Balch Family Blog

With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas ahead, we are VERY busy here at the Balch house! We spent Thanksgiving in Pine, AZ with Mark’s family. His sister and fiance’ drove down from Las Vegas to join his parents and our crew to have a very yummy dinner.

We got to play in the snow without driving very far at the neighborhood snow day. Camden really enjoyed it! (I was going to post a picture, but it won’t create a thumbnail so it is too big. Dad the 2 I wanted to put in are in the browser if you want to take a look.)

(Dad was here)

Mark and I will be attending The Nutcracker next week and we are thrilled to have a date.

Christmas will be spent at our house this year. We are considering making something a little non-tradtional this year.

We hope this finds you all doing well.

• Remember that JESUS is the reason for the season!

As of Monday night we returned from our adventure!  It was so fun!  We saw the mouse, ate great food (including fists full of sand—Carsten), drove 21 ft dragster (varoom—-Mark), saw over 5000 alligators, visited the World Golf Hall of Fame, played on the beach and in the water (BRRR—Camden), purchased several different Christmas ornaments (my new favorite souvenir—Heather), and enjoyed being a family.

It is difficult to get back into the swing of things.  Our Aunt Traci and Uncle Lee are coming out from Buffalo tonight so we will spend the weekend with them, and then it will be Thanksgiving!  Yikes!  Before we know it Christmas and 2007—where does the time go?

Below are just a few pictures from our trip:

The family at The Magic Kingdom

Heather and the Boys on It’s A Small World

Mark and Camden in a dragster like the one Mark drove

Carsten on the beach in Daytona

So I would put myself at 95% and that feels pretty good!  I am still quite tender and my lip is still numb, but other than that I am doing good!  By the end of the day I am beat and ready for bed!

My mom has been walking in the 3 Day walk to fight breast cancer.  I went to the cheering station yesterday and I am going back today.  I bring their favorite beverages and cool wet wash cloths and today I am planning on rubbing some feet!  I will post some pictures when it is over.

I had my stitches removed yesterday.  I am doing ok.  My neck is really swollen, it hurts to yawn and sneeze, and my bottom lip is numb.  Other than that I am ok.  The results are not in as to the exact nature of the growth, but we do know it was a fungal infection, maybe caused by cat scratch disease.  I am not sold on that one though.  We should know more when I call the doctor in two weeks to see what the cultures grew.

Thanks for all your prayers!

Heather

otherwise known as Halloween.  We like to focus on the above characteristics!  We dressed the kids up this morning to get some pictures, but we will take more tonight too.  Camden is a Fire Fighter and Carsten is a Cow.  Here is a couple pictures:

I am doing ok.  Wish I was 100%, but I am getting closer!

Heather is home after her surgery this morning.  The doctor said that the mass was a little bigger (2 inches) and a little deeper than he thought it would be.  She also has some other enlarged lymph nodes in the area (about half the size of your pinkie nail) that he left in.  Once the tests and biopsies come back then we’ll figure out what, if anything, needs to be done about them.  She is in bed resting now, she has a sore throat and is drowsy but is doing okay otherwise.

Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts for us.  We’ll keep you posted.

I met with my doctor this morning for the pre-op info. It sounds pretty simple and I should have a quick recovery. Our answers will come on the following Wed as to what it is, infection most likely, but they will check for any signs of cancer too. My mom will be coming up and Mark’s mom will help with the boys as well.

After the appointment we went to Artville which was a lot of fun.  It is hands on and a part of the AZ Museum for Youth.   My mom got us a membershhip as an early Christmas gift.  We have gone once a week so far.

The boys are keeping me busy and my mind on other things!  Here is a recent pic of me and the boys!

Yes, I will be having surgery 2 weeks from today.  About a month ago I went to the doctor for a painful lump in my neck.  I was treated with antibiotics, but it did not go away.  I went for an ultrasound which identified a 1.5 inch solid mass.  After that I was sent for a contrast CT Scan of my neck.  It was determined that I have an enlarged lymph node showing signs of necrosis.  My PCP referred me to an ENT.  I saw my ENT yesterday and after we discussed my options we decided on removing the whole lump and they will biopsy it to see what it is after they take it out.
My ENT seemed fairly confident that it was not cancer but rather just a bad infection.

I guess that is really all the news I have.  I shouldn’t be out of commission for more than a day, and my mom is going to come and help with the kids as well as taking care of me while Mark is at work.

My faith is strong and I know that God will see me through this.  He has a plan and I am along for the ride!  So I am buckling up for the next few weeks! 🙂

It looks like both dad and I were hit by a spam posting in a blog post from over a year ago.  We can see them because of the recent comments section.  So here is the question…how do we stop ’em?

At Target this summer they had several camping items on sale, so we picked up a tent and stove. We had not used it and decided we should try a test run in our backyard. Mark arrived home a little after 6pm. He began to set up the tent and built a fire (we have a firepit in our backyard). I purchased a mesquito lantern and sprayed the family down with bug spray. By 7:30 we were grilling our hotdogs. Camden thought he would investigate the mesquito lantern and burned his fingers. We rushed inside to put them under cool water. He was fine so we headed back out. We ate our dinner and then made s’mores. Camden liked the chocolate the best. By 9:00 pm we were all in bed and asleep a few moments later.

It was a lot of fun and we are glad we practiced in our yard before venturing out to the wilderness. When we woke up this morning to a neighbor talking on the phone, Mark and I agreed to a few more backyard trials before doing the real thing!

Here are a few pictures: