Fabulous weekend!

And crazy busy, but I got to mark lots of things off the "to do" list this weekend. Feeling a little blue for the Trojans. They were up against a very good Falls City team on Friday and unfortunately only one can win. Thanks to all you boys for a fantastic season. You guys were great and we definitely got to enjoy some great football throughout the year. You are part of an elite group an have much to be proud of. Thanks to Judy for your hospitality. We are very thankful we didn't have to drive home, and the fire in the fireplace just topped it off!

Thank you so much Father Postell for celebrating the mass with us on Saturday, what a blessing! For those who got to come, I am quite certain that Joseph would have marveled in the support that we have. Can you imagine how the story would have changed if the people in Bethlehem had opened their homes to he and Mary. As always we were blessed by everyone there. We heard a great message not only about Joseph and what type of man that he was, but also about family and what we should all strive to be (Thanks Father Postell). We enjoyed beautiful music (Thanks Andrea and the Praise Band) and enjoyed wonderful fellowship. (Thanks to all of you). I can't tell you enough what you all mean to us.

Thanks to all of our awesome help at the Uniform Shop. You have to know that they work themselves hard to take up the slack much of the time. They do it very unselfishly and I am sure we don't show them often enough how much we appreciate them. Hope you enjoyed your evening out.

And on to Munday for more church. I must tell you that my kids were a little distraught about attending church 4 times in three days. I have to brag how wonderful they were. I did not hear one complaint all weekend long. That should tell you something about how God was working in every church we were in. I have no doubt, at least on Saturday and Sunday, that they could recount each service we attended. We were touched in so many ways in each building that we entered. Let me tell you, there are lots of good folks out there all giving glory to a God that promised us eternal life.

I started this post two days ago thinking I was going to post a video of Abby singing. Due to technical difficulties and Christmas shopping, I am just now getting back to it! Still haven't figured out why I can't get the video on here, but maybe another day. Love you all and hope you have a very blessed and restful Christmas holiday.

GOOOOOO BLUE!!!!

Today is the big day!. Maybe after tonight, we can start thinking about some Christmas shopping! The state championship game is at 730 tonight in Mansfield. There will definitely be a "sea of blue" with both teams having blue school colors. Can't wait. I know the boys will do their best.

Busy weekend. Ballgame and then to Judy's to spend the night. Do a little early Christmas shoppin' and head home for church at 4pm and Uniform Shop Christmas party at 7pm. Then to Munday early so Abby can sing at Believers Chapel in the am and possibly at First Baptist, Munday in the pm. Can't wait to see everyone - everywhere!

Mark was back on chemo Mon. - Weds and is very thankful to be done with this round. In those couple of days, his hands and feet became a real challenge. Not a lot of improvement yet, but we know it is coming. No chemo for 2 weeks. He is really looking forward to the break and hoping to feel well for a while.

Thanks to everyone for pulling church together on Saturday. I am sorry I have to depend on your energy because mine seems to be dwindling daily! You guys are all GREAT! Love you all, Missy

Church happenings

I wanted to let everyone know about church in Scotland this Saturday. There will be an additional service at 4pm at St. Boniface Catholic Church. We have a family friend coming to celebrate a mass with us and all are invited to go to church with us. We know that those people who are always giving to us (and planning things like benefits) don't want anything in return (because how many times have we been told!), but for us this is a special way that we can say thank you. What better way than to bring community, friends and family together in one place to give thanks and praise to the One who makes all of these things possible. I know He will be smiling on Saturday, as will we, to see his house full of love.


Saturday, December 18th
4:00 P.M. Mass by Father Postell
Scotland, Texas

This Mass is for Missy and Mark Brown, offered for their behalf as a Thank you to
the communities/family for their help/friendship during the benefit and all the
support over the past few months. This mass does count as your Sunday Obligation.

All are welcome, please pass on this information to your family and any friends that
might be interested.

We know that this is an extremely busy time of year, so please feel no obligations! ONLY if it works for you!

Love to all, Missy

Still Rolling.

Well I sat down to post on the blog yesterday and I was forced to take a Mental Holiday before I even got started. On my end of the blog, I have a link to another blog. You may remember early on in this whole ordeal, God brought to me a mother, Terri, and her 26 year old son Michael. Her husband was deceased and her only child was facing a cancer diagnosis. We bonded then and our paths seemed to have crossed ever since. I usually take time to read his updates first. It had probably been a month since there was any news. And yesterday the news just broke my heart. Michael's cancer has progressed and they have made the decision to not undergo anymore of the grueling treatments he was receiving and have called on Hospice to aid in keeping him comfortable as he is experiencing terrible pain. Well I was done posting at that point. To be honest I was pretty much done doing a whole lot of anything at all. My heart breaks for them, a mother and son who have fought so hard. It sounds like Hospice is taking wonderful care of him and the medications are controlling his pain. How I wish I could help ease the emotional pain for this mother and her baby. Please pray for them.

We have had a pretty good weekend. Of course it started off great, curled up by the fireplace, listening to the Trojans on the radio GETTING ANOTHER WIN!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!! We made a last minute very difficult decision not to make the trip to the game. We knew the decision would be great when we didn't have to make the trip back home! Mark wasn't feeling up to it and I was just plain worn out. We are so proud of the boys and are getting prepared for next weekend. State Championship in Mansfield on Friday. Hope it all works out! Austin is having a great time getting to be a part of this run.

Chemo is having its ugly effects again. There is just not a great deal of fun with cancer treatment. Don't you wonder why that is! You would think just having the disease is bad enough, but noooooo. You have cancer and guess what, We're gonna give you a horrible medicine for it. So, not only do you have this stuff, we're are gonna try to make you better by making you feel like you are dying! Something seems a little twisted about that! His appetite has been poor and energy pretty low. Last week his hands and feet were very bothersome as well and they decided to stop his treatment for the weekend to give him some relief. Hands and feet seem to have gotten a little better. He is supposed to call back today for more direction. The good news is he is resting fairly well. Oh, there is the occasional SPAGHETTI SAUCE that keeps him up all night, but other that that he is sleeping quite a bit. It's kind of like the JALEPENO JELLY that Mark absolutely loves. It only took twice for me to know he can't eat it, but he had to go for three strikes!! (I know ya'll thought I was the persistent one!) There are a few thing so far that are absolute NO NOS, but he has to TEST them every now and then!

I almost forgot, huge congrats to my niece Shannon who graduated Saturday and will embark on medical school after next semester. We are so proud of you and all of your hard work!

We love you all and thank you so much for your keeping up and supporting us.

Some days.....

Have you ever wanted to be something you are not. I don't know how many times, in my adult life I wish that I was something that I AM NOT. I go back to my college days and think of a time when there was such indecision about which career path to choose and yet you are forced to pick just ONE. If it weren't such a feat (or if I even liked school a little bit!), I would have gone back to school at least five times to learn as much as I could about something else!!??? I am sure you wonder where I am coming from here. Well it so happens that I went to college as a communications major. (Yes, I had big plans to replace Barbara Walters!) A couple of theater classes made me think much differently! So I become a nurse. I began raising children and I decide that teaching will be my second career when I get tired of nursing. (of course because I wanted to change the world.) A few years later I would no longer consider teaching due to the advent of the TAKS test. The field of education will never be the same. How I longed for the knowledge though. If I only new all the ins and outs of education (or politics, maybe I should have been a politician!) that lay people have no clue about. Back to that politician thing, that might be beneficial in most any field huh?

And then there was the legal world. How I longed to be inside the head of the attorneys. To be able to know the processes and anticipate what might be thrown out next. To be on the stand in a courtroom and be able to give back some of the stress that you are being given. To not be helpless and at the mercy of some cut throat shameless plaintiff attorney.

And wouldn't life I have been grand if only I had become a CPA so maybe I could figure out how to prevent the government from taking so much of our money!

And if I could only have been a doctor, then I could treat all of my friends and family and noone would ever have to wait for an appointment or a phone call or a result.

Or maybe a scientist so I could work on a cure for cancer!

I could go on, I suppose. Don't get me wrong. I am very happy with what I do and who I am. I wouldn't change it for the world. God put me right here where I am supposed to be. It is ironic that I even want all of that knowledge because the path to getting it is more EDUCATION, which is not my forte.

So all of this babble for nothing really, except to say that TODAY I want to be a psychiatrist. Some days I really don't understand PEOPLE! And if I was a psychiatrist, then I would have to work on myself as well and what drives me to feed my understanding and be the best that I can be. Virtuous or control??? Hmmmmmm? Maybe I'll work on both! :)

Extra prayers for Mark today. He was feeling the scratchy throat and signs of having the crud that everyone else has had. We have been so fortunate he has been avoid any bugs or viruses. Hopefully he won't get down with anything. Congrats to Melissa for another victory with clear scans last week!! Best of luck to the Trojans this week in Sweetwater!

Love to all, Missy

Unbelievably

BUSY!!! Who is not , right? So, I won't go on about how incredibly busy we have been. There was thanksgiving, and then the benefit, work, work, work, run, run, run all week. Then the awesome Friday night football, the delightful 50th anniversary celebration over the weekend, the sausage meal and Christmas play, and home to our stop and drop house in serious need of ATTENTION!
I am sure many of you know the routine I speak of. I am paddling really, really hard but feel myself sinking deeper and deeper! So frustrating!!!!

Mark is okay. He has been sleeping well. We had a good visit with the oncologist last Wednesday.By the time our appointment came, Mark had started not sleeping again and being very restless. So, he is back on his Remeron at half the dose. Seems to be resting better. Side effects of sleepiness and cloudiness seem to be a little improved at this half dose. Chemo has him draggin' just a little, but it seems to be tolerable at the present.

Here's hoping everyone is happy and healthy and WARMER days are ahead!
Love to all, Missy