Outside!!!

The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately! Jaxen would live outside if he could! That's all he wans to do is play play play! He has been trying to say more words this week, which is good b/c he is a little slower at speaking then what I would like. I think he's in the process of working on his 2 year mollers. Joyful!! He is sitting right next to me drinking his milk in his right hand and playing with my hair in his left hand!

Thank you for continuing to pray for my dad! He started a chemo regeminet this past Monday. This particular chemo is not for his type of cancer and has less then a 10% of doing any good. The dr. didn't choose to do any scans before he began this treatment which is annoying and makes me feel that she doesn't even think it will work. Please pray for him and his spirits! He has rough days and good days. He is still working full time but we're not sure how much longer he will be able to keep that up. Again, thank you for your prayers!

Mother's Day!

This is a picture of my mom and I. It's not from today but since it's Mother's Day I thought it was fitting.

What an absolutely amazing day we had as the Shatto family! God gives us Mother's Day every year as an uplifting gift that we get spoiled and loved on!

I am so thankful that I get to celebrate today with other mothers! That is not a job that I take lightly! As a little girl I couldn't wait to celebrate Mother's Day and everything that it stood for. As we were trying to get pregnant with Jaxen it was difficult to endure others be joyful on Mother's Day, as selfish as that sounds, but as I look back on that tough time on our life I believe it truly makes me appreciate so much more of what other people go through and also being a mom.

Unfortunately, you don't have to pass a test to be a parent and take a baby home from the hospital! So many people take parenting way too light hearted and not serious enough life the amazing responsibility that it is. God has placed an eternal soul in our hands that we get to shape and mold to serve Him!

Oh, for Mother's Day Brandon and Jaxen spoiled me by giving me a gift certificate to get a pedicure, a gift certificate to Charming Charlie, and my favoritest cake decorating classes!!

My funny guy

Here is a picture of my little man! This was taken last week an hour after bed time! Brandon was getting Jaxen ready for bed and being silly put Jaxen's pants on his head and was dancing, Jaxen decided he wanted the pants on his head and so Brandon gave him what he wanted and boy was it funny! He was so funny and energetic! He ran laps around the house with these pants on his head shrugging his shoulders. He makes us laugh so much!

It's so nice to have such a light hearted comedic relief during some tough days we have! We found out this past Thursday that the insurance will not pay for the trial chemo drug that the St. Louis dr. wanted him to try. So needless to say he was quit depressed and down this past week. Please keep our family in your prayers!

My baby sister is coming home this June for about 10 days so were very much looking forward to her visit! We'll be taking family pictures and having lots of family time! Looking forward to making memories!

Easter Weekend

We had an absolutly wonderful weekend! God is so very good to give us this extra time with our family as we live in Springfield and as Dad is fighting his battle of cancer! We had practiced the "egg hunt game" with Jaxen at home so during the egg hunt at church he would atleaset have an idea about what the concept is. At home it went great and he completely understood the concept. So Saturday we felt good about his hunting abilities and were confident that he could keep up with the best of them. What actually happened during the hunt was very cute. He really just wanted to play in the big open gym space. He was picking up eggs ever so often and sometimes he would put them in his basket and sometimes he would put them in his friends basket. He really couldn't care less about them all! It was funny!

Sunday we got to celebrate Christ with our amazing church family! We have the best church family there is! I wish I could put into words how wonderful it is worship with fellow believers of like faith loudly and to the top of my lungs!

A baby book moment

This past weekend we took Jaxen to his first movie theater! It was a chickie movie, Disney's "Tangled." He did amazing! I had no doubts since he's such a good movie watcher at home! He just sat on my lap and was in awe of the giant screen! He was on cloud 9 with the popcorn too! Brandon took the popcorn bucket off Jaxen's lap to eat his portion and without looking away from the screen Jaxen reached over and grabed it back and put it on his own lap to eat again! We just laughed and enjoyed the moment of our little boy having the time of his life! These are the moments!

Thankful for my Dad

Last Wednesday we took Dad up to a cancer specialist in St. Louis to see if there were any more options they could come up to treat Dad. I went with expectations they would have something that was unheard of down here in Springfield. Sitting in that room with mom, dad, and Lisa we were given the news that unfortunately they had "exhausted all medical treatments" that were known to help his cancer. The Dr. was so nice and intelligent and as he's going through this information. I sat there with a lump in my throat and kept waiting for him to say "but...this is what I think we should do!" They have put dad on a waiting list for a trial drug however this drug has not been proven to help colon cancer only pancreas cancer or lung cancer. The waiting list is very long and they only accept a few people at a time. We're not even sure his insurance will cover the trial drug. That was the Dr.'s only option.

That day is when I realized this awful disease will take my Dad's life. When he was originally diagnosed in June 2008 they said they can't cure him only treat him, however there has always been another option, another treatment, another med that can help, there's always been some good news to go along with the bad news. This time there was no good news. Since that day I have made sure to tell Daddy I love him everyday!

There are times I have to fight off being depressed and weepy and thank God for giving us these next months to enjoy every minute we can with him!

I thank God for giving me a Christian family and loving me enough to give me this time to let my dad know what he means to me! Some people lose a parent in a crash or other immediate circumstances that they don't get the chance to tell them how much they mean to them and how thankful they are for them. I thank God for everyday!

Please Pray!

Please pray today for my dad! He was diagnosed almost 3 years ago with 2 separate stage 4 cancers. Since then he has been through 2 surgeries and countless rounds of chemotherapy. 

Last Monday his oncologist here in Springfield told him there was nothing more they could do for him and that they couldn't get the cancer to stop growing. He has spots on his liver, lungs, and areas around his stomach lining. 

We are going to a cancer specializing hospital in St. Louis this upcoming Wednesday and we have an appointment at noon to see what they can do for him there. Please pray that God heals dad and gives him a full recovery! Pray that our family has peace and patience. Please pray that dads spirits stay up and positive. Thank you!