Not Wasting Any Time

We went to see the surgeon today, so that Jeremy could have his staples removed and also schedule surgery to have his port put in. Jeremy was a little nervous about getting his staples out however when the nurse came in before the dr to let us know that the port surgery was already scheduled for this Thursday his mind definitely changed to a different worry. The staples were nothing at this point! We felt like we had a week or so to mentally prepare for this procedure, however the nurse said his dr would prefer to do the surgery this week so that we can do a follow up with him later next week to make sure that everything is healing correctly. Basically what this will do is when Jeremy goes to the oncologist he will have the all clear from the surgeon which will allow them to begin chemo as soon as they can. Definitely a good thing, but not what we had mentally prepared ourselves for. The nice thing is this gives us next week for no appointments, no major doctor visits, just relaxing with the family. It is kind of sad for us because next week was supposed to be our vacation, so that will give us time to veg out, watch movies, and just hang out together. St. Louis will always wait for us right? We told Ian Six Flags would still be there when we got ready to go and so would the Cardinals!

We have to be there on Thursday at 6am and Jeremy's surgery is scheduled for 7:30. The procedure itself should last about 30 minutes and then of course we will be there a few hours afterwards for recovery. If all goes as planned we should be home by mid afternoon. Don't know if I have told you how amazing Jeremy's surgeon Dr. Petrino is, but we love him! He is a great guy with a funny sense of humor and at the same time a big heart. Perfect for us!

The port that Jeremy is getting is called a power port and what this means is that it is actually smaller than we thought and does not require a lot of maintenance on our part. We have heard numerous stories on flushing saline through them, covering them during showers, but Jeremy's is going to be different than those. The only time it will be accessed is by the Oncology clinic and we don't have to do anything in the meantime. Made us feel much better about it and much more at ease.

Please pray once again for the amazing hands of the doctors and nurses that will assist with the surgery and take care of Jeremy on Thursday. Please pray for Jeremy as the procedure is very nerve racking for him and neither of us really know what to except, so prayers of strength and courage for Jeremy. Pray that God will continue to bless us each day with moments of peace and happiness with our family and friends. We feel so amazingly blessed everyday. About the time we have doubt or fear the Lord blesses us with a phone call, visit from a friend, or a card.

The boys of course are a little confused about why daddy has to go back to the doctor, but we have explained it the best we can. I don't know that they will really be able to wrap their little minds around it until they see it. That is kind of how they were when he came home from the hospital the last time, once Carter saw his staples he was very concerned with daddy's owie.

Thank yous:

*Thank you to Melissa, Trey, and Kevin for the goodies from Rick's and the chunky monkey trail mix(good memory!). We enjoyed our visit with you today!

*Thank you to Karen for the delicious dinner tonight. I don't know who ate more me or the boys! Thank you for bringing the boys the Color Wonder color sets. They showered and then colored for about 45 minutes before bedtime!

*Thank you for those of you that prayer for our family everyday. It means so much.

Psalm 116:1 I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice.

Over the last few weeks Jeremy and I have lifted up many prayers and everyday we have been blessed by our Holy Spirit in things we lift up to him. We have continued to ask him for knowledgeable doctors and nurses with healing hearts and hands and that has been given to us each and every time. We have asked for God to heal Jeremy from this surgery and even though we know Jeremy has a ways to go, he is making such progress already. We have prayed for our boys and to be with them during this difficult time and to comfort them and they have been doing so well. Granted we have our moments of tears, craziness, and fighting they truly are being troopers and we are so proud of them both. When we give voice to our requests and praises God hears us! Our family is a true testimony of this! Cry out to God, praise him for all the blessings you have and lift up the prayer requests you have for him. Prayer is Mighty!

I am including a few pics from our day. This morning the boys both had dentist appointments, so Nana and I loaded up to take them. Now what you have to understand is that Carter wants to go anywhere at anytime. Going bye bye is his favorite thing and if you just say the word he is grabbing shoes and putting them on! So of course going to the dentist sounded great..........until we got back there for those xrays. Then he realized something was a little fishy! Ian got in the chair and Carter said "Me next? me next?" and I told him yes he was next. Well when he got up there he locked up tight and covered his mouth. We did get through the xrays and then onto cleaning teeth. Ian decided to go first and Carter watched as the hygienist took out the polisher and began to work on Ian's teeth and Carter looked at me and said, "Me NO next!". Ok so at that point he was ready to GO! Needless to say he did get his teeth cleaned and both boys did great. No cavities! Here is a cute pic of them in their coordinating Nike outfits before we left!

Ian and our sweet baby Bella




Chowing down on some yummy Santa Fe chicken and dip

Getting a little color time before bedtime! Sleep tight everyone!

Fantastic Fourth!

Our family had a fantastic 4th! It was a good time had by all! Papaw and Tata threw a party at their pool and had lots of good food and fun! Jeremy went with us for about an hour and a half and got to eat and visit with lots of friends and family. The kids literally swam all day! Ian was in the pool from about 10:30 that morning until 8:30 that night, he got out about 20 minutes to eat and that was it. I wish I had his energy! Carter swam for about 4 hours! They were both wore out by the time they went to bed. In fact Ian said, "I am gonna be asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow." He was too! After the party we came home to shoot fireworks with our neighbors. Jeremy had his camo lawn chair and sat outside with us the whole time they shot fireworks. The boys were so excited! Needless to say we did not get in bed until almost 11:30, we were all tired. Even Nana made it through all the fireworks! Carter wasn't too crazy about the loud ones, so he would run towards the house with Nana when they started or jump in daddy's lap until they were over.

No news to report, but we should have some tomorrow. Jeremy has an appointment with the surgeon at 10:45. He will get all his staples removed and we will also schedule for his port to be put in. We are hoping that we will be able to get this scheduled within the next week or so, but not sure how long he has to wait since he just had his last surgery. I will post an update tomorrow as soon as we know something.

Thank yous:

*Thank you to Papaw and Tata for the great 4th of July party! The boys had a great time and the food was so yummy!

*Thank you to Greg and Jami for the great visit we had with them on Sunday.

*Thank you to Murphy and Angie for the firework fun and for taking Ian with them to see Ice Age on Sunday and of course for the HUGE Hershey bar he conned you into on the way home!

*Thank you to Angela for the great dinner tonight and all the "extras" that came with it!!!

*Thank you to Melissa A. for the special Wii fishing game, Jeremy and the boys were thrilled. Also thank you for being there anytime I need you day or night and being an extra special blessing in our life.

*Thank you for the wonderful guys at the Hyundai dealership. I have thanked them many times, but they continue to bless us each and everyday.

*Thank you to the sweetest church in Kennett, MO-First Christian Church. A very sweet friend of ours Kris put us on their card and prayer list and they have blessed us with wonderful cards and words of wisdom everyday. You are an amazing group of Christian friends.

*Thank you to Nana for going to the store and picking up all the things we need before she gets ready to head home on Wednesday. What a blessing you have been to us!

Pray for a good report from Jeremy's surgeon tomorrow and pray for healing on his body, so that they can go ahead and put his port in soon. Pray for strength for Jeremy and our family as the next weeks ahead are going to be bumpy. We know the next year is going to be rough, but Jeremy and I have been talking and have decided to take it day by day and week by week. Makes it much easier on both of us, to not look to far ahead.

Intercessory Thought-This came in a letter we got from First Christian Church

I know I cannot enter all you feel

Nor bear with you the burden of your pain.

I can but offer what my love does give-

The strength of caring,

The warmth of one who seeks to understand.

This I do in quiet ways-

That on your lonely path you may not walk alone.

-Howard Thurman, 20th century African-American church leader

Here are a few pics from our Fantastic Fourth!

Our Family

Cheese!

Our Lil Firecracker!

Good times with Papaw

Carter underwater with Tata!(yes he is completely underwater!)

Our Fish!

Jeremy and Nana catching up some reading!

Resting and Relaxing

Ok so nothing new to report, we have just been resting and relaxing. Lots of down time which we all needed. However the boys have had an exciting couple days. Today Ian got to go to the lake with the Lester family. Ian and Lexi had a BLAST! Ian said it was more fun that White Water, so that right there tells you how much fun he had! Then tonight they took Ian and Carter to watch the fireworks at Arvest ballpark. Lets just say that Carter had so much, he wouldn't even get out of their car when they brought him home!
Jeremy is doing good. While the boys were gone tonight, he decided he wanted to walk around the circle we live on. It was a good little walk, well in Jeremy's words probably a LONG walk. You can tell that he is still uncomfortable from the surgery, however he has made a lot of progress since coming home. I can tell that he is beginning to go a little stir crazy, but he is definitely making the best of it.
One tradition Jeremy has with the boys is he takes them shopping for their fireworks every year, so today we loaded up in the car and went to get fireworks. I of course drove, but Jeremy helped them pick out everything they wanted. Yes I know you are surprised, but they pretty much did get everything they wanted!
Hoping to enjoy a wonderful rain free 4th of July tomorrow. Our plan is to go to Papaw and Tata's for a 4th of July party. Ian is so thrilled, he honestly thinks this party is thrown just for him and in all honesty, it probably is! Ian will spend the WHOLE day over there and Carter and I will pop in and out throughout the day. Jeremy is planning to go for a little bit because it is just right around the corner from our house and then hopefully watch the boys shoot off a few fireworks later tomorrow night.
Thank yous:
*I have made a couple of amazing friends through my blog Roxanne and her daughter Tracy. They are an inspiration to me! Roxanne sent me an amazing book There's No Place Like Hope and this is book that is a guide to beating cancer in mind-sized bites. This book truly is an inspiration to us.
*Thank you to Melissa and Maggie, they brought the boys 4th of July t-shirt, sidewalk chalk, and my favorite....Sonic drinks!
*A special thank you to all the salesmen that Jeremy works with, they truly are a blessing and the most giving generous group of men I have ever met.
*Thank you to Maranda for bringing us a yummy dinner from Popeye's on Thursday night.
*Thank you to Papaw for making us a homemade peach cobbler.
*Thank you to Angela for bringing us lunch today and even stopping at 2 places so we could have Chick fil a and Carter could have McDonald's and of course the special treats you brought the boys!
*Thank you for the wonderful visit we had with Dave and Linnea today, it was so nice catching up and thank you for the Blockbuster gift card, that is going to help the stir craziness!
*Thank you to Uncle Frank and Aunt Karen for the gift cards to go out and eat. The thought of you bringing us a meal made us chuckle!!!
*Thank you to Dianna for the wonderful dinner tonight. It was such a yummy and comforting meal. Thank you for the muffins and cereal for breakfast tomorrow!
*A big thank you to David and Ashley for taking Ian to the lake today and for taking Ian and Carter to see the fireworks tonight. Our family is so blessed to have you and our kids LOVE spending time with you and your kiddos.

Well no news here, just waiting for the dr appt with the surgeon on Tuesday. At this appointment Jeremy will get his staples out and we will schedule the day to have his port put in. Some people have asked why he is having a port instead of just having the chemo injected directly into his veins. We can honestly say we don't know all the answers. However one reason is because the treatment for colon cancer is a 2 day at a time treatment, so he will go in and have the chemo inserted into the port, but will then wear the chemo for 2 days. Second it makes the chemo and all the blood draws much easier. Even though it means another procedure, Jeremy's doctor says and many other cancer survivors we have talked to have said it is a life saver on your skin, veins, and body. So for Jeremy the port is definitely the way to go.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed 4th of July. Happy Independence Day! Be safe!!!

*From our new book HOPE-Cancer is a beatable, treatable, and survivable disease.

Wordless Wednesday

Our wonderful movie basket that the Lester family gave us and also brought the boys a bag of fireworks(that mommy can help them do!)

Have I told you lately we have great neighbors???? Well we do! Angie and Murphy showed up on our doorstep tonight with SO many goodies! I just had to share how generous they were. The boys have already decided it is spaghetti o's and root beer for lunch tomorrow!

Ok so maybe I should have said Wednesday of fewer words! I decided to go easy on the words today and share a few pics of our day! When everything hit a week and a half ago we of course had to cancel our upcoming trip to St. Louis(which we will take another time) and we decided to get the boys this Bonzai slide for the backyard. Ian's friend Lexi had one at her birthday party and him and Carter loved it, so when Lexi's dad told us they marked them way down we thought what a perfect thing for the backyard! So jumped on Walmart.com and ordered them one! So a few pics are from their Water day in the backyard! We were out there for about 3 hours! Needless to say they crashed tonight after dinner!

Thank yous for today:

*Thank you for our great visit with Sharon today and all the homegrown veggies from her garden and for the baseball goodies for the boys. Their day was made!

*Thank you to Carlena for the DELICIOUS dinner tonight. Oh my goodness the boys ate so much brisket I thought they would pop and then you can see the pic above of Carter eating his yummy cookie from Shelby Lynn's. I don't know who was more excited about those cookies the boys or Jeremy!

*Thank you to Casey for bringing the prayer cloth that her church blessed for Jeremy. It is such a touching gesture and we have it laying with our bible and prayer books that we read everyday.

*Thank you again to Angie and Murphy for all the goodies they brought. The boys were beside themselves they were so excited.

*Thank you to Mierendorff for sending one of his guys over to put up the Bonzai slide, such a help because I didn't now where to start.

Well just a quick note, continue to pray for Jeremy's healing. Pain was a little rough today, but he conquered through it. Praying tomorrow is a better day for him.

Today's verse is Acts 19:12. On the prayer cloth that Casey brought to Jeremy and I today has this verse written on it, so of course after she left I had to look it up in my bible to read it. I got goosebumps when I read it.

Acts 19:12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them

Hope you all had a blessed day and thank you for stopping by to check on us!

Treatment and Tests....Moving forward

Ok so I keep promising to post a little bit more on Jeremy's treatment and test, but haven't yet because we wanted to have a few things scheduled and have more of an idea on time and when it would start happening. So after talking to many NICE people at Highlands Oncology we have the journey started. We meet with the surgeon on July 7th to get his staples removed and to schedule outpatient surgery to have his chemotherapy port put in. On July 20 Jeremy will have his PET and CT scan. Two days later on July 22 we will have an appointment with Dr. Bradford to discuss scan results and when chemotherapy will start. We hope to have his first round of chemotherapy underway by the end of July.
You have to understand we are so happy and relieved to have these dates on the calendar, however it does make it more "real" to us. We have heard it, talked about, and been processing it all but now it is scheduled and within in weeks treatment will begin. We pray that God will embrace us and comfort the fears we have. We know we are gonna make it, but a normal reaction to this is fear, so I pray for comfort for Jeremy and myself as we begin the tests and the treatment.
Thank yous for today:
*Thank you to Christina for the great visit with her and Baby Jackson and also for our "take out meal".
*Thank you to Melissa for the great visit this afternoon and the sweet FAMILY plaque, we already having it hanging up in our family room.
*Thank you to Kelly for the delicious meal from Olive Garden. I don't know that my kids have eaten that much in days! I enjoyed my visit with Baby Kambree, drool and all! Ian enjoyed getting to play with Kennedy as well.
*Thank you to LaDonna for the WONDERFUL dessert she made for us. I promise you it was a cake that tasted just like a Reese cup and what could be more wonderful! The boys of course thank you for the popsicles! They have big plans for them for tomorrow!
*Thank you to Nana(my mom) for making arrangements to go ahead and stay the rest of the week, that is blessing for us. It allows me time to take care of Jeremy and the kids and not feel so torn between it all.

Many of you that live around us have asked about providing meals and I can't begin to tell you what a blessing this has been to us. I am not one to ask for help at all, but my good friend Melissa took this on and knew this would be a big help to us when we got home especially with 2 little kiddos(boys at that!). I told her I knew dinner would be helpful, but it is still hard asking people to feed your family. Ok so now I am over that I am taking it as a HUGE blessing in our life. LaTayna made me see this week during our visit, that Gods teaches us to give and also to receive. Ok so I am usually on the giving side and definitely much more comfortable with that, but God is now teaching me to receive. THANK YOU to everyone that has already and is signed up to provide us with dinner. It means so much and definitely lightens my load for sure. So for those of you that keep messaging me about providing a meal you can email mharrell@fayar.net. Can I say again we are so blessed!

Song of Solomon 2:14 Let me hear your voice.
Believe you me God is hearing my voice each and every day! From the looks of my blog and messages he is hearing many voices that are lifting our family up in prayer! I thought about this verse this morning when I was driving in my car because I have to let you in on a little secret if I find myself in my car by myself(not an often occurrence :), but when I am I often pray out loud. So this morning when I was driving to the dentist(had to go, didn't want to) I let God hear my voice. I pray each and everyday and numerous times throughout the day, but at that moment I felt that God not only heard my voice, but thought about how I have the privilege to speak out to him and let my voice be heard. Life is a loud place with lots of hustle and bustle each and everyday, so when listening to your voice pray you think deep in your heart and speak to our Father in Heaven.

We need some toothpicks......

to keep our eyes open. We were all SO sleepy today. I guess now that we are home it all caught up with us. Jeremy slept so well last night. It took him a little while to find a comfortable spot, but once he did he was out! I kind of got the impression that he enjoyed not having nurses wake him up every hour to take his temp and blood pressure! I slept wonderfully as well! Bo brought the boys home about 7:30 this morning, but they had no idea Jeremy and I were even here so we took advantage and slept a little longer :). When Jeremy and I got up and walked out to see the boys they lit up! They were SO happy and were so happy to see daddy at home and up walking around and I was too! By mid morning Jeremy was napping and Carter took me to the couch and made me lay down and "hold me". So we did and he went right to sleep and slept for about 4 hours. In the meantime Ian was laying at my feet watching t.v. We were all exhausted and I think still need a day or maybe 2 or 3 to re cooperate and catch up on some Z's. So I guess what I am saying is I am gonna cut tonight's blog a little short and go catch up on some Z's!

A few thank yous:
*Thank you to Kelly at Kelly's Korner for inspiring me to blog and be an inspiration in what has become a new journey in our life.
*Thank you to Roxy and Tracy for sharing their story with my family.
*Thank you to LaTayna for bringing us a wonderful dinner tonight from Hunan and also sitting with me and visiting about the hows and whys of everything that goes on in our lives.
*Thank you to Ashley for coming for a visit and bringing our family a basket full of movie goodies and also for stopping at the store for me to get Carter some soy milk. Tomorrow we are watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua and gorging on junk food!
*Thank you for all the phone calls, cards, emails, and messages we got today. Your inspiring words and encouragement keep us going everyday.
*Thank you to all the people that have called and offered to do our yard work. I am getting the feeling that you all think I don't know how to start a lawn mower...........you are right I don't! I don't do a lot of hard manual labor and I consider mowing just that, so THANK YOU!

When I was working on my blog tonight I got the sweetest email from Jeremy's aunt Carolyn and in it she shared one of her favorite bible verses. It seemed to be most fitting for today. I mean coming home makes it real and we settle into our life. Even though it is now somewhat different than it was that morning we left for the hospital we know there is a plan in store for our family.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"
He has a plan and in his plan we will prosper. We know that the coming months will have some moments that we are scared, worried, and/or nervous, but the Lord declared he would not harm us. So even in those moments we will be growing stronger and getting ready for what will be an amazing future for our family.

Please pray for healing for Jeremy. We know that before we can move forward with his treatments, his body has to heal.

Home Sweet Home

We are home! This morning they started Jeremy on solid foods and began to wean him from his PCA pump. The doctor said that if he did ok with both of those things we could go home sometime after dinner. They started Jeremy on an oral pain med and solids and he tolerated both very well. So we packed up all our stuff and hit the road. When it was time for us to leave the nurse said, "let me go get you a wheel chair and I will walk you down," and Jeremy proceeded to tell her "I don't need a wheel chair I can walk down there," well needless to say the nurse did not argue and she walked with us to the car. Now those of you that now my husband if he says it, he means it and by golly he was not riding in that wheelchair. So I am sure for many....no surprise there! We are just now really getting home and settled in. We are both exhausted, but so excited about waking up in our own home. We have our family room set up with a recliner and a pull out sofa. For now Jeremy is most comfortable in the recliner and I am going to sleep on the pull out in case he needs anything. The boys are gone for the night, they spent the day and night with their Uncle Bo and Aunt Lori. They have been to the Wildlife Drive Thru Safari, had pizza, got treats, and have been spoiled rotten. That has been a blessing because it allowed us to get Jeremy settled in and comfortable at home. They will be back tomorrow morning bright and early and SO excited that daddy is here waiting on them. We met with the oncologist again today for quite a while and we were able to get many of our questions answered. I promise now that we are home I will post more information about his treatment, but for tonight I am exhausted and going to get caught up on some of my rest(without nurses waking us up every hour on the hour!)
Thank yous for today....
*We had great visits today with Judi(one of the wonderful secretary's at my school) who also brought the boys a gift card to McDonald's, they are so excited and of course want to know if we can go tomorrow :), Greg and Jami, Jeff, Brandy, Ma and Pa, Bo and Lori, Dad and Jannie, and George and his wife.
*Thank you to Brandy who brought us some food to stock the freezer and our favorite chocolate chip cookies that she makes and of course my Sonic drink(for those of you that know me well, this is my addiction)!
*Thank you to Greg and Jami for the bag of goodies, books, and magazines. They are already being put to good use!
*Big thanks to Uncle Bo and Aunt Lori for not only taking the boys for a fun filled day, but also for letting them have a sleep over.
*Another thanks to Bo and Lori for bringing Jeremy and I communion to the hospital and having prayer with us.
*HUGE thank you to my mom for making sure that our house was cleaned from top to bottom for Jeremy's arrival home. New pillows, new rug, new towels, I mean everything had to be perfect for his homecoming right?!?! It is going to be so nice to not have to worry about anything but spending time with the boys and taking care of Jeremy.
*Thank you to my Dad and Jannie for letting the boys sleep over last night and of course taking them swimming countless times this week and taking them to church this morning.
*Once again I can't say thank you enough for the emails, texts, phone calls, cards, etc. They are what help us get through each day as we accept the changes that have been made in our lives.

A very close friend of mine gave me a book a few years ago after Jeremy and I had suffered a miscarriage and it is an amazing book called The Power of Crying Out by Bill Gothard. When she gave me this book it already looked pitiful, but after me reading and referring to it, now it looks awful or maybe I should say broken in :). Tonight I pulled my scripture from Chapter 1 of that book that is titled Loud and Clear.
Isaiah 40:9 Lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid.
In our moment of fear and anxiety the right step is to experience God's powerful deliverance and protection and to this we simply must cry out to God and use our voice with strength when asking for his help.