We're home!!

My sugar bear is home, safe and healthy. I want so bad to be overjoyed - but I'm actually feeling very humbled and sobered. As I walked around that hospital, I saw so many children who are not leaving healthy, so many who obviously have cancer or severe injuries, so many little bitty babies. I feel bad about saying, "Yeah - God answered our prayers!" Didn't all those families pray the same prayers? When my cousin died of a brain tumor when he was 11, it certainly wasn't after a lack of prayer. When so many of my friends have faced challenges and deaths of their children - it wasn't for lack of prayer then. Now - for fear of starting a very slippery slope - I FIRMLY believe God calls us to "pray without ceasing", and "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective", and that God tells the elders to come annoint with oil and pray - which we did. Our wonderful elders annointed Kensey with oil and prayed over her in the ER. I think what I'm trying to say is that I don't deserve for my daughter to be leaving healthy! I don't deserve to be home safe and sound. I am absolutely not any more righteous than any of the other mothers who are still sitting at the children's hospital! I am so thankful and feel so unworthy of God's faithfulness to my family. My heart breaks for every mother who is fearing for the life of their child! Would I still sing the Lord's praises if the outcome were different? If they found something horrible in Kensey's brain, would I praise the Lord? Would I still acknowledge that God is good despite my circumstances? I want to be able to say yes. I want to be able to claim that God is good no matter what, even when His answers to my prayers are not the answers I asked for. I can almost guarantee Mary, the mother of Jesus, prayed for her son's deliverance! We know Jesus prayed that "this cup" could pass from him. I'm confident He was a "righteous man" and that His prayers were powerful and effective! I guess what I'm trying to vocalize is:
"Thank you my Lord, for taking care of my Kensey this week. We committed her to you when she was born, and she is still Yours to use as You need in Your plan! May her life bring You glory and draw people to YOUR name!! Thank you for allowing her to stay in my arms a little longer! Thank you for the outpouring of love and prayers from the wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ You have allowed us to do life with!"

Waiting...

Isn't waiting always the hardest part of any trial?? We are still at the hospital, waiting for the neurology team to read the MRI, MRA, and MRV and work their magic. Kensey and I both slept well all night. And the nurse put fresh coffee in my blingy mug this morning. I haven't had even one moment to worry from all the texts, emails, and facebook entries. It really is wonderful! I feel so incredibly blessed. People all over the world, LITERALLY, are praying for my baby!

Scary Night!!

It all began last night around 6 pm. We were on our way to drop the kids off at the church so Khris and I could go to an elder meeting. Kensey said, "OW! There's something in my eye!" I told her to look at me and I noticed that one eye was fully dilated and the other was very small. I had her close her eyes and open them again - and the same thing happened. After we had her look into a bright light and the same thing happened, we decided to get her to the ER. On the way to the ER, she got a horrible headache, nausea, and dizziness. At one point, her eyes rolled back in her head and she couldn't make sense when she was talking to me. It seemed like forever by the time we reached the ER. Within hours, they were using very scary words...brain tumor, aneurism, stroke, cancer, blood clots, etc. They did a CAT scan and found nothing. Then, they did a CAT scan with contrast and still saw nothing. So, by 1 am, they decided to move us to Children's Hospital in Dallas. By 5 am, I was finally able to lay down with the thought that my baby will probably be OK.

Since we've been here, the doctors and nurses have been absolutely fabulous! The neurologist really thinks this is migraine related, but we're waiting for an MRI, MRA, and MRV. So, we still have no idea what's wrong, but the doctors really think it's much less serious than we first feared.

I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from our church, community, coworkers, friends, and family. It is a very good thing we have unlimited texting!!! :) Our elders were wonderful - they annointed her with oil and prayed over her. Tons of friends have come by!! We are VERY blessed!!

Please continue to pray that we find answers and there is a good solution that will allow my precious Kensey-bear a long and healthy life!

Not enough hours in the day...

I know I'm doing a HORRIBLE job of keeping up with my blog, but there just aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I need to accomplish! And, I feel guilty for blogging when I'm not done with important things like laundry and preparing meals!

But, here's pics from Koleman's test for his yellow belt in karate and the girls went the Daddy-Daughter dance.

Funny story...

My friend, Jill, picks my children up from school each day and yesterday she had a funny story to share when I got there. Kensey and Joy had decided they were going to use their homework pass and not do their Math homework. Jill asked them if they knew where their homework passes were. Joy said, "It's in my binder, in my folder, where I keep all of those things." Kensey said, "If I were my mother, that's where mine would be too!" LOL!! (However - she is NOT her mother - and therefore she still has to find it!)

Back to normal

Well, it's back to the normal world, until Summer. This week was so wonderful. It was so nice to be home with my family, laugh with my babies, hold hands with my husband, and go when we wanted to go and stay when we wanted to stay. Ah....

But, today I turn back into full-time working mom. I am very convicted about not grumbling or complaining. No one will want to be back at school. I felt, in my quiet time, like God was encouraging me to be the happy highlight today. You know...make the world a brighter place for my kids, my students, my husband, my friends, etc... Obviously, we would all like to just live in Spring Break - but that's not reality. So, I'm praying this morning that God will empower me to be the light in a dark world!

Camping

We had such a wonderful time camping last night. We went to our duck lease land that we rent with Patrick and Emily Berg. It's only about 40 minutes away, near Valley View, TX. Patrick & Emily, and the Holland family came with us. The kids had so much fun exploring together! After we got the tents and kitchen set up...
we sat around and shot some skeet. It was so much fun. Koleman thought it was a little loud, but the guns were still cool!

Khris was so excited to teach the kids how to build an A-frame fire. Koleman was breaking sticks over his legs. All the kids were making the fire together and having so much fun!
It was so fun to cook out, sit around and roast s'mores, sing, laugh, and enjoy the outdoors. The weather could not have been more beautiful! And, aside from Kensey running into a tree in the dark, everything went well...except Khris couldn't sleep. Apparently, SOMEBODY (me..tee hee) snores like a bear. Oh, and when you put 5 people in a 3 man tent, it's a little squished! But it sure was sweet this morning to wake up and all snuggle together on top of Daddy - precious memories!!