Cancer Free

I just returned from a 9 day trip back home to Minnesota! Dad had his surgery on Friday, January 16th. The surgery was only supposed to take 4 hours, but ended up taking 6.5 hours!! They had some complications during the surgery since dad's prostate was larger than they thought so it took some extra work to get it out. The first few days for him were a little rough as he was pretty uncomfortable. He was released from the hospital the following Monday. So over a week has passed since his surgery and he is definitely on the road to recovery. He went in this morning for his 1 week check up and found out he is CANCER FREE! He has to have his catheter and drain tube (attached to an incision) for one more week and he is not happy about it. He still has quite a bit of drainage from surgery, so we hope that he can get it out next Tuesday. Thank you all for your prayers, calls, emails, and texts! We appreciate it very much!

Prayers needed for Wendy and the Turnidge family....

Gee where do we start! My friend Wendy who I have posted about on here has sure had her dealings with her health and now her dear husband. I'm going to be short in detail because there is so much to type about her husband. He went in for a routine surgery on Monday and passed away yesterday. He was only 33. The surgery was to fix a faulty part of the defibrillator and the laser that was used burned a hole into Mark's heart and cut off blood to his brain for 15-20 minutes. The hole was a size of a hand. It's truly a nightmare that has unfortunately come true. They have a precious 3 year old named Lance. They had a great relationship and were childhood sweethearts. Wendy is very much stronger person that anyone I think I have ever met. She is a very devout christian and this will get her through this rough time. Please keep Wendy and their little boy Lance in your prayers throughout the coming days. She will need them to keep her strong. Here is her caringbridge website if you would like to learn more about what has happened:

www.caringbridge.org/visit/wendyturnidge

Even though Mark's passing is very sad he passed away peacefully and is at home with God.

Christmas Weekend

Wow! What a weekend we had! My parents had friend's in town that I haven't seen in forever! We were able to meet Dewayne and Shari downtown Nashville for a beer at The Stage before the Grand Ole Opry! We went to the Opry for one reason only......KEITH URBAN....need I say more haha! It was actually a fun filled show! Keith did 2 songs which one of them was a very meaningful song. He sang first "Sweet Thing" then "Making Memories of Us" which happened to be mine and Richard's first song we danced to as husband and wife! Then Jamey Johnson took the stage he was good, some more of the classic country old timey singers, then Julianne Hough (Julianne was on Dancing With The Stars) she was great! The Opry ended with Chuck Wicks! He was great too! He also sang a meaningful song...."Stealing Cinderella" which was the song my dad and I danced to at the wedding! It was so much fun....and boy do we have photos to remember the night!!

Sunday we got to see our friends Bobby and Jen! They just got back in from Europe! We got to hear all about their fabulous trip to places such as Florence, Tuscany, & Rome, Switzerland, Paris, then off to London! Hearing their stories really made me want to go!! Well the Titans didn't do so well this past weekend, but we won't hold it against them! Cheer for them on Jan. 10th as they play their first home playoff game!!

Merry Christmas!!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!! As we look back we have so much to be thankful for! We are celebrating our very first Christmas as newlyweds! It is definitely a special one! Wow what a year this has been! We hope you are surrounded by friends and family. Have a safe Christmas and cherish every moment you have with your loved ones!

Oh Christmas Tree....Oh Christmas Tree

So I finally figured I should post a photo of our beautifully decorated Christmas tree that Taylor, Richard, and I decorated!! The cat also had to do a pose by the presents...the cat has already been caught trying to open gifts! She also loves the ribbon that I have tied on the presents as well! Sneaky one! Apparently she can't wait until Christmas Day to open her gifts!

It's almost Christmas!

brrrrrr

We hope you are enjoying the season! It has been filled with so many fun things for us from Christmas parties, Cheerleading Competitions, and baking! We have had another fun weekend our little friend Harmony turned 4 yesterday! Taylor has been so anxious to give Richard her gift she made for him....shhhh don't tell Richard! All the gifts are wrapped and under the tree and it is killing Taylor to not be able to open them! She has her countdown going for Christmas! The tree is spilling over gifts a plenty! We are staying right here in Tennessee for Christmas! We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the big day! We hope you are enjoying your weekend! I have included several photos of the season...from Taylor's Christmas party, Gaylord's Christmas party, ICE!, and birthday girl Harmony!

love,

us

Welcome December!

So it's been a few weeks since I've last posted...there has been so much going on around here. Taylor had another cheer competition and they took National Champions title in their division which makes us very happy to know all their hard work has worked in their favor! Between fun parties, competitions, getting the house all together for Christmas it's been pretty busy in the Rawlings household! We are getting ready to hit Gatlinburg this weekend for another cheer competition for Taylor! We are very much looking forward to going! I'll be posting photos later on with all the fun things! Hope you are enjoying this Christmas season!

~Heather