Ultimate Healing...

Brian Hamilton received his ultimate healing tonight. He has left this world and is with Jesus, free of pain, free of cancer...healed. Healed. HEALED!

Please be in prayer for all of the family. I will not be traveling up there this weekend as planned. I may try to go to the service, but will depend on what is going on with our house sale. If I don't make it for the service, I plan to go up there some weekend soon.

Here is a message from Kristina, "When Jesus is ready to take him, I will be ready to let go. I am at peace with this and know that he will be healed once in the presence of God. I talked with Makayla last night, and she is a trooper! She looked me in the eye and told me to keep the faith and not lose hope. And here I've been worried about talking to her! Anyway, continue to pray for a peace with Brian and plenty of grace for the rest of the family."

My sister, Cynthia, heard a song on the radio this morning. She said it touched her heart, even before knowing what today would bring. Here are the lyrics.

Weak and wounded sinner, lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus, come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden's lifted and carried far away,
And precious blood has washed away the stain.
So, sing to Jesus, sing to Jesus,
Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby, don't be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk, sometimes we fall...
So, fall on Jesus, fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely and steep and filled with pain.
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then
Cry to Jesus, cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!

Oh and when the love spills over and music fills the night
And when you can't contain your joy inside, then
Dance for Jesus, dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat, kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and
Fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!

Welcome to Heaven, Brian.

Prayer Request Update

An update on the Hamilton family...

Brian is getting sicker by the day. It has been amazing to see just how quickly this cancer has progressed. Part of which we feel is an answer to prayer, because we have asked God to not make Brian linger and continue to be in pain any longer than necessary.

Kristina has been very emotional. It's getting very real. They brought in a hospital bed today. Tonight he will not be in the bed with her and maybe not ever again. She is also very exhausted. She was supposed to have The Talk with Makayla tonight. So far, they haven't told her the seriousness. But tonight at dinner, Makayla made a comment and said, "When Daddy gets better, we're going to do something special." They knew it was time to tell her. I was brought to tears tonight just thinking about how it would feel for me to have that conversation with Rachel. I cannot even begin to imagine having to do that.

My sister has even more posted over at her blog if you want to read more. She told me tonight that she was reading from the booklet that Hospice gave Kristina. It maps out exactly what to expect and about when to expect it with Brian's particular cancer. It lays out a time line that helps you gage about how much time is left. Cynthia said that from reading it, she is guessing Brian has one to two weeks left. And to think, less than a month ago his doctor said he had four to six months left.

Sorry if this is disjointed, but my mind is muddled with emotion. I wanted to get this update out so people can be praying for them. All you prayers are greatly appreciated. I am going up there this weekend to spend some time with my sister. So, I quit now for fear of rambling on...

Awards and House News...

I have received my first Blog award! Karen over at Pediascribe has bestowed up me the following awards:




Thanks Karen for the honors. You're a great blogging buddy! If any of you have time, go check out her blog, it's great! And if you listen to Podcasts, her husband does an awesome one called Pediacast. He is a pediatrician and talks about great topics focused at parents and our children.

So, what's been going on here? A LOT!!! My stress level has been up and we've been running 90 mph around here since the offer. We do have an apartment secured to move into. It's 1221 sq. ft., only 300 less than we have here! It's three bedrooms and two bathrooms and will work perfectly for the short term. We're going to give Nana her own bedroom and put the girls together. That should be a lot of fun! I think we may have a trial run before we make the big move.

The home inspection was done yesterday and from what I could hear (yes, I was eavesdropping!), I think all is OK. Hopefully it's all just minor things. I will update you when we get the official report. Today the appraisal was done. Again, I'm hoping all was good and that it appraised for at least $129,900!

And great news! We officially broke ground on our new house on Tuesday, February 19th...the day after we got the offer on our current house! They scraped the lot on Tuesday and on Wednesday, the footings were dug. Yesterday and today they laid the concrete blocks. The plumber is supposed to come tomorrow or Thursday and do his stuff and the foundation should be poured next Monday!!! We drove out there tonight and it was so exciting to see progress!

Thanks to everyone who sent the congrats on the home sale. Everyone we tell can NOT believe we sold in 18 days with the market the way it is now. I can't either. I give God all the glory!! Until next time...

NUMBERS

19
Number of days our house has been on the market

13
Number of times our house has been shown

1
Number of full asking price offers

23
Number of days until we close

28
Number of days until we have to be completely moved out!!

I'm full of excitement, nerves, stress, relief, etc. And can I tell you that besides having to get us moved out of our house that the next three weeks are chocked full of OTHER things we have to do!?!?!? One of which is my very busy preparation time for my semi-annual Duck Duck Goose sale!!

3/4 - Cirque de Soleil
3/7 - Jon Paul's birthday
3/8 - Rebekah's birthday party
3/9 - Bill Cosby show
3/11 - Rebekah's birthday, drop off Duck Duck Goose stuff
3/12 - Shop at Duck Duck Goose (gone all day!)
3/13 - Work at Duck Duck Goose and close on house
3/14 - Monthly crop at my church
3/18 - Be totally moved out of house and turn possession over!!!


Anyone free to help?!?! :-)

Rebekah Funny

Rebekah has finally found her voice and the way she says things just make us all laugh. Hopefully soon I can get this on video or audio at the very least. The funniest at the moment is her fascination with the SPOOKY FOREST. She learned this from the Little Einsteins, one of her favorite shows.

She walks around the house and says, "I go in the FOOKY FORESS!" And sometimes, if she is in a hurry, you might just think she says something bad for that first word! So funny and you'll be the first I share it with should I get this on tape. Until next time...

A Request for Prayer

Our extended family got some bad news this week. I can only ask any and all of you who stop by here to say prayers for the Hamilton family.

Kristina Hamilton is my sister's (Cynthia) husband's sister. She is married to Brian and they have one daughter, Makayla (7) and one son, Braedon (2.5). A little over three years ago Brian was diagnosed with Melanoma, which was contained to one lymph node and removed. He was going for check ups every six months. This past Thanksgiving, he went back because he had started having severe headaches. The news wasn't good. Two tumors were found in his brain. He started an agressive radiation treatment and went back last week to see how it was working. Well, it wasn't. In fact, the tumors had grown by 30% and he has been very sick. He is battling nausea, headaches and personality changes. This past Thursday he suffered his first seizure. And in the last month, he has lost 30 pounds.

One tumor is in the front lobe and is about the size of a quarter in diameter. This tumor is in the part of the brain that controls personality. The tumor and radiation is causing swelling, which is causing his personality shift. The other tumor is in the back of the brain and about the size of a double yolk egg. After seeing that the radiation has not worked, his doctor told him that baring a miracle, he had about six months left.

Please pray for this family. Kristina and I are the same age. She said she feels like God has been preparing her for this since he was first diagnosed over three years ago. She is amazingly strong right now. Makayla knows her Daddy has cancer and that it has something to do with his head. Beyond that, I don't know if she knows the severity. Kristina said she will be told things on a needs to know basis. Braedon was a big Daddy's boy before Brian got real sick. Now he won't have anything to do with his Daddy. I'm sure he is scared.

Pray for a miracle. We know God is capable, but should He chose not to heal Brian, please pray for mercy. Pray he won't have to suffer and he can get some normalcy back and spend quality, fun time with his kids and Kristina.

This has really hit home for me and my sister, Cynthia. We lost our father when he was 37, the same age as Brian. Cynthia was 13 at the time and I was 8...almost the same age as Makayla. It isn't anything you want a child to have to go through, I can still remember how hard it was on me and my sister. I also think of my family now. I don't know what I would do if I lost Jon Paul. He is the love of my life and a great husband and father. All this just brings everything into perspective and you realize just how precious life is. Thanks in advance for all your prayers...

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow...

Some may know, some may not. Rachel and Rebekah have fallen in love with the movie Annie. Last Halloween, both girls wanted to be Annie. I was able to put together two of the cutest and authentic little Annies anyone ever saw! I'm not biased or anything... :-) I even found them Sandy stuffed dogs that were made in the 80's when the movie first came out and were in mint condition! The girls loved them. To top it all off, at the last minute on Halloween, Jon Paul and I came up with the idea that he could wear his suit and maybe we could find him a bald cap. He could surprise the girls and go as Daddy Warbucks, or "Daddy Bucks" as Bekah calls him. They were elated when they saw him. He was the hit of the festival we went to also!

The bald cap wasn't the easiest to put on. It was a true theater cap, glue and everything. In our short amount of time, we made it look as good as we could. So, let me introduce, Daddy Bucks and his Annies:













Aren't they all just adorable? Soon after Halloween, we heard that Annie was coming to our local theater. This is the professional touring show. Tickets didn't go on sale until the end of January and the show is this week. Jon Paul, his mom, Rachel and I are all going. I don't think Rebekah would sit through a three hour long performance, so she gets to go to Granna's!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow, you're only a day away! And, tomorrow is the big day. Show time is 1:00 p.m. Rachel will have to miss her kindergarten class's Valentine's Day party, but she didn't seem a bit sad. She is so excited to go see Annie on stage and guess what she is wearing.... Yep, the red dress, but minus the wig.

Short and Sweet

Wow...what a busy week last week was. Mostly I was working a lot for my part-time job. But we also showed the house a lot!! Here is when the house got shown: Sunday - once, Monday - twice, Tuesday - once, Wednesday - once, Friday - once, and Saturday once. The people that came on Saturday, stayed for a full hour. We think they were coming to look at it for a second time because of the length of stay and the agent with them had already showed our house before.

It hasn't been too bad keeping the house up. I know all the cleaning and decluttering has really helped. There isn't as much to clean up! And getting out hasn't been too bad. I guess the only negative is not being able to cook dinner, since most people like to look after they get off work. We're making it though.
We did go and pick up some apartment guides. If we sell our house quickly, we will have to go somewhere! Surprisingly, there are several three bedroom apartments close by. Now we continue to wait and see what happens!

And the new house? Our builder's original bank strung him along for almost a month, not telling him that they really weren't going to give out any construction loans. In the meantime, he had gone to another bank, who approved him in less than two days. So, now the paperwork is being pushed through and as soon as he gets the money, we'll hit the ground running. Hopefully I'll have more to update soon!

In Rachel's take home folder, her teacher sent a note. She is the Star Student of the Week! She was so excited when I told her about it and can't wait to go to school in the morning. Until next time...

Fun With Static Electricity

Well, our house has been shown four more times since my last post. Once on Sunday, twice yesterday and once today. We're quickly finding out that cooking dinner is near an impossibility. Most people come after work...during dinner time. So, it's eating out for us!

I've also started baking cookies. They make the house smell good and it makes for a nice gift to the potential buyers. We actually got a "Thank You" note from the agent that showed the house tonight. I also purchased the Shortbread Cookie candle from Yankee Candle. It helps the house smell delicious! Now if I can just keep from eating too many...

Until next time...

Update on Houses, Old and New...

CURRENT HOUSE

Our current house officially went on the market yesterday. If you would like to take a look, here is a link to our listing.

We've been concerned as to what to do about our cat. For those that don't know, we have a cat named Kathy. Kathy was Jon Paul's cat before we got married. She is not the nicest of cats. She loves us and only us. She doesn't like anyone else, stranger or not. And she will growl, hiss, and snap at anyone. Also, she is strictly an indoor cat, she never goes outside. With agents bringing people into our home, without us here, we were really concerned about Kathy getting let out and others maybe getting bitten. So, what do we do? Well, we bought her a small dog kennel. The girls have had lots of fun playing with/in it. Today, we got to test it out on Kathy. We had two different agents show the house. That made us feel good. As for Kathy, I made a sign and put it by her kennel. It said, "My name is Kathy. I don't like strangers very well and can be very unfriendly. Thank you for not petting me." Hopefully people will get the message!

So, like I said. We had two people come and take a look. The first was this morning. Everything looked OK when we got back home. The second was tonight and we came home to a few different things. First, we noticed that not only was the back door left unlocked, but it was left OPEN! Granted it was just open a crack, but still! Isn't it the agents job to make sure all doors are closed and locked??!? We were not happy. I emailed our agent and let him know this and gave him the agents name and info that showed the house (they leave their business cards). Also, Rebekah was quick to point out the someone had been playing in her room. These people must have had kids. Three of her toys were left in the middle of the floor, definitely NOT where we had left them. That didn't make me upset, but did make me feel better about putting Kathy in the kennel, so she can't hurt any curious kids!

We'll have to see what tomorrow brings. It is supposed to rain tomorrow. Don't know if many will venture out to look at houses.

NEW HOUSE

Nothing. Nothing has been done. We're now a month behind schedule. We talked with our builder and he is just as frustrated as we are. His bank has held him up for the past month, dragging out the reality that they aren't going to give him a construction loan. So, he has gone to a different bank. He is going to get the loan, but it might take two or three more weeks for all the paperwork to go through! Aggghhhhhh! I'm trying to stay calm and know that there will be many hurdles to jump, but I'm just ready to see some dirt moved to know we're getting somewhere! Our builder said he did pad his timeline, but didn't plan to use up all that padding on the front end. But our goal of getting in before school starts next fall is still very reachable. And, if we make our brick, shingles, windows and trim decisions now, we'll be ready to order them as soon as our builder gets his money. We're about 95% sure on the brick, mortar and trim. We're not too picky about the shingles. And the windows...we're that's still up for debate!

The brick: Well, we like the brick on the house in the photo from a previous post. However, the name and brick panel shown, is NOT the brick on the house. The brick on the house is called Mosstown and is from Antique Brick. We have looked at the brick on two other houses and it looks different from the one in the photo. So, we're planning on going back to that house and taking a look again. We think maybe the reason the brick looked different, basically darker, might be because it was fresh and needed to be cleaned up. We'll see and I'll let you know what we decide.

So, this is where we are. Showing our current house and waiting on our new house. Hopefully we won't be homeless, and if so, it won't be for too long in between. Until next time...

100th Day of School...

Today was Rachel's 100th day of school.
She was so excited to to have her 100 day party.

Her teacher sent home an assignment for each child
to make a shirt with 100 items on it.

In true Rachel form,
she chose to have 100 jewels on her shirt.

So, I went to Michael's and found an inexpensive be-dazzler.

It worked like a charm,
well it wasn't the best of tools,
but it did its job.

Rachel loved her shirt and could not wait to wear it today.
She also had ribbons in her pony tails,
each ribbon has 50 flowers on it.
The shirt was a little big, but it looked great.
I think you all will agree!

Rebekah had to get in on some of the excitement.
She loves her big sissy!

Oh, you can tell in some of these photos,
Rachel lost her third tooth last Saturday!