may

Here is a good picture post. May has proven to be the most fun month of the year! These events are a tad out of order...but that just doesnt really matter. 

We got to have a fun date night last night. Our sweet mentors came over and spent the night with the kids and Justin and I went to the riverwalk and celebrated our friends 30th birthday and then stayed in a hotel. For some reason they upgraded us to the presidential suite for FREE! It was so beautiful! We do not take our time together for granted and we enjoyed every tiny second of this date!

Today we headed home after a yummy lunch downtown and regrouped then took the kids out to our friends house.  We got to ride in their helicopter which was really the icing on today's cake!

We went on a boat ride and the boys swam in a cave. 

Bryce learned to ski!

we fed cows and donkeys

ryker took braxton for a drive

bryce got to drive a dirt bike!

Last week we finished out the tball season. Bryce's team won 3 tournament games and made it all the way to the championship game! The boys played great and had so much fun! Bryce had a great coach and team this year and he got to bring home a 2nd place trophy. He is one proud guy.

Friday night we took the boys to the Boerne movie in the park. 

We put them in their pajamas and packed popcorn and pizza. We got to sit with lots of friends and we even made it to the end of the movie!

The boys had their last day of preschool on May 17th. Braxton was in the end of year program and he did a great job. He sang and danced his little heart out. They had a splash day after the program and the boys had a blast. 

For my birthday this year my dad bought us sea world passes!!! 

We have already used them twice in one week :) 

Last weekend me and some friends completed the spartan sprint. 5.7 miles of running, obstacles, mud, water, rope climbing, fire, barbed wire, tunnels etc. It was brutal and fun all at the same time. 

Bryce and some buddies got to do the spartan kids race!

My adorable husband and clever friends gave me a surprise birthday dinner! I had NO idea. I thought I was going on a date dinner with him and we walked into the restaurant and 30+ of my favorite people in the whole world were waiting inside for me!

do you see why i am such a happy girl? these people are funny. 

and here are a few more action shots from the race. i am proud ok?!

so if you hung on this far through the pics you get to hear a tiny little update. i have been a neglectful blog mommy these days but we have just been very busy making memories to put IN the blog. justin's health is very much the same. he has good weeks and bad weeks. his pain is still very high especially in the mornings. he has taken a small break from doctors appointments for now. he stays in close contact with his pcp and has him managing most of his medications. he just needs a break from all the negativity. he is one year from his diagnosis. he is one year away from the time when they said he had 1-3 years to live. justin has a long life ahead. we know that. his life is hard right now and he is often very miserable...but we know the Lord has something big in store for him. we are still on that rollercoaster ride. we still do not know what is on the other side of this mountain. we still do not know what the earthly outcome is going to be. what we do know is that time together is a very precious thing. it is something we took for granted for lots of years. there was a time when i would let a pair of dirty socks on the floor ruin my whole day. thankfully Christ redeems those foolish times and gives us lots of do overs. i am so very grateful for all the do overs. our lives are forever changed by Him. our convictions grow deeper as we grow closer to Him. He is pursuing us constantly and that amazing feeling outweighs ANYTHING. 

one year

what is it called when a non-writer gets writers block?
i just have had lots of things that i have wanted to share and either no time to share or i just could not find a way to start. sometimes i write a whole post and then delete it because its too sappy. its been a tricky few weeks and i couldnt really wrap my mind around it...until i looked long and hard at the calendar. then, i went back and read through my blog from a long time ago. (speaking of this...has anyone printed their blog? if so, tell me about it because the last 4 years of my life are all in this one spot) anyways...i went back and read where i started. it was right after we had moved and brody was born and our life was turned sideways for the next seven months. we didnt know what had hit us. we found the blessing in this big surprise and havent turned back. then my sweet mama passed away. we found the silver lining in that and marched forward. then our little stinker braxton showed up and we put a little cherry right on top of our family of four. then i blabbed on for a year about fun things and sweet pictures and good times etc. we had been dealt some tricky cards, but it was all good. the lord had us wrapped up tightly. we were resting in Him and things were looking up.
then tuesday may 17th i posted. it was the last time my life would look the way it did. it was the last time my blog was so carefree. it was the last time i knew life as i knew it. i posted about bryce graduating preschool. our sweet boy is about to graduate kinder! i blogged about my most dear friend's race. The 2nd Annual One Less race is next weekend (go register NOW www.oneless5k.blogspot.com). i wrote about the yucatan mission trip that our family and friends helped us raise money for. this was an experience that we desperately wanted to take part in and it is now something that we may never be able to do. it was tball season and preschool retreat had just happened. tball is back in full swing and i just returned home monday from our annual preschool retreat. it was just as fun as last year and i am refreshed and full of His word. our friends cade and amanda had come to visit us and it just so happens that two weeks ago i stood up next to them on their wedding day. life was really really ooey gooey good.
then i read the next post. only 10 days later. our lives were officially turned upside down. i started out by saying we are humbled, sad, scared, vulnerable and angry....but we are also prepared. we are still humbled, sad, scared, vulnerable and angry. and we are also still prepared. the lord had already gotten us ready for this great battle. each day we wake up and he prepares our armor for us yet again. day after day.
the diseases have since doubled. the symptoms have tripled. the medications have quadrupled. there is just a lot going on. we start a new chapter each morning as we figure out exactly how we are going to cope/deal/manage. sometimes justins illness is the last thing on our brains, but sometimes its the only thing on our brains. justin continues to refuse to allow sickness to define him. he has been and will always be my hero. there are still no cures and no answers. the pain for him is often unbearable, but he bears it well. he just will not go down without a fight. he will put on His armor and kick and scream his way through this. a whole bunch can happen in a year folks. a whole whole bunch.

Romans 8:35-39 No trouble or hardship can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus 

lots of pictures. and some other stuff.

So, here is the deal. Things are hard around these parts right now. Doctors are throwing some curve balls. Some pretty scary ones. I will spare the details for now, simply because BIG decisions need to be made. So for now we just need some prayer ya'll. A good old fashion downpour. Get on your knees ladies and gentlemen. Now. We are going to makes some (MORE!) dietary adjustments. On top of all the other fun/naughty food we have cut out...gluten is a goner. No more gluten and while I have been dairy free for awhile now (except for when I cheat duh) we are going to completely cut dairy out of Justin's diet as well. These are not things that doctors have recommended, BUT we are not gonna go down without a fight. Eating makers/paleo pretty much cuts out all the nonsense anyways, but there are some more adjustments to make. It has been overwhelming to watch the "bad days" keep on increasing. Our "normal" just keeps on changing day after day. Maybe THAT is the new "normal" - I can't keep up.
We are pooped. I say we, but for real I cannot even imagine how pooped he is! Prayers for peace, discernment and a full restoration will do for now. Thanks friends.

Now on to the fun stuff, because you know we do not have time for this to stop all the FUN!

Tabletop Treasures is a fun event hosted by Womens Ministry at our church. I got to decorate a table with my good friend Laura. We had so much fun eating a delish dinner with friends and hearing D'Auns amazing story on WAITING. Yup...I needed to hear that one!

Here are some pics of our table:

EASTER FUN

We had a good time celebrating all the Easter fun. We pulled out our baskets and eggs and bunnies and cute plaid shorts. It was great. But, we also talked lots and lots about the REAL stuff. You know, the part of Easter that IS NOT about baskets, eggs, bunnies and plaid shorts. Bryce learned what a "chreaster" is (hilarious) and we all had a reality check as we thought about His precious body up on that cross. Puts pain into perspective.

No matter what your battle.

Easter Part 1 - Fun at FBC

(please excuse the lack of pictures of Bryce from this day. i honestly think he is precious and probably did some really cute things, but i missed it. OK.)

this is not an attempt to be funny - he for real thought this was a hat

Easter Part 2 - Egg hunt @ home

sweet big brother sharing some eggs with the toder

Easter Part 3 - River House!

golden egg baby!

(trouble)

And then some random stuff...

these boys have some pretty cute little friends dont you think?

brody is REALLY good at wall balls

And I am just going to end on this note: Bryce, Brody and Braxton are some lucky guys to have Justin as their Daddy. He does one heck of a job loving on these little stinkers. He plays with them any chance he gets and when he needs to rest...well...he always has a buddy that is willing to rest with him. Amen.