Prayers Please

OK, everyone, I need you to say a quick prayer. We are having our 2nd Annual Camp CURE-ageous/Relay for Life Co-ed Softball Tournament this weekend in Maurice. So, please pray for nice weather. Or even just not miserable weather.

If you don't have anything going on, we'd love for you to come out and enjoy the day with us. We'll have the concession stand up and running. Good food and good entertainment... and all for a good cause!

There are 8 teams total, and I think 3 of those teams involve people from Carmel Church.

Let me know if you would like any more details.

Kelli

Brody is 6 Months Old

Brody, Brody... I can't believe that you're 6 months old already. (OK, so I'm two days late... so you're 6 months and 2 days. Same thing, right?) Life has really changed since you've been around... but it has changed in good ways, of course. Here's what you're up to these days:

You love to watch your big brother. He "kickles" you, and you love it.
You are so content. You're happy being on the floor, because you love to roll around, but you also like your walker or your jumper.
Yesterday, at your 6 month check-up, you were 19 lbs 8 oz, and you're 28" long. You're in the 90% for your age. I think you're perfect.
You love to go to Gretchen's house for daycare. You like to watch the kids. Eli loves to entertain you!
You love your baby food. In fact, there's really not any that you don't like. You're still in Step 1 food, but probably not for long.
We took you to the circus last weekend. You liked it when the lights went out and all the kids had their light-up toys turned on.

Thank you, God, for giving us this little boy. We truly love being parents, and we feel so blessed! Knowing that they are watching our every moves makes us want to be better people. Thank you for putting them in our lives.

(I will post some updated pictures later on. I promise!)

Second Inning...

Are you ready for the SECOND INNING?!

2008 marked the first year for the annual Relay for Life co-ed slow pitch softball tournament. Boy, was it memorable! In May of last year, you probably saw news coverage of the teams playing in the mud, rain, and even snow – and we all had a blast! There were so many great sports out there who were raising money for an important cause! Now we are gearing up for the second year. (although we’re hoping for slightly better conditions) With so many families being affected by cancer, we remain committed to finding a cure – and here are a few ways you can join in the fun:



LET’S PLAY BALL:

Our softball tournament will be held on May 1st & 2nd. WE NEED MORE LADIES! Guys, would your wife, daughter, babysitter, beautician, banker, etc be interested in playing ball? They don’t need to worry about being good… this is about fun.



Everyone is invited to come out and cheer on the Interstates team. The concession stand will be open, and there will be a silent auction with some great items that you will want to check out!



“SPOTS” FOR SALE:

We’re making T-shirts, and we need your help. Who can you think of that has fought cancer? For $5 you can have their name put on the back of the T-shirt (either “In Memory of” or “In Honor of”). T-shirts will be sold at a later date. We want everyone who is interested to be able to purchase a shirt, so we’ll be selling them at the best price possible.



KOOZIES FOR SALE ($3):




ALL PROCEEDS TO GO AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY / SIOUX COUNTY RELAY FOR LIFE.

Just shoot me an email at kelli.hooyer@interstates.com or leave me a comment on this page if you are interested in more info on any of these things.

Thank you!

Happy Easter... Please watch this video

You will have to go to my Playlist on the left-hand side and pause that before watching this video.

Praise God! Brent is Cancer-Free

Our prayers have been answered... in exactly the way we were hoping for! It's official! Brent is cancer-free! They called today and told us the good news. They said that the results from his bone marrow test couldn't possibly have been any better. The apologized over and over for not getting this info to us sooner. There was some mistake with how the file was coded or something. Who cares... all I heard is "Kelli, your husband no longer has the Philadelphia chromosome". I could have dropped the phone, peed in my pants or a number of other things. But instead... I just stood there, eventually picking my jaw up off the floor.

I asked about the platelets being high. Luckily, Dr Wender was standing right there, so she asked him. He said not to give it a 2nd thought until his next Dr appt. If they're still high at that time, then they'll look into it more. Those numbers can be affected by something as simple as the food you eat... so just because they are high one day, doesn't mean they'll be high the next day.

At this point... all I can say, is please drop to your knees and thank God for His healing hand.

FYI - Brent will need to continue taking the chemo pills on a daily basis. He'll also continue to be checked on a regular basis (monthly for now, and then they'll spread out more as time goes on). He will also have to continue having bone marrow tests regularly (every 3 months for the first year, and then I think every 6 months after that).

Recap: Brent is CANCER-FREE!

Update on Brent (or maybe not really)

OK, so I'm trying to keep my cool and not get frustrated, but it's not working very well. We went to Sioux City today for Brent's appt thinking that we were going to be getting the results from his Bone Marrow Test (which he had done 3 weeks ago). Well, not only did we not get the results, but we didn't even get to see a Dr. Can you say frustrating?!?

The nurse that checked Brent's BP and all that jazz mentioned something about that his white blood cell counts had gone up just a little (not an alarming amount), and also that his platelettes were high. (If any of you know what that means, please let me know.) I asked if that was a bad thing, and the nurse just said "They were in the high range". Great! Thanks for clarifying (sense the sarcasm). The nurse was going to have someone call us with some answers. I figure we've been patient for 3 weeks. If we haven't heard by tomorrow... our patience runs out, and they'll be hearing from us.

We also found out that the study isn't going to cover everything that we thought they were originally. That makes me a bit nervous. They'll be getting us a list of what they are covering and what they're not. Luckily, we have amazing insurance through Interstates. God really did know what he was doing when he put me at Interstates (not that I doubted that... ever)!

So basically, this really isn't any kind of update. All I can ask right now is that you pray that God gives us however patience He really thinks we should have.

Thanks for checking in!
Brent & Kelli, Karter and Brody

Haircuts

**Update** OK, so I apparently can't tell my kids apart. Let me clarify. While it's tru that Karter changes and gets smarter by the day... I may have actually been talking about Brody in the first sentence below. Just so you all know, Karter has actually been able to roll over for quite some time not. :-)

So here are our boys. Karter has really changed a ton lately. He's getting smarter by the day. He rolls all over now, and he loves to watch and laugh at his big brother. I would say the proof is in the picture... Monkey see, Monkey do!

We started putting Brody in his bouncer. He loves being on his legs. Karter loved this thing when he was a baby, too! In fact, he really wants to climb in it now, but he hasn't climbed all the way in... yet. We're trying the "this toy is for babies and you're a big boy" angle.

Brody got his first real haircut. Ashley is so good with the kids! we love her! Brody did very well. He sat so nice! Of course there was the occasional head bob, but he is only 5 months, ya know.

So here is the before:

And here is the after:

Can you even believe it? Isn't he such a little man now? It's crazy! He's getting so big already! All of a sudden, he figured out the whole "eating" thing. He eats his cereal and fruit like a true champ!

As for the RSV bug that the boys had... Karter has officially kicked the bug. He's doing much, much better. Brody, is doing better, but we're still dealing with his cough. It's not nearly as bad as it was, but it still wakes him up at night. I've heard that they can have some of the symptoms for up to 8 weeks, so wer're getting there.

Brent has an appt at the Cancer Center on Tuesday afternoon. This is when we find the results of the bone marrow test. Please pray for us as we have high hopes for this appt.

Another prayer request - Please pray for my friend Debi and her family. She just had her baby about a week ago. Landyn was early and was having problems with his lungs. They were soon transferred to Sioux Falls, and Landyn is in the NICU. It sounds like he's doing pretty well, but they could still use our prayers. Debi had a c-section, so please pray that she recovers as she deals with the stress of having a newborn in the hospital and an older son (I'm thinking he's 3) also. They live in Le Mars, so also please pray for safe travel for them.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Brent, Kelli, Karter and Brody