Joel's Journey: instafriday!!!

Friday, October 7, 2011

instafriday!!!

How can Friday's come around soooooo fast??? Well, I am glad its Friday because I L.O.V.E instafriday!!!! So here is the week in iphone pictures!!!

went to an awesome wedding!!!

ready for the wedding!!!

our barn!!

no matching sox, but cute anyway!!!

a few extra passengers!!

frog, prince and a princess ! got my hair highlighted this week

this was at the guys job site, 1800' s

lots of old buildings in our town

friends, baking cookies and movies!!
.......and this 66 foot soda bottle is at Pop's Soda/gas station bout 30 min from our house on historic route 66!!

and we bought this DVD, they all loved it!

Hope you all have a great weekend and thank you for stopping by!!!

16 comments:

amy said...: I am loving doing instafriday too. It is a great way to look back over the week isn't it??
And yeah for new highlights! I have some new ones this week too. ;); October 7, 2011 at 8:49 AM
Kaleigh said...: BEST reason to do Instagram: you find people from OK! Hello fellow Okie!!!! :); October 7, 2011 at 8:55 AM
The Mershawn's said...: Thanks so much for your sweet comment! That was a nice surprise. And, thanks for the encouragement...I try to remind myself of that when it's really hard. Your family is beautiful...have a great weekend!
Amber; October 7, 2011 at 3:54 PM
Heidi Jo the Artist said...: Love the mismatched socks best!!

Just read your bio and I'm so sorry for the loss of your son.; October 7, 2011 at 4:02 PM
Brooke said...: Love that barn shot!!; October 7, 2011 at 4:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Lovely shots - I really love the pink sparkly shoes!; October 7, 2011 at 9:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Aww Lion King, what a great movie! I love the sparkly shoes!! Those wil never go out of style:) Thanks for popping by my blog, too!; October 7, 2011 at 9:45 PM
Homeschool Month by Month said...: Thanks for commenting. Children are such a blessing. I do love the mismatched socks.; October 8, 2011 at 6:19 AM
Angi said...: i love the 3rd photo oh, i love them all.

thanks for the visit!; October 8, 2011 at 6:34 AM
Teena said...: love the pics! always love how you share. Been thinking about you.

Hugs,
Teena; October 8, 2011 at 7:33 PM
Becca at One Girl said...: I like the hair highlighting - looks great and so fun for fall! I also bought the Lion King... I can admit I love Disney and once the go in the vault they are in the vault for years - you must buy them when you can!

Thanks for stopping by my blog - I love visitors :); October 8, 2011 at 7:56 PM
Katie @ Team Skelley said...: Awesome pictures, as always. Especially love the glitter shoes, Alexa would be all about them! Have a wonderful weekend!; October 8, 2011 at 8:26 PM
Kyla Armstrong said...: I love reading your comment on my blog! It looks like a fabulous week and I am so jealous of your barn and the pink sparkly shoes :); October 8, 2011 at 11:21 PM
AKat said...: Thank you for stopping by on Friday! What a darling family you have! I'm going to have to email you more details, but my husband and I lived in Edmond before moving. I love and miss Oklahoma! Have a blessed weekend with that precious family.; October 9, 2011 at 6:03 AM
Bart, Erin, Hunter, Jorden and a couple of crazy dogs said...: Love POPS - but I didn't know the soda bottle lit up like that. I guess it is a good excuse to go visit our friends again to go see that at night :); October 9, 2011 at 9:42 AM
Anonymous said...: l.o.v.e. the mis-matching socks! My oldest does that all the time. I need to embrace the cuteness more!; October 10, 2011 at 5:14 PM

Joel's Story

Joel, our 11th of 13 and a twin of Josiah, at age 3 was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, on December 6th, 2006. Joel had three perfect years of health and he and Josiah celebrated their 3rd birthday Sept. 13th, 2006. The first of Oct. Joel started having unexplained fevers for a few days and would return to active play. After the fourth round of fevers we took him to our family Dr. which they said his iron was low, so we treated that for a few weeks and took him back only to have his hemo. showing lower than before. We were referred to a hematologists and saw him a few weeks with blood checks twice a week. At a visit on Dec. 4th we showed the Dr. the bumps, (which were tumors but we did not know at the time) on Joel's head and he was very concerned and we were told we needed to admit him immediately and start extensive tests the following day. Joel went through rigorous testing and then the dreaded results were given. Joel was at a stage IV the most extensive stage, but we were hopeful that the Lord would use the means of Chemotherapy treatments to restore Joel's body. Joel endured 8 1/2 days in the hospital, came home for Christmas, and returned for his second round of chemo Jan. 3, 2007. Joel had a seizure that night after midnight and went into a coma due to a tumor bleeding in his head area and causing his brain to swell. After tests the following days, the Dr. declared Joel "brain dead" and took us to court to force us to take Joel off life support, as we did not agree with the medical field's definition of death. Our family sought to stand with the scripture, "life is in the blood,"and until Joel's heart quit beating naturally, he was living. We were making arrangements to bring him home and on January 23, 2007 his little heart stopped beating and he went to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven. Our lives are changed forever. God is faithful in the midst of this trial and we look with great hope to be with him someday.