Today is the day we begin Tom's chemo treatment. This will be a lot different than when he had the initial chemo in Chicago. This is the "big guns" type- albeit it isn't the very strongest that they give, thankfully. What is lined up is 6 treatments, every other week for three months. We are to be there at 7 am, so we will be leaving here around 5:30. We are thankful that we don't have the big snow that lots of folks are having. The wind just started to blow here pretty hard, but not with snow so far. We appreciate the prayers as always! We have received lots of good advice on how to get ready for this. Lots of unknowns, like, "is Tom going to lose his hair?"

Our hearts are hurting for the Rogers family- they lost their husband, dad, grandfather, great-grandfather Bill on Monday in a traffic accident. We love you guys, and would like to figure out a way to go to the funeral on Saturday. It just seems impossible that we can't be there for them then.

Another place we would like to be is in Tennessee to take care of Sam- Sam had surgery on his hand yesterday. He had a work accident that left his left ring finger crushed and twisted out of place. They put some screws in there to get it back where it belonged. He says he is doing all right, but you moms know that I want to be there or have him here to wait on him hand (ha) and foot.

I am thankful for bumps in the road. Yesterday work was just miserable- I don't even want to think about what all happened. I told Tom when I got home, that I was thankful for such a bad day. That way I could have something to compare other days to, "at least it wasn't like that one day!"  And I had plenty of distractions to keep me from being tempted to worry about today's chemo treatment.

We hope that the chemo won't make Tom too ill. We know it won't be a walk in the park, but we know through God's grace and with the warm surround of prayers that it will be made better. Thanks!

A quick Tom health update to begin with. The remainder are pictures from our Thanksgiving day at Wendy and Jason's home.

After praying, several phone calls, thinking it over, Tom has decided to go with what we will call "Plan A". He will go in next Wednesday to have a "port" placed in him, and will receive his first chemo treatment. He will have a pump that will inject the chemo into the port for a couple of days, then we go back to the hospital to have it removed.  If I understand this correctly, this will be an every other week treatment, for three months. After six treatments, he will be scanned again to see if the chemo is having an effect on his tumor. And I guess we will just go from there. He thinks this will fit into his schedule pretty well, depending on the severity of the effects. And that is the unknown- we don't know how he will react to it. We pray that he will have minimal effects.

I would appreciate information from spouses of chemo patients on what to expect, how to take care of him, what precautions will have to be made. I would appreciate that in message form, rather than comments, if possible. And of course, continue to keep Tom in your prayers, specifically that the chemo have an effect on his tumor and that Tom will be able to 'bounce back' from the treatments.

And now, for pictures, especially for the aunties, uncles, cousins, grandparents that we missed over the Thanksgiving holiday. I sure have not been getting pictures like I used to- with five little people to help out with, that means the camera doesn't get picked up as much.

Saturday-

We have our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday after Thanksgiving. It just works out better for us, and we can share our kids with their other families. The day was BEAUTIFUL! Grammaw was happy to take the kids out and get some of that energy out. We now have five under 5. Calvin-4, Moses-3, Emerald-2, Isaac-1 (technically he will be 2 on Saturday, Dec. 5), and Silas one month old last Sunday. Silas stayed inside to entertain his relatives. He isn't quite checked out for slides and swings.

Thanksgiving Dinner scenes-

Clockwise, beginning at the bottom of the picture: Calvin, Verity, Emerald, Isaac, Moses, Candace, Chad.

Candace peeks around the posies.

Can we go outside, Grammaw?

"YES YOU CAN!"

I just love these chuckleheads- Calvin and Moses.

Moses is sporting a souvenir from our newest "family" member-

Buddy the dog- he belongs to Chad, Candace's boyfriend.

He is a beagle/German Shepherd mix. He has LOTS of energy. Almost as much energy as:

Emerald and Isaac.

They were having a bunch of fun in the fort.

I had the "bright" idea of taking them for a wagon ride. Which didn't really work too well- I didn't have them configured very comfortably, so it was a short ride. And that was a lot of grandchild weight- A good way to work off some pie, for sure.

"Grammaw- I'm SQUOOSHED"

New baby Silas was so sweet to hold. I snuck him off whenever possible to go and rock him. I LOVE to rock babies. Everyone got to love on him.

We are still absorbing what we learned yesterday about Tom- The doctor was able to see what has been kicking Tom's cancer count numbers up the past year or so. He has a 2 cm. tumor on the ureter, the tube that goes from his left kidney to the bladder. The doctor recommended chemo beginning in December. Tom also saw a renal (kidney) doctor yesterday- Tom will have a follow-up visit in a couple of weeks to determine how the tumor is affecting function. At this point, we are still not sure what direction to take as far as treatment is concerned. We do know that the tumor is slow-growing, so that is something to be thankful for.  We covet your prayers for helping us know what direction to go treatment-wise and cherish all the ones that have been keeping us sheltered the past year and 1/2. Thanks for all that you do for us- we feel the love!

After Sunday morning services at Lawrence, all of the kids had a great old time with the newly fallen leaves. I wish my camera had caught the colors- everything was just so richly-colored- brown and orange and yellow.

After all that playing some conked out... 

...and some didn't

 Our final visit to the hospital on Saturday before mommy and Silas got to come home on Sunday.

The senior Mortons were there- nice to see them- we share some of the nicest grandchildren, in our 'umble opinion!

Ken, Kevin; Emerald, Moses, Silas. 

Yesterday Kylee, Moses, Emerald and I got to visit Mommy, Daddy and Silas again. Moses got to get a good visit in with Silas- Emerald likes her brother, too, and was really impressed by a carton of milk that she found. Lord willing, we will go back after nap today and have another visit. Mommy was doing okay, feeling understandably not as well as usual. She is a real trouper, and has been getting up and around as much as possible.

Silas was ready for chow time.

Mama said he was too warm, so we got to see his fuzzy little self.

Last we tuned in, we met our newest grandson, Silas. His siblings, Moses and Emerald have been entrusted to myself and niece/cousin Kylee Wright to care for until Mama gets home with baby.

Kylee is amazing help, and I don't know what I would have done without her help- especially when we took the wrong exit last night on the way to the hospital. We guessed a little bit on which direction to go, then I remembered that we still had a free trial of OnStar with Tom's car- that was pretty cool. I got to talk to the OnStar lady (some people find those commercials annoying). I asked for directions to the hospital, which caused her to ask if there was an emergency. I replied, "No, my grandbaby was born there today, and we took the wrong exit."  She laughed, I laughed. Maybe we will get to be in an OnStar commercial ourselves?

Daddy gave Emerald and Moses toy vehicles last night to sweeten the deal of getting a new sibling. They have really been enjoying them. On the way home from the hospital, we stopped at McDonalds for further contraband. This baby brother thing really pays off! Moses told us this morning at breakfast that he wasn't in any hurry for his parents to come home.

They had a good time with the toys after bath. Note to mommy and daddy- they are not wearing the pre-approved footie pajamas because it was too warm last night. Video is blurry- I probably had it zoomed or something.

Good morning!!! Bright and Early- 7 a.m.!!

We are thankful to our Father in heaven that he has graciously given us and Ken and Willa Morton a new grandson, brother to Moses and Emerald, son of Kevin and Grace.

His name is Silas Alonzo Morton, weighing 9' 11 oz, 21 inches long, and has the special Morton colored hair. He arrived around 3 pm, and was delivered c-section due to some shenanigans he pulled at the last minute. Silas means 'forest'- Kevin's grandpa Morton's name was Forrest, and Alonzo 'first in battle'. I may have to edit that if I don't have it exactly correct. Moses hovered over Silas most of the time, inspecting him, and found him satisfactory.

mellowmorton has more pictures on his site if you would like to see a "fresher" version.

 I think we have a future teacher here!

We heard that there were some out in Kansas who were asking for more Calvin....more Isaac!! Here is some of what we were up to last Saturday. I think that may be the last time the sun was shining. Everybody around here is telling me that we are setting rain records for the month of October. It is pretty soggy!

Following is an excursion to the back yard, or as Calvin calls it- "Grandma's Playground"

The boys helped pick popcorn and apples- they were big help, and that evening we made us some apple pies!!

Sir Jump-a-Lot and his brother Sir Doesn't-Like-Being-Bounced.

Voicing his concerns that maybe his brother could take it just a little easier.

It's really wonderful how when you have had a bumpy week, how much more the songs and prayers and lesson meant yesterday at church. Manna! The words were so edifying and encouraging. We had a guest speaker, Kenneth Thompson. He and a large chunk of their fam were out to help daughter Heather celebrate a milestone birthday.

Special thanks to Eric and Rachel and Bill and Kathy for working out a plan to allow us to have transportation this week while Tom is in Summersville.

And thankful that today is Columbus Day- we don't get off work today, but it makes it easier for us to get things done while people assume we are closed.