OOOOOOOOkalahoma...

[remember in dirty rotten scoundrels, when steve martin ran around as 'rupret' with an eye patch on, yelling 'oklahoma, oklahoma, oklahoma- banging on a pot?! i LOVE that movie...]

hi friends! we are in oklahoma at the cancer treatment center in tulsa. it is going well so far. we've met with several doctors and met many people in similiar situations. they haven't offered anything new, as far as treatment, but we have a few new meds to try for helping the bone pain. the hospital is full of smiling faces and compassionate people. it truly is a different feeling than all other places we've been. we have more appointments tomorrow and thursday and will keep you posted on what we're told.

asher and i have been going with james to most appointments, and he's done fairly well being in the stroller (asher, not james). i know we are here to get some new ideas for james, but i think our purpose may be greater than that. and it has to do with our smiling son. he is a joy magnet and an instant smile maker. for so many people who are struggling through treatment, his little smile is making days better. i can't keep track of how many people are saying 'he is so cute' 'look at that huge smile' 'that just made my day'... he is making a difference everywhere we go. it is a reminder to us how much our children do bring joy, and we are blessed to be able to bring a bit of Christ's joy to this place.

i have a good post to do about our fun trip to colorado, but for now will just share a few fun photos.

home alone

I was left home alone. Similar to a movie of the same name, my entire family left me home alone and traveled by air to a distant city. Sarah, Abigail and Asher traveled to Denver to visit Sarah’s sister for six days. All alone and seized by fear, my survival instincts kicked-in as I relied on the distant memories from days as a bachelor. I will be very transparent and admit to something I do not do very often-I ate fast food and even indulged in a little Dairy Queen. Shhh. In these desperate economic times I made sure to order from the dollar menu and I even ordered a kid's meals from Soni with a coupon for $1.99. I was rather thrifty! Some moments were even reminiscent of my college days as I found myself eating a free meal with Friends and Parents-in-law (Thanks to the Alvarezes, Rotts, Franzes and my dad). Okay, enough talk about food.

As in introvert, I enjoyed time to myself; something I never find much of being a stay at home husband and father. The silence was strange but gave me time to think about life. An additional benefit of being home alone was a constantly clean house. A tidy house can also be a rarity with children these days. I enjoyed it so much I cleaned the entire house and I mean cleaned the house: cleaned bathrooms, dusted, vacuumed, did the laundry and even put it away.

I had more free time than normal and I kept myself busy by watching the entire fourth season of LOST on DVD. And I enjoyed every minute of it! Before some of you freak out and in defense of my bachelor behavior, I love LOST and it was a shortened 14 episodes rather than 24! I even watched every episode in surround sound with the walls vibrating (I was taking full advantage of an empty house).

Six days had passed, my family was traveling home and I had survived! I showered, shaved my beard and tearfully said good-bye to my new imaginary friend, Wilson. Although I enjoyed my time alone I was happy to welcome my family home. The love of my wife and the sounds of children are a priceless treasure. As I waited “behind the yellow line” in front of gate 39 at KCI, all that I value most in life was about to walk through the door (I accidentally crossed a line with my big toe while waiting and was quickly reprimanded by the airport security).

The first one to walk through the door? Abigail. When she finally noticed me standing at the door, she ran the rest of the way, discarded her heavy back pack and embraced me and kissed me over and over while saying “Oh daddy, daddy, daddy; Oh daddy, daddy, daddy, I missed you.” As my heart melted, I affirmed her words of affection. Man-oh-man, it doesn’t get better than that! What felt like forever later, a very weary Sarah exited the door, pushing a stroller and carrying a load of other things. Wow, what a lady! Following her was a flight attendant carrying a sleepy Asher. Abbie and I went to get the SUV to pick up Sarah and Asher. I wanted Abbie to know how happy I was to see her so I brought her a treat. As we were exiting the parking lot I opened and handed Abbie a delicious chocolate milk (from my kid’s meal earlier this week) and she instantly spilt all of it on the seat. My family is indeed home, spilt mik and all!

A footnote: As a thoughtful wife, Sarah made me 2 meals to heat up for dinner and as a forgetful husband, I forgot all about it. Opps.