One. More. Trip.

Sensing a theme? Yeah, we've been gone a lot this month.  But, alas, we're rounding out June at home and don't have much planned for the next few months... at least not much that includes sleeping somewhere other than our own beds.

We packed up the car one. more. time. this week and headed to Seattle for a couple days.  It's become a familiar path and I hadn't realized how much we had traveled up there until I was "recapping" our year in January and found lots of digital memories archived.  Thankfully, this was another great trip with wonderful news!

We set out early Tuesday morning and dropped Madi off at Josh and Krista's before heading to Matt's appointment.  Matt had his MRI done in Salem two weeks before for insurance purposes. (Long story short our insurance has changed and all of Matt's Seattle physicians are "out of network", therefore we're in the process of providing letters to the insurance from multiple doctors attempting to prove that his continued out of network treatment is essential, blah, blah, blah. I try not to think about it much and just do what I'm supposed to do - aka, provide the correct documentation...) Dr. Nussbaum was super happy with the MRI results and he said that "at worst" the tumor has stayed the same, but it looks like it has probably shrunk! So awesome! Matt's had scans done every 3 or 6 months for the last two years and Dr. Nussbaum felt it would be no problem to wait A WHOLE YEAR before having another one! We were both pretty stoked and for some reason that seems like SO long! He did recommend that Matt have another scan done of his hip soon to compare the scan done in January when they found another mass (which the tech thought was most likely an abnormal muscle growth since surgery). That scan can be done down here and only needs follow up if there seems to be growth, etc. All in all, our visit felt super encouraging.

The best part, however, was when we stopped by Dr. Porter's office (Matt's head surgeon).  We hadn't seen him for almost two years and we needed to pick up a letter from his office.  We asked if he was available for just a few minutes and his assistant was hesitant, but when we told her how long it had been since we'd seen him she tracked him down.  He was soooo happy to see Matt (almost cried), and meet Emmitt, and so proud of how hard Matt's been working.  He got to see Matt's leg (artificial foot orthopedic) and was quite impressed with his accomplishments.  He wanted us to make sure we stop by every time we come up. I was so glad we bothered his assistant about it.  We both have so much respect for these doctors and how hard they work and we know they have super demanding schedules so it's hard to intrude. It was a great reunion!

And finally, we headed out into the Seattle rain to enjoy some animals at the zoo.  Madelyn loved it and truth be told, rain certainly fights off the crowds!!! ;)

Matchy, matchy. I'm required to wear this coat whenever Madi wears hers. 

Watching monkeys do what they do... ;)

Madelyn really wanted to get a stick to feed the birds. 

... and then this is what she did...

We relaxed, ate ice cream, and went to the park in the SUNSHINE the next day! =) 

Thanks Josh and Krista for providing a nice and relaxing place to stay! (and finally baby proofed! ;)

We may not be back for another YEAR (unless you happen to "pop" out another baby between now and then ;)...

God is good and we are thankful!!!