Hello from Liz

Hi

I just wanted to say hi everyone, and I also wanted to Thank everyone for calling me on my birthday! I appreciate all the love and well wishes. I especially enjoyed Sharon's version of the Happy-Birthday-Mexican/Anglo-Taco-Bell-Song. That cracked me up!! I love you all very much!

David,

I haven't congratulated you for getting your Master's degree...CONGRATULATIONS, Cousin! I am so proud of you. Higher education is so important, it's one of the best things that you could've done for yourself. I'm very proud of all that both you and Becky have accomplished.

Grandpa,

I hope that you're continuing to feel better and are recovering from your oral surgery. You and Grandma are in my prayers daily. (The whole family is, actually.) I miss you and Grandma very much. I have a story for you. I have a gas stove and the other day I warmed up a corn tortilla directly on the flames because Buster was treating our comal. Anyway, the scent of the tortilla on the flames took me back to Willee Drive and I was 4 or 5 and I could picture your big strong hands flipping the tortillas. I remember being amazed at how you were able to do that without buring your fingers. :) You would heat the tortillas and then we'd eat them with butter. That was a neat memory...and I find it fascinating that memories can be triggered by sights, smells, a song, etc... I hadn't thought about that in I don't know how long.

I love you and Grandma so much, and I thank you both for all of the memories you've given me. Mom was telling me yesterday about the day that I was born and I didn't remember that you and Grandma took her to the hospital the morning that I was born. She said that ya'll were in a Comet. Do you remember what year the Comet was? She also said that your Dad's funeral had been the day before my birth. What did he die of? Did he know that he was about to be a great-grandpa? It's too bad that we barely missed each other.

Michelle,

You're getting closer to your due date! I hope you're doing well. Are you registered anywhere? Are we going to get to vote on Wilhelmina De La Wheeler's name? She did kick everytime we called her Socorro--I'm not sure if it was because she liked it or not. :)

Stuff in our world

Buster received a blood tranfusion on Friday because his red blood cells have been getting consistantly lower and lower. I hope he starts to feel better soon. He didn't have chemo last week because he's been so sick. The doctors are scheduling a CT scan and after we get the results we'll figure out whether or not to resume treatment. I'm not sure what our options will be if this drug has failed as well. Keep him in your prayers.

Lexi's doing well. She got an iPod for Christmas, so she's been busy loading it with songs, and stuff. The first semester of school is almost over so she's been preparing for semester exams. She and Buster baked me a cake and decorated the dining room with streamers. They're so sweet! Lexi's trying to figure out what to do for her upcoming 16th birthday. It's exactly 2 months after my birthday. If anyone has any ideas, please share them because we're struggling to figure out what to do.

Well, I'm going to say good-bye for now. God bless all of you.

Love,

Lizzy

Merry Christmas!!!

(Pictured above are our Canine Babies--left to right are Emma, Scooter-looking mighty enthused, and Katie. This was one decent photo out of about 30...someone was either moving so much that they looked like a blur, or somebody would be looking the wrong way. Scooter was definitely ready for picture-time to be over and get back to playing!)

I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. We may not all be under one roof today, but we are not far from each others thoughts and hearts. Family is so important, and I'm grateful to be a part of this one! As crazy as it is. Ha-Ha! :)

We'll be spending the day here at home. Buster had chemo on Tuesday and isn't feeling well, but hopefully he'll feel a little better in a few hours when everyone wakes up. Lexi is typically the first one up and ready to open presents and I'm not too far behind her. :)

Please be safe, and have a wonderful day. Let's take time to count all of our blessings...we're all very fortunate. I've come to think that if things aren't going exactly as we've planned, but we're all still alive, then it's nothing more than a bad day.

I love you all,

Liz

P.S. Ugh!!! For some reason I'm having trouble with adding a space in between my paragraphs and I'm just anal enough for it to drive me crazy! It's late--or early, and I'm tired so I'm just going to leave it alone and get some sleep.

Thanks Givin'

Hey Everyone - hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving with full bellies. Same place same chef next year. Love - becky and david

I should be given demerits or something...

I can't believe that my last post was in July! There's really no good excuse, so I'll take the demerits coming to me. :)

So, here's an update on the Hewitt Happenings over the last four months...Hmmm, where should I start? The easiest place for me to start is Lexi. I can ramble on and on about my sweet girl for hours on end. How much time do you have? Just kidding, I'll try to keep it fairly brief.

Well, Lexi's almost halfway through her 10th grade year. I can't belive my baby is getting so big! She's doing well in school. She says that this year is more demanding than the previous years, but she still has all A's and B's. She wasn't able to get her braces off in July afterall, but they're scheduled to come off tomorrow--finally! She's had them on for 27 months, she can probably tell you exactly how long she's had them down to the exact hour and minute. For the last week she's had "finishing eleastics" on and her teeth are basically wired (with the rubberbands) shut. Her mouth is sore, but amazingly enough, she's still managed to talk with her teeth clamped together! Here Buster and I thought we'd have a quiet week, but there's no stopping her from talking! :) It's been quite an ordeal, but she'll have a beautiful smile to show for it.

Lexi and I have been getting allergy shots for nearly a year, and it's been wonderful! We haven't had any sinus infections, bronchitis, etc... and her asthma has really been under control as well. I wish we had done this a long time ago.

In August after Buster had a CT scan the doctors told us that the 2nd line of chemotherapy had also failed because the cancer was still growing. They put him on the 3rd and final chemo drug that's available for colon cancer. It was difficult news to hear, and to make matters worse, the doctor was a real piece of work. I would like to use a colorful adjective to describe her, but I'll behave myself. She was rude, talked down to us, and was overall very insensitive. My husband is a human being as deserves to be treated well, not to mention that he fought for this country and it's because of the sacrifices he made that she was able to move here from Pakistan or wherever the heck she's from, and enjoy the freedom that the United States has to offer! It's also because of his service to our country that he ended up with this cancer in the first place. I'll get off my soap box now...sorry for ranting...

With this new chemo we're now going to the VA for treatment every week instead of every other. He's managing pretty well, and is still fighting like crazy. He has good days and bad days, and still amazes me with how much he does despite his illness. He pushes himself like no other person I've ever known.

Buster's brother, Don, and his wife came to see us earlier this month. They live in Alabama and Buster and Don hadn't seen each other in about 10 years. It was nice to finally meet them in person. It was a really nice visit. His sister, Charlie, has been coming over just about every other weekend for a little over a year. She's truly been a blessing during all of this.

I was taking 2 classes, but with everything going on it was too much, and I had to drop my classes this semester. I hated to do that, but it was for the best. In September I had two tumors removed - one from my forearm, and one from my thigh, two days later Buster had to have a blood transfusion AND he had a pretty bad infection in his colon (Beck, it was C-Dif). Anyway, for the next 12 days he was in pretty bad shape, and I just couldn't keep up with everything. There's always next semester, right? There's a billboard in our area, maybe it's in SA too, it has an elderly lady on it dressed in a cap and gown and it says that she's the oldest graduate at 92 years old. I'm begining to feel like I'm going to be their next "oldest graduate"!

I miss all of you, and will try to be better about posting updates.

Love,

Lizard

baby pics!

My belly at 15 weeks

my sonogram pics at 12 weeks

ahh! alien baby!

New exhibits!

Hey familia,

There are 3 new exhibits at the Southwest School of Art & Crafts that feature the work of Latina artists.

Here's the hyperlink http://www.swschool.org/index_flash.php. The opening is this Thursday from 5:30-7:30pm maybe we can all have dinner before or afterwards somewhere downtown.

It's been a while since we've gotten together...so join Becky and I at the new exhibit viewing!

Love ya'll,

Dave

The Whiskey Rebels

Hey all.....I know I haven't posted on here are much as I should. I've been super busy with school, but while working on my papers I've been sitting next to my friend David Liss at Olmos Perk. Anyway I thought, why not post about his new book? It's called Whiskey Rebels, that will be released in September! So here's a description of the book....love ya'll- Dave





Description

David Liss’s bestselling historical thrillers, including A Conspiracy of Paper and The Coffee Trader, have been called remarkable and rousing: the perfect combination of scrupulous research and breathless excitement. Now Liss delivers his best novel yet in an entirely new setting–America in the years after the Revolution, an unstable nation where desperate schemers vie for wealth, power, and a chance to shape a country’s destiny.Ethan Saunders, once among General Washington’s most valued spies, now lives in disgrace, haunting the taverns of Philadelphia.



An accusation of treason has long since cost him his reputation and his beloved fiancée, Cynthia Pearson, but at his most desperate moment he is recruited for an unlikely task–finding Cynthia’s missing husband. To help her, Saunders must serve his old enemy, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who is engaged in a bitter power struggle with political rival Thomas Jefferson over the fragile young nation’s first real financial institution: the Bank of the United States.Meanwhile, Joan Maycott is a young woman married to another Revolutionary War veteran. With the new states unable to support their ex-soldiers, the Maycotts make a desperate gamble: trade the chance of future payment for the hope of a better life on the western Pennsylvania frontier.



There, amid hardship and deprivation, they find unlikely friendship and a chance for prosperity with a new method of distilling whiskey. But on an isolated frontier, whiskey is more than a drink; it is currency and power, and the Maycotts’ success attracts the brutal attention of men in Hamilton’s orbit, men who threaten to destroy all Joan holds dear.As their causes intertwine, Joan and Saunders–both patriots in their own way–find themselves on opposing sides of a daring scheme that will forever change their lives and their new country. The Whiskey Rebels is a superb rendering of a perilous age and a nation nearly torn apart–and David Liss’s most powerful novel yet.

-Source Amazon.com