Thankful

BRAIN TUMORS SUCK!

I have decided that this is my new motto!

As most of you know and have donated in years past, the fall season usually brings the annual Celebration of Hope walk in Richmond. The event is hosted by B.R.A.I.N., a non-profit group that Daniel and I helped start with some good friends of ours, Kevin and Marguerite.

Unfortunately though, plans for this years events were put on hold as Marguerite (the main hostess) started to spiral downward in her brain tumor battle. Recently, Kevin made the decision to bring in hospice services and Marguerite was given only weeks to live. I went to visit with her a few weeks ago and it was so hard to see her in that condition. Please remember them in your prayers.

BRAIN TUMORS SUCK!

As much as I hate brain tumors, I am so thankful for the Lord and the healing He provides; even if it isn't physical healing. The Lord has been gracious to me when it comes to my own healing as well. Recently, I heard this song on the radio and I was overwhelmed by the lyrics. I could almost hear Daniel's voice saying these words to me. Daniel left a legacy that was focused on the Lord and His prayers for me were consistently the same things. This song defines those things.

So, as much as I hate brain tumors, I am thankful that they do not define the people they impact. Rather, those people impact us, the ones left behind.

I hate brain tumors, but I am thankful for what I have learned because of them and the person I am because of what I went through with Daniel. I am thankful for the time that I had with Daniel and all the times he shared with me his prayers for my future without him. I am thankful for songs like this one. Thankful that the Lord continues to provide healing in many forms.

Thank you Daniel.

Thank you God!

Down on the Farm

Mimi and Papa came to visit last weekend. They agreed to watch Sierra for us while I had to attend class. It isn't very often that they come to visit without bringing Sierra a present and this time was no different.

I had briefly mentioned previously that I was looking for the Little People Farm on eBay for Sierra and of course, if you mention something in front of Mimi, it just happens to "fall" into her cart the next time she goes shopping, or so she says.

Thank you Mimi and Papa!!! Sierra absolutely adores her farm and her "aminals" or so she calls them. :) Thank you!!! I took too many pictures but I thought they were all cute, so I posted most of them here. Enjoy!

Little Hokie Fan

I took this picture last December as Sierra was starting to learn what it means to say "Go Hokies!!!" This September she is learning how to say "Touchdown!!!" Even though the Hokies didn't pull out a win this weekend, we are still fans! Here is Sierra (with daddy), one year later, sportin' her "Hokie Gear."

Many Thoughts...

2 days down....many more to go! I really don't have much to say about student teaching, except for the fact that I am learning a lot every day. I am excited about what is to come and meeting the students next week. However, every day that I am away from Sierra reminds me that I am truly called to be her mother first and a teacher of others, second.

This is not to say that I do not feel like God has called me to teach, because I do believe He has; however, I have a stronger pull on my heart right now to be the best mother I can be, and in our opinion (me and Brian's), staying home with the kids and "training" them up is the best that we can offer.

It should be no surprise to most people that following graduation, I do not plan on teaching in a formal education setting. This has been something that was worrisome to me, considering how administrators might view my resume one day and ask why I student taught in 2009, yet wasn't seeking a job until 20xx - when ever that might be. I have spoke to many of my mentors and professors at Regent and they all assured me that it would be fine. Administrators would understand that I felt led to stay home with my kids rather than teaching right away after graduation. Although, I don't want to discount my love for teaching and the joy that I feel when I am in the classroom. I really hope people won't discredit my degree and all the work that I have done to get to this point. I really am thankful for how God has orchestrated this path and I am excited about what is to come; even if it might be many years down the road from now.

With all that said, I am really missing my girl during the day; I have gone from spending 10+ hours of wake time a day with her, to only about 2 hours of wake time a day. This is really hard on my heart! I know that she is in good hands though and I wanted to share with you Courtney's blog because she is posting many pictures and exciting news about what they are doing each day. She is also giving me "Sierra's Daily Details" every afternoon, which is a sheet filled out listing how many times she pooped/peed, how long she slept and what time, what she ate at every meal, and then all the activities that she did that day. Courtney really is a wonderful blessing to Brian and I and we thank God daily for placing her in our life. It was totally ordained by Him alone. We are overjoyed knowing that Sierra is having so much fun and that she is getting to do many things with Courtney and her dear little boyfriend "JD." I would be lying though if I said I wasn't just a wee bit jealous. I miss my baby girl!!! :(

Check out Day 1 HERE and Day 2 HERE and keep checking back daily for more pics and updates of all the fun Sierra is having!!!

Newest Adventure

As most of you know, on Monday I start my Student Teaching Internship. Now, I have been told by others that this will be the busiest time of my life and although I usually just listened and said "okay", I did not fully realize it until now. On Thursday I attended a meeting on campus with the Internship coordinator and many of the University Supervisors for the School of Education at Regent. I also received my Internship "handbook" and got a briefing on what is expected of me over the next 16 weeks. I believe it was at this point that I realized the fullness of what "busy" really means.

Aside from a full-time internship, I am also taking a required course and maintaining the other responsibilities that have seemed to fill my days up until this point. I know what many of you are thinking.... "This is the last we will hear from Karen until Christmas!" and although that might be true on this blog (hopefully not though); you will be happy to hear that I am required to keep, update, and maintain a blog during my Student Teaching Experience.

Of course I wanted to invite all of you to check that blog out, so in case you don't "see" much of me on here; hopefully you can keep up with things over there! The site is Endless Echoes and I hope you will come check it out!

As for life with the Millers, I do assure you that I have much to blog about. In fact, I currently have 51 posts waiting in my drafts folder. Oh, how I would love to get to them all some day!!! My dear friend Kristen often posts "Way Back Wednesday" posts; I might have to steal her idea each week and create (many) "Way Back" posts to catch up on things like pictures of Sierra's first birthday, her first steps on video, pictures of our beach trip in May, etc. I will dream big people!!! Until then, check out my new blog and please keep praying for us! This is promising to be a very adventurous season for all of us!

New Job

As most of you know, I will begin my Student Teaching Internship in 2 weeks time. I am very excited, but also nervous about writing all kinds of lesson plans, doing a great job, and most of all leaving my sweet kiddo with a babysitter all day, every day. My life as I have known it over the past 2 years and especially the past 16 months will definitely be taking a different turn for the next 16 weeks. However, that is not the "new job" I spoke of when I titled this post.

Coming this February, I will be taking on a New Job that will change our lives forever. What will my new job title be you ask???

I will go from "Mama to ONE" to

"Mama to TWO"!!!!!!!!

Yep! That's right, on or around February 24th, we will become a family of 4!!!! Words can not express how excited we are about this wonderful blessing and we continue to thank the Lord for giving us this blessing of new life. He certainly provides and we are so thankful!

This morning we had an appointment with our midwife and were able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. Oh, what a wonderful sound it is!!! We are currently into our 13th week of pregnancy and the baby is doing very well. The heart rate sounded strong and healthy and was beating around the mid to high 150's. Even Sierra enjoyed hearing the noise on the Doppler, although she is still too young to understand that Mama has a baby in her womb; but we are sure that she is going to be the best big sister!!!

Unfortunately this pregnancy has not provided any relief when it comes to nausea and vomiting. However, I have commented that it is not as bad as it was during my first pregnancy. I am not sure if it really is not as bad, or if it is just because I have Sierra to keep me busy and keep my mind off of it. Either way, I have experienced nausea just about every day and have been vomiting about 1 time per day; but my appointment today revealed only 2 pounds lost since my last appointment 4 weeks ago. The past two days have not been so bad and I am hoping I am on the upswing of things. Time will tell.

We thank you all for your continued prayers for me, our family, and this little darling baby as s/he continues to grow. We will be sure to keep you updated as time goes on.

16 Months Old (Almost)

Sierra is almost 16 months old! Wow! Where does the time go? I know I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would share some fun pictures I have taken over the last couple of weeks. Sierra is getting so big and growing up so fast. At 15 months she had a "language explosion" and is talking sooo much! I really should make a list of all the things she can say, just for memories sake, but basically she can say just about anything you ask her too; at least she attempts to say the word.

Some of her favorite words are:

Please

Thank you

More

Mama

Daddy

Kitty

Mimi (what she calls my mom)

Papa (what she calls my dad)

No

Milk

Cheese (both that we eat and what we say when we see the camera) :)

Baby

Tissue

Bible

Amen

Book

Water (to which she calls it "wa-wa")

Eat

Hi

Help

Uh-Oh!

Bye-Bye

Night-Night

Bath

And I am sure there are many more that she knows, like fish and keys, which she says when she sees them and knows what they are. It is amazing to me how much she talks now and I really contribute a lot of this development to her signing. Some people have said that they believe sign language is a "language inhibitor" - Well, certainly in our case, this has not been so. Sierra probably knows and does over 15 signs and at 15 months was starting to speak every single one of those signs. It really is amazing to me how they learn and develop. What a blessing she is to us!!! I can't believe 16 months have come and gone. Thank you Lord for her precious sweetness. Our lives would not be the same with out our sweet Sierra!

Our Big Girl!

Always making silly faces. Sierra is so expressive.

Another silly face.

She loves to play on her piano.

She plays beautiful music. :)

Sometimes (when we are home and not traveling) Sierra likes to spend the days just like this, relaxing in just her PJ's and diaper!

Sierra somehow has "borrowed" this ball from her cousin Pierce all summer and she loves it. It is small enough for her to hold in one hand. :)

Our happy girl.

This is her favorite place in our living room. Not exactly sure why, but she loves to sit on our wood stacker (which is not in use during the summer) and play with her toys. She is just too cute!

Sitting and playing.

Coloring is one of her new favorite pastimes. She loves to color in her activity books with her crayons. She knows just where her crayons are stored and asks for "help" when she wants them. Mommy likes to color too, so it is fun to do together. :)

Sierra doesn't want to grow up too fast either. In fact, she still thinks she is big enough to fit in the bin where the blocks go.

2 years and counting...

Our two year wedding anniversary came and went, just like many of the days this summer have. However, I would be remiss not to mention how wonderful it was to celebrate with my hubby and spend time praising God for the love He has given us.

Our love story is one that only God alone could have written and we are so very thankful for that. His blessings on our love and our lives have been truly overwhelming. I love Brian so very much and it only grows each and every day. He is truly my best friend and I am so thankful for him and all that he does for me, Sierra, his family, and his community. He truly has a servant's heart and I am thankful that he serves and protects us every single day.

To celebrate our 2 years of marriage and our 19 years (yes, really!) of friendship we decided to pamper ourselves with a couples "Rekindle Package" at Nesbit Spa and Salon in Richmond (one of my very favorite places on Earth). Thank you to my wonderful parents who watched Sierra for us so we could enjoy each other and our time together. The package included: champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, a hot bath for 2, a steam room, and then 60 minute side-by-side massages. Oh, it was pure bliss!!!

After returning home to freshen up, we took some family pictures together and then headed out to dinner for 2 at Maggiano's Italian Restaurant. It was a perfect day! Simple wonderful! Here are some pictures that I snapped from the day.

Home Sweet Home

We are HOME (for a few days at least)!

The beach trip to Corolla, NC with my family last week was truly amazing! God has been so good to bless us with wonderful parents, siblings, and nephews. Words definitely can not do justice to explain the amazing time we had. We laughed, we cried, we celebrated, we reminisced, we played games, we talked, we relaxed, we played, we swam, and we ate (constantly)!!! Wii fit gladly told me that I had picked up 4 pounds and Brian, 6 pounds! Thanks vacation!!!

Seriously though, we truly are blessed beyond measure and I personally would not be the person I am today with out the love, friendship, and support of each and every one of those people that we spent time with last week. I am sad it has come and gone and already counting down the days until next year!!!

Here are (several) pictures from our fun-filled week. Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Large Quantities of FUN!

Today we leave for a much needed and much anticipated

"Family Beach Vacation!" with all 13 family members in tow.

Don't worry about us, I can assure you that there will be A LOT of this going on...

Followed by A LOT of this...

Intermingled with MUCH of this...

Ending each day with a LARGE amount of this...

And beginning each day with MANY of these...

I will (hopefully) share MANY pictures upon our return.

Blessings to each of you!

Sissy's Surgery - With UPDATES

UPDATE: Saturday @ 9pm - I got a chance to talk with Sissy this evening and she is talking & sounding so great!!! However, she is not feeling great. The pain in her head is intense and the IV meds are only helping for about an hour, then wearing off. She is having trouble keeping any food and oral meds down, so those are not able to bring any relief. She is also weak and dizzy when she stands. She told me that she falls right over to her weak side. These things are all to be expected after undergoing brain surgery; but she is strong-willed & feeling frustrated. I am hoping that she will try and relax and take it easy on her self. No one expects her to be "super women" and healing and recovery will come at its own pace. Please continue to pray for her and for my Aunt Kathy who is spending hours at her bedside doing those things that only great moms do (like cleaning up our vomit when we are sick!). Sissy is hoping that she will be moved to the step-down unit tomorrow (Sunday) and will be discharged on Tuesday. I will post more updates as I get them and as I get the time to do so. Thank you for your continued prayers.

UPDATE: @ 8:00pm - Sissy has been moved to the Neuro-ICU & she is recovering. She is doing good. I actually saw a picture of her (I would post it here if I knew she wouldn't kill me later - haha). She looked great, not a lot of swelling and they only bandaged her left side where the incision is, rather than wrap her whole head. They used to do that to Daniel and it always looked very interesting. Her mother (my Aunt Kathy) is in with her & is planning on staying with her all night. She is eating ice chips right now & talking. She smiled when her husband walked in the room and was happy to see everyone.

Praises to report: All muscles are in good working order!! The doctors said the tumor tissue looked to be benign (Pathology report will hopefully confirm that). Bleeding during surgery was controlled & there was minimal blood loss! Praise God!!!

Specific prayer requests for during the night: She is feeling very nauseous and is experiencing a lot of pain, the meds are not currently strong enough for her. And she is having trouble resting because there is a constant ringing in her damaged ear. Please pray for comfort and rest throughout the night. Thank you again for all the prayers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE: @ 2:45pm the doctors began the hour and a half long process of closing up Sissy's skull. They were able to remove 90% of the tumor. 10% of it was completely entangled in the facial nerve and was unable to be removed. They were not able to spare her hearing and she lost 100% of her hearing in her left ear; but that was expected and Sissy was okay with that risk. She will have some drooping/numbness in her facial muscles, but hopefully over time and with rehab, she can regain all of it back. Once she is "back together" and bandaged up, she will be moved to Neuro-ICU. Hopefully then, she can have visitors and I will get another update. Thank you so much for your continued prayers. They are so much appreciated by me and my family members.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know it has been a while since I posted. Sorry. I thought I was going to be better during the summer months, but it turns out, we have been so busy this summer. The last time I posted on June 26th, I was packing and preparing to get on a flight with my mother and Sierra to Rochester, New York. We were going there because my dear cousin, Sissy, was scheduled to have brain surgery on Monday, June 29th.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Background Info: In February, Sissy started experiencing headaches and medications were not controlling the pain. The doctors continued to tell her that it was hormonal because her birth control recently changed. However, in late March/early April when she started experiencing hearing loss and ringing in her ear, the doctors decided to take a second look. A few days later, an MRI revealed that she had a brain tumor on the left side of her brain, sitting on her auditory and facial nerve. At that point, Sissy was given several options and she consulted with many doctors. She agreed that surgery was her best option at this point. So her surgery was scheduled for Monday, June 29th.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fast forward a few months: Upon our departure for Rochester on the 28th of June, we learned that the doctors had canceled the surgery. Seriously???!!! Apparently, Sissy's surgery was listed as a "white sheet" procedure, meaning that it was not urgent; and because there were other patients that needed to have brain surgery that were more urgent, Sis got the bump! So, needless to say, we just spent our week hanging out and visiting with family (pictures to come - I promise).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, that brings me to today. Friday, July 10th was the new date selected for the surgery and yes indeed, this time it will happen. In fact, the surgery has already started and as I type this, the doctors are working to complete a total resection of the tumor. I am asking for prayers. Please keep Sissy in your prayers. I know she was very anxious and nervous yesterday and this morning. I so much wish I could be there with her at this time; but we are leaving (once again) for our family vacation to the Outer Banks on Sunday. (This also probably means another blog hiatus for a while - Sorry about that)!

I will try to keep you all updated on Sissy's progress. For those of you that are on Facebook, I am updating my status every time I get information from Rochester, so you can stay tuned in on there as well.

Thank you for your continued prayers for Sissy, her family, and her doctors.

God bless!