Just a little Lilyanah fix

Sorry it's been so long since I posted a new entry! I check out my cousin Ryan & Katie's blog nearly every day & nearly everyday there's a new entry. . . oh how I wish I was that disciplined with this! However, today is not the day when you are going to get a lengthy new entry because it is beautiful & sunshiny outside & it's not suppose to be the rest of the week. Corey & Kelsey took these precious pictures of our little Lilyanah & I HAD to share them with you all because they were too adorable not to! So I hope you enjoy them as much as we are & that you all had fun-filled Memorial weekends. wendy

Mother's Day

What a fun Mother's Day we had! Lilyanah was an absolute angel during church, not even fussing a bit when she fell asleep! I figured that was her Mother's Day gift to me! They had a special 'ceremony' where they introduced the new babies of the year & challenged us as their parents as well as the congregation to raise our babies in the Lord. I was very thankful that they recognized that we all have a responsibility to show our Lord to our children.
After church Gigi blessed our entire family with another home cooked meal. Of course every meal with our Gigi is homecooked & delicious!
This outfit on our little one was picked out by her daddy, I think it's one of my favorites, though the hat is WAY too big & kept on falling over her big blue eyes! She just turned 4 MONTHS yesterday & her eyes aren't changing color one bit. I know they can change up until 2 years, but we'll enjoy the blue while she has it!
For Mother's Day Will gave me the greatest gift! Well, first of all our precious Lilyanah (who has most unfortunately discovered her thumb fits in her mouth better than her fist), would not be here were it not for him! But this year for Mother's Day we are starting to sponser a child through Christian Relief from Haiti. I don't really believe in doing things like this & making it common knowledge, but I wanted to share it with all of you because it's a FANTASTIC program if you are wanting to help out children in the world. I know my Papa & Gigi have been sponsering children from India for over 15 years now & have made such a difference in their lives with only $25 a month. Can you believe that's all it takes!? We spend more than that in formula in 2 weeks! Anyway, if you get the chance I hope you'll check it out, I don't like sounding like an advertisement but what a wonderful way to make a difference for Jesus. The web address is: www.Christianrelieffund.org
My uncle Rick loves working with old cars & just happened to drive the one in the picture to Papa & Gigi's for our celebration, which of course I do not know what make, model, or year it is from being 'not-car-savvy' at all! But we had to take advantage of it being there & get a couple of pictures.
I hope that all of you mothers had such a special Mothers' Day & that all of you men & kiddos showered your women with all of the love & appreciation that they deserve every day of the year. Of course ditto for the women with their men & kids. Never forget that each day is a gift that we can never go back & do over. I love you all! Wendy.

PET scan results. . . .

Yesterday as Mom, Lilyanah & I were on our way to my CAT scan appointment, I called my oncologist to see if they had the results from my PET scan, & we found out I am CANCER FREE! (thank You so much God!) & thank you to all of you for your prayers! I wish cancer free meant chemo free but such is not the case. I still have 2 Anyway, Dad, Mom, Lilyanah & I are heading over to Bend for a little 2 day vacation & this girl still has to pack! Will is staying home because he has a pretty bad cold so if you would please pray for healing for my sweet husband I would really appreciate it. It's hard to leave him at home to fend for himself but he insisted that we go out of fear that he would get us sick. So off we go! You get another daisy picture because of a special request by a friend & another of Grandma with Lilyanah last week. Love to you all. . . wendy.

May 7th, 2006

How is this for a smile?! She was actually making a sound along with the smile in this picture, I wish you could hear her! She has the sweetest soft little voice. Can you believe I get to look at this adorable little face every single day, all day!? What a blessed woman I am! Lilyanah smiles all of the time now unless she's really tired at which time she makes the funniest noises. It's kinda like she's trying to talk in a foreign language while whining. Now that's talent! It makes it really hard to take her seriously cause' you're just smiling at the silly-ness of it all! This chemo round I've been so blessed & felt so good that I've been busy doing things & haven't spent much time sitting in front of the computer, which is a blessing & also no good because now I've fallen behind AGAIN & will have to catch you up on the last 2 weekends! Saturday, the 29th I took pictures of what everyone was doing. Lilyanah was helping her grandma work at the computer. Mom spends a lot of time working on the computer to keep up with the businesses her & dad own. We need to hire her a secretary so she can spend all of her free time loving on our daughter. Of course she does anyway, such a blessing to both her & Lilyanah!
Dad asked Will if he knew how to change the oil in our car. Will, very matter of factly said, "Yeah, I put my shoes on, grab the keys & drive to Jiffy Lube." Such a funny guy. Dad decided 27 years without knowing how to change oil was too long & the two spent the majority of the day just like they are in the picture. They changed the oil in every car in the driveway which was not a small task. Will came in covered with oil but said he really enjoyed the day.
Now the next picture is going to make anyone who has ever gone to Camp Yamhill & tasted my grandmother's cooking JEALOUS! Gigi makes the most amazing cinnamon rolls & yes, that is what she was doing when I took the picture. It brought back a lot of good memories. She ALWAYS made homemade dough & we would spend the afternoon wrapping a couple hundred hot dogs in her homemade bread. I will admit that I RARELY helped with the cinnamon rolls, she would get up at around 4am to do it & my alarm didn't go off for another couple of hours! Gigi is one amazingly talented woman in so many ways. Her cooking was & is her way of showing people how much she cares. And I have to say that I just love seeing her with Lilyanah! I started this entry a couple of days ago & today is actually the 8th. Earlier today I went in to Portland to have the PET scan done & afterwards I'm radioactive for awhile so I don't get to hold Lilyanah. It's no fun, but she had a great day with her Gigi. We should know the results fairly soon, but I also have a CAT scan scheduled for Wednesday, the two should tell us pretty conclusively whether or not I'm in full remission. I'll keep you updated. . . . I hope your week is off to a good start! And thanks again for your prayers! Wendy.

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.