We left Sat, Nov 1st, to head to Newport, Tn for a fundraiser for Jason's godson, Robbie Mathis. They finally diagnosed with him a pain syndrome/trigeminal neuralgia disorder. He is handling things VERY well. He only has to take 2 meds now instead of 6. He wears a mask to prevent catching any colds or sickness so his symptoms don't get any worse. He is in GREAT spirits and was very thanksful that we came up there for Jason and Mike to play at the benefit. Chuck- Rob's brother- wore his Heartland shirt and taped over the other guys's faces- it was hilarious. He wanted to be in the band - hehe. They had entertainment, bake sale, silent auction, a live auction, and lots of donation- food from Papa Johns, cotton candy, and popcorn. Overall they raised over $5K for their family. This money will go to medical bills- co-pays, expenses on their trips to the children's hospital, etc.. The Mathis' family is the sweetest family you will ever meet. They love eachother so much and you can see that in every way. Robbie's brother Ike and sister Izzy are so careful and loving to their brother. I know that God will heal him and allow him to be the normal 10 year old boy that he wants to be. They are home schooling him right now. Keep him and his family in your prayers. We are hoping for a successful and quick recovery!!!
After the benefit we went to G'burg to spend a few days with the Mathis family. Jason and Rob were best friends in high school and always have remained close. Now that we have Kelson its been an even funnier experience. Robbie, Issabelle, and Issac all LOVE to play with Kelson. They are so sweet with her. They are learning a few signs and french too :) I just wish they lived closer to us. Anyways, we stayed at the Christmas Inn Hotel- it was sooooo neat. It smelled and felt like Christmas in there. Since we were unable to put up our tree at home on Nov 1st, we were bummed, but this place definitly made up for it. The rooms were very nicely decorated. They had White Santa coffee for guests in the morning and hot apple cider in the lobby at nighttime. It was a very welcoming place. They had a place for you to write Santa a letter, so Kelson wrote one (of course I wrote it), but we stuck it in the mailbox for Santa. Santa is supposed to write us back too- I thought that was really cool. There was a HUGE clock in the lobby that rang on the hour and it would play a Christmas tune with giant bells and little elf statues would ring the hour bell. It was very cute. Kelson kept signing "more" after they were done. hehe. We did lots of shopping, eating, and watching Christmas movies. It was such a fun and relaxing time. Only downfall was Kelson caught a cold- I think from trick or treating Hallowen night- so she was a little sick and had a runny nose, that her daddy caught while we were there :( and I got a little wiff of it, but I doubled up on Xango and got rid of it quick :) Now we are all back home and feeling much better. We got to see Santa at the Christmas Place Store and Kelson got two pics with him- one of them looking at eachother and then just the norm Christmas picture. They are both adorable. I may use them for our Christmas cards so I'm not gonna post them here :) Overall we had a GREAT time hanging out with them and hope to do it again next year. We made good friends with the manager, so we are hoping to stay in the Presidental suite next year- and maybe have Jason sing a few Christmas tunes in return ;) We got some great video of our trip so I'm glad that we captured those moments.
