having trouble getting just 2 categories for front page

You probably need to change the isys_scrollable function.
Look for it in your functions.php and put it in a pastebin and post a link to it here.

ok great, pastebin link below!

https://pastebin.com/9Bh6x49U

oops, sorry, this is the scrollable php…

https://pastebin.com/63hiU165

Try it with this: https://pastebin.com/r04xEE3V
And call the function like this (untested):

<?php
$cat_ids = array(4,7,16);
print isys_scrollable( $cat_ids, $entry_id, $orderby = 'rand' ); ?>

Thanks, for that.

I tried it, but it pulls all posts as opposed to the two categories i want. what do you think is making it so complicated?

Thanks for your help!

Try changing this:

$_query = new WP_Query(array('cat' => $cat, 'posts_per_page' => 100, 'post_status' => 'publish', 'orderby' => $orderby, 'order' => 'ASC'));

to this:

$_query = new WP_Query('cat='.$cat.'&posts_per_page=100&post_status=publish&orderby='.$orderby.'&order=ASC');

still no luck…