Day 3 of 21

It was a difficult week this past week, preparing to say goodbye to Janna for 3 weeks.  I (Cory) can visit with her, but the boys and Clara are not allowed to visit, although we might be able to pull some strings during the third week to get the older boys in.  3 weeks seems like a long time to be away from family (because it is, especially when it is not by choice), but we can make it - mainly because we have to make it.  And more importantly, Janna has to make it as well, which she will - again, because she has to.  

Janna has started her chemo treatments.  The doc said it would take 4 days for the side effects to start.  She started on Friday night and the side effects started Saturday.  She has no appetite but is doing the best she can to force herself to eat.  She was pretty nauseous at first, but it looks like the docs have her on a good anti-nausea medication now.  She's pretty tired as well, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing.  If she can sleep through the next 3 weeks, great!  She never really got over having a baby 5 weeks ago, since it has been almost all doctor appointments and hospital stays since that time.  It's a blessing that she can now get some much needed rest, although we'd all definitely prefer to have her get rest at home.

She is having two high-intensity treatments a day for the first seven days.  She is also scheduled to get a chemo drug injected into her backbone tomorrow, just in case the Leukemia has spread into her spinal cord (no record or proof that is has, just preventative right now, thankfully).  She seems pretty resigned to the fact that she is going to continue to be poked and prodded and shoved into loud machines over the next 5 months because she understands that this must happen in order to make her whole again.  

There is a lot of back-story to how she got to where she is today that I'll share in later posts.  We really have received a lot of blessings in the past 5 weeks, all which overshadow the trial we're being asked to pass through at the moment.  No, I would have never chosen this to come upon Janna or ask my boys to try to live a normal life while wondering just how sick mommy really is or if she will ever get better.  It's not fun being apart - all the boys are reacting to it, but they are incredibly resilient (not to mention miracle baby Clara), and they also understand that she must be apart from us now so she can spend A LOT more time with us in the near future.  

We have faith and hope - faith that this is in the Lord's hands and He is in control - that He will continue to inspire the doctors to treat Janna as she needs to be treated to make it through this disease - faith that whatever may come, the Lord will be with each of us.  And hope for a better and brighter future together - hope that in 3 weeks, Janna will be able to come home and the doctors will find that the cancer is in remission.  And if not, our hope and faith must continue, because I'm not sure what we could do without it.

Thanks to everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers.  Please keep them coming!!

Leukemia

Not in the plans - not even a thought about it up until about a week and a half ago.  Janna has leukemia -  Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  We're going to George Washington University tomorrow (Friday, March 1) and Janna will start her three week treatment to rid herself of the tumor.  She'll be back in April, May, June and July for short(er) 5-day stints for additional treatments.  More info to come -

Beach Trips

We really like going to the beach.  Thanks to the generosity of some friends, we were able to have two lovely trips within the last few months....with a FREE place to stay!  In the spring, we hit up Myrtle Beach, SC.  

Our accommodations here were thanks to our friends the Kominus's (who Cory met through work).  The home was actually about 20 minutes from the beach in a tiny SC town.  There was a LOT of land.  Each of the kids got to take a turn driving the golf cart around the property.  How fun is that?

I loved this tree.  It said "south" to me.

Mack always makes a point to stay faaaaar away from the water.

The view across the street from the front yard.  A little different than our suburbian life.

At the end of the summer we took our annual trip to Chincoteague Island, VA with our friends the Evans.  Accommodations here are thanks to the Evans's Grandma and Aunt.  

Mack happy to not be near the water.

Two very notable things about this trip.
1. My boys played in the waves for the first time!  We've gone to the beach at least a few times a year since living in Virginia, and each time they've gotten a little more comfortable with the ocean.  This time, I found  myself playing in the waves with all my boys (except Mack)!  I loved it and so did they.  The Atlantic is a good place to introduce wave jumping...not quite as intimidating as those Pacific waves.
2. We totally saw dolphins playing in the water.  I have always wanted to see whales and/or dolphins doing their real thing in their real habitat.  Diana was the first to see them.  Each time I saw a fin or a tail come out of the water, I squealed like a little girl. I think Cory got a bigger kick out of me than the dolphins.  Then, when two of them jumped out of the water side by side, just like at Sea World...well, you can imagine my excitement.  A-MA-ZING!

This picture is worth a few words

It's been a while...

New blogs coming soon.

AREN'T YOU EXCITED!!!  Now go change your pants and come back to check out what's new with the Martins.

Gabriel Gets His Yellow Belt, Part II

Below you will find videos of G doing some of his sweet Jung Su moves to earn his yellow belt. I'm sure this will of be interest only to the grandparents (perhaps an aunt or uncle or two). We are so proud of him! About a month and a half ago he wanted to quit because he was frustrated that he couldn't do it. We knew we couldn't let him quit because he needed to know he could work and do hard things (plus it was paid for :). He is not naturally confident, so we knew it would be good for him to see what he could do when he kept going. Just last week I emailed his teacher (Mr. Joe) about the upcoming test, and in his reply he said this:

"He's made a lot of improvement over the last few weeks and to be honest, I was a little worried that he wouldn't be able to test this session; but he has proved me wrong. And you can tell him that."

Awesome, right?!

So, really, this is more than just "getting his yellow belt." Besides what Gabey (I think) learned about himself, there is also the lesson I learned as his mother. My kids (particularly G, who I sometimes tend to "baby" since he had a rough start in life) can do hard things and come out on top! And I can be with them -- not rescue them -- as they struggle and feel self-doubt and insecurity.

Now, just to remember this lesson for the rest of their lives.

Another lesson in prayer.

A couple of nights before the test we reminded G that he could ask Heavenly Father for help. He said, "But that's not allowed."

Cory and I look at each other, "Whaaa??? Have we not gotten the message across to our kids that you can pray to Heavenly Father about anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"You can only pray about spiritual stuff."

Baaaaaaaaack up.

We explained to him that Heavenly Father is absolutely interested in what he is doing in his life and wants to help him. We asked him if he thought Cory wanted him to do well and is interested in what he does; of course he said yes. We reminded him that, just like his father on earth, his Heavenly Father loves, cares for, and wants to help him.

Fast -forward to the night of the test. We're eating dinner before leaving and he says (in kind of a goofy but sincere Gabey way),

"I'm nervous. I'm going to say a little prayer."

And right there he folds his arms, bows his head, and silently offers a little prayer to his Father in Heaven.

I think we all learned a good lesson there, too.

Gabriel Gets His Yellow Belt