Prayers for a friend

Last week I found out some horrible news. I've been tearful and had an upset stomach just thinking about it. As you all know, I work on the oncology floor at the local children's hospital as a nurse and our worst nightmare became reality last week when one of my fellow nurse co-workers received the news that her son was diagnosed with leukemia. She is also a friend outside of work and I've been helping her study while she attends nurse practitioner school too (she's a single mom). She was scheduled to graduate next summer, but unfortunately has to take off time from school to care for her sweet son, Austin, who will have to be home school for at least 1 year. He will receive treatment for the next 3 years though!!! They have started this website to inform family and friends about his status. He started chemo last week and is responding very well to so far... praise Jesus! If you want to read more about his diagnosis and treatment and even post a message to Austin, go to:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/austin31

If you would like to add them to your prayer list at church or send them a card, their home address is:

Kristen & Austin Douglas (her older son's name is Dalton)
4633 Cripple Creek Rd.
Haltom City, Texas 76137

Their biggest need right now is prayers and more prayers!! They are all firm believers in Jesus and have hope that He will heal him! Everyone has asked me how they can help, and of course prayer is the biggest thing right now. Any kind of gift card for restaurants that deliever/pick-up would be greatly appreciated too since they will be in and out of the hospital/clinic for the next 3 years... I'm sure cooking is the last thing she wants to do.

Thank you so much! Other than that we're having a great week. I go back Wednesday for my second glucose test and I'll keep you posted on those results once I hear... I sure hope I pass!! I ordered some really cool crutch covers that I'll have to post a picture of too. They've saved my armpits :) Very soft and make crutching much easier. Speaking of, prayers for my brother-in-law tomorrow too. He's having a minor ankle surgery tomorrow and then will be on crutches for 6 weeks as well (even when he starts at Baylor later on this month). What's up with this family and our injuries? Crazy!! Hope you're having a good week too.

27 weeks belly growth & nursery update

Yep, here's my HUGE belly! I'm still on crutches and can only put minimal weight on my leg, so I carefully balanced myself to take this picture without crutches to get a good belly shot. Our little Charlie is still very active!! Oh- something to pray about is I failed my first glucose test and have to go back next week for a 3 hour test. I really hope I pass the second one because if I don't then I will be diagnosed with gestational diabetes (pregnancy diabetes). I do have a sweet friend, Katie, who has had it with both of her pregnancies and she has been very encouraging about the whole thing. Maybe the Lord was teaching me to eat a little better too!! :)
Here is the beginning of Charlie's nursery, very exciting!!!!!!!! I keep walking by his room and it feels so much more real now that there's a crib in there, I'm just imagining his little body laying in there... sleeping obviously :) I just ordered a rug so I will post pictures once it arrives and we add more to his room.
I painted the letters and I must give Carson credit for coming up with the idea to hang them off of a fishing pole. I think it turned out very cute! We've had the glider/rocker for about a year but I'm sure that thing will be worn to death over the next couple of years/kids. Don't worry it's super comfy.
Didn't know if we would have room or money for a changing table, so we just used an old desk! What should I hang above the changing table?
We bought the dresser when we purchased the crib and they're both beautiful! Then Carson and I went to this cool store in Fort Worth called Old Home Supply and found this neat wooden fish. We wanted to hang it all the wall above the dresser but that may not be an option because it's very heavy! There's Charlie's diaper bag hanging on the bed too. Since we live in a cozy 2 bedroom house, we left the double bed his nursery (on the right) for guests/parents who come to visit. Don't worry... if you come to visit us we will put Charlie in our room (in his playpen) so you can the whole room to yourselves!! :)

Happy 4th of July and Happy Birthday to me!!

We had some good times last weekend for the 4th and then on the 5th, 6th, & 7th for my birthday! If you know me at all, I love to drag out my birthday celebration for at least a week... this year it was ONLY 3 days. (Actually bday on the 6th) But all celebrations were fun and I loved every minute. Yeah for fun friends & husband! Thanks too for all the bday wishes via mail, email, phone calls, texts, Facebook, etc.

For the 4th, we enjoyed a beautiful (but SUPER-DUPER HOT) day with our friends Ashley, Zoli & their little son Mac at her parents' lake house. I was pumped to get in the pool again!! We (Carson, Charlie & I) enjoyed floating around just talking with friends. I say that because Charlie was kicking a lot before and after I was in the pool but VERY calm when I was floating around. Here's our little family of 3, enjoying our non-alcoholic beverages :) (Sorry for flashing my stomach to the world, I guess Charlie wanted to be in the pic too!!!)

Two pregnant chicks enjoying the shade! I took my brace off so it didn't get all nasty and sweaty! The scarring on my leg is so minimal... check it out. I go back next week for x-rays, wish me luck!!

After a little time in the sun, we headed to our 2nd party at our sweet friends, Megan & John Branagh's house. It was bittersweet because they are moving to California in August, but we really enjoyed time with good food and great friends. After dark, we all drove over and enjoyed some AWESOME fireworks at Colonial Country Club! I have never been that close to fireworks in my life. Very beautiful and of course they threw in a Michael Jackson song with the traditional patriotic ones :) Here we are after the show.
Sunday (the 5th) I enjoyed a lovely time out to eat with the girls! We hit up Mi Cocina and then some of us went to Central Market afterwards for some gelato!! In the words of one of my friends, "that sounds like a great birthday celebration for a pregnant chick!" And of course it was so fun!
Kat, Megan, Kelly Kay, me & Emily
Ashley, Esther, Katie, Debbie, me & Sara Beth

What's humorous is there were 10 girls there and 7 of them were pregnant!! Seriously!! Thanks girls for making my birthday a joyful celebration.

Proof that I have trained Carson well: Monday (my bday) I woke up to Carson singing me happy birthday with a candle stuck in a donut with a kolache to enjoy for my birthday breakfast... Soooo yummy, then I hung out with a friend all day. Since I'm on my crutches all of the time and can't drive... we had some fun girl time together doing what we wanted to do!! We went to two girly stores, ate lunch from a girly deli and even watched a girly movie. I was... needless to say... a happy GIRL!! :) To top off the fun day, we ordered pizza and made our husbands watch The Bachelorette on TV with us. Ashley even gave me a little piece of birthday cake with another candle in it... I got two wishes that day!!

Then on Tuesday, after a long day at clinicals, Carson and I went out to eat to celebrate with just the two of us. I slowly began to realize... Whoa!! This was my last birthday EVER with just Carson... with out having a child in my life. Very exciting but very overwhelming thought! CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!

Other than that, it's been a great week. I finished my very last TEST for school today which was an awesome feeling! Now all I have left is to finish my clinicals, one day of class and then graduation on August 14th. YESSS!!! I still can't believe I've been doing this for 3 whole years, time flies when you're busy.

Carson is still hanging in there looking for a job. He had some really good interviews this past week... so keep sending those prayers up the Lord!