February 29, 2012

Its crazy to think that its only been a month and I have SO much to tell you! Lets start with today...

We went to see Blake's neurologist this morning, Dr. Le Pichon, whom we love!! We see him every 6 months and he goes over his most recent MRI's and answers any questions we might have. We looked over the MRI's from his past Nov, July and April scans. We have been watching a spot on Blake's brain (a lesion) and have been patiently waiting to figure out what it is, praying it wasn't another tumor. Well, after reviewing the scans and comparing them, Dr. Le Pichon is pretty certain that the lesion is just scar tissue!! HOORAY!! He said all of our prayers have paid off and that this is the best news we could have prayed for! Needless to say we left his office very very happy!! I have to thank all of you who have prayed and sent positive thoughts our way! We greatly appreciate all your support!!

Ok, ready for some more exciting news?!!

Many of you may follow me on facebook, so this might not be 'new' news for you, everyone else get ready! Lol.

In January, a little girl named Nevaeh was added to my class. I learned that she was a foster child, and soon learned the lady caring for her was not doing such a great job. I instantly fell in love with this little girl with big brown eyes. She melted my heart and I just wanted to take her home. Meeting her inspired me to look into becoming a foster parent, so I came home one day and mentioned 'fostering' to Phil. We had talked about adoption a long time ago, and having Nevaeh in my class really got me thinking. Phil thought it was a good idea, but wanted more information. So we invited a friend of mine over, who has been fostering for a couple years now, to answer some questions and give us some more info. I also called my Aunt who has also been a foster parent for some time, to get her advice and more info. Phil and I decided that we could really help a child out, give them love and support and more importantly a family! Call it Gods will, that very next week my friend called and said Nevaeh was going up for placement. Her current foster mom was not able to take care of her or give her what she needed. Crazy right?! So we made a few phone calls, and my friend called Nevaeh's case worker to let her know I was interested. The case worker was thrilled that we wanted her. We are considered 'kinship' providers since I know her from school. She called and set up a time to do our home study and had us fill out some paper work. It has now been a week and we are patiently waiting to find out when she will be coming to live with us. Its been hard to wait, but we have had time to change my office into a bedroom, and are collecting lots of hand-me-downs since Nevaeh has very little. She only wore 4 different outfits to school, most were too big for her, and her shoes were too small for her feet. It was so sad seeing her come to school like that, her hair was never brushed or fixed. Right now Nevaeh has been placed with my friend, we are waiting patiently for the courts to approve a kinship license for us. We were able to spend some time with her over the weekend. Phil and Blake both really like her. My friend is taking such good care of her, she told me that if she didn't like us as much as she does, she would tell the case worker to stop and just let her keep her. lol I know that she will be loved and cared for as long as we have any say! Her name is heaven backwards...tell me that God didn't put her in my class for a reason. lol I truly believe everything happens for a reason. I have always wanted a little girl. Ya never know what Gods plan is until its right in front of you. I know this is going to be a journey, and I'm sure it wont always be easy. I do know that no matter what happens we can get through it. After the past 3 years with Blake, I know that we can get through anything as long as we stick together and pray, pray, pray. We are rich in love and support. And that's all you really need in this world, ya know! Blake is excited, although I'm not sure he totally understands yet. He enjoyed playing with her over the weekend. I think this is going to be a really good thing for everyone involved. Prayers are of course appreciated!! I know we will need them! I will keep you all posted on how it all goes. I am hoping to find something out soon!!

January 29, 2012

Well, Happy belated New Year! We are heading into 2012 with positive thinking and humbled hearts! I know its been forever since my last post, I will do my best to catch you all up.



At my art show...looking so handsome!

December 2-I had my first official art show! I was VERY excited. It took me months of planning and painting to prepare for it. The art show was held at The Gallery 19 Below. Several months ago Joy (a friend of mine who is creative director and editor at 19 below) asked me if I would want to join her and another one of our crafty friends-Jamie Lyon, for an art show at the gallery. I of course said yes!! It was so cool too, because all 3 of us-without any coordination or talking-had very similar subjects. Lots of birds and trees. lol It was such a fun show! I really had so much fun. That was my first and I hope to do more in the future! I actually received several painting jobs from that show. I got a lot of positive feed back on my work. It was a very cool experience and I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of it! You can check out my art blog at www.punkparlor.blogspot.com! Let me know if you need any art for your humble abode!



A glimpse at some of my art. (the white wall has my art hanging)

Christmas: We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. Several months before Christmas we were introduced to the 'Blanket Fairy'. Its an amazing organization and if you haven't heard of them you should definitely check them out. http://theblanketfairy.weebly.com/ Its such a great thing that they are doing! Blake was selected to be part of their 'Christmas Hope Fairy' program. Basically an anonymous volunteer receives Blake's info and helps with Christmas. Its so miraculous how when things are tough and you arent sure how they will ever work out...God opens that door. This has been a consistent part of Blake being diagnosed with his brain tumor. I am always amazed at the way things work out. Confused? Let me back up a little.




So excited to get his 'Blanket Fairy-Christmas Hope Fairy' present!

This past year things have been tight financially for us. We make the bills each month but its been hard to buy any of the extra things (i.e. clothes for our very fast growing little boy, shoes, ya know all the extra stuff beside bills/gas/groceries) When I started my part time job, it was perfect timing and we really needed the 2nd income. Although I found a part time teaching job, a few weeks prior to me starting, all overtime was cut from Phil's job. It really stinks but I dont feel I can complain because we are making enough to survive-things are just tight. So here we are working to make the bills and Christmas is right around the corner. We sat down and decided that we would have to tell our families that this year we couldn't afford presents for all the kids. (We usually buy for just the kids in our families-Blake has 5 girl cousins and 1 boy cousin) This was VERY hard for me to do, because I look forward to giving gifts each year. I think I might have cried when I told my mom. I know I'm a wuss. So, Phil and I were trying to figure out how we were going to buy Blake anything for Christmas. I know its not about the presents, but if you would have heard Blake talking about Santa and what he wanted...you too would have done anything to make it happen. lol He was SO into Christmas this year!



Can you see how excited he was! lol Love this pic!

Ok, so you already know we get hooked up with the Blanket Fairy and I am so excited! We honestly didn't think things could get better...well guess what-it got A LOT better! After work one day I saw I missed a call from Blake's school. I listened to the message and it was from his counselor-Lisa. Hmm what was this about I wondered. I called her back and after playing phone tag, we finally got to talk. She explained that each year this church in Lee's Summit asks the school to pick 2 kids that they can help with Christmas. Lisa said Blake was the first kid she thought of. She said Blake has made such an impression in the school, and meeting us-our family, has really inspired a lot of the staff. She went on to say how we are such a deserving family after everything we have been through, and how we have such a positive outlook, and how after everything Blake has been through he is such a happy and inspiring little boy. She said she didn't know if we needed it but she wanted to call and offer it to us. I was so surprised-and SO thankful-and so taken back! My heart was just melting! I let her know that in fact we could totally use the help, and how thankful I was that she had thought of Blake. She asked me what he needed and what kinds of things he liked. She let me know the day we could pick up everything, and that was it. As soon as I got off the phone I balled like a baby. God was looking out for us once again. Let me just tell you that the church-Holy Spirit Catholic Church-totally hooked Blake up-as well as us too! I'm talking a TON of clothes for Blake from Old Navy-coat, snow pants, hat, gloves, socks, several pants, several shirts, a pair of shoes...it was crazy! Plus Star Wars Lego's, a Star Wars Light Saber (the kind that lights up with sounds!!), Batman Car,  even hair spray for his faux hawk. lol They also gave Phil and I gift cards to Target & Hy-vee...we were in tears when we got home and looked through everything. (no it wasn't wrapped-oh and they included some wrapping paper and tape along with boxes for all the clothes!) AMAZING!! I'm sure I forgot to list some stuff because there was a lot. I cannot thank them enough. It really made our Christmas!! I will forever be grateful for what they provided us!

By the time Christmas was here I ended up painting canvases for all my nieces and my nephew since I had bought a bulk pack to replace the ones I sold after my art show. I think they loved them. Home-made gifts are my favorite! It was such a happy holiday! I still can't believe the way things work out.

So here we are and its almost February. My birthday is coming up on the 12th and I will officially by the BIG 30! I am not really sure what we are going to do to celebrate, but I do know that a Hello Kitty ice cream cake will be a part of it! I love Hello Kitty!! :) I may be 30 but I still feel like a kid at heart. I have always told myself that I will NEVER grow up and I want to stay a kid at heart forever! I hope I can continue to live that way! It sure is a lot more fun!! I still love to play with Lego's and Barbies, I love to sit and color with Blake, and I am a sucker for the toy isles! Ha ha! Life is pretty great right now!

Ok-now for the 'medical' part. Feb 7 Blake goes in to get fit for a leg brace to sleep in. His tone is pretty bad right now. Botox didn't really work this time-or maybe it was a combo of his growth spurt and cold weather. We wont really know until his next Botox apt. Tone is a pain when its bad. Constipation and tone go hand in hand-tone causes constipation which causes tone which causes constipation...you get the drift. Thank goodness for Mira lax. It really has saved us-Blake really! lol We also meet with our neurologist on the 29th. I always look forward to our appointments with Le Pichon. He is so great! April is our big trip to Texas. I'm still looking for some financial help to get down there-so if you know of any organizations that do that sort of thing...please email me! I would really appreciate it.

I want to end this post by saying how unbelievably thankful I am to have all the supporters and followers praying and continuing to keep Blake and our family in their prayers. We have been so blessed through everything we have been through. I know God has had a huge part in our path, but we really couldn't have gotten through all these years with out the love and support of all of you. So thank you for caring and loving us and never forgetting about us! We really appreciate you all!! Sending you all my love!! xoxo -Mandy





Winter is here...

Can you believe its already December. Looking back this has been our best year in a long time! Just hard to believe in a few weeks 2011 will come to an end and it will be 2012! Time is sure flying by!

Ok, so last post we were getting ready for Blake's routine MRI. I am VERY happy to report that his tumor is still STABLE!! We have made it a year and 3 months with a stable tumor! Hooray!!!!!

Our little rocker is doing well, he is ready for Christmas to be here. Not a day goes by that he doesn't ask me if its Christmas yet. I am amused at how last year I thought he was really excited about Christmas, and how this year he is even MORE excited! We were invited to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Christmas party again this year. We had a lot of fun last year, he is so excited to go see Santa! He has been making all kinds of 'lists' and wants to sit on Santa's lap and tell him everything he wants. (A lot of his ideas involve Lego's) Blake was also really excited about decorating the house for Christmas. He was very eager for the tree to go up after we took down all the Halloween decor. This year he helped put the tree up (which was quite the process this year due to half of our pre-lit tree not being lit) So instead of one night of decorating it became a few! lol Blake's favorite thing this year are all the lights on the houses. He has been trying to talk Phil in to adding some more lights on our house. (we just have them around the gutters) He really wants Phil to add them to our garage doors. Lol He is becoming quite the negotiator. Its been a lot of fun driving through the neighborhoods and hearing him squeal with delight as we pass the lit up houses! :) His spirit is contagious!!

So this month I participated in First Friday's. Its the first Friday of the month where all the art galleries in the Crossroads downtown open their doors and feature all kinds of artists work. The Gallery at 19 Below is who hosts givingSOLO's Children's Art Exhibit every year. For December, Joy Moeller (creative director @ 19 Below) decided she wanted to have her first show, and asked Jaime Lyon and myself to join her. This is like a dream come true for me! I love painting and creating crafty stuff, so of course I agreed!! December 2 was my first show. It was SO much fun! I sold several pieces, some monsters, some hand-made ornaments & shrinky dink necklaces/key chains. The crazy thing was that all of our art worked well together. Great minds think alike right?! It was such a fantastic night!

This year has been so good to us. I think I am actually a little sad for it to be ending. However, I know 2012 will be another great year for us! God has really helped us through a lot. This year has proven more than a couple times that our faith in God has carried us further than we expected. Several times this year we have come to what felt like a dead end, and each time when we least expected it, God has opened a door for us. I can't imagine going through this journey without having the faith and love of God surrounding us. Your prayers and support have guided us through some difficult times. Knowing we are surrounded by all of your love and support and prayers...its the BEST feeling in the world! So thank you!! Merry Christmas...and Happy New Year!! (if I dont talk to you before then)