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Here are some things that have been happening in my life:

1) My sister-in-law Chelsy and her husband Matt welcomed their third child Demetri into the world on October 26th. We are so excited to have another nephew (in a world dominated by nieces!) And a cute one he is!

2)I got to pull my niece Mikayla's first tooth out. She smiled while I did it. And then after I did it, I found out they were having family pictures the next day. Oops! :)

3)Sam is Mr. Athletic lately, running and biking more miles than I can count. He is even considering biking 100 miles from Portland to the Oregon Coast in May.

4)I have a new hobby. Well actually, I can't call it a hobby since I have only done it once, but I enjoyed it so much, I plan to make it a hobby. Shooting. Yep, that's right. I went to target practice and had a blast! My weapon of choice was a 9mm semi-automatic gun. Oh yeah, and I also shot a rifle. Talk about an adrenaline rush! No worries though, my teacher is a SWAT team member (by night) and Dentist (by day) and safety is his forte.

5) One recent day, my sister-in-law Rachel was babysitting Jocelyn for me while I went to a doctors appointment. I got the dreaded "Carrie I need you to come home ASAP" call from Rachel after Jocelyn and her daughter Bridget were "disagreeing" over who should be sitting in a chair, resulting in Bridget falling face forward on a corner bookcase, hitting her front tooth...hard...pushing it straight up into her gums/bone. I know, sounds horrible. It was. We got her into my office and got an x-ray (that's right, she is a pretty awesome 3 year old patient) and Dr. Brown sent her to the Oral Surgeon. We thought for sure it was going to have to be pulled and that she would need general anesthetic. Fortunately, the Oral Surgeon decided to leave it to see if it works its way back down on its own. So far, it is looking really good. She still looks like she is missing her front tooth since it is still pushed so far up, but it is looking better and she didn't have to have unnecessary surgery at such a young age! Oh, and the best news is that Rachel hasn't disowned me or Jocelyn as family members! :)

6) And finally, the most difficult news is that of 2 close family friends that have recently been dealt cancer in their lives. Jan, the wife of Thomas Dyer whom I have previously credited my continuance to this blog for, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The Dyers are 2 of the most thoughtful, caring, and generous people that I have ever met and Jan is not deserving of this, but takes it with a smile and is very optimistic. It is very hard to see her stricken with this, especially since she is the bread winner in her family as her husband has struggled with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for many years.
Also, Ron Hartley, who is the Godfather to both of our girls, has been dealt Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. He will be going through 6 months of chemo to try and rebuild his platelet count. Ron and his wife Sarah are very instrumental in our girls lives and the girls completely adore them. Ron is the goofy guy that plays with them at their level, but also talks to them and enjoys carrying on conversations with them. I have many visuals in my head of Genevieve sitting with Ron at church, her arms completely around his neck! As Godparents, Ron and Sarah go above and beyond with our girls. They make a point of spending quality, one on one time with each of them, on a very regular basis. As Ron goes through Chemo, his immune system is obviously shot and so we have to keep the girls away from him, something that is very hard for him to accept. We hope and pray that God has a longer, healthier life, free of cancer planned for Ron.
Our hearts go out to them and our prayers are with both families.