Happy Thanksgiving!

I have a lot to be thankful for, as I have had a year of HOPE.

H- Happy and hard hours, but hours nevertheless, with my family of five

O- Operations and ongoing treatments that went well for Ron

P- People who pray

E- Extra energy for evergoing tasks; eternal life

Today, I saw lots of family, and that was really special. We ate at my grandparents house, where my girls saw fit to entertain everyone.
Charity fell in love with my Uncle David, and she told me that she loved my dad (whom she used to be afraid of, but she has grown out of much of her shyness).
Faith told my grandmother that she (grandma) has "squishy arms," and that she (Faith) has squishy cheeks, but they don't have lines in them like my grandma's! I could have fallen over! Just wait, Faith, until you grow to be 80, and see if your skin doesn't get squishy and wrinkly! My grandma looks great to me, and I am glad that she has a good sense of humor.
Today, Faith told me she wants to be Daddy's kid and Mommy's kid... I was glad, because she doesn't exactly get a choice :-) She also told me again how much she loves me... she says she loves me all night and all day! She lay in my bed last night chatting with me for a very long time... she is growing up so fast, and could go on talking to me for hours... which I enjoy, but it was time for her to go to sleep, and quite difficult to turn off the chatterbox (wonder where she gets that!).
Hope took a little step or two the other day... it won't me long now!
Well, I need to go check on my girls... Faith keeps getting out of bed to report that Charity was on her side of the bed, and was kicking her. Maybe having them share a full sized bed with each other wasn't such a good idea after all!

Just another day at the Cooks...

Not that this gives anyone warm fuzzy feelings, but I had an endoscopy today (still trying to resolve the swallowing problem), and found that I have a medium hiatal hernia... I know, it is common, and I am not surprised after all the years I have had heartburn and reflux issues. So... now I get to take medicine for the thyroid nodule AND for the hernia... yeah! Maybe they both are working together in a scheme... HA!

Faith has been saying such sweet things to me lately. She tells me all the time how much she loves me. I just love it, of course!

Got a prayer request for you... would you all pray for the young people we work with... my heart has been heavy for them, and I would like to see them allow God to move in their lives. Thanks!

Father and daughter deer hunting...

***edit*** Just thought I would throw in that Faith didn't actually see him shoot the deer, because they were in a trailer or some-sort of building where they could stay warm but still shoot a deer... and, no, she did not watch him gut it. She had fun, but sometimes does not like to get too close to a large animal. ***end edit***

Faithy and daddy went deer hunting, and Ron shot one tonight! Don't know if this excites you, but it does us... well, Faith didn't like it as much as Ron did, but it does mean meat for our freezer.

Hey, does anyone out there know what to do if someone keeps calling you and hanging up several times a day? I have caller ID, so I tried to call them back, but it was busy. I Googled the number, and there are lots of other complaints about the number... I would maybe report it to the police, but I think the number is from CA and probably related to telemarketing... I am a busy woman, and could be in the middle of something important (like changing a diaper or washing a mountain of dishes), and do NOT appreciate prank calls. I reported it to one website, and I plan on reporting it to my phone company, and see what they say. What do you think?

Besides caring for my children, cleaning house, doing laundry, cooking, shopping online for Christmas presents so I don't have to run all over the place to find what I would like the girls to have and at a low price, and reading a novel (not sure that fits in the pattern), I have been trying to finish a quilt up that I started over a year ago for my mother-in-law... you would probably laugh if you saw it... very unprofessional, but it does look like a quilt. I thought I might as well see how difficult it was... you'll never know if you can do something if you never try. There are major mistakes in it, but I think she will like it still.

So, how are you my dear friends?! Been missing those comments... but, I am a lurker, too. Just loving to spy on people. HA! Hope everyone is doing well. Until next post... good bye!

Going back to "normal" step by step

You may not believe this... but guess what Ron has been doing?! We have friends who own land where they feed and lure in deer with corn and clover, etc. They have trailers or somesort of buildings that people can sit in and be out of the weather and hunt. So... Ron shot at a deer last night (with a bow... it is not gun season yet), but the scope was off, so he missed twice! They fixed it last night, and out he goes again this morning!!! He is hoping for a buck this year.

He and his dad went to Columbus for Ron's doctor appointment yesterday. The doctor told him it was okay to do the hunting. I haven't gotten to see his numbers yet, but Ron said he believes the platelets are back to normal, and the hemoglobin was getting better, and, athough his white blood count sounds a little low to me, it is stable. Drumroll... the big concern was the creatin (sp?) levels, which they were watching because they had been high after the treatment... and, it sounds like they are now about normal!!! Yeah! If Ron feels up to it, he could even start work as early as next month... but, I do hope he doesn't overdo himself. I think his tastebuds might be starting to work now too. He eating a little more. For those who haven't seen him, he's lost some weight, but he looks good. He is getting his central line out December 2... yeah!

The girls and I had a big day yesterday. We went thrift store shopping, then to Burger King Playland, then the pet-store (a favorite of the girls), and to Wal-Mart. Because Ron was in The James on his b-day, the girl didn't get to celebrate his 33rd b-day with him... so yesterday I bought a cake for him, had it signed, and we had a quick little celebration with daddy before he left to hunt.

That's what is goin' on here... back being a family, and I am very glad!

Here are a few more thanks...

Thank you to Esther Beatty for being my laundry lady. What a great help! Also, helping with laundry was my MIL and Trisha P.

Thank you also to the holiness churches out there who have live-stream church services... What an awesome help while Ron was in the hospital. Particularly, Franklin Bible Methodist and Hobe Sound Bible Church. We also enjoyed some programs from Focus on the Family. Even though Ron couldn't physically be in church... he and I had church with you in his room.

A Special Thank-You!

I am sure to leave someone out... if I do, please say something... it is not intentional.

First of all, allow me to explain the babysitters. NO children under the age of 12 are allowed in the unit. Ron would have to put on a mask and walk out to the family waiting area to visit the children. I felt that I needed to be with him as much as possible, because in this treatment one can have tough side effects, and it can get a bit lonely. I am usually very picky about babysitters, if I even leave my children... Even though I tried to be wise and the babysitters worked hard to help my children, it was difficult for the kids, and different for this stay-at-home-mom. They are doing fine now, and I am sooo grateful for everyone's help.

Thank you, Ben and Sonya Blowers (pastoring the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Church in Columbus), for helping numerous times babysit my two older children... You have a very nice church and a lovely family... the girls still talk about Shayla. And, thank you, Beth Blair (Pastor's Wife from Zanesville Bible Methodist) for referring me to this kind family.



Thank you, Martha Brugger (also a pastor's wife from Marion... I hope I am getting this all right, a fellow Bible Methodist!) for watching my older children overnight one night, and on another occasion taking them to the Columbus Zoo.



Thank you, Amy Sowers (a dear friend and homeschooling mom from my church), for watching my older children one weekend.



Thank you, Karen Beatty (a long-time friend of the family, and also from our church) for watching them for several nights.



Thank you, Trisha Perkins, Kimberly Brown, and friends for watching them the last weekend of Ron's stay at the hospital. It was neat knowing that my children were getting to sleep in their own beds.

And... BIG THANK YOU to Ron's parents for staying with me in Columbus and watching Hope so that I could get to her easily to nurse her. I know that the past few weeks were very tough for the both of you.

Thank you, GBS, our church family, relatives, and loved ones, for the nice cards.

Thank you to Josh A for visiting regularly, providing preaching CDs, a bag of cookies, and the other nice gifts. You were such an encouragement to Ron.

Thank you, Melonie M, for being my travelling buddy and for helping to rescue me when my car wouldn't start.

Thank you, Pastor Manley, for visiting Ron... He really enjoyed your company.

Thank you to my parents for spending a day with Ron, me, and the baby.

Thank you to Gloria Jean McGinnis for visiting, and helping me when I had a choking spell ;-)
Thank you to 8th Street Wesleyan Alliance Church for the prayer shawl.

Thank you to the many friends who have prayed with and for us, who gave gas cards, and other gifts while we were there... wow, what a blessing you have been!!!

Thank you, Brother Brugger, for stopping in for a visit.

Ummm, maybe I shouldn't have done this... I know there are so many others who deserve recognition, and I want you to know how much everything has meant to us. May God bless you!

Thank you to our church...
You know, they did something really neat. Personally, I really don't like Halloween... I really don't want any part of it, so I thought it was so cool when I found out that they were having a special thing for the church children and teens so that they wouldn't get involved in other Halloween-ish stuff, and my two older children got to go to the little kids part. I think it was a harvest type of thing, and they had a good turn out from what I heard. I heard that the teens were outside playing a guitar (might have been Ron's), and singing Christian music around a chimnea (not sure how it is spelled).

It was a little sad to me, as we normally take our youth group to their activities, not to be able to go to Youth Challenge... but, I heard good reports from our young people that they had a great time... Our pastor is the President over Youth Challenge, and the teens had a blast watching his face turn red during some funny part of the service. I received a late night call from some of the teens one night, just reporting in on all the fun. That was really cool! I also heard that Youth Challenge had prayer for us... now that was really encouraging... youth pastors and youth praying for a fellow youth pastor in desparate need of prayer... well, your prayers were answered, and Ron got out of the hospital rather quickly, and he seems to have gained lots more energy and he seems to be getting a little more back to normal... although, they are not planning on doing anymore scans for probably two or three months... just pray that his cancer will never come back (Lord willing), because stem-cell and bone marrow transplants are very difficult for one to go through... I don't want to see him have to go through that ever again!!!

Thank you to one of my teens who called me a couple of times while we were in Columbus... Thanks, Jenn, you made me not feel so left out!

And, a major thank you goes to the West Broad Street Missionary Chapel for giving me, my children, and Ron's parents and sometimes brother, a very nice apartment to live in while Ron was in the hospital! THANKS SO VERY MUCH!!!

Thank you, Dr. Devine, other docs, nurses, FELLOWs, PCAs, housecleaning, Nutritional Services, Social Workers, transplant coordinators, all the people who were involved in removing and storing his stem cells, etc... Thank you for working hard to make sure Ron did well through this! For giving him excellent care! For giving me good training! For working hard to beat cancer!

If I have forgotten you, please pat yourself on the back, and count yourself thanked... It is almost 2 in the morning, and I need to get off of this computer!

THANK YOU!!!

Husbands are great for many reasons...

1. When you are out of town and your vehicle refuses to start... who are ya goin' to call?
2. When your right headlight, left turn signal, and windshield wipers kill over... who's usually available?
2. When you have raked leaves until you are exhausted, who can carry the load?
3. When the house has a gas leak, and the fumes are high enough for an explosion... who knows what to do?
4. When the gutters are clogged, and you decide to be macho-woman, and you climb on the roof, just to remember that you are terribly afraid of heights... and, you are frozen, unable to move, and crying your eyes out like an infant because your mind won't let your body step back onto the ladder to get off of the roof... who gets a big kick out of ya?

Well, I have certainly had quite the past few weeks.
The first incident is a long story, but I had a friend with me who had a friend who had AAA... Ron was in the hospital, so I had to make decisions without him.
The second situations were taken care of by my father-in-law, Ron, Perk, etc. It was funny, I am sure, to see me trying to fix that turn signal... I had no clue at first, so I climbed under the van, and did all sorts of stuff trying to get the cover off of that thing... all I was missing was this little extention thingy and I could have done it my myself, but I am glad that Perk stopped by to pick something up, and offered to help us in any way, so I took him up on the offer, and told him about the turn signal. (Excuse the major run-on sentences... I am in a hurry... Momma duty is calling.)
The third incident was after we came home from the hospital and there was a HUGE amount of leaves in my yard. I wasn't really THAT exhausted, but it sure was nice when the pastor showed up with his lawn mower and blew alot of leaves to the bottom of our yard... that made it look way too easy!
The fourth incident was during Ron's hospital stay, and I called the landlord and our gas company, and the gas company came quite quickly, and fixed a spraying pipe in the basement!!! The girls and I stayed overnight at my neighbor's house that night.
The fifth incident was today... Ron later went up on the roof and did it... he probably shouldn't have, but he did. He still thinks the sight of me stuck of the roof crying was quite the sight.

I sure am happy that the family is back together... have been thanking God for things I have never thank him for... even children's messes!!! At least that means my children are near!

Hope can now just stand right up in the middle of the floor! She also sounds like she is trying to sing sometimes.
Charity is back into the swing of things with her potty training... HURRAY!
Faith is praying for a certain item for Christmas, and after she prayed for it the other day, she came back and told me that Jesus said YES. We started pre-school again today.
We have been playing SOOO much the past few days, and I love it!!!

If you are in the mood for soup beans tonight, stop on by... having some trouble getting a couple of children to eat much of it... although, they don't have a choice but to eat some, because I don't want them to go up picky about what is given them to eat.

Well, "daddy" keeps telling me that the family is waiting for me to get done on the computer... which means HELP!

So, signing off... and, remember not to climb on roofs if you are already afraid of heights.

Finally home!!!

Ron was discharged Sunday afternoon, and after taking a nap, we left for Dayton!!! Ron went to church, but sat up in the balcony away from the crowd, and wore his mask (a must, for now). How exciting it is to have our family back together!

I have to take good care of my man. I am honored to have the job! I like being his nurse ;-)

Just thought I would share my happy heart! Have a great night!

Bebound!!!

Hurray! His white blood count has begun its climb!!!

He had a platelet transfusion a couple of days ago, and today he is getting another transfusion because of his hemoglobin count. I am getting classes on caring for his central line, and other discharge care... hmmm, I wonder if I can get an honorary degree for all I have learned :-)

If his other counts all improve, he could go home as early as this weekend or Monday. He is cheerful and has his great sense of humor back. Plenty of energy! And, wow, has he been witnessing!!!

Thank you, dear friends and family, for praying! This was a very tough thing to go through, but I thank God for being with us each step of the way, and for taking care of our needs.

We have made friends with some really neat people!

Oh, before I forget, I think my little baby is about to walk!!! She stands now for a little while after letting go of the furniture. Where is the time going? Charity is talking like a big girl! Faith has fallen in love with coloring. They have huge imaginations... and, well, they are my little bundles of joy!

Okay, yes, I am happy this afternoon... happy that soon our family will be back together! Rejoice with me!!!

About the lowest point...

He has most of the common side-effects people receive with this treatment... but tries to be active at least once a day... like taking a walk, etc., which is good. He tries to witness some.

Faith and Charity got to see their daddy for the first time in about a week and a half this morning. It went VERY well! Last time, it was very sad as Faith fell apart when we had to leave him. This time, she had no tears, but lots of love to share.

Hopefully, the counts will start their climb within the next few days. I can hardly wait.