Swimming with the Manatees

We went to Homosassa Springs Fl. this weekend and went swimming with the Manatees. It was amazing. They are HUGE animals! Our captain of our boat said they are like 5000lb puppy dogs.

He was right. The picture above is of Aden and I. We were in the water for about 20 mins, and here comes this massive manatee straight towards us. He swam straight to me and got about 4 inches from my face and just looked at me like I was the funniest looking thing he had ever seen. I scratched him for a while and then he had enough and went back to the bottom. OH MY GOODNESS!!!
This picture is of Burke(red mask), Aden(yellow mask), and I(behind the boys). This Manatee visited with Burke and Aden for a while and then rolled over to his belly for a rub. That is a manatee belly you are looking at. We had a great weekend. We got to camp for the first time this year. We stayed at Manatee springs state park. The kids got to ride bikes all day. And they swam in the 72 degree spring waters. Still a little chilly for me. We LOVE to camp though, so was good to get out.

More Chemo

I met with my oncologist Thur. We have scheduled a PET scan for 1/13. He feels that the results will come back as 'total remission.' That being said he want me to go through 2 more cycles (4 treatments) of chemo. NOOOOOOO! He said that the chance for reoccurance sp? goes way down with the additional cycles. So it is go through this and hopefully never have to deal with it again.

I will let you know the official results of the test as soon as I get them
Burke

It's been a long time

Wow its been a long time since I have taken the time to post on here. However my logic has been how many times does anyone want to hear, 'I had a treatment, I puked a few time and I don't feel very good this week.' BORING!
But, that has really been the basic story of the last few months. It has been rough but I know a lot of people that have had it a lot worst then I have, so for that I am feeling very blessed.

So yesterday was the 8th and final treatment of the original schedule. So the next step is to meet with the oncologist and get retested. I am hoping and praying that the cancer has reacted well to the treatments and I can be done with this mess. I really don't want to have to go through any more chemo.

So for this cause I am asking everyone who is willing to help for a favor.
In our church we believe in the principle of fasting. We start our fast with a prayer to Heavenly Father to ask for special blessings, then we go for 2 meals or 24 hours with out eating or drinking. In the church we donate the money that we save by not eating to the church to help feed the needy or other charitable needs. Through out the day of fasting we let the rumbling in the tummy remind us of what we are fasting for and it helps to keep a prayer in our hearts for the purpose of the fast. At the end for the fasting period we again close with a prayer to wrap up the fast.
I have seen many miracles brought about by sincere fasting and prayer and would like to invite anyone who is willing to fast with me and my family this Sunday Jan. 4th. Obviously the purpose of the fast will be that all the upcoming testing will go well and I am cancer free. I appreciate the willingness to support me and my family in this.

Also on a good note. It looks like I have found an investor to take over Dad's shares. This is GREAT news because we were really close to needing to close down HotShots because of this craze economy. The new investor actually was our first party that we ever booked right as we opened and he and his family has been coming ever since. It will be great for HotShots, he will come in with some much needed cash and put us in a really positive position going into the new year. I am mostly excited that I will not be unemployed starting out the new year.

As you can see we are being blessed and are VERY hopeful that 2009 will be a banner year for us.

I swear! Every year Burke and I have the Christmas light debate. He found this picture today and said " Now thats my idea of hanging christmas lights!" You have to realize I grew up with massive amounts of lights on my house. Blinking Merry Chrismas signs on the roof, Santa stop here signs, lights everywhere. Maybe a little reminiscent of National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Oh, and the lights must be straight, extremely straight! But hey thats Christmas to me, and I love it. However Burke does not. So at least I have lights on my house and not a massive bundle hanging from the eaves.
http://www.wiregrasslive.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12057

Lucky Dog

Burke got out of Chemo today! He went in a little late so the rooms were pretty full. His blood counts were a little low, plus Thanksgiving is on thursday. The sweet nurses had mercy on him and said lets postpone till next week. This is the exact text I got from him at work today. No Chemo. Blood counts were low +thanksgiving.......and I whined. This actually works perfect because it will push the last three of his treatments back a week, which means the treatment that was scheduled for Dec. 23 is moved also. Yay, I get a happy husband for Christmas!All is still going pretty well. He is feeling good, except for the few days after a treatment.Doing good!

Our cool dog.

I was playing with pictures and had a bunch of our mutt so I put them together. I know I promised pics of disney next , and I am still working on it. You all know how much I love our animals, and that foster care was put off until after chemo was over. Weeeeell, There was a super cute dog that was going to be put down if she went back to the shelter so she is living with us until she gets adopted. Don't worry I asked Burke first. She is potty trained and everything so no messes in the house. Very sanitary! I couldn't help it! Anyway back to Holly. She is a cool dog. She sleeps with Aden every night, except if Ellie is sick or hurt, then she sleeps with her. When E.J. banged up her lip holly slept with her for two nights until she felt a bit better,and when she had the flu holly was there for her again. She wakes up at 6:30 most mornings and wanders into our bedroom to my side of the bed and sticks her nose in my face to wake me up because she needs to go outside. She also drives to school with aden and Ellie in the morning just for fun. There is something to be said about kids having animals. Aden treats the dogs better than his sister! We love her.