Alexandra, Brooke, and Caedmon

Alex's Advanced Band (7th and 8th grades) at Flamson Middle School

performed a Christmas concert this month.

She would like to share this clip with you.

(Alex is in the front row, far left, playing the clarinet.)

Alexandra and a handful of other 8th-grade dual immersion students are planning a trip to Cost Rica in the spring, as a reward for having completed almost 9 years of the dual immersion language program, kindergarten through 8th-grade. 

Here's she is before the undecorated Christmas tree just before its takedown.

Alex enjoyed playing on her school's 8th-grade volleyball team in the fall; she still loves to read, read, read; and she cannot stand to hug or kiss or display affection of any kind.  Her favorite class this year is Mrs. Wills' GATE English in which she recently read To Kill a Mockingbird (she watched the movie with Gregory Peck and LOVED it!!!); she also likes Science "where I do awesome labs!"; and she is excited about the Mock Trial competition for which she and her classmates are preparing and in which she plays the part of a prosecuting lawyer ("How fun!!!", she says). I can hardly believe that this our eldest child is thirteen years of age!

Our Missey Brooke is quite the performer, onstage or around the house.

Here are she and her friend Esther, after having performed in their school's Talent Show last month.

My favorite season for photography is autumn - LEAVES!!

Brooke was happy to pose for me in Pacific Grove.

Brooke Bigelow is doing excellently and enjoying her fifth-grade year at Georgia Brown Elementary School.  After playing recreational softball last spring and all-star softball last summer, she has taken a reprieve from organized sports until softball begins again in February.  But she is always eager to toss around a softball with her dad or hit the volleyball with her sister or toss a frisbee back and forth with her mother, and often she is happy to engage in some creative play with her brother.  Brooke is particularly fashion-savvy; or perhaps it's more accurate to say that she has a definite sense of her own personal style when it comes to clothes and design.  When I asked Alex what else to say to describe her sister, she replied, "Brooke is always on her iPod Touch!". 

I am happy to be able to volunteer in Caedmon's first-grade classroom on a weekly basis

at Georgia Brown Elementary School. 

Here we are on the last day of school before the Christmas holiday.

Loving siblings, Caedmon and Alexandra

In November, Caedmon earned a "Student of the Month" award.

Caedmon posed in front of fish at Seattle's Pike's Place Market

Caedmon and a classmate

Caedmon is doing very well in his first-grade class at Georgia Brown Elementary School.  He is learning to read and write in Spanish, and he and his teacher Sra. Clark are a wonderful match.  Caedmon continues in a super-good friendship with his buddy Dylan; the two of them have moved along from collecting and playing "Pokemon" to Legos - and oh!  how they love Legos!  They love to build with Legos, they love to battle with their built Legos, they love to play "Legos: Star Wars" on the Wii.  Caedmon is exuberant and conversational and intelligent and cautious and particular.  Here is a photo of Dylan and Caedmon at the playground.

Happy Almost-New Year!  The Bigelows send you love and blessings!!

Hello, and Happy December!!

Our first ever NFL attendance - Go, Seahawks!

Dear Everyone that I love -

My goodness gracious, "Time flies when you're having fun!", eh? :-) When I was a child, the days of December seemed to crawl by a week at a time. Now that I am wise and mature, the days fly by like minutes! Wowsers.

Does it look sort of Seattle-ish behind us?

If you are visiting this site because you are especially interested to know about DJ's health, I am happy to report that there is nothing to report.  DJ is healthy and strong; he has been working more-than-full-time for more than a year now since having completed chemotherapy in 2010; that we know of, there are no complications or issues or anything of significance or excitement going on in his body; and how lovely it is that his diagnosis and treatment of cancer are a thing of the past.  Recent blood work indicates that he is "stable".  Next up: perhaps a repeat CT scan in January to monitor anything that the human eyeball cannot detect on its own. 

Alexandra and DJ on the rocks overlooking the Monterey Bay in Pacific Grove, California

Regarding the adventure that is our life, here is a little bit of news:  DJ has tested for the position of sergeant with the Pacific Grove Police Department and is currently highly favored by those powers-that-be.  If events continue to move along as they have been since late September, it seems that he will be hired in the near future for that role in that department.  Changes may be upcoming for our family, therefore, although nothing has officially been decided at this moment.  "The Serenity Prayer" comes to mind as a wise way to live:  "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference; living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will, so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next.  Amen."  With proper respect to Reinhold Niehbur for that wonderful prayer, I heartily add my "Aaaaaa-men!"  I am happy to live one day at a time as our life stories unfold.  :-)

"To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the proper reply of the tongue."


"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."


"The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD."


"Many are the plans in the human heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

"A person's steps are directed by the LORD.  How then can anyone understand their own way?"

From the book of Proverbs in the Christian Bible, these are some thoughts which I "found" in the summer and upon which I'd been meditating; "just in time" to make some decisions with DJ about his career and our family (Proverbs 16:1, 3, 33; Proverbs 19:21; Proverbs 20:24).

Regarding the Bigelow bambinos, stay tuned for another post in which I shall highlight each one of the kidlets and their respective interests, activities, and unique features.  Thank you for loving us!  Merry Christmas!

Looks good, sounds good, feels good - It's All Good!!

Hello, Family and Friends and Fans of the Bigelow family! Happy September!!

Here is a photograph of DJ climbing a tree in the Arroyo Seco campground;

what do you guess is the reason for him having done so?  :-)

Well, the kidlets have returned to school and we are settling into a fall-ish routine here in our home.  DJ is working hard for the City of Paso Robles, as well as coaching girls' volleyball at Paso Robles High School; and Alexandra Bigelow is diligent and studious in the 8th grade, enjoying playing volleyball for Flamson Middle School; and Brooke Bigelow is very much enjoying the 5th grade at Georgia Brown Elementary School, and how happy and grateful I am that she is faithful to pack a lunch and walk the dog every day before school; and 1st-grader Caedmon is doing fantastically well in school and has recently discovered and fallen in love with "Legos".  We are blessed and sustained!

Regarding DJ's health, I hereby report that he is healthy and strong!  Earlier this week, we visited with our local oncologist; the doctor reviewed DJ's labwork and pathology report and declared that DJ looks good.  Dr. So-and-So listened to DJ's heart and lungs, and declared that DJ sounds good.  He asked how DJ is feeling, and DJ declared that he feels good.  So, it's all good!  :-)  "When would you like to re-scan?", DJ was asked; and he responded that he prefers to wait for a longer period of time rather than to scan sooner.  Therefore, he is scheduled for another CT scan in January of 2012 in order to continue monitoring the very small, very slow-growing nodule that has been detected on his lung.  In other words, it's all good!!  :-)  :-)

(I did not obtain proper permission from this particular healthcare professional to post his photographic image on the internet, and I am presuming upon his rights to privacy :-). You may notice that I have intentionally not mentioned him by name, if perhaps that will help to protect his right to privacy - if he cares.) 

I inquired of the doctor whether or not the pathology results indicate that DJ eats too many donuts, and Dr. So-and-So is sure that that is not the case - much to DJ's delight.  A 5-minute conversation then ensued proclaiming the praises of the SLO Donut Company, DJ's favorite donut shop in the state of California.  (Can't you guess that by the time we visited the oncologist, we had already visited the donut shop?!  :-)

And there you have it!  "It's all good!".

Thank you for caring for and loving and supporting and inquiring after and praying for us.  We love and appreciate you!

The end, for now, with love and affection - xoxoxoxoxoxo

Waiting and Watching

This past week we spent in Clovis, California, where Brooke's 10U Allstar softball team took part in the Western Nationals Tournament.  Here is a picture of Brooke and DJ watching the game before and waiting for our game to begin.

Dear Loved Ones,  Please pardon my tardiness in posting to this blog.  I have the sense that some of you have been waiting around since July 25, wondering what the CT results were of DJ's scan on that day.  And here I have been, nonchalantly going about my life, neglecting to post, while you are biting your nails!  Or, perhaps you have only casually wondered about the goings on of DJ's pulmonary lumpy bump and haven't really given the issue much thought.  In any case, here is the "answer":

The nodule which measured at 1.0 centimeter in March 2011 and 1.2 centimeters in May 2011 has grown ever so slightly; it measured 1.3 centimeters on July 25, 2011, hardly anything.  On the very next day, radiation oncologist Dr. Wong in Fresno met with some other professionals in the field and discussed DJ's case.  Because the nodule is so teeny tiny little, and since its growth is so slow,  there really isn't anything to do right now.  DJ has absolutely no symptoms, the lumpy bump has tested "negative to cancer", so the only thing to do now is to wait and watch.

Hmmmm...watching and waiting...waiting and watching.  I sense some life lessons here, some spiritual parallels, something which will inform our process of faith.  And I hear in my heart the tunes of a lovely song  by Tim Hughes, the one which was especially close to my heart on April 14, 2010, as I waited and watched in the waiting room at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center for DJ's operation:

"God, in my living, there in my breathing,
God, in my waking, God, in my sleeping,
God, in my resting, there in the working,
God, in my thinking, God, in my speaking:

Be my everything, be my everything, be my everything, be my everything.

God, in my hoping, there in my dreaming,
God in my WATCHING, God, in my WAITING,
God, in the laughing, there in the weeping,
God, in the hurting, God, in the healing:

Be my everything, be my everything, be my everything, be my everything, be my everything.
Christ in me, Christ in me, Christ in me, the hope of glory -
You are everything, You are everything, You are everything, You are everything."

(This song is worth a listen on Play List or YouTube, if you are so inclined.  It is lovely.)

So there you have it.  We're not doing much of anything, except living and breathing and waking and sleeping and resting and working and thinking and speaking and hoping and dreaming and watching and waiting, et cetera.  I hope that we will spend more of our time and energy and focus of the watching and waiting on Jesus, and less on the lumpy bump.  Jesus is certainly worth the watching and the waiting.  :-)

The end!  Happy August!  Today is Alexandra Bigelow's 13th birthday, and I love that kid!

Thank you for watching and waiting with us. We love and appreciate you! :-)

Summer Lovin'

Dear friends and family,  summer vacation is upon us, and we have been experiencing such fun and stimulating and lovely times, that I have given nary a thought to DJ's pulmonary lumpy bump.  Since he decided in May to wait and see some more, and since his health is so fantastically good, and since the very small nodule has no bearing on our lives, we rarely speak of it and of what the future may hold.  We are enjoying every moment, that's for sure! 

DJ is scheduled for a repeat CT scan tomorrow, Monday, July 25; and those results will inform the next step for him.  I suppose that if the test reveals further growth, he may request another lung biopsy, in hopes that it will test "negative for cancer" again and thereby give his oncologist no reason to prescribe chemotherapy.  There is a possibility that he will request the CyberKnife procedure, in order to remove the lumpy bump from his lung, whatever it may be.  I will report back when we have results and more information.

In the meantime, swimming and playing with friends and vacation and various trips and fun in the sun is what is happening to us now.  Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

We enjoyed such a lovely time on our family vacation to the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley area in early July.  One of my favorite things to do while there is to ride the Aerial Tramway 8500 feet above the valley floor and hike some of the trails of the San Jacinto State Park.  Here are some photos from that excursion.

(The extra kid in the photos is Caedmon's super-good friend Dylan. 
He accompanied us for the vacation.)

I thank you again and again for your love and support and encouragement and prayer and affection on our behalf.  God's amazing grace is abundantly supplied to us; you are a part of that.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  May the LORD bless you indeed!

Waiting, and Summer Vacation is Almost Here!

Hello, friends and family and fans of the Bigelows!  Thank you for supporting us and praying for us and encouraging us!  I continue to feel humble, grateful, graced, and inspired by the love that you  continue to pour out upon our family.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

"I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.  Every day I will praise you, and extol your name for ever and ever.  Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; God's greatness no one can fathom."  (Psalm 145:1-3. I've memorized this Psalm this year, and it is beautiful!)

DJ's radiation oncologist in Fresno (Dr. Wong) and his local oncologist in San Luis Obispo (Dr. Spillane) have conferred with each other regarding DJ's small, slow-growing pulmonary lumpy bump; and the unanimous conclusion is...hmmmm...nothing of great certainty.  Dr. Wong is hesitant to perform the cyber knife if the lumpy bump is not malignant (and I can appreciate a doctor who is not eager to invade the body); and Dr. Spillane doesn't want DJ to have cancer so he would like the lumpy bump removed from DJ's lung.  "What do you want to do?", we were asked.  So - DJ has decided that he would like to spend some more time waiting . 

As it stands now, the plan is to have a fun summer vacation - only one more week until the Bigelow kidlets are released from this school year! - and for DJ to undergo a repeat CT scan in August.  If the nodule shows more growth, then perhaps DJ will opt for and Dr. Wong will agree to the cyber knife (targeted, high-intensity radiation.  Here is a fascinating link if you have 9 minutes and 45 seconds to view:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlQqVZDXxCM).  What DJ would really, really like to happen is that another biopsy would test his lumpy bump one more time "negative for cancer", so that Dr. Spillane will have no desire to prescribe chemotherapy to him; and that Dr. Wong will rid him of the lumpy bump with the non-invasive Cyber Knife procedure.  And there you have it!

In other news, the school year is winding down for the Bigelow kidlets, as well as for their taxi cab driver, and we are excited for June 17 to arrive!   Here is a photograph of Alexandra and the family history project which she recently accomplished, scoring a mere 100%!  Buen trabajo, Alejandra!  :-)

Brooke Bigelow has moved on from recreational to all-stars softball, having been selected for the team with another 11 girls.  This is a very fun and exciting and time-consuming endeavor for her (and for her father, who spends as much time as possible helping to assistant-coach the team).  Brooke plays second base; she does a great job!  Go, Paso Robles Bearcats! 

Caedmon Van Bigelow has decided that kindergarten is boring; and he keeps us entertained by demonstrating his dance moves.  I really have no idea how this has come about, but he seems to have a knack :-).

That's our news for now, and I thank you again for loving us and following our story. 

"I love the LORD, for God heard my voice; God heard my cry for mercy.  Because God turned an ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.  The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion." (Psalm 116: 1 and 2 and 5).  I think that I am going to memorize Psalm 116 now - it is so lovely. 

The End!  (for now :-)

The Keller Family

The Keller Family and HollyB


Today my heart is filled with desire to love and pray for and encourage and support our friends the Keller family.  Terry Keller was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2007 and according to the initial prognosis of his doctors, it is a miracle that he is alive these years later. There was a period of 12 months since then, after surgeries and chemotherapy and clinical trials and treatments, during which Terry was "cancer free"; but since June of last year, tumors have continued to grow and spread on his liver.  He underwent surgery in October 2010 to remove much of his liver; spent many months healing and recovering; just recently has seemed to be restored to psuedo-health, except for some bouts of fevers and infections; but last week when he was scanned, new tumors were found on his liver.  So Terry and his wife Ellalina traveled yesterday to Stanford, yet again, in order for Terry to undergo procedures to drain his body of infection, and so that they may meet with intervention radiologists and determine Terry's next treatment plan.

Terry and his daughter Lexi

 

Terry and DJ

 

Lexi, Ellalina, and Terry

If you are so inclined, please pray for these friends of mine.  Terry's full story is being penned at http://www.tkhb.blogspot.com/.  Muchas gracias!  

And the Answer is...Maybe Not. Maybe?

DJ's biopsy occurred Tuesday, May 17, and I hoped to receive pathology results by today, Friday, May 20.  I hereby give great-big props to Laura, the nurse coordinator of the Cyber Knife Department; she telephoned the very next day at 11:00 a.m., only 24 hours post-procedure, and informed us that the the test results are negative for cancer and negative for cocci ("Valley Fever").  But, that this unknown lumpy bump in DJ is just...unknown.  What is it?  It tests negative for cancer, but it's growing and there are some other indicators that it may be cancerous.  Dr. Wong, DJ's radiation oncologist there at the Cancer Center in Fresno, is away from work until next month, so I do believe that we will wait to consult with him again when he returns.  Perhaps he will prescribe the cyber knife treatment to proceed, since the fiducials are implanted in DJ's nodule?  Perhaps he'll instruct that we wait awhile more and biopsy again in order to further study the lumpy bump?  These are my speculations, but I just don't know.  But I am unanxious and peaceful and cheerful and hoepful.

Regarding the procedure, DJ has been in a bit of manageable discomfort; he has felt a difficulty in drawing a deep, full breath from his right lung, and has expereinced some various pains in his back.  Wednesday we took a little trip to visit our paramedic friends at the Emergency Services station in beautiful downtown Paso Robles where the very lovely Amanda listened to DJ's chest with a stethoscope and measured his saturation levels, which I am learning have to do with the percentage of oxygen intake (or something like that).  In any case, Amanda declared that DJ's lungs sounded clear, and that his saturation levels were at 97 per cent (and that that is good).  I pray that as each hour passes, DJ's lung will heal from the invasion of the needle and that his respiratory system will operate according to God's original and beautiful design, according to God's will.  Aaaaaaa-men!!  :-)

Firefighter/Paramedic Amanda listening to DJ breathing

Please pardon the fuzziness of this photo - the camera in my phone is not high quality; but I wanted to capture Firefighter/Paramedic Ross Porter in action, along with DJ and Firefighter/Paramedic Amanda. :-)

DJ did return to work yesterday; he is brave and strong and resilient and handsome.  I think it's all good. 

In the meantime, the kids have a mere 4 weeks of school remaining, and life as usual keeps on rolling.  God's grace is abundant and good; we are blessed beyond measure; et cetera.  :-)  "This is the day the LORD has made; we will REJOICE and be glad in it!"  (Raise your hand if you're rejoicing!)

"Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand.  You will guide me with Your counsel and afterward take me to glory.  Whom have I in heaven but You?  And on earth there is nothing I desire beside you; my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  As for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the LORD God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your deeds (Psalm 73:23-26, 28)."

God will never leave us or forsake us.  Hooray!  Ta-ta-for-now!  :-)

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Hello, Friends and Family! Last evening DJ and I traveled to Fresno, California, and stayed the night with our groovy friends the Downs family.  This morning we checked in to the Cyber Knife Department at the Community Regional Medical Center, and were walked alllllllll the way over to the Critical Care Center for DJ's procedure.  Chief radiologist Dr. V and his nurses Nicole and Elena and Darrel were so wonderfully fantastic; they took me along with DJ into the room and thoroughly explained what would be happening to him, answering all our questions.  I love to be as close as possible to what's going on, so I was happy for that visualization.  I did request to be able to remain in the room and observe, but I was denied.  :-)  I was ushered to a small, nearby family waiting room for the duration of the procedure.

DJ is happy that he doesn't remember anything.  Dr. V. performed a CT-assisted biopsy of DJ's lung while he lay on his stomach (it was easier to access the nodule from his back than his chest, we were told), and then he implanted 3 or 4 little teeny gold fiducials around the nodule.  Dr. V made only one poke with the needle, but then sort of dug around a little bit to place the gold pellets appropriately; I guess that that "digging" is what accounts for DJ's pain and discomfort now.  After only 47-or-so minutes, I was escorted from the family waiting room back to DJ in the procedure room.  He was a little groggy, but he shook the Dr.'s hand and thanked him (he doesn't remember that, either).  Then he was wheeled just down the hall and around the corner to the observation room, where I waited with him for the next 3 hours. 

The observation room is a very interesting place, with lots of comings-and-goings of patients who have undergone various procedures and need to be watched for a spell before being discharged or taken to a hospital room for a further stay.  The man in the stall adjacent to DJ snored in the most entertaining manner  :-).  DJ came in and out of consciousness, complained of not being able to take a good, deep breath on his right side, and slept most of the time. After 45 minutes of being observed, he was wheeled away for a quick x-ray.  Dr. V informed us a short time later that DJ's lung looked healthy and strong.  Another x-ray was taken 90 minutes later, the doctor came to us again and told us that DJ's lung seemed groovy and great, and a short while later DJ was discharged.  By 1:30 p.m. he was hungry, not having been allowed to eat or drink all day, and sometime during the grogginess of his post-procedure observation he had decared a desire to partake of chili for lunch.  El Torito was the first dining establishment that we came upon after leaving Community Regional Medical Center, and DJ was happy to nourish himself with enchiladas and burritos and tortilla soup.  I was happy to be heading home only 19 hours after we'd left, not knowing how long we'd be away from the kids and the household.

Tonight DJ is in a small amount of discomfort, but he seems to be out of critical condition.  The radiologist told us that we may be able to receive biopsy results from him by this coming Friday.  My heart is filled with thanksgiving and appreciation and gratefulness - that DJ is healthy and at home, that our children were so well-cared for by friends and hardly noticed that we were gone, and for the very many of you all that have prayed for us and sent us love and affection and encouragement and support.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Two days prior to DJ's pulmonary biopsy and fiducial placement, he took part in the Central Coast Adventure Sprint with friends Brian Lewis and Ellalina and Miller.  This exciting adventure included 3-ish miles of kayaking, 8-ish miles of mountain bike riding, and 3-ish miles of trail blazing/boulder scrambling/bush wacking/running through the wilderness.  Perhaps this exertion of energy and exercise is part of why his lung is so healthy and un-collapsed after a biopsy today.  :-)  Above is a picture of DJ's 2-person team after having completed the adventure, and here below is a photo of Miller and Brian and Ellalina and her teammate Audrey and DJ and lil' Lexi. 

And with that I bid you "Adieu!" and "Good Night!".  The end, for now. 

Biopsy Upcoming

(Brooke, DJ, and Alexandra, all dressed up)



Greetings, friends and family and fans of the Bigelow family!  I have news to report:  DJ Bigelow has made a decision regarding the nodule detected in his lung - he has decided to begin the process known as the cyber knife.  We have thereby been scheduled with the Cyber Knife Department of the California Cancer Center of Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, California, for a biopsy of DJ's nodule to be taken and for the first step of the procedure to occur - namely, fiducial placement.  What, you may ask, is a fiducial?  That is a great question.  It seems that small gold pellets, or seeds, or flakes, a.k.a. fiducials, will be somehow or 'tother placed in the nodule in DJ's lung; these fiducials will then, if I understand correctly, perform a marvelous job of attracting the high-intensity beams of radiation toward the nodule that it may be destroyed, while keeping the rest of DJ's pulmonary and otherwise-self safe and unharmed from the laser light show.  This procedure takes place in several steps, the first of which is fiducial placement.  And, in order that it may be known what exactly this nodule is made of, a biopsy of the nodule will occur.  And this is scheduled to take place next Tuesday, May the 17th.  Which date, I remember, will be exactly one year from DJ's first treatment of chemotherapy last year; May 17 is also the birthday of my dear friends Happy Saunders and Celia Moses, to whom I will give a loving shout-out from Fresno next week!  :-)

Here are the items for which I request prayer:  will you please pray that the biopsy needle will correctly locate and assess the nodule, even though it is the small size of 1.2 centimeters?  Will you please pray that DJ's lung will not collapse but remain healthy and strong and filled with air?  Will you please pray that the nodule's tissue is benign and that our oncologist will not desire to presecribe chemotherapy to DJ again?  And will you please pray that, come what may, God will be magnified and glorified and worshiped and adored and seen and savored and desired and delighted in by each of us and by all of the universe?  (That's quite a list!  You'd better start praying! :-)  Thank you very much!  :-)

And now for family photos:

 Caedmon pretending to sleep

 Brooke and a butterfly

Alexandra and band-member-friend after a performance

That's all, folks!  Thank you for loving us and for praying for us and for encouraging and supporting us.  We are blessed beyond measure - you are a significant and dear part of that. 

The End (for now).

One-Point-Two centimeters

Howdy, Ya'll!

A CT scan on Monday of this week (May 2, 20011) has revealed that DJ's nodule has grown slightly, from 1 centimeter in March 2011 to 1.2 centimeters now.  Hmmm...what should happen now?  I don't know.  But God knows! 

Caedmon Van Bigelow is super excited to have begun karate lessons!

In the meantime, Alexandra is hard at work on a family history project for her history and social studies class, Brooke Bigelow's regular softball season is coming to a close with an end-of-the-season tournament scheduled for this weekend, and Caedmon Van Bigelow has begun to take Shorin-Ryu karate lessons.  Nanny is faithful to water her flowers, as the soon-coming-summer heat is beginning to rise in Paso Robles; DJ thinks he should begin a side-business of performing weddings, with the first of four upcoming this weekend simultaneous to Brooke's softball tournament.  And I am happy as a lark managing the comings and goings that make up the Bigelow household.  Whew!  Fun family times; we are blessed beyond measure.

On Easter Sunday, Alex and Brooke hunted much for eggs and chocolate bunnies (and Lady Dog sniffed)

If you have entertained hopes and dreams of possibly marrying off your daughter (or yourself) to Jeffrey Benyo, I'm sorry to say that your dreams have come to an end (unless you happen to be Mrs. McArthur or Ashley); for this is the wedding ceremony which DJ will be performing this coming weekend.  Oh, how I love a good wedding!  And oh, how I love the Benyos!  :-)

Crystal B, Holly B, and Ashley Mc. (soon-to-be) B



Caedmon and Jeffrey



Thank you for loving us!  I will report back when advice from the oncologists and surgeons is given and when DJ makes a decision about how to handle a 1.2 centimeter pulmonary nodule.  :-)

("It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses...")