Two weeks ago, we had strong winds, frequent lightening, crashing thunder & waves of heavy rain every 15-20 min. During all of this, my dog & male cat were curled up safely asleep in the house. However, my 3 female cats who had been out earlier hunting & exploring, were still outside. Whenever the rain slowed down a little, my bofriend & I attempted to get the cats to come in. After several failed attempts, we could only hope they had all found a safe, dry place to ride out the storm.

As it continued to pour, the backyard developed several large 'pools' of water. Finally, Mama Kittie, walking on top of the wood fence to avoid the flooded yard, managed to make it to the patio & the safety of the house. But, where were Magic & Ebony? After about 45 min, we heard terrible 'screechie' sounds from the line of cedar trees that divides my property from the neighbors to the south. Since the electricity had gone out hours ago, it was pitch black outside. Using a flashlite, we spotted the 2 'girls' in the cedar trees. No amount of coaxing could persuade them to come down. And then, another band of really heavy rain came down with wind & huge cracks of thunder.

Finally, the wave of heavy rain passed. It was now just steady but lighter rain. My boyfriend got on his heavy sweats & knee boots and armed with a flashlight, he managed to get one of the 'girls' down. She quickly ran into the front bedroom & hid under the bed. The other cat was a little higher up & farther back in the tree. He had to go around onto the neighbor's property to get her. She promptly ran into my office & hid under my desk. I think they have had enough of an 'adventure' for a while!

Why were they in the trees in the first place? Well, we figure that when it started to rain, they took shelter in the heavy undrebrush under the line of cedar trees. Ordinarily, this would have been a good idea. But not that nite! When it began to flood under & around the cedar trees, we figure the kitties paniced & climbed up the trees in an effort to keep dry. Cats are good at going UP trees, not so good at going DOWN!! As for how they are doing now~~~they have forgotten all about their little adventure and were caught out in the rain AGAIN several more times! But, they are staying out of the cedar trees & avoiding to still flood area surrounding the trees. However, Zevi is having the greatest of times playing in the water~~~dogs are soooooooooooooo stupid!

I didn't appreciate the sun
the sunny days
not until they were taken away
dark nights of the soul and now I know
oh now i know
oh now I know
I didn't understand love until it was gone
and it hits us baby when we are most alone
love is what we can give of ourselves to others
but first we must find it within and not with our lovers
and when we can accept ourselves for who and what we are
forgiveness lord becomes the highest art
and now that we have been through the dark and storms
the blue skies in your eyes feels like being reborn.

FANTABULOUS -- AWESOME -- UNBELIEVABLE news!!!!

She got to go home yesterday after two units of blood and a unit of platelets.
BUT THE BEST NEWS IS she had her post 2nd round chemo MRI yesterday and the results were nothing short of miraculous.

She had 477mm of tumor in her brain before chemo and the MRI yesterday shows 11mm that is a 99% REDUCTION in her tumor.

Her oncologist called Brandy (her mom) and informed her of this great news and said "AND NOW WE HAVE HOPE!!!""


I love you all who have been sending healing thoughts & prayers to her.....please continue sending them. Thank you so much for taking the time to send thoughts & and well wishes our way. AND -- a special THANK YOU for those who have taken the time to call and/or send private messages to me.....words can not express how much I appreciate it! AND -- another special THANK YOU to TrayC -- girl you're the GREATEST!!!!....MUAH!!!

Yesterday she was out of ICU & I got to hold her for the first time in over 3 weeks. She has been at OU Children's Hospital in OKC for almost a month & will be transferred to the Cancer Unit today. She's been very sick from the chemo & has only been able to keep down apple juice but she's smiling & likes kicking her legs & waving her arms around. She had just started walking before she got sick & we think she really wants to get up & try it again! She's a very tough, brave little girl!

Thanks to all who have sent prayers & good wishes....we appreciate them all.

who was just a year old on March 31st was diagnosed with a large brain tumor several weeks ago. Her prognosis was not good....30% chance of surviving the surgery at all & there was a 90% chance that if she survived, she would be blind. Well, she survived & it appears that she can see, but there's no way to tell yet just how well she can see. Needless to say, we have all been VERY worried about her......but things are begining to look better....I just recieved this today...

Madison had a good day today. She started showing us what she was made of. I got a real blessing when I showed up they were just getting ready to take her to CT for a picture of her head to see if the ventricles were OK so they could clamp the tube coming out of her brain thats draining the cerebral spinal fluid and the nurse asked if I would like to carry her down to XRAY. SO I DID. First time to hold her in 5 days. YEA!! The xray was good and they clamped her "brain drain" if the pressure in her head stays below a certain level she'll be able to have that removed.
Tomorrow we have another surgery 12 pm for the infusaport that they place under her skin beneath her clavicle for use during chemotherapy.
Hopefully if all of this goes well we'll have her out of ICU by tuesday.
Otherwise she is the best patient in the hospital I do believe. What a trooper.
Alan fixed a big supper for the kids and Maghan, Bobby and Eric came over (Brandi is sick - please keep her in your prayers) and we had a wonderful family dinner after we got Madison to sleep.
Thank you all for your prayers, thoughts, cards and love. We need every ounce of it.
Oh I don't think i've told you our little angel is getting fatter finally. She's gained a few pounds since she's been here.

Love you all, thanks so much