NEWSY POST....A MIRACLE, A BIRTHDAY, AND MORE

Well it's been a full week since I've managed to post, but what a week it has been... I should probably tell it in order of what went on, but I have to tell this UNBELIEVABLE story first.

JESSICA AND WESTON

It started a few months ago when my niece Jessica, the one who is Melody's age [twenty nine] and is definitely one of her very best friends, the one who does my hair,  the one who spent soo much time at our house growing up that she definitely feels like one of our own kids and one who I love like one of my very own sure, the one who I did a tiny bit of sewing for her own clothing line for, the one who is soo gifted creatively that her parties are legendary in our family, and the one is the mother of Weston....you know, THAT one, has been having a few medical issues with her liver.  At first she had no symptoms from this, but it showed up in her routine blood tests that she was having done at the beginning of her fertility treatments.  They were really quite slight so at first they opted to just watch it and see what happened, while of course putting her fertility treatments on hold.  Eventually when nothing changed she began to have test after test ALL of which showed nothing,   Two specialists and a bajillion tests later they decided the only way to REALLY know what was going on was to biopsy the liver.  By now she was started to have pain too, and we all began to feel the dread.  But when the results came in we were all relieved to hear that the liver was showing no signs of any permanent damage or disease, but rather it was something in her system that was causing this, most likely a medication or a supplement.  HOWEVER, considering she doesn't take so much as a Tylenol or Advil, and NO vitamins or supplements, and eats SOO healthy it is somewhat ridiculous, it honestly made NO sense. She began to rack her brain and meanwhile the pain was definitely gathering speed. So they sent her for a CT scan of the whole area late last Thursday afternoon.  Now mind you she had already had a couple of ultra sounds of the liver which showed nothing.  Anyway about 5 o'clock on Thursday afternoon I got a call from my younger sister who was in complete tears.  I knew immediately of course something had been very wrong with Jessie's CT scan.  And sure enough they had found a LARGE mass in her abdomen tucked up under her liver and between her kidney's and pressing on her spine.

PHIL, JESSICA AND WESTON

 They suspected cancer of course and they were ordering a biopsy asap.  I called all the prayer warriors I could think of and we began the wait.  When they called her the next morning to schedule the biopsy and told her it would be almost 3 weeks before they could get her in, we all kind of flipped out.  Seriously?  3 weeks?  Surely NO ONE should have to wait 3 weeks with a LARGE suspicious looking mass inside of them wondering if it was cancer or not, and IN PAIN as well!  We began to pray more specifically and my sister went into action.  After sitting at Kaiser until she finally got the admin woman to talk to her she was told to take her to the emergency room right away and tell them she was in pain and they would do the biopsy on the spot.  Soo late Friday afternoon Jessie and her husband headed to the emergency room and my sister kept their baby until her hubby could get there, and then she joined them.  Sure enough they decided to do the biopsy immediately with the doctor there saying, "this mass is WAY too large to wait".  Here's where things begin to get exciting.  As she was in getting a needle biopsy they were using the scan to help them for placement and they were just having trouble.  They couldn't seem to get it in there right.  So they decided to get another scan and try again.  But when they had gotten the second scan and went to read it, they discovered that the mass was COMPLETELY gone!!  The doctor came in and told them he really had NO IDEA how this could have happened or could be.  There was NO MASS.  He said, the only explanation he could come up with was perhaps the dye they had used in the first test had not gone all the way through her system and some of it was still in her bowel and that was what they had seen.  But just because he knew what they had been through in the last 24 hours, and how bad it felt about it all, he would do yet another scan so they could all see again for themselves that there was nothing there.  So they did, and sure enough it was completely normal with NO SIGNS of a mass! Now personally I [and all of us!] are calling this a miracle!  His explanation for several reasons made NO sense.  He told them to go home and follow up with her specialist this week about the pain, but that there was NO abnormality in her test.  Can you believe this?  A large mass one day in a very specific location with measurements etc., and absolutely NOTHING the next?

DISNEYLAND A FEW WEEKS AGO

 I am not sure where this will end.  I am thinking they are suspicious now that the fertility hormones they gave her for her first pregnancy may have caused her liver issues, and that her gallbladder may be the source of her pain now, and the two are totally unrelated.  No matter what it is, NO MASS, and a clear liver biopsy, is about the best news we could have gotten.  Needless to say we all felt a HUGE burden being lifted and the power and mercy of a very mighty God being shown, and our gratitude honestly knows no bounds.  Thank you Jesus!



Soo you can see why that story had to be told first, and why it IS soo exciting etc.  So the rest of the stories I have I will try and tell just in pictures.  I could wait and tell them later, but I am afraid I will never catch up if I do.  Soo I will try and keep them nipped, lol.  Sooo Saturday was little Luke's 3rd birthday.  When Melody had asked him what kind of a cake  or party theme he wanted he was very clear that he wanted NO cake.  He just wanted "mice cream" and a pointy party hat, lol.  So that was easy.  Melody invited his little friends to run through sprinklers and have a slip and slide with, and set up a "mice cream" bar complete with several different toppings including whip cream to enjoy.  OH! And he wanted donuts for breakfast, and he wanted the big box to sit in front of him while they ate them, lol.  Hubby and I were sad to miss the "mice cream" party, but we got plenty of pictures and videos of the day.  He looks like he had a wonderful time.  How I love this sweet, lovable, darling little guy would be hard to describe...

BOX OF DONUTS, POINTY PARTY HAT, AND A GLEEFUL 3 YEAR OLD LUKE!

"MICE CREAM" BAR.  OH, HE WANTED ONLY VANILLA ICE CREAM TOO, LOL

BEFORE THE PARTY GOT STARTED.  LOOKING AT THIS PIC I SEE MANY YEARS OF LITTLE CLAIRE CAREFULLY POSING WITH HER BROTHERS WHO DON'T WANT THEIR PICTURE TAKEN, LOL

SLIP AND SLIDE FUN...I FIND IT FUNNY THAT CLAIRE THOUGHT SHE WAS ONE OF THE PACK AT ONLY A YEAR OLD....AND MELODY SAID SHE HUNG RIGHT IN THERE WITH THEM ALL, LOL.  WITH 2 BIG BROTHERS SHE WILL NO DOUBT PROBABLY BE PRETTY TOUGH, LOL

SQUIRT GUN FUN TOO.  SAM'S FACE LOOKS LIKE HE'D RATHER IT WAS HIS TURN THEN THE BIRTHDAY BOYS, LOL

"MICE CREAM" TIME.  MEL SAID LUKE HAD BOTH A CONE AND A CUP GOING, LOL, ONLY ON YOUR BDAY RIGHT?

SAM AND LITTLE CAROLINE...SHE TOLD ME WHEN I WAS THERE LAST TIME SHE WANTS TO MARRY SAM SOMEDAY, LOL.  BUT SAM WANTS TO MARRY HIS COUSIN TELLA...WE WON'T TELL CAROLINE THAT.  SOO SWEET, LOL

LUKE AT THE END OF HIS BIG DAY GOING POTTY BEFORE BED...LOOK AT THAT TIRED LITTLE FACE AND STILL WEARING HIS POINTY PARTY HAT.  LOVE HIM SOO MUCH!

And on Sat. hubby and I asked our oldest son Joe and Leah and Jeffie and Cody [the older two already had plans...sat night don't ya know, lol] to join us for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.  We had such a good time.

IT'S REALLY QUITE AMAZING THAT I GOT 12 YEAR OLD JEFFIE TO POSE IN THIS BIB...ONLY FOR GRANDMA I HAVE  FEELING.  THEY BOTH LOVE CRAB AND SHRIMP, BUT IT WAS KIND OF MESSY, LOL

TAKEN FREE AT THE PLACE FOR US....COURSE THEY TRIED TO SELL US THESE PICS INDIVIDUALLY FOR  A MERE 17 DOLLARS A PIECE [REALLY? LOL] BUT WE REFRAINED..  THIS CAPTURED IT PERFECTLY

And then....yesterday after church, hubby and I decided to try something different he had read about online. He had read that IF you wait until the day of the performance, CLOSE to show time, and pay CASH at the box office [no online purchases], you can get tickets to see a play at the South Coast Repertory theater at a great discount, IF there are any tickets available that is.  We decided to take a chance. We had a nice lunch and drove over and sure enough got two wonderful seats for less then half price.  The eighty dollar seats were now only 30!  We almost felt like we were cheating, lol. Though notice I said "almost", lol.  We saw Amadeus.  It was beyond amazing.  Soo good.  Got a long standing ovation.  Hubby and I enjoyed every minute of this 3 and half hour production. Needless to say, we will be trying this again.  It was a risk of course, as I think we might have gotten two of the last seats in the place, lol

THE MIDDLE GUY HERE WAS PHENOMENAL!

And then even though it seemed to take me FOREVER I did manage to finish up Melody's quilt with the scrappy borders, and hope to get it to the quilters tomorrow.

THERE IT IS...I WANT TO REACH INTO THIS PICTURE AND STRAIGHTEN EVERYTHING MORE, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA.  IT FINISHED AT EIGHTY FOUR BY EIGHTY FOUR.  BIGGEST I HAVE MADE SO FAR

LITTLE CLOSER LOOK AT THE FABRICS.

And finally I want to wish you all a happy Memorial Day.  May we NEVER forget those who have served and are serving now, and have given their lives for our freedom.  Our gratitude can really never be adequately expressed or stated.  hope you all have a good week!

MEMORIAL DAY CUTIES

ONE YEAR TO THE NEXT....LOOK HOW THEY HAVE GROWN