Shelli Kerns:  

Life I have two kids now-Holden is 4 and Hayden is a month from turning 3. My husband and I were married on May 30, 1999, but have known each other since December of 1994. His name is Travis and he is a restaurant manager. We moved back to the Kansas City area in Dec. 2003 while I was pregnant with my daughter. My first baby was 7 weeks early and he spent the 1st three weeks of his life in the NICU in Las Vegas, Nevada. He's extremely ornery now, so all worked out well, but the distance between us and our families in midwest was too much to handle with another high risk/bed rest pregnancy and no one to help look after him when I couldn't. Found out just yesterday that Holden has modrate hearing loss caused by nerve damage in both ears, making him moderately deaf. He will be getting hearing aids next week and this should clear up his articulation, but I think it was caused by trauma from his birth. It was a very sad day yaesterday. In the last two months, my best friend in Omaha lost her husband to an accidental drug overdoae-he was on narcotics for an injury to his L-4/L-5 region and surgery made it worse. He left behind two kids under the age of 5. Then, my best friend in Emporia, Nici, found out that after beating cervical cancer at 31, the tumors have come back. Her prognosis is very grim. I'm about to lose a best friend and all I can do is just try to be there while she's still here. But it's hard to see someone dying in front of you. I just want a miracle for her-I can't bury my 33 year old friend in 2-7 months. She's too amazing to leave this early and I need her. I really miss Las Vegas. I miss being only a 4 hr. drive from Laguna Beach. I miss seeing slot machines in the grocery stores. I miss the dese...Expand for more