I'm Back!!!

My life has been a whirlwind. So much has happened, so I guess I will fill you in on everything! I did make it to Springdale for Brian's visitation. It was good to see Kristina and show her our support. She was surrounded my hundreds of family and friends. She is doing good. Keep her in your prayers as she tries to get back to some normalcy in her life.

We have officially sold our home! We closed on our house on Friday, March 14th. And on Saturday, March 15th, we had the movers come and move us into our apartment. My sister, Michelle, Betty and I started moving some stuff into the apartment on the Monday before. We were able to move all the stuff in all closets and most all that was left for the movers was the furniture. It actually went really smooth and was worth every penny to have them help. We were all moved except for the kitchen and garage by Saturday night. Sunday we finished up the kitchen and garage and turned over the keys! It was a little sad to say goodbye to our first home. The home we brought both our babies home too. But more excited to know we are one step closer to getting into our new home!

We are in an apartment that is about 300 square feet smaller than our old house. It's definitely different, smaller, older....but it's temporary and doable. And it will make us appreciate our nice, brand new, BIG home even better! And, speaking of our new home, here is a slide show of our progress:

I will leave you with a few more pictures of a fun time before the move...playing in an empty closet.

Happy Birthday Rebekah!

My baby is three years old! I can't believe it's been three years since I gave birth to my sweet baby, Rebekah Shelaine. She has had so much fun with this birthday. She really gets it now.

We had her party this past Saturday at Mega Gymnastics. A lot of her friends came and had so much fun running, jumping, climbing, etc. And, per her request, we had a Rocket Cake. She was determined to have Rocket from the Little Einsteins on her cake and with the help of a friend, her wish came true. Today, she has a small celebration at her school with her friends and then tonight we took her to eat pizza, again her request.

To honor her, I will list 3 things I love about her...

1. I love her love and gentleness for animals. She has a special connection with out cat, Kathy. She loves Kathy and Kathy comes running when Bekah gets up the morning or comes home from school. They are the best of friends. She also loves ponies, puppies and penguins (a.k.a. Pablos - what she calls them!).

2. I love her sense of humor. She has the best laugh. It melts my heart.

3. I love her blue eyes. She gets them from her Daddy. Every time I look into her eyes, I see her Daddy. And I love her and her Daddy with all my heart!

Happy Birthday Rebekah!

Happy Birthday to Jon Paul...One Day Late!!

Yesterday was Jon Paul's 36th birthday. Happy Birthday to the best husband, daddy and friend in the whole wide world. Babe, I love you...AAF!

It's been a while since I last posted. Things have been crazy, be watching for more posts to catch you up!!

Ultimate Healing...

Brian Hamilton received his ultimate healing tonight. He has left this world and is with Jesus, free of pain, free of cancer...healed. Healed. HEALED!

Please be in prayer for all of the family. I will not be traveling up there this weekend as planned. I may try to go to the service, but will depend on what is going on with our house sale. If I don't make it for the service, I plan to go up there some weekend soon.

Here is a message from Kristina, "When Jesus is ready to take him, I will be ready to let go. I am at peace with this and know that he will be healed once in the presence of God. I talked with Makayla last night, and she is a trooper! She looked me in the eye and told me to keep the faith and not lose hope. And here I've been worried about talking to her! Anyway, continue to pray for a peace with Brian and plenty of grace for the rest of the family."

My sister, Cynthia, heard a song on the radio this morning. She said it touched her heart, even before knowing what today would bring. Here are the lyrics.

Weak and wounded sinner, lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus, come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden's lifted and carried far away,
And precious blood has washed away the stain.
So, sing to Jesus, sing to Jesus,
Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby, don't be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk, sometimes we fall...
So, fall on Jesus, fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely and steep and filled with pain.
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then
Cry to Jesus, cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!

Oh and when the love spills over and music fills the night
And when you can't contain your joy inside, then
Dance for Jesus, dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat, kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and
Fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!

Welcome to Heaven, Brian.

Prayer Request Update

An update on the Hamilton family...

Brian is getting sicker by the day. It has been amazing to see just how quickly this cancer has progressed. Part of which we feel is an answer to prayer, because we have asked God to not make Brian linger and continue to be in pain any longer than necessary.

Kristina has been very emotional. It's getting very real. They brought in a hospital bed today. Tonight he will not be in the bed with her and maybe not ever again. She is also very exhausted. She was supposed to have The Talk with Makayla tonight. So far, they haven't told her the seriousness. But tonight at dinner, Makayla made a comment and said, "When Daddy gets better, we're going to do something special." They knew it was time to tell her. I was brought to tears tonight just thinking about how it would feel for me to have that conversation with Rachel. I cannot even begin to imagine having to do that.

My sister has even more posted over at her blog if you want to read more. She told me tonight that she was reading from the booklet that Hospice gave Kristina. It maps out exactly what to expect and about when to expect it with Brian's particular cancer. It lays out a time line that helps you gage about how much time is left. Cynthia said that from reading it, she is guessing Brian has one to two weeks left. And to think, less than a month ago his doctor said he had four to six months left.

Sorry if this is disjointed, but my mind is muddled with emotion. I wanted to get this update out so people can be praying for them. All you prayers are greatly appreciated. I am going up there this weekend to spend some time with my sister. So, I quit now for fear of rambling on...

Awards and House News...

I have received my first Blog award! Karen over at Pediascribe has bestowed up me the following awards:




Thanks Karen for the honors. You're a great blogging buddy! If any of you have time, go check out her blog, it's great! And if you listen to Podcasts, her husband does an awesome one called Pediacast. He is a pediatrician and talks about great topics focused at parents and our children.

So, what's been going on here? A LOT!!! My stress level has been up and we've been running 90 mph around here since the offer. We do have an apartment secured to move into. It's 1221 sq. ft., only 300 less than we have here! It's three bedrooms and two bathrooms and will work perfectly for the short term. We're going to give Nana her own bedroom and put the girls together. That should be a lot of fun! I think we may have a trial run before we make the big move.

The home inspection was done yesterday and from what I could hear (yes, I was eavesdropping!), I think all is OK. Hopefully it's all just minor things. I will update you when we get the official report. Today the appraisal was done. Again, I'm hoping all was good and that it appraised for at least $129,900!

And great news! We officially broke ground on our new house on Tuesday, February 19th...the day after we got the offer on our current house! They scraped the lot on Tuesday and on Wednesday, the footings were dug. Yesterday and today they laid the concrete blocks. The plumber is supposed to come tomorrow or Thursday and do his stuff and the foundation should be poured next Monday!!! We drove out there tonight and it was so exciting to see progress!

Thanks to everyone who sent the congrats on the home sale. Everyone we tell can NOT believe we sold in 18 days with the market the way it is now. I can't either. I give God all the glory!! Until next time...

NUMBERS

19
Number of days our house has been on the market

13
Number of times our house has been shown

1
Number of full asking price offers

23
Number of days until we close

28
Number of days until we have to be completely moved out!!

I'm full of excitement, nerves, stress, relief, etc. And can I tell you that besides having to get us moved out of our house that the next three weeks are chocked full of OTHER things we have to do!?!?!? One of which is my very busy preparation time for my semi-annual Duck Duck Goose sale!!

3/4 - Cirque de Soleil
3/7 - Jon Paul's birthday
3/8 - Rebekah's birthday party
3/9 - Bill Cosby show
3/11 - Rebekah's birthday, drop off Duck Duck Goose stuff
3/12 - Shop at Duck Duck Goose (gone all day!)
3/13 - Work at Duck Duck Goose and close on house
3/14 - Monthly crop at my church
3/18 - Be totally moved out of house and turn possession over!!!


Anyone free to help?!?! :-)