Hey everyone – first let me apologize that FB was being ridiculous yesterday and emailed my message 5 times. I promise to never be that annoying!!

Ok, so this week has been kinda crazy. We’ve really had to do some re-arranging and serious soul searching. As much as I am all for staying positive and keeping a smile on my face, I think it is necessary to allow ourselves time to grieve through difficult situations. If you have ever held the tear streaked face of a grown man in the palm of your hands and felt the full gravity of it, then you understand the brokenness of those moments. I spent Saturday in the depths of despair, crying all day and at the peak of any stress level I have ever experienced. However, it didn’t take me long to realize that I am no good to anyone in that state and I really had to pull myself together. By Sunday I had found a divine peace with everything going on in my life and started to feel 100x better. I believe it’s attributed to all of the prayers that are reaching heaven for us. Jadeyn made a huge decision to be baptized in Christ this week, after much consideration. Mike & I believe that as parents, we can guide our children to believe in God, but we give them the freedom to choose for themselves what they want to believe. We are very proud of Jadeyn’s decision to follow the teachings of Jesus. Mike endured 10 long hours at Moffitt on Wednesday and was very weak and nauseous, but he made it to baptize our little girl that evening. Again, attributed to everyone’s prayers for us – thank you SO much!! We also settled on a definite decision to proceed with home-schooling them. My boss has been extremely supportive and has been gracious enough to agree that I can bring them to work with me 2 days a week. My mom is going to take a day and the other day will be split between other family and friends. I feel so peaceful making this choice, knowing that our family will remain very close over the coming months.

As for Mike, he has slept most of this week. He will endure a very intense chemo regimen for the next 4 weeks and then get another bone marrow biopsy to clear him for transplant. Please pray that his body will respond well to these treatments and that there will not be any problem finding an excellent match for the marrow. The transplant will most likely happen toward the end of this year. We have received conflicting reports as to when this will occur, so I will give more details on that process as it approaches. Many of you have asked how you can be tested to see if you are a match for Mike’s bone marrow… Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that if you register that your marrow will be designated to go to Mike only. There is a national registry that you can join, but your marrow will go to whoever is the closest match to you. If anyone is willing, I encourage you to be tested and join the registry. Many families struggle with leukemia and you may not match Mike perfectly, but you may match another daddy, husband, son or brother of another family praying for a perfect match. Mike’s life will be saved because someone registered. If you are interested, please contact your local blood donation center or American Red Cross to get more information on becoming a registered donor. I understand that this is a personal decision for each person individually, so please do not feel any pressure if you are not comfortable with registering.

I can not thank everyone enough for all of the love and support we have received this past week. Please do not forget to keep encouraging us through out. We draw a lot of strength from your words, your calls, texts, emails and of course prayers. Even if I don’t respond right away, I am getting it and it is always always appreciated.

I was touched to see that so many of you enjoyed watching the video of our journey. It’s my way of putting all of my thoughts and experiences together to share with everyone what we are going through. If you missed the 50,000 emails that came yesterday, the link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrLf4qhOpZU

There is also another video I made a few months ago of Mike and I – that link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYH45qI22gc
And one I made of Jadeyn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASVLfVJjPus
I have been working on one for Zack, but I am missing a picture I really want to include, so I have to find it first!