Happy Halloween!

We hope all of you have a fun and safe Halloween weekend!

We are sure to have quite the adventure with Indiana Jones around!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Dotty. A dud?

Mrs. Dot is about 35 weeks old now and she has yet to lay an egg or show any signs of nesting.

She has MAJOR attitude issues and chases the dogs and cat out of the yard. She picks on her sisters and doesn't like to be touched. I have threatened her with words like "dinner" and "crock-pot" but nothing has improved.

I know there are a few people that read this blog (Linda Brown, Colton Finch) that know a little sumpin' about chickens, so let me know if you have any ideas as to what we can do to get her into laying.

Doris and Daisy and just perfect. They lay every morning at 9am and are really great at keeping bugs and slugs out of our yard. They are really friendly birds and I will go as far as to say that I LOVE my girls :)

Can't you tell that they love me too!?

Carved

I'm sure you can figure out who belongs to what pumpkin :)


  

Randy and Dena visit

My Uncle Randy and Aunt Dena are truckers. They travel all over the United States delivering goods. We were super excited to hear that they had a delivery in Washington and that they were going to visit for a couple of days.

We all got tours of their truck. Sam was especially excited. He even got to blow the horn!

Matt's trucker face, I guess.

My parents with Randy and Dena and "Big Red."

Thursday night we had a family dinner and told funny stories. We are one crazy bunch, so you can imagine all the fun we have had over the years.

After dessert we sat down and watched old family videos. Matt learned A LOT about the Bailey family :)

We hope that Randy and Dena will swing by again soon! Check out their blog to read about all of their adventures! http://randyanddena.blogspot.com/

A little pity party, please.

I can not wrap my mind around anything these days. Even the question "What do you want for dinner?" really stresses me out.

I am at the end of my rope, hanging by a thread, about to burst, can't even carry one more piece of straw on my back. You know, all the usual adages.

I find myself tearing up a lot which is really odd for me. Just ask Matt, he believes my lack in emotion can only mean one thing; I am heartless.

But apparently, i have a heart (albeit black) and it's really tired of feeling. I am sad for Matt's mom. I am frustrated with Matt's lack of a job. I am really unorganized and behind in my business and I cant seem to get anything right lately. Not to mention, adding another little life to our family is constantly on my mind and we have no means to do that right now.

I have lost a lot of faith in humanity and yes, even God. I do believe He is there, but its hard not to feel so small and insignificantly when prayers are seemingly ignored on a daily basis. We keep thinking, "This is the opportunity we have been waiting for" only to be shut down again. Its been a really painful roller coaster.

We have amazing friends and family that, if they were given the option, would help us in any way possible. We feel very blessed in that category. The problem is, there is really nothing anyone can do for us right now. No one has a cure for cancer, a job for Matty or a magical spell that creates more minutes in the day.

I think that what it all really comes down to is that I am extremely tired of having NO CONTROL over where our lives are heading right now. I don't even really feel like I have control over my emotions or thoughts. Its all just a blurry mess of negatives and stress. Its really weighing everything else down.

We are keeping busy with things that hold our mind back from the pity party we have been throwing for a good 10 months now. We try to get out, see friends, play with Sam and I have been working in the yard which is a good break from the rest of the world.

We'll survive. We'll get by. We just pray that it will start to get easier any day now...

Punkin Pickin'

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch as a family today. It was a perfect day to be out! The weather was nice and sunny and the Snohomish Valley is so pretty this time of year.


Sammy loved riding in the wagon.When we told Sam to go pick out a pumpkin, he got out, walked a little ways and then came back with this little freckled one. It was like he knew all along what he wanted. It was so cute :)He insisted that he carry it the rest of the way, including the drive home.We had a good time. I cant wait to carve our pumpkins with Sam.

Sassy

When you ask Sam what his name is, he exclaims "Sassy!"

The poor kid has a hard time with his "m's".

So naturally it was hilarious to me when a few days ago, while Sam was playing in the "lets-share-a-virus-pit" at the mall {aka-the play area} a little girl he was running around with came darting past me yelling {to Sam} "Come on, Sassy! Come play over here, Sassy."

I can almost see the confusion on her face when she was told "Sassy" after asking Sam his name.

He may not be talking well, but at least he's trying!

We're good.

Sure, there are tons of things to stress about, but I do enough complaining, don't I?

Sam is healthy and happy. He is growing like a weed and learning so much every day. The love that we have for him is not something we can describe in words. Just know that it's really, really big. :)

Matt is still looking for work (going on 10 months now) but has a few good leads. School has started again and he is really succeeding there.

I am busy. VERY busy. Which is good. Busy keeps some money coming in and my mind off of other things that make me sad and/or angry. I have been extremely blessed to have constant work.

All of our needs are somehow being met and that has really strengthened my testimony. God has really watched out for us in the last year and we're thankful for Him. On top of that, we have an amazing support system with our family being so close and our friends being so awesome.

Gosh, we are just really lucky. That's why (in all of this stress) we can say, "we're good".

iphone pics

I don't ALWAYS have my 7D around, so I am thankful for cell phone cameras.

Sam and Bub at the Seattle Science Center checking out the Dinosaurs. Sam was so excited.

Kelly, Courtney and Sam shopping at Ikea. Sam hung out in the cart for most of the trip.

Sam wearing his beach robe. We thought he looked more like a mini-boxer.

We had the bouncy seat out for a friends baby but Sam used it as a place to eat and watch TV. Silly kid.

Sam and Courtney.

One day I looked in the review mirror to see Sam smiling big. He's so funny!

My baby chickens. They grew up so fast!

The cool kid.

My brother Cory showing Sam his bike.

Sam and our friends cockatiel, Thisbee. Sam actually closed a door on her tail this weekend and pulled ALL of the feather out. Yikes.

Sam watching his chickens eat corn.

Wearing a friends Buzz Lightyear costume and LOVING it.

Sitting in the backyard, watching chickens and eating Gogurt with our friend Katelyn.

Doris's biggest egg yet.

Sam and Court taking pictures of themselves on her ipad.

The Chicago skyline from my train ride to Indiana.

Brimley and Princess cuddled up.

Updates on Jan

After a few weeks of not feeling very well, Jan went into the Dr where she was prescribed antibiotics and sent her on her way. After about 5 days of no improvement, nausea and vomiting, Jan went into a different hospital (where she works as a nurse in the OR) where they found via sonogram that she had lumps on her liver and omentum (a part of the stomach).

The next day they did a biopsy and diagnosed her with carcinoma.

While awaiting results and a treatment plan, Jan tried to heal at home only to find the nausea and vomiting too much to handle. So she and Ben went back into Overlake where they put her on IV fluids and took her off of a pain medication that was making her sick.

Today she was feeling a little better, on a new pain regimen, and was getting lots of sleep. Tomorrow Jan will have a IV catheter surgically implanted into her chest to allow for chemotherapy treatments. She will not start treatment until she is able to gain a little weight back and start eating solids again.

Right now, we are awaiting a few test results having to do with the origin of the carcinoma and the stage of the cancer. As more tests are done and completed, we will keep this post as updated as we can.

Update: Oct. 5th
The port-a-cath was placed this morning and Jan made it through the night without any anti-nausea medication.

The origin of the cancer has yet to be discovered, but its looking as though it is most likely gastric carcinoma. (stomach cancer) As far as the stage of the cancer, we have yet to be informed.

Ideally what needs to happen this week is for Jan keep down solid food and gain some weight back. If this does happen, they will start Chemo right away and she could be home as early as Friday. We are hoping and praying for this outcome.

Update: Oct. 6th
Jan is feeling much better and was able to eat a bit of bagel and drink some juice. The Drs believe she can recover on her own at home, so she will be released today! No word yet on when she will start chemo, but we are hoping to talk to Jan a little later today and get some more information.

Update: Oct. 7th
Jan is home and has started chemo therapy. She will be getting a treatment once every 3 weeks, and so far is feeling fine! Because of the therapy, she is easily dehydrated (which is normal) so she will go into the hospital every once and a while for IV fluids.

The doctors have diagnosed her with cancer of the gall bladder and are hoping that her nausea and pain will subside when the chemo shrinks the tumors in her gall bladder, stomach and liver.

Update: Oct. 10th
Jan received another round of chemo today because they believe that on top of the chemo side effects, the cancer on her stomach is making it really hard for regain her appetite. She is in desperate need to put on some weight, so they have added an appetite stimulant to her medication regimen. A few hours later, she ate some squash and chicken :)

An odd side effect from the chemo treatments is that it can make things either taste too sweet or metallic-y. Jan is experiencing the "too sweet" effect and is having a hard time finding anything to eat or drink that doesn't taste like sugar.

She is getting a lot of rest and taking it as easy as possible at home.

Update: Oct. 12th
Jan is back at Overlake due to weight loss and dehydration. They have started her on a system called TPN which is a nutritional supplement that is given through a feeding tube. Hopefully this will allow her to regain some strength so that the chemo can start working better. She hasn't been able to eat much due to the stomach cancer and treatment side effects.

Fresh

Just pulled all this from the garden :)

Fresh eggs from Doris and Daisy, summer squash, zuchinni, carrots, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and a small walla walla onion.