Random Pics of Ava from Winter
Now it’s Ava’s turn for some random pics from the past few months.
She took this selfie and I can’t get over how grown up she looks. We decided not to get her ears pierced again after the holes filled in immediately but she loves her clip on hoops!
We started full on home school with Ava this semester. It’s been fun to go on field trips with her. This was a trip to walk around the lake with Sookie. We also went to the Botanical Gardens in Clemson.
Ava started horse back riding this winter. She absolutely loves the horses and is excited to learn more about them and about riding.
Random Pics of Zoe from Winter
To minimize the number of posts, here are some random pictures of Zoe from the past few months.
She is determined to master the handstand!
Ready for her Valentine’s Day party at school with her Valentine’s from her daddy.
All snuggled up with her babies, Bobby and Bun Bun for watching TV on a Saturday morning.
Hiking at Table Rock
We decided to take the girls to Table Rock for a picnic and short hike. We took Winnie along with us and she loved every minute of it.
Marshmallow Fun
We’ve been trying to do more campfires recently and the girls are loving roasting marshmallows. Ava also discovered the fun of putting marshmallows in the microwave.
Belated Family Christmas
Christmas looked so different this year after DJ’s surgery. We are thankful we celebrated the 4 of us before surgery. We also had actual Christmas day together and did a smaller version of our brunch. My mom was with us and the girls opened a couple gifts from her. We opened the remaining gifts and celebrated with my grandmother, Eric, Jenn and Piper later in February. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures that day. We also celebrated with DJ’s side of the family in January. Nothing looked normal this Christmas but the girls had a great time with our family and we were all so thankful to be together after such a hard few weeks.
A New Year Visit
We had a very special visit around New Year’s. Mat and Janet, the missionaries that DJ and Gunkin lived with in Malawi for 4 months, came to SC to see the guys. They have wanted to come visit for years and when they heard about DJ’s tumor, they decided it was time to make the trip. It was so good to see them. DJ and Gunkin loved talking about their time with them in Malawi and reliving so many amazing memories from those 4 months.
Holiday Lost Teeth
Zoe ended 2023 with 2 lost teeth! She lost her first tooth (well the first lost naturally…she had one pulled years ago) on Christmas day. Then she lost the 2nd tooth on New Year’s Eve. She was so excited to get a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Ava started the tooth fairy letters with Zoe a couple months ago and Zoe latched on to her fairy, Nova. She writes her all the time and loves getting letters back from her. She was so excited to finally lose a tooth and get a prize from Nova! What a way to celebrate those holidays!
DJ’s Surgery
Two nights before DJ’s surgery, our pastor, the elders, deacons, my Bible Study leaders and a few friends came over to pray for DJ. It was a beautiful time of praying bold prayers for miraculous results and for doctors to be amazed.
On December 14th, DJ had his surgery and those prayers were answered. His neurosurgeon literally said to me that it was nothing short of a miracle when he came into recovery with us. DJ spent a couple of nights in the ICU as a precaution but he was by far the healthiest person in the ICU. He had one more night in the hospital as they were trying to track seizure activity. Then on December 17th we were released to go home. Everyone was amazed at how well he was doing an the fact that he had no deficits from the surgery.
While we were in the hospital, our family and church family took great care of our girls. We had gifts, meals and groceries delivered from church friends. We are so blessed by our loving community!
It took a few weeks to get all the pathology results back from DJ’s tumor but in the end it was a low grade tumor that responds well to treatment. When we met with the medical oncologist for the first time, he said if you are going to have a brain tumor this is the one to have. DJ will go through 30 rounds of daily radiation and then 12 rounds of chemo (that are 28 days each). It is still a very long road ahead of us but we are so thankful for all the prayers that have been answered to far.
Family Portraits 2023
I was not planning on a professional family portrait session this year. The fall was hectic and I just never scheduled anything. Well, when we got DJ’s diagnosis, I asked our friend Nicole if she could take some pictures for us because we did not want to have any regrets going into surgery. She came out to our house and got some amazing shots, the dogs even got to be included. We will cherish these pictures forever!
Our Christmas 2023
Christmas this year was VERY different! Not knowing what the outcome of DJ’s surgery on the 14th would be, we decided to go ahead and celebrate Christmas early. We had our traditional brunch after opening gifts. I hadn’t had a chance to make gingerbread cookies with the girls yet so we did that as well. It was a sweet day together as a family before heading into the unknown of surgery. There was definitely a cloud over it all but it was a special day to be together.
