Recap of 2004:

Well, for those who may be joining us for the first time, the past 16 months were a real doozey for us. We sold our house and relocated. 5 days after closing on our newest house & moving in, Scott had to have nasal surgery; Shortly after, Ashley became symptomatic of her NF; I had a breast cancer scare; Scott broke his collar bone; we found out Ashley had tumors on both of her eyes; Courtney had a Scleroderma scare; Ashley was in excruciating pain nearly 24-7, pain meds wouldn't help,..; Brittney broke her arm; Ashley's symptoms continued to worsen, her MRIs were moved up to every 8 weeks; we were seeing the oncologist every 2-4 weeks; chemotherapy was considered a couple different times; Scott's mom's cancer came back out of remission and she has been back on chemo again ever since; my meds got switched/mixed up, and I nearly landed in the hospital; We had 47 separate medical accounts at one time; Scott ended up with severe clinical depression, lost his job, and ended up in the hospital; we lost our medical insurance; it was a struggle to get unemployment coming (a month later),... and while the figures we owed do not compare to some people's that can reach the hundred thousands,.. our's were staggering for us, and in any case, you can't pay what you don't have, and we didn't.
But, on the positive side,... people came from out of the woodwork to help us, and we made it through. Talking sbout experiencing some real life miracles first-hand. We were able to get medical assistance insurance and believe it or not, it actually took effect just @ DAYS before Ashley's appendicitis (more on that later),... the hospitals finally listened to my pleas and wrote-off 100% of our remaining medical bills, which was a huge blessing and an incredible relief... Ashley is doing much better; school is going great (we homeschool), and although Scott hasn't found another job yet, we've been getting his applications in. There are some good prospects out there to be praying about. Well, that's it in a nutshell, I guess... pretty big nut though. It was a real whirlwind, but things are looking up now.