Thursday, August 28, 2008

Finally Summer ENDS!


Whew! What an unbelievable summer that has been truly enjoyed by the entire Botkin family this year. Now it is finally over! Thank goodness we can get back to normal! We spent the whole summer focusing on having complete family moments through unbelievable events and escapades. I am so happy to have had so many special memories with Hallie and Hunter. We got to enjoy things that we had never enjoyed before. The result was great laughs, awesome pictures and simply unbelievable memories. I also wanted to take a little moment and give a wonderful thank you to those specific individuals who helped our dream of family memories become a reality, and to know that they too became a part of those fantastic memories that will forever be a part of our lives. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.


Next, today was another one of those continuing MRI assessment of that little thing located in the safety of my skull. My doctor was busy consulting with several other people to try and get the true meaning of that little growing white spot and the official conclusion is we don't know yet. Brilliant! I'm, sorry for my silliness, but I seem to believe even more than before, that every moment of my time left here on the planet is totally controlled by God. I am here to complete that thing and will enjoy life for five minutes of fifty years. Only God has this strange thing totally under control. I am happy to wake each day and enjoy that I have been given another wonderful breath of loving and fantastic life.


As this unknown thing still continues over every thirty day window I have taken a moment to think about many things. I was having a conversation with a girl starting her new classes. She was telling me all about the new changes with having to change classrooms, having many different teachers and difficult class locations. Interesting, I thought to myself. She had stated that there were many different problems that she had never before had to fix or avoid. As we sat I was thinking that so many people of all ages can see their difficult moment as either a problem or a challenge. It is very simple that every one of the unwanted and unforeseen events can be a problem to some and a challenge to others. Many look at their problems as that moment which forever negativly changes their future and creates a new outlook for them, while others see that as a challenge which is simple a bump in the road. The challenge is nothing more than that thing which makes the individual concentrate, focus and create a new way of thinking and feeling. Such hard work helps you to realize that there is truly nothing waiting to stop you in your tracks, just something to allow yourself to adapt. Funny how such a simple thing can be so difficult.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

This Just In........

Well can you believe that it has been a month since Eric's last Dr's appointment! He went to see the Dr. on Friday and he had another MRI. He has had so many he thinks he may have broken some kind of record. Anyhow the MRI basically showed the same things as last month. The area they are watching has had a little growth but nothing to be alarmed with. He also had a PET scan in July which showed no cancer. With this information they want to continue watching Eric on a monthly basis but they are feeling that it might just be the dead cells. So you are asking what does this mean? Well it means we live another 30 days knowing that everything is all right and we redo this again next month. Some of you are probably wondering how we live in 30 day increments, well it is easier when we keep busy and enjoy family time. This summer has been a very busy one for us and I know that Eric is looking forward to school starting so that we can slow down from all the activities. I guess I forgot to tell him it just means that fall ball, soccer and Cub Scouts are ready to begin! Oh yeah and Hunter starts 4th grade so the homework will be more interesting and time consuming. Well I guess it is just another way for us to keep busy and live life to the fullest. We hope that you all have enjoyed your summer and are living life to the fullest.

Love to all,
Hallie