Please Pray...

My friend Melissa received some news regarding her lymphoma yesterday.

Please go to her blog and pray, pray, pray. I know she and her family would appreciate it.

www.danceintherainmelissa.blogspot.com

Melissa, our hearts are heavy for you...we love you and believe with you that God is bigger than this!

MckMama's Small Fry

Check out MckMama's blog (for those of you who don't already) and read the awesome story about what God has done and is doing in her families life!

It's really been such a blessing to me during our recent tough times...God is good.

Time With Friends

Trey and I head south to our old stomping grounds about 3 times a month. We always enjoy getting to see some of our friends. One of my best friends, Susan, and her kids are always fun to get together with and Trey enjoys playing with his friends.

Trey and Avery going down the slide. They used to have a love/hate relationship. They are much better now. However, they do act like an old married couple. She knows exactly how to push his buttons. (You'll have to ask me about our Cici's Pizza experience.)



I love this picture. He has his father's fear of heights, so if he went too high a look of concern came over his face. He was having a blast.



Avery, on the other hand, is crazy. No fear. She would shake her booty side-to-side as she was swinging. She is too cute.



The big boys were running all over the place so I had to "make" them all sit together to actually get a picture of them. Devin in blue, Brice in green, Trey and Avery.

Trey loves his friends and looks forward to playing with them. Hope to do it again soon!

On a side note, Susan is one of my very best friends. She was there for me during the trial like you wouldn't believe. She helped me work through so much during this time and I don't know what I would do without her. Love ya, Sus!

More of the story... (Part 3)

We went over to Frank's partner's neighbor's home, where she so graciously offered us to stay, while she was visiting her daughter out of town. Before we went to bed, I changed Trey's diaper and noticed some red marks and bruises. I called Frank to look at it and he said it was probably from sliding down the stairs. I didn't feel great about that. But I will tell you that I am totally an over-reactor and Frank is an under-reactor. We tend to meet in the middle and we agreed to wait until the a.m.

(Side bar) I know what you're thinking... What in the world??? Why didn't you take him somewhere? Call someone? --- We were told a story...we had no reason to think that this was anything more than what we were told. These were people we knew and trusted. The story seemed consistent at the time. Hind sight is 20/20 and what I would do to know then what I know now. (End of side bar)

Well, after a terrible night of sleep...we got up and headed to Frank's office. I didn't even take a shower. I went and showed the physician's assistant Trey's butt as soon as we got there. It was worse that morning than it had been the night before. She confirmed our feelings that it was more than an accident from sliding down the stairs.

An x-ray of Trey's right forearm revealed 2 fractures. His radius and his ulna were BOTH broken. I will never forget the look of that x-ray in my life. We were sent to an orthopedist who told us that Trey would have to have surgery to complete the break of his ulna so it would heal properly. We returned to Frank's office to wait until it was time for the surgery.

Frank's partner showed up at the office. He also happens to be the county coroner. He & his wife took pictures of all the marks/bruises on Trey. It was the most horrifying thing to experience. After he was done photographing Trey, he showed me on Trey's butt where a handprint could be seen. I thought I was going to throw up.

At 2pm on December 19th, Trey underwent surgery. Child protective services (CPS) was called. They took pictures again of Trey's injuries. The police department was called to file a report. CPS instructed us to take Trey to a Children's Hospital to be checked out from head-to-toe.

He had labs drawn to make sure he didn't have a clotting disorder and that his platelets were normal. Everything came back stone-cold normal. He was x-rayed from the top of his head to his toes. They were all normal. The child mal-treatment specialist was consulted. We were to follow up with CPS in our home county. We also followed up with the child mal-treatment specialist.

That night when we got home from Children's ER, we snuggled in our bed with Trey. I asked Trey what happened to him and he proceeded to tell me... "I fell on the dog, ...spanked my butt, he got loud, because I was crying...I wanted you, he threw me on the couch." (my paraphrase) Once again, ready to vomit.



(More soon...I know, long story. Tell me about it, I lived it.)

Please Pray for Melissa

I've talked before about my friend Melissa. One of my best friends.

She has Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. After 6 treatments of out-patient chemotherapy, the lymphoma is continuing to grow. As of yesterday, she was admitted to the hospital for 5 days of in-patient chemotherapy.

This means that her three kids, Caleb-5, Lauren-3, and Audrey-1, and her husband, Doug, are at home while she is receiving her chemo. They do have an awesome family who is there helping out.

If you would, please, say a prayer for Melissa. Pray that the chemo eradicates the cancer. Pray that she would not experience side effects from the chemo. Please pray for Doug and the kids. I know she would appreciate and so do I.

You can check out her blog here for updates and to see pictures of her and her family. It's always nice to put a face with a name.

Thank you for your prayers.

The Beginning of the Story... (Part 2)

December 18, 2007 - My husband's Christmas party for his new job.

Not us, but you get the point.

We needed a sitter for Trey and of course, the likely people, would be our friend's parents. They loved Trey like their grandchild. Well, they were out of town, but my friend told me she thought her sister and brother-in-law would be willing to watch him. We worked it out.

We drove the hour drive with Frank that morning and dropped him off at work. Trey and I went to Frank's new partner's house and hung out with his wife for the day. It was a good time to get to know each other better. Such sweet people.

When Frank was finished at work, Trey and I picked him up and left to take Trey to the sitters. Plans had somewhat changed in that my friend's sister would not be there when we dropped him off, she had their teenage son at a doctor's appointment.

Trey was a little cranky when we left him...he had fallen asleep on the way, since he didn't get a nap during the day. We told our friend's brother-in-law to call if he needed anyting.

I called to check on Trey when we arrived at the party about an hour after we dropped him off. I was told he fell over their chocolate lab and was crying. I told the brother-in-law to call me if he didn't settle down. We never heard another word.

We rode with Frank's partner and his wife to the party and so they took us to pick up Trey. This was around 10 o'clock. I went in to get Trey and when he saw me, he immediately started crying and came to me. He told me his arm hurt.

Almost immediately, my friend's brother-in-law asked me if Trey liked to slide down the stairs on his butt. I thought this was odd and told him he only does it at our house to get from one floor to another and we live in a tri-level, so there's only 6 stairs at a time. He then told me that Trey must have slid down their stairs a million times. He also said that he and their teenage son had slid down the stairs too. Weird, for a 35 year-old man, for sure.

I told Trey that his Daddy would look at his arm when we returned to Frank's partner's house. He really fussed about it. The brother-in-law walked me out to the car and while I put Trey in the car he asked Frank about the stairs and a few other odd questions. Trey refused to hug him goodbye or even give him high-5.

When we returned to Frank's partner's house, we took off Trey's sweatshirt for his arm to be looked at. We all noticed some red marks on his shoulder/neck. Frank and his partner both checked out Trey's arm and said there was swelling. Their thoughts were maybe he sprained it while playing and we also attributed the red marks to playing. If his arm was not better after motrin and a nights sleep we would x-ray it in the morning.

(to be continued...)


Click here for Part 3.

How did we get here?? (Part 1)

A few blog readers have asked about the story to which I allude to surrounding my son's abuse. Because of the trial and other things, I have waited until now to tell the story. No names will be given. This is only meant to tell Trey's story...

Frank & I have been married for 11 years. Most of those years have been lived in a larger, metropolitan area, where Frank attended medical school and completed his residency in Family Practice. Let me tell you...I am ALL about the city.


We had opened our own family practice and that lasted for about 2 and a half years. We opened it 2 weeks after Trey was born. Yikes! It was actually a great time in our lives. We didn't have many patients at the beginning, and so we all three got to spend lots of newborn time together.

And here, he thinks he runs the place. :)

Well, after 2 and a half years of living paycheck to paycheck and not seeing the practice growing as we expected, and Frank was moonlighting at an Urgent Care to make ends meet, we decided to close in November of 2007.


We wanted to be open to where God wanted us to go and assumed there was something in this metropolitan area for Frank. However, the places that were sent our way were at least 45 minutes away to about 2 and a half hours away in a neighboring state.


One of the places, which we found out through my friend's father, was about an hour north of this metropolitan area. Farm country, town of about 9500 people...not my cup of tea. After interviewing, we both really felt the Lord was leading us there.

And, as you can see, Trey fits right in here in farmland!

Well, my friend was from this new area we were moving to. We have been friends for about 10 years. Frank and I felt such a peace about this move, especially knowing that our friend's parents/family lived within 15 minutes of our new location. How awesome God is. These people were like family to us.


We were unsure as to when we would be able to move up north. We had (and still have) a home for sale in our old stomping grounds.

Anyone need to buy a house???


Frank started part-time November 30th and then full-time as of January 2, 2008. He drove the hour commute during this time.

And this is where the story begins...

Click here for Part 2.

Go Buckeyes!

No, I'm not talking about the "real" nut buckeye...although seeing these make me hungry thinking of chocolate and peanut butter buckeyes.

Frank & I went to the Ohio State football game this weekend. You know that if you're born in Ohio you are born a Buckeye. :)

We went with Richard & Jennifer, friends of ours from our previous church. It was good to spend some time with them...I've been missing close friends these days. No kids, either, just us 4 adults. I can't tell you the last time that's happened.

I'm sure some of you have seen this picture. They say it's proof that Jesus is a Buckeye fan. I'm not too sure about that...



"Jesus" is located in Monroe, Ohio, between Dayton and Cincinnati. A million dollars or so I hear...but don't get me started on that.

Just being at the "shoe" is an experience in itself. It's an awesome stadium. And we had been given an alumni's season tickets, so our seats were great! No nosebleed for us.



Being in a stadium with 102,000 other Buckeye fans was so cool. There is a little-bitty spot of maybe 100 seats for the opposing team, but I can't imagine sitting in THAT spot. It's not even like going to an NFL game. The city of Cincinnati isn't full of Bengals fans, that's for sure.



Here's the picture of us, sweating to death. We had a really good time. We walked forever to get to the stadium and got to spend time talking without interruption. It was good to spend time with my hubby...we need to do it more often.

Thanks for the tickets and good time, Rich & Jennifer.

Meet Linnea...

Cal, Trey & Linnea


One of the biggest blessings in my family's life.
Really, a third (well, actually 6th) grandma to Trey.
She kept Trey for us when we owned our own business.
She has been a prayer warrior and awesome confidant in my life.
Her selflessness is amazing.

We miss her (and Cal, too) so much since we've moved up north. We miss playing Sequence and hanging out...and Frank misses her cooking, of course.

Honestly one of the very few people I could leave Trey with after the abuse.
He loves playing at Linnie's house and going to Linnie's school. :)

Well, Linnie has started her own business.
She is a great seamstress and very creative.
She makes purses, bags & scrapbook items.

You can check out her "store" here...

www.linneascreations.etsy.com

Love ya Linnie and hopefully we can get together soon!

Mohawk For Vacation and Time in Indy!

Trey has been asking for a mohawk for a while. It's crazy...he's 3 years-old. But, we're going on vacation, so we decided a mohawk would be cool for vacation. Well, we cut it tonight and I think he looks so darn cute!













So, I guess we'll be applying sunscreen to the scalp next week while we're at the beach. Oh well, you only live once. I figure when he's 14 and rebelling, wanting a mohawk I can tell him, he's already had one. :)

Oh and by the way, we spent some of this week with Melissa in Indianapolis...



Is he hugging her or choking her? Good question. With Trey & Lauren, it varies minute by minute. The best was when they would argue over who was the boss. She also came and told me that Trey wasn't doing what she was telling him to do. They really are going to get married some day!!



Trey & Caleb eating lunch... They really enjoyed each other's company. Caleb asked that when we come back we not only bring Frank, but McGwire the dog too. I'm so glad I got to spend time with you all.

One Man's Junk Is Another Man's Treasure...

My sister and I had a lot of "stuff" or junk as our husbands would say. And Valerie & I knew we wanted to have a garage sale. I had taken a few of my things to a friends house here where we live to add to their garage sale and made $46. Not too bad, for as little as I had over there.

Well, I still had a few things and lets just say Valerie had a lot of things...

(just kidding, fake photo) and so we tried to come up with a time/place to have a sale where she lives. So, we conned Molly (and Dan), my sister's sister-in-law, into having one at her house. Three families...so 6 kids, lots of "stuff" and 3 days of "bliss", right? No, really I had a lot of fun and hadn't spent time with Molly for a long time.

I only made $25 at this sale (it cost me more in gas to get there). But, the time spent and the fun we had is irreplacable. I love hanging out with my sister, of course, and really enjoyed spending time getting to re-know Molly. All of the kids together were a little crazy, but by the end of it I was Aunt Jocey to Molly's kids and she is still Aunt Molly to Trey.

I thought the kids might enjoy a Lemonade Stand so we got one going. (I think they sold 1 cup of lemonade, poor things.)

Emerson, Trey, Aubreigh, & Hayden

(Not pictured are AJ and Todd)

Anyway, my sister made a killing compared to Molly & I. I think she made well over $200. She stinks! Thanks again Molly & Dan for letting us hang out and use your garage!!

Friends Are Friends Forever??

According to Michael W. Smith, this is true, "if the Lord's the Lord of them". I've always thought, "wow, forever??". You see, I am a PK. Yep, the dreaded preacher's kid. (Love ya Dad!) No, really. It's something that I have always loved. However, being as such, we were never in one place for a long time for me to establish long-term friendships.

You hear people say, "oh Suzie and I have been friends since kindergarten". Not me... My sister and I are best friends because whenever we moved, we both moved. A built-in best friend! I love her for it and believe that's why we are as close as we are today. I wouldn't change it for the world!

Frank & I have been married for 11 years now and within the first year or so of our marriage we met a newly married couple at church. We've had great times together. Hanging out late at night, going to each other with the normal "newlywed" stuff, having children, being there for each other during hard times, etc. I saw us going to their kids graduations, weddings, being empty nesters together, etc. Did we have our disagreements?...oh yea, but seriously saw ourselves in the "forever friends" category. This was my longest lasting friend - EVER, with the exception of my hubby, and sister, of course.

Well, due to certain circumstances, this friendship has all but disintegrated. The circumstances are UGLY, let me tell you. It has to do with the abuse my son suffered. Terrible, terrible circumstances. No, they had nothing to do with it.

But, due to differing opinions/beliefs, this friendship is probably over. I can't believe I just typed those words. We have gone through so much with the abuse, that in itself is horrible. But, then to lose someone so close to you, someone you would normally depend on during this time, is another loss I am mourning. I have prayed and prayed, asking my God why this is happening. I have always held out hope that somewhere, sometime, that the truth would be revealed and that Michael W. Smith was RIGHT!!

However, it's been seven months and here I sit. Believing that I have to...let go. Ugh.

People have said to me, "why would you want to be friends with her now?" and "why are you still worrying about that?". A ten year friendship, gone in a flash.

But, I guess although friends are friends forever, it's not JUST because the Lord's the Lord of them. There is also free-will. Free will to choose to believe one thing or another. Free will. Free will to make a decision without knowing all of the facts. Free will. It hurts, man, does it hurt. But it's out of my hands. I put it in His hands, praying that He will reign in this situation. After all, HE is the Lord.