Moving and Chemo update

Finley sporting her dress at the fashion show for Mission Waco.  She was the first to come out (too bad it was before the show actually started, but she loved it!  I doubt this will be a hobby or career we will support in the future but for now its fun to dream!

As Sarah posted about a week ago, we have had lots of moving and living out of boxes for now until the upstairs is completely liveable so we can take the party up there with Finley sleeping in the second smaller bedroom up there.  The bathroom is amazing and looks really good, Sarah is a great remodeler, especially from scratch.  She picked the right colors, found an antique dress that we can cut into for our vanity and sink, as well as many other things.  We move slowly out of our boxes but not too fast because we will move a good amount of it upstairs to the bedroom which is long ad narrow with plenty of place to have a sitting area or game room (ok, probably not the last one).

On the cancer front, I'm doing chemotherapy this week, will have one week off, then one more week of chemo.  Then it is over!!!!  Hooray for no more chemo.  It hasn't been fun but I had it much easier that many other people going through various cancers.  I still sleep a lot during chemo weeks bumble around the house and try to find anything that might sound good to eat.  I fluctuate about 10 pounds every week I'm on chemo then gain it back on regular chemo. Not a diet i would recommend but I was down more than 90lbs right after surgery.   I'm trying to maintain about 175 or 180lbs which is what the doctors what me at.  Anything bigger would be obese :)  After the last week of chemo- Friday, June 8th is the last infusion, I will have surgery on Monday, July 2nd which will reverse my ileostomy bag back into my body and reconnect it to my large intestine so I can get back to normal.  I'm kind of excited about my long lost bathroom time and definitely don't get as much reading done!:)

Being a stay at home dad has been a real blessing.  It is fun to be able to hang out with Finley several days a week where we go to the zoo, the Mayborn museum, and various parks at least once a week.  We hit the zoo and a park in the same day one time.  We are really excited about the splash pads that will open after Memorial Day in the public parks.  I'm not saying there are not hard days, but distraction or alone time tends to do the trick.  I'm learning lots about mommy tricks that most guys aren't aware of.  I still let her pick out her outfits to leave the house and they are very colorful and horrendous all at the same time.  I don't care and neither does she, so we put up with the funny looks.  

Tea party at the Mayborn Museum with our new friend Adie.

We have had lots of help from family these past few months and it is kind of sad to not live next my parents where we could walk over to hang out or eat dinner.  Now we have to drive 8 whole blocks to get to their house.  Its very sad being so far away :) 

That's okay, mom is in India right now with 5 other girls for the next three weeks so dad is holding down the fort and cooking his 3 favorite meals all the time- salmon croquet's, hamburgers with Velveeta cheese, and fried catfish, oh and pimento cheese sandwiches for lunch. 

Thanks for all the support people have given us through this time of need.  We couldn't have made it through this nearly year long process without the encouraging words, notes, prayers, friends, family, gift cards, etc.  Its almost over, so after July 2 I will have to recover from surgery and be done with this whole thing.   We found out I had cancer on August 24, which happens to be Sarah's birthday, which I think I'm going to need lots of help from you to make up for 2 birthdays in one, since the last one didn't really count!

Helping Daddy shop at Dillards.  There was only one way to get up there and she found it :)

Practicing our cheek exercises.

Practicing our cheek exercises.

Saying hi to Kim Mulkey, Baylor's Head Womens Coach.

Saying Hi to Britney Griner, all star for Baylor Women's Basketball.

Dress up time at Momo's.  They danced together and swished together.  Love cousin Zoe!

We finished the Gut Pack Challenge Race where you run one mile, eat a small gut pack, then run the final mile back.  A gut pack consists of a base of Fritos, chopped bbq, smoked sausage, beans, cheese, pickles, onions, and jalapenos.  They are delicious under normal circumstances but do not sit well after a two mile run.  It benefited Mission Waco Mission World though so it was worth it.  You can kind of see a gut pack below or visit www.viteksbbq.com for their menu.

Finley with Patrick at Church Under the Bridge.  Finley was having a meltdown and Patrick came up and led her around church by hand and then she came back happy as a clam.  It was very sweet as Patrick has several mental illnesses and the magical, sweetest touch with all babies.  Patrick is also a musician and sign language interpreter at the church (FYI he knows how to do neither but stands up at the front and pretends)

Thanks again for supporting and encouraging, and most importantly joining us on this journey!

Seth, Sarah, and Finley

A day late...

I am behind as usual.  In the last several weeks I have actually started 2 blog posts, only to get distracted and never finish.  Part of this may be the fact that we are in the middle of moving and remodeling a house (something I do not recommend doing when your husband has cancer), but we are finally somewhat moved into this lovely place:

It is a great old house (built in 1912), we are excited about it and remodeling the whole upstairs.  We now have the most amazing bathroom, I will post pics when it is finished, but if you ever come to my house, I will most likely make you go upstairs to use the bathroom, simply because it is SO beautiful.  Finely is adjusting, she spent the first night in bed with us because her window in her new room was "scary."  The second night was a bit better and I am hoping tonight is even better because I am pretty tired.  That being said, look how completely adorable my child is in front of her new digs: 

In case you have not been following us the last year it has looked something like this: Philly>Texas>Haiti>Texas (living with both our parents back and forth)>our little rental house>our new home.  That means my child has lived in 5 different houses in the last year, it also means I am oh so tired of moving.  Seriously, I am an army brat and I know how to move and this has been a bit much even for me!  While I have still not adjusted completely to being back in Waco on a more permanent basis, I am incredibly thankful to have some stability.

We have also been spending some time with the cousins and had an early birthday for her cousin Zoe. 

Zoe, Nielah and Finley sharing some cousin love in a bucket

 

Silly faces with the big birthday girl! 

In case you were hiding under a rock somewhere you might also know that this past Sunday was Mother's day.  Seth let me sleep in and woke me up with donuts (of course they were all missing their frosting) and a giant balloon (that I still think was more for Finley than me), but it was sweet and beautiful.  I love being Finley's mom, it challenges me, encourages me and makes me better.  I am also incredibly grateful for the man that made me a mom and supports me in every way he can.  

Of course I could not celebrate mother's day without a shout out to my mom.  Let me tell you about my mom: this week alone she watched my child for 5 days while I moved, she unpacked and organized my living room and gave us a lawn mower.  I seriously could not do all of this without her, she is completely amazing and words can never express how grateful I am for her.  This has without a doubt been the toughest year of my life and so much of the grace I have found has been in being with her and watching Finley fall more in love with her Mia.  

Naturally, a tribute to moms would not be complete without a shout out to my mother-in-law, who serves us daily with dinners, babysitting, moving and caring for Seth when I am working and he is sick.  Finley thinks her Momo is super cool and if you spend time with Janet you know why.  We are definitely better because we have this women in our life.   

Well, I think I have met my quota on blogging for the night.  Thanks for keeping up with us and loving us, even when I am not great at keeping up with you!  

Thanks for joining us, 

Seth, Sarah & Finley

What Happened?

This is Finley's new favorite phrase and she asks that question at least a dozen times of day, so I thought I would take a minute or two to tell you what has happened.  My lack of posts is not due to lack of things happening, more just my lack of ability to sit down and write about it all.  Seth is in a Chemo week this week, so he and Finley go to bed about the same time.  We found out yesterday that Seth actually has an additional month of chemo, so the earliest he would be able to have his reversal surgery would be mid to late July.  We are bummed, we were both (and especially Seth) hoping to be done with all of the invasive stuff in June, so this means that Seth has 3 more Chemo treatments, which translates to about 7 or 8 more weeks. 
We closed on our house last week, I have only been back over there once, which just shows you how prepared I am to move.  Seth's uncle is helping us do some remodeling.  I do not advise buying and remodeling a house while you are working full time and your husband is doing Chemo, but I am sure once we move in I will be much more excited.  One day I might even get my act together enough to take pictures of the house and share them with you.  Finely liked it better when we did the walk through and there were cats there, she now runs through the house trying to find the cats, she just better not find one.  We celebrated the Baylor girls basketball team winning the national championship with a parade, we led a poverty simulation last weekend and got to hang out with one of Seth's uncles last week.  No worries folks, we don't do bored. 

We are grateful for your prayers and your love.  Thanks for calling us, emailing us and loving us.  I know I am not great at responding these days, but we are grateful that you care for us.  If you want to do something else for us you can go to this link and vote for Mission Waco/Mission World to get a grant.  It is super easy and helps support our work in Haiti and in Waco. 

More pictures and updates coming soon, promise! 

Thanks for joining us!

Seth, Sarah & Finley

Life in Fast Motion

I have been a horrible blogger.  These days life happens faster than I can write about it.  As I write Seth is finishing up the Saturday evening portion of the poverty simulation we are leading this weekend.  Between family, work and cancer we don't seem to have too much time left over.  Also, the last two rounds of treatment have been really hard on Seth. We were kind of hopeful the whole treatment would go as well as the first two rounds, but no such luck.  We have 2 rounds left which means another month and we think if everything goes well Seth could have surgery as early as June 18th, but we will see. 

In all honesty this has been a hard season for us and the only way we have survived is doing it day by day.  I have never felt more humbled, more out of control or more thankful for my family.  I have such a mix of emotions day to day and so much of it is hard to put into words.  One of my favorite things to do is pray with my daughter at night, but it is often hard for me to pray myself.  This time has reminded me how incredibly blessed I am to have a God that loves me, but I can't say that it has been without doubts and questions. 

We close on our house on Monday, I will post pictures of it afterwards, I have a lot of mixed emotions about this as well (are you getting that ambivalence is a theme in my life right now?).  I am excited about owning our own home, it was just totally unexpected and means we are settling in Waco, which is sometimes still hard to swallow. 

Instead of trying to catch you up in words, I will leave you a summary of the last few weeks in pictures.  

Date night to see Green River Ordinance at Common Grounds, being around a bunch of 19 and 20 year old college students reminded us how old we are, that and the fact that we got there early so we wouldn't have to stand.

Finley got invited to a big girl dance party, how cute does she look?

Palm Sunday at Church, I don't know anywhere else you can ride a donkey at church.

Waving palm leaves at church

Dying Easter eggs with Momo, it was intense.

Easter Sunday with super cute cousin Nielah

My favorite time of night is right before bed, it usually involves snuggling and a movie. 

Thanks for Joining Us,

Seth, Sarah & Finley