New Hip

Last night I went to the hospital to see one of my good friends, Tina. She is in her early 40's and had to have a total hip replacement! It's unbelievable to me that she would need that! She is one of the most fit people I know! All of their family vacations include physical activity and she even taught aerobics for us for several years. Within the past year or so I've watched her go from tip top shape to limping around everywhere she goes! The doctor and her husband (also a doctor) finally convinced her the only way to get rid of the constant pain was to have the surgery.

She looked amazing last night! The surgery was on Monday and she was already in physical therapy yesterday! She said that she'd been getting up every hour just to move around and walk. I think she's just so competitive that she wants to make sure she's progressing faster than all the other 70/80 year olds who are in there for a hip replacement!

I stayed and talked with her for almost 2 hours! It was a great visit. Our discussions are usually held while I'm trying to corral Brody or answer the phones at work, so it was nice to be able to just sit down and talk for a while! She gets to go home on Thursday and she asked me to make sure I bring Brody by her house before I leave town on Friday. I'm gonna miss her!!!

While I was visiting Tina, Mike took Brody to the golf course with him. When I got home all Brody could talk about was Daddy, golfballs, and hitting! lol. I think he had a lot of fun golfing with Daddy. The weather was gorgeous yesterday (60 degrees). Today the high was 20 degrees! What a difference!!!

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On a lighter note...I need some help from my fellow Jericho fans! I know that I should know who the guy was that showed up to help look for Sara...but I just can't remember who he is! Help!!!

2 years later...

February 9, 2006. What was so significant about that date? It's the day that Mike's sister, Angela, emailed us to tell us she was pregnant. None of us knew the news they'd receive just 3 months later. We also didn't realize how many lives Alyiah's hour of life would touch! It has been an amazing journey for the entire family!

The next amazing chapter came in an email exactly 2 years (to the day) after the email we received in February '06. The subject line said, "things that make you go hmmm...." Here's the email from Angela:

I'm definitely not into forwards but I thought this one might be worth it. I recall sending this very picture to Mike and Staci exactly two years ago to the date. And thought if I were to send a recent similar picture...it would look exactly the same. Hmmmm.

I can't tell you how excited we are! Not only do Angela and I get to be pregnant together again...but her due date is Alyiah's birthday! How cool is that!! I know that many of you prayed for Mark and Angela during their pregnancy with Alyiah and will be excited to hear this news! I was so excited last night when Angela said that they've finally told everyone that they needed to tell in person and I was free to post it on the blog!

The Big Move

It has been brought to my attention that I have yet to post about the upcoming changes in our life.

If you haven't figured it out by now...we're moving back to Texas.

In January of 2005 I took over the books for the rec commission. I've really enjoyed doing them, so while I was pregnant with Brody (and the first few months after he was born) I took a few accounting classes at the local community college. The job that I'm currently in is wonderful...but it isn't a job that I can do from home, so Mike and I began brainstorming for ways that I could work from home. I was really enjoying the accounting and I decided that I should go back to school and get my masters so that I can sit for the CPA exam and become a CPA. The downfall was that I would have to drive over 1.5 hours to take classes! It didn't seem feasible to take night classes (getting home at 11 pm) and get up at 4 am to go to work at the rec commission! Mike asked if I'd like working for my mom (who's a CPA). Of course...but that'd mean moving to Texas. So the conversations began. Mom said that she'd love my help! By working for her I'd be able to start working in the accounting field immediately and slowly go back to school.

Mike and I put off making the decision about moving for a long time. We are comfortable where we live now. We love living in the country. We love that the school district here would never meet the standards of the ACLU (meaning teachers are very open about their faith). We love the church family here. Mike loves being able to step out the back door and target shoot...not to mention all the hunting. We both love the quiet pace of country life.

As most of you know, Brody comes to work with me at the rec commission. I knew that once we had more than one child I would not be able to take 2 kids to work with me and I really did not want to put our children in daycare. Working for Mom was beginning to look like the perfect solution. Not only would I be able to work from home (or from Dad & Mom's house)...but it would also give Mike an opportunity for career advancement. He is currently at the top of his field for our area...and he's still so young! We also liked the idea of living in the same area as our brothers and sisters...and my entire family! After having Brody, the pull to be near family was drastically increased.

So after much prayer...the decision was made. We'll sell our house (the one that we built on what used to be a field of wheat), leave our job, church, and community of almost 8 years...and move back to Texas.

This is my last week at work. I've worked here for 7.5 years and it's hard for me to believe that next Monday I won't be unlocking the doors to the fitness center to let eager exercisers in to the gym! I'll warn you in advance that this week of posting (and probably next week...or the next 2 weeks! lol) will probably be very emotional for me. It doesn't help that I'm pregnant! After this week of work, I'll have one week at home to pack up things that Brody and I need...then I'll be heading to Texas. Mike will stay here thru June (to finish his committment to the school), but I need to go help Mom thru tax season.

There are many days that we wonder if we're doing the right thing. Will we regret the decision we've made? Will we ever adjust to living in the city? I know that we will adjust...but it will take time....maybe even years. I also know how much Mike and I have both prayed about the move...and I am thankful for the peace that we feel about it.

There are three things that I'd ask you to be praying for on our behalf:

• The next 3.5 months are going to be very hard for us. I know that many people live apart longer than that (ie. military families), however, 3.5 months is a long time for us! It's hard for us to be apart for a week! Basically pray that we'll make it thru this time of separation emotionally.
• Within the next few months Mike will begin job searching in Texas. I know that he'll find a job easily, however, I'd love your prayers that he'll find a job that he loves.
• We hope to have our house on the market by April. Pray that Mike will have the time/energy to finish the projects he wants to finish. Also pray that our home will sell quickly once it's put on the market.

Thank you for your prayers! I'll keep you posted on how God is answering them.

Halfway

Today I'm 20 weeks pregnant! I can't believe that we're already halfway thru this pregnancy! I have to say that it goes by much faster when you have a little toddler to take care of. When I was pregnant with Brody I felt like I was pregnant forever. This time it's just flying by!
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Mike's Valentine's Day present to me was AWESOME!!! He upgraded my laptop! My old hard drive was so small (and full) that I didn't even have room to upload pictures off of my camera! I had to use my work computer if I wanted to post a picture online! I now have over 50 GB of FREE space on my laptop!!! He also installed Vista, Office 2007, and got me a webcam with built-in mic!!! Now we'll be able to video chat while I'm in TX and he's in KS!

My gift to him wasn't quite as extravagent. I got him some new turkey calls. He liked them...so that's all that matters ;)
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Yesterday the whole family received a wonderful gift! It was the following email from Grandmommy:

"We saw the oncologist this afternoon and got the results of the tests (X-Ray and MRI). It was good news. He came in smiling and said he had good news - that the cancer in all three places (brain, lung, and liver) has shrunk and the MRI showed no new cells. He said he just lived for days like today when he can give good news. So often, it is not good news. He said to continue doing what he has been doing and go out and celebrate. We told him it was the prayers - there were lots of people praying for him and that God has answered our prayers. Thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray that the rest of the treatments will kill the cancer - he has 3 more."

What an answer to prayer! Thank you to everyone that has been praying for Daddy Ken...and keep it up! God is answering our prayers!!

Counting my blessings...

Follower of Christ

Adventure Seeker

Provider

Protector

Passionate Lover
Amazing Father

Faithful

Chef

Home Builder

Patient

Loves Unconditionally

Outdoorsman

Gives the world's best hugs

Accountability Partner

Handsome

Financially Wise

Spontaneous

Did I mention Passionate Lover?

How blessed am I to get to call him my husband?!?

Bob and Nina

We hired a new full-time employee to take RaeAnn's shift (1-9 pm) because she's going to start working my shift when I leave. His name is Trey. He's great with kids (has a baby girl of his own) and Brody has warmed up to him real quick. Brody currently wants to know everyone's name that comes into the gym. He'll stand at the baby gate and say, "That?" over and over until I tell him the name of the person that just walked in (it's a good thing I'm good with names!). So, of course, he wanted to know Trey's name the first day that Trey came in to work (Monday the 4th). That's where it gets funny.

I tell Brody that his name is "Trey" and Brody just looks at me and says,
"Bob?" (pointing at Trey).
"No, Trey!"
"Bob?"

Now Brody thinks it's funny to call Trey "Bob". I have no idea where he got that. He doesn't see anyone during his day at work who's name is Bob...but he must have heard it somewhere and decided that he likes that name. Today when Trey walked in, Brody pointed at him and said (with a smirk on his face), "Bob!" Since we all laugh about it...he knows that he's being funny. As we leave he'll say, "Bye bye, Bob!" I'm guessing that since we only have a little over a week left at work...he will always call Trey "Bob".

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This morning Brody had a play date. Tina (pictured below in the Going Away Part post) lives next door to the gym and asked if Brody could come play at her house while I was teaching aerobics. He was excited to go with "Nina" because she has 2 puppies who LOVE to play with little kids! They're not old and grumpy like Trevor is. I ran a few errands after class and then went to pick him up. They had played outside, given one of the dogs a bath, done laundry, and (of course) eaten crackers! Tina said he knows where she keeps her crackers from his previous visits and was asking for them. He had a lot of fun playing over there and wasn't really ready to go back to work with me. At work he kept saying, "Nina...home?" and "Nina...puppies?" over and over again!

My nightly routine:

6:30 - make lunches and pack clothes for the next day
7:00 - give Brody a bath
7:30 - put Brody's jammies on
8:00 - put Brody to bed
8:05 - lay down on the couch (under a blanket using a boppy for a pillow...they make the best laying on the couch pillows)
8:50 - fall asleep just before I see the conclusion to whatever show we're watching on TV
10:30 - Mike wakes me up to tell me it's time to go to bed

Last night I tried sooooo hard to stay awake because my favorite show, Jericho, was finally returning to the line up. The bad news...it didn't come on until 9 pm! I woke up at 9:54 pm and realized that I didn't even see the end of the Biggest Loser! Arg!!! When I asked Mike who was voted off...he just grinned at me. I finally convinced him to tell me. Now I'll have to go watch Jericho online (no we don't have a DVR or Tivo). Only one more week and then I won't be getting up at 4 am...so I should be able to stay up until 10 pm!

Newsworthy

I wrote an article for the local paper about our new ROM Quick Gym. The article ran in Friday's paper and the response was immediate! Yesterday between 10 am and noon I had 15 people come into the gym to try out the ROM! Trey (the new guy we hired to work 1-9 pm) left me a note from last night telling me that a group of 10-12 older women will come by on Wednesday for a demonstration! Wow! I guess more people read the paper than we thought! The article ran on the front page and finished up on the back page. Click on the pictures below to make them big enough to read.

Going Away...but not yet

Yesterday there was a going away party for me at work. The party was pretty fun (rather than sad) because we all knew that I still have 2 more weeks before I leave. In otherwords...we were still able to avoid thinking about the day that I actually leave!


Tina (on the left) and RaeAnn (holding Cheyenne and Cheryl) organized the party and made tons of delicious food! Tina and her family moved here just a year after we moved to Kansas, however, it's hard to remember the LRC without her! She has been such a wonderful friend to me and to Brody. She is such a compassionate and selfless person. She is always ready to help in whatever way we need it. Brody loves going over to her house (right next door to the LRC) to play with Chip (one of her dogs). She is one of the people Brody talks about when we're at home. He loves "Nina"! Torrey and Brice worked for us during the summer while they were in high school. I always had a lot of fun with these two guys...and can't believe that they're now college graduates! They're always good about stopping by to see me when they come home for a visit and it was good to get to see them one more time before I leave.
Manuel is one of Brody's favorite gym members. He comes into the gym every morning and Brody will run to the baby gate (that keeps him out of the weight room) and wait for Manuel to come say "Hi". One day Brody was playing with a fly swatter and Manuel showed him an imaginary fly on the door frame. Every day since then he's had to hit pretend flys with Brody.

Yvonne has been part of my life ever since we moved to Kansas. First she was a member in my aerobics class, then she was a sponsor on our Kid's Day Out trips, then she became a fellow aerobics instructor, for a while she babysat for us, and now she also cleans for us! She always has a smile on her face and an encouraging word on her lips.
Marcia has been a fixture at the LRC since way before my time. She taught aerobics for 5 years before I arrived in 2000. She is the one who mentored me while I was learning to be an aerobics instructor. She is now a member of our Board of Commissioners and helps us to make decisions regarding the future direction of the LRC. Not only has she been a mentor and a Board member...she has been a wonderful friend!
Brody was excited to go to the party once I told him that Chey would be there! They love playing together! RaeAnn and I enjoy watching them play together too! RaeAnn started working for us in 2004. She has been such an asset to the LRC! I can't believe that I used to do this job all by myself! Not only is she a co-worker, she is like a sister to me! I really enjoyed the conferences that we went to together. We'd stay up late at night talking about everything. We ask for each others advice on everything from work to parenting. Even though we only see each other for about 30 minutes a day...I'm really going to miss that 30 minutes! I've already been going thru withdrawals since she's on maternity leave right now. I'm glad that we both have blogs and email so that we can keep up with each other thru pictures and stories!
RaeAnn and I were talking about how much trouble these two would get into if Brody was here for a few more years!
I didn't get a picture of Junior, my boss, at the party. I'll get one of him later. He deserves a separate post anyways ;)

Thanks to RaeAnn and Tina for a wonderful day. The good thing is....I can still avoid thinking about leaving. I still have 9 more working days...

Wild Hair

Brody woke up with very wild hair this morning! Here's a few pictures of him enjoying his oatmeal with his crazy hair!

Sick Boy

Brody's has had a runny nose and cough for about a week now. At first I just thought it was teething...but the cough was starting to become worrysome. I finally took him to the doctor yesterday and found out that he just has a virus that's going around. She said if he's not better by Monday that she'll give him some meds that basically stop the virus in it's tracks. When I told her that he hasn't been sleeping well (he's been waking up coughing every 1/2 hour...then crying...then falling back asleep) she prescribed a cough syrup that has a little codeine in it. It's amazing! He didn't wake up coughing at all last night! In fact, it's 8:30 am and he's still asleep (he's usually up between 6:30 and 7:30 am)!!! WOW! I wonder if she'd recommend giving it to him on long car trips....

Daddy Ken

I just realized that I never blogged about this. I guess with all the emails between family...I thought I had!

Most of you have had events happen in your life that you'll never forget where you were when...when you heard JFK died, when you saw the newscast with planes crashing into the World Trade Center, when you rounded the corner and saw your church building ablaze...I had one of those unforgettable moments the day after Christmas 2007.

I was in my parents' bathroom taking a shower. Mike walked into the bathroom and gave me the news. Daddy Ken has stage 4 cancer. It had spread. It was not just confined to his lungs (something they could have performed surgery on). Instead he is looking at the long road of chemotherapy. I remember just crying in the shower...letting the water wash away my tears. I remember saying to Mike, "But I thought his appointment wasn't until this next week? How does he know this already?!?" He told me how Daddy Ken and Grandmommy had received the news several days earlier but wanted to wait until after Christmas to tell everyone...so that we could enjoy a Christmas filled with joy and laughter rather than one with fear and tears. Immediately my thoughts went to my Dad and Cindy. How were they handling this news about their dad?

Mike brought me out of my moment of dispair by reminding me that God has done many great works in Daddy Ken's life...and what's one more?!? He turned my thoughts to how strong Daddy Ken is. He has had some very difficult trials in his life. Trials that I'm not sure I would've been able to withstand! He had such a horrible bout of pneumonia last year and the doctors said he'd have to be on oxygen the rest of his life. He proved them wrong! He looked so strong and fit at Christmas that I was sure that the cancer hadn't spread.

Upon further investigation, they found a small spot of cancer on his brain too. This past month Daddy Ken started chemotherapy and radiation. They sent us pictures of him the other day. I was almost afraid to look at them at first. Afraid that seeing Daddy Ken without his full head of "blonde" (as he calls it) hair would be too much of a reality check for me. I didn't know if I could handle it. When I looked at the pictures...I was shocked! Not only is he very handsome bald, he looks great! He has a smile on his face and is very healthy looking. I have to say that I haven't ever seen a cancer patient that looks as good bald as Daddy Ken does!!!

It would be easy for me to allow myself to think sullen thoughts. I could sit here and think about how much I want our children to know Daddy Ken. I could think about all the things I'll miss about Daddy Ken when he dies. It's inevitable...all of us are going to die some day (including Daddy Ken), but we don't know when that day will be! At Christmas, just before we got into car to drive back to Arlington, Daddy Ken gave me a hug and said, "I'm going home." while he pointed up towards Heaven. Whether the day comes in 2 years or 10 years...I'm so thankful that I know where Daddy Ken will go. I am thankful for the sacrifice that Christ made for us on the cross...and that since I believe in Christ I can know WITHOUT A DOUBT that I will get to spend eternity in Heaven with God, Jesus, Baby K, Grandpa, Daddy Ken, and the rest of my brothers and sisters in Christ!

That doesn't mean I stop petitioning the Lord. No! Every day we pray as a family for strength for both Daddy Ken and Grandmommy. We also pray that the Lord will work a miracle in Daddy Ken. That he will heal him and allow him to spend many more years on earth with us! What can I say? I'm selfish. I want him here!

It's a BOY!!

Our sonogram was today at 9:30 am. I'm sure you lost sleep last night with excitement...just like me! The sonogram went really well. The best part is that the baby looks perfectly healthy! We were so happy to see/hear that! The second best part was finding out the sex of the baby. Well...Daddy Intuition was right...IT'S A BOY!!!

The sonographer asked us if we wanted to know the sex and we both said, "YES!" He started moving the wand in that direction on the baby and before he said a word Mike said, "It's a boy!" The sonographer said, "Yep. There's somethin' stickin' out there!" I don't think he got a picture of the best shot of the baby's "man parts"...but it's still pretty clear in this one. This is a wider view. You can see the bottom of the baby's feet in the dark part in the middle of the picture.
Can you find the fingers in this picture? Some day those fingers will be holding my hand as we cross the street :)
This is a picture of the baby's head (on the left side of the screen) with his arm (in the middle of the picture) and his hand up by his mouth sucking his thumb. So sweet!!!

This is a short video of the baby sucking his thumb. It kinda looks like he hiccups towards the end of the video.

Super Bowl 2008

For most of the time that we've lived in Kansas, we've spent Super Bowl Sunday at Dwayne & Rene's house. They invite the youth group over to watch the game and just hang out. They have a big basement with lots of entertainment options (air hockey table, pool table, basketball goal, and of course the football game). Mike is in charge of how the game will be displayed. Usually he borrows a projector from work and we show the game on the big screen. This year he was concerned about reception (in the country Fox doesn't always come in clear)...so he decided to take our big TV over there so that we'd have a digital signal. Somehow he figure out how to run the projector thru the TV receiver, so we had two big screens in HD! He also took over our sound system so that we had surround sound. It was pretty awesome!

Before the game started, Brody and Mike went outside to play. Here's Brody throwing a snowball at Daddy. Here are the two viewing areas for the football game:

Taya (Dwayne and Rene's middle daughter) enjoyed pushing Brody around and around on the mower. With 6 other kids running around...Brody had plenty of people to entertain him!
The game was sooo good last night! You couldn't ask for a better finish! We had a great time and are really gonna miss the tradition of Super Bowl at Dwayne & Rene's!

*Does anyone know why spell check isn't working in Blogger?!? I depend on it!! lol*

Thru the Belly

Last night Mike got to feel the baby move for the first time!!! I've been feeling the baby move for about a month now and the kicks have been getting stronger and more frequent lately. Last night Mike put his hand on my belly for just a few minutes and felt the baby kick twice! It was so exciting! We're feeling this baby a lot sooner than we felt Brody. I'm didn't feel Brody move until I was 19 weeks pregnant and Mike didn't feel him until I was 21 weeks pregnant! I'm glad that we're feeling this baby sooner since Mike will miss out on a lot of the last months of this pregnancy when the baby's really moving a lot.