Ice Strong: A visit from our Navy brothers and sisters.

Kevin and I were both in the Navy.  To clarify, we were in Naval Aviation and neither one of use were deployed on a ship.  In fact, we met in Antarctica while working in support of Operation Deep Freeze.   During those years, we made a ton of amazing friends.  Nothing brings people closer than being stuck on a large sheet of us for 6 months at a time with nowhere to go.  A bunch of our Navy friends got together and organized a trip out here to support Kevin.  They came in from California, Connecticut, Texas, Florida, Arizona and more.  Ryno had shirts made for everybody.

 

The first night, we ate, drank and visited.  The Sin sisters did not get in until the next morning.  It amazed me that after so much time, everyone picked up right where we left on.  Yes, some of us had fewer hair, or more gray hair, but really everyone was still the same.

Terrell made a cake and tons of treats for us to enjoy.

 

Hoff and Chris goofing around.

Daddy and Sid (I love this picture).  Another one of the guys brought squadron hats for everyone.  Sidney stole Kevin's.

The girl's had a great time visiting with everyone and hearing all the stories.  Thank goodness everyone kept them tame, or else we would have some explaining to do!  Kendall, Faith and Ronny.

The whole gang getting ready for Day 2.

The guys went rafting the Boise river. 

Kevin, Hoff, Duque and Ryno.

The ladies went to the framer's market and the Capitol.

That evening, Ronny took us all out to Barbacoa to celebrate.  We had an amazing time, eating, drinking and reminiscing.

The man of the hour, Kevin.  This relaxed smile says it all!

The North of July.

Yes, the title does say 'north' instead of 'fourth'.  And, yes, I do think I am pretty clever.  Actually this post is quite late.  Reality is, I am playing catch up from all our our summer adventures.  I will pick up with our trip to North Idaho and Montana in July.  Kevin stopped to act like a tourist and get a picture of the girls.

 

We went camping in Montana for a week.  Yes, that's right, seven days of sheer blisswith no cell phone service totally chillaxing.  While in Montana, Kendall did her first big hike.  She hiked back into Holland Falls.  It is a good trek, but she was totally up for it.

Once at the Falls, Uncle Roy insisted she give the customary victory pose.

 

Again, the victory pose with a view of Holland Lake behind her.

The parents, a bit more subdued, but equally victorious.

The squirrels were super tame and ready to play.  If you are wondering whether this is really a chipmunk or squirrel, I did a bit of research and do believe it is legitimately a squirrel.  It's stripes do not continue over it's head.

The girl's did a ton of fishing, kayaking and hiking with their cousin's.  Kendall was unstoppable this year in her attempt to hang with the big kids.  Uncle Roy had to insist that she come up to camp one night when she was soaked head to toe and shivering!



 

 

The men also did their fair share of playing.  They hiked back into Glacier Lake for a day of fishing.

Cassie was happy to join them, just like a gazelle showing them how it is done.

Kevin took us Huckleberry picking.  We struck Huckleberry gold with some of the patches we found.  Shhh....I will never tell the location.

Most of all we did a ton of relaxing and visiting.

Then it was off to North Idaho for some fun.  My sister treated all of us to a gondola ride up Silver Mountain and lunch at the top.  Fun fact:  this is the longest gondola in North America (6.2 miles round trip).  My mom was freaking out a little bit. 

 

The view was amazing!

 

The girl's and I having a little fun at the bottom of the mountain.

The men went fishing up at Priest Lake one day, so we decided to head over to Silverwood.  Kendall and Sidney got to drive the old cars.  The cars really do drive.  

 

I explained to Sidney that she was physically unable to drive the car off the track.  She was not buying it until I demonstrated my reckless driving to prove the point.  After that, she was a driving machine.  She is lucky that my antics did not get us kicked off the ride.

 

 

 Kendall has decided to stick with the kiddo rides after her California rollercoaster adventures.

My Dad, the brave soul that he is, agreed to take my sister and I on a golf date.  Neither one of us are fabulous golfers by any stretch of the imagination.  We were fortunate to have nobody behind us, so we were able to take our time.

Kevin caught his first Mackinaw in the deep waters of Priest Lake.

Oh and Chili decided to go on an adventure while we were visiting my parent's.  One day at about 3pm, he took off out of their house and would not return.  They have some heavily wooded areas around their house (think predators) and a super busy highway (think road kill).  Needless to say, we were all freaking out and went on a Chili hunt.  We had people on bikes, on foot and my sister and I on four wheelers (can you say danger to that one).  We searched until after dark.  We did have two Chili sighting which convinced Kevin that it was all a big game for the little Chiweenie.  The search was called off at about 10pm.  I thought certainly Chili was not going to be returning. 

At about 2am that morning, Kendall came and woke me up.  She was worried about Chili and could not sleep.  I went to lay down with her.  I was not able to fall back to sleep which turned out to be a good thing.  At about 3am, I heard a faint scratch at my parent's front door.  I tiptoed downstairs and wrestled with whether I should open the door or not.  Every teenage horror movie ran through my head.  After a brief deliberation with myself, I decided to open it.  Chili came darting through the house at mach speeds. Gah!  We were just very thankful that he found his way home.

A Beautiful Gift!

A few months back our friend's, Chris and Kristin, offered us the most amazing gift - family pictures.  Kristin has a girlfriend that comes to Boise each year to take pictures.  The Brandt's arranged for our family to have pictures taken.  It was such a fun morning, and Megan did a beautiful job.  She was such a professional catching every little detail that made them so special. 

 

We are very grateful to have received a gift that we can cherish forever. 

 http://meganannphotography.com/

 

 

Kendall: Welcome to 3rd grade!

She is growing up so fast, I wish I could make it stop.  This morning as I dropped her off, she found all of her girlfriends right away.  I noticed many of them making the transition from wanting to hang out with mom to asking mom to drop them off at the corner.  Luckily for me, Kendall is still pretty content to spend time with mom. 

Sidney: Welcome to 1st Grade!

Sidney started first grade today.  Aside from a bit of separation drama, she LOVED the day.  Her teacher is awesome.  In her words, "First grade is so much fun.  It is just like kindergarten.  It did not even feel like I was there longer, and I had THREE recesses."

 

 

The Inside of Me.

Since our family was delivered the news of Kevin's health last October, I have been in a huge wrestling match.  I wish that I was one of those people that had immediate thoughts of how wonderful God is and how he will use this situation for the good.  To the contrary it has challenged my Faith in God like it has never been challenged before. 

As I grappled for peace, I recalled a scripture that said something like 'God will not give you more than you can bear'.  As it turns out, I looked up that scripture and that is not what it says at all.  The scripture actually says, "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."  I was disappointed to say the least.  Not in the scripture itself, but that it did not apply to what we were going through.  I had to dig deeper.

While my mom was visiting, she recommended a book by Max Lucado called You'll Get Through This.  I am now on my third time through this book.  It has brought me many tears and much hope.  I have come to admire Joseph and the ways in which God used his life.  God was able to take the things that were intended to bring Joseph harm and use them for good.  It did not happen overnight.  What may have seemed like a short period (from one scripture to the next) was actually years.  As I reflect on Joseph's life, I am certain that he must have felt like we do at times.  Yet, he stayed close to God. 

I often think there is something wrong with me, because I do not 'feel' God's presence.  I do not feel him carrying me or sitting right here next to me.  Rather he reveals himself in the small gestures and moments.  I see him through my co-workers, through my family and through complete strangers.  He offers me small glimmers of hope and reassurance.  Kevin and I receive cards from my brother-in-law's mother, Carol.  She sends them to us on a regular basis.  We did not know her well before this.  Yet, her cards have given us tremendous encouragement.  I save each one of them and re-read them often.  They are filled with God's words and her own words of encouragement.

There have been many well intentioned people that have said "Well, this is all part of God's plan."  To believe this would make me a very bitter person.  Rather, I cling to the truths that illness, pain and suffering are not the acts of God.  They are the results of actions taken by people centuries before us and perpetuated by people today.  God never promised to protect us from pain and suffering here on earth.  His ultimate peace and protection comes once we are in Heaven.  (Revelation 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.)

We were blessed to have an amazing summer.  We lived each day to the fullest.  We were not peppered with Doctor's appointments and needles.  Kevin was not beat down by drugs that attempt to give us more time together.  We took some time off to enjoy each other as a family.  The doctor's encouraged it, and we did it.  Today, we had a glimmer of hope.  As we were read the results of the scan today, the cancer had not grown or spread any further.  It had not shrunk, but it had not grown.  In my book, this is a miracle.  Now Kevin has some time to decide what next and when.  The cancer still resides in his esophagus, his lymph nodes and his liver, but it is a miracle that it has not grown a life of it's own. 

This is a journey.  One that we never imagined we would take.  It has not been fun.  It has not been easy, but God will continue to help us each step of the way.  If I have learned nothing else, I have learned to take each day at a time.  This is an extremely hard thing for me (as those who know me can attest to).  In the book mentioned above, Max Lucado has a quote, "You'll get through this. It won't be painless. It won't be quick. But God will use this mess for good. In the meantime don't be foolish or naïve. But don't despair either. With God's help you will get through this.”