Home Sweet Home

Sounding the Gong!! Time to go home!

Home Sweet Home

  Well after a 6.5 week adventure in Houston Texas, we are very happy to say we are HOME! The travel day went really well, but roaming through airports with three young kids is always an adventure and makes for great stories later in life… I’m sure…

  One of our airport adventures included an escalator nightmare: Shaelynn began losing her balance on her way up the moving stairs and started tipping backwards. Try to picture this: a mother…trying her best to rescue her daughter by pinning her against the escalator wall (which does not move with the stairs, I’ve learned) with her leg, while holding onto a 9 month old baby and an armload of luggage. The super dad races up to save his family, in the meantime, leaving his 4 year old son wailing at the bottom of the escalator because he believes his whole family has abandoned him! LOL oh man…life with kids is never boring!

  We came home to a huge welcome sign, a clean house full of food and homemade meals stashed in the freezer and lots of love from family and friends. We need to give a special thank you shout out to my lovely sister Erika and sister-in-law Rach, our great friend Michelle, our wonderful neighbours and our amazing parents who all spoiled us on our return. The kids were overjoyed to be home! They loved seeing their cousins, their toys, their bedrooms… even the couches got big hugs!

  It was an adjustment for Kyle and I to be home again. When we left, it was still the hot summer weather of August, where it stayed light out for a long time and kids were home on summer vacation. When we returned, it was to chilly autumn weather, bright coloured leaves and all of our children’s’ friends and cousins back in school. It didn’t feel like we were gone that long, but we missed the introduction into fall and I can only describe that as a really weird feeling. After being home for over a week now though, we have definitely adjusted and it feels goooood to be home! Cohen began school last week and is really enjoying it and Kyle went back to work TODAY! Yep! He is feeling really good and was ready to get back into the swing of things. He was slowly weaned off of the steroid and is finally getting some good, restful sleep!

  Kyle has an MRI in the coming week. It will be his first one since receiving treatment. The doctor has advised us that they might not get a good visual of the brain due to swelling and inflammation from the radiation, but are hoping to have a base-line MRI before he begins chemo. Kyle will begin taking a chemotherapy drug 4-6 weeks after his last radiation treatment. This is an oral drug that he takes at home. He was previously on this drug 3 years ago and was able to continue to work with minimal side effects and that is what we are praying and believing for again…except this time…NO 

side effects!  

  Now, this part of the blog I’ve been struggling with. No matter how much we’ve envisioned different ways of saying thank you, we just can’t seem to express our overwhelming gratitude to everyone through our words…but I will try. When God showed Kyle the direction He wanted him to take for this part of our journey, we had to just simply trust in Him and push any fears aside. We had to trust he would provide for us and believe that He would protect not only Kyle during his treatments, but our whole family as we were uprooted from our norm and placed in the hot, sticky city of Houston. We trusted, believed and felt at peace with this decision! Peace…after months of uneasiness, nagging doubts and indecision we had a God-given, spiritual peace that He would protect and provide. Well…true to His promise… God did provide and protected us all. Through your fervent prayers, overwhelming generosity and kind messages, God used so many of you to bless us and He truly supplied for our every need. Philippians 4:19- And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

  I’m not sure where to start.. so here it goes:

-Kyle’s brothers and sisters at Peel Regional Police; your support to us over these past five years have been incredible. One morning last week, we opened a bill for an MRI that Kyle had done in Houston. That afternoon PRP threw a fundraiser BBQ for us. Without your knowledge of that MRI bill… you raised almost the exact amount! This is only one example of how awesome y’all are ;) Thank you so much to all of you for your support and care!

-To those involved and attending other fundraisers; we are astounded by your generosity, dedication and hard work.

-To those that have blessed us financially to cover the costs of the treatment; we truly appreciate your giving heart and wish we could thank you all in person.

-And to those who don’t even personally know us, but have blessed us through your prayers and financial support; we are truly amazed at your kindness and generosity.

Ephesians 1:16- I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

You all have taught US how to treat others in need and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

It feels good to be home…now I better start rakin those leaves! :)

Blessings and love,

The DeKonings