy and I haven't gotten on the computer very much. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Emily was really eating up the camera time. The picture at the top I took today. I just love taking pictures of the 2 kids together. They are always my favorite pictures.

Hope you've had a great week and hope you have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and leaving a message. Enjoy the pictures.

Sunday, April 15, 2007 10:07 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY APRIL 17, 2007**

Hi Everyone! Hope your week is going well so far. I spent all day Monday clearing out the rest of the house. Then on Monday night we went and saw Meet the Robinsons. The kids really enjoyed the movie. I really liked the story behind the movie. It had a really good message in it. Anyways we had a great time at the movies. Tuesday morning I took the kids to school while Daddy got the beds out of the rooms. We thought the carpet guys would be here early. They said the job would take about 4-5 hours to do. At 10:30am 2 guys showed up and started on the carpets. They were a couple of very nice and polite guys. I thought there would have been a few more guys coming, but no one ever showed up. Anyways they had a nice little system going and they did a wonderful job. What was suppose to take them 4-5 hours actually took them 8 hours. They left at about 6:30pm. It was so late that we decided just to find something for dinner, (usually meaning leftovers) and then moved the beds, couch and tv back into the house. I will do as much as I can tomorrow. We just didn't feel like moving too much tonight. We love our new carpet. It is so soft and there are no nails coming up poking us. YAY!

So anyways I haven't gotten that slideshow done yet, but hope to get it done within the next couple days. Thank you for checking in and I will update again later.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was good, long and very tiring. Emily is doing great. It is so nice to not have her complaining of aches and pains anymore. Normal feels great! Charlie is doing wonderful as well. They were ready for the weekend to come after a long week of testing at school.

Friday night we had a few friends over and Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki. The kids had a blast playing together and and the adults had fun hanging out. We all took our turns playing on the trampoline too. LOL! It was quite the site to see. I will work on putting together a slideshow of that night. I got some really good pictures. It was a very late night, but we had so much fun.

Saturday we took everything out of Charlie and Emily's rooms except their tv and their mattresses. Tuesday the rental company is sending someone out to replace the carpet in our house. We are so excited about getting new carpet. The carpet that is currently in the house is so thin, it might as well not be there. LOL! We step on tack nails all the time. Its horrible! It took us a month and a half of fighting, but we are getting it finally. I never realized how much stuff my kids actually had until I started emptying their rooms. It took us almost all day. Saturday night we went to the county fair. Emily wanted to ride all the rides. LOL! She is sucha thrill seeker. Little Charlie on the other hand would rather play games or go through the little fun houses. He doesn't like the rides much. They had lots of fun though. Emily rode like 4 rides and Charlie did his thing. We watched a bird show that was great. The kids really liked the talking birds. We got home late and we all crashed.

Sunday we tackled my room. Wow, there again I never realized how much stuff was really in my room. We have my garage practically full and we still have 2 more rooms to empty out before Tuesday morning. My back is killing me from moving everything and I am dreading having to put it all back. UGH! After we were done with my room we sat and relaxed the rest of the day. Watched a little tv, played outside with the kids and I even got to chat online with a few friends. All in all it was great weekend. Monday we will be tackling the living room and dining room. I will take the kids to school and my husband has to work for a few hours in the morning and then we will get everything cleared out. Monday night we are going to see Meet the Robinsons with HopeKids. The kids are really excited about seeing this movie. Tuesday morning we will have to get the last of the stuff out of the rooms. Pretty much just the mattresses and tv's, before they get here to do the carpet. They said it will take them about 5 hours to do and then we have to move all our stuff back in. UGH! I am going to be one very tired Mama by the end of the week. LOL!

I do have some VERY exciting news to share with you all. Its about my husband. He started taking his medicine to help him quit smoking on April 7th. Friday night, April 13th, was was the last time he had a cigarette. He has been without a cigarette now all weekend. I am so proud of him. It use to be so hard for him to go over an hour without one. He has done great. He said that he isn't really feeling the cravings for them, but he feels like he really wants one. He is very determined though and I know he is going to do great. He told me that he feels great and is so happy that he is doing this. Please continue to pray for him that he will not have a set back. He is worried about going to work and being around people that smoke so soon. But he said that it feels great not feeling like he needs to smoke. He has spent much of the weekend playing with the kids and keeping himself occupied. I was worried about mood swings, but he hasn't had them. I hear alot of people get pretty grumpy when they quit. Emily and Charlie both told him tonight that they are so proud of him and happy that he is quitting. Thank you for all the encouraging words to him. It makes him feel good that everyone believes in him. It has made him more determined to do it.

Thank you for checking in. I will work on those pictures and post them sometime tomorrow or the next day. Don't forget to leave a little message in the guestbook. We love hearing from you all. Have a great week!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, April 8, 2007 9:28 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY NIGHT APRIL 12, 2007**

Hi Everyone! Things are great around here. The kids made it through testing this week. Friday they don't have any tests to take. They are happy about that. Not to much to report tonight.

We will be busy much of the weekend trying to get things moved around and out in the garage. They are coming on Tuesday to put new carpet in our house. Finally! We have been in this house for 4 years now and have been asking the rental company the last 2 years for carpet. It is so bad. We finally got it, but that means everything has to be moved out of the house. Unfortunately that is not a project that will only take one day. So since my husband has to work on Monday then we have to try to do the majority of it this weekend. And then we get the pleasure of moving it all back in when they are done. UGH! Not looking forward to that, but excited to be getting new carpet.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and please don't forget to sign the guestbook.

Oh one more thing. I wanted to explain that crazy picture of Emily below. LOL! So it went like this. I had my camera ready and focused. She had the best smile ever and it was just going to be the best picture. Just as I pushed the button she decided to surprise me. She has never done this before. She loves to have her picture taken and always gives me the most beautiful smile. Guess she was feeling goofy that day. I love that picture. It really shows her personality and everytime I look at it, it makes me smile. Okay it makes me crack up laughing. Even better. LOL! Hoping it does the same for you. If you haven't already seen it just scroll down a little further and you won't be able to miss it.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**- EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY APRIL 10, 2006-**

I had to come on here tonight and share a couple pictures that I took today. I just know you are going to love them and I hope they put a smile on your face.


LOL! How can you not laugh at this one? She is so goofy and I just can't help but laugh everytime I look at this picture. LOL!


Look at how handsome Charlie is. I usually have to do alot of begging to get him to let me take his picture. Not today though. I love it!


This is another of my new favorites. I love most of the pictures I take of the 2 kids together. You can just see the love they have for each other in all of them.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. They were to great not to share with you right away. Things are going great here. The kids are almost half way through their testing week. They are much more relaxed about the tests and seem to be doing great. The thing they like best about testing week is no homework. LOL! Thank you for checking in and leaving a message.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM** (be sure to check them out!)

Hi Everyone! Wow I have so much to talk about. We had a wonderful weekend. Emily and Charlie are both doing great! This week they will be doing their AIMS testing. Please pray that they will be relaxed and do great. They are 2 very smart kids and I know they can do it. They are very nervous though. I have been trying to help them with their nerves. They will be testing all day long all week. UGH!

Okay so about our weekend. Saturday was Bumblebee Ranch day. It was a beautiful day with perfect weather. We were so excited. We love this event. It is the third year that we've gone. We were up early Saturday morning to get ready. On the road by 7am and got there about 8:15am. As soon as we got out of the van, Emily was off and running towards Rob. She just adores that man so much. By the time we caught up to her, she was in his arms with her arms around his neck. She was so excited to see him. Of course then she saw Mason. Just as excited to see him also. She spent the whole day right by Mason's side. Those 2 are so darn cute together. I got some great photo's of them together as well. I checked in and signed the kids up for the horseback riding. Then the kids took off to do the paintball targets. That was new this year and the kids were so excited about trying it out. They had the rock wall out there, horseshoes, frisbees, footballs, quads, hummer rides, horseback riding and old western photos. Once the kids got done with the paintball targets they took took off for the rock wall. Emily loves the rock wall and usually once she gets on you can't get her off. This year she made it the furthest up the wall that she has ever made it. She started climbing and just didn't stop. She was within 3 footpegs of the top and ringing the bell. She looked down and got scared to reach higher. She kept yelling' "I can't!" and then started to cry. She wanted so badly to ring the bell at the top, but she just got to scared to go further. I was so proud of her. She made it so far and I think if she hadn't looked down she would have gotten all the way up. Just 2 more little pushes and she would have been there. You will see in the pictures in the slideshow just how close she was. She decided that next event that has the rock wall she is going to make it all the way to the top. I know she will to, she is so determined. Then we stood in line for the old western photos. Those were so much fun. Again this is the first year they have been out there. We got all dressed up in old western outfits and got our picture taken. In the photo album is the pictures they gave us. In the slide show you will see the same photo just in color. Emily was too funny. We are always telling her to smile when we want a picture, but with these pictures they don't want you to smile. The kids were trying so hard not to smile, that they actually looked mad in the picture. I think it came out great!! I love it! Right after we got done with the picture it was time for the kids to go ride horses. This year the horses were just for the kids. At the end of the day they let the adults ride if they wanted, but they wanted to make sure all the kids got a chance first. So Daddy took the kids over and saw them off. They had so much fun on the horses. They no sooner came back from riding horses and they jumped on the hummers. (without mom and dad) They left us behind. The hummer rides are always one of the favorite things to do at Bumblebee. The kids also made photo boxes. They are little boxes with the little metal piece out the top that you stick the picture in. They painted the boxes and put little gems on them. They did a great job. I will have to try to get a picture of those to post. Then it was time for lunch and a group photo. After lunch the kids had an Easter egg hunt. They had so much fun with that. Then they were off again to ride horses and the hummers again. While the kids were riding the horses we decided that was our time to ride the hummers. The hummer rides are about an hour long and so much fun. Those hummer rides get kind of scarey sometimes to. LOL! They climb the mountains and go through the streams. Its amazing the things these things can do and where they can go. We were excited that my Dad, his wife and the kids came up there to enjoy the day with us. They had so much fun also. They took the hummer rides with us when we went. The driver even let my Dad drive the hummer at the end of the tour. My dad really liked that. We got back from our hummer ride and the kids jumped up and went again. I'll tell you we could barely keep track of the kids out there. The good thing is that there isn't anywhere they can go and get lost. We can just set them loose to run and have fun. Have fun is exactly what they did. We left there about 4pm and started our drive down the mountain to head home. I bet we were in the car about 5 minutes and Emily was out cold. It was a long day and we were all very tired, but we had so much fun. We got home around 5:30pm and got the kids something to eat. Then Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki came over to help do the brakes on my van. Turned out they really didn't need done and so they just hung out for a while. The kids colored Easter eggs and then went to bed.

Sunday, Easter, the kids slept in until about 8:30am. Even when they woke up they were still tired and wanted to go back to bed after hunting for easter eggs. LOL! When they came out and started looking for the eggs they noticed that the dog had already found a couple and eaten them. Uh Oh! They weren't to happy with the dog. LOL! They had fun looking for eggs. After that the rest of the day was spent doing things around the house, playing outside, and food shopping. Busy, busy, busy! We did finally get to relax about 5:30pm when we sat down for a nice dinner together and then watched a little tv tonight together after dinner. Now the kids are all tucked into bed, getting their much needed rest for testing tomorrow. Daddy wil be away in Texas 4 days this week. Please pray for safe trips there and back.

My husband seems to be doing pretty good on these meds they have him on. He notices he isn't coughing as much. Saturday he started taking the Chantix. (med to help stop smoking) He has also tried smoking less each day. I am very proud of him. He usually smokes a pack a day and on Saturday he smoked less than a half a pack. That is a huge step for him, especially since he did that all on his own. It will take about 7 days for the meds to really get working in his system. I know he can do this and he is very determined to succeed. Thank you for your encouraging words to him. They help alot also.

Nothing planned for this week. Thank you all for checking in. I am posting a slideshow below. There is about 48 pictures in it. I just couldn't choose just a few, I took so many and didn't put them all on here. The slideshow will pretty much take you through our day on Saturday. I'm sure you will be able to tell how much fun we had. Hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week. Enjoy the slideshow!!

Friday, April 6, 2007 0:09 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Emily had her appointment with the endocrinologist today. It went great! Even though she is still small for her age and the smallest kid in her class, she is staying right on track with her growing. So that means that unless she has a huge growth spurt the doctor expects that she is just going to be short. I can live with that. He wants to continue to watch her and make sure that her growth stays on track and doesn't slow down or stop again. So we have to go back in 6 months. He is just going to recheck her progress every 6 months and as long as she keeps on track then we are going to just let her body do what its going to do. Awesome news!!! She was a little upset about still being the smallest kid in the class. She said sometime kids tell her to go to kindergarten because she is small like them. She just doesn't want to be teased anymore. I think she will be fine with being short as she gets older. I will take this kind of news anyday. Besides I think she is perfect just the way she is.

This has been one of those busy weeks. My husbands appointment with the doctor on Monday, then filling meds and running errands. Then I spent Tuesday and the better part of Wednesday trying to get approved for some kind of discount program for that one medicine. He has decided that he is definately going to get it filled and start taking it this weekend no matter what. I am behind him 100 percent. He really wants to do this and so we are going for it. I keep encouraging him. He is afraid he is going to fail. I know he can do this though.

The kids have been trying to get ready for the AIMS testing next week at school. They will be testing all day everyday next week. They are both nervous, but I know they will do great. We have a huge busy weekend ahead of us. Bumblebee Ranch on Saturday. We are so excited about this event. The kids are ready to ride the horses and the hummers. This year they are also going to be doing old western family portraits. That will be fun. I will have tons of pictures to share, so be looking for those on Monday. Sunday is Easter. We will do our thing in the morning with the kids and then I think we are planning to go to my dad's house for an easter egg hunt and brunch. That will be lots of fun. Its been a while since we've been out to my dad's house. He lives about 45 minutes to an hour away and we don't get out there much. The kids really enjoy going out there.

Not to much else going on. So this is a short update tonight. Just wanted you to know how Emily's appointment went. Please continue to keep my husband in your prayers. He is having a difficult time with some of the meds they put him on. Now he has set his quit date for April 14th. He will start those stop smoking meds on April 7th and then the cigarretts get put down on April 14th. That is how the program works. Anyways pray that he find the strength and ability to believe in himself. I know he can do this and now he just has to know to.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Thank you for the messages. Emily still reads them everyday and loves them. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter.



Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, April 3, 2007 0:39 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! It has been a very long 3 days, but we sure did have lots of fun this weekend. First of all, Emily is doing great! She is just as normal as ever. It feels so great to be able to say that. No complaints and no issues. Thursday she has an appointment with the endocrinologist. This is for her growth. I expect that this visit will go well. It seems to me that she is growing. She appears to be gaining weight and of course we had that little growth spurt between Dec and Feb. I think they will just continue to monitor her and see how her growth goes. At least that is what I am hoping for. Little Charlie has been doing wonderful as well. Next week is a big testing week for both the kids. They are getting very nervous about these tests. It is AIMS testing week. I know they will both do great and I have been encouraging them in hopes that they will go into the testing with no worries.

Saturday we got up around 6am to prepare for Charlie's birthday party. The party wasn't until 1pm, but he was so excited and woke us all up very early. We got the house all decorated and prepared the food. Everyone started to show up around noon and the party got started early. We hung out outside most of the time. It was a great day with perfect weather. All 7 kids headed straight for the trampoline. They were having so much fun, each taking turns sitting in the middle while the others bounced them up in the air. LOL! We had lunch and then everyone headed right back for the trampoline. This time however they managed to get Uncle Tom up there. It was so funny watching the kids trying to stay on their feet while Uncle Tom bounced them all over the place. Then Uncle Tom sat in the middle and the kids really tried hard to bounce him in the air. When they couldn't manage to get him up they decided to play pig pile. It took him a bit but Uncle Tom managed to fight his way out from the bottom of 7 kids. The kids tired Uncle Tom out so much that he couldn't get off the trampoline. When he finally stepped out and onto the chair that they use to get up there, the chair gave way he he came crashing to the ground. Thankfully he was not hurt, a little sore, but not hurt. We then went inside to open presents. Charlie got alot of great gifts. He got some GI Joes stuff, nerf dart tag, some bionicles, little robot guys to put together, a volcano, a tshirt, and a Jeff Gordon towel. He loved all his gifts. Then we all had cake and ice cream. After that the kids just played for hours. It was a very late night and I think the kids finally crashed at about 11:30pm. Me on the other hand, I had lots to clean up and didn't make it to bed until about 1am. We had lots of fun though. Thank you everyone for making it a great birthday party for Charlie. Here are some pictures that I took.

Sunday, March 25, 2007 11:54 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY APRIL 1, 2007**

Hi Everyone! We had a wonderful weekend. I promise to give a full update Monday afternoon. Its late and its been a very long weekend. I wanted to ask you to please pray for my husbands doctors appointment. He will be going to see the pulmonologist at 10:30am. Hopefully they will get to the bottom of his breathing problems and pain. Pray that it is nothing major and something treatable. I will update after his appointment and let you know how it went and about our weekend. Thank you for checking in and for your prayers.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY MARCH 28, 2007**

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY LITTLE CHARLIE!!

Today, March 29th, is Little Charlie's 9th birthday. My goodness where does the time go? These kids are just growing up way to fast! His birthday party will be on Saturday and he can't wait.

The kids got their report cards. Charlie got all A's and 1 B. Emily got all A's and B's. I am so proud of them both. They continue to do great.

Funny story to share. Emily came home today and handed me her report card and said, "Mom I got one D- and I don't know why." I was shocked and said "WHAT!" Of course when I opened up her report card and didn't see a D- I was confused. She told me she got a D- in reading. It was really a B-. WHEW! The biggest problem Emily has had and continues to have is her D's and B's. For some reason she just can't figure them out. She gets them mixed up all the time. Emily has always been an A and B student and I was ready to have a heart attack if she had gotten a D-. LOL! I have worked with her and worked with her on trying to get her D's and B's straight. Hopefully she will get it soon. Her teacher has started marking her spelling words wrong if she writes a d instead of a b and vice versa. She knows how to spell the words but just can't get those two letters figured out. So I set her straight that she got a B- and not a D- and we laughed about it. She really scared me. LOL!

Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM **

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was fun. Emily and Charlie are feeling great. They were a little bummed out that this weekend was it before they had to go back to school. We had so much fun over spring break that they really didn't want it to end. Although I did have lots of fun with the kids this last week at home, I am ready for them to go back to school. LOL! It just seems that I don't get a whole lot done when they are home. Probably cause I am spending time with them and I just figure everything else can wait. And wait it all did. I have a weeks worth of house cleaning to catch up on. Oh well it was all worth it.

Friday a friend of ours that watches my niece and nephew that are my kids ages came over. It was nice to have a friend over for me to hang out with and talk to while the kids had a blast with their cousins and friend. They were outside in the beautiful weather playing all day. They played ball, jumped on the trampoline, drew pictures on the ground with chalk and just had a blast. By the time it was 9pm the kids were all crashed out. It was a long fun day for all of them.

Saturday the kids and I stayed home and cleaned up some and did some laundry. Daddy went to take his Grandpa, who is 87yrs old, to the grocery store and to run a couple other errands. He got home later in the afternoon and then we went out to run some errands of our own. The rest of the evening we just hung out at home and watched a movie.

Sunday we went ice skating with HopeKids. We have never been ice skating in our lives. So this was our first attempt. We were all a little scared to go out on the ice at first. Once out there Emily and Charlie caught on really fast. They were having so much fun and were much more daring then I was. LOL! Daddy got out there and fell once but after he got his balance down he was doing great. Me on the other hand was a different story. I just couldn't figure it out. I hung on the wall alot and rarely moved to far away from it. I really was trying to learn and relax, but I just couldn't keep my balance. LOL! I went around the rink quite a few times and I could tell that I was getting a little bit better, but then I would see Emily buzz by me and I realized I hadn't done that good. Oh well, we plan on going next time when they have this event and hopefully I will catch on and be able to buzz around with her. Now I am sure that you all remember the stories about Emily and Mason. Well they were too cute today. They were skating around holding hands and everytime Emily would start to fall, Mason would turn and put his hands around her waist and hold her up so she didn't fall. He was so sweet to her and really helped her learn how to skate. She was having so much fun. Little Charlie took off on his own right from the start. He didn't want any help and wanted to just try it all by himself. At first he was hanging on the wall, then he let go. He fell 3 times, but always got right back up and went at it again. He really got the hang of it and was so proud of himself. Even though I didn't really get the hang of it and I wasn't buzzing around like many others, I did have fun. I can't wait until we can do it again and I know that I will just get better with time. I forgot to charge my battery for my camera before we went, but luckily I had enough juice in the battery for a few pictures. I posted them in the photo album. Don't forget to check them out.

This week everyone goes back to school and work. Mommy will be left to an empty quiet house. I am not complaining by any means. It will give me time to get the house cleaned and start getting stuff together for a yard sale. We've been talking about a yard sale for about a month or so now. I just haven't been to motivated to get everything together. Now we are trying to save money for a very special event that might be taking place in September. I don't really want to say anything about it until we know for sure if it is going to happen. But we do want to make sure that we can save enough to be able to go, so we are starting now in hopes that we will be able to do it. So its time for me to find the motivation for the yard sale. LOL! Also I have some shopping to do. I am supporting a bunch of soldiers that are currently serving overseas. They are in desperate need of supplies and I am trying to gather some up for them. If anyone would like to help me fill some care packages, send me a personal email and I can tell you what they are in need of and maybe you could send something to me to put in the boxes. I am pretty excited about this project. I have always adopted soldiers and written to them, but now I know these men and women really need these items and i know that I am really helping them. Its a great feeling.

Anyways I am just rambling on now I think. Thursday is Little Charlie's 9th birthday. He is so excited. Me on the other hand I am sitting back wondering where all those years went. I can't believe he is going to be 9 years old already. He has grown up so much. His party will be on saturday. I can't wait until he see's his cake. He is going to love it. Other than that nothing else planned for this week that I know of.

Thank you all for checking in and leaving a message. We love hearing from you. Thank you for always praying for our family. Hope you have a wonderful week.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, March 21, 2007 10:52 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY NIGHT MARCH 22, 2007**

We had the best time at the hockey game tonight. Charlie and the whole group of kids did such a great job. You could tell they were kind of nervous having all these people watching them, but they sang their hearts out. What a great group of kids!! Emily sat right up front and was singing right along with them. After they got done singing we went and found our seats and enjoyed the game. It was our first hockey game and the kids just had a blast. It was very cold in there. We are so glad that we brought our sweatshirts. (Thank you Amanda for giving us the heads up) The kids got a free hat, clock, and tshirt. They loved watching the zambonie's and the Coyotes mascot Howler. Wish Daddy could have been there with us tonight. We had a blast. Unfortunately it was pouring rain when we left and we had quite a ways to walk to get to our car. We did bring the umbrellas cause it was raining on the way over there to. Except when we left the wind was up real bad. Oh how I wish I had a video camera with me. The wind was catching the kids umbrellas and carrying them away. LOL! It was so funny. Emily said, "Mom I am going to fly away like Mary Poppins. Help Me!" I was laughing so hard. Then her umbrella turned inside out and we decided to bare the rain and close up the umbrellas. Well by the time we got to the car we were soaked and very cold. We cranked up the heat and started on our way home. I am so glad that we didn't have a long drive home. It was raining so hard and I already have a hard enough time driving at night. Another plus was there wasn't alot of people on the road. We left the game about 10 minutes before it was over hoping to beat some of the traffic. We made it home okay, but we are all very tired. I wanted to be sure to update to let you know how it all went and share the pictures I took. Hope you enjoy them. Thank you for checking in. Here's a slideshow of pictures.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

** NEW PICTURES POSTED IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Isn't that just the most beautiful picture at the top of the page? I love it!! There are more in the photo album and I have a couple others I will post a little further down. Spring break has been going great. The kids are feeling great. I have been a bit under the weather with a sinus thing going on, but it seems to be getting better.

Today was Charlie's first performance of the week. They performed at a luncheon for Eddie Basha and the governor. I hear there was alot of other really important people at this luncheon also. Only the kids that were performing were alowed into the luncheon. I guess it had something to do with the room size and the fire marshal said they couldn't hold anymore people in there. The music teacher said it was their best performance so far. She was so excited about the great job they did. While they were in performing Emily and I had about an hour to kill. So we walked around outside and found some really great places to take some pictures. It was such a beautiful day out and there were lots of wonderful spots for pictures. Emily is always up for camera time. LOL! The picture at the top is definately my favorite one. It is the first picture I took. Then I also took this one.


The shadowing kind of covers her face a bit, but it was such a beautiful spot.

Then we headed across the courtyard and down by the wishing ponds. Emily just had to get a couple pictures by these ponds.


Emily loved this statue of a frog. She stepped up on the ledge to get a little closer and I almost was taking a picture of her falling into the pond. Thankfully she caught herself and didn't fall. LOL!

After walking around for a while and snapping pictures we headed back up to see if they were done performing. When we got there the music teacher and the kids were waiting. She told us since the kids did such a wonderful job she was treating everyone to lunch at Chuck E Cheese. So we spent the next 2 hours eating lots of pizza and playing lots of games. We had lots of fun today. I am so proud of Charlie. Emily is trying to convince the music teacher to let her be in Kids With Character next year. The music teacher absolutely loves Emily and I hope that she is chosen. She already knows all the songs that they perform. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens next year.

Thursday night is Charlie's big performance at the Phoenix Coyotes hockey game. The kids are so excited about going to this. We have never been to a hockey game so it will be a first for us. They will be performing at 6pm and the game starts at 7pm. They get to stay for the game and get a free coyotes hat. Pretty cool I think. Daddy will be in Texas and will miss this performance to. Charlie is a bit upset, but I promised to bring the camera so he can see it in pictures at least.

Upcoming important events: March 29th is Charlie's 9th birthday. We will have his party on March 31st. He is so excited. I have his cake ordered already. He is going to love it. (hint, its Jeff Gordon) April 2nd is Daddy's appointment with the pulmonologist. We are really looking forward to what they are going to tell us and hope they get to the bottom of his issues. April 5th is Emily's appointment with the Endocrinologist. If you remember 6 months ago she went and they said she had a bone growth delay and wanted to monitor her every 6 months to watch her growth. So this will just be a followup to that appointment. I know we had a bit of growth between Dec and Feb. Hopefully this will be enough to keep her off any meds.

So thats what's been going on with us. Thank you for checking and praying for our family. (((HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, March 19, 2007 1:33 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was quiet and relaxing. It was a good weekend though. It has been so hot here already. We have been in the upper 90's. Alot of staying inside and trying to keep cool. Whew, summer is just coming to quickly. LOL! Emily is doing great. Right now she is a little upset with me. She likes for me to put her hair up in ponytails. Well the last couple weeks I won't put it in ponytails. Her hair is getting pretty thin and when I put it in ponytails I have to make them tight. Well I don't want to put anymore strain on her hair and make more of it fall out. So I've been braiding it instead. Tonight she came to me with a picture from last school year when her hair was very short and asked me if I would take her to get her hair cut like that. She said then we could both be happy. I wouldn't be able to do ponytails and she wouldn't have to have braids anymore. LOL! She is just too funny. I love her hair and am so excited that it is getting longer. I know she loves her hair to and really doesn't want it to be that short again, but that was her way of taking control of the situation. She also lost another tooth on friday. She is refusing to leave it for the toothfairy cause she doesn't want her to take her tooth. She said she doesn't care about the money the toothfairy would leave her. HUH? I was surprised to hear that. So it is still sitting on her dresser. I am just waiting to see if she changes her mind. Little Charlie is doing great also. His belly still has the lump by his belly button, but I was told that was normal. They said it is the scar tissue. He pulled the glue off his incisions this weekend also. They told me the glue should have fallen off anytime between 3-7 days after surgery. Well it has been 2 weeks and they were still on. So he sat in the bathtub for a while and then just pulled them off. They came off easily and his incisions look great. No more pain or bleeding.

Saturday the kids and I went shopping for some summer clothes. I hadn't realized how much the kids had grown until we started trying to find clothes for them to wear. They've grown out of all their shorts and tank tops. We were able to find a couple outfits for each of them. Then Daddy stayed home with the kids while Mommy got some time out with Aunt Nicki. We went out and watched a movie and then went back to her house and talked for hours. Oh it was so nice away time. It was fun and I really needed it. I got home WAY to late though. LOL! Sunday we stayed home and did the house cleaning and yard work. Then Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki came over for dinner and hung out for a little while. It was a good weekend.

This week is going to be pretty busy. We have some exciting things going on. The kids are out on spring break this week. Charlie has 2 singing performances this week though. The first one is on Wednesday at a luncheon. There is suppose to be alot of big name people there. Then on Thursday night is the night that he performs at the Phoenix Coyotes hockey game. He is so excited about that. He has been working very hard at trying to remember his part for the skit he will be doing and practicing his songs. I am so very proud of him and can't wait to see him perform. Other than that not to much else going on.

Thank you for checking in and leaving us messages. Also thank you for always praying for our family. It means alot to us. Hope you have a wonderful week. I am sure I will have lots of pictures to share throughout the week. (((HUGS))) to all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, March 16, 2007 0:17 AM CDT

** NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM **

Hi Everyone! Hope you've had a great week. Ours has been pretty good. Emily has been feeling good. It is so nice to see her having no issues. Charlie is also feeling alot better. I called the doctors office and they told me that the lump that was forming was scarring. The bleeding was occuring because the glue they put over the incision was starting to peel away. They told me it was completely normal as long as it wasn't an excessive amount of blood. Which I am happy to say it wasn't. He hasn't had anymore issues with it and he is completely pain free. The glue has come off 2 of the 3 incisions. The one on his belly button just doesn't want to come off. Thats okay though, they assured me that it would fall off in its own time.

This week has kept me quite busy. I've been having fun chasing my neice and nephew around all day. Now the kids are out on spring break. They are off Friday and then all next week. Today I went to the kids school for a meeting with some department of education representatives. The kids school is up for the A+ school award. It is a very high honor for a school to be recognized as an A+ school. The reps wwanted to meet with some of the parents and get their opinion on the school, staff, and some of the programs the school offers. The principal had asked me last week if I would be able to go to this meeting. She felt that I would be a great asset to this meeting. I have been very involved with the school over the last few years. Especially when Emily first started school and was going through treatment. The school and all the staff are so wonderful there. They have done so much to ensure the safety of my kids and make sure they get the best education possible no matter what. I feel they deserve this A+ recognition and I hope that I was a factor in helping them get it. The decision will be made April 13th. I can't wait to find out.

On the photo page is the kids spring pictures. Since I got the pictures at the beginning of the year I will not be buying these, but they did provide us with proofs in case I decide to buy them. If not then I get to keep the proofs. I think they came out great and wanted to share them with you. My kids take such great pictures. I guess that is because they are so use to having a camera in their face. LOL! I'm a little picture crazy, but I'm sure you already knew that. LOL! So be sure to check those out. Nothing planned for this weekend. It has already started getting hot here. We have been in the 90's all week and there doesn't look like there is any relief in sight. Feels like we go straight from winter (which feels like spring) right into summer. I am not ready for triple digits yet. UGH! We will definately be spending alot of time inside the air conditioning or outside in some sort of water. Either way I am sure we will find a way to keep cool.

I got a letter in the mail from my husbands doctor. (the one that we fought with for the xray) Anyways this letter simply said "Dear Charles, Your chest xray was negative as expected. That is because it is not a screening tool for lung cancer. If you are that worried about lung cancer you should simply stop smoking." This doctor has absolutely no interest in finding out what is causing the pain and difficulty breathing. Boy am I glad that I called and got him an appointment with a pulmonologist. We will not ever be going back to that doctor again. April 2nd is the day for the pulmonologist. I am hoping to be able to go with him to the appointment. Please just continue to keep my husband in your prayers. Each day that passes this bothers him more and more. Both emotionally and physically. He is also suffering from high blood pressure now. I am hoping it is because of the stress that he is under right now. He's never had issues with his blood pressure before.

Well things are good here. I don't really have much else to report. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, March 11, 2007 11:02 PM CDT

** EDITED UPDATE MONDAY MARCH 12,2007**

Just wanted to share a couple pictures I took tonight. We went to see the Astronaut Farmer with HopeKids. It was a good movie. The kids really liked it and the best part is they got the meaning of the movie. To always believe that you can be anything you want to be, NEVER stop dreaming and NEVER give up, no matter what! They really enjoyed themselves tonight. So here are a couple pictures of the kids in their new HopeKids tshirts. And if you haven't checked out the new pictures in the photo album that I posted Sunday night, be sure to pop on over and take a look at those. Thanks for checking in.


Emily and Charlie ready to go watch the the movie.


Emily had to wear her new hat and show everyone. LOL! She loves it!


Emily wanted to show you what the back of her shirt says. "I'm a HopeKid!"

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Love and Hugs,
Angela


** NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM **

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was good. Emily is doing wonderful! Little Charlie continues to be on the mend from his surgery. I do however have to call the doctor. When they did his surgery they made 3 small cuts. 1 on the right side, 1 on the left side and the other on the bottom of his belly button. Well the 2 on the sides look great. The one on his belly button is not healing. It has been bleeding on and off this weekend and now he has a hard lump in the center of his stomach. They told me that he didn't have to go for a followup appointment unless we felt that something wasn't right. Well he is hurting again and I just feel like he should be seen. I'm sure it is nothing serious, but better to be safe then sorry. Please pray that all is okay and that it will heal soon and not cause him anymore pain.

Saturday we went to Emily's friends birthday party. It was at Peter Piper Pizza. The kids had so much fun. They played games, ate pizza and cake, and played with thier friends. It was lots of fun for me to cause I got out and socialized with other mom's. Daddy went and paid some bills and did some stuff sround the house while we were gone. The rest of the day we played at home and I went to the store food shopping. Saturday night we watched a movie and just hung out. It was a good day.

Sunday we decided to go shopping. Little Charlie's birthday is on March 29th and Emily's isn't to far behind his on May 12th. Well Kmart was having a huge up to 70 percent off sale and so we decided to go check it out. We had a great time shopping. First we went to Kmart and I got all of Charlie's birthday gifts. (without him seeing) Then we decided to go to Old Navy. The kids and I love their flip flops and they are 2 for $5, so we stopped in to buy some. Emily found this hat that she fell in love with. (the one in the picture above) She walked around the whole store with it on her head. She begged Daddy for it and he couldn't resist and he bought it for her. It looks so cute on her and she wore it the whole rest of the day. Then on our way home we went to another Kmart down the street from our house. At that store I bought all of Emily's birthday gifts. (again without her seeing) I was so happy to have this done. We got such a great deal on these things to. What would have cost us about $350 only cost us $120. That was for all the gifts for both kids. About 6 gifts each. Usually we only get them a couple each, but this time we just couldn't pass up the great deals. They are going to be so excited when they open their gifts. Then I took Daddy and the kids home so they didn't miss Nascar. LOL! I went to the party store for decorations. Charlie decided he wanted a Nascar theme. Not exactly something that Walmart sells. LOL! I got to the party store and I couldn't find that theme anywhere. I knew they had it cause I had seen it before, but I couldn't find it anywhere. After walking around the store 3 times I found this little area in the back of the store, that I wasn't sure if I was allowed to go into. There was a box on the floor that had all Nascar party supplies. I hurried back there and grabbed some plates, napkins, cups and table clothes. Then I headed over to get Emily's decorations. She decided on a Bratz theme. Of course hers was easy to find. I got up to the register and put my stuff on the counter and the cashier asked me, "Where did you find these?" (referring to the Nascar stuff.) I told her I found them in the back of the store. She said okay these are clearance. WOOHOO!! I paid $1 for each thing. I couldn't believe it. Boy I was having a great time shopping today and I didn't even spend alot of money. Now to find and order his Jeff Gordon cake. The only other thing I was unable to find was a happy birthday banner that was Nascar theme. Oh well he was happy with what I did get. He is already counting the days until his party on March 31st.

This week the kids go to school for 4 days then they are on spring break until the 26th. Monday night we are going to the movie The Astronaut Farmer with HopeKids. The kids are excited. They have a wonderful little gift for Rob and can't wait to give it to them. I'll try to take pictures so you can see it. Other than that not to much else going on. Hopefully I will be able to get Charlie into the doctor to check out his belly. Also Monday is Charlie's last practice before their performance at the Phoenix Coyotes Hockey game on March 22nd. He missed last weeks, but I know he is going to do great.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Hope you all have a great week. Don't forget to check out the new pictures. Thanks for the messages to. We love hearing from you. I'll let you know what happens with Little Charlie and the doctor.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, March 8, 2007 9:25 PM CST

Hi Everyone! We are all getting back to normal around here. Charlie is still a bit uncomfortable, but is not having any real pain. He went back to school today. He is not participating in PE or recess, but he is happy to be back at school. He survived the whole day. It amazes me how fast kids bounce back after things like this. 4 days after having his appendix removed and he is right back in the game of school and pretty much all normal activities.. Emily is happy to have her brother back to almost normal. They have been playing together and having lots of fun. Yestarday I called to schedule Charlie's followup appointment and I couldn't believe what I had to deal with. I called the number they gave me on the discharge papers. It was for a clinic at the hospital. Well first of all I had to repeat his name like 10 times before she got it. I even spelled it for her several times. Then she hasked me if he had ever been at the hospital. I had just got done telling her that he had surgery there on sunday. Then she told me that he wasn't in the system. She asked me what insurance he had. I told her none. Then she asked me if I paid for the surgery already. I told her no. You won't believe what her response was to that. She said in these exact words and with a very rude tone, "Well I don't know how you even got the surgery done with no insurance and not paying for it." Boy she really made me feel like a low life. She told me to leave my number and she would look into it and call me back. I was not surprised when she never called me back. So I called there today and the lady told me that I couldn't bring him into that clinic because the surgeon that did his surgery has a clinic in the east valley. (about an hour away from where I live) So I called them and they told me that I could go to the hospital and see a different doctor for followup. As you can imagine I was getting very frustrated. I told this lady how they had talked to me yestarday at the hospital when I called and she said that she would take care of it. She called me back 10 minutes later and said that unless he is having trouble or showing any signs of infection that it wasn't neccessary to go for a followup. Now why couldn't the other lady tell me that? I am so glad that I don't have to deal with that hospital anymore. I will NEVER go there again. It was the worst experience I have ever had at a hospital and we have spent our fair share of time in different hospitals over the years. So glad to have that behind us.

Not much else has been going on this week. The kids moved into their next reading class. Emily went up to level in reading. She continues to be in 3rd grade reading, but moved up a level. Charlie is also still in 5th grade reading, but up to the next level of it. I am so proud of both of them. They have been really working hard on chapter books and trying to get better at reading. This weekend the only thing we have planned is a birthday party. One of Emily's friends is having a party on saturday and I promised her she could go if Charlie was feeling better. Other than that not much going on. Hopefully it will be a good relaxing weekend for us.

Tonight I want to ask that you go over and visit Angel Kyle's site. Today March 8th marks his 1 year Angel Anniversary. Paula has written her last entry on his page and it is a wonderful entry. We miss Kyle very much and will never forget him. Paula, Mike, Zach, Ashley, and Noah, we love you and will always have a special place in our hearts for you. We will continue to keep your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. Sending lots of love and hugs to your family. Please stop by his site and leave them a message.

Thank you for checking in on our family. Also thank you so much for the wonderful messages and emails that you have been leaving. I can't even begin to tell you how much they have meant to Little Charlie and our family. Its nice for Little Charlie to feel so special. Hugs to all of you!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, March 5, 2007 0:43 AM CST

** EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY MARCH 6, 2007 **

Things are going okay here. Charlie was up moving around a little more today. Still in pain and very uncomfortable, but he is handling it all very well. Emily had such a horrible day at school yestarday because Charlie was still in the hospital. When she went to school today the teacher just could tell that Charlie had come home. She said Emily was happy and her mind was on her schoolwork instead of on Charlie. The hospital is continueing to help us in getting some insurance through the state for Charlie and I. (we are the only ones without insurance right now) So I spent half the day trying to find my birth certificate. Mine is one we couldn't afford to lose. I was born in Massachusettes and so it would have been horrible trying to get a duplicate. I did finally find it and my husband took the rest of the info back up to the hospital. Hopefully we will know within the next week or 2 if we have the insurance.

Charlie will be staying home again wednesday. Emily is still trying to get me to let her stay home to. LOL! Not much else going on right now. Thank you for all the messages to Charlie. He got to read them all today. They really made him feel special and happy. Please keep praying that his pain goes away soon and he is back to his old self in no time. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY NIGHT MARCH 5, 2007 **

Thank you for all the wonderful messages for Charlie. He was discharged from the hospital about 2:30 this afternoon. He was so happy to be home and with his sister. It was a very long 2 days for all of us. I am very upset with some things that happened while he was in the hospital and just before he was discharged. They told me the plan for his pain medicine was to give him morphine 1-2 times during the night and then switch him to tylenol 3 since that is what they sent him home with. I left the hospital around 11:30pm last night and returned at 9am. I was told at that time that they had given him morphine every 2 hours through the night even if he didn't say he was in any pain. They tried to send us home at 9:30am without seeing the surgeon yet. That didn't happen. The surgeon came in and said that she needed him to be on the tylenol 3 and eating before he could go home. She wanted him observed through lunch. Well he did well with the tylenol 3 at around 11am and ate most of his lunch and kept it down with no problem. So around 1:30 they told me they are getting his discharge paperwork done. I went to take all our stuff to the van while they did that and when I came back they were in the middle of giving him another dose of morphine. The nurse said that she wanted to make sure that he was comfortable. I was really upset cause he was suppose to be off of it completely. How do I know that I can keep him comfortable at home on the tylenol 3 if they keep giving him morphine? I know they probably had their reasons why it all happened this way, but nothing was explained to me. We left shortly after that and he went to sleep. He woke up for a few minutes while my sister came to see him and then he went right back to sleep. He then didn't wake up again until about 7:30pm and right back to bed by 8pm. I am so upset that they continued to give him so much morphine and not follow what they said they were going to do. Anyways I am taking a deep breathe and feeling good about the fact that he is home now. He is still in quite a bit of pain and is sleeping alot. Please pray that he will feel better soon. He loved hearing all the messages today. Although I think I will have to read them all to him again cause he probably won't remember I read them. LOL! He has been forgetting alot of things. Thats the meds I'm sure. Well its really late and it has been a very long day. I am going to try to get some rest. Hoping for a better tomorrow.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! First off I want to ask for prayers for Little Charlie. He is in the hospital right now and is very scared, but being so brave. He had his appendix removed Sunday night. I will get into that a little more in a bit. Please just pray that he has a quick stay there.

Hope your weekend was good. Ours started out pretty good and then went downhill from there. Saturday we spent much of the day outside with the kids and hanging out at home. Saturday night we went to a birthday party for our neighbors little boy. He had his party at Chuck E Cheese. The kids had so much fun. They ate pizza and played lots of games. They got their picture sketched also. I will try to scan that in and post it later. It is very late right now. After we got home from the party Charlie told me that his belly was hurting. I thought it was from all the food he ate so I gave him a pepto bismol and he went to bed. He got up several times during the night crying and in so much pain.

Sunday morning I got up and he was in a little ball on the floor in the livingroom crying. I knew there was something really wrong and I had to take him to the hospital. I took him to the hospital right down the street from our house. Its a smaller hospital and the wait time is way less than the other hospitals. We got back to see a doctor within 45 minutes of arriving. They did blood work and an xray. They found that is white count was elevated, but he showed no other symptoms of appendisitis. So they had to call a peiatric surgeon at another hospital and consult them. The hospital that I took him to doesn't do pediatric surgeries. So after 5 hours at that hospital they called in an ambulance to transport him to childrens hospital. We arrived at childrens about 3pm. At about 5pm they came to take him for a ct scan. They told us they wanted rule out Wilms Tumor. I just about fell to the floor hearing that and thought Oh God not again. They had me so scared. They did the ct scan, but didn't get the results back for 2 hours. That was the longest 2 hours of my life. They finally came in about 7pm and told me that he needed his appendix removed and everything else looked good. Boy was that a huge relief for me. Charlie wasn't to excited about surgery, but was so brave. Emily was sitting by his side the whole time telling him not to worry that he would be okay. He was so glad to have her there. About 9pm they came to take him up to surgery. It was then that things got a little sad. Emily was not allowed to go up with us. They have a policy that certain times of year kids under 12 cannot be in the hospital unless they are patients. Well no one told us that in the ER and the tears started flowing. Emily didn't want to leave him and he wanted her to stay. It was so sad pulling them apart and especially at that time. Thankfully my sister in law was there and was able to take Emily downstairs to allow Mommy and Daddy to stay with Charlie. They took him into surgery about 9:30pm and he was out at about 10:30pm. He did great, his appendix didn't rupture and we were just waiting for him to wake up. He did a little moving around but no real waking up until about 11pm. The first words out of his mouth was "Where's Emily?" It killed me to tell him that she couldn't come see him. He was very sad and just kept saying I want Emily. Daddy is staying the night with him tonight. Before I left I asked him if he wanted me to tell Emily anything for him and he said, "Tell her I am okay and I will be coming home soon. Hopefully. And tell her I love her." I got all choked up. They love each other so much and I saw proof of that tonight. I went downstairs to get Emily and go home and I told her what he said. She started to cry and kept saying I want to see Charlie. The whole way home she cried and said its not fair. I sure hope he gets to come home soon cause it is killing these 2 to be apart when they need each other so much. Charlie has never been in the hospital before and he just wanted his sister, an old pro, to be by his side. Please pray that he has a good night and morning and that they let him come home monday evening.

I keep praying that our bad luck streak will end soon. Sometimes I see no end in site. Although today I feel like I can see the light in a dark situation. I thank God that it was just his appendix and nothing more serious. This week he will be staying out of school. He is not happy about that, but wants to feel better when he goes back. I will be getting his work so that he can stay with the class. I know he will do it when he feels up to it. I know he would not want to fall behind. Emily is mad that she has to go to school when all she wants to do is be with her brother. I told her its important that she go to school. She wants me to be able to be with Charlie, but knows the only way that will happen is if she goes to school. So she decided she is going to tell everyone that her brother is in the hospital and maybe they will make get well cards for him. How sweet is that. So my week will be spent taking care of him and making sure he feels better.

Not sure if I left anything out. It is very late and I am so tired. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. It means so much to us. Please if you get a chance leave a message in the guestbook for Charlie. I know he will just love to hear them when he gets home. Love and Hugs to all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, March 1, 2007 10:08 PM CST

Hi Everyone! Hope you've had a great week so far. Ours has been pretty good. Emily and Charlie are doing great. Working hard in school and doing a great job at driving mom crazy at home. LOL! I've been keeping busy during the day with my niece and nephew during the day. Its fun to have them around. Gives me something to do during the day.

I really don't have much to talk about. Our week has been school and home and not much of anything else. I did get my husband an appointment with a pulmonologist. Unfortunately it isn't until April 2nd. I called Emily's oncologist and he highly recommended this doctor so we are going to wait and see him on April 2nd. They told me to call them back in 10 days to see if there was a cancellation then he can take that spot. So that is the plan. His pain is getting worse and I am really worried about him. Please pray that it will not get any worse before he can see the doctor.

Not much planned for this weekend. We have a birthday party to go to on saturday, but other than that we haven't made any plans. Sorry for the short and not very exciting update. Things have just been that way this week. Seems as though the week flew by and nothing exciting happened. Guess thats all part of normal. Thank you for checking in and leaving messages. We love to read them and I will be printing them all to put together a book for Emily. I always want her to have something to remember all her faithful followers and friends. We love you all!

If you haven't checked out the pictures from the fashion show from last weekend, there are some in the photo album and a slide show in the journal history. Thank you to everyone for the compliments on the pictures and how great the kids looked. The kids were so happy to hear those messages. I guess its not the same when Mommy and Daddy tell them they look great and when others tell them. LOL!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, February 25, 2007 8:49 PM CST

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Isn't that just a beautiful picture? Well if you think that one is beautiful make sure you check out the ones in the photo album. Oh and I have more that I will post towards the end of this update. Our weekend was wonderful and lots of fun. Before I get to that, let me tell you that both the kids are doing great. Emily has had no complaints of pain or anything. It was so nice to have such a great weekend and everyone feeling great.

Saturday was Charlie's music show at the Arts Alive festival. We got there early cause we knew there would be lots of people. His group was set to perform at 11:15am. We got there at 10am and walked around and listened to the music. We got a hot dog and a snow cone before his performance. Then we went to meet up with his group. They did so great. The chorus group before them was from a middle school and there was alot of them in the group. Well lets just say Charlie's group blew them away. They sang so loud, clear and great. It was definately a proud moment. Daddy really enjoyed watching him perform also. He's been unable to go to his performances because he is always working. He was so happy that he could be at this one. They got through almost the whole program and was getting ready to sing the last song when the fire alarm went off. Oh Goodness! We had to evacuate the building. We all just got out of the building and they called the all clear. It was okay though. The kids got right back in there and sang the heck out of that last song. It was great!

Sunday we got up early since we had to be at dress rehearsal at 9:45am. We arrived there about 9:15am and walked around a bit looking at all the silent auction items. They had about 4 tables with lots of stuff. The kids found there info board with their pictures on it. They had many of them up around the room. They had pictures and told a little about the kids. Everyone loved the pictures of Emily when she was bald. I have to say I love them to. LOL! We went backstage at 10am for rehearsal. Things got delayed a bit cause they didn't wuite have the whole stage built yet. Once they had it ready though, they got the kids all lined up and ready to practice. Emily and Charlie were going to walk out alone, but later decided they wanted to walk together. They saw how big the stage and the runway was and how many people were going to be in there and they felt nervous walking alone. It made them feel better walking together. I thought it was great. The fashion show was set to start at 12:15. It was about 11:30 and we headed up to the dressing rooms to get changed. Emily and Charlie were so excited they practically ran to the dressing rooms. After changing they had a little bit to wait til they could go out. So everyone just hung out talking and admiring what others had picked out to wear. Emily quickly made lots of friends. I started snapping lots of pictures then. About 12:10 we headed backstage to get started. I found our table and took a seat while Daddy went with the kids backstage. I wanted to make sure I was there to take pictures when they came down the runway. As each person came down the runway the announcer told a little about them. Some kids walked with the therapy dogs and others walked with the Alice in Wonderland characters. The theme was the Madhatters tea party. Then out came Emily and Charlie. Both with huge smiles on there faces, holding each others hands and looking wonderful. They strutted their stuff for sure. They got to the end of the runway and waved to everyone, turned around took each other hand again and walked back with the biggest smile on their face. It was such a joy to see them so happy. After the fashion show was over they served us lunch and dessert. It was wonderful food. Although I couldn't pronounce the name of any of the food except the cupcake and ice cream for dessert, the food was good. After lunch was over they had an auction. I couldn't believe the amount of money that people spent, but I sure was happy to see it. Since the money goes to such a wonderful cause. We got home about 3pm and we were all ready to sit and relax. Although that sounded good we decided since it was so nice out we should take the kids outside and play for a while. We threw the football and rode bikes. We stayed out for about an hour or so and then got dinner, showers and then relaxed and watched some tv. Perfect ending to such a wonderful weekend.

No plans so far for this week. My one project is to find a good pulmonologist and get my husband an appointment as soon as I can. With the recent chest xray coming back clear and blood work coming back good the nurse reccommended that he see a pulmonologist that can run more tests. He is still having pain and chronic coughing. My only prayer request is to pray that I find a good doctor that will do all that he can to figure out what is going on with him. A doctor that will listen and take us seriously.

Okay so I know you are just waiting to see the rest of the pictures I took. So here they are. Oh and yes the shoes they are wearing are the ones that nice lady bought for them. Emily is wearing her high heels that she just had to have. (not quite high heels, but she thinks they are) LOL! Hope you enjoy them. There are quite a few so sit back and enjoy.

Thursday, February 22, 2007 11:12 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY EVENING**

My husband talked to the nurse and got his test results. First of all his blood work came back great. They were also able to rule out any muscle problems. That is great news knowing that we were doing the right thing by refusing the injections. The chest xray also came back CLEAR! They recommend that we find a pulmonologist and have them run more extensive tests on his lungs. In a big way we are breathing a huge sigh of relief and then in another way we are still wondering what is causing him so much pain and his shortness of breathe. Guess our next step is finding a good pulmonologist for him to go see. Thank you so much for your prayers. Please continue to pray that I can get him to go to a pulmonologist and that they can get to the bottom of his problems.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Hope you've all had a great week so far. Ours has been pretty good. I've been keeping busy with my niece and nephew during the day. It been fun having them around. Emily and Charlie are both doing great. They are both so excited about this weekend. Today we went to Dillards to pick out their outfits. I was planning on bringing the camera with me, but I was running late getting out of the house and totally forgot it. I promise to remember it on Sunday though. We had a 4:30 appointment at Dillards. We left our house at about 3:15 since I really was unsure of where I was going. The traffic was horrible and as I approached the area that the mall was at I started to get really frustrated. All I could see was prking garages and no mall. I called my husband practically in tears cause I was just completely lost. I know that sounds stupid huh? I get really uneasy when I don't know where I'm going. Anyways he was able to guide me in to where I needed to be. We found Dillards and got up to the childrens department on time. Everyone was so nice. They showed the kids 3-4 outfits each that they could choose from. Emily chose the dressy catagory and Charlie chose the sporty catagory. Emily was in heaven looking at all the beautiful dresses they were showing her. She picked a perfect dress that just looks wonderful on her. It is pink with a little flower on the front waistline. I couldn't have picked a better dress for her. She had 4 to choose from and she fell in love with that one right away. It looks great on her and I can't wait to get pictures of her in it and show you. Charlie will be wearing a Quicksilver outfit. It is short with a quicksilver tshirt and a button down shirt over it. He looked great in it as well. He really liked it and asked if I could buy him an outfit like that. LOL! I just told him sorry bud these clothes are a little to much money for me. He was okay with that. Then it was off to look at shoes. I wasn't aware of the fact that they didn't provide the shoes for them. They told Emily to go get a pair of shoes and bring them back. So we went over to look. The lady at the shoe department asked her what she was looking for. Emily said, "I want some high heels to go with my gown." Don't you just love it! She found the perfect white shoes with just a little heel on them and fell in love. Charlie picked out a pair of KSwiss tennis shoes. We brought them back and and that is when I found out I had to purchase them myself. The kids were very upset when I told them I was sorry but I couldn't afford to buy them. They got the attention of a very nice lady and she took the shoes from us and bought them for them. I told her that I would find them shoes either from what they have at home or somewhere else that wasn't so expensive. She told me, "No I want to do this." Emily and Charlie both gave a her a very big hug and thanked her. Emily is just in hog heaven with her new shoes and can't wait to dress up and look beautiful on Sunday. I am really looking forward to it and can't wait to see them strutting their stuff down the runway. I promise to have pictures. As we were leaving the store Emily said to me, "Mom will you take me to get my hair done." She's really taking this whole thing seriously. She wants to look her best. Hopefully however I do her hair she will be happy with. LOL! The drive home was SO much worse then the drive there. It was about 5:15, which means rush hour traffic. I knew I had at least an hour drive home. There was so much traffic and I get really nervous when traffic is like that. The kids were getting tired of being in the car and hungry, so they were sitting in the backseat fighting. I got halfway home and felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown. My head was pounding, my heart was racing and all I wanted to do was get home. We finally got home an hour and half later. The rest of the night was crazy. Trying to get dinner, showers and homework done and still get to bed on time. Now the kids are safely sleeping in bed and mom gets some quiet time. (Dad's in Texas)

We have a big weekend coming up. Saturday is Charlie's music show at the Arts Alive Festival. He is excited about that. I always love to watch the kids perform and Daddy will be there to. Not sure what we will do for the rest of the day on saturday. Maybe just hang out at home and relax, because Sunday is another big day. We have to be there at 9:30am on Sunday for dress rehearsal. The show starts at 11am and gets over at 2pm. I am going to take as many pictures as they let me. The kids have been bragging to everyone about this show.

Not really much else going on with the kids. They continue to works hard in school. Charlie is still having his lack of focus problem, but he promised he would work harder on it. I know he will. He is so very smart and sometimes he feels like he is getting such good grades that its okay to slack off once in a while. He promised his next report card will say that he is getting better with applying himself.

As you all know, with much threatening, my husband got the orders to get the chest xray done. He went and did it on Wednesday afternoon. The tech wouldn't tell him anything, but she did tell him that they could have the results to the doctor as soon as the same day or within 3 days. So once again we are at the mercy of the doctor. We are waiting for the results of the chest xray and the blood work that was done 1 week ago. My husband has called several times and left messages for the doctor reguarding these things, but hasn't gotten a call back. He said that if he doesn't hear from him by friday afternoon when he gets back into town he is going to call over there again. If he doesn't get ahold of the doctor with that call he is just going to go to the office and demand to talk to the doctor. I would hate to think that the doctor is that upset with us that he would torture us by making us wait for the results through the weekend if he has them. But I have learned quickly that this doctor does things as he sees fit and really doesn't take our feelings into consideration. Please pray that we get some results before the weekend. Also with that please pray that the results are nothing serious. UGH! I hate waiting! I will let you know as soon as I know something more. I promise as soon as we get a call I will update on the results. Thank you all for caring so much and for all the emails, messages and prayers for my husband. I can't tell you how much that means to us. Especially to my husband, who thought that no one really cared about what was happening to him.

Thank you all for checking in and your messages. Hope you all have a great weekend. I know we will. Busy, busy, busy, but lots of fun. Be sure to check back for a full update on our weekend and pictures!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, February 19, 2007 11:51 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY FEB. 20, 2007**

WE DID IT!! With a huge fight and many doctors and nurses being very upset with us we finally got the order for him to get his chest xray. Remember yestarday how I said we talked to the very nice nurse manager? Well today was a very different conversation with her. She was very rude and sided with the doctor. She told us yestarday that she was going to look over his chart and talk to an attending about it and see what she could do for us. Well that is NOT what she did at all. She went to the doctor that my husband had been seeing and talked to him about it. He feels that my husband did not have the symptoms that warranted a chest xray. UGH! Chest pain and shortness of breathe seem like 2 good symptoms to me. So she called us today to tell us that we just needed to keep following this doctors orders. It just made my husband very angry. He told her that this is what he wanted and if they would not give it to him then he would be finding another doctor. He said that he would be filing a complaint with whomever he needed to, especially if when he did get the chest xray it came back showing something. He told her that there is nothing saying that he has to go back to their office. She got very upset that he was going to go to another doctors office. Long story short she was very rude with him for about 20 minutes and then went back to the doctor and told him what had happened. She called back 15 minutes later telling him he needed to come pick up the orders and get the chest xray done tomorrow. To clear one last thing up as well. This is the last thing he will be doing with this doctor. He decided that he will get the chest xray done, but the next appointment that he has will be with my doctor. He is not going to deal with a doctor that doesn't listen. That is one thing that makes a gret doctor. They must listen to their patients. They are not God and they can't just read your mind and tell you what is going on and heal you. They have to listen to you and figure it out. Please pray that we get the results quickly and they don't come back saying cancer or anything serious like that. Usually results take about 3 days. Hopefully we will have them before the weekend.

Emily and Charlie are doing great. I got their progress report today and as usual they are doing excellent in everything. I am so proud of them. Well it is very late and I really need to get some sleep. I just wanted to share that news with you. Wednesday afternoon he will be getting the chest xray done. Pray for good things!

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was pretty good. Emily is feeling great. She has had some on and off belly pain for a few days now, but she takes her zantac and it seems to help take it away. Nothing is slowing her down. Saturday Daddy had to work for what he thought would be a couple hours. Unfortunately it turned into 7 hours and he came home very tired. We didn't do much of anything that day. Saturday night my sister took us out to dinner. The kids were so excited to spend some time with them. They miss having their cousins over here. I can't believe how much Dylan has grown since I stopped watching them. He is almost 8 months old now and definately on the move. Thank you Jodi and Eddie. We really enjoyed spending time with you guys.

Sunday we stayed home as well. Played outside for a while in the morning and then we watched the Daytona 500. Of course everyone in my house is so excited that Nascar is back. Emily freaked out and stopped watching the race after Tony Stewart hit the wall and was out of the race. She was so upset. Daddy laughed and teased her, but boy did she get him back on the last lap when Jeff Gordon crashed. I love to watch them pick on each other. It is to funny! Monday it rained all day. The kids were going stir crazy having to stay inside all day. They wanted to go outside and jump on the trampoline in the storm. They couldn't understand why they couldn't be on the trampoline while there was lightning. LOL! They had lots of fun beating daddy up all day and giving him a run for his money. They sure did wear him out. We didn't go anywhere or do anything exciting, but once again it was good weekend.

Monday I had my follow up doctors visit. It went well. Things are clearing up and looking and feeling better. Still some issues, but we are working on figuring them out and fixing them. I really like my doctor and she is doing all that she can to get to the bottom of this. I sure wish I could say the same thing for my husbands doctor. Maybe he should start seeing my doctor! While at the doctors office (we go to the same office just different doctor) I asked the lady at the front desk who I would talk to if I wanted to file a complaint or have someone else look over a chart. She gave me the number to the nurse manager. We called her and explained to her that he has gone to the doctor twice for this issue and that the doctor is not listening to us. We explained that he wants to do injections for muscle pain even though he is having no muscle issues. She was not happy with what she was hearing. She promised that she would pull his chart, read over it and meet with an attending to discuss it. She said she will call us back with answers. She said that with my husbands symptoms the first thing he should have ordered was a chest xray and doesn't understand why he didn't. She hoped she would understand better once she read through his chart. We decided that we would take this route first. If we can get what we want without going to a different doctors office or to the ER then that is what he wants to do. I have been trying all weekend to get him to go to the ER. He just flat out refuses. He hates hospitals more then he hates doctors. I think unless the ER is our last and final resort then he is not going to go. So all I can do is sit back and hope and pray that the nurse manager calls us back with some good news.

We have a kind of busy week ahead of us. Tomorrow I will start watching my niece and nephew again for a little while. Their babysitter got hurt and is unable to take care of them. Please pray that she heals completely. Wednesday the kids are out of school early. Thursday I have to take them to Dillards so they can pick out their outfits for the fashion show. They are so excited. Saturday is Charlie's music show in the morning. He will be performing at the big Arts Alive Festival. He's excited cause daddy will be there to see him sing. Usually daddy is working and misses it. Sunday is the big fashion show. I just can't wait. I know the kids are going to do great. Emily has always wanted to do modeling. Charlie was a little hesitant cause he thought this kind of thing was only for girls, but he is really getting excited. I will be sure to take lots of pictures so you will all be able to see. So that is our week in a nutshell. Hope you all have a great week as well.

I want to thank you all for your emails. Each one means so much to me. I think it was pretty unanimous what everyone thought we should do. Trust me I have been trying to get him to go, but he is just so darn stubborn. Just pray for some good news from this nurse manager. She should be calling us back tomorrow. If he doesn't hear from her by tuesday afternoon, he is going to call her back. Hopefully she found a doctor that will listen and possibly take the case. A doctor that listens to their patient is the best kind of doctor to have. Anyways thank you for checking in and praying for us. We love you all. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, February 16, 2007 2:55 PM CST

**NEW PICTURES POSTED IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!**

*FRIDAY NIGHT UPDATE*

Some good news to share and some frustrating news to share tonight. First I want to say the update below is new from this afternoon. So if you haven't yet, go on and read about Emily's music show.

Okay I am going to start with the frustrating news. I want to be able to end tonight with something that will make you smile. My husband went to the doctor and got nowhere! Can you believe that doctor is still insistant that there is absolutely no need for a chest xray. My husband demanded to speak with another doctor and said he wanted a chest xray. The doctor said he would go out and consult another doctor on the issue. He came back and said they had to rule out more things before they do any xrays. He said sometimes insurance companies won't pay for films if they haven't ruled out more obvious things first. I've never heard of anything like that before. I just don't understand! I don't know why he won't listen. My husband came home angry and decided since the doctor is not concerned he is not going to waste his money on going back. The doctor wants to do injections in his back now. He thinks it is a muscle problem. GRRRRR! He is just not listening. It is not the muscles that are hurting. It hurts when he breathes, takes deep breathes, and he is short of breathe all the time. What do we have to do to make him listen? So I am at a loss. What should we do? My husband said he is done with doctors and he doesn't want to go to see any doctor. I have to get him to go find out for sure what this is, but who? Do I advise him to go to the ER? Should we consult another doctor in a different office? What do I do? I have spent much of the night going from being angry to being very upset and crying. I just don't know what to do. So all in all it was a horrible doctors visit once again. We continue to throw away $25 everytime he goes to the doctor to get NO answers! Somethings got to give!! All I can say is please pray. Pray that we figure this out. Pray that I can get him to go see another doctor or go to the ER. Pray that whatever this is, isn't serious and causing more damage the longer they wait to diagnose him. Please Pray!

Okay now onto the happier news. I got a phone call tonight from the Children's cancer Network. It is a non profit organization that helps families with a child with cancer. Anyways they are getting ready to have their annual fashion show charity event and have asked if Emily and Charlie would like to be models in the show. Of course the kids are so excited about this. The charity event takes place on Sunday Feb 25th. On thursday Feb 22nd we will be going to Dillards so they can pick out their outfits. This is Emily's dream come true. She loves clothes and shopping and loves to be in the spotlight. LOL! Typical girl huh? This is really exciting. I will be sure to take lots of pictures so that I can share them with everyone.

Thank you for checking in and please just keep the prayers coming for my husband and these darn health issues. If anyone has any suggestions on what you think we should do please drop me an email. I am at a loss right now.

**FRIDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE**

Hi Everyone! Emily had her music show today. It was great. She did such a great job. She's been working hard at learning all the songs. Funny thing is that she was concentrating so hard on singing that she forgot to do alot of the hand movments. Thats okay though, she did a great job. The theme of the music show was education rocks. Emily was also excited to see that Daddy made it back from Texas in time to make it to her show. He has always been working for their music shows and hasn't been able to attend. He was happy that he was able to be there for it as well. I posted some pictures in the photo album of the kids from today. Emily tried to go to school in her Christmas dress from last year. LOL! She said she wanted to look nice. I did finally get her to agree on a different dress. She looked great and sang great. I am so proud of her.

My husband will be going to his doctors appointment at 4:15pm. Please pray that the doctor listens to him this time. also that this will be a better appointment than the last one. We don't know what they will be doing, but hope they will take his pain seriously this time. I will keep you posted on what goes on.

No plans for this weekend so far. My husband will be working for a couple hours saturday morning. I hear that Saturday we are suppose to be at almost 80 degrees. So I am sure we will be finding some outdoor activities to do. The kids are out of school on monday and Daddy is off work to. I have another doctors appointment on Monday. I completed my course of antibiotics and my issues are still no better. UGH! Hopefully they will be able to figure out what s happening with me as well. I don't have insurance so the sooner they find out what it is the better it is. It can get pretty expensive going to the doctor and having to pay out of pocket. The doctor has assured me that she doesn't believe that it is anything serious and that is very comforting.

Hope you all have a good weekend. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Thank you for all the messages. We love reading them all. (((HUGS))) to all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, February 11, 2007 11:42 PM CST

***EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2007***

Just a couple things tonight. Emily has her second grade music show on friday. She is very excited about this show. She has been practicing her songs very hard. I know she will be great. Be sure to check back for pictures. I will post them tomorrow afternoon.

My husband has his doctors appointment friday at 4:15pm. I am hoping that it will be a better appointment than the last one was. I will update with any news on that as soon as I have it. Please pray for a good visit and that the doctor listens.

The kids are doing great. They had fun at their valentines parties at school. They got lots of goodies and cards. Not much else to report. I will do a full update friday afternoon. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY FEBUARY 13 2007**

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!!

Great news to report from Emily's doctors appointment today. First we had CLEAR SCANS!!!! Emily is just over 2 years off treatment and overall doing great. More exciting news. Since December she has gained 3 pounds and grown 3/4 of an inch. This is a huge deal for us. We haven't seen much growth in the last 3 years and this is the most she has grown between visits. The doctor was very happy with her. I know most kids once they hit 2 years off treatment are going to 6 month doctors visits and scans. Her doctor has decided not to do that with her just yet. He wants to continue to see her more often and keep a good eye on her. He is still a little concerned with her on and off breathng issues and belly pain, but thankfully not overly concerned. That tells me that he doesn't believe that it is anything serious causing it. I am okay with that. She goes back to see him in 3 months. Today turned out to be a good day.

I want to share a little story with you tonight cause I am so proud of Emily and how far she has come and how much she has grown up in the last 4 years since she was diagnosed. Going to the doctor use to be such an emotionally draining time for us. We use to have to literally hold her down to access her port or poke her finger. It use to break my heart to see her that upset. Today when we got into the room, the nurse came in with a folder full of valentines that a bunch of kids had made for the patients. She told Emily she could look through them and pick one out to take home with her. Emily started to look through them and read what the kids had written. When the nurse went out to get a bandaid I told her that she would have to stop so that the nurse could poke her finger. With a card in one hand she said, "I know." and stuck her other hand out with one finger sticking out. The nurse came back and Emily told her that she was ready. She continued with her one hand to hold the cards and read through them as the nurse poked her finger. No fight and no flinch. It was like the nurse had done nothing. I couldn't believe it. Up until today there has always been some kind of fight. Like what finger to poke, where to poke it, or if she was ready or not. Today it was nothing like that. I am so proud of her. She was so good. My little girl is growing up. I always knew she was brave and today she showed that. Now some may say, its just a finger poke, no big deal. I beg to differ. After all that she has gone through everything having to do with doctors, hospitals, medicine, and especially needles is a big deal to her. I am so proud of her and I just wanted to share that with you. I knew you would be just as proud as I am.

Last I want to say thank you to all my friends that have sent me emails letting me know that I do have friends out there. Each one meant so much to me. Although most of you I have never met, you all mean a great deal to me and I am proud to call you my friends. Thank you for always being there for me and my family.

Hope you all have a great valentines day.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. Ours was very lowkey once again, but good. Emily is feeling good and has not been complaining of belly pain all weekend. Saturday morning was our usuall routine of cleaning up the house, doing laundry and then food shopping. The rest of the day we hung out at home. The kids got out to ride bikes and play on the trampoline. Saturday night Emily's friend came over to play. They had lots of fun. Sunday we stayed home all day. In the morning and early afternoon it was so nice outside. The kids were out riding bikes and then it started to rain. We got a good rain for about half hour. We needed it so it was nice.

I really don't have much to talk about tonight. As you can tell our weekend was spent mostly at home. I've been spending a little to much time thinking about certain things in our life. It has made me somewhat depressed. I am trying to be thankful for the things that I have instead of upset about the things I don't have. I am very thankful for the things I have and if I have nothing else in my life I am happy to have my husband and my children. But I also miss having friends and people to talk to. I miss having some sort of a social life with people outside of my home. I think everyone needs that and I just don't have that anymore. (haven't in a while but it has gotten worse over the last few months) I know I will work through this.

Anyways this week is going to be a bit busy. Tuesday morning I take the dog to the groomers. Then tuesday afternoon Emily has a doctors appointment. I will find out then if he wants me to take her for a chest xray for sure. Then friday my husband has his doctors appointment. This is where I ask you for your prayers. Please pray that he will be able to convince the doctor to do more tests. To take this problem seriously. He is in so much pain and when he lays down to sleep he has a really hard time breathing. I am so scared of what this might be. Of course our biggest fear is that it will turn out to be cancer and they will wait to long to diagnose it. I will not be able to go to the doctor with him on friday so I really hope he will be assertive and demand what he wants. He is afraid to find out what it is. Fearful of it being somethng serious, but he has assured me that he will make sure the doctors listen. I will let you know how it all goes as I get more information.

I don't have much else to talk about tonight. I hope you've had a good weekend and I hope you have a great week. Thank you for checking in and for your prayers. Thank you also for your messages. They have been very comforting. We love to hear from you.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, February 5, 2007 10:28 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY FEBUARY 9, 2007**

Hi Everyone! Wow I can't believe its the end of the week already. These weeks just seem to be flying by. Not much exciting to talk about. Tuesday was a horrible day for me. I took ky van back to the shop that fixed it about 3 weeks ago. They found out one of my pully's was bad and needed replaced. So I left it there and called someone to pick me up and take me home. About an hour after I got home the school called me and told me I had to pick Emily up cause she was in the nurses office for the second time with really bad belly pain. So I had to walk to the school to get her. The walk home did no justice for her belly pain. Luckily daddy was just getting home and stopped and picked us up about half way from the school to home. Tuesday seemed like on thing after another. I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep and start the day all over again. Wednesday turned out to be a better day. Emily continues to have on and off belly pain. Sometimes it is so bad that she just lays down and curls up in a balls, but it doesn't seem to last for long periods of time. I am going to talk to her doctor about it when she sees him on Feb 13th.

I got my test results in. It did come back with some kind of infection that has been there for far to long and needs to be treated right away. They are starting me on high dose antibiotics and hopefully that will take it away. I was actually happy to hear these results rather than the other things we talked about it could be. So I am to take these and go back and see her on the 19th.

This weekend we don't have any plans. At least as of right now. Its okay though, we have fun when we hang out at home anyways. Hopefully I will have some exciting things to talk about after the weekend. Hope you all have a good weekend. (((HUGS)))

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Don't you just love the picture at the top of the page? I love it! Emily and Charlie love the camera and love it when I take their pictures. Emily's hair is getting so long. The bald spot that she had on the top of her head from the Alopecia is starting to fill in nicely. She is so happy about that. I am the only one that can notice any difference in her hair now. That is only because I do her hair everyday and I notice that it has thinned out on the top some, but nothing major. I love putting her hair up and am very excited that it is getting longer. Emily has been feeling great. She has had some pain in her belly the last couple days, but I've been giving her the Zantac and it seems to help. Little Charlie is doing great as well.

This past weekend we didn't do much of anything. It was a beautiful weekend weather wise. We spent much of the day on Saturday outside with the kids. They jumped on the trampoline and rode bikes. I got my house cleaning and laundry all done first thing in the morning so that I had the rest of the weekend to enjoy the family. Sunday we played outside for a while in the morning. About 2pm we got our snacks ready and sat down to watch the superbowl. Little Charlie was very upset that the Bears didn't win. You'll never guess why. Well his teacher is a huge Bears fan and he promised to bring pizza for the whole class if the Bears won the superbowl. They would be eating pizza instead of doing their math for the day. So Charlie was upset cause he wasn't going to get to have pizza and he had to do math today. LOL! Charlie is great in math and absolutely loves school and never complains about his school work (except book reports), but would have rather been eating pizza. LOL! They both continue to do great in school.

Today my husband and I went out to the cemetery and brought flowers to his parents grave. Its the first time in months that he has been out there. I think it was good for him to spend some time out there. He continues to have a hard time dealing with them being gone. He is really trying though. He has been following the doctors orders and taking the ibuprofen that he wanted him to take. It has been no help at all. As far as we are concerned it has been a big waste of time. He goes back to the doctor on Feb 16th and he is going to demand to have a chest xray done. If the doctor doesn't listen he is going to demand to speak with a different doctor right away. His pain is bad and his breathing is not much better. He is not sleeping well at all cause he is coughing and wheezing all night. I just want them to hurry up and find out what is causing this. Please continue to pray for his health and that the doctor will do what needs to be done and that they do it soon.

My test results are still not back from my appointment. I just ended my antibiotics today. I see some things have gotten better and others have not. I am not in as much pain as I was, but now it is more of a cramping feeling instead of a sharp pain. Hopefully they will have those back soon. I go back to the doctor on Feb 12th.

Emily has an appointment on Feb 13th with her oncologist. I expect that will be a good visit. She is doing so good and I really feel good about her health. I will be taking her for her chest xray sometime this week. I know we just got one last month when she was sick, but that was for her pediatrician. Her oncologist wants us to get another now that she is feeling better. I can honestly tell you that I am not worried about this chest xray. I will still be praying that all will be clear, but I do believe that all will be good.

Little Charlie has some exciting things coming up with his Kids with Character group. On Feb 24th he will be performing at an Arts Alive Festival. Its an art festival that brings out thousands of people. He is really excited about this performance. Not as excited as he is about the performance on March 22nd. March 22nd he will be performing at a Phoenix Coyotes hockey game. Right now he is trying to sell tickets to the game. Unfortunately he hasn't been able to sell any. We really don't know alot of people and the people that we do know are not hockey fans. Looks like the only tickets that he will be selling are the ones we have to purchase in order for him to perform. Daddy will be out of town that night so he will not be able to go. I promised I would bring the camera so he would be able to see it when he gets home. Charlie has put alot of work into his perfomance (so has the whole group) and I am so proud of him.

Well guess I've rambled long enough. I really don't have anything exciting going on this week. I am having trouble with my van again, so I have to take it back to the shop that just fixed it 3 weeks ago. I will be doing that tomorrow and hopefully it isn't anything to expensive. I hate car troubles. It doesn't seem like anything serious though. I guess we will see. Hope you all have a great week.

Be sure to check out the pictures in the photo album. The last picture is of Emily from 1 year ago. I can't believe how far she has come and how much she has grown in 1 year. Thank you for checking in and for the prayers. Please don't forget to leave a message. Emily loves to hear from all of you. (as we all do)

Note to David from Emily: Thank you for all the hugs! Sending (((BIG MONSTER HUGS))) right back at you!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, January 29, 2007 11:04 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY FEBUARY 1, 2007**

Hi Everyone! Wow the weeks are just flying by. Its been a pretty good week. I have been keeping busy. Emily is doing great. They both continue to do wonderful in school and love it. I really don't have much to talk about this week. I guess thats a good thing.

Hoping for a nice weekend again. This week has been cold and rainy. I made follow-up appointments for my husband and I both. Mine will be on Feb 12th. Then Emily has a doctors appointment on Feb 13th. My husbands appointment is on Feb 16th. He has already decided that he will telling his doctor that he wants a chest xray and if his doctor doesn't listen this time then he will request another doctor right away. No more games!

Hope you've had a good week and hope you have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in. Hopefully I will have more exciting things to talk about after the weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Sorry its been awhile since I've updated. Last week seemed to go by so fast and time just got away from me. Emily is feeling great. I am happy to say that she is back to her normal self. Little Charlie seemed like he was starting to get sick but was over it and back to normal just as fast. They both continue to do wonderfully in school. They are now going to a reading program each day for 30 minutes before school. It is designed to help them with thier words per minute. They are both excited to be doing this.

We had a good weekend. We had perfect weather with temps at 70 degrees. Saturday we got all our cleaning around the house done and our food shopping. The rest of the day was spent outside riding bikes and enjoying the weather. While riding bikes Emily crashed and knocked herself out. She was riding very fast and instead of watching where she was going she was watching her feet. She ended up running head first into a parked car. She hit the back spare tire rack on a jeep cherokee. She has a very large bump on her head and had a severe headache for the rest of the night. She is however okay and feels pretty stupid for not watching where she was going. She said to me later on that night, "Now I know why you tell me to watch where I am going." and then she laughed. Poor girl!

Sunday morning we got up to the smell of bacon and french toast. Daddy got up early and cooked us all breakfast. It was wonderful! Then we packed up the kids bikes and a few other things and took them out to the park. It was a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun. They rode their bikes, played on the playground, and watched people flying model airplanes and helicopters. After a few hours out there the kids started to get really tired and so we went home. They rode their bikes for about 30 minutes after we got home and then they went in the house and fell asleep. They were so tired. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and getting ready to go back to school the next day.

Monday morning my husband and I took the kids to school and then headed to his doctors appointment. He was very scared and really didn't want to go. His appointment was at 9am. We got there at 8:45am and didn't get seen until about 10am. It was a long wait and many times my husband just wanted to leave. We finally got taken back and the doctor came in. He told the doctor what has been going on and what the doctor through workmans comp had told him. Well the doctor treated us as if we were crazy for even mentioning cancer. He said that my husband is to young to have lung cancer. He wouldn't even do a chest xray today. We were very upset about this. I was hoping that he would take it seriously and he seemed to just want to take the easy way out. He wants my husband to take ibuprofen for 10 days and see if that helps. He said that he needs to rule out inflamation. He wants to rule out all the little things before even thinking about anything like cancer. His exact words to my husband was "Just humor me for the next 10 days and if it isn't any better then I will do a chest xray." It was so hard to get my husband in there in the first place and now he doesn't want to go back. He feels as if he wasted his money going for the doctor to not help him. I just don't know how to feel about this whole situation.

This afternoon I went to the doctor. I have no insurance but the doctors office is working with me on payments. I've been having severe lower abdominal pain and some other issues. They ran a few tests to figure out what is going on there and I should have the results back in a few days. All symptoms are pointing towards some kind of infection so they started me on some antibiotics for now until they get the official results. I am sure that it is nothing major, but it has been gloing on for quite some time now and I finally had to go and get it taken care of. Both my husband and I are suppose to follow up with our doctors again in 2 weeks. I will be sure to keep you posted, especially on my husbands condition. Please continue your prayers, as he is in lots of pain and nothing seems to be helping it.

Not much planned for this week. I hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week. Thank you for checking in and for leaving us messages. Hugs to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, January 21, 2007 11:17 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY JANUARY 24, 2007**

Hi Everyone! Emily is feeling better. Her cough is pretty much gone and she is back to her normal self. She has a couple more days of antibiotic to take and then she is done with that. Thank you for all the get well prayers.

Next I want to tell you thank you again for the email on my husbands behalf. He has a doctors appointment on Monday January 30th at 9am. I was so proud of him for scheduling this appointment. Please pray for good news. Please pray that whatever the doctor tells us is going on that my husband will make the right decisions about what to do. Also please pray for strength. We are both very nervous about this appointment, but I am so glad that he is going and we will know for sure what it is. I will let you know what they say when we know more.

Sunday when I updated I forgot something very important and exciting. January 21st marked 2 years off treatment for Emily. This is such a big deal for me. I look back and it seems like just yestarday that she was diagnosed and going through treatment. She has come so far in 2 years. I know once you hit the 2 year mark the chances of relapse are less likely. I feel pretty good about Emily and her health, but I know that I will never stop worrying about her. Especially when it comes to her breathing. Thank you all for continueing to follow our story and pray for our family. It means so much to us.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Emily is feeling much better. Thank you all for your prayers. Thursday was an up and down kind of day for her. We got her temp to go down finally and then a couple hours later it shot right back up. She slept most of the day. Friday morning she woke up and really wanted to go to school. It was a half day at school. I took her temp and since it was down I let her go. She made it through the 3 hours at school and when she came home she took a nap. Her temperature has been normal since then. She continues to have a cough. Friday night she finally ate. I was really getting worried about her not eating. She ate last sunday night and then didn't eat anything until friday night. She still doesn't have much of an appetite, but she is eating. I think she is finally on the mend. She really gave us quite the scare last week. It has been almost 2 years off treatment and I wonder if I will ever not get so scared when her breathing gets bad like it was last week. I was very happy that the doctor worked fast and got us answers the same day.

Before I get to our weekend I have to tell you how proud I am of Charlie and Emily. I got their report cards on Friday. Here are their grades.

Emily: 2nd Grade

Oral/Written Expression: B
Spelling: A
Math: B
Arts and Sciences: Excellent
Study/Social Skills: Excellents and Satisfactory
Reading: B Moved to 3.1 reading level (3rd Grade) reading 35 words per minute.

Charlie: 3rd Grade

Oral/Written Expression: A
Spelling: A
Math: A
Arts and Sciences: Excellent
Study/Social Skills: Excellents
Reading: B Moved to 5.2 reading level (5th Grade) reading 51 words per minute

I am so proud of how both of them are doing in school. Their teachers had nothing but great things to say about them. They each have something to work a little harder on though. Emily has a hard time staying on task and working independantly. Her teacher has to keep reminding her to not to help other when they are suppose to be working on their papers by themselves. Her teacher did say that she is getting better with working on her own with little reminders. Charlie is having a difficult time with his reading fluency. (words per minute) He gets distracted very easily. They gave him this paper that he put on the page that he is reading that covers up all the words on the page except the sentence that he is reading. This seems to be helping him. They tested him the other day using that paper to see if it made a difference and he tested at 79 words per minute. Definately nothing major that they have to work on. They are both doing so great and really enjoying school. I love that they like school and I hope that it stays that way for a while.

Saturday we went to the Arizona Science Center with HopeKids. The kids had so much fun there. They had to try out everything. None of us have ever been there before. After the science center we saw a show at the IMAX. It was about the coral reef. The kids loved it. They got so excited to see all the different fish and stuff at the reef. After leaving there we had a couple hours before we had to be at the arena for the Harlem Glodetrotters game. So we decided to go home and let the dogs out and get something to eat. We hung out at home for a while and then headed out again. We went to the Globetrotters game a couple years ago and had so much fun. We were really looking forward to going again. We had great seats and the game was great. They are so funny and we laughed so hard. This is a wonderful thing to take the family to if you ever get the chance. Globie is the Globetrotters mascot and then kids liked when they did Globie bowling. Globie sat on this little thing on wheels and they pushed him down the court into a bunch of blow up Cambells soup cans. It was really funny. We got home late and we were all so tired from our long day. Thank you Rob for the tickets for these events. We had so much fun.

Sunday we stayed home all day. It was cold and raining and just seemed like a perfect day to hang out at home. Although relaxing wasn't in the cards for me. LOL! I got up and had 15 loads of laundry to do. I couldn't believe I had so much. UGH! I got it all done though and even got help from everyone else. In the meantime we watched the football games. Little Charlie was excited to see the Bears win. His teacher is a huge Chicago Bears fan. We rooting for the Patriots in the other game so we were a little upset to see the way that one turned out. Other than that we didn't do much of anything.

The picture at the top of the page I took of Emily on Friday. She was very tired but still managed to take a great picture. Be sure to check out the picture in the photo album from Saturday. Thank you for checking in and for the messages. Thank you so much for the prayers. It means so much to us. I also have to say thank you to all that sent me an email about my husband. I made him sit down and read them and he was so touched that you all cared so much. He has always felt left out when it comes to friends I've made through caringbridge. Although I couldn't find a way to get him to go to the doctors, you all have done it. Just reading your words and seeing that there are people that care, he realized he really has to go. I don't know how to thank you enough. I will let you know when he has an appointment and what they say.

Hope you all have a great week. My husband is off Monday and we are hoping to get out and do something just the 2 of us while the kids are in school. Not sure what that will be, but I am sure we will find something. Sending lots of love and hugs to all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, January 18, 2007 11:15 AM CST

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM.**

Hi Everyone! Sorry for not updating after Emily's doctors appointment yestarday. They told me that she has an infection in her lungs and bronchitis. Her fever has been staying around 101 since wednesday morning. She is still feeling pretty crummy. I've been successful at getting her to drink lots of fluids, but unsuccessful at getting her to eat anything. The last time she ate anything was sunday night and that is really concerning me. The doctor told me not to worry about that as long as she is getting her fluids. Hopefully I can get her to eat something even if it is a little bit of soup or something. She got up this morning with her belly hurting her alot and her chest and throat also hurting. I just hate to see her this way. I am however very happy that the chest xray showed no pnuemonia or cancer. That was such a relief. She really gave us a scare with her breathing on tuesday. She has been sleeping nonstop throughout the day and at night she is up and down. I want to thank you all for the prayers and ask that you keep them coming. The doctor has her on antibiotics and hopefully they will take this away soon.

We have a big day coming up on saturday, provided Emily feels up to it. We have signed up to go to 3 events with HopeKids. Saturday morning we will be going to the Arizona Science Center. We've never been there before, but I hear it is really cool. Then that afternoon we will be going to the IMAX theatre for a show. Also another place we have never been, but always wanted to go. Saturday night is the Harlem Globetrotters game. We went last time they were here and had so much fun. We are really looking forward to Saturday and hope that Emily will be feeling better so we can go and have some fun. She is really excited about going and I would hate to tell her we can't go, but I also don't want her to overdo it and take longer to get better.

Other than that not much else is going. We have been hanging out at home and just resting. Also trying to keep everyone else from getting sick as well. Unfortunately I don't think Daddy was that lucky. He got up this morning feeling all stuffed up. He hardly ever gets sick. Please pray that he will feel better soon as well.

I have had alot of people asking about my husband and his health. So let me tell you what is going on there. He did get his insurance Jan 1. I was very happy about that, but was not prepared for him to say "I am not going to the doctor!" His stubborness and fear is coming out now and he is flat out refusing to go to the doctor. I don't know what to do to convince him to go. I know I didn't talk to much about what really happened that has put us on alert with his health. Let me just give you a brief overview. He went to the doctor (through workmans comp) for his back. It was on Nov 2nd. That date is important cause that is the 1 year anniversary that his dad passed away from lung cancer. Anyways he had been doing therapy for his injury to his back and he went to get checked out again after so many therapy sessions. Well his back was not feeling any better, in fact it was even a little worse. So they decided to do a chest xray and see if there was something else that they missed previously. The doctor came out and asked him if he had a regular doctor. At the time we had no insurance so his answer was no. They told him that the highly recommend that he get into the doctor ASAP and get a full work up and test run. They showed him the xray and said there are 3 spots on your lung. We asked the doctor what they think it is and she was very hestitant on telling us. Then she said if I had to say right now I think you may have lung cancer. I can't even explain the fear, devastation and many other things that we felt at that moment. It has been very hard to sit and wait for the insurance to kick in and not worry. Now that the insurance is there he is very scared and just doesn't want to go. He said its better not knowing. It was very hard for him to hear that and especially on the one year anniversary of his dad's passing from the very same disease. So now that you know the story, let me tell you how he has been since then. He is still in pain. He has learned to deal with the pain and feels that it is easier dealing with the pain then dealing with someone confirming a diagnosis of cancer. I've tried to explain to him that it doesn't mean that it is for sure lung cancer. We have to be positive and hope that it is something else. So as far as prayers go there, please pray that I can get him into the doctor and that the news is not cancer.

I do have a favor to ask though. The kids do not know about what is going with my husband yet. I don't really want to tell them until we know for sure what is happening. So please if you leave us a message in the guestbook be discreet about it. The kids read the messages in the guestbook daily and I really don't want them finding out that way. Otherwise you are more than welcome to drop me an email. akornack@cox.net Thank you for helping me this way.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Thank you for the get well messages for Emily. She has really enjoyed reading them and its comforting to her (and all of us) that so many continue to pray for us. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, January 15, 2007 11:19 PM CST

**UPDATE TUESDAY NIGHT**

Results are in. Preliminary results show no sign of cancer or pnuemonia. We are very happy about that. Now to find out what is causing the breathing issues and the high fever. Emily will be going back to the doctor in the morning and hopefully he will have some answers. Thank you for the prayers. Keep them coming. She still is not eating and is drinking very little.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


** EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY JANUARY 16, 2007**

I was able to get Emily into the doctor this morning. Her breathing had gotten worse and I just didn't feel comfortable with it. At 8:30am I took her temp and it was 102.2. I called the doctor and they were able to see her at 9:30am. They took her temp when we got there and it was 103.5. They checked her O2 stats and they were hovering between 89-91. They are very concerned about what is causing this. There is no wheezing, but the doctor said he did hear something. I am unsure of what that really means though. He gave her a breathing treatment and that seemed to help her O2 levels some. Then they gave her 2 shots in her legs and sent us to the hospital for a chest xray. We finally got done there at noon and Emily was wiped out. Right now she is laying on the couch trying to keep her eyes open to watch some tv. The chest xray was ordered stat so we will have results today. Her pediatrician is very concerned and that made me worry. Her doctors have always been good at helping me be positive and this time it was nothing like that.

Please pray for good results from the chest xray. Pray that she will be able to break her fever and that her O2 stats will come up and it will be easier for her to breathe. Thank you for checking in and praying. I will post the results as soon as I know something.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Tonight we have one very sick little girl in our house. Emily woke up sunday night and came in and woke me up and told me it hurt to breathe and her chest was hurting really bad. She layed down and cuddled with Daddy for the rest of the night. She woke up Monday morning with a horrible cough and a fever. She has been running a fever of between 102 and 103 all day long. Her chest is hurting along with her throat and she has been battling a headache all day as well. She hasn't eaten anything all day and hardly drank anything either. I've been trying to encourage her to at least drink. Tonight she went to bed with a fever of 101 and looking very pale. I just hate to see my kids sick like this. Emily will be staying home tomorrow and I am going to try to get her into the doctor also. Please pray that she will eat and drink tomorrow and start to feel better soon. I would hate to see her end up in the hospital because she is dehydrated.

Friday I went to Angel Mia's funeral. This is the first time I've been to a childs funeral and it was very hard. I was very glad that I went though and supported her family on such a hard day. Sherrie, Guy and Nik, we love you guys and know that you will always be in our thoughts and prayers.

On my way back from the funeral my van started making this horrible squealing noise. I made it home okay and later found out that my water pump went out and it needed a new serpentine belt. Saturday morning my husband took my van to a shop to get an estimate and was shocked when they told him almost $500 to replace those two parts. He decided to come home and call around to find another place that hopefully wouldn't charge us so much. By the time he found a place it was to late to take it and they didn't open again until monday. So our weekend was spent at home. It was a VERY cold weekend here in Arizona. The high all weekend was about 44-46 degrees with the low being in the 20's. I know there are much colder places we could be right now, but this is not typical weather for us. So we spent alot of time inside the house, watching movies, playing games and just hanging out. Sunday the kids did go outside and play for a little while. It was only about 40 degrees when they went out and then the wind picked up and it just got to cold for them to stay out for very long. I really think that is one reason why Emily is sick. This week our temps are suppose to go back up to the low 60's, which if you ask me is still cold. LOL! I know I'm a wimp. I guess I've been in Arizona to long and I just got so use to it being warm.

Monday we did get my van fixed. I hate car problems! With the way Emily was feeling all day we decided still not to go out and do anything. She slept most of the day and I know that is what was best for her. So we had kind of a non exciting weekend, but it was also nice to just hang out at home together. Tomorrow Charlie goes back to school and Daddy goes back to work and will be just the girls. I think we will curl up on the couch together and catch up on some of the shows that we have recorded and not watched yet.

Hope you all had a good weekend and stayed warm wherever you are. Thank you all for checking in and for your prayers and messages. It really means alot. Oh and to all that have asked about my husband. I still haven't been able to get him into the doctor. He really is afraid to go for one and for two he has been covering alot of out of town routes for work. So I am hoping that his schedule will go back to normal soon and I can convince him to go to the doctor. Please keep this in your prayers as well please.

I will be sure to keep you posted on Emily and how she is feeling. Thank you for your prayers and for checking in. Sending lots of love and (((BIG HUGS))) to all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, January 8, 2007 7:54 PM CST

** EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY JANUARY 11, 2006 **

Hi Everyone! I don't have much to report tonight. It has been nice getting back on a regular schedule with the kids. I've been able to get some things done around the house that I've been wanting to do now that they are back at school. The kids are loving being back at school. They found out today that they both moved up again in reading. I am so proud of both of them. Emily continues to stay just a quarter above grade level and Charlie is now in 5.2 reading. (5th Grade reading!!) He is so excited about this. The kids have also been having lots of fun on the trampoline each day after homework. They love it.

Not to much else to report. Friday I will be going to Princess Mia's funeral. Please visit her site and let her family know you are thinking about them. It will be a hard day for all that loved Mia. I don't know what we have planned for the weekend. Hope you have a great weekend and hopefully I will have more to report next time. Hugs to all.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




** NEW PICTURES POSTED IN THE PHOTO ALBUM **

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours went great. Emily has been feeling great with no complaints of pain. Little Charlie is also doing great. Hopefully all will continue that way. The kids went back to school today and they were so happy to be there. They missed their friends and I think they were getting a little bored being here at home with Mom.

Last week seemed to go really fast. Daddy was out of town all week. Mon and Tues in New Mexico and Thurs and Fri in Texas. We had a fun filled weekend though. Saturday Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki came over to put up the kids new trampoline. They really wanted a big trampoline for Christmas and we just couldn't afford it at the time. Well we got a really good deal on one with an enclosure and so Daddy went and bought it for them and surprised them. It took us a while to get it up, but it was lots of fun once it was up. The kids played on it for hours. They got Uncle Tom in there with them to. They wanted to sit in the middle and have him jump and bounce them way up in the air. Then the kids tried to do it to him. They had a blast. Be sure to check out the pictures in the photo album. I sure wish you could see Emily's face a little better in the second one. Uncle Tom jumped and she flew up in the air. The look on her face was priceless.

Sunday I went to run errands while the kids and Daddy stayed home to yet again play on the trampoline. They were out there playing on it almost all day long. They love it and I know they are going to get lots of use out of it. Sunday night we went with HopeKids to see Charlottes Web. The kids really enjoyed that movie. They were sad when Charlotte died, but were happy that Wilbur got to live. I thought they had seen the cartoon and knew what happened, but I guess not. It was a good movie though and we really enjoyed seeing some of our friends.

Monday the kids went back to school. I took today to do something that i've been wanting to get done for a while now. About 2 1/2 years ago I got a tattoo of Tinkerbell with Emily's name under it. Well I got it done all in color and over the last year it has faded quite a bit. Thats what sunny Arizona will do. LOL! So I went today back to the guy that did it originally and he brightened up the color and made it look pretty again. I was very excited about getting this done. I was so happy with it when I first got it and as it started to fade I really just wanted it bright again. I truly am very happy with it once again. I put a picture of it in the photo album. It is on the back of my right shoulder. Originally when I was going to get this it was going to be a praying angel. Then Emily asked me to get Tinkerbell instead cause she thought Tink was just like an angel and just as pretty. So Tink it is!

This week I have decided to start my excercising again. I feel like when I excercise I have more energy and I feel better. Not much else planned other than that. Friday while the kids are in school I will be attending our friend Angel Princess Mia's funeral. Such a sweet little girl and a wonderful family. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

I am also happy to report that my husband finally has insurance. Now to get him into a doctor. That is the difficult part. He is waiting on a list of doctors on our plan and then we will get him an appointment. Hopefully soon and hopefully good news to come out of it. I feel good about 2007 and I don't want anything to take that feeling away. He isn't feeling better, but not feeling worse either. Just stable, which hopefully is a good thing.

Thank you for checking in and for the messages. We love to hear from you and we are so happy that you continue to come back and check up on us. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, January 4, 2007 10:22 AM CST

**EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY JANUARY 7,2006**

I had planned on coming and doing a full update tonight, but the time got away from me. I have some pictures to share and some fun things to share as well. Be looking for a full update tomorrow. (monday)

I do want to ask that you continue to pray for Angel Mia's Family. She earned her wings Saturday morning. Thank you for checking in and be sure to come back for a full update with pictures. Emily and Charlie go back to school tomorrow and they are so excited to be going back. Hugs to all.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**EDITED UPDATE SATURDAY JANUARY 6, 2006**

It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that our friend Princess Mia earned her wings today. Please pray for this Precious Angel's Family. Sherrie, Guy and Nik, know that we are here for you and praying. (((HUGS)))

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! So Sorry for not updating in a week. I am usually more on the ball than that. It has been so busy around here. I've been having lots of fun with the kids being home. Emily has been feeling great. We had a day or two in there where she was complaining of pain here and there, but it seemed to pass quickly.Charlie is doing great as well.

So whats been going on at our house you ask? Well since Christmas the kids have been playing with all their new toys. Saturday we bought Little Charlie a new bike. He really needed one but we couldn't afford to do it before Christmas. Well we found one after Christmas at a really good price and so we bought it. He was so excited to be able to ride his bike without his knees hitting the handlebars. LOL! We've been watching lots of movies and playing lots of games. Of course the kids have had their moments in the last week where they've had enough of each other and want to go back to school. Those times are not so fun for mom listening to them fight. All in all though we have had a great winter break together.

For New Years we went to my sisters house. The kids had lots of fun. They brought boxes of popit and was throwing them at each others feet. We lit the fire pit up again and just hung out. All the kids stayed awake until midnight to watch the ball drop and yell HAPPY NEW YEAR!! it was great. Shortly after midnight most of the kids had crashed. We left there about 1am. Good thing we only had a couple blocks to drive home. It was just so late and we were all so tired. We had alot of fun though.

Daddy has been out of town alot. Last week he was in Albequerque and this week Tues and Wed he was in Grants, NM. Today he left for El Paso, Tx. He has been working hard the last couple weeks. The kids really miss having him here early in the day like he usually is. This is only temporary filling in that he is doing for someone that quit just before Christmas. Please pray for a safe trip for him. I hear he will be driving right into the snow. I also ask that you pray for his health. With the new year brings some hope for us and his health. Finally he has insurance and can visit the doctor. He is still in tremendous pain and sometimes it is so bad that he can't stand it. I am very scared for him, but trying to stay positive and hopeful. As soon as I can get him into the doctor and know more I will fill you in on the details. Until then please just pray for the best.

Four more days until the kids go back to school. I think today I may take them to see a movie. They've been begging me to take them to see Happy Feet. Maybe I will surprise them with that. On Sunday we are going with HopeKids to see Charlottes Web. The kids are very excited about that movie as well. Other that that not many plans for the weekend.

I just have a couple special prayer requests for you. First please continue to pray for Princess Mia. She is such a precious little girl with a wonderful family and they are truly fighting right now. Also please pray for Lance's Family. I was very sad to hear that Lance had earned his wings on Dec 28th. They really need all the prayers and support they can get. Tina and Lance we love you and are praying daily.

Thank you for praying for our friends and of course for always praying for us. Things over all are going pretty good right now. May 2007 be the year of good health and all good things in life. Thank you all for checking in. I promise to update again soon. Thank you for the reminder David. Sometimes I need that. LOL! (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, December 28, 2006 10:16 AM CST

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Sorry for te delay in updating. It has been crazy, crazy around our house. The good kind of crazy though. I'd like to start out by saying I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was GREAT! Before I tell you all about our weekend let me tell you everyone has been feeling great. It was so great for all of to be healthy and feeling wonderful for Christmas. I have lots and lots of pictures to share. I've made 2 little slide shows for you to watch. One is from our family night on Saturday night and the other from Christmas day. The picture at the top was taken the day after Christmas. Rob stopped in to see us and hear all about our Christmas. Emily sure does love him. Can you tell? LOL!

Okay so let me get to the good stuff. Saturday I woke up and I was so nervous about that night. I wanted everything to be perfect. I had a list of stuff that I still wanted to get done that day before everyone started showing up. I don't think I stopped running or rested at all that day. I'll tell you though it all paid off in the end. As everyone started arriving I felt great about how I had done. Everyone kept tellng me that everything looked great and they thought I had done a great job putting it all together. WooHoo not bad for my first family holiday get together. For a little while we all stood around talking and enjoying each others company. Then all the food was ready and everyone dug in. I was worried about having enough food. Wow I had more then enough. Everyone ate, got full and there was left overs. After dinner the kids went outside and played for a little bit. Uncle Tom went out and started up the fire pit in the backyard. The kids were happy about that since it was a chilly night. Then onto the presents. This year we decided that we were going to buy for the kids and not the adults. So many of us have been having financial difficulties and just couldn't afford it. It was wonderful watching the kids tearing into their gifts and getting so excited about what they got. Papa (my dad) got Emily the cutest bedtime story book. She absolutely loves it. She has been reading a little bit of it each day. All the kids seemed very happy with what they got. The rest of the evening we hung out toasted marshmellows, had a couple drinks and just had alot of fun. The night was truly a success and I am so happy about that. Here are some pictures from that night. I wish I had gotten some more, but I was just trying to spend as much time with everyone as I could and forgot the camera. LOL!


Christmas Eve was the day that we rested up from the night before. Saturday night was such a late night. When I finally got up sunday and looked at my house all I could say was WOW. I had alot to clean up, but it was definately all worth it. Sunday we stayed home and enjoyed each other. Got the house cleaned up, watched A Christmas Story, and just hung out. We also put all the gifts from Insight Management under the tree. (They are the ones that adopted us) Sunday night the kids got into their pajamas, I read them The Night Before Christmas, they put out milk and cookies and off to bed they went. They were so excited about Santa coming that they went right to sleep. That is unheard of with Emily. (usually takes her 30 minutes to an hour to fall asleep) It was to bed early for my husband and I also. We just didn't get enough sleep the night before, so we tried to play catch up.

Christmas Day, 4am, Emily comes into our room and says, "Mommy Santa came. When can we open presents?" Oh my goodness it was so early. I told her can we wait just a little bit until your brother gets up? So she cuddled up to Daddy and fell back asleep. 7am hits and she is up again. She even tried to wake her brother up, but Charlie just wasn't wanting to get up. I thought that was funny cause he is up by 6-7 every morning. Well she did finally get him to get up and then they decided to tackle Daddy. Daddy likes to play like he is sleeping and the kids usually end up grabbing an arm and pulling him out of bed. LOL! The kids didn't waste no time tearing into their gifts. I had the kids open the gifts from Santa first and then the gift from Mommy and Daddy. Then all the gifts from Insight Management. I wanted to make sure I got lots of pictures of them opening that stuff so we could send them over to the company. The kids just had a great time opening all their gifts and I think Mommy and Daddy may have gone a little nuts with the camera. LOL! Christmas day was another day of relaxing except with one difference. We played with toys!! LOL! We bought Emily and Charlie one gift each that we knew they really wanted. Emily got Lucky the Incredible Puppy. He is an interactive puppy that follows 15 different command. He is so much fun to play with and just watching her play with him is great. He stands on his head, lays down, begs, plays tug of war, and plays dead, plus much more. She loves him. Charlie got a remote control West Coast Choppers Motorcycle. He plugged in the battery first thing and waited so patiently to be able to play with it. Daddy took him outside to play with it and he had so much fun. Even Daddy was having lots of fun with it. Daddy got himself a toy as well. Daddy has been wanting a CB Radio for a long time. As most of you kow he is a truck driver and his truck doesn't have a cb radio. Well thanks to the wonderful people at Insight management he got his cb radio. He loved it and actually couldn't wait to go back to work to hook it up. LOL! Most of you are probably wondering, "Well what about mommy?" Well I didn't ask for much this year. Thanks to the wonderful people at Insight once again, I got my pots and pans. They are SO nice and I was SO excited. Also almost a year ago you might remember my husband went and bought me an anniversary band. Well I havne't been able to wear it in a while because the sizing wasn't right and the center stone was loose. We sent it back 3 times and they never got it right. He took it somewhere in the mall and they fixed it perfectly for him in an hour. I was so excited to get that. I haven't taken it off since he gae it back to me. Here are some of the pictures from our Christmas.


Well I hope you've made it this far in my update. I know its long. Tuesday Rob Cottrell came over with 2 of his kids and the Baddeley's. They brought some sweets and a big goody basket. Emily was so excited about the basket. There was games, movies, cd's, and many other things in there. The kids just couldn't wait to break it open. The picture at the top was taken while they were here. Emily just loves Rob and he always gets the best hugs from her when he sees her.

Wednesday I took the kids out to breakfast and then we went to Walmart. I was dreading making that trip to Walmart so soon after Christmas, but I had to go. LOL! We had a good time and Walmart wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The rest of the day we hung out at home and started taking down our Christmas decorations. The rest of the week we don't really have much planned. Daddy went to New Mexico today. Please pray for a safe trip. He called already this morning and said that he has hit rain and snow. He is suppose to come back tonight, but I am not sure if that is going to happen. Please just pray that he is safe. This weekend we are spending New Years at my sister house. She lives just a few blocks down the road from me. We usually don't go out for New Years because of the drunk people trying to drive on the road. Its just to dangerous out there. This year it will benice to go to my sisters. I guess all my family will be there and many others as well. It is sure to be a good time. I will probably update again after the new year.

I do have one last thing to ask. There is a precious little princess in HopeKids that is fighting for her life right now. Last week her family had a very scary day with her and decided to take her to a hospice house. Since going there she has fought very hard and made some improvements. I would like to ask that you visit Princess Mia's site and offer some words of encouragement and some prayers. You will truly fall in love with this little princess as soon as you lay eyes on her. Thank you for always praying for our friends.

Thank you for checking in and making through my long update. I hope you enjoyed the pictures. There are a few in the photo album as well. Hope you all have a very Happy New Year. Praying that 2007 is the year for all good things. Hugs and love to all of you.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, December 18, 2006 11:36 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY NIGHT DECEMBER 21, 2006**

Hi everyone! Busy, Busy, Busy is the only way I can explain my week. Baking, wrapping, last minute shopping, planning and so many other things. I still have lots to do before Saturday nights family party. I am so excited though.

Everyone continues to feel great. Emily had her Christmas party at school on Wednesday and then thursday she had a polar express day at school and got to wear her pajamas. She really enjoyed that. Charlie had his party thursday. Now they are out of school until January 8, 2007. Can you believe that 2007 is here already?

I probably won't be updating until after Christmas. I will have lots of stories to share I am sure and definately lots of pictures. So for now I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas! Enjoy your family and friends, because afterall that is what is most important. I also want to thank everyone that sent us a Christmas card. Unfortunately I didn't get mine out this year like I wanted to. Just way to busy and by the time I thought about it, it was a little too late. Thank you for thinking about us. Thank you for checking in and for all your messages. Have a blessed Christmas!

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. I posted new pictures from this weekend. The one at the top of the page is not the best picture of our family, but it has been awhile since we've gotten a picture of all 4 of us together. Usually it takes either my husband or I to take the picture so one of us is generally left out. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Everyone in our house is feeling much better. Emily has been feeling great. Off and on pain, but nothing that is real bad. Little Charlie is feeling good. I am feeling much better. I still have a bit of a cough, but usually only at night. My husband didn't get sick. (usually never does) He is feeling okay. He is still in quite a bit of pain, but he is doing alright overall. Just 2 more weeks and we can get him into a regular doctor. Please pray for his pain to go away soon and that when he does go to the doctor it is nothing serious.

We are all getting very excited about Christmas. I am so excited about our family gathering. Of course at this point I feel like I have so much to do and not enough time to do it in. I know I will get it all worked out though. I am truly not letting anything get me down this week. I am really looking forward to this coming weekend with my family. The kids winter break starts on Friday. They are so excited about Christmas and are counting down the days.

Okay so this weekend was a full weekend. We had a great weekend though. Saturday was spent doing our food shopping and last minute pickups for our party. Then we came home and got to work cleaning the house and the yards. We figured if we got the majority of the cleaning done this past weekend then we wouldn't have as much to do before everyone comes over on Saturday. Sunday we hung out at home until the wonderful people from Insight Management come over to deliver our gifts. I was excited for them to meet my family and for the kids and my husband to meet them. As they brought in the gifts the kids just wanted to tear into them. They were a little upset that I told them they had to wait until Christmas. They stayed for a little while and talked to the kids and laughed with them. They are such wonderful people and we are blessed to have them as part of our life. Can you believe they even got stockings and gifts for the dogs. They didn't forget anyone in the house. How sweet is that! They kept saying to me, "Thank you for allowing us to deliver these gifts." I kept saying, "Thank you for all that you have done. I wanted my kids to know who all these gifts came from." I wanted them to know that these people opened up their hearts and helped us. What a blessing they are. We snapped pictures and will treasure them for a long time. We hope to keep in contact with them.

Sunday afternoon we went to my sister house and hung out there for a while. It was nice to be out of the house around people. LOL! I don't get out much. It turned out to be kind of a late night and we all came home and crashed. It was a very busy but fun filled weekend. Monday my husband went back to work and the kids back to school. I went to the store once again for some things we forgot over the weekend. Then I went and picked up my niece and nephew cause their babysitter was sick. Oh it was so great to have them here again. Dylan is almost 6 months old now. He is rolling all over the place and trying to crawl. He is getting into that fun stage. Kylie is 3 years old and was just so excited to see her Uncle Charlie. She was beating him up and sneaking up and tickling him. She had so much fun. I think I will also be watching them tomorrow. I also plan to do some baking. (one of my favorite things to do around the holidays) This week is going to be very busy. I am going to try to get on and update again before Christmas. Probably Thursday night. I know after this coming weekend and Christmas I will have tons of pictures and lots to share with you.

Thank you for checking in and continueing topray for our family. It means so much to us. We love to read the messages you leave as well. Hold your family and friends close this holiday, I know I will be. (((BIG HUGS))) to all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, December 14, 2006 10:23 PM CST

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM** (POSTED 12/14/06)

Hi Everyone! Emily had her doctors appointment today. As you can tell from the pictures the highlight of the appointment was her time spent with Mason. Its been a while since she's seen Mason and she was so excited to see him. I had to practically hog tie her and drag her out of the doctors office. LOL!! She was attached and wouldn't let go. The 2 of them are so cute together. They were happy to get together so their camera happy mom's could take some pictures. LOL! Hope you enjoy them. Okay so onto her appointment. All her blood counts are great. She sounds great and her tummy feels great. Can you guess how her appointment went? I would say it went great! He only had one concern. Her growth still continues to concern him. She hasn't grown taller at all. She remains at the same height. She only gained 1/4 of a pound since the last time he saw her almost 2 months ago. He is happy that she has seen an endocrinologist and that he will be following her growth. He wants me to keep him posted on how that goes. Emily doesn't go back to the endocrinologist until April 5th. We go back to see Dr Cohen (oncologist) Febuary 13th. He gave me the orders for her to go get a chest xray in Febuary. The place we go is on a walk in basis so I don't have to schedule it. I think I am going to take her in the week before her appointment so I will be able to get the results by the time he sees her. Usually we wait 3-5 days for results. I will be sure to let you know when I take her for her chest xray. I also talked to the doctor about some pain that Emily has been having in her chest and belly. This pain happens about 2-3 times a week, but doesn't restrict her from doing anything that she wants to do. I asked him if it could be the effects of the chemo and radiation. He said that the pain in her chest could be and probably is from the radiation. The belly pain is still unexplained. He tld me to try gioving her the Zantac when she has belly pain and see if that helps. If it does then she probably has developed acid reflux. Even though acid reflux is painful it is definately something that we can deal with. She is now 22 months off treatment. It feels great to be coming up on the 2 year mark. We are praying for only good results of her 2 year scans in febuary.

This week has been a busy week. I thought I was getting better, but it turns out that I just wasn't feeling as sick. I am still quite congested in my chest and have this horrible cough that I can't get rid of. Sometimes I get into this fit of coughing and can't breathe. Its horrible, but overall I feel okay and have been trying to get stuff ready for Christmas. Monday and Tuesday my husband was off work. (he is taking all his vacation days at work so he doesn't lose them at the end of the year) We hung out at the house most of the time, cleaning and planning for our family gathering. Wednesday I tried to relax a little bit. This next week is going to be so busy I felt like I needed one day to sit and relax before getting into the rush of everything. I have lots of baking and wrapping and so many other things to do within the next week. I am really looking forward to it though.

This weekend we are going to be cleaning up the yards and continueing to get the house ready for the party. We also have some shopping to do. On Sunday the people that adopted our family for Christmas will be coming over to drop off the gifts. I am excited for them to meet the kids and my husband. They are wonderful people with such a big heart and I really want my kids to understand what they have done for us this year. Next week will be my fun week full of baking and wrapping. The kids go to school for 4 days next week and then Friday starts their winter break. I really want to have everything done by Friday so that I can spend that day doing something fun with them.

This time of year is especially hard on my husband. He misses his mom terribly. She loved Christmas and always went all out for the holiday. He has been feeling the pain of her absence quite a bit over the last couple weeks. Please pray that he will find peace and enjoy this holiday with the family he has here that love him so much.

I do have a couple other special prayer request tonight. First I would like to ask that you pray for Bonnie. She as been experiencing lots of pain in her side for some time now and no one has been able to explain it. Bonnie is an amazing little girl. No matter how much pain she is in she does everything that a normal child does. It breaks my heart that she is is so much pain. Please pray that her pain will subside and go away. Next prayer request I have for you is for Ellieanna. She has been having episodes of throwing up and again the doctors have been unable to explain why. It started out being only a couple times a week and now is happening almost everyday. Her family will be making the long drive to the oncologist on Sunday and will not return home until Wednesday. They will be doing lots of tests to hopefully get some answers. Please pray that they find out what is causing this to happen. It saddens me that our children go through so much fighting cancer and with the side effects of the treatment. Then once they are cancer free they are still dealing with so many issues and many of them unexplained. Although we are all happy that they are cancer free, and that is the most important thing, it still breaks your heart to see your child hurting or sick and no one can tell you why. I am always thankful that Emily's pain is only happening a couple times a week now, but I also wish it would just go away all together. I understand what Bonnie and Ellieanna's parents are going through. Please say a few extra prayers for them.

Thank you for checking in. I hope that you all have a great weekend. I am looking forward to and so excited about the coming days and weeks. I will probably have more pictures to share from this weekend on Monday. So bne sure to check out the new pictures I posted in the photo album tonight. Emily and Mason are old pros at taking pictures. They just get together and pose perfectly. Guess they know their mom's well enough to know that we are going to break out the cameras. LOL! Have a great weekend. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!!!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, December 10, 2006 8:12 PM CST

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**
(sorry about them being blurry)

Hi Everyone! Finally after a week of being horribly sick I am starting to feel better. Friday night I started to feel better and it has gotten a little better each day since. Right now it is all in my sinuses. Thank you all for the get well wishes.

Emily and Charlie are feeling better as well. They had so much fun Thursday night at the Dierks Bentley concert. The concert started at 7:30pm. They got there a little bit early and found their seats. The seats they got were up on the top level. (pretty far up) Well a little bit after they sat down this lady came up to Emily and asked her what her favorite radio station is. She said, "The one that Tim and Willy are on". For anyone who lives in Arizona you know they are the morning show on KNIX country. The lady then replied, "How would you like to sit closer to the stage?" They got so excited. She then told them that she was Gwen Foster from KNIX radio station. (she is the afternoon dj) So she gave them tickets to upgrade their seats to the lower level very close to the stage. They listened to the Randy Rogers Band and then Miranda Lambert. They danced and sang and had a great time. Emily made lots of friends that night as well. She started to talk to the ladies that were sitting next to them. Well those 2 ladies went out to get drinks and came back with a Dierks Bentley tshirt for Emily and gave little Charlie $10. (thats all they had left LOL!) Guess Emily made a very good impression on them. Thank you Insight Management for the tickets and Thank you Gwen Foster and KNIX for the upgraded seats. Here are some pictures from the night at the concert.

Friday was tough getting the kids up for school. They were out very late at the concert. I started feeling better friday and was up trying to get some things done. Little Charlie had his book report due on Friday also. I am so happy to tell you all that he got an A on his book report. I am so proud of him. He worked hard on his report and did it all by himself with no help from me. He did a great job and he was very proud of himself also.

Saturday morning I got an email from Gwen Foster asking if we would like to go to the Tim and Willy Breakfast show at night. For anyone not in Arizona let me explain what this is. Tim and Willy are the morning show on KNIX country radio station that we listen to. They do this breakfast show every year to benefit the Tim and Willy kids fundation. The kids Fundation raises money to help kids with serious illnesses. The breakfast show is made up of Tim and Willy, a couple comedians, some country music stars and many special guests. They also do a silent auction. They raise alot of money at this event and it goes to a great cause. So anyways, we have never been to this event before. We accepted the tickets and were very excited about going. I was glad that I was feeling better and able to go. The show started at 7:30pm. We got there and found our seats and they were great seats. We were on the second level but right in front of the stage with a perfect view of everything. The show was funny and their were many surprises. The kids had alot of fun. It was yet another late, but very fun night.

Sunday Daddy got up early and went hunting for the last time this season. The kids and I hung out at home and relaxed. We did a little more decorating at the house to. We definately had a great fun filled weekend.

We are still dealing with a few issues with my father-in-laws estate and some other issues to. Please just pray that it will all work out for us and without causing to much stress on us.

This week I think I am going to spend trying to get my house ready and organized for Christmas Eve. I feel like I have so much to do and not very much time to do it in. I guess in some way I always feel like that this time of year. Little Charlie has a performance on Tuesday with his Kids with Character chorus group. They are having a Holidays around the world night at school and they will be performing at that. He is pretty excited. I alwasy enjoy watching the kids sing. Thursday is Emily's doctors appointment. It is just a routine oncology visit, but I believe we will be scheduling her scans also. I will be sure to let you know when that will be.

Well I think I wrote a book tonight. LOL! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and for the messages.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, December 5, 2006 6:15 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY DECEMBER 7, 2006**

Just a short update tonight. I am still sick and don't feel as if I am getting any better. Each day I feel worse. UGH! Emily continues to feel great. Little Charlie stayed home from school today cause he wasn't feeling to good this morning. Tonight he was feeling much better. Still coughing alot but other than that he is better.

Thanks to the wonderful people at Insight Management Daddy took the kids to the Dierks Bentley concert tonight. I sure wish I could have gone. They are at the concert right now and I sure hope they are having lots of fun.

As of right now we have nothing planned for this weekend. I haven't hardly been out of bed in the last week. I sure hope I feel better soon. Hope you all have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. I haven't been having the best last couple days. Emily is feeling much better. Next doctors appointment is on December 14th. I think we will be scheduling scans around then also. I will keep you posted on that. The only thing that is really going on with her right now is her hands are peeling really bad. Tuesday she showed me that she had a cut on one of her fingers and that finger was peeling. By the next day it was 3 of her fingers and by friday it was all her fingers and starting on the palms of her hands. Right now we are trying to put medicated lotion on them hoping that will heal them. They were hurting her last week. The last few days she hasn't complained of them hurting so hopefully the lotion is helping.

Saturday morning my husband took Emily and Charlie out hunting. They have been bugging for him to take them so he finally gave in. Emily was a little scared at first of the gun fire, but she had lots of fun. They said it was very cold out there. When they got home the kids helped Daddy clean the birds. Later that afternoon we got the rest of our christmas decorations put up outside the house. At night our hose lights up very bright. I love it!

Sunday we got the Christmas tree up. I went grocery shopping and we hung out at home most of the rest of the day. Sunday night I started feeling like I was getting sick. Monday morning I woke up feeling horrible. I haven't been able to shake it and I am feeling worse today. Hopefully it will start getting better soon. I did manage to get some of the decorations put up inside the house on Monday. I still have alot more to do, but it will have to wait until I am feeling better.

The last couple days have been stressful for my husband and I. Not just because of the fact that I have been sick, but cause there are some other things that are going on. Things having to do with my father-in-laws estate and creditors wanting money that we just don't have. We are trying to work it all out. Please pray that things work out for the best.

I got Charlie's school pictures finally. He took a really good picture this year.


Charlie 3rd grade 2006-2007

I don't have alot else to write about tonight. I really just need to go lay down and get some rest. Sorry I haven't been by to check on our caringbridge friends. Just know that I am thinking about you all and praying daily. I promise to check in when I start feeling better.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, December 1, 2006 1:38 PM CST

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

As you can tell Emily's school pictures have come in. Doesn't she look great!! Be sure to check out the photo album. I posted her school pictures from kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade. I can't believe how much she has grown and changed.

Hi Everyone! This week totally got away from me. I don't know where it went. LOL! Everyone here is feeling great! I am so happy to report that. Emily's cold is gone. Little Charlie got sent home from school on Wednesday cause he was coughing. I couldn't believe that they sent him home. He had been outside at reccess running around playing and it was very windy and only 58 degrees out. I would be coughing to. He got home and was fine.

This week seemed like a short week to me. My husband has to use up most of his vacation time that he has accrued through the year and so he was off work on Monday and Tuesday. Monday he went hunting in the morning. I dug out all the Christmas stuff. I am so excited about Christmas this year and I am ready to decorate. Tuesday we hung the lights on the outside of the house. We haven't gotten all the other lawn decorations out yet, but we got the hardest part done. I needed him to do the lights on the house and Tuesday was a perfect day. The rest of the week I've been decorating inside and moving furniture around. I needed to get ready for the tree. My husband says it is still to early to put up the tree. Hopefully I can convince him to let us do it this weekend.

The kids are getting very excited for Christmas. We are especially excited to be hosting this years Christmas Eve family gathering. This is the first year we've done anything like that at our house. I can't wait.

Not much else going on. Things are surprisingly normal around here. It feels great to say that as well. Thank you for checking in and raying for our family. Don't forget to check out the photo album and see how much Emily has changed in the last 3 years. Wow has she grown!

Next doctors appointment December 14th. Maybe getting scans around that time as well. I will be sure to let you know.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, November 27, 2006 10:27 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY DEC 1, 2006**

WOW where did the week go? Sorry for not updating this week. I promise to do a full update today. For now I will let you know that everyone is doing good. We've all been feeling well. We are getting excited about Christmas and we have started decorating. Check back later and i promise there will be an update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


Hi Everyone! Emily is feeling much better. She stayed home again on Wednesday. Her fever finally broke tuesday night, but she still wasn't feeling so great to go back to school the next day. We spent the day hanging out at home and cleaning a little to. By thursday morning she was feeling alot better.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was just the 4 of this year for Thanksgiving dinner. We got up and started the turkey, we watched the parades on tv, and football. The kids went outside and rode their bikes for a good part of the day also. We stuffed our bellies with enough food to feed an army. LOL! It was so good. We hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving.

Friday we decided to stay home. I've been shopping on black friday a couple times and it is too crazy out there for me. My husband had to work on friday so the kids and I hung out at home and played outside. The weather has been great here. Last monday (Nov 20th) we hit a record high for this time of year at 89 degrees. Today just one week later it the high was 69 degrees. By wednesday the high is suppose to be 58 degrees. It is finally feeling like winter here in Phoenix. LOL!

Saturday my husband went hunting with his brother and the kids and I went and did a little bit of shopping. Just looking for some extra decorations for the house. We really didn't end up buying to much but we did get a couple things. Sunday we went to my nieces birthday party. She turned 3 years old. The kids were so excited to see her and their other cousin Dylan. Its been a month now since I haven't been watching them anymore and we've only seen them once in that time. We really do miss them and so it was great to see them. The kids had los of fun running around and playing with everyone. We always have lots of fun when our family all gets together.

Monday the kids went back to school. My husband had today and tomorrow off work. He decided to go hunting again this morning. He really enjoys when he gets to go hunting. It breaks him away from everything and clears his mind a bit.

I am really excited this year for Christmas Eve. Usually we go out to my dad's house and the whole family is there for Christmas Eve. Well due to some circumstances he cancelled the gathering this year. So I suggested that we do it at my house instead. Everyone is coming and I am so excited. This is the first time that we've hosted anything like this at my house. I am so excited to start decorating and baking and planning everything. I hope it goes as great as I picture it going in my head. The important thing is that our family will be together.

Not much else is going on. I think tomorrow we are going to start some decorating since my husband will be home and he can help me hang the lights on the outside of the house. I love Christmas time and love to decorate. No plans for the rest of the week that I know of. Emily doesn't go back to the doctor until Dec 14th.

Thank you all for checking in and for the messages. Please continue to pray for my husband. I can't wait until his insurance goes into effect on January 1st. Hope everyone has a great week.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, November 20, 2006 11:37 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY NOVEMBER 21, 2006**

Well I really have to stop saying that Emily is finally over whatever she had. I took her to school this morning and she seemed to be feeling fine. An hour after I dropped her off the school nurse called me and told me I had to pick her up. She has a fever of 102.3 and she has to stay home from school tomorrow as well. UGH!! Poor girl is miserable. The fever just snuck right up on her and hit her hard. She is laying in bed with Angel (her lamb) watching cartoons. Please pray that she feels better soon and can enjoy Thanksgiving with us feeling great.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. All is going okay here. Emily is feeling good. Her cough is pretty much gone. Little Charlie was sick over the weekend. He is feeling better today though.

Friday was Charlie's 3rd grade program. The name of the program was Blast Off! They sang songs about the solar system. It was a wonderful show. You could tell that they worked very hard on it and they did a great job. As they went into their second song I saw Charlie walk up to the microphone. As he stood there I wondered what is going on. Then he started to sing, just him, no one else. He had a solo part and he didn't tell me. He wanted to surprise me with it. Oh My Goodness! I cried. I was one proud Mom sitting there. He did such a great job. He remembered all his words, he sang loud and beautifully. I couldn't hold back the tears. He did great!! I sure wish I had brought my video camera. He worked so hard on his part and even harder at keeping it a secret to surprise me. What a priceless moment.

Saturday morning little Charlie woke up with a really bad stomach ache. I gave him some pepto and he started to feel a little better. So we decided to go to the grocery store and get some of our shopping done. Well on the way home he ended up puking in the van. Thank goodness for leather seats. LOL! (Easy clean-up.) Once we got home he went in and took a 3 hour nap. When he got up he was very pale and stil not feeling well. He layed around most of the rest of the day. I went and finished my shopping and Emily and daddy stayed home with Charlie. Saturday we also recieved a very special package in the mail. I was very surprised when we opened it up to find out who it was from. It was a very large box and very heavy. We opened it up to find a box full of frozen foods from Dwight Yoakam. Anyone that listens to country music knows who Dwight Yoakam is. Well did you know that he has his own line of frozen foods? I had no idea until we opened this box. There was shrimp, chicken fries, buffalo tenders, breakfast burritos and sausage links. Yummy!!! We are very excited to break into them and try them all.

Sunday morning I went and met 3 very special ladies for breakfast. Maria, Bridget and Kim work for a company called Insight Management. They have adopted our family this year for christmas. They took me to breakfast and we talked. Maria knows Dwight Yoakam personally and she was the one that set up for him to send us the package we recieved on Saturday. All three of them are so excited about helping us out this christmas. We talked about the last 3 years and what we have gone through with Emily. They asked about our situation now. They wanted to know about all the things that we like and things that we like to do. They were sent to us by Rob (HopeKids, formally known as A Hand of Hope) They asked me questions that were very hard for me to answer. Things like if there was one thing that I really wanted but couldn't normally get what would it be. Hmmm? My husband and I are very simple people. We appreciate the simple things in life and are not so much about the material things. I pretty much have all the things that I need as far as material objects, so it was very hard for me to think of something that I wanted. You know out of everything that I could have asked them for, do you know what I told them would be great? Okay don't laugh. I told them I could really use some new pots and pans. They laughed at me and said you wouldn't want a day to yourself at the spa or something like that? All I could think was "Me at the spa? LOL!" I guess thats just not me. One of the biggest things this whole experience over the last 3 years has taught me is to value every minute with those that you love. Cherish the moments with your family and friends. When you leave earth people will remember the times they shared with you, not the things that you had. My whole family is struggling this year financially and everyone feels the need to apologize because they won't be able to supply gifts for everyone. I've told them all that the greatest gift they could give me is to just be here as a family together. I am happy if each one of them walk into my house say Merry Christmas and give me a hug. So that is what I want for Christmas.

I have been on a rollercoaster of emotions today. I have been thinking alot about what is going in our lives at this time. I found myself talking to God alot today. Tonight I feel a little better and I am just hoping that God was listening to me today. Tonight we went with HopeKids to see Santa Clause 3. It was a good movie and very funny. The kids really enjoyed it. They loved the first 2 Santa Clause movies and were very excited to see this one. They are bugging me now to take them to see Happy Feet. Who knows maybe we will go over the long weekend.

My husband isn't getting any better. This is one issue that is really messing with my emotions. We got him signed up for his insurance through his work, but it doesn't take effect until January 1st. That is much longer then I wanted him to wait to see a doctor, but it is out of our control. So we are playing the waiting game once again. I hate the waiting game. It gives you too much time to think of the worse case scenario. I am trying to just take it one day at a time and not think about what tomorrow will bring. Please continue to pray for him and his health. When I get an okay from him I will go into more detail. Please also pray for strength for our family. We haven't told the kids anything yet, but I think they sense something is wrong.

Okay well I guess I really didn't plan on typing a book tonight. LOL! I probably won't update again until after Thanksgiving. So I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. It has always been a tradition with our family as we sit down for our dinner on Thanksgiving to go around the table and each person tell one thing they are thankful for. I encourage each of you to do this if you don't already. We all have so much to be thankful for.

Thank you for checking in and for your prayers and messages. I am truly thankful for all of you. I feel blessed that you have all been brough tinto my life. Big Hugs to all of you.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, November 17, 2006 11:26 AM CST

**NEW PICTURES POSTED IN THE PHOTO ALBUM. (11-17-06)**

Hi Everyone! Hope you've had a great week. First off let me tell you that Emily seems to be feeling much better. She hasn't been coughing for the last few days. Little Charlie is also feeling better. It seems to be hanging on with me though. Well better me then the kids. Anyways this week has been pretty good. The kids had spirit week at school. I will share the pictures in a minute.

I have been pretty much hanging around the house all week cleaning and organizing. Everyday when my husband comes home something is moved. I think it is starting to drive him crazy. LOL! Today at 1pm Little Charlie has his 3rd grade program that I will be going to. I am really looking forward to that. Emily got to see it yestarday and she said it was really good. Wednesday Charlie went with the Kids With Character group on a field trip. They went to a park to watch other Kids with Character groups perform. It was a bunch of different groups from all different school that came together to share their talent with each other. He had so much fun.

I don't really have alot to report on this week. So I guess I will share with you the pictures I took this week.

Monday was Hat Day:

Emily and Charlie with their Nascar hats.

Tuesday was Pajama Day:

SpongeBob was the pajamas of choice that day. The kids love pajama day at school.

Wednesday was Sports Day:

Only Emily participated in sports day since Charlie had his field trip.

Thursday was inside out and backwards day. Niether of the kids wanted to participate in this day. They said they didn't want to go to school looking stupid. LOL!

Friday was Crazy Hair Day:

Its hard to tell what their hair looks like so I have a couple pictures to share from this day and I will explain what I did.


Charlie had green hair on the sides with a purple stripe down the middle. It really looked neat. He loved it!


Emily's was a little harder to do and its going to be really hard to get out. LOL!


The back of Emily's head. She was worried that you couldn't tell what was going on with her hair so she wanted me to take one of just her hair. She has 8 ponytails! The front is sprayed purple and the back as you can tell is sprayed green. LOL!

The kids always have alot of fun with spirit week. Their 2 favorite days are always pajama day and crazy hair day. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Not to sure what is going on this weekend. I would like to ask that you continue to pray for my husband. Things contiue to get worse with him and we are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place as far as seeing a doctor. The no insurance thing is aweful. We are working on that. Anyways its a whole long story that surrounds the whole situation. Please pray that things don't get any worse for him and that we will be able to get him to a doctor soon. We are trying to just take everything day by day. Thank you for all your prayers and messages. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and don't forget to check out the others in the photo album.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, November 12, 2006 8:29 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY NOVEMBER 16,2006**

Just a quick note tonight. Its late and I promise I will update friday afternoon. Things have been going pretty good this week. I also have pictures to share of the kids from this weeks spirit week. Hope everyone is having a great week. Check back later for a full update and pictures.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**
Picture at the top was taken Sunday before we left for the race. (Emily, Daddy and Charlie)

Hi Everyone! As you can tell from the pictures we had a full fun weekend. Before I get to that though let me tell you how Emily is. She is complaining of her chest and throat hurting her. She has started wheezing a bit again and is coughing alot. I think we jumped the gun a little bit by saying that she was all better. I think whatever was going on last week is just hanging on. Other than that she is doing great. If we could get rid of the cough I think her chest wouldn't hurt anymore. I guess we will keep working on that. Little Charlie wasn't feeling so good on Saturday, but by sunday morning said he was feeling alot better.

Friday the kids were out of school. We hung out at home most of the day. I bought the kids some crafts to do and they started on those on friday. They were having lots of fun with that. Saturday my husband and his brother went to the Busch series race. He had so much fun. He was so amazed at how many people were out there. The parking was horrible. He had to park more than a mile away from the track. Luckily they had a tram that took them to the gates. The kids and I cleaned up the house and then I took them outside. They rode their bikes and played with the neighbors kids. Saturday night I got a phone call from Rob (HopeKids) and asked us if we would like to go to the Nascar race on Sunday. I knew the kids would be so excited so I told him yes. None of us have ever been to a race before and I knew my husband would love to go to the Nextel race.

Sunday we had to be at the track by 9am to get our tickets. The race didn't start until 1:30pm. We knew it would be a long day, but was very excited to go. We got there about 8:45am and ended up parking almost 2 miles away from the track. We called the guy that had our tickets and he told us where he was at. After over an hour of walking and trying to find him we called him back. He told us to stay put and he picked us up. He took us back to his rv spot and offered us some food before going into the track. Once we got into the track the kids went nuts. They wanted to see everything. They wanted us to buy them so many things, but unfortunately we just couldn't afford them. I couldn't believe how much everything cost. (LOL thats how long its been since I've actually been to a big event like that) The kids got to get their pictures taken next a couple cars. Of course Emily had to get hers taken next to the Tony Stewart car. We couldn't find the Jeff Gordon one so Charlie got his taken next to the Jimmie Johnson car. About 1pm we decided to find our seats. We had pretty good seats between turn 2 and 3. The kids were so excited when the race first started. Everytime Tony Stewart would come around Emily would yell and clap. Charlie was doing the same thing when Jeff Gordon would come around. We decided after 180 laps that we were going to leave so we could beat the traffic out. The kids were upset cause they didn't get to see any crashes. LOL! We made pretty good timing coming home and got there just in time to see the last 35 laps of the race. Wouldn't you know that is when all the accidents happened. LOL! The kids yelled at me and told me we should have stayed so they could see them. They are to funny. We are all very tired from all the walking today, but we had alot of fun.

Our weekend went by way to fast. We definately need one more day to sit and relax. Oh well I guess I will have my day to sit and relax, but my husband and the kids really wish they had one more day. This was probably one of the most exciting weekends we've had in a long time. It was definately some much needed and deserved fun. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

I know that I've been asking for prayers for my husband now for a while. I have been pretty secretive about what is going on just out of respect for him. (he asked me not to say anything) I am really struggling with this situation and with him right now. Each day he seems to be a little worse and a lot more stubborn. Please continue to pray for him. Pray for strength and please pray for him to do the right thing. Thank you so much for all your prayers.

This week is spirit week at school. the kids are so excited. They love spirit week. Monday is hat day, tuesday is pajama day, wednesday is sports day, thursday is inside out and backwards day and friday is crazy hair day. Once the week is through I will put together a slide show of all the pictures from each day. Friday Charlie has his 3rd grade program that I will be going to. I know he will do great and I am always excited to go to the kids school programs. Other than that not much else is going on. I am getting very far on my crosstitching project. I am very excited about that. I've found something to occupy my time when I am home alone and something that I really enjoy. I've stuck to it and it looks great for being my first one. Of course it is one of the ones that has the picture printed on the fabric, but I wanted to start with that one first. I am going to tackle the counted crosstitch when I am done with this one. I am excited and hope I can do it.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Also hope you have a great week. Thank you for checking in and for the messages. Hugs to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, November 9, 2006 11:04 PM CST

Hi Everyone! Emily is feeling great. This week she has gotten into a little trouble at school. Seems the tension in the house may be effecting the her more than I thought. She is having trouble staying focused and listening to directions. I talked to her a little tonight about it, but plan to talk to both the kids a more this weekend. Other than that she continues to do great in school. Charlie has been doing wonderful in school as well. He is loving his after school practice with Kids With Character. Starting next week he will be going to tutoring on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. This class is basically for the kids that are above grade level but work slower. Charlie is testing out at a 5th grade level in reading but he is not up to the words per minute that he should be. Also with his other work he is getting great grades, but it is taking him a little longer to complete his work then it should. He is excited about going to tutoring also.

I don't really have anything to report about this week. Nothing really has been going on. I have been working alot on my crosstitch and it is coming together beautifully. I am so proud of myself. Usually when I start a project like this it takes me forever to finish. I am really enjoying it and it is helping take my mind off other things. The last couple days I've been having severe stomach aches and chest pain. I really think the stress has just gotten to me. I don't feel sick and today I am feeling less pain then yestarday.

My husband continues to be in alot of pain. We are working on getting him some health insurance (Emily is the only one insured right now) so he can go to our family doctor. Hopefully once he does that he will let me talk to you about what is going on so your prayers can be a little more specific. We do ask that you continue to pray for him. He was so excited when he came home from work today. He made a couple extra deliveries for his boss today and when he got back to the wharehouse his boss gave him 2 ticket s to the Busch Series Nascar race for this Saturday. He has never been to a Nascar race so he is very happy to be going. Even though he would love to be able to go to the Nextel Cup race on Sunday he is very excited about being able to go to the Busch race on Saturday. He is going to take his brother with him. The kids and I will probably go watch a movie or something.

The kids are out of school Friday, so it will be a 3 day weekend for them. We don't have anything else planned for the rest of the weekend. We are suppose to have beautiful weather so I am sure we will be spending alot of time outside. Hope you all have a great veterans day weekend. Hopefully I will have a bunch of wonderful things to talk about in my next update.

Please continue to pray for our family. We are struggling with many things right now. Please also keep your prayers coming for my husband. Thank you Chloe for calling me this week and talking to me. It was nice to be able to talk to someone about what is going on. It helped me to let it out and cry. Thank you for being such a good friend and being there for me. Oh how I wish we lived closer to each other.

Thank you for checking in. Maybe I will break out the camera this weekend and get a bunch of new pictures. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, November 5, 2006 11:43 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 8,2006**

Just a quick update to let you know we are all doing okay. This week has been a little better for me than last week. I will do a full update Thursday. It is late right now and I am exhausted. I am not sure if it is stress or if I am coming down sick, but the last couple days I haven't been feeling so well. So I am going to go get some rest. Thank you for checking in and please continue your extra prayers for my husband and our family.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Picture above: Emily riding her bike without training wheels all by herself.

Hi Everyone! Emily has been doing great. She continues to get a bloody nose everyday. Not sure why, but I have had some people tell me it could be the change in the weather. No more belly pain. Thankfully it was just a day or two and then it went away. Other than that she is doing great. Little Charlie seems to be coming down with a cold or something. He woke up this morning with a runny nose and a cough. I have been giving him medicine all day and he took a nap and he seemed to be feeling a bit better this evening.

This weekend was a very relaxing weekend. Saturday we did a laundry and food shopping. Then we went to Tom and Nicki's house. We didn't really have the money to go do anything for my birthday so we went over there and hung out. I couldn't have asked for anything more for my birthday than what I had. I got to spent some fun time with family. We really did have a good evening over there. We sugared the kids up with cupcakes and us adults ate cheesecake. It was fun. Sunday we stayed home all day. We spent alot of time outside with the kids. They rode their bikes for hours. Emily is getting so much better on her bike without training wheels. She is so proud of herself. Although she has wiped out quite a few times and she has all the bruises and scrapes to prove it, she gets right back up and tries again. She is one tough cookie. LOL! Of course we also took time out to watch the Nascar race. Emily has to brag to everyone that her driver, Tony Stewart, won the race for the second weekend in a row. She was dancing around and rubbing it in Daddy's face. LOL! I love it. To bad there are only 2 races left, I love to watch them pick on each other throughout the race. LOL!

My husband has been released by the doctor to go back to full duty and has been released from therapy also. His back is not any better, but sadly they don't think it is his back. I won't get into any details about it right now. We are still trying to deal with it and it also has not been totally confirmed. I just ask that you please pray for my husband. Please pray for strength for our family. I just don't know how much more we can handle. I promise to go into more detail as soon as we know more and my husband feels okay about me talking about it. Also we haven't talked to the kids about anything yet.

This has been an extremely hard week on me emotionally. I try to clear my mind each night and know that tomorrow is a brand new day. Praying for better days ahead. Thank you all for checking in and for your prayers and messages. It really means alot to us.

Nothing going on this week that I can think of. Oh remember how I talked about trying to find myself a hobby. Well I've started crosstitch and needlepoint. I use to do needlepoint when I was a kid and just loved it. Crosstitch was always something I wanted to try, but never had the time. Well now I do and so I am going to give it a try. I am sure it will keep me busy so I don't get bored during the day when the kids are at school. Not much else going on.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, November 2, 2006 10:39 PM CST

Sunday, October 29, 2006 11:16 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY OCTOBER 31, 2006**

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! We had so much fun trick or treating. The kids came home with an overflowing bucket of candy each. I have some pictures to share with you also.


Emily as a Skeleton Bride.


Charlie as a Zombie Doctor.


Emily and Charlie ready to go trick or treating.


Emily and Charlie with cousins Katelynn (Monster bride) Tyler (batman) and friend Jayd (witch)

Hope you enjoy the pictures. We had a great night.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was fun. I have lots of pictures to share with you to go along with the photo at the top of the page. First off let me tell you that Emily has been feeling great. The only thing going on with her at this time is a minor bloody nose each night for the last 4 days. Not sure why she is getting these, but it doesn't bleed that much and it is always right when she goes to bed. Hmmm? It is just minor though so I am not really concerned with it.

Friday was a bit of a hectic day. The kids got out of school early. They loved coming home and playing with their cousins. It was a beautiful day outside so they spent much of the day outside playing. We had something happen later that afternoon that Emily doesn't want me to talk about. It was an accident and Emily feels really bad about what happen. She just wanted me to tell her Aunt Jodi that she is sorry and promises it will never happen again. I promised Emily I wouldn't explain any more than that.

Saturday Daddy went hunting with Uncle Tom. The kids and I went shopping and got some things done that we needed to. In the afternoon we hung out outside and played basketball. The weather has been great. Saturday night Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki came over and we had poker night again. It was alot of fun, but was very hard to keep the kids from telling everyone else what cards we were holding in our hands. LOL! It was a late night, but we had so much fun.

Sunday was our fun day. We got up and spent much of the day outside. Emily accomplished something today that she has been wanting to do for a long time. She rode her bike on 2 wheels all by herself. She is so proud of herself that she can ride without training wheels now. This is such a huge deal for her and I am so proud of her. You could see the pure joy beaming from her when she rode past on nothing but 2 wheels. I wish I had my camera out there with me. Guess I was kinda slacking there. Then the kids and I carved our first pumkins ever. We never did pumkins when I was a kid. My husband couldn't believe that I had never carved a pumkin before. LOL! The kids had never done one before either so I went to the store and picked out 3 of the best pumkins I could find. It was great to watch the kids having so much fun doing this. Oh and see their faces the first time they stuck their hand inside the pumkin to clean it out. Priceless! LOL! Here are some pictures from our pumkin carving.


Emily digging in her pumkin.


Pulling the insides out. Gotta love that yucky face she has.


She got a whole handful here.


Sticky Hands!!


Charlie's really digging in there!


Charlie got a whole handful this time.


Yuck! It wouldn't come off his hand. LOL!


Almost done cleaning them out.


Emily concentrating hard. She was poking the holes for her spider face.


Charlie poking the holes for his Grim Reaper face.

The finished product is the picture above. I did one to but no pictures of me. LOL! My pumkin has a witch face. I think we all did very good for it being our first pumkins. Of course Daddy helped out alot and he's done pumkin carving before. We had so much fun doing this. The kids are getting so excited about Halloween. They can't wait to put their pumkins outside with a candle in it. I will be sure to take more pictures when we do that. After carving pumkins we cought the last half of the Nascar race. If you notice the shirt Emily is wearing you will know what driver she likes. Well he was the one that won the race today. So as you can imagine she was up jumping around and rubbing it in Daddy and Charlie's face that Jeff Gordon lost and Tony Stewart won. LOL! I will be sad to see Nascar season over with. I love to watch them when they watch the race.

Not much else going on. We had a great weekend and hope to have many more like it. Oh my husband as you all know is a CDL truck driver. Well his work has decided that until he is cleared by the doctor for his back he is not allowed to drive and make deliveries. Instead they are keeping him in the wharehouse on light duty. I am kind of glad they made this decision cause it will prevent him from further injuring his back. He is not happy at all with the idea. It means he has to sweep floors and has to work later than normal. He said to me he hates it cause he is a truck driver not a janitor. They are not paying him less, they just want to make sure that he doesn't hurt himself any worse. He has a doctors appointment everyday this week. 3 days of therapy and 2 days with the actual doctor. I hope his back gets better soon. He is getting really burned out with going to the doctor everyday. Thank you for the continued prayers for his back.

Monday is my free day this week. My free day means that it is a day all to myself with no kids or anyone. My neice and nephew are going to be staying somewhere else and my kids will be in school. I don't get many of these days, so it is nice when I get one. I am not sure what i will do with my day. My house is clean and I have no errands to run. Maybe I will watch a couple of the movies that I haven't watched yet. I guess whatever I decide to do will be okay. The rest of the week I don't think we have anything going on. Well except Halloween of course.

Thank you for checking in and leaving messages. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Please continue to pray for healing for my husbands back, my dad, and for continued good health and happiness for Emily. Thank you all and (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, October 26, 2006 11:40 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Emily is doing great. She has no pain in her teeth from the work she had done on Tuesday. She said she hardly notices the spacer is there. She has been very good about brushing her teeth twice a day and not picking at the spacer bar that runs along the backside of her teeth. No more coughing and no belly pain the last few days. She is on a roll and doing great.

Wednesday morning was Charlie's student of the month breakfast. We got to the school and the kids got a muffin and some juice and they presented all the students of the month K-3rd grades with their certificates, a pencil and a little pad of paper. Charlie was so excited and his teacher had nothing but great things to say about him. Here is a picture of Charlie with his teacher, Mr Acevedo at the breakfast.



Thursday and Friday are half days at school for the kids. It is the end of the first quarter so it was report card and conference time. Charlie's teacher didn't need a conference with me so he sent Charlie's report card home with him today. Are you ready for this? Straight A's and Excellents in everything. The comments that were given were, Charlie is a great student. Needs to work a little bit on staying focused. Gets distracted easily. Keep up the good work. We are so very proud of him. He is such a great kid. Emily's conference was at 12:40 today. She got all B's and Excellents. The comments were, Emily is having trouble staying focused, but is very bright and is doing great. Her teacher told me that she worries a little too much about the other kids and forget to do her own work sometimes. It is not effecting her grades to much cause she ends up bringing home the work she doesn't finish and taking it back the next day. The teacher says that she sees a big improvement in Emily's behavior since starting school. She is not talking out in class anymore and doing much better in her writing skills. (she struggled with that in the beginning) She was disappointed because she got B's and not A's like Charlie. I told her not to worry, we are still proud of her. She is really trying to work harder and apply herself. I am very proud of how they are both doing in school.

This week has been a very down week around here. I have been trying to go into each day with a good outlook, hoping each day will be better than the last. Thats about all I will say about that. I don't want to ruin this update by getting all sad. I wouldn't want to do that after telling you about all the good news about the kids.

My husband has been going to his therapy for his back and unfortunately it is not getting better. Today he went and the doctor did 3 cortizone injections. OUCH!! He said it was very painful and made his back feel stiff instead of loosening it up. They have decided to refer him to a back specialist and to get an MRI. We are both very worried about what is going to happen. Please continue praying that he will heal without surgery. His work is getting a bit burned out with the weight restrictions that has been put on him. It just means that he can't do his regular routes cause it means he would have to lift more than he is allowed. He is worried that he will lose his job as soon as he is cleared by the doctor. Hopefully not.

Nothing planned for this weekend that I can think of right now. The kids want me to take them to see the movie Flicka. Especially Emily. She has been bugging me ever since the ads started on tv. I guess we will wait and see what we are doing and maybe I can take her. Tuesday is Halloween and the kids are getting so excited. They are so ready to put on their costumes. I think we are going to have lots of fun trick or treating this year. Not much else to report.

Thank you for checking in and for your prayers for my family. Hope you have a great weekend. Big Hugs to all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, October 23, 2006 1:02 AM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY OCTOBER 24, 2006***

Just a quick update tonight. It is late, but I wanted to come on and let you know about Emily's dentist appointment today. The moring didn't start out to great for us. Emily woke up with her belly in severe pain. She was curled up in a little ball crying and didn't want to get up. I gave her some Zantac in hopes that it would help and tried to get her moving along to get ready. She did finally get up, still in pain and get dressed. We left the house a little later then I had planned on leaving and hit alot of traffic. We showed up at the dentist office 10 minutes late and they told me they maynot be able to see her since we were late. UGH!! I pleaded with them since I had to make arrangments with someone to get Charlie to school and I didn't have my niece and nephew today. They did take us back and I was so grateful to them. The appointment was about 15 minutes long. They let me go back with her this time and she was not happy the whole 15 minutes. They placed her spacer in and cemented it in her mouth. She screamed and cried and almost threw up a couple times, but she kept her hands by her side and stayed still for them. After leaving the dentist office she insisted on going to school. We stopped by the house to get some tylenol and off to school she went. She stayed all day and had a little pain and discomfort for a couple hours but after that felt great. I have Emily's parent teacher conference on Thursday. Charlie's teacher wrote me a note that said, "What else can I say about Charlie. He is great! No need for a conference." That is great. I am so proud of how wonderful he is doing in school.

More exciting news. Charlie is student of the month. He is going to a student breakfast in the morning. I am so proud of him. Report cards on Thursday. I will be sure to update with grades. I am so excited to see them. Well that is all for now. It is late and i need to get some sleep its going to be an early morning. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. I want to start off by explaining the new picture at the top of the page. We went to the state fair friday night. Emily told me on the way over there that I had to get a picture of her with the famous giant corndogs that you can only get at the state fair. So there it is, don't you just love it! That corndog was almost as long as her arm. LOL!! We had so much fun at the fair. The kids participated in the read and ride program. They had to read 3 books each and write a paragraph about 25 words long telling what the book was about. They both finished it and turned it in when we got to the fair and they got to ride on 3 rides for free. They were so excited. The first ride they chose was the bumper cars. They have always wanted to go on those but have always been to small. They loved it. Then they went on the super slide. It is this very big slide and you sit on a mat to slide down it. It looks like a big wave with about 8-10 lanes. The kids have always enjoyed this ride and it is the one ride they make sure they get to do every year that we have been to the fair. The last ride they decided on was the spooky haunted house. The entrance to this haunted house has a spinning doorway. Emily put one foot on and fell right on her butt. She was laughing so hard and I was laughing watching Charlie trying to keep his balance and help her up. They did manage to get through it with the help of each other. We then walked through the exhibits and then took them to play a couple games each. They each walked away with a little Curious George stuffed animal that they won all on their own. We then decided to sit for a bit and get something to eat. Of course the thing that my husband wanted was the giant corndog. Emily really didn't eat that thing she just wanted a picture with it. LOL! Emily got a foot long hot dog instead. We had so much fun. Uncle Tom, Aunt Nicki and Katelynn and Tyler went with us also. Thank you so much Rob for making this happen.

Saturday was our housework day and shopping day. Saturday night I had the kids try on their halloween costumes that I bought them a while back. Well I am so glad that I did. Charlie's costume turned out to be to big on him. I was so upset cause I knew there was no way we were going to find that same costume this close to halloween. So off to the store we went. We looked at 4 different stores and couldn't find the same one. He had a really cool zombie costume. So the last store that we went to he decided that he would try to find another one that he liked. Well this one that he picked out is a Doctor zombie. So along the same lines just not as scary an gross looking. He likes it though and I am glad that he does. I feel bad cause i should have had them try them on sooner so I could exchange it early if need be. I am just glad that he found one that he liked just as much. The kids are getting very excited about halloween. Emily has decided to move away from the princess costumes and she is going as a skeleton bride. We bought the face paint and the black hair color and everything. I am excited about getting her all done up. LOL!

Sunday we spent much of the day outside with the kids. Playing ball, riding bikes and just having lots of fun. It has been a beautiful weekend weather wise. Of course beautiful to us here in Arizona is mid 70's to mid 80's. That is wonderful weather when you are coming out of 4-5 months of triple digit temps. All together it was a wonderful weekend.

Emily has been feeling great. She still has that cough but it isn't all the time. It comes and goes, so I think it is on its way out. She did complain about her belly only once this weekend and that was while we were at the fair. I think she just ate too much food. Tuesday she goes back to the dentist at 7:30am to have her full mouth spacer put in. They are not going to sedate her this time. Please pray that she does good. Last time they sedated her and I listened to her cry the whole time. :( Other than that we are free and clear of all doctors until Dec 14th. Well that is until I call and get a second opinion with dermatologist about her alopecia. But that shouldn't be a big deal of an appointment. I will let you know if we get the referral to do that and when it is.

With our weekend being so busy and all the walking that we did friday night, my husbands back is hurting him and aweful lot. He is taking ibuprofen and muscle relaxers, but nothing is easing the pain. He is also putting an ice pack on it 3-4 times a day. He went to the doctor again on friday and they are going to be seeing him everyday for the next 2 weeks. 3 days a week for therapy and the other 2 are for a checkup. They have him set to go in everyday at 11am. This is going to be very hard for him to do. He will have to make sure he is done at work before he can leave and then he is already stressing over the hours he will be losing. They are still talking about possible back surgery, but we are praying that it will not come to that. I ask that you pray with us for healing without surgery.

Parent teacher conferences are this week. You know what that means, report cards. I can't wait to see how they are doing and hear what the teachers have to say about them. Hopefully nothing to bad. LOL!! Other than that nothing else that i can think of right now going on this week.

I want to ask for some prayers for The Kruppenbacher Family. We have followed Kody's site for a long time now and his dad, Karl, juststarted driving semi-trucks across coutry. Well friday morning he was in our part of the country, Tucson, AZ, and got into an accident. He was on the freeway and ahead of him was a big pileup on the freeway. He slowed down as he was approaching it, unfortunately another semi truck behind him didn't and hit him at full speed. Karl is okay and was not injured, however the driver in the truck that hit him died at the scene. I can only imagine how hard it was to witness this event. All he wants to do is go home now and I don't blame him. Please pray for a safe return back to Florida and for peace of mind for his family until he gets there. We love you K-Gang and we sure are thinking about you tonight. As we sat and read about this accident and when it happened my husband was thanking God that he hurt his back earlier in the week. You see friday's my husband (Also a truck driver) goes to Tucson. He leaves here at 5am and heads down the very same freeway that the accident happened on. The pileup happened at 6am. The accident with Karl's truck and the other truck happened at 7am. The exact time my husband would have been right in that same area. Its scary to think that my husband could have been involved in that. We are definately counting our blessings tonight and of course keeping Karl and the whole Kruppenbacher family in our thoughts and prayers.

Thank you all for checking in. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I absolutely love the one at the top of the page. It is just too cute and funny. Only my child would want her picture taken with a giant corndog. LOL!!! :)Thank you for your continued prayers for my family. (my whole family)

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, October 19, 2006 11:45 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Emily is feeling much better. She still has a little bit of a cough but overall she is feeling better. She has however been more tired than normal during the day. Like the other day she fell asleep at school in reading class. She does get up several times throughout the night. I think that has alot to do with her being so tired during the day. Other than that she has been doing great. She had her reading test and next quarter she will be moving onto a 2.2 reading class from 2.1. She is a little upset that she didn't move up more than that. She has been working really hard at her reading. I told her to keep working at it and I am sure she will move up next time. I am still proud of how well she is doing in school.

Tonight Charlie had his character counts concert at school. He did a wonderful job. He was so happy to be in this program and worked really hard at learning the songs in 4 days. Emily and I went tonight to watch him. Emily sang and danced right along with them. Charlie also had his reading test and you wouldn't believe what reading level he is at now. This last quarter he was in 4.1 which is a fourth grade reading level. Remember he is in 3rd grade. He tested out at 5.1! Fifth grade reading level!! Can you believe it? I am so proud of him. He has had a rough time this year applying himself, but he continues to do great in school.

Friday we will be going to the state fair. The kids are pretty excited about going. Even though we don't ride the rides we do have lots of fun when we go. The kids are out of school friday for a staff developement day so when Daddy gets home we will grab something to eat and then head out to the fair. We like to walk around the exhibits and play some of the games. It will be nice to get out and do something fun together. Other than that we don't have anything planned for the weekend. The weather has been wonderful. As far as I know the weather is going to continue to be great. Maybe we will take the kids out to a park or something. I'm sure we will figure something out.

Well I was hoping to come on here tonight and report nothing but good news. Our week overall has been a good one. However Tuesday my husband injured his back at work. He thought it was no big deal cause it was just aching on tuesday. Wednesday he couldn't get himself out of bed. He finally did make it out of bed and went to work. He had a very hard day wednesday and decided that he had to get it looked at. So he told his boss and they sent him to get ot checked out. He was told that he has a severe strain in his back that is very close to spine. He had to go today for therapy and they are vey concerned. The doctors have decided they are going to try therapy for 2 weeks 3 times a week. If that doesn't work then they are talking surgery. This is very scary to even think about. As you can imagine we are very stressed about the whole thing. We are praying that he will not need surgery. Surgery would mean months of being out of work. UGH! He is the only income and that would definately hurt us big time. He told me that because he got hurt at work they would pay him 80 percent of his wages if he went in for surgery. Unfortunately we are right now living paycheck to paycheck, as many families do. So tonight I would like to ask that you pray that he will not need surgery and that he will get better with therapy. We still haven't heard anything about the driver of the car that hit my husband over the weekend and then ran from the scene. Hopefully something good will come out of that situation. We also know that most people that run usually don't have insurance so we are preparing to hear that news as well. Our bad luck seems to be neverending, but we are hopeful that it will all get better soon.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Please continue your prayers for my dad. Last I talked to him he was feeling pretty good and he sounded good. I believe your prayers maybe working. Please keep them coming.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, October 18, 2006 1:26 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! First I would like to thank you all for the wonderful feedback on Emily's pictures. Emily always takes such great pictures that I really just had such a hard time making the decision. I will say though, thanks to couple very nice friends we will be getting both poses. I want to say thank you to Sue and Mary for your big hearts and your act of kindness. You will each recieve a picture of your choice when they come in. Thank you so much.

Today was Emily's doctors apointment. It went well. We talked about alot. He hadn't seen her in 2 months so we had to go over all the doctors she has been to see in that time. He was glad to hear that she was free from her GI doctor and the belly pain. Also glad to hear that she had a growth doctor following her now. By the way she has grown a 1/2 an inch and gained 1/2 a pound in the last 2 months. Not alot but, I call it progress. LOL! Then we talked about her Alopecia. He has suggested that we get a second opinion. He thinks that we should go to a dermatologist and see what they say we could do. We are all still having a tough time dealing with this issue. She is still getting teased here and there at school and she is starting to notice the difference in her hair when she brushes it. We've decided that we will ask for a referral to see a dermatologist and see what they say. The most common treatment is cortizone injections into the bald areas in her scalp. If that is what they offer I will leave that decision up to Emily. I decided that she has been through alot already. We held her down WAY to many times so they could get an IV in or to access her port. It was all because we had to do that to make her better. This is just an option to her and there is no guarentee the injections will make her hair grow. I will not force her to do it if she doesn't want to. She asked me if she would get sick if she didn't get the injections. I told her no way she will just have that bald spot. Then she asked me if she doesn't get the injections will her hair grow long like mine. I told her that her hair will continue to grow just maybe not in that one spot. She does have 6 other spots that are bald but they are much smaller and are under her other hair. I think she is okay with doing nothing, but I want her to know if there are option out there for her. So then she ran off to talk with some of the girls in the office while the doctor and I talked. All Emily's counts look great and even with her raspy sounding cough her lungs sound good. Overall a really great appointment. She is now 20 months off treatment!! We are so excited to have come this far. She goes back in 2 months. We got scans done the end of August and so he thinks he wants to do scans again around Febuary. This is the longest we have ever gone between scans. (6 months) He must really be feeling great about her.

How is Emily feeling? Well she is coming down with something, but it is just slowly creeping up on her. She has been very tired and just not feeling like herself. Hopefully it will pass soon. She has been insistng on going to school and since she has no fever I have been letting her go. She continues to do great in school. Today though she was in reading class and decided to take a nap while the class was doing work. I don't believe she got into trouble, actually the teacher kind of laughed about it when she told me.

Exciting news about Little Charlie. He was selected to be ina program called Kids With Character. This is a special chorus program. They perform for all the assemblies, family nights and other special events. His teacher selected him because he displays greta character in school. He is so excited about being in this program. They stay after school every monday to practice. His first show is on Thursday October 19th. They will be performing for the family night for the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. I am so proud of him. He deserves this and I know he will do great.

Today I went to try to track down the vehicle that was involved in the hit and run with my husband. The address the officer gave us is a non existing address. All that is arund that location is 2 parks. I drove down to the MVD to request insurance information. They gave me some forms to fill out and send in and it can take up to 45 days to get back with us. UGH!! Hopefully the police will be able to track this guy down and he will have insurance. My husband is still very upset about his truck, but plans to take this as far as he needs to. He just wants his truck fixed. Hopefully this will work out for us. I told him he is going to have to be patient cause I have a feeling this is going to take some time. Either way the most important thing to me is that he is fine and didn't get hurt.

Not much plans for the rest of the week. Friday the kids are out of school for staff developement day. We will be taking the kids to the state fair with A Hand of Hope. They are so excited. We didn't go last year. It really is very expensive. Even when we were both working full time we could barely afford to go. That fair seems to get more expensive each year it comes. Thankfully none of us are big ride fans. So we let the kids play games and we get some of the great food and just walk around. It will be a great night out and the weather has been great here, especially at night. Not sure what else is going on, but we are sure looking forward to Friday at the fair.

Please continue to pray for my Dad. I appreciate all the prayers and I've been telling him about all the messages I've gotten about him. Also please pray that the cold medicines that I've been giving Emily will help her get better and that she doesn't get any worse. Thank you for your prayers and your messages.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, October 15, 2006 10:48 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! First I would like to ask for your opinion on something. In the photo album is proofs from Emily's school pictures. I can't decide which one I like best. Since I can't afford to buy both poses, I need some help deciding which one I should buy. They both came out great. My husband likes the first one and I really like them both. So if you could please take a look and leave a message for us letting us know which one you like best.

Emily is doing pretty good. She has been experiencing a little bit of belly pain, but it is brief and not as bad as it was before. Little Charlie had his book report that was due on friday and his oral presentation to do also. I am excited to tell you that he got 100 percent for an A on his report, presentation and his poster that he made. We are so proud of him. The only thing the teacher suggested was for him to do his next report on a chapter book. She feels that Charlie underestimates his capability and so sometimes he takes the easier route so he knows he can do it. I agree with her. He strives to be perfect and so sometimes he doesn't always work to his full ability. Putting that aside though, he did a great job and we are very proud of him.

Now I just need to vent for a minute and then I will get back to our weekend. It appears that our bad luck is never ending. Saturday my husband went to the store and as he was driving through the parking lot he was involved in a hit and run accident. He was coming through the parking lot and someone was driving very fast and came around the corner and blew through a stop sign and my husband couldn't stop fast enough. The front end of his truck is now smashed in. He is fine. He was not injured in anyway. I can be thankful for that. The guy he hit didn't stop. He followed the guy around the parking lot and then out on the road. The guy drove fast and took many risks which caused my husband to lose him, but not before he got his plate number. He went back to the store where he got hit and then called the police. Well since it was in a parking lot they said they couldn't do anything cause it happened on private property. Then he told them it was a hit and run and they came right out since at that point is was considered a criminal offense. So they took an accident report. They said they would have an inspector investigate the case. We still don't know if the guy had any insurance or not. Once he got home and showed me what happened we both sat down and just cried. I guess we finally hit our breaking point and have had enough. After we had a good cry we started to laugh. Do you ever get so upset that all you can do is laugh? I don't know what makes me do it but sometimes I do. The situation wasn't funny at all, but I just laughed. The truck is still driveable. It doesn't look to good, but for now at least he will be able to get back and forth to work still. Why do people do this? I just don't understand. We are hoping they have insurance and that we can get the truck fixed through their insurance. We only have liability on the truck since it is a 1997. So our insurance will not pay to have it fixed, plus it was not my husbands fault. We surely can't afford to fix it or get him a new vehicle. UGH!! So I wonder yet again, Does it ever end??

It was a beautiful weekend and we spent most of it outside. Friday night my husband and his brother went to a comedy show. It was nice for my husband to get out and especially do something with his brother. He really enjoyed himself. The kids and I went to a friends house. The kids all played together while my friend and I just hung out and talked. Yet again something that was much needed. I also enjoyed myself. Saturday morning the company that we rent our house from came to do thier yearly inspection on the house. They just check to make sure that we haven't damaged the house in any way and that we are keeping up the outside appearance. The guy that came to do it was very nice and pleased with the way the house was being taken care of. We've been here almost 4 years now and hope to be able to stay for a while longer. I hate moving so I don't want to have to move anytime soon. The rest of the day saturday was spent outside with the kids. They rode their bikes and scooters and we played basketball. It was so much fun and we were having a great day. Of course that evening was when he got into the accident. Sunday was spent around the house and outside enjoying our beautiful weather. It was the first time in a long time that we were able to shut off the AC and open the windows and enjoy the nice weather. It definately would have been a perfect weekend for us without the accident.

This week Emily has a doctors appointment with her oncologist. I am happy to be visiting him since she's still coughing and has the raspy sound in her voice. This appointment is just her regular routine checkup, nothing major. The kids are out of school om Friday for a staff developement day. Friday is also the day that we are taking the kids to the state fair with A Hand of Hope. We usually don't go to the fair cause it is so expensive, but we got free admission tickets and the kids got some free ride coupons from thier school for reading 3 books each and writing a little paragraph on what the books were about. I think it will be a lot of fun.

Last I would like to ask that you continue to pray for my dad. I talked with him today and he sounded good and very optimistic. I was very happy to hear him that way. I want to thank you for the prayers for my dad and our family. We all need them and appreciate them very much. Your messages have been very comforting to my family and I also.

I also want to thank Chloe for the phone call on saturday. I am glad that Ellieanna likes her kitty that we sent. It has been great talking with you over the last week. We miss you so much and hope to see you when you come back to Arizona to visit.

Hope you have a great week. I will update again after Emily's appointment on Tuesday. We love you and thank you for checkng in.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, October 13, 2006 0:08 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Emily is feeling much better as far as her pain from her dental work. Tuesday she insisted on going to school. So I gave her some tylenol before I took her to school. I told her if the pain got to bad to call me and I would pick her up. Well I didn't hear from the school at all so I went at 2:30 to pick her up. The teacher came to me and said, "Emily is so brave." I asked why and she said that Emily had been in lots of pain all day, but didn't want to come home. She wouldn't even go to the nurse for some tylenol cause she was safraid they would call me and she would have to come home. She said about 2pm Emily was looking like she was miserable and she was starting to fall asleep. What a trooper she is! She did come home and take a nice long nap. Wednesday she was feeling a little better. Today she tells me she is having no pain at all. Her face was still swollen until today. Over this last week she has been coughing alot. No fever and she tells me she feels fine. Well her breathing is sounding horrible again and her voice is very raspy. I always start to worry about her when this happens. We will be going on Tuesday to her oncologist so he will listen to her lungs. Hopefully she is just getting a bug or something. Its been awhile since her breathing has sounded bad. Yestarday she had another little boy teasing her because of her bald spot. She looked at him and said, "Your just saying that cause you don't understand, so I am not going to let it bother me." Well guess she has learned how to handle these kids that are teasing. I am very proud of her.

Before I get into anything else I would like to ask for prayers for Bonnie. She is getting scans done Friday October 13th. Please pray for CLEAR SCANS!!! We love you Bonnie and we are thinking about you today and always. Also please pray for Ellieanna. She has been having a rough time and is now sick. We sent out your package Ellie and we hope you like it.

Life around here this week has been very emotional. Tuesday I got a phone call from my dad and what he had to tell me was not something I ever wanted to hear. I wish I could go into it, but right now out of respect for him I am not going to get into the details until I make sure it is okay with him. All I can say right now is its not good and he could really use lots and lots of prayers. I also haven't told the kids yet cause the truth is I just don't want to cause them anymore hurt. Please, Please pray for him. I've been sitting here for the last couple days wondering why our family has had to endure so much and when it will end. I sure wish I had the answers to those questions.

We did have something good happen to our family today though. Thanks to Rob, a wonderful man that is very near and dear to our hearts, we can do laundry in our house again. Today he had a new washer and dryer delivered to our house. I just don't know how to thank him enough. We have been looking for a cheap used dryer to replace the one that went out on us last weekend. Well Rob called me last night and asked if we found a dryer yet. I told him no, but we were still looking. He told me not to worry that we would have one delivered to our house on Thursday. Rob has always been there for us and has done so much to help us out. I just don't know how I could ever express to him how much we love and appreciate him.

Not to much else is going on right now. We are trying to get through everyday and deal with all that keeps being thrown our way. It is very hard and there are some days I just don't want to get out of bed. I know eventually it will get better and I hope and pray it will be soon. Emily and Charlie are continueing to do well in school. Charlie had his first book report to do this week. He was very upset cause he didn't know how to do it and felt like he couldn't do it. It is due tomorrow and I think he did a great job. He will also have to do an oral presentation. He knows the book very well so I know he will do great. Nothing planned for this weekend so far. I am sure we will think of something to do though.

I leave you with just a couple prayer requests once again. Please pray that Emily's breathng gets better and that if it doesn't that it is just a cold starting. Please also I cannot stress enough how many prayers my dad needs right now. Thank you for all your prayers for my family.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

I am gonna leave this up for a little longer so everyone gets the chance to check out the pictures.

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

Sunday, October 8, 2006 9:15 PM CDT

*EDITED UPDATE MONDAY OCTOBER 9, 2006*

Emily had a rough day today. We got to the dentist at 8:15am and didn't leave until noon. It was a long day and she was not one bit happy when she came out to me after her work was done. There was several times while I was sitting out in the waiting room that I heard her crying and yelling "I want my mommy." I was so sad that I couldn't go back there and comfort her. Although if I had been back there it probably would have made her more upset. They had a hard time getting the bands on and on one side they actually had to cut the gums to get them on. The worst part is that she is not done yet. She has to go back in 2 weeks for them to place the spacers. Today they fitted her for them and put in the bands. She is not happy about having to go back. We went straight home and she drank some water and ate some chicken noodle soup and then crashed on my bed. She was so tired and her mouth was hurting her. I gave her some motrin and she was out for the next couple hours. She was feeling a little bit better tonight, but still in pain. I gave her some tylenol before bed and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. She really wants to go back to school.

Just wanted to let you know how the dentist appointment went today. Thank youfor checking in and for the messages.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was busy and fun. Saturday we decided to do something that we have been putting off for far too long. We got outside and cleaned up our backyard. We had the waterslide out there that the kids haven't played on in about a month. It was very dirty from the dust kicking up and from any rain we've gotten. We knew this was gonna be quite a chore. What started out as us cleaning up the backyard turned into the kids playing and getting very wet and very dirty. LOL!! They had a blast though. We mowed the lawn, cut the tree cleaned up the toys and the patio furniture and then conquered the waterslide. It turned into a long day, but the backyard looks great and the kids actually have room to run and play out there now. After doing the backyard we came in to clean up the house and do laundry. Well the laundry came to a screeching hault cause my dryer decided to die. So we spent about 2 hours that night at the laundry mat so that we had clothes. UGH!! Seems like it is always something. Hopefully we will be able to find a cheap used dryer to replace ours.

Sunday was a blast! We had our Big Day of Hope at the railroad park. We got there and the first thing the kids did was build a bear. Emily got a pink unicorn and Charlie got a soft bear. As seen in the picture above. Each animal was fitted with a Got Hope? tshirt. It was the coolest thing as far as the kids were concerned. They are truly a one of a kind. After that the kids were off to run the obstacle course, slide down the big slides and get their face painted. They were visited by Darth Vader and the Starship Troopers. They got their picture taken with them and then ran off cause the firetruck pulled in. They were so excited to be able to get up in the firetruck and sit in the seats. After that Emily went to her favorite place, the rock climbing wall. I am so proud of her and she is so proud of herself. She made it all the way to the top. This is the first time she has been able to reach the top of the wall. She was so excited, until she looked down and realized how far up she was. LOL! She hung on up there until Daddy came over so he could see that she made it to the top. It was quite an accomplishment for her. Little Charlie also got on the rock wall and tried the harder side. He almost made it all the way to the top on that side and did make it all the way to the top on the easier side. It was a long fun day and the temperature outside was about 88 degrees. It was a nice day to be out at the park. Tonight are finally getting our time to sit and relax. Not much time, but we really had a great weekend. Please take some time to check out this video that I put together of the pictures I took today. There are pictures of Emily and Charlie throughout the day and pictures of their cousins who also had a blast today.

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

Thursday, October 5, 2006 11:14 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Today I took Emily to the endocrinologist. As suspected it went well. The blood work they did back in July came back great. The xray they took of her hand and wrist showed a delay in bone growth. The doctor looked at the records that were sent to him from her oncologist and it appears that her growth pattern has not changed that much over the last 3 years. He said it looks like she has a period of time when she doesn't grow and then she will grow a little and then stop again. She has had the same pattern for the last 3 years since starting chemo, but they cannot determine that it is directly related to the chemo and radiation that she recieved. So he decided that right now we are going to do nothing. He is going to follow her growth and see what happens. She will go back to see him in 6 months. She was pretty excited about that. On monday October 9th she goes to the dentist to get her remaining spacers removed and have her full mouth spacer put in. She is not happy about that. She is mad cause she will miss the whole day at school. Hopefully her teacher will send her work home tomorrow for her so she can do it on monday at home if she feels up to it. She goes in to see her oncologist on October 17th. Just a regular blood count check and basic exam. Nothing big and I don't expect any bad news from that appointment either. She is excited about seeing her oncologist. She told me she misses not seeing him every month. She likes all her doctors, but he is the only one that she truly misses when she doesn't see him for a while.

Emily's hair continues to thin each day. She is starting to get a red area on one of the newer bald spots. I've already started to put the cream on it so hopefully it won't turn into a sore. Overall she is dealing well with the loss of her hair, but she has her days when she is really said about it. It is mostly after she takes a shower and she is brushing her hair out and it just falls out like it did when she was on chemo. I am still not dealing well with it, but I think I have an idea on why I am having such a hard time dealing with it. I remember when she was diagnosed with cancer I was devasted, but I dealt with it and we moved forward. Well with this I have been unable to do that. Well I think the reason is because I knew for the cancer the doctors were doing everything they could to help her and make her better. With this they can't. There is nothing they can do. She just has to live with it and deal with it. Well as any parent knows, they try and want so badly to make everything better for their kids and I can't this time. No matter what I do it will always be there. I am very happy that this is nothing life threatening or harmful to her heatlth, but it is definately emotionally hard. I am trying really hard to deal with it and hopefully one day I will get there. I do admire Emily for her strength. There is alot to be learned from my little girl. She is truly amazing.

Yestarday we got our AC fixed and that was such a relief. It was so miserable for the night without it and I can only imagine how it would have been if it was out through the hottest part of the day. I've had the last 2 days to myself during the day. I usually have my niece and nephew while my kids are in school, but the last 2 days they have not been here. I got alot done around my house that I've been putting off for so long. It was nice to have a couple quiet days and I got alot accomplished. Emily and Charlie continue to do great in school. Emily is even coming home and doing her homework and reading without a fight anymore. Charlie's reading is getting much better also. They really love school and I hope that continues for many years to come.

This weekend is our big day of hope with A Hand of Hope. The kids are really excited and the best part is we are bringing the whole family. My dad and his family, my sisters and their families and my brother in law and his wife are all going. It is going to be so much fun. We've gone to this event for the last 2 years and each year we've gotten a family photo taken. The only thing is someone is always missing. This year we hope to have everyone there in the picture. They are also going to have a new tent set up out there with build a bear. Each one of the kids will get a voucher to make a build a bear and each bear will have a Got Hope? tshirt on. The kids are really excited about that. This is always one of the fuunest events. They have the big inflatable slide, the rock climbing wall, a bouncer, and an obstacle course. They also serve lunch and this year Sleeping Beauty and some Star Wars character will be coming out to visit. It is going to be a full day of fun and I will have my camera snapping pictures all day long. That is on Sunday. We don't have any plans for Saturday as of yet. Maybe just hang out at home and do some yard work. We have been putting that off way to long. LOL!

I hope you have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and for the messages. Oh Emily wanted me to be sure to tell you that the little boy that was picking on her at the beginning of the week has not said anything to her since then. She said that he is leaving her alone now. I am happy about that. I hate to see her sad because someone is teasing her. (((BIG HUGS))) to all our friends and caringbridge families. We love you all.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, October 3, 2006 9:33 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2006**

We have our air conditioner back!! The repair guy got here early this morning and spent about an hour fixing the ac unit. There were some parts in the motor that were frozen up, so he replaced those and it cooled the house down in no time. It was so miserable in here last night, but we survived and are very happy tonight to be nice and cool.

Thursday at 2:30 Emily has a doctors appointment with her endocrinologist. We will finally hear the test results from the blood work and xray they did a few months ago. We will then decide what we will do as far as her growth. She appears to me that she has gained a little bit of weight, but doesn't look like she is getting any taller since the last appointment. It should be a good visit though. I am not expecting to hear any bad news. Today the dentist office called and scheduled her appointment. She will go in on Monday october 9th to have her remaining spacers removed and have a full mouth spacer with bands put in. As far as I know that is all they are doing. She will miss the whole day at school and is a little upset about that, but is happy to be getting this done and over with.

I will update tomorrow after her doctors appointment and let you know what happened. Thank you for checking in and for the prayers. Hugs to all!!

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY NIGHT OCTOBER 3, 2006**

Just a quick prayer request. Today our air conditioner unit burned up and almost caught fire. It was very scary and even shutting the unit off didn't stop the motor from running. We flipped the breaker off and stopped the motor, but tonight inside our house is very hot. Because we rent the house the repair people will be out to hopefully fix the unit tomorrow at no cost to us. Please pray that it is something they will be able to fix right away. It is still 100 degrees out during the day and will be too hot to not have ac.

Also if you could say a couple extra prayers for my husband. He is having his stress related stomach problems again. The pain is bad and the nausea is horrible.

Emily had a better day at school today. The little boy that teased her yestarday left her alone today. Other than that all is going okay here. We are all hot and cranky right now, but hopefully that will be better tomorrow. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. Things have been kind of crazy and busy. Emily is doing well. She seems to be coming down with something. She has a stuffy nose and has been complaining about going to school. She has not complained of any pain though and that is good. She has some tenderness on her head, but no sores and it doesn't seem to hurt her real bad. The spots seem to be getting bigger each day. We have also uncovered a couple new ones, but they are very small. I am still not okay with this situation and I really don't know how to be. I guess someday maybe I will be or at least be able to deal with it better. Right now however I am angry and upset at what she is going through both physically and emotionally. Yestarday she came home from school upset. There is a little boy that she has been playing with everyday for the last couple weeks at recess. Well yestarday this little boy told her, "You are ugly and dumb and your going bald. Only old people lose their hair and go bald." She did tell the teacher and the they took care of it, but it still hurts. She is now wondering if this is the way people are always going to treat her. I wish I could take it all away and make it all better for her.

This was a long weekend for us. Saturday we spent the whole day helping my sister move. They rented a house 6 months ago and moved in and then the owners decided they wanted to sell it so they had to move again. They found a very nice house in a great neighborhood. I am happy and hope this house works out for them. Sunday I went out shopping. I was trying to get ideas for Christmas also. The kids seem to not have many wants this year and so we are at a loss as to what to get them. The kids and my husband stayed home and watched the race. Emily was excited to see that Tony Stewart won the race. Even if he did run out of fuel and coast over the finish line. LOL!! Sunday night we decided to go out to dinner. My husband picked a special place to our family. We went to a mexican food place called Garcia's. My in-laws use to take us there for our birthday dinner every year. Well this year we didn't do a special dinner for my husband and my in-laws aren't here. Then with the 3 year anniversary of his mom's passing last week as well, we decided to go there and have a special dinner in their honor. I don't know if that makes sense to you or not. It was nice though. We sat there, ate some good food and talked about past times when his parents use to take us there. Monday my husband had off work. We took the kids to school and just hung out all day just the 2 of us. We went and walked around several stores trying to get more ideas for Christmas and went out to lunch together. It was a nice day and much needed.

This week Emily has a doctors appointment on Thursday with the endocrinologist. Hopefully we will find out if he is going to do anything about her growth or not. Sunday is our Big Day of Hope with A Hand of Hope. We will be going out to the railroad park for a full day of fun. I will have lots of pictures to share and lots to talk about.

I will update after Emily's doctors appoinment on Thursday and let you know how it went. Until then thank you for checking in and hope you all have a wonderful week.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, September 28, 2006 11:26 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Hope you've had a good week. This week at our house has been long and emotional with a little bit of fun mixed in. Emily has been feeling good. No complaints of pain except for a couple spots on her head. We've found 4 more bald spots on her head. So the total now comes to 5 spots in all so far. One of which I cannot cover up anymore. It has gotten bigger and is in an area that is a natural part in her hair. This situation has been very hard for me to deal with. You see I was finally at a point where I felt like I was strong enough to handle anything. Emily was doing great and we were living life normally and enjoying every minute of it. When I took her to the doctor and he told me she had Alopecia my heart dropped. Since then I've watched her lose her hair in several spots and the rest of her hair is thinning out quite a bit. I find myself crying alot over this and I no longer feel as strong. I've had several people tell me not to worry that it is "just hair". I wish that is all it was to us, but the truth is it is so much more. I don't really know the full reason why I am having such a hard time dealing with this, but it makes me very sad everytime I put her hair up and see her ponytails getting smaller. Everytime she takes a shower and her hair parts in several places that are bald. I am angry that this is happening to her after all that she has already been through. I know that I've said all the right things to her to make her okay with this, but what will make me feel better. The truth is I am not okay with it. There is no reason that my little girl should be going bald after already living almost 2 years without hair. I do understand that she is healthy and doing great and I should focus on that. I do and I am thankful that she is doing so great and happy. But what I don't understand is why can't she have it all. She deserves it! Okay well as you can see I am having one of those nights.

Monday was Daddy's birthday. We did as he asked and didn't buy him anything. While he was at work on Monday I baked him a cake. Just the way he likes it, devils food cake with chocolate frosting. The kids and I made him birthday cards this year instead of buying them. He was so excited and said it was the best birthday he has had in a long time. With the excitement came sadness as well. The last time someone baked him a cake for his birthday was when his mom was still alive. It brought back memories and made him sad. Three years ago today (Sept 28th) his mom passed away. He had today off work and he spent alot of time thinking about his mom and how much he misses her. It was a hard week leading up to today for him. Its been a rollercoaster of emotions and at times I was very worried about him. Tonight he is much better and prepared to go into tomorrow as a brand new day.

Emily and Charlie have both been doing great in school this week. They have had some extra homework each day and they haven't been to happy about it, but they are getting it done. I am told that Emily hasn't had any time outs this week at school either. That is great news for us to hear. She is working really hard on her attitude. I am very proud of her for that. At the beginning of the week Little Charlie seemed to be getting sick, but that only lasted about 24 hours and it was gone. No one else has gotten sick so hopefully that will be it for a little while.

This weekend we don't have much planned yet. Saturday we will probably be helping my sister move. Other than that I am not sure yet. I hope you all have a great weekendh I hope to have a better more upbeat update at the end of the weekend.

I want to thank Bonnie's mom, Mary'beth for the emails. Thank you for always knowing just what to say at just the right time and for being such a good friend to me. Also want to thank Ellieanna's Mom, Chloe for calling and talking to me last week. It seems that just when I need someone to talk to, there you are. I am not sure how you both do it, but somehow you always know when I need a friend the most and I am so glad that you are both my friends. Thank you all for checking in on us and for the messages and prayers. You all mean so much to us and I am glad that you continue to be there for us. Even though Emily is no longer going through treatments for cancer, I still find this site a great comfort and I have found so many friends through here. We love you all. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!!

I know this update is not my normal happy writing, but it has just been one of those weeks. I am hoping and praying for happier better days and weeks ahead. I know we had those normal, happy days not to lang ago and I know we will find them again. Rest asure that the kids are happy and doing great. That in itself gives me some relief.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, September 24, 2006 11:30 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. I would like to first say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Husband. Monday sept 25th is his birthday. He has asked that we let it go by like it was any other day. It is killing him that he is turning 31 yrs old. LOL! I am planning something a little special for him, but it will be just the 4 of us. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY. WE LOVE YOU LOTS!!

Emily is feeling good. She stopped taking her zantac on friday and so far so good. No pain! The sore on her head is gone. WOOHOO! We are so grateful for that. The bald spot is growing a little more with each passing day. It is getting almost impossible for me to cover up at all. Emily is now noticing the hair loss that she is having. She asked me the other day, "Mommy when I get to be your age will someone want to marry me if I have no hair?" Of course my answer was "Of course someone will. You are so beautiful with or without hair." She is a very strong girl as we all know and she is really dealing with this wonderfully. I am so proud of her. School continues to go great for both Emily and Charlie.

Saturday we ran errands in the morning and then about mid afternoon Uncle Tom, Aunt Nicki, Katelynn and Tyler came over. The kids were excited since they don't get to play as often as they use to. We had poker night at our house. It was alot of fun. We made hot wings and ordered pizza. The kids played Spongebob Life and we played Texas Hold'em. It was alot of fun and I hope to do it again soon. Thank goodness we weren't playing for real money or I would be broke. LOL! Sunday was our day of rest and a little cleaning around the house. Overall a great weekend.

I know I don't have to much to talk about, but in a way that is a good thing. It means that our life seems to be going along normally right now. We hope and pray that it stays that way. Emily has no doctors appointments until Oct 5th and 17th. I would like to ask for some extra prayers for my husband. He injured his shoulder at work last week. He thought he just piched something so he didn't go get it checked out. Well it is really hurting him alot now. He is going to talk to his boss and see if he can go get it checked out. Please pray that it is nothing serious. He is so worried that he will have to take time off work to heal and if that is the case we will have no income. Other than that everyone here is doing great.

Thank you for checking in and for all the wonderful messages. They mean so much to us and Emily continues to read them each night before bed.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, September 21, 2006 0:55 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Emily had her appointment with the GI doctor on monday. It went great just as I had expected. He is happy with her and feels like we should stop giving her the Zantac and see how she does. If the pain comes back then we are to call and go back to see him. If not then she does not need to go back. She was very happy to not have to go see him anymore. She liked him but dropping one doctor from her list was a good thing for her. Wednesday I took her to the dentist. The reason that she lost her spacer is because there is a tooth growing and it pushed it out. I felt kind of stupid cause I told the dentist that I couldn't figure out why that spacer came out. Well when it came out I couldn't see that a tooth was growing there. That was almost 2 weeks ago and since then the tooth has pushed through the gums. She has 2 other spacers also in the moler area and they are also being pushed out because teeth are growing in. She is very happy with this, but we do have to go back. They wasnt to put a full mouth spacer in. I can't remember exactly what she called it. She said it will run along all her teeth with bands. She also said that it is very important that we do this as soon as possible. So they are going to get authorization from the insurance company and then call for the appointment. They will have to sedate her for this procedure also. She is upset about having to go back, but knows that it is important so her teeth come in the way they should. They told me it would probably be 4-6 weeks before they get authorization. So this will take place most likely sometime in October or beginning of November.

Emily has a couple doctors appointments coming up in October. The 5th she goes to the endocrinologist. It has been awhile since she had all those tests done so hopefully he will have a plan for us on what we will do about her growth. She has gained a little less than a pound in the last month and I'm not to sure if she has gotten any taller. On the 17th she goes to her oncologist for blood checks. The sore on Emily's head is much better. However the bald spot on her head has gotten a little bigger once again. It is at the point where it is almost impossible to cover it up. We are okay with that, but are still hopeful that she will grow hair in that spot. The other spot that looked like it a sore was starting has cleared up and she didn't lose any hair there. Overall her hair does seem to be thinning out, but not enough to notice unless your me. Since I do her hair everyday I donotice the difference. She is okay with whatever happens though and that was the biggest concern for us. We hoped that emotionally she would be okay and we are seeing now that she is. I am very happy to see that.

This week we got the kids progress reports. They both did excellent. I am so very proud of both of them. Emily has been getting better in school as far as talking out. Her attitude has gotten much better at school and at home. We don't have much planned for the rest of the week and not sure what we will be doing this weekend yet. Monday Sept 25th is Daddy's birthday. He doesn't want us to make a big deal out of it. So I am going to make him a cake and just do a little something here.

Thank you for checking in and for the messages. To all our caringbridge families, we have been checking in regularly and praying daily.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, September 18, 2006 1:00 AM CDT

***NEW PICTURES ADDED TO THE PHOTO ALBUM 9-18-06***

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. Emily has been feeling pretty good. Emotionally I think she has gotten better. She said she still doesn't quite fully understand why this is happening to her, but she is okay with it. I am really proud of her for how she is handling this. The spot on her head that is bald is getting a little bigger still. The sore however is getting better and is causing her less pain. I am happy about that. She has been letting me put her hair up and it is not bothering her. The other red spot on her head has not gotten any worse. Hopefully it won't. It doesn't hurt her at all so that is also another good thing.

Friday Charlie and Emily went to stay at my sisters house for the night. My husband and I went to my 10 year class reunion. I am glad that we decided to go. I got to see many people that I went to school with and we had lots of fun. My reunion was in 2 parts. Friday we met up at the school for their homecoming football game. After about half the game we left and went dancing and hung out. Saturday night we all met up at a really nice park with our families. We barbequed, the kids played and we talked about school and what we've done since school. The kids had a wonderful time and met some new friends. I had a blast hanging out with some old friends. Many of us exchanged phone numbers and email addresses and plan to keep in touch. Its not often that I get out with a bunch of people and have so much fun. Since I really don't have a big circle of friends. I hope to be able to get together with some of them again. Sunday was our day to stay home, clean house and watch Nascar. It was a nice relaxing day.

Oh and Sunday night Emily lost another tooth. She had another tooth in the front that was hurting her and it started to bleed while she was eating dinner. So after dinner she went in and brushed her teeth and then just pulled it out. So she is now missing her 2 top front teeth and 3 bottom front teeth. She started to cry right after she pulled it out and said to me, "I don't want to lose anymore teeth until these grow back in." Her teeth are falling out quickly and growing back slowly. But I know as all of you have said so many times we just love that toothless smile. LOL! The kids had school pictures on Friday. I am not sure when I will get them in, but I am excited to see how they turned out. When I get them I am going to post her school pictures from the last 3 years. I cannot believe how much she has grown and changed. Charlie is also doing great. He was chosen as student of the week. He is pretty excited. The teacher gave him this big paper that looks like the front page of a newspaper for him to fill out. It is to tell about his likes and his personality. Then he gets to bring in some things to help the class to get to know him better. I am so proud of him. He is doing absolutely wonderful in school.

Monday Sept 18th Emily has an appointment with her GI doctor. I don't expect anything but good news from him. She hasn't been having belly pain. Wednesday she goes to the dentist to have her spacer put back in. They are also going to check the other ones to make sure they are in there good so she doesn't lose those. She is a bit nervous about going but I know she will do great. I really like her dentist and so does she. I believe that is all we have going on for this week.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, September 14, 2006 11:18 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! This week has been an emotional week for Emily. After finding out that she has alopecia on tuesday she has been going through alot. It has been hard trying to get her to understand it all. She went to school on Tuesday after her doctors appointment. It was definately not one of her best days at school. During the time they were doing their math work she kept yelling out "Boring". The teacher knew there was something going on with her because this is not normal behavior for her. So she pulled her aside and talked to her. She said there was a couple incidents after that and she had to sit in time out. I am sad that she doesn't understand so she is acting out. Tuesday after school I sat down with her and explained it the best I could. She also told me some of the things that are bothering her about this new diagnosis. She is afraid she is sick again and that people are going to make fun of her like they did when she lost her hair before. The other thing she asked me was "Why does everything have to happen to me?" My response to her was "Because you are strong enough to handle it." I think after our talk she felt better. She went to school wednesday and many people noticed the bald spot on her head (it has gotten a little bigger) and asked her about it. She told them what it was and most people said okay and others asked her what that meant. She didn't know what to tell them so she told them to ask a teacher. So far no one has made fun of her or said anything bad to her about it. I continue to put the cream on her head where the sore is. So far it doesn't seem to be getting any better. It is still causing her alot of pain. Tonight I noticed she has another spot on her head that is also starting to get red. (the same way the other one started) No hair has fallen out in that area yet. I am keeping an eye on that spot and I started tonight putting cream on that spot as well. I know the most common form of alopecia is patchy baldness and that the hair has a really good chance of coming back. We are really trying to stay positive. Our biggest concern is not that she will go totally bald, but what this is doing to her emotionally. She is just like her daddy and she holds everything inside. She likes to show everyone that she can be strong and handle everything. She doesn't like to show any sign of weekness. She truly is an amazing little girl.

The last few days at school have been good for her. She hasn't been acting out. I really hope that the talk I had with her helped her. Friday they will be taking school pictures. Emily will once again have a toothless smile in her school pictures. She thinks that is great. LOL! Of course instead of just the 2 front teeth like last year, it will be all 4 front teeth. Of course we know they will comeout great cause no matter how many teeth she has or doesn't have, she has a beautiful smile. Charlie has been doing awesome in school. He is almost totally done with the book he has been reading. He is very proud of himself. This is the first time he has started reading a book and stuck with it. I am very proud of how he is doing. Daddy has been out of town most of the week. He will be out of town again next week to. He is liking the change. Every once in a while he gets bored with the same old route and its nice to have a change.

Friday night we are going to go to my 10 year high school reunion. It will be nice to see some of my old friends that I've lost touch with.Don't know what else we have planned for this weekend. I am sure we will think of something to do.

I want to thank you all for the nice messages to Emily about her alopecia. She has found comfort in knowing that others have had this and their hair has grown back. Also in knowing that she will be beautiful no matter what happens. I know that you have helped her to deal with this issue just as much as we have. Please continue to pray that she will not lose anymore and that she will grow her hair back in that spot. Also please pray that the red spot heals soon and stops causing her pain. Thank you for your prayers and messages. Keep them coming.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, September 11, 2006 1:34 AM CDT

*EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2006*

I took Emily to the doctor this morning for her head. Diagnosis is in and they said that she has Alopecia. We have conflicting feelings about this diagnosis. We are of course very happy that it is nothing serious and has nothing to do with cancer. We are celebrating that. On the other hand we are sad that she has finally grown her hair after having none for nearly 2 years and yet again she is losing it. The doctor is unsure at this point how much she will lose. He said it is possible this will be all she loses. The bald area is showing no signs of hair follicles or regrowth. So that leads him to believe that it may never grow back, but it is always a possibility. Right now it is a waiting game. We watch to see if it gets worse or if she starts to lose hair in other areas. If it does then it is a possibility that she could lose all her hair. We just don't know. At least we have a diagnosis and know what it is now. He also gave me some cream to out in the area cause she has a spot that is very red and hurting her alot. I have to put this cream on there for 2 weeks and that should heal that.

Right now Emily is very upset. She thinks she is sick again and is also afraid she is going to lose all her hair. It is hard for her to understand. The last 2 times she was losing her hair she had a good reason for it. This time she knows she is healthy and doing well and just doesn't understand why she is losing her hair. It is going to take some time for her to understand and we will do our best to explain it to her. I want to thank you all for your prayers and for checking in. Please don't forget to leave a message in the guestbook. Emily has been reading them everynight and loves to hear from you.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



***EDITED UPDATE MONDAY AFTERNOON SEPT 11, 2006***

I called the dentist and they are waiting for a referral from the insurance company and then I will have to bring her back in to get her spacer replaced. She is not going ot be very happy about it, but I know she will do great like she did the last time.

I am very upset about the call I put into her oncologist though. I explained everything to the receptionist and she took a message. A couple hours later she called me back and told me that he does not want to see her that I have to call her pediatrician. I feel like now that she is off treatment he doesn't want to even talk to me about any issues concerning her health. So I called the pediatricians office and they called back and scheduled her for tomorrow at 8:30 am. Its going to be quite a crunch on time in the morning with trying to get Charlie to school and then get over to the doctors on time, but otherwise I would have to wait until next week. With the pain she is having in her head I want to get her in there asap. Hopefully they will be able to tell me what is going and what we need to do. I will update when I know more. Please just pray that it is something easily treated and nothing serious.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. First I would like to ask for some prayers for Emily. I told you on friday about the spot on her head that is bothering her and is without hair. Well this weekend it has gotten worse. It is a bright red color and looks like it is either swollen or growing a lump. It is very tender to the touch and hurts her really bad. I cannot do her hair anymore cause it hurts to much. I am very concerned about it, but am trying not to worry about it to much. I am however going to call the doctor on the morning just to set my mind at ease. Also on Saturday Emily lost one of her spacers for her teeth. When she went to the dentist and got all those teeth pulled they put in spacers so that it would keep the space open for when new teeth were ready to grow in. So I will have to call the dentist and see if it is a big problem that it fell out. She may have to go back and have another put in. Emily has been spendng alot of time this weekend laying around watching tv with a headache. So I ask that you please pray that her head stops hurting and that they will be able to tell me what it is and that it is nothing serious. My husband and I are concerned since it has grown a lump.

Saturday we hung out at home most of the day and then went to Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki's house. We had a lot of fun over there. Sept 11th is my nieces birthday and so we went over there to bring her a birthday present and then we went out to Coldstone Creamery for ice cream. The kids loved it and of course any chance that I get to get out of the house I jump at it. LOL! Sunday morning Daddy took Little Charlie hunting with Uncle Tom and Tyler. He loved it. He wanted to go so bad last weekend but where they went there was alot of people and I didn't feel comfortable with Little Charlie being out there. So he took him this weekend with him. Emily and I went shopping and dropped off some pictures to be copied. We are still trying to get all the pictures of my in laws copied so that both my husband and his brother have a copy of each picture they want.

I have decided that I am going to go Friday to my 10 year high school reunion. I really wanted to go and see some of my old friends. They really aren't doing anything big, but it will still be nice to see people. My husband is doing out of town routes this week. Monday he leaves for Texas and comes home on Tuesday and then he will leave again on Thursday for New Mexico and will be back on Friday. Depending on what time he gets home Friday will determine whether he goes with me friday night. They are also carrying the reunion over to saturday night. That will be a family barbeque at a park. I will be happy if I at least get to go one night. Next week my husband will be doing the same out of town route. Please pray for his safety. He is use to being in town and it is a long drive and sometimes he gets tired.

The only doctors appointment Emily has for this month is on Sept. 18th with the GI doctor. Her belly has been feeling better. She still has on and off pain, but it really is much better than it was. I am sure that we will have nothing but a good report at that appointment.

We ask that everyone say an extra prayer today on the 5 year anniversary of the Sept 11th attacks. We will always remember those who lost there lives and we are always praying for those fighting in the middle east.



Right now that is about all. If anything changes I will update. As soon as I know something from the doctor I will be sure to let you know. Until then please pray that all is okay and that she will be headache free. Thank you for checking in, praying and leaving a message.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, September 7, 2006 11:26 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! The picture at the top was taken a couple days ago. Not sure if you can tell but Emily lost another tooth. So she is without all her 4 front teeth. She thinks it is the funniest thing. Emily has been feeling good this week. No compaints of belly pain or headaches. It has been a very good week for her. One thing that I thought was weird though and I can't believe that I never noticed this before now. I was doing her hair the other day, like I do each day, and noticed that she has a spot on the top of her head about the size of a quarter or maybe a little bigger that is totally bald and red. It is a very smooth spot on her head that looks as though she had never grown any hair there. Not concerning me, but I really thought that was weird. She told me that spot on her head is tender and that it bothers her sometimes. I think that if it bothers her much more then I will bring it up with her doctor next time we go. I am not worried about it, but if it bothers her I want to be sure that it is okay. So anyways things with Emily have been good overall.

This week Emily says she is having a better week at school. She is following directions and remembering to raise her hand instead of speaking out. She told me she is working really hard at this. I am very proud of her. We are still haveing some problems with her reading at home, but I know she will get back into reading and love it like she did last year. Charlie is also doing great at school. He has been reading the book Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing. He is half way through it and has been reading it everyday for his reading homework. He is very proud of himself. He is getting through a chapter a day in 20 minutes. He is pushing himself with harder books to challenge himself. Its great to see him work this hard and do so great. I am very proud of him also.

I am not sure what we have planned for the weekend. I hope to get some more pictures up in the photo album soon. Maybe this weekend I will get some more taken. Thank you all for checking in. I hope you have a great weekend.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, September 5, 2006 1:45 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend. It was a nice long weekend for us. Emily seems to be doing better. She is still complaining of belly pain here and there, but it doesn't seem like it is as bad as it was. Her cough is gone and she is back to sounding normal. Well normal for her. She still has the noisy breathing but it doesn't sound raspy anymore. So overall she is doing great and feeling great. For anyone that didn't see my update from friday, Emily's chest xray was clear. We were very happy to hear that. I know that we are at the point where we feel good about her and are not stressing real bad about her scans, but it is always nice to get the phone call reassuring us that all is well. We want to thank you for all the prayers.

This weekend was a low key weekend once again for the kids and I. Saturday we went out shopping and running errands. Sunday Daddy went hunting with his brother. The kids and I hung out at home playing games and watching movies. The kids and I also did something very special for daddy while he was gone hunting. We went to Walmart and copied a whole bunch of old and new pictures of my in laws and family pictures. We bought some picture frames and went home to create our surprise. We took a big collage frame and filled it with pictures of his family and his parents. Then we had six 8x10 pictures that we framed. We found the best wall in the house (that wasn't already covered in pictures. LOL) and put them up. Since both of his parents passed away we knew this wall would be something that would be very special to him. When he got home the kids made him close his eyes and they led him to it and told him to open his eyes. He instantly started to cry. He was so touched by what we had done for him and he loves it. It really does look great and it is a wonderful tribute to his family. That night he sat in the chair (its on the diningroom wall) and just stared at the pictures. I think it helps him alot to be able to look at his parents. He still hasn't really dealt with their deaths and as I watched him stare at those pictures he looked very peaceful. I am glad that we were able to do that for him and that he liked it.

Monday Daddy decided to go out hunting again. The kids and I cleaned house. I don't think their is one thing in this house that didn't get cleaned. LOL! Emily was even asking if she could go and clean all the walls. LOL! The kids were lots of help to me with the cleaning. Then they went to play games. Daddy got home and once again was very tired and so he took a nap. After we woke him up we barbequed and just spent time as a family together. It really was a good weekend even though we didn't go anywhere. We had a weekend full of fun and no argueing and fighting. That is always great. Usually the kids start to argue after being home together for more than one day.

Tuesday is back to normal schedule. Kids go to school, daddy back to work, and me back to babysitting. Nothing scheduled for this week so far. I just got notifcation that my 10 year high school reunion is coming up. I really want to go. Now its just convincing my husband to go. He always feels uncomfortable around alot of people that he doesn't know. Well we will see.

Not much else to report. I am going to try to get some new pictures up soon. I have been lacking in that department. Oh the kids already picked out their halloween costumes when we were at walmart on Sunday. Charlie is going to be a zombie and Emily is going to be a skeleton bride. I can't wait to take pictures of them in them. They are so excited about halloween. I know it is still a little less than 2 months away, but I guess its better to get them early than wait til the last minute. Anyways thank you for checking in and I will try to get pictures up soon.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, August 30, 2006 1:58 AM CDT

*** EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY SEPT. 1, 2006***

I just got the call from Emily's oncologist. He said that her chest xray came out ALL CLEAR!!!! I was feeling good about this xray but always good to hear them say ALL CLEAR. Emily woke up this morning sounding raspy and coughing. No fever and she said she feels okay. Probably just a bug that she picked up at school. Hopefully with the 3 day weekend she will feel better by the time she goes back to school on tuesday.

Thank you for all the prayers for good clear results. Your prayers have been answered.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY AUGUST 31, 2006**

Still no results yet on the chest xray. I plan to call the doctor in the morning. I promise I will update as soon as I know. Emily is still having tummy pain. It seems to be happening more often again. It is so frustrating when it goes away and then all of a sudden comes back and still no explanation. UGH!!

Tonight I went to open house at the kids school. Emily's teacher said that Emily is doing great. The only other thing she did say is that she has to remind Emily to raise her hand. I guess her reading teacher is having the same problem with her. I guess they both said that it is not like she is disrupting class. Its just because she knows the answers and wants to answer before anyone else so she forgets to raise her hand. They both said she is working on it and is improving each day. Overall though they are very happy with how she is doing in school so far. I am also happy to say that she is trying harder at reading at home. She is not fighting with me as much. Charlie's teacher said he is the perfect student. WOW!! What a wonderful thing to hear about your child. He told me that Charlie is very pleasant and does great on all his work in all subjects. He is however having the issue he had last year. He is so worried about getting answers wrong on his papers that it takes him longer to finish then the other kids cause he keeps going back and rechecking it. Minor issue considering the fact that he is doing great and his grades are already reflecting that. He promised his teacher he would work on picking up his pace a little more. His reading teacher told me that she is very happy with Charlie's reading. He is in 3rd grade, but in 4th grade reading. He is doing great and working hard at school and at home on getting better in reading. I am very proud of both of them. They love school so much and I know they will do great.

Not much else going on. We have a 3 day weekend this weekend, but I don't know if we really have anything planned. My husband is going hunting with his brother so maybe I will find something for the kids and I to do while he is gone. Hope you all have a great weekend. I promise to update with results of the chest xray as soon as I get them. Hopefully tomorrow since it is a long weekend. If I don't get them tomorrow then I will have to wait until tuesday. I will be be one unhappy Mom if that happens. Thank you for checking in and please keep praying for the all clear results.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! I took Emily tuesday for her chest xray. Hoping and praying for clear test results. We will not have any results for a couple days. I will update with results as soon as I get them. Emily did great as always with her chest xray. It was pretty funny to listen to her tell the tech how it is done.

Last night (monday) Emily started to complain about her belly hurting. It has not stopped hurting since then. She told me that it was hurting at school and she was in tears much of the ay to the doctors today because of it hurting. She also had a tough time going to sleep tonight. Hopefully she will wake up in the morning feeling better. Charlie has been doing great. They are loving school still. They started reading class last week. I am once again having a tough time with Emily doing her reading homework. (read for 20 minutes) She loves to read, but just doesn't feel like doing it after being in school all day. She would rather be watching cartoons or taking a nap. Last year I had the same problem with her, but it only lasted about a week or two. So hoping she will come around and start doing her reading homework without a fight.

Not much happening this week. Thursday is open house at the school. I am pretty excited about this. I always love going to open house and seeing what the kids have done and where they are at so far in class. I am sure that I will hear lots of good things about both of them. So far they have brought home nothing but good gades on all their papers. This weekend Daddy is going hunting. So what the kids and I are going to be doing, I'm not sure. I am sure we will think of something.

I also wanted to tell you that things are okay here. I have been trying to deal with alot emotionally. It doesn't have to do with the kids. Just some issues that my husband and I have been trying to deal with. I think over the last couple days we have talked alot and possibly straightened out some of the issues. Things are better though and we are just trying to keep the lines of communication open between us. I want to thank you all for checking in and for the messages in the guestbook.

I will be sure to keep you posted on results of the chest xray. Hope to have them within the next couple days. Thank you for the prayers.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, August 28, 2006 0:46 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! First I would like to apologize in advance for the update. I wanted to update and tell you all about the weekend, but I am not really feeling like updating. So it probably won't be like my normal updates. Alot of things are going on and so my brain is all scattered. Sorry and thank you for checking in.

Hope you had a good weekend. Emily is feeling great. We have had no complaints of pain or anything. I plan to take her for her chest xray this week sometime.

Saturday we really didn't do much of anything during the day. Saturday evening we took the kids to my sisters.They said they had fun there. My husband and I went to the Tim Mcgraw and Faith Hill concert. It was one of the best concerts we have ever been to. They came on stage about 30 minutes late, but it was definately worth the wait. The show was about 3 hours long. I am glad we were able to get tickets for this concert. We had lots of fun.

Sunday morning we picked up the kids and took them out for breakfast. Then spent the day at home. Didn't really do much of anything else. This week I will be taking Emily for her chest xray. Thursday is also open house at the school. Other than that we don't have much planned for the week.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, August 25, 2006 1:59 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Things are going good here. Emily has been feeling pretty good. Minimal complaints about a headache and tummy aches but overall she is feeling great. They are both doing great in school. They started reading class today. Emily is in 2.2 reading level (at 2nd grade level) and Charlie is in 4.1 (4th grade level). Can you believe Charlie is in a reading class one grade higher then what he is in? I am so proud of him. I know Emily will move up fast like she did last year once she gets reading everyday again. I am still happy that she went up a little bit higher then last year. She was in 2.0 at the end of last year. They are both very happy with the reading teachers they got also. They are loving school and I am so happy about that. We have been very lucky ever since they started school in kindergarten that every year they have loved their teachers and school.

I am sad to say that I had to deliver bad news to Emily today. She was getting so excited about the Martina Mcbride concert on Sept 16th. She has gone the last 2 years thanks to A Hand of Hope. Well I got an email from Rob today and he said that they will not give him tickets for Emily this year. I guess Martina is flying in just for the concert and already has a meet and greet with about 200 people. Emily was so upset and broken hearted. Then she broke my heart and said, "I thought I was special to Martina. Doesn't she want to see me again?" Matina remembered her from one year to the next and she was getting so excited to show her how long her hair had gotten. I am so sad that she will not be able to go and meet her and see the concert, but Rob can only do so much and neither of us are upset at him in any way. Emily just took it very personal and it broke her heart. Hopefully next time she will be able to go.

Wednesday was mine and my husbands 9 year wedding anniversary. We decided to celebrate this weekend instead of trying to do something in the middle of the week. That night he brought me home flowers and a beautiful card. Today I was able to get him the gift that he really wanted. I got Tim Mcgraw and Faith Hill concert tickets. They are for Saturday night and he was very happy. I was very lucky to get these tickets. I have been looking and trying to talk people down on their prices and no one would budge. Today I recieved an email from someone that offered great seats at a price that I could afford and so I scooped them up. I am so happy that I was able to get these for him. I knew it was the one thing he really wanted. So my sister is going to take the kids for the night and we are going to the concert. I am so excited and can't wait. I've heard they put on a great concert.

Next week I am planning to take Emily for her chest xray. I am thinking it will probably be either monday or tuesday. My husband will be home from work both days so that will enable me to be able to take Emily for her xray as soon as she is out of school cause he will be able to pick up Little Charlie from school. I will be sure to let you know what day I take her so we can all be praying for it to be CLEAR! Also on August 31st is open house at school. It is the first time Daddy will be meeting the teachers and we will be able to really see how the kids have been doing so far in school. Other than that I think that is about all we have planned so far. Not to much else going on around here. Thank you for always checking in.

Emily wanted me to ask that if you get a minute will you go over to Daniel Gade's site and wish him a congratulations. On August 29th he is being promoted from Captain to Major. We sure wish that we could be there to witness this great occassion with them. Emily is sad that she will not be able to attend. Daniel, we are very proud of you and want to say CONGRATULATIONS! Emily misses you and hopes to see you soon. Sending (((BIG MONSTER HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, August 21, 2006 11:59 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Emily has been feeling good. Being back to school has been great for both the kids. They are not together all day long so when they come home they are not fighting as much. The stress level has gone down quite a bit in our house. LOL! They are both doing great in school already. They had thier first spelling test this past friday and they both got 100 percent. They are getting homework everynight and they will start reading class in a week or 2. They love being at school. Things are really going great.

This past weekend we really didn't do to much. Surprise there huh? LOL! Saturday we spent the day doing yard work and housework. Sunday we went to Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki's house and watched the race. The end of the race was quite funny and exciting in that house. Aunt Nicki like Matt Kenseth (winner) daddy and Charlie like Jeff Gordon (2nd) and Uncle Tom and Emily like Tony Stewart (3rd). They were all routing for their drivers and hoping they would win. LOL! It was funny for me to sit back and watch them all. Monday brought a whole new week of school and work. Back to the routine. Love it!

Wednesday August 23rd is My husband and my anniversary. 9 years we will be married. I've been trying really hard to get tickets for the Faith Hill and Tim Mcgraw concert on saturday night. My husband really wants to go and the song Its your love was our wedding song. I haven't had any luck getting any. I am pretty upset that I couldn't get them. Most people that are selling them now want 2-3 times more then what they paid for them. I just can't afford them. So I think we will end up going out to dinner and finding something else to do. My sister is going to take the kids overnight for me. Its been awhile since my husband and I have been out just the 2 of us, so whatever we decide to do I know we will have fun.

Not much else planned for the rest of the week. I called and rescheduled Emily's appointment with her Endocrinologist. He went into the hospital and had surgery 2 weeks ago and will not be ready to start seeing his patients again until October. So her appointment is for Oct 5th. We will then find out the results of her blood work and see if he wants to take any steps about her growth. I will also be taking Emily in for her chest xray probably next week. I will be sure to let you know when I take her.

To all our caringbridge friends. We do check in and I apologize for not always signing your guestbooks. Please know that we think about all of you daily and pray for all of you. I plan to find some time when I can sit and sign guestbooks. Thank you to all that continue to check in on us and sign the guestbook. It really means alot to us and we look forward to reading your messages.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 1:06 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY AUGUST 17,2006**

Hi Everyone! The kids have really enjoyed their first week at school. Both of them already getting homework. They love their teachers and are really enjoying being back at school. The only thing that Charlie has had to get use to is he is going to school 1 hour longer than last year. So I pick Emily up at 2:30 and Charlie up at 3:30. The kids have been pretty tired after coming home from school. Need less to say we haven't been having any trouble with getting them to go to sleep at night. I enjoy my time during the day. I watch my niece and nephew during the day, so I stay busy. Getting back to a scheduled day and week has been nice. I've also noticed less fighting among the kids. That is always nice to. LOL!

Really not a whole lot to report. We are all doing well. Emily has been having minor aches and pains in her belly, but as always nothing that is stopping her from doing anything. I really do think her pains are better than they were. Hope everyone has had a great week and hope you also have a great weekend. We have no plans as of right now. Well thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! The picture at the top is the kids on their first day of school. (8-14-06) They were so excited to be getting back to school and seeing their friends again. Plus I think they were getting burned out with being at home with Mommy all the time. LOL! Just kidding we had a fun summer and spent lots of good quality time together, but it feels good to get back into the swing of things.

Emily is feeling good. Last update I told you that se didn't have to go back to the oncologist until December, well I was wrong. Well more like they messed up when they scheduled her appointment. The doctor wants to see her in 10 weeks and somehow they got 4 months from that. LOL! I called today to fix it and her new date is on October 17th. I will also be taking her within the next couple weeks for her chest xray. I will let you know when that is and then of course we have to wait 3 days at least for the results. I will keep you posted on that. Also she was suppose to go in to see the endocrinologist on Friday August 18th. They called me today and the endocrinologist is in the hospital and just had surgery so they will call me when they know more and when he will be back. So for now we wait on the growth thing. That is not breaking Emily's heart any. She was a little upset that I was going to have to take her out of school early to take her to the doctor. She is hoping for a normal school year this year with as little doctors visits as possible. Of course we are all hoping for that.

So Friday we went to meet the teachers. We already knew Emily's teacher. Charlie had her for reading last year and we really like her. Emily was very excited to be in her class and to find out that her best friend is also in the same class. Charlie has a brand new teacher. This is his first year here at this school. Charlie and him hit it off right away. His teacher is very nice and has a great sense of humor. I really liked him as well. I think this is definately going to be a great year for both the kids.

This weekend we really didn't do anything. Seems to be a trend for us lately. Money hasn't been real great and so we prefer to just stay home and find things to do here. It was an enjoyable relaxing weekend. Hope you had a great weekend as well.

Monday was the first day of school for the kids. Just to give you an idea of how excited they really were, Charlie was up at 5:40am and Emily was up at 5:50am. They got up all by themselves (way earlier then they needed to) got breakfast, got dressed, brushed their teeth and were ready to walk out the door by 7am. They don't have to be at school until 8:10am. This had to be one of the easiest mornings I have ever had with them since they started going to school. Although once we got to the school easy was out of the question. It was a madhouse there. We drove around in circles trying to find someplace to park and then I ended up parking in a no parking zone so I didn't have to walk a mile with 4 kids. I walked the kids to their classes and for the first year there were no tears from either one of them. I am so proud of them. They had a great day at school. Charlie had homework already, but Emily didn't. Emily was home for about an hour and a half and she fell asleep. School really took alot out of her today. LOL! Give it a week and she will be use to it again.

Not to much else to report. Mine and my husband's 9 year wedding anniversary is coming up on August 23rd. I am hoping to be able to plan something for him. I want to do something really special for him. He has had the full weight of this family and all financial responsibility for the last 2 years and I want him to know how much I love him and appreciate him. Not to sure what we will do but hopefully I will think of something good. Anyways not much else going on. Thank you for checking in.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, August 10, 2006 11:26 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY AUGUST 13, 2006**

Just wanted to come on here really quick and let you know that all is well. I promise an update after I take the kids to school. They are so excited about the first day of school. I will update and post pictures. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



Hi Everyone! Emily had her doctors appointment today with her oncologist. Today was more than a finger poke and Emily was not happy at all. She put up one heck of a fight. We quickly settled her down, but not the way she liked. The nurse and I were not strong enough to hold her and get the blood so we called in the doctor to help. He of course overpowered her and she was not happy about that. Now they stuck her with the needle but missed on the first try. The doctor had to leave the room for a phone all and I am happy to say that Emily stayed perfectly still and let the nurse poke her again (successfully) with no fight or anyone holding her. I guess she really didn't like the doctor holding her arm. I am very proud of how brave she was. She has lost some weight since the last time that we went 2 months ago. She has grown a 1/4 of an inch in the last 2 months. Not very much, but I am always happy when they say she has grown. He gave me the orders for her to have her chest xray. We do those on a walk in basis. No need to schedule them. He has asked me to wait about 3 weeks and then take her. I will be sure to let you know when I take her in. Her breathing is the same and he is happy about that. He is also happy that she is seeing the GI doctor and hopes that he will be able to get to the root of the belly pain. We go in on August 18th to see the endocrinologist. He will have the results of the blood work and we will find out if they are going to take any action as far as her growth. As far as the oncologist goes, she will not have to go back to see him until December. (10 weeks) We have been going to see him every 2 months since being off treatment (18 months ago). He said that he didn't feel comfortable waiting 3 months to see her. I am not sure why, but then he said 10 weeks. Overall though Emily has been feeling good.

Friday morning we go to the school to meet the kids teachers. They are so excited. They are ready to go back to school. We have completed their school shopping and they already picked out the outfit they will wear the first day. I can't believe they are going into 2nd and 3rd grades already. It feels like just yestarday that Emily was going into kindergarten. The first day that I brought my bald little girl into school and she was so brave and I cried like a baby. LOL! Now she is healthy with beautiful hair and going into 2nd grade. Where does the time go?

Nothing planned for this weekend that I know of. Oh I got an email today about the PF Changs Rock and Roll marathon that Emily participated in last year. The kids have both decided that they want to do it this year. We will sign them up for it as soon as it is available to do so. I am unsure of whether I want to do it this year. I really wanted to, but I am not confident that I can make the full 26.2 or 13.1 miles. I am not very athletic, but it would be a great experience. My other concern is raising money. I never was very good at the getting donations. Well I am going to think about it. I would be joining the HopeKids (A Hand of Hope) team if I decide to do it. All money raised goes to them.

Not to much else going on this week. We have been at home not doing to much. Just enjoying our last week of summer break. Hope everyone has had a great summer and ready to get back to school.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, August 7, 2006 1:19 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY NIGHT AUGUST 7th**

I want to thank you for the thoughts and prayers for my husband. I talked to him late tonight and he was at the hotel getting ready to get some sleep. He said the flooding is not to bad where he is at, but he could tell that it was bad. He said there is tons of mud everywhere and all over the roads to. Anyways he will be getting up early to do his last couple stops and then will be heading home. Emily had a rough time going to sleep tonight. She said she couldn't sleep without giving Daddy a hug and kiss. She did get to talk to him on the phone but that wasn't enough. She isn't use to him being gone overnight anymore.

Just wanted to thank you for the thoughts and prayers and let you know that he is safe and will be home tomorrow.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



Hi Everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. I would like to start tonight with asking for prayers for my husband. He will be leaving very early Monday morning to drive to El Paso, Texas for work. (he is a truck driver) He will return home on Tuesday. I have been seeing on the news that El Paso is getting pretty bad storms with lots of flooding. Please pray for a safe trip and safe return home.

Emily is feeling good. Sunday she had belly pain off and on all day. Hope they figure out what is causing it soon. It is frustrating to see her in pain and not be able to help her cause we don't know the cause. Other than that she hasn't really had the pain the rest of the weekend. Little Charlie is doing great.

This weekend was a very relaxing stay at home kind of weekend. Saturday night we did go to the pool party with A Hand of Hope. We had so much fun. It took place at a public pool. The pool was closed to the public for the evening though. The fire department was there and barbequed food for us and served snow cones. The pool also had a big winding slide. Emily was just barely tall enough to be able to go on that. I could hardly get them to eat anything. All they wanted to do was play on the slide. We met quite a few new additions to A Hand of Hope (soon to be called HopeKids). There was also someone out there from the Pearia Times that was taking pictures and talking to several families. (ours included) We also invited my dad, his wife and kids and my sister, brother in law and kids. We all had a blast. I really didn't get many pictures though. It was quite hard getting my kids to stay in one place for any length of time. But they had lots of fun and that is what counts the most. Sunday we stayed home all day. My husband wanted to relax for the day since he has a very long drive ahead of him in the morning. So we hung out at home and just enjoyed a nice day together.

This week Emily will be going to see her oncologist on Thursday Aug 10th. I am expecting him to give us a time and date for her scan. I will be sure to let you know when that will be. Then on Friday we go meet the kids teachers. I got the letters in the mail telling me who their teachers are. Emily is very excited cause she knows the teacher she will have and really likes her. I am very happy about that. Charlie's teacher is a new teacher to the school, I think, so it will be the first time meeting him. They are getting very excited about school starting. They are ready to go back. I am excited about getting back to some what of a schedule during the day.

Not to much else going on. Things are just moving along pretty good. I wanted to share this little story that was left by someone in Emily's guestbook. I really like it and just in case you are one of those people that doesn't read others entries, I thought I would copy it here. Hope you enjoy it and love it as much as I do.

To My Child...
Just for this morning, I am going to smile when I see your face and laugh when I feel like crying.
Just for this morning, I will let you wake up softly, all rumpled in your sheets and I will hold you until you are ready for the day.
Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear and smile at how perfect it is.Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry and pick you up and take you to the park and play. Just for this morning,I will leave the dishes in the sink and let you teach me how to put that puzzel of yours together.

Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off and sit with you in the back yard and blow bubbles.
Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the Ice-cream Truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.
Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them.
Just for this afternoon, I will take you to McDonald's and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.

Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.
Just for this evening, I will snuggle besides you for hours, and miss my favorite T.V. show.
Just for this evening, when I run my fingers through your hair as you pray. I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given. I will think about mothers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers who are visiting their children's graves instead of their bedrooms and mothers who are in the hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly, and scream inside that they can't handel it anymore, and when I kiss you goodnight, I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then I will thank God for you and ask him for nothing,

EXCEPT ONE MORE DAY!!

Isn't that great? Some of you may have already heard that one before, but no matter how many times you read it you love it just as much.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, July 31, 2006 10:03 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY AUGUST 4TH**

Back from the doctor. Good news is, the scan came back completely normal. Bad news is, we still don't know what is causing the belly pain. The doctor wants me to keep her on the Zantac for another month to see if it helps. He feels that it may do the trick since her belly pain has become less frequent. We go back to see him in September. So now we are just back to square one. Sitting and waiting to see if her belly pain continues or not. He didn't want to schedule anymore procedures until she has taken the Zantac for 2 months. Please continue praying that the belly pain will get better and ultimately go away for good.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY NIGHT,AUGUST 3, 2006**

****NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM****

Hi Everyone! Just a quick update tonight. It has been a very busy week for me. I started watching my niece and nephew this week and the kids have sure been keeping me on my toes. They have been trying to be great big helpers with the baby though.

Friday at 2pm Emily has an appointment with her GI doctor. We will recieve the results of her upper gi scan. Hoping for good news, but also praying they will not have to do the scope procedure. Please pray for a good visit with positive news. Emily has been feeling pretty good this week. Some complaints about her belly, but it does seem to be less than it was before. The pain also doesn't seem to be as bad as it was when she has it now. So either the medicine they gave her is helping some or she got use to the pain and isn't complaining as much. Hopefully it is due to the medicine. I will update as soon as we get home from the doctors appointment. Saturday night we are going to a pool party with A Hand of Hope. They are reserving a public pool just for A Hand of Hope. The fire department is going to come over and BBQ for us. It is going to be so much fun. Of course we have rain in the forecast for saturday. When we want the rain it doesn't come and when we want it to stay away we usually get it. Hopefully it will either rain early in the day (party is at 6:30pm) or it will rain late at night. We are really looking forward to this event.

Also wanted to ask if you would pray for Diego's family. (www.carepages.com username diegoland) Diego is our newest wilms Angel. I bet right now he is happily running around Heaven playing with his best friend Nemo. (his dog) Fly free Angel Diego. You will be missed but never forgotten.

I want to thank you for stopping by and continueing your prayers for our family. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela


*************************************************************************


Hi Everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. Emily is doing good. She has had off and on belly pain over the weekend. Also some leg cramps, but as always it has not slowed her down any. Friday I take her back to the GI doctor. He should have the results of her upper gi scan. I don't know whether to hope they find something or nothing. If they find something then we get our answers finally and we pray that it is nothing serious. If they find nothing they will be doing more invasive tests. Which I am praying doesn't happen. Either way I am praying for answers.

I want to ask that you please pray for Diego. (www.carepages.com. site name is diegoland) Diego just turned 6 years old and has been fighting Wilms Tumor for 14 months now. He will be going Home to be with God soon. We are so sad for this family and ask that you please pray for peace and comfort for them through his last days on earth and the road they must travel once he is in Heaven.

Friday Daddy took the day off work. The kids really enjoyed having him home for the day. Though we really didn't do anything but stay home and hang out. Saturday we went out and did some shopping and then saturday night the kids went out and played in the sprinkler for a while. The weather hasn't been to bad. The humidity has been pretty high but the temperature has been under 100 degrees. We even got rain this weekend. Mostly all in the middle of the night, but we always welcome the rain no matter when it comes. Sunday Daddy took the kids out to ride their bikes while I cleaned house. They all came in before I was done cleaning and helped. Emily helped vaccum and do dishes. Charlie helped clean the bathroom and dust. It was nice to see them just jump in there and help without being told to. Usually I can't get them to clean anything. Sunday night we just spent time together at home.

Today is going to be another relaxing day at home. Tomorrow my sister goes back to work and I will be watching my niece and nephew. I am so excited about having them here during the day. I miss having my niece, Kylie, here. Also I am so excited about having baby Dylan here. The kids will be going back to school in 2 weeks also. They are ready and getting impatient. They are tired of being home and are ready to go back and see their friends. August 11th we will be going to meet their teachers. Then August 14th is their first day back at school.

So as you can see we haven't been up to much, but we are doing great. Thank you for always checking in and praying for our family. I do have some new pictures that I will be putting up soon.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 10:41 PM CDT

**UPDATE Sunday night July 30, 2006**

It is very late so I will do a full update in the morning. We are all doing well. Promise to be back for an update monday morning. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Today turned out to be a long day. We arrived at the hospital at 7am. Her scan was scheduled for 8am. We registered and then went up to radiology. We only waited about 15 minutes or so and then they came to get her. Well I walked back there with her but they wouldn't let me stay with her since I had Charlie with me. She started to cry when she heard that I couldn't stay with her. I haven't left her side for any tests they have ever done so this was a first for her and I both. I am happy to say that she was a VERY big girl and did everything they asked her to do without fighting. They told her that she had to drink a milkshake and then they were going to take a series of pictures over a 2 hour period of time. When she came out to sit with me after her first series of pictures she told me she is never going to drink another milkshake cause that one was nasty. LOL! Anyways 2 hours turned into 5 hours. They came out to get her several times and take more pictures. They said she was perfect the whole time. They were so surprised at how well she did for her age. Emily just told them she has been through alot and this was nothing. We don't have any results, but were told that her doctor would recieve them in a few days. If we don't hear from him with the results then we will for sure find out on August 4th when she goes to see him. Here are a couple pictures I took today. Also the one at the top was taken outside the hospital.


Emily playing in the waiting room.


Charlie playing in the waiting area.

Okay so let me tell you about our weekend. Saturday we ran around and did some errands. Not to much cause it was really hot outside. My husband went and bought me a very tiny camera so that I could keep it with me all the time and be able to take more pictures. I was so excited since my current digital camera (that I love so much) is big and not very good to carry with me all the time. So here are a coupe pictures I took with my new camera as I tried to figure it out.


Charlie 7-22-06


Emily 7-22-06

Sunday we stayed home in the morning. We watched Nascar and cleaned and did some laundry. Sunday afternoon we went to my sisters house to go swimming. We had alot of fun. My dad and his wife was there, and Tom and Nicki to. We ended up leaving there late, but we had alot of swimming and eating pizza and wings. Here are a couple new pictures I took of my niece, Kylie and Nephew Dylan.


Dylan sleeping after spending some time in the pool. (3 weeks old)


Kylie having a blast in the pool. (2 1/2 yrs old)

Monday was a quiet day for us. Didn't do anything really. We hung out at home. It has been SO hot the last week. Friday we broke a record with 118 degrees and there has been no relief from the heat since. We are expecting many storms over the next week. That will be nice. Not to much else is going on. Not anything planned for the rest of the week. Basically just going to try to stay inside and keep cool.

To all our caringbridge families. We are thinking about you and praying. I promise to be by to sign guestbooks soon. Please know that we check in everyday.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 0:26 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Right now we are getting a pretty good thunder and lightning storm so this will be a short update. I promise to tell you all about what we have been up to and add new pictures tomorrow. (tuesday) Emily has been feeling pretty good. She has complained maybe 3 times over the last week about her belly hurting. That is good since before it was occurring everday. Tuesday morning Emily goes for her upper gi and lower bowel scan. We have to check in at 7:30am. So it will be an early morning. Which by the way is not Emily's best time. She likes to sleep in. LOL! I have no idea how long this is going to take. So I ask that you please pray that she will drink the nasty white chaulky stuff without putting up to much of a fight. She never was very cooperative with this before. Also pray that we get through the scan with no fight from her at all. She is not happy about going and has been voicing her opinion on it all day today. Although she does understand what they will do if they don't get what they are looking for with this scan. So once again I ask that please pray they find what they are looking for with this scan so they won't have to scope her. I would hate to put her through that proccess. I will update as soon as we get home. I will not know any results until her appointment on August 4th.

On August 10th she goes to the oncologist and we will be scheduling her scans then. Then on August 11th we go to the school to meet the kids teachers. They are so excited about going back to school and seeing their friends again. August 14th is the first day of school. Both kids have already picked out what they will be wearing on the first day. Then on August 18th Emily goes back to the endocrinologist. They should have the results in from the blood work and xray that we did and hopefully have plan for her growth. So that is what the next 4 weeks looks like on doctors appointments for us.

Okay well I better get off here. The rain is finally starting to accompany the thunder and lightning. Finally we are getting some rain! Not much but it is something. LOL! Thank you for the prayers and be sure to come back for a full update of our weekend and new pictures.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, July 17, 2006 11:54 PM CDT

**UPDATE TUESDAY JULY 18, 2006**

NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!!

Hope all is going well. We are doing good. Not doing much of anything cause it is HOT! I do want to wish Ellieanna a very happy 3rd birthday. (July 18th) Also would like to ask that you stop by Angel Kyle's site and send some love and well wishes to his family. July 19th is Kyle's 6th birthday and his first birthday in Heaven. We love you Reed family and we are thinking about you always, but especially today as you get through yet another first.

Not much else to update on tonight. Be sure to check out the new pictures in the photo album. Emily has turned into quite the goofy little girl (with a huge attitude) as you will notice in the second picture. LOL! She loves that picture. Anyways the attitude thing is definately back with Emily. Although she is not liking the punishments that we have been giving her so I hope she will lose that attitude soon. LOL! We have been taking things away from her and she is very unhappy about that. Anyways other than that minor little bump in the road we are doing great. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Hope you have had a good weekend. Ours was good and miserably hot. First let me tell you that Emily and Charlie are both doing great. Emily has been feeling good and has only complained of belly pain a couple times over the last week. Emily will be going on July 25th for her upper gi and lower bowel scan. She isn't to excited about that, but I know she will do good. After that she has an appointment with the GI doctor on August 4th for a follow up and results of the scan. August 10th is her next appointment with the oncologist. I think we will be scheduling her scans at that appointment. Then on August 18th is her next appointment with the endocrinologist. We will be getting results of the tests they did and figure out a plan on what we will be doing for her growth. I hope that after these appointments she can be doctor free for a while. She really wants to be able to make it through this school year with little to no doctors visits. This is her way of fighting to be normal.

So this weekend was very hot and humid. But unfortunately NO rain. UGH! We need rain so much. Saturday we ran some errands in the morning and then mostly hung out at home the rest of the day. Saturday evening when the sun was almost down we took the kids outside for some time on their waterslide. They had so much fun out there. We don't really let them go out there during the day cause it is so hot. They much rather go out later in the evening anyways cause then they don't get chased by the bees. After a couple hours on the slide Daddy went and got ice cream for everyone. It was a great fun evening.

Sunday Daddy took Little Charlie out for their guys time out as promised. He took him to see the movie The Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift. Charlie really wanted to see that movie but Emily had no interest so this was a perfect thing for them to do on their guys day out. While they were out doing the guy thing, Emily and I went shopping. We had so much fun. Emily and I decided since the boys don't care for shopping so much we would get it all done. Since school is just around the corner we needed to continue getting things here and there for them. So we got Emily and Charlie 3 more new outfits for school and a pair of shoes. Also we got a little carried away and bought my neice, Kylie, 2 new outfits and new nephew, Dylan, a couple little things. I love to baby shop. It is definately my weakness. LOL! After we got done shopping and Daddy and Charlie got home we went over to my sisters house for a barbeque and swimming. I spent some time cuddling and feeding Dylan and talking to my sister while the guys took the kids out to the pool. We had a great time and it was great to be able to get out of the house and visit. We spend so much time staying at home and so it was a nice change. Monday was back to the routine of the week. Daddy went back to work and the kids and I back to our hanging out time together at the house.

Not to much planned for this week. I am going to try to get some new pictures up either tonight or tomorrow. I took some pictures this past weekend but haven't gotten them into the computer yet. Thank you for continueing to check in and pray for our family.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, July 14, 2006 1:39 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! The concert was great! We had alot of fun. It was at an outside pavillion so it was VERY hot out and Emily got tired fast, but really enjoyed herself at the same time. We got there about 6pm and the concert got over at a little after 11pm. It was a long night. I have to thank Rob with A Hand of Hope for getting these tickets for us. The seats we had were pretty good ones except that there was this big platform that was in front of us that obstructed the view of the stage unless we were standing up. Of course everyone was standing anyways so we had to stand up to see. First up was a new band called the Wreckers. They were good, although we only really knew one of their songs. Next up was Gary Allan. We love him and he was great. Emily also knew many of his songs and was up dancing and singing along. Then about 9pm Rascal Flatts came on. Emily was so excited and no matter how tired she was by then she got up singing and dancing. She knows almost all of their songs. The highlight of the night for Emily was when they sang Skin (Sarabeth). Remember I told you about the platform that was right in front of us? Well they came up to that platform to sing that song. We were 3 rows back from them at that point. Emily sang, danced and waved til her arm got tired. One of the guys saw her waving and waved back at her and winked at her. She was so excited about that. As they went back to the regular stage they sang God Bless the Broken Road. Another of Emily's favorites. All in all it was a wonderful night. Emily was a little upset that she didn't get to go backstage and meet them, but I had already warned her that this may not take place. I took lots of pictures and I am going to share them with you as well.


Emily when we first got to our seats.


Emily drinking lots of water.


Rascal Flatts when they first came out on stage.


Lead singer of Rascal Flatts, Gary.


This is the guy that waved to Emily and winked at her.


Singing Skin (Sarabeth)


Rascal Flatts singing Skin 3 rows away from us.

Emily has a message for David Daniel. David, Rascal Faltts is a coutry band. They sing alot of good songs. You should get their cd and listen to it. I like Skin, What Hurts the Most, and God Bless the Broken Road. I know you will like them to. Thank you for all the big hugs. Here is a Monster Hug just for you. Love Emily.

So today we are just hanging out at home relaxing. Not sure what we have planned for the weekend. It is going to be VERY hot. Hopefully I can get some new pictures taken and put up. Thank you all for checking in.

A message to all our caringbridge families. I am sorry if I haven't been by and signed your guestbook lately. Know that we check in daily and will be by to leave a message soon. Sending our love, hugs and prayers to all of you.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, July 12, 2006 11:53 PM CDT

**EDIT UPDATE Thursday July 13, 2006**

So the big surprise is out of the bag and it came through. Tonight Emily and I will be attending the Rascal Flatts concert. We had hoped to be able to get tickets for all of us, but it didn't work out that way. It is okay though. Charlie and Daddy are going to hang out at home and then this weekend they are going to go do something just the boys. Emily and I are so excited. We love Rascal Flatts so much and they are coming with Gary Allen. We are not sure if the tickets include backstage meet and greet, but if they do you better believe that we will have pictures. I will be sure to update tomorrow and let you all know how the concert went.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM** (posted 7-12-06)

Hi Everyone! Hope you are having a great week so far. Emily has been feeling pretty good so far this week. Very little complaining about her belly. Notice in the picture above how long her hair is getting? Still not really able to put it up in one ponytail, but it is getting there. This week the kids have started to prepare for school. I know school doesn't start for another month, but they want to be sure they are ready. So they've dug out their little workbooks and they do those for a little it each day. Also they started to read 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. They want to be sure they are not going to take steps back in their reading level. I am very proud of them for putting forth the extra effort over the summer. Since the last day of school I haven't been able to get them to pick up a book and now they are doing it all on their own.

We haven't done much of anything this week so far. Monday I took Emily to the GI doctor, but other than that we have been staying at home where it is nice and cool. I do however have a surprise for Emily in the works for tomorrow night, but I won't say anything until I know for sure whether it is going to work out or not. I will say it is huge and she is going to be VERY excited. I only wish it could include the whole family, but unfortunately it doesn't look like it is going to work out that way. I will be sure to fill you in as soon as I know for sure. Other than that not much planned for the rest of the week.

It is nice to come on here and say nothing is going on and everyone is doing well. Be sure to check out the new pictures in the photo album. I put one in there of Emily and Charlie's new baby cousin, Dylan, on the 4th of July. I will probably be trying to get some more pictures of the kids tomorrow and I will change them out again. So be looking for those soon. Thank you all for checking in and for your messages.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, July 12, 2006 11:53 PM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Hope you are having a great week so far. Emily has been feeling pretty good so far this week. Very little complaining about her belly. Notice in the picture above how long her hair is getting? Still not really able to put it up in one ponytail, but it is getting there. This week the kids have started to prepare for school. I know school doesn't start for another month, but they want to be sure they are ready. So they've dug out their little workbooks and they do those for a little it each day. Also they started to read 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. They want to be sure they are not going to take steps back in their reading level. I am very proud of them for putting forth the extra effort over the summer. Since the last day of school I haven't been able to get them to pick up a book and now they are doing it all on their own.

We haven't done much of anything this week so far. Monday I took Emily to the GI doctor, but other than that we have been staying at home where it is nice and cool. I do however have a surprise for Emily in the works for tomorrow night, but I won't say anything until I know for sure whether it is going to work out or not. I will say it is huge and she is going to be VERY excited. I only wish it could include the whole family, but unfortunately it doesn't look like it is going to work out that way. I will be sure to fill you in as soon as I know for sure. Other than that not much planned for the rest of the week.

It is nice to come on here and say nothing is going on and everyone is doing well. Be sure to check out the new pictures in the photo album. I put one in there of Emily and Charlie's new baby cousin, Dylan, on the 4th of July. I will probably be trying to get some more pictures of the kids tomorrow and I will change them out again. So be looking for those soon. Thank you all for checking in and for your messages.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, July 10, 2006 1:01 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE Monday Evening July 10, 2006**

After a 2 hour visit with the GI doctor we are finally home. They asked alot of questions and discussed several things that could be causing the pain. They checked her out and said that she looks very healthy and her belly feels good. Emily seemed to like this doctor as well, which is a big plus. Of course when he walked out of the room she asked me, "Mom why is all my doctors old?" LOL! Never a dull moment with Emily around. The plan is to do an Upper GI and lower bowel scan. They will be calling me to schedule that within the next few days. She will have to drink the white chaulky stuff and then they will take a series of pictures. He wants her to continue to take the Zantac and see if that helps. We will go back to see him on August 4th for the results of the scan and to talk about what comes next. Overall it was a good appointment. The only thing that worried Emily is that if they find nothing with the scan and her pain continues then they will be doing an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. UGH!! She is not happy about that and I am afraid she is not going to let us know if she is having pain just so they won't do that. Please pray they find what they are looking for with the scan. I hate to see her go through anymore after all that she has already been through. Thank you all for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours went by way too fast. Emily has been feeling pretty good lately. Seems like her belly pain is still there but not as frequently. I am still trying to figure out exactly when the pain is there since she isn't telling me anymore. I think she is getting tired of all the doctors appointments. Overall though she is doing great. We had a busy but not so busy weekend.

Friday we took my sister and the new baby to his first checkup at the doctors. The kids were happy about seeing him again and they were really good at the doctors office. Usually they get bored and start to run around. LOL! After leavng there we went home to eat lunch and wait for Daddy to get home. I had to take Emily to get her blood work done and her xray for her hand and wrist for the endocrinologist. Little Charlie didn't want to go so we decided we would wait until Daddy got home to go. We had to go to 2 different places for the blood work and xray, but we were lucky enough to find both places close to us and close to each other. We went to get the blood work done first. We only waited about 10 minutes but that whole time Emily was very nervous and fidgety. (LOL) When they called us back she immediately started to cry a little bit. They had me sit on the chair and have her sit on my lap. Well we got her to sit down but the fight was on from there. I was holding her with all my strength but they still had to call in help. She is just WAY too strong. They got the needle in and she didn't even realize it. They took about 7 tubes of blood. Then we were out of there and off to get the xray. Of course the xray was a piece of cake for her. As soon as they were done with the xray she got to look at the film. She thought it was so cool that she was looking at a picture of her hand and wrist bones. For now we are waiting on results. Some of the lab work will take up to 2 weeks to get back. We go back to see the endocrinologist on August 18th.

Saturday went by really fast. I know we went food shopping. We hung out at home most of the day. It was really hot outside. I actually don't remember alot of what we did that day. Later that evening Jodi and Eddie came over with Baby Dylan and Kylie. This was the first time that Uncle Charlie got to see his new nephew. They hung out for a couple hours and visited. Sunday we went and started school shopping for the kids. They start school on August 14th and we didn't want to wait until the last minute to get them their stuff. Of course Emily loves to shop for clothes and was having a blast. Wish I could say the same thing about Charlie and Daddy. They were more interested in looking at toys and video games. LOL!! The kids each got their school supplies and a couple outfits. We still aren't done yet, but we got a good start. We still have just over a month so we will get a little bit here and there.They are excited about going back to school. They miss their friends and teachers.

So here is how the next month goes as far as doctors appointments that we know of right now. Today July 10th at 2pm Emily goes to the GI doctor. August 8th she goes in to the Oncologist. I believe at that time her will be sending us for a chest xray. I sure wish that we were like so many other that know when their scans are going to be, but with Emily's doctor it is always a last minute thing. I will be sure to let you know. Then on August 18th we go back to the endocrinologist. I believe that sometime within that month we will also be going back to the pediatrician so that he can check to see if the new medicine that he put her on is working. Please pray for each of these appointments as they come up. I will keep you posted on each one and anything new that comes up. I will update after Emily's appointment today.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. They recently went in for a routine ultrasound and found out that they lost the baby. We are so very sad about that, but we know that God has a special plan for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, July 2, 2006 11:05 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY JULY 9, 2006**

My intentions tonight was to come on and give an update. Well I fell asleep on the couch before I made it to the computer and it is now REALLY late. I am going to go to bed and I promise a full update in the morning. So please if you are reading this, be sure to check back later for an update.

I do however want to let you all know that Emily's appointment with the GI doctor that was scheduled for July 18th has been moved to to July 10th at 2pm. Yes you read that right the appointment with the GI doctor is tomorrow afternoon. Please pray that all goes well at this appointment. I will update before we go and after we get home. Goodnight everyone and please remember to come back to read the full update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



***Edited Thursday evening July 6, 2006***

We are back from the endocronologist. Emily really liked this doctor and she liked him even more when she found out he is good friends with her oncologist. We talked about her history and her growth pattern. He is going to get records from her other doctor to see how she has been growing since being on chemo and after chemo. I also have to take her to get an xray of her left wrist and hand. I guess this will show bone age. I also have to take her for lots of lab work. This she is not happy about, but I know she will do good. I will probably take her tomorrow for those tests. It will take them 2 weeks to get the results of some of the tests. We are scheduled to go back and see him on August 18th. Hopefully they will know more by then and have a plan for her growth.

I made her appointment with the GI doctor as well. That is on July 18th. Please pray for this appointment to go well. She is scared of what they are going to do since she heard the doctor talking about possibly doing the scope to look in her belly. She remembers a procedure like this being done when she was in the hospital back in June 2004.

As of right now she is doing well. She has a little bit of belly pain, but as always it is not stopping her from doing everything she wants to do. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


**Edited Update Thursday July 6, 2006**

First doctors appointment of the day is done. We went to the pediatrician this morning. He is happy that she has gained some weight since he saw her last, but unhappy that she continues to have the belly pain. (as we all are) As usual her belly feels good upon examination. He tested her urine and that also came back good. So he decided to try putting her on Zantac 75. He said it sounds like it could be reflux or maybe even a small ulcer. He said if that is what it is then we will see improvement with this medicine. He also wants me to still make the appointment with the GI doctor. So I will be making that call when I am done here. Tuesday she had one episode of bloody stool. Not nearly as much as last time but I did mention it to the doctor.

I also said to him that I know of other children that are having the same problems. I asked him if it could be residual effects of the chemo and radiation. He said it is possible. He said after abdominal surgery and some chemo drugs can really just mess things up. But that it can't always be explained by the doctors and often times they just have no medical explaination. My heart just breaks to know that there are so many children just like Emily that are in so much pain and have learned to live with it cause doctors have no explanation. Please continue to pray that either this medicine works and her belly pain goes away or that they find the reason for it. She has an appointment at 2pm with the endocrinologist. I will update on that appointment when we get home. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hello Everyone! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Ours was great! First let me tell you that Emily seems to be doing okay. Belly pain off and on and the coughing is still there, but it is not slowing her down. Thursday she will go to the pediatrician and the endocronologist. Please pray that both appointments go well.

Friday was a big day. We have a gorgeous addition to our family. My nephew, Dylan Robert was born Friday, June 30, 2006 at 6:44 pm. Mom and baby are doing wonderful. Dylan is so adorable and we are all so excited to have a baby around once again. My neice Kylie is just so excited about her little brother finally being here. She is 2 1/2 years old and got to see him yestarday. Congratulations Jodi and Eddie on your beautiful little boy! I also wanted to share a couple pictures.


Dylan at 2 hours old. Isn't this a precious picture? I love it.


Dylan and his big sister Kylie.

Saturday I went shopping a little and then we had a barbeque with Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki. Nicki and I went to the hospital and visited for a little while. Then we went home and ate. It was fun having them over again. Nicki and I then decided that my sister was probably getting tired of hospital food by now and we brought them up some food. Of course we spent some more time there holding Dylan and loving on him. Since my sister had to have a c-section she was going to have to stay in the hospital for a few days so, Sunday I decided to take the kids up to see Dylan. They were so excited. We got there and emily wanted to hold him. So she sat there on the bed and held him for a while. She didn't want to let him go. In fact friday when I called home to let them know he was born she asked me if I was going to bring him home with me. LOL, she is trying to steal him already. She did the same thing when Kylie was born. Then Charlie got to hold him. The kids loved seeing him but got bored quickly. We stayed about an hour to an hour and half and then went home. The rest of the evening was spent at home.

So as you can see the highlight of our weekend was the new baby. We don't have anything planned for the 4th of July. It is so crazy going to watch fireworks cause there is always SO many people. Wednesday night we will be going to see Garfield 2: the tale of two kitties. We are going with A Hand of Hope. I always love the private screenings of the movies that we go to with them. The kids are pretty excited about seeing that movie as well. The only other thing I have planned this week is Emily's doctors appointments on Thursday. Other than that I hope to be with my sister helping her out with Kylie and Dylan and anything else she may need help with as she recovers from her c-section.

I am always adding names to our prayer section. Today I have a couple to add. Reana is a beautiful little girl with Wilms Tumor. Also another Wilms Warrior to add to our list for prayers is Abby. Please visit these two girls and offer some kind words and support. Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. He has recently announced that they are expecting a baby in Feb 2007. We are so excited for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, June 25, 2006 10:40 PM CDT

**Edited Update Wednesday June 28, 2006**


First I must ask for URGENT prayer requests for Ellie Anna. She was on her last day of her Make a Wish trip and had a severe gran mal seizure. She was transported to the hospital in San Diego by ambulance and was unresponsive. My heart just breaks for this wonderful family and their precious baby girl. I just can't imagine going through all of this on top of already fighting cancer. Please stop by their site and leave some kind words and prayers. Scott and Chloe, we love you and are praying without ceasing tonight and always.

Now on to our news:

Tonight Emily is not feeling well once again. I just don't understand what is going on with her belly, but she is having quite a bit of pain in it again. She has also started coughing alot today. I called her pediatricians office, but her doctor is on vacation until next week. They told me that if she gets worse then another doctor can see her otherwise she has an appointment for July 6th to see her doctor. That appointment is set for 8am and then her appointment with the endocrinologist is at 2pm the same day. Hopefully this is just some kind of bug she has and she will start to feel better soon.

Today my husband went to court for what he thought was to close his dad's estate. Well lets just say that things didn't quite go as planned. Because we have never done this before or ever had to deal with anything like this we trusted the guy that was buying the house and his lawyers. Well they lied to us about many things. It seems that we will be dealing with this for many months to come. It was a very hard day for my husband. I wish I knew how to help him through this, but at this point all I can do is be here for him and wait for him to be ready to open up to me about it all. Please pray for peace of mind for him. He is dealing with alot of unresolved issues surrounding all of this and his dad.

Also I would like to ask for prayers for Little Asher and Jacob. Especially Jacob needs your prayers riht now. He is in the end stages of renal failure. These sweet little boys are such fighters and need to be lifted in prayer right now. Also please pray for strength and comfort for their parents, Heather and Adam.

I will update more later. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Emily is feeling great! It is so good to be able to say that. She hasn't complained of belly pain all weekend. We've had a good weekend. Saturday morning we went out and ran errands and did some shopping. The rest of the day was spent at home. Sunday Daddy went fishing with Uncle Tom and the kids and I cleaned house. After fishing Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki came over and we barbequed steaks and played on the waterslide. It was so much fun. It has been hot, a bit humid and cloudy here. Looks like we finally have some rain in the forecast for a couple days this week. Lets hope it actually comes.

We don't have any plans for this upcoming week. My husband has to go to his final court hearing for the closing of his dad's estate. It will be nice to finally have that behind us. Maybe it will help him to start moving on. The bank account situation is pretty much cleared up. The bank has credited our money back to our account and taken away all the fees that was charged for bounced checks. We hope they will take it one step further and try to find the person that did this. I don't want her to be able to do it to anyone else. We will be going into the bank to close that account and open a new one with a different account number so she will hopefully not be able to do this to us again. UGH!! It is so frustrating, but in the end it all worked out. Next week, July 6th, Emily has her appointment with the endocrinologist. I am not to sure what is going to be done at that appointment, but please pray that she does well. She is afraid of going to a new doctor. She is so use to her oncologist that she doesn't like to see anyone else. Also I was suppose to make her an appointment with a GI doctor after she got out of the hospital. Well with the whole bank account thing and just my forgetfullness I haven't yet done that. I have written myself a huge note and put it on the fridge so I will remember to do that in the morning. I will be sure to let you know when that will be as well.

I don't have a lot of exciting things to talk about. We just haven't been going out and doing much. It is so hot out and it just feels better to stay in the house and do something. The great news is that both Charlie and Emily are doing great and enjoying life. I want to thank everyone that continues to check in on us. Please don't forget to leave a message in the guestbook and let us know you were here.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. He has recently announced that they are expecting a baby in Feb 2007. We are so excited for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, June 20, 2006 0:08 AM CDT

**Edit Tuesday night June 20th**

Please stop by and leave some love and support for Angel Haley's Family. June 21st is the one year anniversary of her earning her Angel Wings. We miss Haley so much. We love you Patti, Kevin and Hanna.

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM** (posted June 20th)

Hi Everyone! Emily has been feeling better. Just the on and off belly pain still. I am going to call her pediatrician in the morning and also make the appointment with the GI doctor. Hopefully we will be able to get to the root of the problem. She is very happy about being home though and so am I. Little Charlie is happy to have his sister home. They are right back into their old routine of getting on each others nerves. LOL!!

I hated to take down the other pictures, but I wanted to share some from our hospital stay. The one at the top of the page is from tonight when we were on our way to the movie Cars. The kids were dressed appropriately for the occasion. The ones in the photo album are from the hospital stay. I also have a few more I want to share with you.They will be placed at the end of the update.

Father's Day was pretty good for us. My husband had a very hard day. (first father's day without his dad) He made it through the day though and is kind of happy that it is over. The kids and I went over to my sisters house and went swimming. We spent the evening over there with my dad and the rest of the family. We really had alot of fun. Emily was feeling great that day and had no complaints for a good portion of the day.

Monday we hung out at home most of the day and then tonight we went to see Cars. It was a funny movie. VERY long, but very funny. The kids really enjoyed themselves. Larry the Cable Guy plays the Tow Mater and he was their favorite. They love Larry the Cable Guy. I enjoyed the movie as well. I laughed all the way through it. Great movie to take the kids to, but be warned it is like 2 hours and 20 minutes long. My kids however never took their eyes off the screen.

Today I also spent alot of time on the phone. I came home saturday night to a very upset husband. He went to the bank saturday to cash his paycheck and they wouldn't do it cause our bank account was overdrawn by $1500. WHAT? Well it seems that someone has made fake checks and cashed them. So someone (we know who) purposely stole our money. So I was on the phone all day with the bank to file a fraud claim. Then with the police department trying to get them to file a report so we could have this person prosecuted. We don't really have concrete evidence of who it was, but we know this persons past and we know this is her type of sceme. So finally the bank agreed to refund the money and take away all the bounced check fees, but the only catch is we can't use the account or do anything with it for 10 days. Well as it is such an inconvience and it makes me so angry, but we did get a different bank to cash his check. So money is not an issue, its just the idea that something like this is happening to us. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "When it rains it pours!" Bad luck always seems to find us all at once. I did finally get the police to file a report for me and they will be sending out a detective sometime within the next couple days to pick up any evidence I have. So at the end of the day I breathed a huge sigh of relief and actually laughed at the whole "if it wasn't for bad luck we wouldn't have any luck at all" thing. LOL! So that is my last coupe days in the short version. I know there is so much more, but I just don't really want to get into all of it. I would rather just leave it in the past and look towards tomorrow.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart. Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher and Jacob. They have a long road ahead of them, but they are strong little fighters. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and our newest Angel Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for Cpt Daniel Gade. He has recently announced that they are expecting a baby in Feb 2007. We are so excited for them. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. It means so much to us. Also please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of all the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Hope you enjoy the pictures!


Just after arriving in our room at the hospital.


Emily with Angel the Lamb and her Angel Bear.


Emily and Charlie playing the game Cootie


Love this picture of Emily.


Saying goodbye to Charlie


Saying goodbye to Daddy as they headed home for the night.