She is doing amazing

Psalm 28:7
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
    and with my song I give thanks to him.

I feel like I am on warp speed trying to get ready for Montana.  Time is flying by and I don't feeling any more prepared now that I was three days ago!  Oh, we have all we need thanks to generous friends and family, but my den looks like a clothes bomb went off in it.  Yikes.  T-minus two days and counting!

This week is so incredibly busy it is almost comical.  A bright spot is that Amanda is doing amazing.  She has rebounded from this round of chemo better than any before.  She just looks good.  I am so thankful.  As I told a friend this evening, I feel like I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop!  I am really surprised.  I am thrilled, but still surprised! I am working on letting her do what she wants, like swing outside, and not ask, "Are you sure you feel up to it?"  I really expected her to be resting this week, taking it easy and saving up energy for Montana - ha! The girl is ready to go.  Today she had her lesson at ROCK and despite the cold, we were there and she rode Romeo independently.  Her "extra" lesson each week has been getting her ready for our ride in Montana and she is all set.  Did I mention I have only two more days to get ready?

Tonight we went to Grace Academy's Nine Lessons and Carols service.  Brandon is in the hand chime elective and he played tonight.  As we sat among the large crowd of parents, relatives and friends, I thought back to our early days at Grace as parents watching our Kindergarten son standing up there singing.  My how the years have flown by.   It was a beautiful evening of worship led by our students.  What a wonderful night.

Tomorrow I will wrap up last minute shopping for both Montana and Christmas.  Amanda has another lesson at ROCK tomorrow afternoon.  Come Thursday, it will be a mad dash to get everything together and packed.  There is a running joke about how much I over pack, so I am determined that this trip, it will be a respectable amount for the trip we are taking.  Now, that may mean it is four GIANT suitcases but ski clothes are not small!!  And we leave in two days......sigh.

Our itinerary is simply unbelievable and I can't wait to share what we have planned.  However, I have an early morning meeting at school so I must call it a night.  Look for one more post before we leave!

It was cold this morning, but we were crazy enough to ride.

At this point, I think Amanda may have been wondering what she was doing...

Who am I kidding?  She was ready to go, but glad to be out in the sunshine!

Day Five almost done...

Night Five.  One more dose and we can officially say we are half way done!  Things are still going well here with no major surprises with how Amanda is feeling.  She has a good appetite and she is sleeping all night.  I am very happy about those two things.

This past week, I was going through our pictures from this year choosing a few for a Christmas gift.  What an incredible year this has been.  When I get frustrated or feel like I am just tired of where we are, all I need to do is look back at this journey in pictures.  It is humbling and truly amazing to see how far Amanda has come.  As I looked at pictures, it was like taking a walk back through our painful, yet joyous journey.  Starting from the time before Amanda's diagnosis when we weren't sure what was going on, to the whirlwind nine days in the hospital, then her six weeks of radiation with the twice a week physical and occupational therapy appointments to her current chemotherapy treatment and lessons at ROCK, the memories come back with startling clarity.  To say it has been an unbelievable year feels like an understatement. 

Through it all, God has been faithful, and I've never stopped praying for a miracle. 

So as we finish up tonight, I will go to bed with a thankful heart. I am thankful for how far we've come and thankful to be where we are today, finishing number six out of twelve of her chemotherapy treatments.  Praise God! 

Psalm 90:14

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days

Day Four

Day four is here and all is well.  In our world, that means the past two nights, Amanda has slept all night and has not been sick - therefore, all is well!  She slept in late this morning (thankfully) but woke up feeling pretty bad and is still in bed.  Right now she is bundled up in our bed crocheting and watching a movie.

I skipped day three yesterday, not because Amanda had a bad day, but because an opportunity slipped up on me to go Christmas shopping!  With chemo, keeping up with Brandon and his activities, planning for Montana (less than a week away!) and Christmas - I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.  I know that this time of year tends to do that to us, but this feels different.  Time alone to get things done is in short supply.  While I am okay with that, it does make things a little more difficult.   I am learning to think outside the box and be more spontaneous.  That is a big step for a planner like me.

With the temperatures ranging from -2 to -20 today in Montana, I have to admit I am feeling a little panicked! Must have plenty of warm clothing!  Looking at the 10 day forecast, however, calms me a bit because next weekend looks beautiful.  I am so thankful - highs in the thirties, lows in the teens - perfect weather.  Would you please pray that is stays that way for our entire trip?  We have so many awesome things planned for us to do, it would be wonderful to actually have nice weather.  I mean, seriously, who plans to go to Montana in DECEMBER for vacation?  Why, the Watsons do!  It promises to be a Winter Wonderland adventure.  Everything will be beautifully decorated for Christmas, I know Amanda and Brandon are going to love it.  Who am I kidding - I am going to love it!  I'll share more of our itinerary next week.  :)

For now, it looks like our day will be spent staying warm by the fireplace, playing our favorite family games, (Nerds, Cataan, maybe even some Bananagrams) watching football and packing.  Lovely family time. 

Stay warm and have a great day!

Psalm 118:24

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Day Two

Last night was rough. Once again, she was sick for about two hours, yet through it all she had an amazing attitude.  She is teaching me so much.

Today was a quiet day with just Amanda and I at home.  After last night, she was pretty low key and spent the day resting.  Tonight, Brandon had his first basketball game of the season and with Tom at work, Amanda went to my mom's so that I could make his game.  It was a great start to the season with an exciting win.  One of my favorite things to do is watch my boy play sports and tonight didn't disappoint! 

So here we are, calling night two done. After last night, it was really hard for her to take those pills tonight, but she did it.  She opened the first of the "cooking" presents - a cute apron and a pig timer.  After a funny pig experience with her Uncle Wayne, pig gifts have begun showing up in various places, so she got a kick out of the present tonight.  Tomorrow, I hope she feels good enough to put both the apron and timer to use. 

Psalm 62:5-7

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
    for my hope is from him.

He only is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

On God rests my salvation and my glory;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

The picture we shared last night of Ginger was missing a few pieces, so here is Ginger in her full Elf getup. 

Doesn't Ginger look thrilled?  :)

Day one - off to a good start!

Day one is underway! Today’s appointment was probably the best appointment Amanda has had in a long time.  We were there a long time, but it was all good.  She stayed calm during the accessing and de-accessing of her port, the infusions went well with no complications or issues, her labs came back great and her weight has come up.  So thankful for answered prayer! 

It was fun to read the messages from those of you wearing your Team Watson shirts today.  Thank you for taking the time to do that, they were a wonderful encouragement to me.  

Part of our Team at ROCK supporting Team Watson today!

The struggle with taking the medication started tonight.  I'm glad we had a goal for her to focus on to get the job done.  Tonight’s gift was the Christmas outfit for Ginger.  She loved it and Ginger looked pretty cute. 

 

As we turn in, the memory that night one of the last two cycles have been rough causes her to anticipate the same tonight.  I am praying for no sickness tonight and good, restful sleep for all!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you

Going in to Cycle Six.....

Here we sit, on the eve of her sixth chemo cycle, and it still seems unreal.  It is not so much the actual chemo part that I dread the most, but more the emotional side that accompanies it; and the fact that I feel so helpless when she feels so sick. 

I have my gift stash ready to go, and I am looking forward to this round of gifts.  Other than a cute Christmas outfit for Ginger, I went with a cooking theme this month.  We will enjoy some yummy treats if she feels up to a little baking...okay, even if she doesn't feel up to baking we will still enjoy some treats. 

The past week Amanda has lost weight that I wasn’t expecting – especially with last week being Thanksgiving and all the food we had.  She just hasn’t been hungry.  It seems like over the past day or two she has been a little better about eating, but I think that is in part to me being more aware of it and trying to get her to eat more!  

Today’s lesson at ROCK completely wiped her out – so much so she couldn’t eat lunch afterwards. Thankfully she rebounded pretty well as the afternoon went on.  Yesterday’s lesson went well and even though she was on the weak side, she loved just getting out there and riding Romeo.   I think she has done better conserving her energy this cycle and actually seems like she stayed fairly active for most of the time, which is better than we have seen in the past. I’m sure that Thanksgiving and time spent with family had something to do with that.

The new Team Watson shirts are here and they look great!  A huge thank you to Georgetown Sporting Goods for their time and generosity with the Team Watson shirts.  It has been fun passing out these new shirts to our various “teams.” We have a stack to take with us to Dell tomorrow and we will have our shirts on to celebrate this milestone in Amanda’s treatment.  Thank you to everyone that bought shirts!  We continue to be humbled and touched by your support and encouragement.

God surprised me today with His perfect timing in something that seemed so ordinary.  He always supplies what I need, when I need it most and usually in a big way.  I had the opportunity to sneak away for a quick cup of coffee this morning with an amazing lady that I admire and respect.  Something as simple as sharing a cup of coffee, laughing and crying together and her speaking God’s truth in to my life was exactly what I needed going into this sixth cycle.  Sometimes He uses music, sometimes it is through His word, and today it was through a friend that He reminded me that He is sovereign and He loves me.  God is so good. 

Please pray for this upcoming week, that Amanda will not be too sick, that she will stay positive and that this treatment will continue to destroy the enemy we are fighting.  

Waiting to saddle 'em up

I love how comfortable she looks up there!

Tom was giving sweet Sherry a little love..

Nothing more special than a daddy-daughter relationship

It is very special that Sandra Jo is Amanda's horse handler for her Tuesday lesson

Thanksgiving

I went in to the Thanksgiving week thinking how easy it was going to be for me to show thanks.  That it would just pour out of me with every breath and that I would celebrate and enjoy every moment with family.  Unfortunately, instead of the week I was expecting, I found myself struggling to stay focused on the here and now and not worrying about the future.   For some reason, I have found that during the holidays, that is harder for me to do.

I seemed to be tuned in with laser-sharp awareness of Amanda's actions and movements (not always a good thing!) and there were a few things I saw that really rattled me. It's hard not to react to something new or different.  As usual, Thomas was there to balance my emotional side and be encouraging, practical and calm.  So, I did my best, even though it was a struggle at times, to pray continuously, cherish time spent with family, make beautiful memories, take lots of pictures and watch Brandon and Amanda enjoy spending time with their cousins. 

Our week will be a busy one.  Tomorrow the special edition "Half-way mark" Team Watson shirts come in.  Tuesday Amanda will have a lesson at ROCK, then on Wednesday, Amanda will begin her sixth cycle of chemo if all of her counts are good.  The rest of the week will be juggling Brandon's schedule while Amanda is taking chemo.   Brandon has his first basketball game, a Christmas music program, then a Christmas party to wrap up the week.  All the while, we will be trying to plan and prepare for our trip that is just around the corner!

Amanda continues to do well during this "low count" week of her cycle and really hasn't shown too many symptoms of feeling bad.  Her most recent description of how she feels is that she's "tired."  While that is a new term for her to use describing how she feels, I am sure it is very accurate for this portion of her treatment cycle.

Every day is a challenge, a blessing and an opportunity.  Please keep praying for Amanda to continue to do well during treatment, that she stays healthy and that the treatment is successful in destroying what is left of the tumor.  I've never stopped praying for that miracle.

We took some fun family photos this past week.  It was time for new family pictures on the Smith side and on the Watson side, well, we never pass up a chance for a little craziness by taking a family picture.  Our families are a huge blessing.

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I like to call my family "The Herd" because we tend to travel together in a large group. 

The Smith Grandkids

Amanda and Kyle hanging up their ornaments.

I. Love. This. Picture.

The Watson family - look at all the youngins'! There is rarely a quiet, or dull, moment with this group.

The Watson Grandkids. If only you could see what went on behind the camera to get this shot.  Entertaining.

This was a HUGE accomplishment for Amanda.  She hasn't been able to play on the monkey bars since her surgery.  She was so excited, and so were we!