A BIG FRIDAY!

Friday was HUGE for our little Lilyanah, she started out the morning showing off what a big girl she is by rolling from her tummy to her back for the first time! A couple of hours later we went to the doctor & she weighed in at 9'12 oz, & is 23" long! One pound lighter than her daddy was when he was born & 1" longer! Now, if you want to hear a serious, "feel sorry for me" birth story you should talk to his mama! The doctor told us we can go by Lilyanah's cues now to tell when to feed her, instead of every 4 hours, YIPPEE! Once we got home it was picture time! You see my mother, the thoughtful woman that she is, kept some of the dresses I wore when I was a baby. Some of them I wore in professional pictures & the first one was taken when I was 3 months & 11 days, which for Lilyanah was the 28th. As you can see the outfit didn't quite fit her right but the color looks beautiful on her! It took her Grandma laying on the ground holding her up with a blanket on top of her head, her Gigi trying to make her smile & me taking the pictures to accomplish our task. I thought you'd enjoy seeing the process as much as I did! Of course even at that Lilyanah decided that she is not an "on command" smiler & only gave us a grin when I got down close & prodded her. Afterwards she rolled over for us again, just to prove that it was not a fluke & our BIG FRIDAY came to a close. I hope your Friday was as great as ours! I wanted to show a picture I found of all of the Isenberg kids, my uncle Gano & Corey, all VERY young & coincidentally so cute! Can't you just tell Corey is SO ornery! Love you all! Wendy.

Chemo #4

I had to include a picture of Lilyanah & me in our matching hats (care of our dear friend, Lecia New), especially since she was waving at the camera! ~ Mom says we look like strawberry sundaes in them!
You all must have been going to God for me yesterday because I haven't experienced many side effects. Will & I got a sauna that I went in for 10 minutes afterwards. I drank nearly 32 oz of water while I was in there & lost it all as soon as I got out. Yucky! We're hoping by me using the sauna I can sweat out some of the toxins from chemo in addition to washing them out of my body with water. Good times, eh? Is that too much information?
Well, the doctor did not say "remission". He said, 'partial remission'. All the tumors are gone, there are just 'specks/abnormalities' left that have to be gone before I'm considered in full remission. We're so close though! I have CAT & PET scans scheduled in May which should show how much the 3rd & 4th chemo treatments did to get rid of the 'specks'. If all the abnormalities are gone I'll only have to finish out 2 more chemo treatments. Followed by a CAT scan every 3 or 4 months for 3 years followed by 2 a year for the next two years. After 5 years I'll only have to have 1 a year. That's as far out as the doctor would go with me. Now if there are still abnormalities I'll probably have 4 more chemo treatments & then go to the sporadic CAT scans. Let's hope that's not what God has planned for me!
A friend asked what my mindset was going into chemo treatments & I have to say at first I DREAD them. At least until I walk through the hospital doors & then I transform into a woman on a mission. My treatment is a 'necessary evil' that I have to conquer. And then as I walk in the room & see all of the other cancer patients laying in their beds I'm humbled & so grateful that God protected me from a "worst case scenario". I overheard one lady say she was on her 13th treatment & was laying in the bed next to an 80 year old gentlemen whose wife walked in and said, "Sorry, love, I didn't forget about you I just fell asleep, how are you doing." he replied,"Oh, just like usual".
So many people endure this season of sickness for so much longer than it looks like I will be called to. I admire them for their strength & resilience. On the days when I feel like an 80 year old woman with arthritis in my joints & aches all over my body I question how I can do it one more time. . . then I look down at the ring on my right hand & I'm reminded that One has endured more than I will ever be called to endure & that's my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Back in 2001 I was working as a sales rep in Oklahoma City & I went through a time of trial with some friends. I felt betrayed & didn't know what to do. And then I found the ring you see in the picture. It made me think of the crown of thorns that Jesus wore to the cross. At the time it reminded me that Jesus was betrayed way beyond what I will ever experience. And as I face cancer, no matter what trials it brings my way I will never be called to endure what He endured during His lifetime & going to the cross. How blessed are we to serve a risen Lord Who loved us enough to sacrifice everything so that we can live with Him in Heaven someday!?
The little hand is of course our Lilyanah, she was still in the NICU at the time so you can see some of the wires across the bottom. I know I said it before, but I'm so glad that time is over. All praise be to God for our healthy precious baby girl! I hope you all are having such a blessed day! Thank you for caring enough about me & my family to take the time to read about what God is doing in our lives. I truly enjoy reading your comments & in case you've tried before & couldn't leave a comment I found in our profile that I could change it so that you do not have to have a blog to be able to comment, so if you will please try again! Love you all! Wendy.

Good Days

Mom said I should write about how I'm doing, so just to let you all know before chemo, I'm feeling great! God gave us two extraordinarily beautiful days on Sunday & Monday so I got to spend quite a bit of time outside. My bald head got a little bit pink! I picked some daisies on Sunday & made Lilyanah & myself daisy chains. I got to spend time with Will on the swing in the backyard & play with our pugs. .Here's Titus chasing the ball, isn't it beautiful & green here!? Yesterday I spent more time outside with Lilyanah, because, have I said how much I LOVE being outside?! Then on our our way back from having my blood drawn (which has to be done every 'day before chemo'), I got to feel like a 14 year old again when my mom dropped me off at the theatre for a date with my husband who came straight from work. We stopped for dinner afterwards & had a wonderful time. I love going on dates with my husband, he's such great company! I guess I tell you about my days because that's how I'm doing. On my not-so-good days I sleep probably between 6 & 8 hours during the day, in addition to nighttime. Because I'm not strong enough or too nauseated to do the things I want to do. But on my good days I feel like the same healthy girl I always was. I may not be able to do ALL the things I enjoy doing but a lot of them, I just get tired more easily.
I had to include this picture of Lilyanah with her Gigi, doesn't she look like she's saying, "GIGI, I JUST DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Lilyanah & her Gigi treasure their time together & speaking of Gigi tomorrow we will celebrate her birthday! What a treasure God gave us when he brought her into the world! Anyway, I have to leave in 20 minutes for the hospital, it's about an hour drive. I hope you all have a blessed day. . . Wendy.

April Birthday Party

First, I have to say, I started a blog to announce the engagement of Corey to Kelsey on the 19th & just published it tonight so it shows up on the blog after my long drawn out 'Catching Up II,' but if you just select "Engaged" from the "Table of Contents" on the left it'll take you to it. . .
Last night we had a family party at Dawn & Gano's to celebrate all of our April birthdays. Carrie (holding George) turned 26, Papa turned 75 on the 3rd, Will turned 27 on the 6th, & Gigi will turn 72 on the 26th! But here's nearly the entire "Butcher family." Families congregated together so starting from the left is obviously Papa & Gigi, followed by the Craig family & us on the couch, including Kelsey who will soon be a member of our family through Corey (Jeremy is the photographer). Gano (the youngest child), Dawn & Jack are next, then Kathy (the oldest child) & Steve. The furthest to the right are Rick & Mona with their two girls (Laura and Carrie) & their families cascading downward. (Boyd, the oldest son, arrived after this was taken.) We had a lot of fun visiting & chomping down on BBQ burgers. Gano's a master at the grill!
We got some shots of all our little ones together. We should've had a video going, they were all so cute & animated. That is except for our sweet Lilyanah who was falling asleep! George is the oldest, followed by Violet, Nolan & then Lilyanah! We are so blessed to have so much family so close!
So Tuesday the 25th is the date of my 4th chemo treatment. Yeah! That will put me over halfway done. Most appointments I don't have too many questions for the doctor but I will this time. I'm sorry for not updating you all with the results from my ultrasound. I'll summarize the results with the ultrasound "doctors" comment: "If I didn't know you have/had lymphoma, I would dictate that you have a normal pelvis." Which is fabulous! He said he didn't find any tumors, he did find a collapsed & shrinking cyst on my left ovary but that's it! I hesitate to say the word remission until I hear it out of my oncologist's mouth but maybe that's what I'll hear at my appointment on Tuesday morning! Even if I am in remission I will still have 2 more chemo treatments after Tuesday's. Selfishly I want to ask you all to please continue praying for my healing. This last chemo cycle was no walk in the park. We call them my good days & my bad days. I have about 10 bad "body" days before I get back to my normal self. I don't think I really appreciated a "GOOD" day before all of this. I hope I appreciate them on a new level from here on out! May all of you enjoy your good day! Wendy.

Catching Up Part II

For those of you who don't read often, the time line of blogs will show up with the most recent first & go back in time (wouldn't that be fun!?), so you may want to read the entry "Catching Up" first & then come back & read this one. I should probably break it into a couple of entries, but I just want to get caught up, so it's lengthy!

In late January Emery & Sharon Killian, as well as Kody, Jill, Natalie & Kade, flew in from Sloan, Iowa to visit us while we were in the hospital. We didn't get any pictures of the whole crew when they were here. This is the only picture I have of the majority of their family available to me & I wanted you to see as many of the Killian clan as possible because they are all very special to my family. We were next door neighbors when we kids were very young. What a blessing! The picture also includes Kelly & his fiancee Cristi, & Karalee (their oldest) who is now pregnant with a little one! Missing are Karalee's husband & son, David & Killian Sprinkle & Kade. Sharon got Lilyanah the most adorable little rain coat, hat & boots! I'll post a picture of her in them when they fit, but that's gonna be a while!

While the Killians were still here, Will's best friend, Jason Fox, flew into town from Oklahoma. He left the day after we got to go home from the hospital---a day I'd been dreaming about since January 7 when I was admitted! Lilyanah had been throwing her arms up in the air for a week doing a 'touchdown' motion, so we knew she'd be ready to go home for Super Bowl Sunday (February 5, for those who don't know)! In this picture J was laughing at one of Will's jokes & Lilyanah was holding her head saying 'oh daddy!' Jason & his wife Kim are expecting a little girl on or around August 1! Wow that's coming up quick! What a blessing little girls are!

Our next visitors showed up on February 11, minus one. Justin Graham & his wife Tammy are lifelong friends & have a sweet little 10-month old, Jaylee. After living in Michigan for the majority of their marriage, they moved to Washington (where Justin is from; Tammy is from Oklahoma just like my Will!). So it was very sweet of them to make the long trek down to good ole' Newberg, OR for a visit. I've known Justin since he was a goofy little grade schooler in bell bottoms. It's a blessing to still know him & get to know his sweet bride decades (yikes) later. They left their little Jaylee with her Grandma Pam & Grandpa Ross (who are also dear friends) up in Kalama, Washington, because Lilyanah isn't supposed to be around other little ones, otherwise you would get to see her cuteness in the picture too!

The very next day the ladies at the Newberg church of Christ blessed us with a shower. I have a lot of pictures of me opening up presents, but I much prefer this picture of Will holding Lilyanah. I never imagined I wouldn't be able to take her to her own shower but b/c she's a preemie I wasn't able to. So instead we had her daddy hold her in the church office where there's a big picture window so the women could walk by & see our little miracle! Looking back, it's amazing how little she was! We had her weighed on the 18th (@13 weeks) & she just broke the 9 lb mark! She's 9 lbs 1-1/2 oz to be exact! At 10 lbs the doctor said we can let her go more than 4 hours between feedings, so we're looking forward to that!

I just wanted to put an "unposed-for" picture in here. This was at Lilyanah's "supposed to be Birthday party" on the 9th of March. I was trying to get the video camera to work with the remote control & Will was blinking. You can't see his long eyelashes but I'm hoping Lilyanah gets them cause they're gorgeous! (I know he'll love that I wrote that!) That was the night we shaved my head . . . Which seems so long ago but it's only been a little over 3 months since we found out I have/had cancer. By the way, tomorrow, Friday the 21st I have my ultrasound, which will tell us more conclusively if I'm in remission or if what is on my ovaries are in fact tumors. So I'll blog tomorrow to let you all know the results. Thank you in advance for all the prayers you're sending our way! They're priceless!

Here's our little one March 11 waiting to take her bath. This little robe set was the first thing Will bought for her before she was born. There's a matching towel w/ hood, wash cloths & washcloth flower puppet. The whole set was a necessity. She looks so adorable in it & it's getting closer to fitting than it was then. She was swimming in it before she got to get in the water! Have we told you that Lilyanah loves the water!? She only fusses when you take her out! I'm sure mom wrote that when she posted some pictures of Lilyanah in the tub a while back. We're going to Hawaii most likely in October to celebrate being done with chemo & cancer (Lord willing!). I can't wait to see her in a little swimming suit playing in the ocean. She'll be 9 months & I know she'll love the water & the sand as much as her mommy!

On March 23 another lifelong friend, Lecia New, & Nicole Cummings threw another shower for our little Lilyanah. It was so much fun & so good to see friends that I haven't seen in a while!
So, starting from the back left it is as follows:
Crystal Arn, Bree (Moyer) Roberts holding Evan Joy, Heather (Johnson) George, Katie (Niehus) Wolffe, Etema Banks, Kristi Spears, Laura Bodine, Linda Tucker (Will's Mom), Michelle Duke (Will's sister), Nicole Cummings (holding Nolan), Mom (Denise Craig), Laura Kronewitter (cousin), Korie Jones, Moi holding the guest of honor, Lecia (Boyd) New, Marta Sears, Michelle Akins, & Audrey Smith. Laurie Rauch is taking the picture!

Okay, I'm listening to music & if you want a good cry, all of you mommies, listen to "In My Daughter's Eyes" by Martina McBride! WOW! While I'm writing this Mom is feeding Lilyanah laughing at me because I'm serenading her with my water bottle microphone. Everyone knows when I'm having good days 'cause I sing & dance around the house. Like it says in Ecclesiastes 3:4, "There's a time to mourn and a time to dance." Good days are definitely a time to dance!

The picture to the right is of Bree, her little Evan (who is 6 weeks older than Lilyanah) & obviously me with little Lily. . . Bree & I have known each other since grade school. We met at Camp Yamhill, too, so she knows Justin. I haven't talked to Justin about it, but Bree & I have decided that we'll have to be the "cool mom" counselors when the girls are old enough to go to camp but not too old that they don't want us around anymore! Jaylee, I think, will be a year ahead of the girls in school but if Justin wanted to I'm sure he could be one of the "cool dad" counselors too. It'd be good to have the gang back together.

So you're pretty much updated on all the things I meant to write about but didn't for whatever reason. So I'll end with, don't you love spring!? I broke out the shorts today & sat outside with Lilyanah while she slept. Didn't God give us a beautiful world!? I know He's blessing all of you in one way or another; I know He blesses us through you! Have a great day! Wendy.

ENGAGED!

On Easter Sunday Corey re-proposed to Kelsey Killen & the two are re-engaged, which we've all decided is just going to have to be a word! They started dating 3 years ago in September. I think that's a record for my mom's entire side of the family. The Butcher motto has always been, "when you know it's right, why wait!" Which would explain why Will & I dated 3 months before getting engaged & were married 6 months after our engagement! Kelsey will graduate this coming December with a Public Relations degree. She's from Keizer, OR, which is fairly close. She plays volleyball, is very sweet, and loves my brother. They've set the date in August, most likely the 12th or 19th (which is 5 days before Dad & Mom's anniversary!). Corey has always been such a blessing in my life, a priceless younger (he doesn't like it when I say 'little') brother. He is so talented at everything he tries & one thing I can say about him is that he doesn't just love, he knows how to love well. I love him dearly & am so glad he's found someone that he wants to share his life with.
Please pray for the two as they approach an entirely new & exciting chapter in their lives! ~Wendy.

Catching up!

Some friends told me they love seeing pictures so I thought I would do some pre-Lilayanah's birth fill-in's. This one was taken about a week before we got married. Will graduated with his accounting degree from UCO in Oklahoma on 12-15-02 & Gano & Dawn ( my uncle & aunt) threw an engagement party for us after we flew in from being at his graduation. Boy do I miss having hair sometimes! Can you believe that we have a daughter with bright blue eyes!?

The one on the right is the day we got back from our honeymoon, December 26, 2002. We headed out the next day on our cross-country drive to Washington D.C., where we lived for 6 months while Will worked at the Guard Bureau (for the Air National Guard). What an amazing opportunity God gave us to do that. We had a FABULOUS time & if given the chance to do it again in the same scenario, we'd do it in a heartbeat!


Here Will & I are on December 8, 2005 at Mom & Dad's. Mom wanted a profile of me & Will decided he should do an impersonation of me pregnant. This next picture is such an attractive one of both of us in our 'we're gonna have a baby, get-up'! It wasn't long before we headed to the Operating room to deliver Lilyanah. I guess some people think I had her C-section, but such is not the case. I was induced on the 16th & had her the next day after a very restful night. Yeah, I will be getting no sympathy from her when I tell her about how long I was pregnant & how long I was in labor! "I carried you for 7 months & endured 26 minutes of pushing to bring you into this world!" God blessed us in so many ways when we were in the hospital & what I call a 'cake' delivery was one of them!

So here are Papa & Gg with Lilyanah on January 24 (one week old) in the NICU. She wasn't wearing what we called her "Vader suit" which was really sad, so many tubes & stuff all over her. Gradually the IV's & the breathing tubes up her nose came out. . . the last step was her feeding tube & I can't tell you how thankful we were the day that came out. Boy am I ever thankful that time has passed! Now all she's plugged into is her pacifier, which she cannot live without! I have an entirely new appreciation for why they call it a 'pacifier'. The doctors in the NICU really encouraged us to use one & said it would help with her development. Just so long as she doesn't use her fingers! Because I can take the pacifier away, but the fingers are there to stay!

The last picture is of Lilyanah holding Jeremy's finger. I teared up when I saw it for the first time. Have I said before how talented of a photographer my brother is? He took the picture of Will & I at our wedding on the "O Happy Day" blog entry. We're very fortunate to have him documenting our lives! So I hope you enjoyed all the pictures. Sorry we're always so posed!

A Great Visit . . .

First I want to ask you all again to please continue praying for my older brother, Jeremy. God blessed me with two amazing brothers & Jeremy is on the verge of making some really big life changes. In a GREAT way! I can't go into them now because I haven't asked him how much I'm allowed to share but PLEASE, prayer warriors, PLEASE pray that God give Jeremy wisdom & guidance & protection. Doesn't it seem like satan declares 'open season' on us when we're seeking after God whole-heartedly. . . . Thank you so much in advance! Here's a picture of him & Lilyanah on April 4th, it was her visit to his work & just in time for lunch.

I hope all of you have have a blessed week! God sent us a blessing this week in the form of my friend Saundra Traywick from Oklahoma. I met Saundra when I was a sopohomore at Oklahoma Christian University. I was a transfer & had decided to rush a service club & Saundra was my 'big sis'. The rest is history, we lived in the same apartment building in downtown Oklahoma City while I was a pharmaceutical rep for a dental company & her working as Vice President of a home furnishing design company. Our rent per 1 bedroom apartment was $350! Can you imagine, and they were the most beautiful apartments. The building "The Buckstaff" was built in 1925 & had beautiful, original hardwood floors, french doors into the bedrooms, crown moulding, hand done mason fireplaces. . . THAT was my FAVORITE apartment that I ever lived in. That was a blessed time. Saundra & I would go back & forth to each other's apartment's like they were one in the same. That's when we got really close & have been ever since. Now she's happily married to a fabulous man, Walt who was gracious enough to share her with my family for a week. She's been cooking up a storm in the absence of Gg, helping with Lilyanah & just being really great company. We're going to head out after Lilyanah eats to look for some trinkets to work on for her nursery. I want to do it in vintage fabrics & surround her with flowers & have a little swing in the corner. . . I could go on, but I won't! Love you all & thank you so much for all of your prayers, as chemo takes a harder toll on my body I covet them! Wendy.

(By-the-way. . . the pic is of Jeremy, me, Lilyanah, & Saundra at Jeremy's house after our shopping trip where Lilyanah totally spit up all over her uncle Jeremy who took it like a pro!)

Will's 27th Birthday

April 6th Will turned the big 2-7! He thinks he's old, but up until yesterday he was the age I was when I married him! (3+ years ago) Boy did I ever rob the cradle! It amazes me how much kindness, wisdom, maturity, love, patience, gentleness, thoughtfulness, sincerity, & selflessness that God has grown in Him in only 26 years & going on 1 day! Have I said lately what a blessed woman I am?!

I would have written on Will's actual birthday but the day was so busy I never got a chance! Lilyanah & I went to her daddy's work for her first visit. Wow, that was special. Will just beamed with pride holding his little angel & I just sat back & enjoyed it, as I was definitely not the main attraction. Following are just a few interesting facts about my husband. . .

1. Will was born at 8:30 pm in Fort Worth, TX (3 weeks late; 22" long & weighing 10lbs 11oz) YIKES!
2. He's been in the Air National Guard since April 9th, 1997 & has been to Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Egypt & Washington D.C.
3. He's an avid OU football fan & thinks Bob Stoops should be the next govenor of Oklahoma.
4. If he could travel to anywhere in the world, it would be Italy or Ireland.
5. His goal is to own every tool in existence & have a shop where he can build any & everything he wants.

Chemo #3

The first picture of all of the 'Butcher family great-grandchildren'
Papa is holding Nolan & George, Gg is holding our little Lilyanah & Violet with her arm around Grant (the oldest of the bunch)

God sure does paint some extraordinarily beautiful days, doesn't He!? For the first time I did not have a private room for my treatment, which I didn't mind at all! The beds out in the 'common area' are much more comfortable & I had a big picture window that was directly in front of me. I made the executive decision (of course with my nurse's approval) to put my head where my feet should have gone so I could look outside instead of at the private rooms. Of course in the end I saw more of my eyelids than anything else. I'm telling you, that Benadryl really puts this girl out! So far this post-chemo has been the best. I feel fairly good & am experiencing very few side effects.
My next treatment is the 25th of April, but I have an ultrasound scheduled for the 13th to check on those 'things' they found on my ovaries. Ultrasounds are much more fun, I think, when there's a little baby you're looking at on the monitor instead of tumors or cysts.
I'd like to ask your prayers for my family. Papa & Gg (aka George & Ruth Butcher) are heading to South Dakota on Saturday to help move my cousin Carrie (used to be Isenberg) Moore, David, her husband, & her two little boys, George & Nolan, back to good old Newberg, Oregon. Our whole family is excited to have them back & would just treasure prayers for safe travel for all involved.
Jeremy, my older brother, is considering some serious life changes (in a good way) & just needs prayers for God's guiding hand. Thanks so much!