December Photos (with Moma's visit!)

It has been so nice having Jonas's mom (or "Moma", as the kids call her) here with us for the holidays, and we are sad to see her go! Here are some pictures from her visit, and the first picture is of sweet Branson's 4th birthday party :)

We hope y'all had a very Merry Christmas and were able to spend it with the ones you love!! I will be out of town so I won't be posting until 2013 (woohoo! We've made it past the "apocalypse" [12/21/12]). So HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Have fun and be safe! 

Our Dear Friend, David

Surely, you remember our dear friend, David.  He was our first friend upon moving here to Shreveport.  He helped us learn all of the cool things about Shreveport, when I was hating it the most. He quickly became like a brother to me, and his family has always been so sweet to us, always lending a hand whenever we needed them.

We moved to Shreveport in early November, 2008.  I was miserable, I didn't know anybody, and I had a 7 week old baby.  Jonas was working startup, so he literally worked all the time, and we were a single car family back then, so I was stuck in the apartment.  David quickly changed that for me, introducing me to his then-girlfriend Kalie and their little girl Avery, who was only a couple months older than Keegan.

It is because of him that I began to come out of my shell and enjoy my time in Shreveport.  He and his family welcomed us with open arms and were always there, to help, hang out, tell jokes, be goofy, whatever it may be.

 It was also because of him that we were able to find such a great rental home 6 months after moving to Shreveport.  Right when we were beginning to look for a new place to live, he told us about the home directly next door to him that was up for rent. Within a few weeks, we moved in and become next-door neighbors, seeing him almost daily.

 Over the past few months, David had been experiencing some strange changes happening to his body, namely with his stools.  So a few weeks ago, he went in and had a colonoscopy.  During this colonoscopy, the doctors discovered more than 100 pal ups in the lining of his intestines.  Monday of last week (9 days ago), David had a biopsy done on the pal ups.

 The results came back the next day.  David has colon cancer.  We are all still in a state of shock about this, especially considering he is only 30 years old.  The next couple days he has some important appointments, including tomorrow, his first appointment with an oncologist.  We still do not know what stage he is at, but we do know it is at least at State I because next week, he will be having surgery to partially remove his colon and the affected areas.  Hopefully, either tomorrow or after the surgery next week, we will know more as to how bad it is and where to go from here.  

Please keep David and his family in your prayers as they proceed through this difficult time.

Bopa Comes to Town!

Jonas's dad was able to visit us a couple weeks ago, and the kids had such a great time with him! So I have to share this story with you, because it is just too funny (to me).  Delilah hasn't seen her Bopa since April, and the time before that was when she was a newborn, so we knew it was unlikely that she was going to remember him in the beginning.  Jonas had left for night shift before Michael arrived.  So I went outside to greet him, and upon walking in, Lila heard a male's voice and got super excited, yelling "Daddy!!" with a huge smile on her face.  Oh how I wish I had had a camera on her when Michael worked through the door! Expecting to see her Daddy, then seeing somebody she probably didn't recognize.. he face when from extreme happiness, to shock and fear in just a split second.  Haha!! I was cracking up.  Okay, in telling the story, I realize that it's really not that funny...but maybe if you had seen her face, you'd think it was!  :)  

While Michael was here, I didn't really take any pictures, other than of our trip to Sci-Port.  Here they are, enjoy!

 In this picture ^^ it is a partially reflective, partially transparent mirror window. So, you can mostly see Michael's face, right? Or is it Jonas's? FYI - Jonas is wearing the shirt that says "Perfect Role Model"

 The adults were able to get out one night too! It was a lot of fun :)  (plus...I love to dress up, so that's always a great bonus!

We had so much fun with Bopa, and we were sad to see him leave! Last week, while at the store with Delilah, we passed a gentleman with silver hair.  Lila went NUTS - pointing exciting and yelling, "Bopa! Bopa!" It was too cute.  I think she'll have no trouble remembering him next time!