Hello everyone!

Yes, I am finally writing.  What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been.  The night of Aidan's birthday, 8/18, our friend Jazmin went into the hospital.  She was there for about four days.  One of the tumors in her lungs had exploded leaving a very large hole.  Not a good thing.  Soon it began to get better and she was able to go back to RMH and start her new chemo.
The Saturday after Aidan's birthday we went home to the Tri-Cities to have his birthday party there.  What a turnout.  Aidan was so happy.  You could see that he was thrilled to be home and have all of his friends.  Thank you to all who came and a big thanks to Clint Diddier and his Fighting Children's Cancer Foundation for their amazing gifts.  The whole night was one to remember.
Aidan's party was on Saturday August 26 but we remained in town until the following Tuesday so we could be there to take and pick up Sage from his first day of 5th grade.  I still can not believe that it is his last year of elementary school.  After we picked him up we had a visit from our friends Miss Tonya, Christian & Taylor Robinson.  Both Sage and Aidan were thrilled to have time with their friends as was I to have time with Tonya.  Then it was off to Mom & Dad's to drop off Sage for the week and for us to hit the road back to Seattle.
The following week consisted of Aidan being sick with a cold, packing, doctors appointments, and getting some time in with our RMH family.  Then on Friday Mike headed back to the Tri-Cities with a load of stuff to pick Sage up and bring him back to the house. 
That weekend was spent making many meals with our friend Patty, I learned how to make homemade tortillas, late night talks with the Neapolitans, Patty (chocolate), Laurie (Vanilla), Tanya (Strawberry), Laurie gave us the name based on our hair color, and even more packing.  Saturday, Candy and Patty threw a going away party for Aidan and Thomas (Laurie's 17 year old son) at the house.  Lots of pictures were taken and many smiles shared.  The following afternoon Laurie and Thomas said their goodbyes and headed back to Alaska.  But first I made her promise to return when we could finally give Jazmin her going home party.  It was the first of two very sad goodbyes.  Patty and I figured it out though, Laurie was running late on purpose so she didn't have to have a long goodbye with us knowing that I am a baby . 
Then, Tuesday came much too soon.  After an amazing job of loading the van, thank you Mike.  It was time for us to head out, although the Alvarez's assured us there was room for us in their room.  Once again I cried like a baby and continued so for an hour after wards.  It was a very late start in a very packed van.  We finally rolled into our driveway at around one in the morning. 
The next couple of days were a blur.  To be honest, I spent two days in my pajamas and slept as much as I could.  There is so much that is going on inside of me that the last couple of days were easier to handle asleep.  Not to worry though.  I actually got up this morning and showered and got dressed.  I am making progress.
Then, Wednesday night I found out that Jazmin was in the hospital once again.  Wednesday afternoon she spiked a temp and had to be admitted until her counts were up.  So, please everyone pray for Jazmin to get better so she can start her next round of chemo and she can finally beat this cancer.
I am off for now.  This was very cryptic and so many more things took place over the last couple of weeks that hopefully I will be able to fill in the gaps later.  For now though, I wanted to at least give a little bit of an update and let everyone know that we made it home safe and we are well.

Laurie, are ya happy now?

Tanya