There's a wedding in our future!!!

AND it's at our house!! Our friends Josh and Kacie got engaged and asked to have their special day here on our property! WOW!!... OK! Let's do it!

We had an idea they were interested by several subtle comments made before Josh proposed. Josh and Kacie were visiting us last September, when we drove them past the house. We did not own it at that time but we were pretty excited to show them our future digs. They loved it too! And made the comment about getting married here.
So, on the evening of the big proposal, they talked to us about the possibility and heck, we said YES!

Planning has been underway and Ben and I have been enjoying all the visits they have been making to take care of wedding stuff. I can't believe it! We are going to have a wedding on our property!!

We couldn't be more excited for our friends and the wonderful future they will have together.

Everyone goes through a hard time in their life...

I keep praying that tough situations build strong people. I haven't felt very strong lately as we have been going through a really rough time.

My mothers day! The best gift to have our little boy alive!!

We almost lost our little buddy Crocket May 1st. He had started throwing up and then became lethargic, leading us to the Emergency Vet in Green Bay, WI, about 50min from our home. There they discovered a mass in his abdomen which needed to be removed. We raced him to Veterinary Specialty Center in Buffalo Grove, IL (this is like the Mayo Clinic of Veterinary hospitals, they can do it all!) to perform the surgery. They confirmed the mass in his abdomen but couldn't tell us if they could remove it until they opened him up. We sent him into surgery unsure if he would make it. Thankfully, the cancer mass (which ended up being two masses) was contained and removable. They did not see it anywhere else and felt confident that Crocket would have a good recovery and quality of life post surgery. What caused Crocket to get sick was a ruptured appendix. Had that not happened we would have never found the cancer. Crocket made it through the surgery like a rock star, and he was able to come home after 5 days in the hospital. The  two-week wait to get the results of the type of cancer and treatment options seemed to drag on and was hanging over us like a black cloud. The preliminary results showed either a type that was treatable or possibly a type they could not do anything to help. Prayers for our buddy were fulfilled! His type of cancer is treatable and the chemo pills used to treat it has an 80% success rate. He will not be rid of cancer but this miracle pill will help suppress his cancer (even though they removed all the masses) and allow for a normal life. The Drs shared with us that another dog with the same type of cancer is still alive after 2 years on this pill.
We entered into the two week trial to see how he handled the chemo. Finally some good news...he is responding well to the chemo, he's gained weight and he isn't in any pain in his abdomen. The stress hasn't subsided as we have had other things turn up, like a bladder infection, a spot on his abdomen (which turned out to be a skin infection...phew!!) and now behavioral issues relating to his food. But, he is alive and he is more and more like his old Crocket self. He runs like a crazy dog on our morning walks, he begs for treats and wants to play ball! Pretty impressive for all he's been through at 12 years old.

If you look close, the shadow next to Crocket looks like his angel!

Crocket LOVES to go for rides on anything with wheels (or ski's)!

Crocket was so excited to get tennis balls from his Grandma Oblak

The stress of all this hit me hard and I ended up with shingles on my face. The worst pain I have ever had and it knocked me out. Of course this came at the worst time, just when Crocket was able to come home. The pain was unbearable, I found myself having to take pain meds (which make me way loopy) so I could handle the burning, tingling, itching pain caused by shingles. My poor husband! Not only did he have Crocket to worry about and care for but he had me to nurse. We are over a month since the Crockets surgery and I'm still dealing with the shingles, not nearly as bad but the pain, itching and tingling are still present. And my husband is still my rock!

Shingles

If things could get worse, they did. We got word that Ben's grandma (who was a month shy of her 96th birthday) was not doing well and it seemed God was calling her home. We both were able to see her and spend time with her the couple days before she passed. Crocket was able to give her love, she even said his name and reached for him! We had a house full of family for grandmas funeral and spent our time celebrating her life with all our loved ones. True blessings!

While we may be stressed we see the blessings in all this, we have more time with our beloved pet. We are blessed we were able to do all this for him and continue to do for him. We have a supportive, loving family and amazing friends, all whom have prayed hard and been there in every way we could imagine. I've been told that all this will make me stronger, I'm still waiting for that to happen. I sometimes feel like a weak ball of stress, but we get up each morning thankful for another day filled with love and another special angel in heaven looking out for us.

This was Grandma and Grandpa Zito's 70th wedding anniversary! They were married 73 years when she passed. 

Grandma "Noni" was new to selfies!