Not sure what to do

As many of you know, I am married to a wonderful Troy and I have a wonderful brother named Troy.  At the end of October My brother Troy started to have some mild shoulder pain and difficulty swallowing.  He went into the Dr. and they did an x-ray and gave him some medicine for acid reflux.  He was not improving and has continued to have difficulty swallowing and has lost about 65 pounds.  We have become increasingly concerned about Troy as he was just not looking good.  The week before Christmas he was home (lives in Fargo) and he was going in for some more testing the following week.  One thing has led to another and he had a body scan on Monday.  Today he went in to find out what the scan revealed and it was not the news we were hoping for.  Troy has an 11cm tumor (larger than a baseball) pushing on his esophagus and chest. He has only a sliver of an opening into the stomach and his having difficulty swallowing even liquids. They feel it is a form of lymphoma and he will go into the hospital on Monday for another biopsy and will start treatment as soon as possible.  

Needless to say I am heartsick for him.  My parents left today to stay with him and I am planning to go too, just not sure of timing yet. Can you please pray for a miracle?  My brother is also going through a divorce which has been very stressful...his kids mean the world to him and he means the world to us!

The year is winding down...

I haven't been blogging much lately, not sure that I am going to keep this blogging thing going.  Time is the biggest challenge that I am facing.  Trying to prioritize, I enjoy it, but feel as though I should be doing other things.  I have a few things to share as the year approaches it's end.  I must say that I am thankful for so many things...Jesus Christ, my Husband, Kids, Parents, Friends-new and old, Jobs, Health, Home...just to name a few.
In December we celebrated Syfah turning 13!  Which means we now have 6 teenagers!  17,16,15,14.13 and 13!  We are blessed by the "young man" that Syfah is.  Syfah is loved by ALL, he does not lack confidence, and is very social.  We love Syfah to pieces-he is sensitive, he is a great friend to many and a great son!! Syfah has also been the one that  has challenged us and made us question our parenting skills...I do not mean questioning being his parent, I  mean questioning my skills...Syfah has given me grace many times- as it has felt at times as though we are the "bearer of rules and consequences"...Is that what parents do best?   We are starting to see and appreciate his personality-differently....that has been a good!    We are letting Syfah be Syfah ....within reason  :)  Thankful for Syfah and the growth in him!  I am also so, so thankful for great teachers, friends and grandparents who have "partnered" with us to parent our kids!    

Syfah's 13th Birthday!

Another fun event in December was the Christmas Dance at School. Troy and I were asked to chaperone and it was loads of fun!

Morgan, friend Roselyn, Shelby and Seble!

One of the snow days the girls and I made cookies!  Many, many cookies...I had forgotten that last year when I rewrote the recipe for Peanut Blossoms, I had wrote it down doubled as I thought it seemed like it was a small batch...well, I forgot about that and then I tripled the already doubled recipe...needless to say as I added the 6th cup of peanut butter I realized something seemed odd.  Troy had to help mix and we baked the same kind of cookies for about 5 hours...no kidding! 

Araya=Awesome!

Many of you may recall that about three months after Araya arrived from Ethiopia, one of the first things that needed attention was his ears.  They had been chronically infected, full of scar tissue and an ear drum that was ruptured, which required treatment.  Araya's hearing was very poor in one ear and not the best in the the other....so we did a major ear repair in the Fall of 2008...we were able to get out of the hearing aids, which was a huge deal for Araya.  Anyways, we had been really pleased, then we had a change.  Araya's hearing was slowly decreasing again.  We really were not sure what was going on, so, his dr. (whom we think is great) thought that we needed to do some exploring.  It had been a huge challenge for Araya to wear hearing aids in the first place, and the thought of going back to them was not something that he was real excited about... Yesterday Araya and I arrived at the hospital at 7:15 a.m...He was once again a trooper.  He had been in surgery about 2 1/2 hours and I was getting a little nervous.  I was just going to go and ask about him...his doctor came out...Yeah!  Well, we went into the surgery hoping that we could find something to fix, but also hoping it would be an easy fix.  This is what the ENT found.  Araya had a little growth in the ear, it appeared as though it was pushing on one of the inner ear bones, and those bones were already fragile, due to past infections.  It had started to erode the bone, so the bone was removed and replaced with a new bone!  Araya also needed to have some skin removed from behind his ear and placed in the ear for some new tissue growth...it is amazing!
The incus, malleus, and stapes are the bones of the middle ear. They are the smallest bones in the human body. The three bones are connected by hinges and are levers that carry the vibrations collected from the eardrum to the inner ear. The mechanical advantage gained in this system increases the volume of the sound 5 decibles, or about 7 times.  The stapes was the bone that was removed and replaced, we are so hopeful that this will be the answer to the hearing loss.

I will say that Araya handled this so well, his head/ear are wrapped to protect the ear, he tells me about every 3 hours that it hurts...I give him some good drugs and he sleeps for an hour, then he has about 2 more hours of no/little pain, then we start the cycle again.  Araya will be out of school for the week, his sister Morgan took great care of him today!  For now I am enjoying sitting next to Araya reading some of his homework to him.  Thankful to be his mom!

Boys and Forts!

I remember back in the day when it was so fun to play in the snow and build a fort! A couple of weeks ago Troy and I were completely entertained while peeking out the window at these two boys of ours! While they initially did not know we were watching, we were soon "caught", then the posing began! Nothing like making a place to call your own~ even if only for a couple hours!