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!

Tyler's Day

Today Chad was able to baptize Tyler. His uncle Kirk and cousin Keslee gave great talks. Raegan and Kalli gave the opening and closing prayers and Tyler sang a solo...at his request. He sang I Love To See the Temple, he was so dang cute. This meeting was one where I definitely felt close to my savior. It was really hard to not have my dad there and to know what he is going through and what my mom has been through.

There was a special spirit at this baptism.
Tyler was able to be baptized by his dad.

This is Tyler still wet after his baptism. Chad had me sneak into the men's restroom to help Tyler. He was so dang cute!

Like Father like Son. I love this picture.

Wow that is a lot of kids! I LOVE my kids!

Afterward we had a big dinner with TONS of food. Tyler was hanging out with one of his best buds, Elizabeth.

Some of Raegan's Best Buds. Allie, McKayla,
Raegan and Kylee

Update on Dad

Thanks for all of the prayers and concerns! The surgery went well. PHEW! The surgeon went into his hip and saw that there was quite a bit of infected fluid all throughout it. He was able to clean and "power wash" the hip out. The problem he did find that because the cancer has eaten away so much of the bone there are lots of little holes for the infectious bug to hide. So the chances of him having to have his hip "power washed" again is likely. They will be giving him some hard core antibiotics but with him being on chemo that is likely to fight the antibiotic. So frequent blood tests will have to be done to determine if the levels of infection rise. Does any of this make sense???? Any how he is recovering and will probably be released from the hospital on Monday if all goes well. Hopefully this will have relieved much of his pain that he has had in that area. Only time will tell. I am so grateful that my sister Tara was able to fly up here from AZ to help with driving my mom back and forth to Huntsman Medical, which is about 1 hour away. My mom will not drive in the dark, on the freeway or if it is raining or snowing, so Tara being here will help a lot! And my heck I am so amazed at the friends who rallied around me yesterday. The phone calls, visits, dinner for my hubby and kids, picking the kids up from school, the megga treat bag (ladmo bag) for the hospital, babysitting...lots of babysitting and just all around concern for my needs was overwhelming. I can't hold back the tears just thinking about the love that was shown for me these last couple of days and I wasn't the one in surgery!!!! I have the greatest friends and belong to such an amazing ward.
THANK YOU!!!

Prayers Needed!

Well we just found out that my dad has to undergo surgery...Again. He has been in unbelievable pain for the last couple of months. His Chemo doctor has just been throwing more and more medication down him to try to ease his pain without figuring out the problem. (She is not my favorite can you tell!) Anyhow he was finally able to meet with his surgeon who performed his hip replacement. Needless to say he was extremely concerned with my dad's progression which has been NONE! It has been very frustrating to watch him in this pain and not getting any better. Well the surgeon decided to run test and he believes that my dad's hip is infected. So tomorrow he will be checked into Huntsman Cancer Hospital to undergo more surgery to scrape any infection from his hip. I have very mixed emotions about this. First of all I am THRILLED that finally someone is concerned enough to do something for him but second I am extremely nervous for him to go into surgery again. But if this can relieve his pain it will all be worth it. PLEASE keep him and my mom in your prayers.
I will let you know as I know more.

Side Note: Thank you for all of your donations to our Guatemala cause. We have passed our goal and now have a new goal of $2000.00. We are currently at about $1400.00. WOW! I know some of you have expressed that you wish you could donate but are unable to. Please don't feel bad! Just having you PRAY for Chad and I when we go will be awesome! We are a little nervous about the whole experience. I really have the GREATEST FRIENDS and FAMILY!!!

Our little Toughie!

Tonight Kalli came home and said "Look at my fat pinkie, I think it's broken!" Sure enough it was fat and swollen. I asked her what happened and she told me that she was wearing her clunky shoes and tripped and fell at her friend's house. She said that it hurt but she didn't want to quit playing so she would just bite her tongue to make the pain of the pinkie go away and she continued to play for a couple more hours.

So we took her to our friend Robyn who is a nurse and she suggested that we take her to urgent care. Sure enough she didn't just break her finger but she broke it where it connects with her hand. So a cast is necessary. She never even shed a tear. She has an amazing pain tolerance and makes me laugh. She is joy in so many ways,
not alot of drama when it comes to Kalli!

WOW!

Your donations will help families like this one...Thank you!

I just wanted to quickly update any of you who have been following our blog about our Guatemala donations. I am so excited to say that I am up to $830.00!! WOW! Seriously I am in shock at the generous donations I have received for this cause. Tears come to my eyes when I think of all of my friends and family who have contributed. Thank you! Today Raegan went around our neighborhood selling vinyl lettering for this cause and in such a short time she came home with $114.00! WOW! I have not even added that to the $830.00 yet. I am so close to my goal in not even half the time I gave myself. This is so awesome. You all Rock! If you are still wanting to donate or to just check out my donation page you can go
(just click on the orange here)

HERE.

I love Family Home Evening!

Raegan, Tyler and Grandpa
Tonight for Family Home Evening we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to help with some yard work. The kids helped with raking and picking up sticks that were covering the yard. They also picked up rocks in what will be the garden and grandma said she would pay each kid a penny a rock! There are a lot of rocks. I think maybe each kid earned a dollar...They were thrilled!

Raegan looking pretty sassy while wheel barreling the leaves and sticks away.

Sydney is always up for "Striking a Pose"

Max couldn't decide what he wanted to do, either ride in the wheelbarrow or push it, either way he wasn't a very happy boy.

The girls had a great time even picking up rocks. Yes and Sydney doesn't take a picture without
striking a pose.

Andrew just worked quietly on his own.

Tyler was a workhorse.
He had that wheelbarrow filled quickly.

Then for all of their hard work they were rewarded with homemade ice cream...yum! Kalli and Tyler were pretending they were cranking the ice cream maker like grandma used to have.

Topping the ice cream was a great end to a very nice Family Home Evening.
Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!!

The Goings On

Here is a little bit of what has been going on at the Kerby house this past week.
Max got his first "Big Boy" haircut.

He was so good! We were shocked, when Chad cuts his hair it takes three people to hold him while he screams the entire time. Guess daddy won't be cutting his hair any more!

We have left over Valentines Day Suckers.
Can you guess who might have done this?

Yup! It was Max! He thought he was pretty clever finding a place to store them. Good thing they didn't have a metal stick!

We have all been struck with a little bit of SPRING FEVER! Seriously that sun comes out and the neighborhood comes alive again. You see people you haven't seen in 5 months and they just live across the street...I know pathetic huh? Anyhow the kids were out in full force and having a blast.

Chad was busy taking kids on rides in the bike trailer while Sydney followed close behind.

This is Riley, Max's buddy.

Logan and Sydney are the best of friends!