Christmas at Ma's!! I love walking in Ma's house for Christmas! The air smells of bacon, country ham, biscuits and gravy mixed with the smell of coffee & Tang! It's heavenly! We enjoyed seeing my Aunt and Uncle and our cousins and their husbands. It always feels like home- a safe comfortable place where laughter and good food are the main ingredients.

Here is Annelise chewing on another gift!

And here is Hunter doing the same!

Caleb got a cowboy outfit from Ma.

Allison and Joanna, my cousins, loved on Annelise like their own- I love them dearly and treasure the years we shared growing up.

Annelise is named after Ma, so we gave her a picture of Annelise with a description of why we named our daughter after her.

Here we are for Christmas with Austin's mom. I think this is such a sweet picture! We enjoyed a fabulous meal with my favorite favorite pecan pie!! Kathy makes a pecan pie that is to die for! It's a family recipe that I've got to get!!

Caleb got his long-awaited Batman castle!!!

Kathy invited a friend this year for Christmas- his name is Jim! We really liked him!

And this is a picture of Kathy and her sister Janie with Annelise. They (along with the help of their dear friend, Debbie) worked for hours upon hours on Annelise's stocking!! They made stockings for their children and have pasted on the tradition to ours. It is truly a keepsake made with love! Thank you so much- we will cherish it!!

Here we are for Christmas with my parents! It always feels wonderful to go home to my house for Christmas. Even though we didn't get as much time with my brothers this year, it was still good to exchange gifts and celebrate. We enjoyed a delicious meal with them as well.

Caleb got all kinds of dress up clothes to pretend in this year! He got some fun play guns too!

My brothers and Leslie watch Caleb open some super heroes. It makes me happy that they love and treasure our kids so much.

And here we are celebrating Christmas with Austin's father. We stayed at our house and ate some yummy finger foods.

We gave Caleb a new "big boy" bike this year!! He got out with Daddy and Chase and practiced! He did great!!!!

Caleb got some pretty awesome Nerf guns for Christmas- so awesome that Daddy and Chase played with them most of the time! After opening presents, Caleb pretended to be a bear while Chase and Daddy hunted him!! They had a blast using couch cushions as barriers!! It was fun to see them playing so hard together.

Christmas was full of family this year, and I am so very thankful God has blessed us with so much family so close by.

Austin stuck this to Annelise's head!! I thought it was pretty mean! ;)

Last Friday I lost a dear, life-long friend of mine, Misty Ezell George. We grew up together and were only a month apart in age- our parents were and are the best of friends. We spent countless hours at each others' homes. We went to church together, school together, camp together, played ball together, vacationed together (that is we shared a tent together for 8 years when our families went canoeing every summer), and college together. She is a significant piece of my life-story, and I am changed for knowing her.
Misty had a laugh and smile that was contagious. She sang wherever she went. I can still hear her singing in the dorm the Dixie Chicks from the top of her lungs! She was full of energy and fun- everyone enjoyed being with Misty. She was always up for an adventure, which is something I admired in her- I was always a little more afraid or timid. She was the one to drag me into the cold cold river water when we canoed so that we could float down the rapids and sing "Comet it makes your teeth turn green..." When we shared a canoe she always wanted to hit all the rapids too!
She was a kid magnet, humble at heart, and full of life and love. She loved God, her Jeremy, her three precious children, her family, and others so well. I will cherish all of our memories together.

This is a picture of the last time I saw Misty- just a few weeks ago at my home church's Trunk-or Treat. She held up Annelise and doted all over her. She gave me a big hug- one that I won't forget.
The pictures to come are some that I found on my computer- some of us over the last 10 years. At some point I'll go through my memory bins in the attic and pull out some old pics of us as kids. I'll scan and post them then.

Here we are celebrating my 21st birthday.

Misty, Marcie, Mashea, and Emily came up to the boro one night and had dinner with me.

Here are my pledge sisters minus my roommate, Holly. Pledging with these girls was one of the most memorable and fun yet exhausting 4-5 weeks of my life. We went everywhere in Misty's "pledge mobile." The eight of us slept most nights (the 2-3 hours of sleep we got a night) in mine and Holly's dorm room. It was crazy!! But because we lived together for those weeks and endured all of the pledging activities together, we share a bond that I will treasure for a lifetime.

I have to share how God has showed me himself in the midst of this tragedy. My family last Friday night was decorating our Christmas tree when I placed an ornament on the tree that I had made several years ago in M.O.P.S. It had a scripture in it from John 14:17b. "He lives with you and will be in you." (Jesus speaking of the Holy Spirit to his disciples). When I read that I felt like God washed over me anew that He truly was with me and in me. I was joyful and thankful in that moment. Then just an hour or so later I received the phone call that our Misty had passed away. I felt like never before that God was so very far away. I kept telling Austin, "Where is God; I don't feel him." After the long night had passed, I woke up and the Lord reminded me of that verse from John. I opened my Bible and began to read all of John 14. I was very encouraged and felt God speaking over me that He was with me and in me- that He was with the Ezell's and George's and in them. Then while we sat and listened on Wednesday at the funeral service, the scripture read was from John 14. I was again reminded that He goes before me- he knows the events that will take place in our lives before we experience them, and he will give us a Word- he will give us the mercies we need.

Our senior year of college, Misty, Elizabeth, and Erin (not pictured-she must have been taking the picture) took a road trip to Harding University to see Martha Lynn perform in Spring Sing- her group one first place! We had a blast!

Here we all are in Misty's wedding in 2002. It was an absolutely beautiful ceremony and reception. We all approved of Jeremy- he passed the test!

To Mr. and Mrs. Ezell, Jeremy, Ella, Miles, and Griffin:

My heart bleeds for your loss. I will pray for strength, for peace, for hope, for laughter again, and for you to remember that God is good and that He is with you always. Here are some verses I am clinging to, and I pray you will find strength in these words as well:

Psalms 68:19-20 “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.

Lamentations 3:21-23 "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing."

John 14:27a “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.”

To all of us who are in pain over this precious life lost, may God graciously give in abundance faith, hope, and love.

In Christ, Nicole

Milestones

Well, I am so excited to say that Caleb has hit some milestones over the past two months!! I have been looking forward to the day that I would read Caleb his first chapter book- Charlotte's Web- and that day finally came this September!! I savored every moment that he and I spent reading one of my favorite books as a child. I actually read him MY Charlotte's Web that I read many times as a kid and saved. It was a very special time for the two of us when Annelise went down for her morning nap. Caleb would climb up on the couch and put his head in my lap as I read. I will cherish that memory and hope for many more moments like these with him and Annelise to come.

Another huge milestone for Caleb is that he has begun to READ!!! Yea, Caleb!!!! I am very very proud of him!! He and I are having some more formal "learning time" together since he isn't going to preschool. He has begun reading three letter words in word families like: og, at, et...it has been very fun teaching him to read and to see him surprise himself as he reads new words!

Annelise is growing and changing so much as well!! She'll be 5 months on the 11th of November- Wow!! We've been loving her big grins and watching her watch Caleb!! She zones in on him wherever he goes, flipping her head around to see where he is at all times!! It's so cute! And she is rolling over now and propping her arms up. When she sits at the dinner table with us, she reaches for our food and grabs anything she can. She almost pulled off the place mat with a plate of food on it the other day! I think she's getting read for solid foods- speaking of which, Annelise is eating better, which is an answered prayer. However, my milk supply is still not doing really well, so if you think to pray for me, pray for my milk! I am on herbs and have rented a Grade A pump to help; however, it's not boosting my supply enough at this point. But overall we are enjoying this precious baby girl, and I feel an overwhelming since of gratitude more and more each day for these two children God has blessed us with.

This is a picture of some of our dearest friends eating at Miller's Grocery. The two couples in the middle (the Moores and the Bakers) were in town briefly. It was a treat to see them!! We love you guys!!!!!

In September, Randi Lea (3rd from left) turned 30!! She invited several of us to join her for a weekend in Chattanooga- it was a blast!! Austin was very brave to let me go alone for the weekend while he stayed with the kids!! He did a fabulous job! We had the time of our lives with a memorable adventure involving some mice...thanks Randi Lea- I love you dearly and treasure our friendship!!!

Here's my family at our house for some chili and UT football!! And, I have wonderful news....my brother Will T. is engaged to the lovely Rebecca Curry!!! He surprised her just a few weeks ago when he went to Gatlinburg with her family. We love you guys and can't wait for the festivities!!!

Here we are at Harpeth Hills Trunk or Treat! We had fun going back to my home church the weekend before Halloween. Caleb dressed as a pirate and Annelise as a pumpkin!! Ma got Caleb the outfit awhile back, and he's been dressing up ever since playing pirates!! I told him I was kind of sad he's not something sweet this year...he's growing up!!

And here we are on Halloween...my favorite part of the fall is going to the Gentry's farm. We went with a bunch of our friends. God blessed us with no rain!!! Thank you, Lord! We had a blast!

Here we are going on the hayride!!!

Austin calls Annelise his "Pun-kin!" So, it was fun to dress her as one!! I just want to eat her up in the picture!

We have many more fun pictures to see of the two of them...click here to see more. Thanks to each of you who read our blog and help us raise our little ones through living life with us and/or through prayer. We could not do it alone, and we are forever grateful for you.

In Him, Nicole

MRI Results

Today we went to visit with Caleb's doctor and hear the findings from last week's MRI. We met them with eager hearts hoping, as many of you, to hear great news and we are thankful to report the findings are mostly great! The size of the tumor hasn't changed yet again (it never has really), and there are no indications of additional areas of concern in his brain. This is all very good news to our ears for sure.

You may recall from our last MRI (a year ago) that the "color" of the tumor had darkened, indicating less contrast and hence blood flow. A year ago there was only a small spot where contrast could be seen on the tumor. This finding gave us hope that perhaps this thing was winding down. The findings today were not really much different with the very small exception that the "Spot" of color was ever so slightly larger. The doctors say this change in size could well be a "technical" change where we are simply seeing a different view of the tumor or perhaps a slight change in the angle of his head during the scan. Nevertheless he is interested in following up with Caleb in 6 months with another MRI to double check that this isn't a sign of a changing tumor.

I suppose here you can see the contention between our joy that we have a healthy son who is not being advised for radical treatment and this possible finding that there is a change in his tumor brewing. If I am being completely honest both Nicole and I left feeling a joyful burden - if that is even possible. I think where we have landed is this... we can only choose to trust in God and place our faith that He is at work both in Caleb's life and in those around him, including us.

Today we got good news - that news is that in the time this was found (Caleb was 9mo) there has been no change in the size of the tumor, and the tumor which was once lit up with contrast now has a small portion of it showing that contrast. We are grateful and happy to know that we are not the ones calling the shots here and that God has heard the prayers of so many of you who are lifting him up often. Nicole and I sincerely thank you from the bottom of your hearts for your love and concern for our family. You are a wonderful blessing to us.

MRI Over!

Good news... The MRI is over. Caleb did great and is enjoying a Pancake Pantry brunch with family. Thank you for your prayers. We will update you soon!


Austin Henderson
Manager, Information Technology
FirstFleet, Inc.

MRI Thursday

 

We just wanted to remind everyone that Caleb has an MRI tomorrow at 9:00 in the morning. We have to be there at 8:00 to prepare him for sedation. Please keep us in your prayers. We told him for the 1st time tonight about his "special spot" in his brain. He handled it well; we are grateful. We told him that we're taking him to the Pancake Pantry right after they take some pictures of his brain. He was excited- we hope that excitement carries him through tomorrow morning since he won't be able to eat anything before the MRI. 

We will keep you posted; however we won't have results of the scan until next Wednesday the 2nd.

In Christ, Austin and Nicole

"And this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail, they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness!" Lam. 3:21-22