~Please keep dad in your prayers~

Please be in prayer for dad. He has been in the hospital since Sunday.

He was having an allergic reaction to some meds and his heart rate

was 176.  He has pneumonia too.

He isn't doing very well...the cancers in combinatin with the

treatments and meds are taking a toll on his body. When we

visited a few weeks ago he only weighed around 113 lbs. He barely

eats or sleeps and he is taking pain medication every few hours.

He has moments where he seems to be lucid and others he

just seems to be staring out in space...the first words he said

when we walked in the door were, "God's still in control."

They have been in Texas for over a year...they have missed

Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays...life really...and my mom

is a big kid when it comes to holidays! She loves them! She

makes a big to-do about decorations, food...and there are

always games to play...and sometimes even prizes! She always
makes enough Christmas candy to share with half of the
state of KY~seriously!

It's almost as if we have put everything 'family' on hold....we

haven't even had our Easter egg hunt, our Thanksgiving Dinner or

our big Christmas get-to-gether from last year yet...My brothers

and I decided we are waiting until they come home.

I just spoke with mom and she is praying about coming home when

they release dad from the hospital. She doesn't really say what

she's thinking or feeling, but I can hear it in her voice. I

can hear that her heart is broken.

I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through...

Please pray for them...pray that mom has peace with the decision

she makes and that we are able to get dad safely home from

Houston, Texas to Mayfield, Ky.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Texas...

Mom & Kara teaching the kids how to play Bananagrams.

I don't think Ethan liked it too much.

You wouldn't think it would be necessary to post these at a cancer

treatment center would ya?

A picture from the outside...this place is huge!

To give you some idea of how big it is...this picture is part of

the Sky Bridge. It's a mile long walkway that has golf carts that

shuttle from one end to the next.

This place is called 'The Park' it's a huge room with tropical trees and

plants planted everywhere. It's a get-a-way place with chairs and

couches for people to come and relax for a while. At one end

of the park there is a wall of tiles...each tile has the name of a

M.D. Anderson Employee on it that donates part of their

YEARLY salary to the hospital's cancer research.

Isn't that remarkable!?

There are rooms like this set up all through the place...One

area has a row of fountains that go up two or three floors...another

has a huge tree made out of metal...there are piano's set up here

and there, tables with puzzles in every corner and huge fish

tanks with beautiful fish.

I didn't take very many pictures...but it's an awesome place

to see. If for no other reason, but to remind you that you

are human....and that it could be you or I there in that hospital...

looking for a cure...or wheeling our child through those halls

in a wheelchair with tubes and IVs coming out from

under their clothes....trying to smile as everyone walks by

hiding the fact that your heart is being torn out of your

chest as you stand there.

I thank God every day that I am healthy...my children are

healthy...my husband is healthy...sometimes I think we

take that for granted.

Please pray for my family...

Thank you~Tracy