A whole lot of you are subscribers to my pre-trip report but some of you may not be and may be wondering why I haven't updated in a while. I posted a long post on my pre-trip report explaining why I haven't been around and, instead of typing it out all again, I'll just copy and paste it here. Some of the "reasons" for my absense, you already know about but I don't have much time so I'll post it all. Hopefully, I can get my highs and lows written up soon.
Morning everybody! Before I write up my next installment, I wanted to offer an apology to ya'll for not replying to your posts or getting an update done.
We've had a lot going on in the McBride household so I haven't been able to stay on the Dis much. As you can all tell, we're a pretty upbeat family but there's been much heartache over the last few weeks. I'll try to explain it all without being too much of a Debbie Downer. Please indulge me for just a bit.
For those of you who are subscribed to my "Jumping, Dancing..." trip report, you already know about my aunt who was diagnosed with cancer and there's nothing they can do for her other than keep her as pain free as possible. She has been unable to attend church or spend much time with her friends and family like she usually does. She saw the doctor late last week and they have increased her pain meds and given her a B-12 shot to try and keep her energy level up. My mother is trying to deal with it as best as possible but I can tell by her mood and maneurisms that it's hitting her pretty hard so I am trying my best to keep Mama involved in things that we are doing in order to keep her mind occupied.
Last Monday, the Associate Pastor's daughter-in-law (Aly) underwent a double mastecomy. She is just 24 years old and has been battling cancer for 7 months now. On the day of the surgery, I, along with hundreds of others, fasted and prayed for this beautiful young woman. Around 3:00 p.m. or so, we heard the news that the surgery was complete and that the doctors said everything went well. She had all of her breast tissue removed in both breasts, 2 lymph nodes removed on her right side, 17 lymph nodes removed on her left, 5 drains put in under her breasts and armpits, and 2 tissue expanders put behind her chest muscles.
The C word is a word that I wish none of us ever had to go through or speak of but it makes it even harder when you see people that you love and respect battling it. Thankfully, both of these women are strong, Christian women and I believe that their faith will carry them through these hard times.
So, enough about the sad things, let me tell you about Aly's test results. Actually, I won't tell you, I'll simply copy what Aly and her husband, Josh, sent out in an email:
Wow...well today will be another day we will never forget. We just got done meeting with Dr. Litton and as if God needed to prove himself again, He did just that in a huge way. We were waiting for my appointment today, and Dr. Litton and another doctor walked in. She asked us if we had heard our results yet, and we said no. She said ,"Good, I always like to have another doctor with me when I give good results." and I said, "So, it's good?" She said, "No, it's perfect!!!!" All breast tissue and lymph nodes came back completely clear - no evidence of disease- anywhere. She was so shocked and excited, because she rarely gets to give this news. Josh and I are still in awe, although we expected my full healing. Our God is so faithful!! Please praise Him with me today. For all who prayed, fasted, and sought the Lord on my behalf...there are no words!!! At some point, I will have full-body scans to be deemed "cancer-free", but I already know what the scans will show I am just one thankful girl. Psalm 30:2 "O lord my God, I cried out to you, and you healed me!" Thank you for crying out with me!!! Our God is just amazing. I will write more today or tomorrow of details, but wanted to share this amazing news!!!
I would appreciate it if you would remember these families as they go through their fight with the despicable disease. For my aunt, there's nothing that can be done except pray that she spends her last days on this Earth free of pain. For Aly and her husband, even though the results were fantastic, there is still more that they must go through. They are so young and I pray that they have many many cancer free years together.
Okay, moving on to my other excuses for not updating.
1) Hunter is moving into high school next year and John and I had to attend a mandatory parents' meeting at the high school. This is the same high school that John, Lacey and I attended and I couldn't believe how much the school had grown over the years. They have their own fully functioning bank, courtroom, culinary arts department, robotics team, and more right there on campus. I almost fell to the floor when they told us that they expect about 1,900 students this year with approximately 600 of those being freshman. That's a whole lot of kids at one school. But, they do try to keep the freshman classes in one wing and slowly integrate them into the other parts of the school so that they are not overwhelmed making the transition from middle school to high school.
2) Hunter is first chair viola and they had their last strings concert on Monday. It was held at the high school auditorium and they didn't have the air on despite the fact that it was about 85 degrees outside. Put a bunch of bodies into an almost full auditorium and it made for one hot evening.
3) Over the course of the last three weekends, we have worked on getting our garden prepared for planting and actually planted it. It's not a super big garden but it had us working our booties off getting it all done. We have purple and green onions, garlic, about 40 tomato plants, a dozen cantaloupes, a dozen various pepper plants, rows of squash, string beans, butter beans, corn, cucumbers, okra and some kind of funky looking cabbage that I forgot the name of. We also planted a ton of various flower seeds and a row of sunflowers. On the outside three rows, we planted another row of iris bulbs. My mother had these iris growing in various spots around the yard and in the garden and they had multipled so that we made three rows for them in the garden.
4) John has two jobs that he bid on and got. One of them, he finished up over the weekend and the other, we are starting on this evening. The first one was a lot of manual labor and this next one is a lot of tedious work. But, we're going to net a good bit of money from both of them so it's worth the extra "oomph" that we are putting out on them.
In between all that, we've been doing the normal things like running a household, going to work, keeping the yard looking decent. You know...the normal stuff. Oh and Hunter went to Dallas last week on a trip with the orchestra.
Whew! Now ya'll know why I haven't been back to update before now.
I look forward to being able to stay out that late with Henry when he's older, it will be a blast!
You have a new trip to look forward to, and we have another TR to look forward to!
LOVE LOVE LOVE the interaction and the fun that your whole family has and especially how into the moment you are. AWESOME Wish I had been there!
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Booo, sad to see the end of this trip! I've had so much fun following along! But I'll console myself with the knowledge that your next trip is a month away and we'll have just as much fun with that TR too!
That's the only bad thing about a WDW vacation. 
None of them seemed to have that issue though. 
i would just like to say that i read all of your trip reports & just wanted to thank u for taking the time to write them for us to enjoy! i love that u go into so much detail, it really helps with the disney withdrawal 
Why no air!!
