Really Long Post

I have so many things to post about I am not sure where to start. The week before Thanksgiving, my stepmom had called the family in to the hospital early Wednesday morning when my dad had taken a pretty drastic turn. My two sisters, my two step-sisters, and step-mom stayed there through the end of the week so we could all be there together. Peter was staying with grandparents and I got report that he was sick and also Pete was out of state that week. (He ended up flying back Friday night.) My dad passed away after a hard fight with leukemia on Saturday morning.
It was such a helpless and awful feeling to just sit there and watch him and then on top of that have a sick kiddo at home. It was so bittersweet to see him gone but then to see him at rest as well. So many mixed emotions and lots of ups and downs. We stayed at home Saturday afternoon and ended up taking Peter to the ER with bloody diarrhea (sorry if that is too much info) after the doctor on call recommended we go. They ran some tests and gave him IV fluids. We came home Sunday to try and get some rest before going to Junction. Peter seemed to be doing a tiny bit better by Monday morning and we took him in to his pediatrician on our way to Junction. They said the tests hadn't shown anything yet and it was probably a virus.
We got to Junction just in time for me to go to the viewing while Pete and my mom stayed with Peter. Tuesday was the funeral and Peter was not doing well at all. I really thought I might have a nervous breakdown at that point. Pete's parents were so sweet to come all the way down for the funeral and then ended up driving around with Peter the whole time, so I could just process everything that was going on. We were blessed to have Pete and a friend of my Dad's do the funeral. They did such a great job sharing stories and sharing the gospel.
Peter woke up screaming and rolling around like he was in intense pain Tuesday night, then would just collapse in a ball on the floor. The Dr. on call again recommended he be seen in the ER. We drove to San Antonio and the Dr. who pulled up his chart said "So he has Salmonella?" We were clueless and found out one of the cultures had finally tested positive that morning. He started IV medication, gave us a prescription and sent us back home. We went to our house that night and tried to sleep most of Wednesday until the first ER doctor we had seen called our house and said to stop the medication immediately, come back to see her in the ER before 6 and we would probably be admitted! At this point in the week I had no tears left to cry and all I could do was laugh. We packed our bags and went back to San Antonio. We spent Thanksgiving there and they let us come home on Friday afternoon. I felt like it was almost a blessing because I was so tired emotionally and felt like my judgement was so clouded that I didn't even know what to do anymore. They took good care of Peter and for me, even though I was there holding him the whole time, it was restful. Whew! I know you are tired of reading..we were tired too.

Pete and I had decided back in August to take the first two weeks of December as our vacation. It could not have come at a better time. We went back to Junction for the first week and I am writing this now from Galveston. I have desperately needed this time to process everything and just be quiet.

I am so thankful for so many things during this awful time so I am making a list...mostly for me.
-I am thankful for my precious family and my husband's family
-my sweet sweet husband
-the amazingly geniune nurses on the oncology floor at Methodist Hospital who treated all of us as their patients
-For everyone who just took over all of our work at our offices
-I am so thankful for all of the stories that we didn't know that were shared about our dad. They made us really proud of him
-Thankful for all of the flowers, cards, and sweet comments in honor of him
-For the Thanksgiving dinner that we ate in the hospital cafeteria.
-Glad Pete and I like each other enough to spend so many days together. :)
-For vacation time spent with family and friends and used for some healing and rest.
-For HIM who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to HIS power that is at work in us.

Lots of Updates

November is halfway over already! Since the Fall Festival we have been pretty busy. Last Thursday I went to the Healthy Woman Gala that our hospital puts on every year. We had a great speaker this year, Lisa Smartt, good food and just a nice evening out.

Our Table


The Office Girls

Sunday evening Pete and I had a date night! YAY! He is so sweet and bought me tickets to the Broadway Riverdance show at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio and tickets for the Nutcracker Ballet at the end of the month! We went to visit my Dad in the hospital for a few hours (more on that below), went to eat, went to Goodwill...lol my idea, and then found a little bakery across from the theatre and stopped in for some apple pie and coffee. The show was great and surprisingly we BOTH enjoyed it. :)

My dad is having a rough week. He spent several days in ICU fighting an infection and is back on the oncology floor now. He is very confused and doesn't know where he is and what is going on. There was no change as of yesterday when my sister was there. Continue to pray for him and his wife Connie who has been there everyday/night since this started!

I just started a new discipleship class about Spiritual Gifts. It has been really good so far and our instructor asked me to fill in to teach the class this Monday. It was nice to teach again but I am really enjoying just sitting and learning the last few semesters. I know I will facilitate a class again once I go through the program so I am just soaking it all up.

Peter went for his 18 month well visit on Monday also. He is 23 lbs and 33 inches tall...i'm thinking more like 32.5 in. He is saying more words than we can count these days and repeating everything. He is starting to put a few words together here and there. And seems to be wanting to spend a large amount of time in...time out. Yes something has clicked in his brain the last two weeks that makes me wonder if it is possible to start the terrible two's at 18 months. Maybe he will get it over with sooner and we will have the terrific twos! :) Peter had a daycare injury on Tuesday. Another kid bit him on his face and he has a pretty good bruise in the shape of some top and bottom teeth still. I am going to go check everyone's mouth to see who did it....not really..haha. Hopefully it doesn't happen again! We have never had a problem with Peter biting and when he came home, I was asking him about his face and he gave me a hug and bit me on the shoulder. Not going to start this. I took a few pictures last week in the yard....



My nephews are in the high school football playoffs for Junction starting this weekend! Way to go Eagles!! Hopefully we will get to cheer them on in Hondo on Saturday!

"The Hair" came out of the closet again

Lol...so my title is a little scary. Its just that my nappy hairpiece has been to one too many events I think. I think I will replace it and move on to a new personality. Here are some pics of it (and us :) ) at the Cowboy Fellowship Fall Festival at the Jourdanton City Park.

A 50's girl and a football player...



Like the poodle?

Pre-dunking booth.


This picture makes me cold.
They counted over 5000 people this year! Great job everyone who helped put it on this year! We had lots of great game booths this year, good fajitas, a juggler, and a great band called the Wrecking. These guys love Jesus, are super genuine, and so easy to hang out with. We enjoyed having them down for the weekend! They are from Maine but are all over the place so check them out if you get a chance.

Happy November!

Flipping for Friday!

I haven't recorded any videos in way too long so here is a quick one before we head out for the weekend!

Welcome to the world, Holden James!

Last Wednesday, the 14th, Pete's brother Zack and his sweet wife Amanda, welcomed their first baby! Holden James is just perfect. Peter is excited to have a new cousin! Here are a few sweet new baby pictures that I got to take just a little while after he was born.






Peter stayed with his Gran and Grandpa at the end of last week because we were interviewing a staff position for the church. He brought home some pumpkins that they had worked on over the weekend. He is so proud of them and I am too! :) Funny side note...yesterday I let Peter taste a strawberry Sour Belt that we had bought at the football game. He kept saying "YUM!" as he was licking all of the sour stuff off. We got out of the car and he ran over to that little pumpkin on our porch and was licking the glitter saying "YUM!" It kind of looks the same. I am pretty sure it doesn't taste the same.....then again maybe I should lick it too.


After another haircut on Friday.


This weekend Pete is speaking at T Bar M for an event that the Texas State BSM is doing there. As of today I heard that Peter and I are getting to go too so I am really looking forward to a short getaway from the house!

Thank you everyone who left such sweet comments on my last post! I appreciate it and will try to do better about commenting on yours because I do read and enjoy them! Have a good week!

Helloooooo out there!

Hey Everyone, I have been keeping up with everyone else's blogs but have been kind of through a drought here on my own. I have been going back and forth on just stopping it all together because I have been so bad at it lately but it's a good way to keep up with my own pictures and I know my mom reads it :)....so I am going to keep it up. First...Happy Birthday Mom! I hope your day was as wonderful as you always make ours! Sorry I wasn't around to celebrate. Second...Happy 17 months to Peter! Our wild little guy is growing up quickly. Besides the days full of temper tantrums you make me laugh so much! Peter has not ceased to impress me with all of the new words he is spouting out each day. He is such a happy kid most of the time, always humming a song lately. This week was not so fun because we were all stuck in the house sick. My husband had the flu so he was quarantined from Tuesday to Friday in our room upstairs. I was running this place like a hospital. You have never smelled so much Lysol or Germex. Peter and I both had a cold or something less severe than the flu but enough to stay away from everyone else anyway. My company brought us four bags of food from a local cafe one of the days we were locked up here at the house and it was such a huge blessing! Salads, watermelon, grapes, oranges, bananas, cantaloupe, taco soup, King Ranch casserole, and bread sticks....there was so much that I ended up freezing two of the casseroles for later. My dad is still in Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. I haven't been able to go visit this week since we were sick and I am going to stay out until we are all completely well. He has zero white blood cells and anything could turn into something big. Initially when he went into the hospital they were going to start a 24 hr chemo that patients who get it often do not make it through the week. When he went into the hospital though his Dr. decided to try a new type of chemo drug for 5 days that was much less severe. The leukemia responded to it and now he will get that every month as long as he can or until his body can handle a bone marrow transplant. The Dr. told him this week if he doesn't start trying to walk more around the hallway at the hospital he will not get to go home and he will end up in a nursing home instead. I am really grateful for the time I have gotten to spend with him in the hospital. I have had conversations that would have never happened and have never happened my whole life. I know he is going crazy in that hospital room and hoping to get a few days at home eventually. Well if anyone is still out there let me know! Happy Fall!

Dad Update

To all my sweet friends who are praying for my dad and our family, I just wanted to give you an update. My dad found out yesterday that the dysplasia has progressed into leukemia. So much that the doctor was not able to get any liquid bone marrow to test on Tuesday and just ended up taking a piece of bone. My dad has difficult decisions to make in the coming week and none of the options are very favorable. Pray that he has the real and true peace of our gracious Lord and Savior as he decides what is best.

Some of the AFTERS!

Hey Guys! I am finally posting some "after" pictures! I just realized tomorrow was going to be September and I have not blogged in too too long! If you didn't see the "befores" they are just a couple of posts down.

Living room - no more bars! Still have to paint the red.

Living Room

Living room and dining room

Dining Room


Master bath



Master bedroom - still have to paint the red and orange beast of a window seat



Family Room




Peter's Room - The pink is gone!
I still have lots to do before we have the (HUGE) Pawelek family Christmas here this year! I am so excited to actually get to host a holiday at our house! It is definitely keeping me motivated to finish all of my projects by December..not that I will ever get finished but maybe with the big ones at least.

A friend who has a grass farm called this weekend and had an extra pallet of carpet grass that he gave us for FREE! We can probably finish off the back yard with 1 or 2 more pallets. It looks so good with grass back there! We have hauled off about 2 or 3 truck loads of junk, tires, brush, old wood, leaves, and lattice. It is coming together finally but we still have at least a whole truck load left to haul! It has been fun working on it in the evenings this month. Can't wait for some cool air!

There was a blood drive in Junction today for my dad. I can't donate but Pete did and so many others! Thanks for all the awesome donors! There was a good turn out. He is getting large transfusions each week and so far the chemo has not helped increase the blood count. His doctor has moved the next marrow test up to this week so he can determine if this has progressed into full blown leukemia. My dad seems discouraged and doesn't know how much more chemo he can take. Please keep praying for him.

Sorry for the sparse updates lately! Have a good week! -abby

I left you hanging!

Sorry about not posting after pictures of the house yet! We left for Washington DC on Wednesday morning so Pete could do a funeral at Arlington National Cemetary. We got to stay until Sunday and got back late last night. I will update soon!

Finally moved!

Well I can't even remember what all has happened since I last posted but we have been working on the house that we bought for about a month now, plus packing, and finding someone to rent our old house, and have finally gotten moved this week! We still have a long way to go but I am just glad to have everything in one spot finally. My mom came this Tuesday through Thursday and helped with everything. I don't know what I would have done without her! Thank you so much Mom!! In the middle of all the home renovations we had the annual trip to Port Aransas with my family. I would have liked to stay for a few months! BUT moving was calling and back to the chaos we came. We were able to get DSL internet in our new neighborhood and it has been so nice. We bought two desks from a used furniture warehouse today and I am hoping to have a functioning home office by next week.

My Dad has recently been diagnosed with MDS, which is otherwise known as pre-leukemia. He has had one week of chemo and 3 blood transfusions so far. He is getting chemo one week a month for four months and they will evaluate everything at the end of four months. There are a lot of risks involved especially with the amount of transfusions he is recieving in such a short time. Be praying for him if you think about it. His name is Clifton Moss. I have been trying to get this post posted for 3 days now so I am going to post a picture overload now!


Zack and Amanda's Wedding



BEFORE PICS!
Guest Bath

Guest Room

Office

Hall Bath

Peter's Room :)



Master Bedroom
Master Bath



Family Room

Living Room

Kitchen

Dining Area
After pictures to come tomorrow!

Mom, Aimee, Angie, and I at the Beach

Annual Talent Show...rahahaha

Peter and Gracie floating in the pool.


Me and tha sisters

Peter running around at Krazy Kids at church. Lost a shoe in the blow up thingy...



Oh my...this makes me laugh. lol