Catching Up

I still need to put up pictures from Disney, but that will wait for another post! We packed up the car and drove to Laurel a week ago today. Drew was was great on the drive up here and he put on a show when we got to Hal's parents. Wednesday we went house hunting with Drew in Brandon, something we won't do again in the near future! Saturday we left him behind with Maw Maw, Paw Paw, Uncle Ed, and the girls and headed for more house hunting. Sunday we recovered and Monday, Hal started work. Yes, it has been a little busy around here. We are so glad to be here and I think the best way I can sum that up is that we told Ed and and the girls bye on Sunday morning it was so nice to know that we wouldn't be waiting months to see them again!

Hal and I prayed for a long time about whether God wanted us to make this move or not. On Wednesday, our decision to move was confirmed a 100%. Hal's dad, Randy, had an appointment with a specialist in Jackson on Wednesday. We learned some sobering (for lack of a better word) news from the appointment. His doctor here in Laurel has been consulting this doctor all long, but this was Randy's first visit. This visit was to talk about doing a stem cell bone marrow transplant.

The results/content of this visit was a little different than any of us expected. We thought it was more of a consult about the bone marrow treatment and in fact it was more informative about the type of cancer he has. The doctor let us know that Randy is in Stage 4 of lymphoma. The type of lymphoma is extremely aggressive and is only diagnosed in 1-2% of all lymphoma patients. The chance of this cancer recurring is 80%. If he elects do the stem cell bone marrow transplant, the chance of it recurring is 50% If he makes it to the 2 year mark without a relapse the chance of recurrence decreases dramatically. He has elected to do the procedure. We are grateful that the bone marrow biopsy they did last week came back clear. This was a major hurdle to clear before he could begin the transplant process. It usually takes about 2 months for insurance approval, so we are hoping he can start this sometime in May. The transplant process is involved and can be quite painful.

Please join us in praying for quick insurance approval as well as for strength and stamina as Randy continues to walk through this process.

Here are a few pictures from our week! Hal's parents have 2 dogs, Sam and Sally. Sally isn't to sure about true, but Drew and Sam were fast friends.

A trip to the park with Paw Paw

Drew and his buddy, Sam.

Picking Maw Maw's flowers

Terrorizing Sam!

Telling Sam good morning!

Off to Disney...

I am overwhelmed by God's grace in the little things today. We started the morning with a sick momma and a baby that wasn't feeling so hot either. We are leaving this afternoon for Orlando and I hadn't packed a thing! Very unlike me, but I just hadn't had the time yet. I was completely overwhelmed with all that needed to be done. On top of needing to pack, we had to get Hal's car to have the brakes worked on and I had an eye appointment at 11:00. As of almost 2:00, we are 95% packed, the car is at the shop, and my eye appointment has been moved to 4:00. A quick trip to Target after the eye appointment, and we will have everything we need and be ready to go when Hal leaves work. The house will be picked up and ready for any weekend showings that we might have. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the circumstances and all that needs to be done, I am overwhelmed by God's grace and how He cares about the little details of our lives.

Today is Hal's last day at Cooper. I think it was a little surreal for him this morning. I know he is going to miss many of the people and he is grateful for the opportunities the company has given him. He has really challenged me lately as I have watched him finish this work that God gave him with absolute excellence. Once his notice was given, his hours nor his passion for his work changed one bit. I know that he is ready for the break this next week will bring.

Here are a few pics of little man getting in the Disney spirit!

Weekend

We have had a slow weekend and it has been great! This is our last weekend when we will just be here at the house. We will spend part of next weekend at Disney. We spent yesterday running a few errands, had an open house today, and tonight we are watching the Super Bowl here at home. I had hoped to go down to the beach sometime this weekend, but the weather wasn't that great.

Drew loves glasses. He tries and tries to get them on himself and then signs "please" for us to help him.

This week he has discovered that he can climb behind the shelf beside the TV. He things he is pretty funny. I think it looks like he standing behind a lemonade stand! :) Notice the drool on his chest. Poor kid is ALMOST done with teeth until his 2yr molars if we can just get these last two in!

Oh Lindsay of little faith....

I have been a little frustrated with myself over the last few days. As we have walked through this process of a possible job change, we have continually seen God open doors to make this move happen. Some have been small and might not seem like important details and others have been really huge things like getting an interview. Whether large or small we have tried to take notice of each one and thank God for each of them.

We put the house on the market last Friday and heard of a couple who might be interested. I think I set up this great situation in my mind and thought I could see how God was going to work it all out so fast, but God doesn't work on my time table. The couple wasn't interested in the house. Because my plan wasn't God's, I have really been down this week and started to panic over whether we will sell the house. I know you are thinking, "Lindsay, it has only been a week." Whether it has been a week or 6 months doesn't matter, what matters is that at the heart of my panic is sin. Sin, because I am choosing not to trust in God. God had used this verse in John 12 a few weeks ago when we were waiting on the Raytheon offer and He brought it to my mind again this week.

³⁷Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. John 12:37

We have seen so much over the last few months, but how quickly I forget and turn to panic when things don't happen as quickly as I want them to. There is no reason for me to fear or panic because I trust the Lord. He is in control of when our house sells. It doesn't matter what the market looks like or what other houses are for sale down the street. He is in control. The fear that I put myself through is useless. I can't change anything, but I can chose to trust Him completely. I don't want to live my life going from one panic to another. I want to learn from the situations God puts in our lives and face the next challenge with more trust and more faith. His mercies are new every morning and I pray that when I wake up in the morning, I face the day with a heart that trusts Him fully.

Funny Elephants

This video is from a few weeks ago. He loves the puppets in the Baby Einstein videos and thinks the elephants are pretty funny. He has been interacting so much more lately. It is so fun to see his little personality really start to come out.

It has been a busy few days for us around here. We listed the house on Wednesday night and it went on the MLS on Friday. I spent Friday getting the house power washed, the windows washed, and the carpets cleaned. We had our first showing Saturday afternoon. The couple is still considering our house and we are praying they make an offer. We have an Open House scheduled for Sunday. We are taking time this week to spend time with friends and looking forward to our trip to Disney next week.