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Tessa's St.Judes visit....

Well, all of her tests came back GREAT!!!Yea Yesterday her platelet count was very low but it turned out to be a lab error. The Dr said that since she has been a year out from therapy now that she could "almost" be concidered to be in remission. Thanks to everyone for their prayers
til next time....

Dining with Cinderella

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Tessa's eye exam today...

Mike and I switched out and he is at St Judes the rest of the week. Tessa's eye exam under anesthesia was great!!YEA!! Now we wait for the MRI and the bone scan results which we should have by Friday afternoon. Thanks for all of the prayers!
til next time....

our trip!!

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St Judes.

Well,Tessa is back for her exam and I am just waiting now.
I met a mom here whose daughter has bilateral and an enucleation
Her other eye was clear like Tessa's .She now has tumors again
So we will remain on our toes!!
She is now out of surgery and her eye exam was clear!!!!!!Yes
Til next time......

Going to St Judes in the am.....

Well , it is time for Tessa to have another check and for Sophie to get her blood drawn for genetics. They have found Tessa's missing piece of gene so they will now test Sophie since they know exactly where to look....hopefully it will be negative and just a sporadic mutation...we are glad to get this info...
While I am there I am going to try to update the blog concerning our trip to camp sunshine in Maine.
We shall see
till later.....

Families Are Forever

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Family Memories

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Window Into Our Life.....

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Bathing Beauty Pagent....

The big girls are dressing the little ones up to do "pagents" although Mike and I don't agree with "pagents" we do alow the girls to play dress-up of course ....which is "pagents " to them. This is the swim-suit division.
The rain continues.....good for the garden but hard on Mom!
until next time....

"I want to watch my corn come up in rows".....

isen't that a county song??? Anyway, we have 12 rows about 26-30 ft long of sweet corn and will plant 12 more. The black you see is actually compost. We have had a heck of a time with this garden but since adding more compost it is coming along. My herb garden is doing really well and I have alot of sage that I can share if anyone needs any. I will thyme later also.
The other picture is some thing that we have no idea what it is! It is like an onion but the leaves are like leeks. They were here when we bought the house...Anyone have any ideas?
Til next time....

Cherries, Cherries,Cherries.....

Well, this is the last of the cherries. After our horrible ice storm we have managed to salvage half of the big Cherry tree! I am thinking that after this year we will have to cut it down. I have transplanted some little ones and we have two that are just beginning to give us cherries. We have had two pies so far and I am making jelly today...
If the birds don't eat all of the ones left we will have another pie and enough in the freezer for 3 more pies!!
A far cry from self-sufficiency though...LOL...

The new bathroom....

As you can see it is not finished yet, I need to get the junk out of there and seal the grout in the shower and on the floor. The linen cabinett and vanity is in place and looks awesome! The sink is to follow!!YEA, we will soon be able to shower Emmalie in her shower chair!!
Thanks to every-one again for all of the help, with out all of you it would not have come together this quickly or efficiantly
til next time

At St Judes again....

well here we are for Tessa's 6mo follow up. It is hard to believe it has been 6 mo!!we start at 7:30 in the morning with her bone scan and MRI then tomarrow it is the eye exam. I will try to update as soon as I know in the morning. Please say a prayer that all is well....
until next time

thanks

to every one for their comments on our photo's.We had never done this so it was fun!!

Our 10th year aniversry portraits...

check this out!

Mike and I had a weekend away right before Emmalie went into the hospital. I will try to get the rest of the photo's posted.

Tessa at the park....

She was having a great time , it was actually Katie's birthday party and as soon as I "find" my other pictures I will post them...LOL...

Update on Carrol Newman....

Well, he is really doing miraculous! He is driving, planning his garden but has had a few problems with some medication.
So, all in all he has made an almost complete recovery from a condition that most folks die from....

Carrol Newman update.....

My father in law is doing so well it is truely a miracle! He is in Springfield Mo at a rehab hospital and he is really making alot of progress. He still has a trach but is now breathing on his own.
One of his boys have been there everyday with him. It is really hard for Carrol because he is thinking he can go out in a week to feed cows....:) it will be hard to hold him down.
Til next time...

Tessa update...

We are back from St Judes and Tessa had a good report on her eye exam!!!! We go back in April for all of her scans and hopefully everything will be good then also.
We have power also!!Yea...

So much has happened.....

Well, let me start with the most important thing. Mike's father was at our house Thursday helping us move a tractor. He and I had been laughing and joking around nothing unusual. I went into the house to feed the babies and I hear Mike hollaring.I think nothing of it because the tractor was running and he is hard of hearing anyway. I hear him shout again and I go out there and Carrol is on the ground with Mike holding his head. Mike had seen him collapse and called for me. I did a quick assessment and called 911 for an ambulance.I then went back out , he was in and out of it and then stopped breathing and he had no heart beat at all. I began CPR, after a round he began to breath on his own and he had a pulse. I called for his brother to come also. The first responders came and I told them that he needed O2 immediately and when they got thier bottle it was empty..:( so one of them had to run to the fire station I guess.Mike's brothers came and we moved him into the house, he started to "fade" a few more times but I told them to keep him talking we waited at least 30 min. for an abulance. His grandson,an EMT was on the ambulance....they got him to Salem where Dr Bozeman did a quick assessment and called the medivac air...they flew him to Mountain Home where he had emergency surgery for a ruptured abdominal anuerism.....he is still critical

Tessa and I are at St Jude's for her exam and I will post more on that tomarrow...
We are still with out power at home but hopefully it will be on soon.2 wks is just to long.....
until next time....

Progress....

Well, today Buddy came and brought a load of siding for our house. He and his crew will be here next week. Wow! I can't believe it, we are really close to being finished with it. I will try to get some photo's posted so you can see all the awesome things that people have done for us. I will be working on the bath this next week , doing tile sealing....
We are using Hardy Plank on the house and now I will have to come up with a color !YIKES more decisions.
All of the kiddo's are doing good and we are looking forward to warmer weather.
Drink plenty of hot cocoa where ever you are...until next time....

Happy New Year (the real one)

I just wanted to post a more serious post about our hopes for our new year. We have had a year that has not been with out challenges in 2008.We have a child that has and is struggling with cancer. I think that when you are faced with that in your life your outlook changes,at least mine has. We have experienced other parents heartaches through their words, hugs,silence and tears while we were getting Tessa's treatment at St Judes. It really made us so aware how fragile life on earth is and in the process has made our faith so much stronger.The words "live each day to it's fullest" have never meant more to us than it does now. We know that you can never be sure how long your children,your spouse or yourself has in this world but is sure hits home if you are sitting in a hospital surrounded by children , some of whom will not live to see the spring.It hits you like a "a fist in the stomach" at times. These families all become intertwined with your lives during treatment. You have dinner with them, you fellowship with them. You sit in surgery waiting rooms with them. All of you hoping for the "Good News". All the while when the news in good for you and your child the guilt creeps in because the news wasn't good for the next family or their family. I have come to understand , mostly through my own experience that it people's strong faith helps them get through these first days, weeks, then months and finally years with their child. Without faith it would be impossible. God has given us a promise that there will be everlasting life. Hallelujah! One family especially comes to mind as I write this post. I had seen and talked with this family for months. They are Amish and would "trade off" who would come with the child for her treatments. The mother had other children at home and couldn't stay all the time with her child, so the child's Aunt would come. This child looked like I imagine a "child angel" would look, she was precious. I was there the day that they were told that there just wasent'anything else to do for her. They would take her home and love her until the end. The Aunt as she told me about this, she said to me," soon she will be happy with her Lord and there will be no more pain, won't that be wonderful? We will be the ones suffering in the world not her". There were no tears in her eyes because she knew that was the absolute truth.Of course she wanted her niece to live but she knew that she was going to a wonderful place with no suffering. I know that I have prayed for faith like that daily and that is my goal for the new year. To have more faith in God our father, to believe , really believe that all things are possible through him. To be more of the person that God wants me to be .That is my hope for all of you that read my blog; That you become more of the person that God wants you to be and to have faith that all things are possible through Him.

Happy New Year from the Newman's!

Well, if it is hard for you to make out this picture then let me explain it for you. It is enough medicine for probably a whole town in rural Arkansas! Our children all have the "Infuenza" FLU and I don't mean a stomach virus...oh and I forgot to mention the STREP but at least unlike last year we are free from RSV!YEAH....
We went to Texas to visit Jason and his family and our grandson had the flu!! This is the second year that we have gotten the flu and Tessa was immunized twice this year to cover the flu..Well, I know that you guys who are against immunizations will have a field day with that one...LOL...actually, this will be the LAST year that we do this.(get flu shots)
Thanks
The Newman's