Kickapoo Wins for Coach Phillips

Here's a link to KOLR 10's story of the game.
Kickapoo Wins for Coach Phillips

"Hide and watch"--Stephanie Phillips

I LOVE this girl.

A little note of thanks.

Two years ago, I wrote THIS post about a special group of girls who collectively go by the name of the Kickapoo Lady Chiefs. I have to write another similar post. The end of the season is here and I was thrilled to be in Columbia as they celebrated their third place win at the state tournament. It was a great win. You could see it written all over the faces of these precious girls. They were going to WIN. They played with intensity, courage and grace. After the game, one of the mothers came to me and thanked me for what I do. Even though it is hard for me to consider what I do worthy of thanks, I thanked her. But more importantly I thanked HER for raising such a fine young lady. I didn't get a chance to tell anyone else so I will do it here.

To the parents of the Lady Chiefs,

Thank you all. Thank you for your support over these past few years. Most of all, thank you for your girls. You have all raised a phenomenal group of ladies. They conduct themselves with such poise. They are so special to us. I may not have spent hours upon hours with them, like Steph, but I know how she talks about them. They are so very special to her. They are, after all, "her girls" too. As Steph said many times, "They need me and I need them." Truer words were never spoken. You have all been a blessing.

Love,

Us.

State.

THIRD place. We could NOT be more proud of these girls if we tried. Congratulations Lady Chiefs. We heart you.

Pain Scale

Here is a pain scale chart they found on a bulletin board at Mayo. (Revised...apparently for effect?)

Steph and my mom found it to be quite hilarious. Steph got the idea to reenact the scale herself.

Zero...NO PAIN.

Two.

Four...MODERATE PAIN.

Six...Um...yeah.

Eight. More pain...possibly some constipation??

TEN!! SCREAMING PAIN!!!!!

If this was anyone else, it may not be as funny. But we found this to be down right hilarious.

It's what I do.

I was talking to my mom while she and Steph were at Mayo the first time. All of the sudden my mom said, "Steph...look at that guy." Steph glanced over, "Uh...okay?" Mom says, "Well, doesn't he look...ummmm basketball-ish?" I could only imagine the look on Steph's face at this point. After discussing his attire (Adidas) and google-ing a picture of his wife on Steph's phone, they decided that it WAS in fact...BOBBY KNIGHT! After hanging up with me she stood up and walked straight over to Coach Knight who was eating lunch with his wife and talking with someone else. Since he was in the middle of a conversation, my mom approached his wife, Karen. "Karen Knight?" She looked up with a nervous look on her face, "ummm yes?" My mom began, "I am SO sorry to interrupt and normally I would NEVER do anything like this, but your husband needs to meet my best friend." That's right folks...she told BOBBY KNIGHT that HE needed to meet Steph. Awesome! So Steph came over and they chatted for a bit. My mom explained that Steph coaches girls basketball but she just recently stepped down in order to focus on her battle against stage 4 colon cancer. Coach Knight pointed out that his wife coached girls basketball as well and has won 5 state championships. "She has already won TWO," mom eagerly pointed out. She did fight the urge to say that her team was class 5A! They chatted for a moment more and decided it was time to leave them to their lunch. As they were leaving Coach Knight said sincerely, "Good luck to you in this fight against cancer." Steph turned and confidently said, "Thank you. I will beat this, It's what I do....I win." Love this. Love her.

Final Four

I came across this picture and HAD to put it on here.

This is Claire and Drew in a hotel crib in Columbia during their FIRST state championship! I just couldn't resist. What lucky little people to be a part of something so awesome! We will be sure to get pics this weekend of them at their SECOND state championship with their brothers enjoying their first!

GOOD LUCK LADY CHIEFS!!!

Happy 36th Birthday!

Steph,
You are so precious to us. Your strength is amazing. We are so thankful to have you in our lives. You brought 3 guys into our world and we wouldn't be the same without them. We love you to the moon and back!

Love,
Us.

News-Leader Article

I LOVE this picture!

Click HERE for the article about our Lady Chiefs!

(Picture from the Springfield News-Leader)

State Bound!

Congrats to Steph and her Lady Chiefs who are headed to the FINAL FOUR!!!! So proud of all of you!!!

Quarterfinals

http://www.khsprairienews.com/live-events/varsity-basketball/

Click on the link to watch the Lady Chiefs live in Rolla today at 1 pm!!! GO CHIEFS!!!

Faith

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1


I am convinced that NO ONE has more faith than Steph. She inspires me. On Monday, Steph was laying in a hospital bed being pumped full of medicine to ward off any life threatening side effects. She looked at my mom and said, "I am so excited." Whaaaat??? She continued, "I can't wait for the moment I get to tell everyone my cancer is gone." She is a fighter. She is so strong. And she has more faith in her pinky finger than many people experience in a lifetime.



She is doing better today than she was yesterday. Monday, chemo went pretty smoothly and was fairly uneventful until the very end when she started experiencing extreme nausea. They were going to keep her overnight but she convinced them that she was fine. She continued to be nauseous yesterday. Drew was ABSOLUTELY precious telling my mom that, "I need to stay here with my mom when she is feeling this sick." He ordered her to stay in bed and rest then told Levi, "NO, you need to go to the bathroom yourself or brother can take you...mommy needs her rest!" I found it quite funny/sad that when we mentioned Steph being sick, I asked Drew if she was pukey like I was last week. His eyebrows went up and he said, "Oh no, she's not that sick!" Yes...I felt like a weenie!

In case you had not heard, the Kickapoo Lady Chiefs have had a "guest coach" on the bench recently. Steph missed the girls so much. She draws so much strength from them and wants them to realize their dream of making it state. She has been coaching at the games and it has been so good for her and the girls. Tonight they take on the Hillcrest Lady Hornets in Bolivar after a big win last week against the Glendale Lady Falcons for the District title. There MIGHT be a chance that the game will be live on the Kickapoo Prairie News website. I will check and post the link if it is. Keep praying for a miracle and stop to appreciate the miracles around you! (Thanks Holly!)

Post I would rather title, "We don't need no stinkin' chemo."

As many of you know, Steph had a scan on Friday. Unfortunately, we did not get the news we wanted...this time. According to the scan, the tumor has grown a little and the lymph nodes have also increased in size. It also revealed a small tumor on her liver. Based on this information she decided to start chemo today. She will be taking Erbitux every Monday and Irinotecan every 3 weeks. She is at the hospital now and will soon be getting her first dose of both. She has to do this at the hospital because of the possibility of severe side effects. She started the morning off with about 5 or 6 medications to hopefully prevent this from happening. When I talked to them, she was taking Albuterol as a precaution, to keep her airways open. She has been told that this process could take up to 8 hours and she may have to stay the night, depending on how her body reacts. This is not acceptable to a momma who wants to get to her son's basketball game by 5:30! We are very optimistic at this point. Erbitux is often very scary for people. So scary, that many people don't even try it. Not our Stephanie! She is facing this head on with strength and courage like I have never seen. She is also very encouraged because she has taken CONTROL of her body and let me tell you...it is a temple! She does not put a single thing in her mouth that isn't 100% healthy. I'm not joking. She has felt great lately! She is in very good spirits and I can't even begin to tell you what an inspiration she is to me. Please pray for NO side effects and 100% healing!!!!