I’m prefacing this post by saying I will talk about Brady’s radiation in the next few days! Promise! Its just so early in the beginning, I’d like to give it a minute before I talk about it on here. But! He’s good. He’s alive. He’s at work. Keep praying 💜 I will post again when he goes in for his treatment. How cool would it be if we had people praying during every treatment?!

Ok. To a different subject. Because life keeps moving, whether your spouse has cancer or not. #cruel

When we were hoping to build our next home, a nonnegotiable for us was a mudroom. We really, really wanted one of those. With ALL the kids and ALL the outerwear that comes with them, plus a wheelchair with muddy tires, we just needed a space to dump all of our mess when we came into the house. And we only had five kids at that point, but there was SO MUCH OUTERWEAR!

But now we’ve moved here, and the “mudroom” is limited, to say the least. This is what we originally were working with.

I literally had to move laundry hampers out of here to take this picture 😅 So it doesn’t look bad, because its basically empty. Over winter, it was LOADED DOWN with jacket, snow pants, accessories, boots, and aaaaall the snow that came in with aforementioned outerwear. Plus, helmets and skates regularly made their way in as well. This space is about 2.5 feet square. Its teeny. At least its teeny for ten people! Can you fathom having seven snowsuits in there this winter? Because. We did.

The reason it was even this clear at this point is because Brady put some screws in the garage in an effort to make a different spot for jackets. Our garage isn’t heated yet, so once the weather lifted, we felt we could move their spring outerwear out there. But. It has not been a positive experience 😅

Its horrrrrrrid in there. And it takes up SO much space! Yes, I do chase it down and have everyone go and pick their mess up. But goodness it just never ever stays that way and is always a headache.

With all of this being said, about a month ago, I found the steal of the century on Facebook marketplace, and I snagged our new system!! 😍 Loooooook!!!

These locker systems are HUGE and HEAVY, and they are going to absolutely save my butt and all kinds of space in our garage. Each set of three cubbies probably weighs more than I do. They’re BEASTS. I believe I paid $200 for this setup!

With this system currently, each of the five school kids will have their own locker for ALL of their outerwear. I don’t care how they arrange it – if off-season stuff goes up into the milk crate – if everything hangs all year round – if shoes go in the bottom crate or the bottom shelf – if its tidy or ridiculous – I don’t care. It will all be expected to live INSIDE their space. The extra locker will be shared between babies. We’ll be adding more hooks, obviously. But once that is all sorted out, Brady and I can use the small hanging area from the first picture, or the entrance closet by the front door. Baby things can also live in those places as children age and need more space. We’ll have to see how that all plays out. Its not possible to know who will be here or for how long. But! We have SPACE! I’m SO excited about this!!!

Weird bright spots in super challenging times 😅 God always provides!

Was it not just the other day when…

Waverly Violet was an incredibly bright light that was born into our family six entire years ago. What an enormous gift she was for us; a gift that just keeps on giving!

As if she wasn’t already a total stunner immediately upon birth, she just gets more and more beautiful 💜 Who even knew that was possible?!

Wavy has lots of funny little details that make her her. There is no one else quite like her!

No one else styles like she does! This particular ensemble consists of her dressiest dress and her fleece onesie, tied around the waist.

No one crafts like her, or rocks their creations as well as she does. She is always so proud of what she makes, and rightfully so!!

No one helps as cute as she does. If she’s not interested in helping, she’s usually pretty polite about it, with a high pitched “hmmm, no thanks!” But if I ask her to help anyway, she’ll giggle and say “Ok, sure” with a smile on her face.

No one sleeps as softly as she does. She has always slept SO quiet, and she looks so cozy and soft.

Bottom line. Waverly is easy to love. Truly, to know her is to love her 💜

Her main request for her birthday was that everyone would come sing to her in the morning, and she LOVED that 💜

Who knew Wavy would bring so much joy and comfort and healing and silliness to our family? Only God! He knew exactly who we needed around here, and He gave us exactly the right person.

And here she is, growing like a weed, when I have specifically asked her not to. Man alive.

I LOVE you, dear Wavy. My precious youngest daughter. The baby I feared would never come after so much loss. You are a gift, and I hope you always feel loved and celebrated the way you did this morning with your siblings all piled on your bed 💜 You are deeply loved by those around you.

Praise God for Wavy!

So tomorrow is Waverly’s birthday. As usual, the post will be all about HER! Which is definitely as it should be.

However.

Tomorrow is also a big day for other reasons. Radiation starts tomorrow. And chemotherapy starts tomorrow. I can’t believe we’re jumping into cancer treatment again. Some of that just feels so discouraging, I can’t even put it into words. But Brady completely agrees with me that it’s more of a frustrating hassle than something we fear. It’s just. Like. A BIG eye roll. So many things will be more challenging to say the least. No one is looking forward to the extra struggle we’ll endure this summer. Conveniently, God’s love and kindness are new every morning. Even this summer, when stuff sucks and everything feels difficult. His mercy doesn’t quit. So. Neither will we.

Cancer has taken enough from us already, so it won’t get to overshadow Wavy’s birthday. However, I plan to put a little reminder up on Facebook for those who would like to pray during his treatment 💜 That would sure mean a lot to us.

Tomorrow, we celebrate WAVERLY, and the fact that God brought her to us! Thank you, Lord!!!

Today carried some beautiful things. While it’s not been an easy weekend for our family, I will share the bright spots ☀️ 

Guitar around the fire is one of the campiest camp things we enjoy around here. It’s such a lovely, familiar addition to the scene. 

And goodness. The food. It was just so stinking good today. Chunky chicken salad. Broccoli salad. Garlic toast. And cheese filled gnocchi. Bonkers. 

This evening, Brady and I ducked out for a drive to Bells, just the two of us 💜 It was the break we needed, without a doubt. Thank you, dear Dahlsjos, for that time away. What a gift. 

Home we’ll go tomorrow, and then all the action begins the following day. It’s coming up quick! Protect us, Lord. 

Today has really felt like the first REAL summer day. It’s full here at camp. Every tenting site is full. Yes you read that right. It’s warm enough to tent! We have spent the day doing beautiful things with beautiful people. 

Breakfast was cute 💜 

There was a fox very nearby! Probably plotting his shoe stealing missions for the summer. 

Lunch was perfect 🥪 

We hit the beach! You know how Solly feels about his snorkel goggles 😆 🥽

I crocheted by the fire while the babies napped. 

Supper was delicious and happy! 😁😁

And the sky during the evening dip couldn’t be beat 😍 

Thank you Lord for yet again providing beautiful days for us to enjoy. You ALWAYS look out for us, and we see that and receive Your grace! 

Welp. Today absolutely has not gone as planned. Not even sort of. Brady worked quite late into the evening yesterday so that he could justify today’s morning stuff that needed doing, and then this morning turned into a total crapshoot and its been tough to come back from. Nevertheless, things got done, thanks to all of our loving, willing helpful people 💜 and in terms of what actually needed doing, it all went off without too much trouble.

As I scramble to get our butts out the door to get us to the lake, I’m struggling to find many positives in the day so far. So rather than being a total downer, I’ll share a giggle with you.

Last summer, I put a little temporary tattoo of a ghost on my wrist, to fit in with the kids, lol! And it became quite the running joke, as I would randomly thrust it into the faces of my unsuspecting loved ones and announce loudly “A ghost!” in Joey Tribianni style. You can hear it. I know you can.

So. As mentioned. Running joke. Still!

Anyway. Dekker came home from school yesterday and unpacked a bunch of his stuff. Much of the papers he showed me were from art. Sketches he had spent a lot of time on. Things he was really proud of. And then this. For me.

A GHOST!

Can you hear him saying it?? Because he did, and I was proud.

Aaaaaanyway. That’s really all I have to offer you today.

👻

Schoooooooools out for the summer!!! 🥳 

the kids are home and ready to be harassed by me for two 👏 months 👏 straight! 👏 

It’s not a secret that parts of summer feel incredibly daunting, but I have intentionally been praying that God lifts the parts that feel super hard so they don’t have to feel AS hard after all. Regardless, we trust, and we keep on going!!! 

Today everyone came home and unceremoniously dumped their stuff on the table. Boom. Unpacked. But I’m not even touching that battle until next week at the absolute earliest! Good thing nothing is up next week! 😅😬😩 

The biggest thing on the last day of school is finding out next years class! And I have them all EXCEPT DEKKER!!! Who DOESNT EVEN KNOW WHOSE TEACHING GRADE EIGHT!!!! 😩😩😩 whose kid even is he??? 

Regardless. It’s done. Well worry about it in September. 

Here’s to two months of occasionally sleeping in, low key weekdays, and weekends at the lake! 😎 

I have really appreciated everyones love on the most recent post regarding Brady’s health. It has already been a pretty long road, but its definitely just beginning! To those who are sticking by us and have been in our corner, we see you, and we thank you 💜 God absolutely always provides, one way or another, and we trust that He will continue to in these ways! 

So. The plan. Its still a little choppy as its just in its beginning stages, but I’ll let you know what we know. 

Because the pathologists labelled Brady’s tumour as high grade malignancy, it is being treated as aggressively as possible. So, as is common with cancer treatment, there are two parts. Radiation and chemotherapy. 

In his case, radiation comes first. It starts ;next week, on Tuesday. He will have third fractions. So, every weekday for six weeks, he has to go in for a radiation treatment. 

Hopefully he will be granted his license back in that time, which would make things considerably easier for all of us. That should also be decided next week. Please Lord! 💜 

Another fun thing that starts next week is chemotherapy. Yes, you read it right. He will do both simultaneously for the first six weeks. 

Now, if you remember back to the last run of chemo, Brady took chemo pills. The cycle of medication went like a period, if we’re being blunt. He would take pills for five days out of a 28 day cycle, wait out the other 23 days, and then start again. However, for the first six weeks, he will have radiation treatments five days per week, and take chemotherapy seven days per week, both for six weeks. 

If it was unclear, those will be some LONG weeks. They come with lots and lots of bloodwork, as well as LOTS of fatigue. Apparently the main side effect of this type of treatment is fatigue. As in chronic fatigue that refuses to quit. For months. Brady would argue that, as a father of eight, he already has chronic fatigue, so probably the treatment won’t feel like any extra 😅

Don’t worry 💜 He is not naive. We have been here before. He’s just trying to have a sense of tumour about the whole thing 😏

Once those six weeks are done, its smooth sailing! 😅 Ok, no its not, but it slows down, anyway. After those weeks, Brady will start a year of chemotherapy. Which feels HUGE, but Brady and I both agree that its more annoying than scary. Realistically, we’ve also been told chemo could be as short as six months, buuuuut only if his brain tissue is being severely damaged and its not worth it to keep going… Somehow that feels worse than a year of chemo, lol! So I guess we’ll just see how it all plays out! 

If you can wrap your brain around these details, I’ll point out the time of year. The beginning of summer. Radiation will BE our summer. At least until mid-August. Which is hard. No week at the lake. No extra long weekends, even. Plus a very tired husband. Oh and did you know our road will be closed for at least a few weeks here, meaning parking the van somewhere else and having to trek to it anytime we drive somewhere? EVERY TIME we drive somewhere?! Ugh. I work pretty hard to stay optimistic, and I do feel a pretty real peace about a lot of it. Truly. But parts of me want to absolutely tear my hair out in total frustration. 

Lucky for us, God knows those things, also. He has never left us before, and He won’t start now. So, forward we go! 

It is officially Waverly’s LAST day of kindergarten!!! 🥳 There is such a bizarre back and forth for me with these milestones, because she is SO grown up but still my little girl 💜 Today, she erred more on the side of little girl, which is just perfect!

Little goofball wore a Christmas dress to school to celebrate the last day!! 🤣 She explained to me that the dress has candy on it, and she is expecting some candy today. Logic.

I can’t believe we’re already wrapping up school, but upon specifically wrapping kindergarten, I was reminded how awesome grade one is, and how amazing she’ll do! We are incredibly fortunate to have AMAZING grade one teachers in our school. I love them both so much, and I’m excited to learn who she will have as her teacher! I don’t even have a preference, they are both awesome!

Wavy, you’re a rockstar, and I’m SO proud of how well you’re doing in school, as well as every other aspect of your life 💜 You are growing up terribly fast, and I know I’m supposed to be sad about that, but I also LOVE who you’re becoming. It is a true pleasure to be part of your life!

Happy last day, Waverly Violet 💜

Its been a while since I’ve talked to you guys about Brady’s brain stuff. Lots of reasons for that. Lots of waiting for us means lots of waiting for you guys, I suppose! But we’re here now with some information that we’re ready to share. 

*deep breath in*

So much like last time, we have differing opinions about the level of malignancy for Brady’s tumour. 

With Brady’s spinal tumour, it showed up like a patchwork quilt of grades. The surgeon said there were portions that had visible cancer cells upon removal, but some places that looked old and stagnant. Saskatoon wanted to call it low grade, but they sent it on a hot holiday to San Diego where they labeled it as high grade. So we treated it as high grade. Unfortunately, we’re in a similar position this time. 

This time around, Brady’s brain tumour looked nicely low grade, but with his history, they decided to send the tissue on another vacation, though we stayed domestic this time, sending it to Toronto. While the tumour looked better than the last one, their testing revealed similar molecular markers than the previous one. With that, they’ve decided to call it a high grade mass. A grade four glioma. Or, a glioblastoma. Which is kind of a big title.

We had a pretty good idea that Brady’s brain mass was cancerous the day it was removed. His surgeon informed us that the tumour had fuzzy edges, which suggests spreading. However, we didn’t want to share more information until we had yet further information. And that information is what cancer treatment will look like. Which we now know. 

More on that soon. Tomorrow or the next day. Its a lot to share really close together. But how else can our people pray if they don’t know the happs?! So. Now that we know them. You will, too. 

*breathes out*