I interupt my Guatemala story for a brief update...

Before Surgery
(can you believe he practically walked on it, with the help of trees for crutches, for 5 days!)

After surgery, Hooray for American Medicine!!!

I will continue our story about our trip to Guatemala, I just had to interrupt it for just a moment to record the happenings of today. So on our trip Chad really hurt his ankle. Well when we got home he found out that he needed surgery to repair it pretty quickly. So Monday he met with the orthopedic surgeon and then yesterday had surgery. He is resting now and seems to be tolerating the pain. But when he was coming out of surgery and was still under anesthesia mixed with all of the narcotics they were giving him, he was quite funny. If you know Chad you know that Chad is a talker but wow check out what he was saying...

1. Told the nurse that his wife needs a new car because the heater broke before last winter, then decides that a camp fire would probably work in the car and then he starts singing "There once was a man named Michael Finnegan..." and says how much fun it would be to sing around the campfire in the car.

2. He told the nurse that just because he was scratching his head did not mean that he had lice. But the Guatemala kids had lice, but if they itched their head too much it would bleed and than that would go on their medical record and Beneficial doesn't like to insure people with bleeding, lice heads on their medical records.

3. When the nurse came into the waiting room to get me she called me "Snookums" She said that that is what Chad asked her to call me and to not let me deny that that is what he usually calls me.

4. He also sang some sort of song about being a police man from his child hood and said that he never wanted to be a police man.

5. He said that he will not be playing any more soccer even though he knows that he could have gone Pro!

6. He said that he is the BEST that Beneficial has and that HE is definitely a "keeper"

7. He announced that he could not find his deodorant, so he had to use his wifes and that he smells like flowers.

8. He told them that his wife thinks he looks "hot" in a hat

9. He didn't want a pedicure right now because it would probably hurt. (he has never had a pedicure and thinks guys who get them are not manly guys)

10. He said that for our anniversary (which is today) that we should go to Carrabbas and then he changed his mind because he thinks that now with the screws and plate in his leg he would set off the metal detector there. So maybe we should just get take out and then he used his two fingers to show us "walking, walking with our takeout"

11. He announced that he couldn't believe that he was the first guy ever to get operated on with out using any medications (which he was high on) and would they please "Bring on the Meds!"

12. He was telling a story about when he went to prom his friends were drinking alcohol but he never did and now (after the surgery) he kind of felt like he had drunk alcohol but that he could "articulate himself very intelligently even WITH Narcotics" Not like his friends who were drunk.

Me and the nurses had a few good laughs, in fact she got a notepad for me to write all of this stuff down. Chad is doing good. He got 1 plate and 8 screws just above the inside of his ankle. He will down for about a week. We have some really great pictures that the nurse took with a digital camera so I am hoping to scan those and show you all. If nothing else this is forcing Chad to take some time and relax.

Guatemala Part Two

The village women walking down the path, most with out shoes on.

Beautiful Country! There really was layers of mountains behind each other, I have never seen anything like it!

That is not my camera being fuzzy, that is really what it looked like.

April 20: We wake up early and I mean early! The jungle is very noisy. First of all there are these huge bugs in the trees that are so loud, it's piercing. Then we have the chickens and the roosters who start their crowing and cackling at about 2:30am then there are some type of birds who call out and their friends call back, this happens back and forth until one of them gives up. I have never heard anything quite like the jungle noises. Any how so we rise and shine ready to start the day. We have a great little breakfast consisting of corn tortillas (which we ate at EVERY meal) mangos and pineapple, beans and fruit juice. Then its time to work! There were all types of jobs. Some people were helping to build a foundation for a new kitchen, others were carrying sandbags and concrete blocks down a very long, steep path for making concrete, there were cement slabs that needed to be poured for wash basins, a block wall that needed to be painted with a concrete sealer. My first job was to help paint the wall and Chad went with 4 other guys to lay the concrete slabs for the wash basins. The heat and humidity started pretty early that morning, but the village was buzzing, everyone energetic and anxious to help.

This is the wash basin that will go on the concrete slab that
Chad and the guys had just poured.

The group after the wash basins were put in.
Such GOOD people we worked with!

As a side note Chad was most looking forward to playing soccer against the Guatemalans. They are know for their soccer (futbal) skills. So as Chad is working he keeps talking "trash" to the villagers using body language and interpreters, saying things like he can "take them" on the soccer field, and that he is so great at soccer etc. (all in good fun for both Chad and the villagers of course)

So after lunch I get a new job of helping carry sandbags down the mountain (not an easy task by the way). We had to be very careful to always keep hydrated because of the heat and humidity we were told to drink a large water bottle every hour. Anyway these bags were heavy and the ground so uneven down these paths so we decided to teach the villagers how to form a line up the path and pass the sandbags down from person to person which made things much easier especially for me and the other ladies. The villagers kind of laughed at us because they are incredibly strong and we are not! Some of the men would put the big bag on their back and attach a rope around the bag and across their forehead, they were freaking amazing!
This bag probably weighed at least 150 pounds!

After a full day of work we had dinner which consisted of some of the best Speghetti any of us every had, I know who would have thought in the jungle but we did have our own cook with us who brought in all of the food. With the Speghetti we had corn tortillas and fruit. After dinner we were all sitting around visiting when we look up and here comes the villagers men and boys all decked out in whatever soccer gear they had, like the brightest soccer shirts you'd ever seen. They were ready to take this "gringo" on who talked so much trash about how GREAT he is at soccer and how he could "kick their TRASH" at soccer. This was just too much for Chad, he was ready and excited to play some "serious" soccer. He ran into our tent and got his basketball shorts on and his EFY t-shirt, you know his "serious" soccer clothes. And the game began. It was the expeditioners verse the villagers. Chad made the first goal...He was fired up! Then the villagers scored two goals and this was about all that Chad could handle, he was ready to dribble the ball the length of the field to score another goal, let me first tell you that this "field" is very uneven, full of holes and has small hills through out it. (Hey we are in the jungle it's the best they've got) So Chad sees the ball, it comes to him, he is fired up starts running full speed and then...A hole. His ankle turned out and down he went. He heard a pop. The game stops and then I hear the words "KERBY DOWN!" I thought to myself "dang it Chad, you are not 18!" I know supportive huh?! CHAD DOWN! The villagers came running!

The guys start carrying him off of the field and he is some pretty amazing pain. He hurts. He get's some ice and some medicine and is officially "out" of the game...FOREVER!!! No one is sure what he has done to it, we are at least 10 hours away from any major hospital. So he just kind of deals with it. We had a Physicians Assistant and a dentist with our group, so we did have some medications but not much else...unless he wanted a tooth pulled. Needless to say it was a long night!

No more soccer for you! This is the night it happened, it actually grew to three times this size and the bruising went clear up to his knee.

Were Back!

Chad and I just before we loaded onto the boat for the 2 1/2 hour boat ride. On our way to Puerto Barrios

Early morning in Puerto Barrios

It is so good to be home! Guatemala was so amazing! We really loved it. We had so many great experiences that I hope I can express in my words how great it really was. I am going to try to do a couple of days at a time so that way I don't have one super long post.

We flew out on Friday April 17 at 12:00 noon. Our flight was 2 hours delayed so we were worried about missing our connecting flight in Houston. Well we got into Houston and they rushed our group off of the plane, out a back door, on a bus that took us across the entire airport. Apparently they were holding our connecting plane for over an hour for our group. Then we were on our way to Guatemala. Landing in a third word country was quite different than the USA. Very dirty, unorganized, and men with loaded machine guns every where you turn. We were picked up by shuttle and taken to our hotel. A quick swim in the pool and a good nights rest was very welcomed. When we woke we had a great little breakfast and we were off.

April 18: Happy Birthday to Chad. We loaded the bus, which was quite nice and pretty comfortable. I presented Chad with a little MP3 player that some friends helped me record on before we left. I had as many people in our ward as I could contact, come and record happy birthday greetings to Chad. It was great and he was very surprised. We were on the bus for about 5 hours and we made one pit stop at a little convenience store as soon as we unloaded we were approached by at least a dozen women and children trying to sell us cashews. They were balancing baskets of them on their heads, very interesting and a little uncomfortable. After the bus ride we had a nice lunch of chicken, rice and fruit and then onto the boats. We had three motor boats to take our group to Puerto Barrios. This boat ride was awesome, a little bumpy and rough but wow what a way to see Guatemala. It was beautiful and amazing. There were at one time little canoes with children no older than 5 in them, trying to get money from us. Which they did because they were very cute! The boat ride lasted 2 and 1/2 hours.Happy Birthday Chad!

We got into Puerto Barrios that evening, checked into our hotel which was pretty interesting. We had a nice dinner consisting of chicken, rice and fruit. After dinner that night, the waiters brought out a pastry with candles in it for Chad and we all sang to him. The bugs were out strong here, so the bugspray came out of the bags and from this point on we were pretty much coated in bug spray and hand sanitizer.

April 19: Rise and shine! We had an early breakfast, some quick picture taking and then back on the bus. We then road the bus for 4 hours and then stopped at a police check point. Which was dirty and old. Not the ideal place for a potty break, but when you got to go...you go! Then we loaded on one of two 20 passenger vans with open windows. And we drove for 2 hours on a dirt, bumpy road up the mountain. Now this country was beautiful. I was just praying that we would not tumble down the 1000 foot cliffs that were next to us on this dirt road and I prayed that another car would not be coming the other way. I held my breath more than once! But it was beautiful. Chad teaching the boys outside of the church
how to do the fist explosion.
The little girls just outside of the church, after Sacrament meeting

We then stopped to attend Sacrament meeting, in our yucky clothes...No skirts, just pants or capris, but that was ok, we were welcomed with open arms. It was so cool to go to this little church deep in the jungle and to sing "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet" in three languages (Spanish, Catchee and English) and knowing that we were singing about the same man. So dang cool! Then we were off to the village of Chimaxyat, about 30 minutes away. We continued to drive up our windy, cliff lined road until we turned a corner and wow what a sight! There linning the tiny road were these beautiful people. Dark skinned, dressed in color, women wearing skirts and flip flops or no shoes at all, shying away from their new visitors and the men in work boots- some with holes in them, T-shirts that obviously they didn't know what they said, I saw one with a George Strait concert shirt on and another with a Kentucky Derby shirt. And children, lots of sweet smiling children. They were so excited for us. We had quite the welcome. When we got out of our vehicles the men and boys lined up to take our luggage, tents and supplies...We couldn't get near our stuff, they were so anxious to serve. Chad immediately taught the children how to do the nuckle hit (I don't know what it's called but when you hit your hand with theirs and you have a closed fist). The kids loved it. We then followed the villagers down to the village. The surroundings were beautiful. They had a program ready for us. They were dedicating the new school building that last year Chad's company started helping them with. They were so excited it was completed. After a prayer of some sort in their language (Catchee) the party began. They had music they were playing with home made instruments and lots of dancing. As our welcome meal the villagers donated food to us (they have very little, so this was huge) and made us a welcome soup. Which was some sort of broth with a part of a chicken in it as well as rice and homemade corn tortillas. I felt like I was on a mission. I ate what I could which was a lot more than I thought. It was interesting to have all of these little faces watch you eat knowing that because you are eating they are not! Wow, what an experience. After dinner we set up camp and continued with the dancing and music.

Our camp was on part of their soccer field
I had brought some bubbles with me so I got those out, those kids went nuts! They loved the bubbles, something so simple and they were extatic. As the day turned into night we settled in our tents and crashed, we were all very exhausted.The kids in the village LOVED the bubbles

Update...

As I said in the last post, my Dad had a CT scan yesterday. It showed a small mass in his brain. He just finished up with an MRI, which showed a much clearer picture of what they're dealing with. It is a small lesion (tumor) that is cancer on his brain, not a stroke. They are going to perform radiation surgery. They won't have to cut him open at all (thank goodness), but hit 5-6 different lasers at different angles at his lesion at the same time. The neurosurgeon said he feels this is all it will take to kill that tumor and prevent more from coming.

My Dad will have to take steroids to keep the swelling down, and one of the side effects is massive swelling, but it's not an absolute, meaning the doctor had to tell us it's a side effect, but he's confident all will be fine and Dad can continue on with his life and there won't be any more problems. As far as the brain tumor goes. We still have every thing else to deal with. But this is good news.

I have had such a difficult time these last few days, Chad and I are scheduled to leave for Guatemala. We have been debating what would be the best decision. After much prayer we have decided to continue on to Guatemala. We feel peace and believe that my dad and my mom will be ok. Chad and I are going to dive into the work we have to do there and really get to know the culture and these great people we have heard about. Thanks to all for your prayers, service and continued faith on our behalf.

The Latest...

Well today we spent the day up at Huntsman hospital. My dad received surgery. He got his hip replacement taken completely out. The doctor put in an antibiotic ball in it's place. The surgery went as well as what they expected. The goal is to get the infection gone and the pain lessened so he can continue with his Chemo treatments. We were somewhat optimistic when the doctor came out and told us he was finished. Then we waited 2 1/2 hours for him to come out of recovery. When they finally brought him up he was not himself. He was talking very strange and singing. He did not know who I was or my sister. And his right side was not functioning. This concerned the doctor. They immediately sent him to do a cat scan on his head and neck. They are not sure but there is a possibility that he might have suffered a small stroke. We will know more in the morning. Needless to say I have never had a more emotional, up and down day. With my dad pretty "loopy" on the medication we were either laughing or crying or we were laughing to keep from crying. At one point he tried to speak Spanish to the Spanish nurse...My dad does not know Spanish but sure thought he did. I hope and pray that he will recover soon and that the pain will be lessened. Time will tell.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We had a very nice morning. It started out with Easter Baskets with Jammies, Swim Suits, Flip Flops and Webkins oh and of course some chocolate too. It was also nice getting to have Chad home with us in the morning, we usually don't get to see him at all on Sunday mornings so this was a great treat!

The kids giving each other "bunny ears".

Chad gave the little kids "horsey rides" all morning. Here he is trying to show off his "skills" of doing push ups with
three kids on his back...He only did one!

The kids were anticipating the Easter Egg hunt we had down stairs.

Seriously how cute are these kids,
this is just a close up of Sydney and Andrew.

In their Sunday Best! The kids all got new Easter clothes but poor Raegan didn't try on her dress until today and it was way to big so she had to wear this one (the polka dots) that she got two Easters ago. Oh well, I guess we already have next years Easter dress bought.
Happy Easter!

The Fun Never Stops!

Yesterday seemed like it was going to be just a typical day. I left my house at 7:00am to pick up my parents so we could head up to the Huntsman Cancer Facility for my dad's check up. It was actually to visit with the oncologist to figure out when his Chemo would begin again. Since his surgery 2 weeks ago he has been in more and more pain. Everyday it has gotten worse. To see your father's eyes well up with tears everytime he has to stand up really gets to you after a while. Any how this was supposed to be a routine check up and I was going to be home at 10:30am. Well his doctor took one look at him and the amount of pain he is in and called in his other doctors and nurses. We had about 4 doctors and 4 nurses in his room. At that moment a decision was made. They needed to admit him ASAP and get him into surgery...Again. We had very little time to prepare. They got him all ready for surgery and informed us that it would begin in 15 minutes. My mom and I were very nervous. My dad really wanted a blessing. I was able to go to the front desk and ask if they could find two priesthood holders to come and administer a blessing for my dad. Sure enough about 10 minutes later two men in scrubs showed up to give my dad a blessing (definitely a bonus to living in UT). So surgery was performed and sure enough my dad's hip had filled back up with infection, the antibiotics apparently are not working. So now he is resting up at Huntsman for now. The lab will culture the infection and if it comes back positive than the next step is major. He will have to have surgery next wednesday to take out his hip and put in an antibiotic spacer and they probably would not put a hip back in. The doctor said that this is the last resort that they like to do but with the infection and pain that my dad is in it looks like it will be his best option. We continue to go day by day with this and again I cannot thank those who have helped me and my family out enough. We really are blessed!

Disneyland is for Families!

This was the conversation Chad had with Tyler today:

Tyler: Hey dad, my soccer coach told us that if we win every single one of our games that he would take our whole team to Disneyland!
Chad: Wow Tyler, are you serious? That is a great reward.
Tyler: Yeah! I told the team that I hope we loose at least one game.
Chad: What? Why would you want to do that?
Tyler: DAD! I wouldn't want to go to Disneyland without my family!! That wouldn't be any fun at all! Yeah, I really hope we loose.

Tyler is such a family guy! I thought this conversation was so dang funny. I hope he stays this way for a while longer!!! I agree, Disneyland wouldn't be very fun without our family!

What is up!

Here are just a few random pictures.
Andrew got glasses! He looks so dang cute. I think he definitely looks like a mini Chad. Though personalities are SO different. Andrew is my quiet, thoughtful, reserved child, totally content to be by himself doing his own thing. And Chad is not! Chad moves 100 miles a minute, can't sit still, loves to talk, very personable and is SUPER energetic. You gotta love them both, every house needs at least one of each...right??!!!!

The other day I was sitting on the couch talking on the phone to a friend. Max likes to be wherever I am. Well he was just playing on the floor next to me when it got really quiet...This is what I found, Max sound asleep behind the couch I was sitting on.
(Don't you love his "Where is Waldo" pajamas!)

And FINALLY our passports came. We were getting very nervous. It took us FOREVER to get our birth certificates from the state of Arizona. We were already cutting it pretty close. Well the passports finally came. Now all that is left to do to get ready for our trip is our vaccinations and a few travel supplies. It's pretty cool to have a passport and think that we can go anywhere anytime (well lack of money and six kids does damper that a little) but still it's exciting!