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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Eczema, It's Not

So last year Keri saw her oncologist for her regular yearly breast cancer check-up (nearly 7 years breast cancer free now!) and showed her oncologist a mole on her arm that had gotten weird. He took a good look at it, asked a few questions, and said it was eczema.

Fast forward a year later and the mole is still being funky and Sophie keeps saying "you have spot?" and "No scratch it." So Keri thought, "Out of the mouths of babes" and maybe she'd go get it checked out.

The dermatologist chopped it off and sent it off to those interesting lab people that actually wanted to get a job looking at sickly bits and pieces of people. Why, is a mystery in itself! But we are thankful for them because it turned out to be malignant melanoma. See, it is good to listen to your wise 2-year-old!

Anyway, met with the surgeon today and he said the depth of it was only .9 mm so that is good news because the deeper it goes the greater chance there is of it spreading. Keri gets to go in and have the doc take a bit more flesh out and then check her lymph nodes.

Luckily, she'll be functional very soon after this surgery, like the next day! Thank you, painkillers! They will be sending bits of Keri to those odd yet nice lab people, again, so as soon as we know more about containment or spread, we'll post more. It will probably be a little while or they may tell us almost right away. Who knows?! That's what makes this so exciting! Anyhow, Neal and Keri remain optimistic but welcome prayers!

Friday, December 25, 2009

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! We hope you enjoyed celebrating the birth of our Savior and being with those you love.

Sophie continued to have a low grade fever throughout the day. But she woke this snowy white morning and we showed her Santa's empty cookie plate. Then she looked out to the back porch and seeing another empty plate, exclaimed, "Oh noooo! Carrots gone!" We said that the reindeer had come and eaten them. Then she checked her stocking and pulled out a cool tape measure.

Later that morning, Opa and Oma showed up for brunch which was a breakfast egg casserole, fruit salad, roasted potatoes, and OJ. Soon after filling our bellies we began opening gifts. Then Opa and Oma were on their way to visit with more family.

We spent the day on the phone with family, trying to find a home for all the new toys, and playing, playing, playing. It was a great Christmas! Thank you to all who remembered us with phone calls, cards, plates of goodies, and gifts. We truly appreciate your kindness and generosity.
Darn! The dress was too small! A lucky win for Sophie!Strike a pose, there's nothing to it...Goody, goody, goody! A light saber for Daddy, no Rhys, no Daddy, no Rhys. Rhys will not have much of a choice but to share with Daddy.The angle...The shot!The bedlam of Christmas morning.Trying out the remote control robot.
Keri models the beautiful wrap hand knitted by her mother, Judy.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

T'was the Night Before Christmas...

God's working on a White Christmas in the Dallas area. It was in the upper 60s/low 70s yesterday. Today snow!Poor Sophie has been sick with something viral (H1N1 and strep were ruled out) and has had a fever for three days now. She was her joyous self during the day and okay this evening but during her last hour up, her temperature went back up. So she took some Motrin and gladly went to bed.

We had completed all our Christmas Eve activities anyway. We had pizza for dinner. We were going to go to our friends', Dave and Liz', house and join in their tradition of making pizza and enjoying each other's company but with Sophie still sick, we didn't want to wear her out and share her bug. Neal was unwilling to part with the idea of pizza, though, so we got a veggie and cowboy.Then Sophie prepared a plate of carrots for Santa's reindeer and put it out on the back porch.Following that we got out the Nativity set and we reviewed the events of the first Christmas. We watched The Nativity (which is about 5 minutes long) and stopped it at key points to talk about and add corresponding figures to the nativity scene.Then we baked cookies from the dough she helped to make days earlier. We all got to taste one to make sure they would be good enough for Santa. While they baked in the oven, Mom and Sophie danced around the living room, dining room, and kitchen to The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy, an upbeat carol with Caribbean percussion.So with Sophie in bed and Rhys soon to be, Neal and Keri would like to wish all our friends and family a Merry Christmas and goodnight!

Bits and Pieces of Life

When winter weather hits, it's important to layer up. Yes, layer...upon layer...upon layer...
upon layer... Good job, Big Sister!Bad Mommy!Our bundled up boy.