Oh Happy Day!

We are back from our very short trip to Utah for Dad's surgery and we have good news! In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, "It's not a tumor!" I'm going to post some AMAZING pictures from our little adventure and give you a little more of the story, but I did want to let you know that my dad is doing well.

He still had to have brain surgery because they didn't know it wasn't a tumor until they got inside. What they did find was something called a Venous Varix. I'm still trying to find a good definition for it, but it's basically an enlarged blood vessel in his brain. His veins were attaching to it and feeding it which caused two things 1) made it grow and 2) blocked blood flow to other parts of his brain. It has been removed and sent to a lab for testing, but the doc said he should be good.

For just having brain surgery he is doing amazingly well. Everything works perfectly and he's back to cracking his jokes and giving his nurses a hard time. Like I said before, he is a strong man and we knew things would go well.

I did want to thank all of you who prayed and fasted on my dad's behalf. I really, truly believe that all the love and support is what helped things go so well. I've got lots of thoughts on that that maybe I'll share later. Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU so much again. My family thanks you as well and are amazed that so many people have contacted us. We love you guys!

Any Man Can Be a Father

I said that a lot has been going on these past few weeks that I've been gone (teething puppies, trip to Vegas, moving apartments, etc.). I have a ton of pictures and stories that I'd like to share and I will, but I'd like to post about something, or rather someone, close to my heart.This is my dad, Jared (aka Papa Joe). To finish the quote from the title, "Any man can be a father; it takes someone special to be a dad." My dad is such an amazing man. He's done so much for me like build my appreciation for music, how to throw a baseball, ride a bike, drive, and to do my best in everything. He's supported me through school for so many years and has always encouraged me to be better.

Everything I've done in my life has been to make him and my mom proud of me. I haven't always been the best at that, but I try. I've always been able to call him and ask him advice for all sorts of stuff, like when the brakes on my miata were going out and I had no idea what was happening. I was on the freeway and I called him during one of his trips with Bryan and he was able to tell me exactly what was wrong and what I needed to do to fix it. I also remember when he would take me to the church parking lot to teach me how to drive a clutch. He had so much stinkin' patience!

I think almost everyone on our blog list has met my dad. Most people think he's pretty cool. I do too, which is why this has been kind of hard for me. A few weeks ago my dad had a seizure of some sort. My brothers found him and he couldn't talk. He was taken to the hospital where there were tests and things done. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him. He went home feeling a little better, with medication, and advice to not drive for 3 months.

He went back to the hospital about a week later to do an MRI. Just this last week we got the results. My dad has a brain tumor. He's going in for surgery this following Wednesday, September 10th. The doctors and other sources say that the tumor is slow-growing and that the surgery to be performed has very good odds of being very successful. It was a good thing that Dad had the seizure because it helped to detect the tumor early enough.

My dad is young and he is amazing. He's healthy and the surgery is going to go well. Still though, it would mean alot to me and Eli and the rest of our family if you could say a little prayer for my dad. I love you Papa Joe!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

I had no idea how theraputic blogging was until I didn't have internet access! I didn't know how grateful I was for the internet either. I've decided that I don't like watching movies at home without having IMDB accesible. I have SO SO much to say and I really have no where to start. I know it's only been 3 weeks (almost) since the last blog I posted, but it seems more like 3 years. There has been so much that has happened, some good and some not. I think I'll post separately for each event, but please understand that it's all intermingled. I know that this blog is more for me, Eli, and our family, but it's still nice to know that I have friends out there who care!