Happy Halloween!

Happy, happy Halloween!!!

There is SO MUCH activity at our

new house, along with tons of

"goins" on, that we really must

stay at the project 13+ hours a day!!!

In the spirit of Halloween, Mike and Luke

carved the BIGGEST pumpkin EVER while

we were babysitting the workers!!!!

What matters most is that Luke had

a TON of fun and carved the

BEST jack-o-lantern EVER!!!

A big thumbs up for a fun day and

to one more day closer that this

house project will be complete!!!

Hallow's Eve.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

As CRAZY as it has been around here

lately . . . 13+ hours per day at our

new house, Michigan, new docs,

new meds, chemotherapy, you

NAME it . . .

It simply would not be Halloween

without Gram's ever-famous popcorn

balls . . .

I stumbled through the doors and

cooked up the lovely ingredients of

honey, brown sugar, and butter to

make our "favoritist" Halloween treat!!

Love, love, lovin' our Halloween

traditions and count, count, countin'

the days until we move into our

new digs . . .

Action.

Moving right along . . . our color coat

on our stucco is getting there!!!

. . . it even sparkles in the sunlight!!!

We have a bazillion of these buckets

sitting EVERYWHERE around our

house!! The stucco guys use them as

they are applying the color coat!!

Ou roofers are soooo cute and are

doing a mighty great job on our

brand spakin' new metal roof . . .

10 days and counting . . . They will

be d.o.n.e.

Ta da!!! Pottery Barn Linen White . . .

Gotta love it.

Almost Here . . .

Luke and I have been sneaking into our

secret Trick or Treat stash . . . One of

our favorite things about the home that

we are renting is that we are in a

neighborhood that has TONS of

Trick or Treaters. Our new home is

located way on top of a winding road

with only four other homes up there!

Trick or Treaters will not be making

the treck up there. So we will enjoy

handing out candy to our cute

little neighbors once again this year!

While I am not really into witches at

Halloween, don't you just think that

she has the cuuuuuutest face!?! She

makes me laugh when I look at her!

Personally, I cannot believe that

Halloween is only a few days away.

Where oh where did this year go?

Must Read.

Another big bonus for our recent

jaunt across the country: I read "The Help".

As a PhD student, I never have time

to read for pleasure. Next week I

receive my comprehensive exam

questions, so I took full advantage of

the airtime and read this wonderful

story. Now that I have read the

book, I am dying to see the movie.

The boys are having a stroke

knowing that I will convince them

to go with me!!

If you are looking for a great read,

take the time to experience "The

Help".

Godtime.

Amazed, but not surprised!! That is

how Mike and I reacted at 9:00a.m. EST

this morning when the doctors at the

University of Michigan Hospital, who,

just twenty-four short hours before

told us that Mike was in Stage IV with

high levels of reoccurrence of Adrenal

Cortical Cancer, reported that his

PET/CT Scan showed NO EVIDENCE

OF CANCER . . . GONE . . . CLEAN . . .

UNDETECTABLE!!! Say what?!?

God's mercy is truly amazing and His

healing powers are not to be

underestimated!!! God ALWAYS

answers prayers, sometimes not in

ways that we would like, but He answers

them nonetheless. So . . .

Mike will now begin oral chemotherapy

for three years AT HOME, taking 10

Mitotane pills per day. He will also have a large

portion of his pancreas removed shortly, in

Reno in order to take out the tumors that

are on the pancreas. We will then have

a six or seven week stint of radiation

to the adrenal gland cancer surgery site.

That is easy-peasy for the Tietjen Crew

and one that we gladly welcome.

We are ever so thankful and grateful for

all of the wonderful prayers and thoughts

on behalf of so many wonderful friends

and family members!!! God is truly amazing

and we give Him all of the glory for this

miracle in Mike's healing!!!

Praising the Lord for an answer to prayer!!!

Hammertime.

Mike and I are in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the

University of Michigan Cancer Care

Center. He and I feel blessed beyond

measure to have the opportunity to

come to such a wonderful place where

they specialize in such strange animals

as adrenal gland cancer.

Even though I would not wish this

disease on anyone, we most certainly

see God's handiwork in every step

of this journey. We are so thankful

to have friends near the hospital that

have been so very gracious to let us

stay with them, allow us to drive their

car, and are praying for us every

moment during this adventure.

Wouldn't you LOVE for your name to

be Dr. Hammer?!? You would if

you were this man! He is truly, truly

amazing! We are thrilled beyond

belief that we have the opportunity

to come all the way to Michigan to

have the chance to be able to have

the opportunity to beat this adrenal

cancer!

Endorsement.

The moment my transcripts came, I was

so excited that I jumped into the car

and drove to the Department of

Education in Carson City in order to submit

the necessary paperwork to obtain my

Administrative License.

I am now officially licensed to become

a school principal!!! While I have no

immediate plans to apply for the

position, as I still have tons of

homeschooling with my Luke,

must write my comps, and then

begin my dissertation; it was exciting

to know that I have completed this

milestone.

It is pretty exciting to know that I

have achieved one of my life goals

in obtaining administrative

licensure and am just as excited

aboutthe rest of my doctoral journey!!

Cabinet Knobs.

Ta da!! They are heeeere!!! I have been

eagerly awaiting my VINTAGE WATER VALVES

that will soon be transformed into cabinet

knobs and pulls!!!

Can you see it now!?! Are you catching

the vision?!? Mike, Luke, and I worked

on the cabinet knob and pull project while

Mike was in the Mayo Clinic. He now

swears that he was on morphine when

he allowed me to order them. I can

testify that these will be one of the

many highlights and conversation

pieces of our brand-spankin' new

home!!

Gettin' excited! I can hear those

moving trucks coming now!!!

A-C-T-I-O-N.

2485 Mountain Spirit Court most

definitely has ACTION!!! We are

so excited!! We are getting a roof . . .

a metal roof to be exact and we can

hardly wait to see the finish product.

We have grown rather attached to the

black paper, but are excited about

the new roof none the less!!

Color . . . color . . . color!! No more

grey for the Tietjen Crew!!!

It was so fun watching the guys mix

up the color coat!!!!! These have been

in the garage for MONTHS just waiting

for the BIG day!!!

Did I hear someone say that

it would be amazing to have

shelving and closets . . .

You got it!!!

The texture went on the walls

yesterday and painting will

begin bright and early MONDAY

morning!!!!!

I must confess that I love, love, love

it when men are there working

with noisy power tools!! I love progress!!!

The paint has been delivered to the

correct rooms eagerly awaiting

application on the walls!!!

I have spent MANY, MANY, MANY

hours pushing these puppies around

the new digs.

It will be a HUGE blessing to have this

stuff out of our great room and kitchen!!!

In case you thought that there was a

magic fairy that disposed of all of the

GARBAGE generated by the house

building process . . . This pile is

NOTHING!!!! We have spent many,

many, many days opening, bagging,

lifting, and disposing of trash!!!!

. . . 50 new bags of trash that was

generated over two days . . . nothing!!!!

Gone Fishin'.

Luke has been counting the hours, minutes,

and seconds until today as he and Mike

have been planning to go fishing all

week long!!!

Mike has TONS and TONS and

TONS of patience and had so much

fun watching Luke fish at

Marilyn's Pond.

It was THE perfect day for fishing!!!

I seriously do not know who had more

fun, Luke actually fishing or Mike

watching him fish.

Father and son day outings:

can't beat 'em.

Yeehaw!!! Luke was so stoked!!! He caught

a fish!!!! Life.is.good.