Wow.

I got up thinking I better go back and read what I wrote last night. Good thing, it was horrible! I am hoping there were few who were up late last night and read it. I have edited and hopefully it is more readable now. I know Judy must have squirmed in her seat to see the misspellings and grammatical errors and just plain jibberish. I have got to stop sitting in the recliner before bed to post.

Hoping for a terrrrrific Tuesday for everyone. The kids are at basketball camp half a day and I am trying to catch up on several things I am way behind on and Mark will work on getting in everything he won't be able to do for several days.

Hope all are well. We are looking forward to the upcoming family reunions to get to see everyone. Love you all, Missy

Gosh, Time flies!

It has been quite some time. Yes we are still here and doing well. Nelda is right, we did get kind of wrapped up in all of the baseball goings on. We made the trip back to Austin to support the boys baseball team. Such a heartbreaker. Glad we got to make the trip, but really hard to see the championship game slip away from them. We have really enjoyed following these boys. Their committment and hard work is a joy to be a part of. They have much to be proud of.

Thanks so much to Deanna and Donna and Judy for taking such good care of us when we come to see you. I promise, we never want for anything when we are there! God has blessed us with wonderful family. (I would say big sis's, but the boys are pretty awesome too!) Many thanks to Danny for the help with the lawn. And to Mom and Dad and Grandmother and Grandaddy for bringing us all together.

We are just working workin, and the kids are adjusting to being at home and having to entertain themselves. They fight a lot, but are actually completing a few tasks a day for me to help out. I am really proud of them, but am having to watch them grow up rather quickly right in front of me.

Mark is good. He did really well in Austin, even in the heat of the day at the ballgames. He had some dizzy spells this wlate in the week, but I think we are on top of that now and he seems to be much better, Chemo #9 starts this wednesday.

Falling asleep again, better go.

School is out.

I think I should have been a teacher? Sure would like to be out for the summer! You know, I always thought I would be a teacher when I was tired of nursing, that was until the TAKS test came along. What ever happened to the good ole achievement tests. Those were the days. Anyway, we enjoyed seeing Austin graduate into the high school. I am not sure he had anything on his mind but whether he would make the ball game that night. Abby and Landon are really excited about the break as well.

Congrats to the Trojans on advancing to regional finals ( I think that is the right round???). I know I witnessed a huge number of true blue fans. Anyone who sits roasting in that kind of heat must either bleed blue or need to have their head examined. Thanks to all those who confirmed the miserable conditions. I think Mark thought I was being a little pansy. A huge thank you to James and Gwen for a little shade. I should have found you 13 innings earlier.

Many applause to our Tanna for being the valedictorian of the Windthorst graduating class. All that hard work eventually pays off! And to my nephew Justin, we look forward to celebrating the end of your high school years next week also. You guys make us really proud and our kids really look up to you. You should be very proud of yourselves as well.

This is chemo week. #8 starts Wednesday. Mark has had a pretty good week leading into it. I know everyone is so proud of how good he looks. It makes it really difficult to even think that there is anything going on with him. Believe it or not, I can on think of a very few times that he actually looked sick through all of this. We are so lucky. Daily we are reminded of how much worse it could be. So bad, in fact, that sometimes we even feel lucky to be where we are!. God is good. We have an appointment scheduled with the cardio thoracic surgeon on August 11th. Of course that is pending the end of chemo treatments. We have it all planned and lined out. We all know what that will do for us. In time we will know if God's plan works out even similiar to how our plan looks on paper!?!

Congrats to Michael Wipperman. Michael is the young man I have requested prayers for. He is undergoing treatment at MD Anderson. I believe has received three treatments and they have seen miraculous change in the cancer in his body. They feel that his cancer is 85-90% gone. Many kudos to all of those people who walk all night so that successes like these are possible.

God is good. Love to all, Missy

One week post chemo.

And all is well. Mark is feeling pretty good. Can' t complain too much. We have had so much going on with playoffs and the end of school and work. He just keeps going. Sometimes I think I have a harder time keeping up than him! He still looks good, still has some hair, and has been maintaining his weight for a while now. All good news. He has even gotten a little break from his shaving. Many of you know Mark typical 5 o'clock shadow pops up about noon every day. Not anymore! He can go for several days now without shaving. Who would've thought? No nausea to speak of and hands are much improved from one month ago. He does spend the weekend pretty drained, but has come around quite nicely.

Short and sweet today, But i might have 30 min in the recliner if I go now. Aaahhhhhhh.
Love to all, Missy

Hello All

Oh my gosh!!!!! I just had this whole long post and it is gone! I saved it and it is gone. Okay, I want to cry, but instead, I will try to reproduce it. It has been a while since I posted, so it was long. We had a good couple of days last weekend and are already into mid week with chemo #7 starting today.

Saturday was crazy. I had talked myself out of softball games because Hawley was just a little far. Soooo, when they changed to Haskell, I got the kids up and dressed and got on the road, only to get to Haskell and find out it was moved to Hamlin. Now, I am already as far as Haskell, so you know I am not going to turn around. So we drove a long way and we froze our rears, but it was worth it. The girls played great ball, very fun to watch. This group of girls has been carrying a heavy weight with the loss of a good friend and teammate. They recently experienced what an impact this kind of mental and emotional stress can have and how it can eventually manifest itself. It was a huge reminder that we are all human. While many of us have strong minds, and others are great athletes and still others have the biggest hearts - none of us can acheive alone. We cannot carry the weight of the world inside of us and think we will not stumble. We have to give it up to God and know that he will carry it for us. This is a great group of girls and we are so proud of all of their accomplishments. No matter how far softball takes them, they are #1. Good luck to both the girls softball and boys baseball teams from Windthorst on their playoff run.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Austin. Where has the time gone? Where did my little 4 and 1/2 pound peanut go? Only a couple of more weeks and I will have a child in high school!. It can't be. We enjoyed a great family day on Sunday to celebrate his birthday.

Mark's chemo last time was pretty uneventful. I was convinced they had changed his dosing, but I was wrong. Just his lucky week I guess. Today started #7 and he is already a little drained. His potassium is low again and he just got over another bout of thrush. Just a constant "fixing" of all the little things. Again just little things in the grand scheme of it all.

I just have to put in an extra little note for a special prayer for my friend. I was crushed recently to find out about a friend who was diagnosed with cancer. Melissa and her husband Jeremy are a young couple in their 20's with 2 young children. She has had surgery and is scheduled for more surgery tomorrow and will follow with chemo and radiation. I know how strong this young family is. Both of Jeremy and Melissa's children were born with congenital heart disease. They have both undergone multiple surgeries with anticipation of more and ongoing monitoring. I have seen them rise up to this challenge with amazing faith and strength. I know that right now, this whole new occurence of events seems unthinkable. I just pray, pray, pray for her and her family during this difficult time.

Much love to all, I must get back to work. Missy

Chemo is 50%complete.

I am really bad for letting this go, but Woooohoooo. Mark is halfway through his chemo treatments. He went last Wednesday for treatment #6. He did really well with it. We are not sure if it was really the week off or if they adjusted his dose as well this time. We were having a few communication issues at the clinic where he gets his treatment, so the last couple of weeks has been a little challenging. Hopefully, we have that resolved and we can get back to focusing on Mark and his cure. His side effects this time were similar to probably his first or second treatment. It hardly slowed him down. We accomplished everything on our schedule this week. All ballgames went off as scheduled. The kids did really well with all of them enjoying much success. We finished the week with a great Mother's Day at Mark's parents and at mine. We visited a church in Monday and got to hear Mark's nephew preach. What an uplifting day! Of course when he goes home, he knows everyone and they are always so glad to see him. That in itself is enough to raise your spirits. You should have seen God working in that room with all of those friends and family praying for Mark. Not only for the blessings we have already received, but what He still has left to do. Very powerful! It makes me feel really honored to be a part of it all.
We are blessed.
Mark's mom fixed a wonderful meal, perfect for filling our bellies before a good nap. The trip to Munday warmed our hearts as always. We even got to come back to mom and dad's to spend the rest of mothers day with them. We ate lite, as they had also enjoyed mother's day at Nelda's a little earlier. Sorry Nelda, we heard we missed a wonderful time and good food! We returned home Sunday night. Unfortunately, while the tooth fairy did visit our house this weekend, the housecleaning fairy did not! Oh well, lucky for me, I have learned to "let it go". It will always be there when I return right? If only I didn't require any sleep, I would surely get caught up!

Much love to all, Missy.

Funny how things work.

Each day I have tried to figure it all out. I still have no answer. This whole flu thing has got me puzzled. I won't burden anyone with my thoughts on that, just comment on the result of this big "scare". The whole world seems to have stopped. All except work that is! First the treatment was delayed, then the rest of the world! I am thinking that maybe we all just needed a big break and this is God's way of giving the gift of time to all of us. He brought a glorious rain and then postponed activities so that we could sit back and enjoy it. We have not been committed to anything anywhere for several nights now. We have been able to come home and rest or do just whatever we want, play ball, work in the yard, sleep, have a meal around the table at a decent hour, and the list goes on. Granted, there is plenty to do because much has been mounting for several months now. But more importantly, there is nothing we have to do. Also, in the midst of the recent tragedy in our community, I can even see that He gave us this break to allow time for friends to support each other. No conflicts, no out of town trips, no late schedules - free time to focus on the beginning of a healing process. Time that may seem unimportant right now will be recognized as a valuable gift down the road. Time, not only for those directly involved, but for the rest of us to PRAY. Many prayers are needed to carry our friends through their loss. I hope we all make the best use of our extra time.
Much love and warmest wishes to all, Missy