The week is upon us..

Life has been such a blur these past few weeks.  We have been going non-stop, staying up late, playing as much as possible and simply enjoying the season.  I have finally conquered the monster of laundry that has been stalking me since we got home from Montana, so life feels like it is settling back into place. A huge praise is that we have managed to stay healthy despite all the sickness going around. 

Yesterday, we had our last Christmas of the season with the Watson family.  We weren't sure it was going to happen due to various illnesses that the family had been experiencing.  Even though we were minus three, we still had Christmas.  So while we celebrated and had a lovely day, it still felt a little off since we didn't have the entire team present.  When you have that many little ones.....well, unfortunately, it is bound to happen but we always miss having everyone there.

We start the downhill countdown in regard to Amanda's chemotherapy treatment this week.  Amanda will start her SEVENTH chemo cycle on Friday.  She seems to be holding up pretty well, but can tell it is that time when her counts are on the lower side.  Between now and then, we have a fun week planned.  For New Year's Eve, we will have our second annual New Year's Eve Cousin's Camp.  Cousin Camp is where all the nieces and nephews from the Smith side come to our house and we play games, watch movies and stay up late.  We try to do this several times a year and always have a great time. 

I don't know about you, but every year, before we have even packed away our Christmas decorations, I start thinking to next year.  I start planning on what I want to do better or different or maybe even planning on what gifts to buy. (Shocking, I know.)  This year, however, I fought against the urge to go there.  The unknown is so much scarier than the present for me at this point.  So amidst the celebration and laughter, all the joy and hope that is the season of Christmas, I remembered, and at times struggled, to stay focused on the here and now and enjoy each moment.  It was a wonderful Christmas.

I am so thankful for our family.  We are blessed.

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 A little more Montana:

On the flight out of Austin, the kids were given a tour of the cockpit.

As the kids were seated in the seats, the pilot leaned over and flipped a switch that made Amanda's controls vibrate.  (see photo below) Needless to say, I found this extremely funny, which is one of the reasons the photos are so blurry.  Even though they are blurry, I still think they are pretty cool reminder of that small part of our trip.

You can tell by her expression here that she found it amusing....thankfully.

What a great pilot!

Back to our Christmas this past weekend with the Watsons:

Amanda has started wearing my old stetson from high school.  Before all the festivities began, we made a quick trip to Cavendar's to buy Amanda new boots and we took the hat with us for a little refreshing.  It was fun to watch and the hat looks great!

Here is Brandon reading the story of the birth of Jesus from the book of Luke.  Notice how sweet Abby just can't help but start to peek at the gifts - the temptation was just too much. 

On to singing Christmas carols...Papa and Jem were bustin' a move to Jingle Bells.

Awesome Aunt Lindsey brought a little craft for the kids - making Christmas trees out of ice cream cones, green icing and fun candy decorations.  Fun and yummy all rolled into one.

Merry Christmas and a Happy, Happy, Happy New Year from the Watson family!

(We couldn't help ourselves...)

 

Merry Christmas!

Blessed

So much to be grateful for this Christmas season
Merry Christmas

Love, The Watson Family

Thomas, Sandy, Brandon and Amanda

Luke 2:8-11
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Our Christmas at home...

Let me be the first to tell you Merry Christmas!

We have had a wonderful Christmas Eve at home together today.  Tom came home from work this morning and we had our family Christmas today.   In years past, Christmas has been on whatever day Tom was home, so the kids are very good at being flexible with our holiday celebrations.  Plus, who would complain opening presents a day early?!

After gifts, we had all planned to go to Crestview's Christmas Eve service today, however, Amanda was feeling too bad to go, so only Thomas and Brandon went.  She is currently on Tamiflu after being exposed to the flu this weekend.  I am not sure if it is because we are in that time of her chemo cycle when her counts start dropping or if she is experiencing possible side effects from Tamiflu, but she has not felt good today.  She feels yucky, but praise God, she is fever free.  So a low key day at home today and tomorrow is just what she needs.

We were able to attend worship together on Sunday morning and I had a fabulous birthday, even involved a little kidnapping for a small, impromptu birthday party with some of my favorite ladies.  I have some amazing friends that made me feel special and loved and I appreciate it so very much. 

I have stayed busy since we got home and it is a little hard to believe we have only been home five days, yet at the same times it feels like Montana was so long ago.  I was worried that while on the trip, it would feel like we were on display.  It was just the opposite.  It seems to be a standard question of, "What brings you to Big Sky?" so the reply got easier and easier as the trip went on and it usually went something like this: "Actually, we are here for a Make A Wish trip for our daughter."  Instead of pity and sadness that I thought we might encounter, we were met with excitement and genuine interest of what her wish was and how we were enjoying the trip.  Plus, it seemed like if there was something they could offer or help us with, they did.  Thanks to the colaboration of Make A Wish, Pepsi, Big Sky and the generous Montana natives, we had an unbelievable vacation. 

In the song 'Meet Me in Montana' by Dan Seals and Marie Osmond, there is a line that says, "I've had all of this life I can handle, meet me underneath that big Montana sky."  I can't tell you how often we would sing various parts of that song while we were there, but that line in particular was one of my favorites, especially in the days before our trip.  It seems that music was a big part of our trip.  We took along a Christmas album to listen to while we were in the car and I will always relate our wonderful trip with that CD.  It was the Robertson's Christmas album, 'Duck the Halls' and is now officially my favorite Christmas album.  A wonderful blend of humor and traditional, it is an album that we all enjoyed.

I know I shared pictures each day of our adventures while we were there, but I still have more to share! I hope you don't get tired of them.

Tomorrow morning the boys will go hunting and then it is another day of family games and spending time together.  Please pray that we will all stay well and especially pray for Amanda to stay healthy.  

I wanted to share with you something from a devotional that especially spoke to me, and you will see why, but I hope that it is an encouragement to you as well:
Do not fear your weakness, for it is the stage on which My Power and Glory perform most brilliantly.  As you persevere along the path I have prepared for you, depending on My strength to sustain you, expect to see miracles - and you will.  Miracles are not always visible to the naked eye, but those who live by faith see them clearly.  Living by faith, rather than sight, enables you to see My Glory.

From John chapter 11, verse 40 and the story of Lazarus:
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
I am grateful that I do believe.  I believe that I see His glory everyday in our family and I look forward to seeing His glory throughout the days to come. 

A few extra pictures from day one:

These two love flying!

Beautiful mountains from a bird's eye view.

Another huge thank you to the Montana State University Ladies Volleyball team for meeting us at the airport!

Umm, I think we were a little under dressed.....

Just the beginning of our breathtaking experience.

My birthday lunch, so glad she was feeling good that day!

This is how they waited for breakfast to cook this morning.  So precious.

Hope you have a blessed Christmas day!

Friday's appointment update and Christmas with the Smith's

Yesterday went much better than anticipated.  Amanda did very well, all things considered.  She received her Avastin infusion, fluids and her white blood cell booster shot.  With Tom at work, Maw Maw, Papa Smith and Brandon went along.  She had plenty of stories that she shared and everyone came by wanting to know how the trip went.  That helped out a lot.

While we were in the Dell infusion room, we had the opportunity to meet the Texas Longhorn Swim team while they were visiting.  Couldn't miss that photo op!  If you will notice in the picture, my dad and Amanda couldn't help but gig 'em!  Right after the picture, they laughed about it and Dad congratulated them on their Big 12 conference win and their excellent team.  They were a great group of girls!

Once we were through with the infusions, we met with Dr. Harrod.  We are scheduled to start chemo on January 3 and this time, Amanda will only take one pill per night!!  That is a huge improvement from last cycles where she took 6 pills a night.  They have raised her dosage a little so at that dose there is a single pill that she can take.  Amanda was more than thrilled at that announcement and so was I.  I can only imagine how much easier this will be for her.  Her labs came back great, and even though we are entering that time frame in her cycle that her numbers will drop and she may start to feel a tired more easily, she should still have a great Christmas break.   We will have her MRI on the 22nd and then we won't get the results until the 28th on their Neurology/Oncology day when both Dr. Harrod and Dr. George and his team will be in clinic.  I'm already working on not becoming anxious during the "wait."

Today we are at my parent's celebrating Christmas with the Smith side.  So many months of preparations and shopping ends more quickly than we would like.  It was a fun morning watching both the kids and adults open their presents.  It is a bittersweet day for me since this is our first Christmas without Grampy.  Just wasn't the same opening presents without him here. 

Tomorrow is my birthday and thankfully, Thomas is off.  :)  I am glad to be able to spend my day with the family attending church together.  The rest of our week will be pretty low key.  Tom has off Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and we are both excited about that.  We will have our own family Christmas on Christmas Eve, then attend Crestview's Christmas Eve services which gives us all day Christmas to enjoy before Tom goes back to work.  Our Watson Christmas is Saturday, the 28th.

Sounds like a we have a great week ahead!  We have come home and hit the ground running.  I am ready to spend some time at home and unpack/clean up the craziness that is my den.  More important than that, I can't wait to start working on our vacation photo album!

The Texas Longhorn Swim team (and the two troublemakers) ;)

Ginger opening her first present.

Ginger loves all the attention...

From the Smith Family - Merry Christmas!!

Home!

We are home.  It is hard to believe the trip has come and gone.  We had an amazing, wonderful, relaxing and simply enjoyable time!  I am so tired right now, 5:45 a.m. this morning was a long time ago.....

The trip home was incredibly smooth, despite the weather in Bozeman.  The drive down the mountain to the airport took us twice as long as it did on Friday due to the amount of snow that had accumulated overnight and the snow that was falling on us as we drove.  What a beautiful send-off it was.  It was 12 degrees in Montana and in the 60's when we landed in Austin.  As we landed in Austin, the kids were almost giddy with anticipation of being home.  They were thrilled that we were back in Texas!

I don't know if I have shared this before, but I have this little issue with flying.  Flying tends to make me very claustrophobic and anxious.  Add this morning's weather on top of that and my day was spent with my nose buried in a book, deep breathing, and a lot of praying for calmness and peace!!  I was able to enjoy the day and the experience of flying, but it was not without its challenges.  The rest of the family loves to fly, so I tried my best to appear calm.  I think I pulled it off, except for those texts before we took off exclaiming my anxieties to Thomas, who was 8 rows in front of me for the first flight.  :-/

It was so amazing to escape reality for a short time, but as I type tonight, I am repeating "Take a bath!" to the kids so they can get in bed at a decent time tonight.  (We stayed up late every night and slept in late every morning - our routines are shot!)   We are back to reality tomorrow with a trip to Dell for Amanda's infusions.  It feels a little more like crashing into reality.....

Please pray for Amanda tomorrow.  She has already started to dread the appointment.  Hopefully, she will share stories with our team at Dell and take her mind off her anxieties. 

So here we go, life returning to appointments and medicine.  Thankfully, the Christmas season is upon us and we have much celebrating to do with our families over the next week. 

So as I close tonight, here are a few things I learned on this trip:
1. I really do over pack.  Seriously.  I think I need help with this issue.
2. I love wool socks.
3. I have finally found a camera that I can't destroy. I bought a new point-and-shoot camera since I dropped my last one in the bottom of the boat, in water.  My new camera has dents in it from the snowmobile ride, but it still works!  As the kids tell me, "It is Sandy-proof!" and luckily, it takes amazing pictures.
4. We love the snow, but we love Texas more.
5. IT REALLY IS A DIFFERENT COLD!

This was in Bozeman - snow, snow and more snow!  Many flights were delayed, but we took off on time.

These two were ready to be home.

Hmm, ice on the wings can't be good...

Well, technically we didn't take off on time because they had to de-ice the plane, but we pulled away from the gate on time.  All I could think was, "This green stuff is supposed to help?!"

 I love these things! This is Denver, but they would have been so helpful in Big Sky...

So here we are, Amanda in her chair with Ginger, everyone else unwinding for bed and it is good to be home.  So many blessings to be thankful for....

Psalm 62:5-8
Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    my hope comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
    he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, you people;
    pour out your hearts to him,
    for God is our refuge.

Our last day....Dog day!

This morning, we woke and it was hard to believe it was our last day.  What an amazing day.  today was dog day.  :)  We did our souvenir shopping before lunch, then headed up to Moonlight Basin for our dog sled ride.

Amanda might love dogs more than she does horses.  Today was a beautiful day.

Happy, Happy, Happy

This is Jaws.  Earned her name because she chews everything up.

Amanda and Jaws quickly became buddies.

Teaching us how to ride/drive a dog sled.

Tom was able to drive our sled! 

Once again, Montana put on a beautiful show for us.

Enjoying hot cocoa and cookies while the dogs rested a bit.

To end the ride, the kids got to drive the sleds! Very cool.  And we didn't even tip the sled.

Amanda drove the team ahead of us while Brandon drove ours.

Saying goodbye to Jaws.  We helped unhook the dogs and put them up.  Messy work, but the kids enjoyed helping out.

Finally, it was snow time!  This is Tom and Amanda, building up their forts - parents vs. kids.

That is one big snow chunk Tom has.  Thankfully, the snow was very powdery, so when you threw the snow, it didn't hurt....too much.

We ended the day by stopping by and visiting the avalanche dogs.

This is how they sometimes carry them down the hill. 

The last night in Montana!  We stopped by Base Camp to say goodbye to Bea, who helped organize some of our activities this week.  We have met so many wonderful and gracious people on this trip.  What a blessing.  Tomorrow, we are coming home and I think we are all ready!