Cancer

A precious aunt of mine has been diagnosed with cancer. This has brought up many thoughts, prayers, and feelings in regards to cancer and having a loved one with cancer. I thought I would share what I am praying/thinking/feeling, etc...



A little over a year ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. There are so many unknowns and unanswered questions running through your mind. What does this mean? Has it spread? Will there be surgery? Chemo? Radiation? Then you think...cancer. Cancer. Cancer. That word running through your head. I need to make dinner. Cancer. What are our plans this weekend? Cancer. Gotta run errands. Cancer. It pops up in your mind over and over. You lay in bed at night with that word rolling around in your mind as you toss and turn. Cancer, cancer, cancer. I kept thinking over and over my mom has cancer, my mom has cancer, my mom has CANCER!



You want immediate answers as your mind is flooded with questions. Instantly the life as you have known it has been altered. Problems you are dealing with are suddenly insignificant in the face of cancer. What to make for dinner that night, no longer seems to be very important as your mind wraps around that word...cancer.



Bringing it to God's door over and over and over. Here are a few versus that came to mind and that I often prayed and meditated on in the past year. For my mom, my family, and now for my aunt and her family.



Matthew 6:34

Do not be anxious for tomorrow. For tomorrow will care for itself, each day has enough of its own.



Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose.



Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for calamity. To give you a future and a hope.



2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.



Joshua 1:9

Philippians 4:6-8

Proverbs 3:5-6



This is the one I hold very close:



Isaiah 41:10

Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not look anxiously about you for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.



Don't be afraid, God is here. Don't be anxious, for He is MY God. He will give me strength. He will help me. He will hold me in his hand offering comfort and love like no other can. He is my protector. I can do this because he gives me the strength to do this.



I prayed these prayers over and over during the past year dealing with my mom's cancer and once again last night as I lay in bed thinking of my aunt and her family. I prayed them again and again as I tried to sleep, laying it all at the Cross. My heart is heavy for my family today. I want to fix it, make it go away, heal her, but I cannot. So instead I pray, and pray, and pray! Focusing on God's words and his promises instead. So thankful today for an aunt that loves our Lord and is so sweet, kind, and wonderful. So thankful that God carries us through these times and gives us a peace that surpasses all understanding through unimaginable hard times.

Emma

Emma needs glasses. She is far-sighted. She is only 2 years old (almost 2 1/2). That is little. Too little for glasses . I have gone through many thoughts/emotions about this today. I have been sad, bummed out, irritated, crabby, discontent, frustrated, dreading dealing with them, etc.. I know this is God's will. I can't change it. I can't fix it. But, I can trust God with her and her eyes and her glasses. I'm just sayin' I have had a little bit of a pity party about the whole thing. God knows. He has a plan. I will hold on to that. I am also very thankful she hasn't needed them before now! I will post pictures as soon as we get them, probably in a week or so.

Oh my!

Oh my...

Two 4-year-old boys discussing how you get to heaven to be with Jesus when you die decided at first that Jesus is like a superhero and he flies you up to heaven with his cape. The other suggestion was that He sends a helicopter down to get you and take you up to heaven (personally I like the superhero theory the best)

Oh my...

I love it when it is bedtime for the kiddos, but I dislike the time it takes to get them both down for the night. We are talking an hour plus each night. Ugh.

Oh my...

I forgot my password to this blog...it took quite a few tries before I could get in.

Oh my...

If you watch too many BBC shows, you might start to think in a British accent.

Oh my...

Reading a lot of books to your kids before bed can lead to very strange dreams (for me, not the kids).

Oh my...

During bathtime when a 2-year-old tries to rinse her own hair with a cup of water you will likely get wet instead.

Oh my...

Potty training...when the pull-up came down and a big poop rolled out on the floor...at my mother's house...I laughed so hard I cried. When I took her potty and then five minutes later she wet her pants...I wanted to cry. I also want to cry when she gets out of bed every 10 minutes to go potty, and as soon as you decide enough is enough she actually goes...sigh. See earlier comment about it taking a loooonnng time to get kids to bed.

Oh my...

Have I scared you off with the potty training tales?? I have so many more, but I won't scare you with them now. Perhaps an entire post on potty training? Mwahahahaha

I will leave you with this little tip:

Detangler does not remove mustard from hair...

Christmas Ornaments

Here are a just a few of my favorite Christmas ornaments that I thought I would share:

This is Alissa's first Christmas photo ornament:

An ornament of Scott's when he was little.

I painted this bear one winter when Alissa was about 2, our names our on the skates.

This one I believe my mother-in-law gave us one year. I love the face.

This one my grandma gave me when I was little. All of my siblings and I have one of these special ornaments. Each one is different. It was so exciting to get to hang up our very own ornament from Grandma every year.

This one I have had forever. It says 1979 on the bell, and my name at the bottom (I was born in 1978, so maybe I got this in 1979? Or they forgot when I was born ;)

Alissa made this in 1st grade at school. I love her toothless smile :)

Oh dear, where do I start with this one. When we got married Scott's great-aunt sent us a box of Christmas decorations/ornaments. Some were very interesting *ahem*. This is my favorite ornament that was in that box. It is Mammie. I have no idea why or where you even get an ornament like this but I smile every time I look at it. I always make sure Mammie can be seen on my tree :) It is probably one of my most favorite ornaments (I'm quirky like that).

Here are a few pictures of the kids decorating the tree.

Because I love ya, and want to you to smile, I will leave you with this:

He he ha ha.

Random thoughts

I am feeling random today, so I am giving you a scary insight to my head with some random thoughts.

I love to open a brand new jar of peanut butter, to mess up the smooth surface with my knife.

I also have an irristable urge to mess up a nice fresh smooth lawn of snow, even though I love how it looks all smooth.

I strongly dislike the Wizard of Oz. Creeps me out big time. Had many many nightmares as a kid about the flying monkeys.

I look forward to baking Christmas cookies with my friend Rachel every December (I think this year will be 8 years in a row). Rachel and I search any fun/yummy/creative Christmas cookie recipes and then have a hard time narrowing down which ones to use and how many different cookies to make.

I love that Alissa is in Jr. High, and am enjoying her being a little older and getting new opportunities and experiences at school.

Sometimes I like to sit and color, but only with new or fairly new crayons.

I put lotion on my hands about 10 times a day.

I have a hard time cooking if my kitchen/stove/counters are messy or cluttered. Sometimes I have a hard time cooking if the house in general needs picked up.

I don't cook much.

I have to sleep with a blanket or sheet covering me up to my neck. No part of me sticking out of the covers because if something were to grab/touch/brush up against me I would probably die of fright.

I dream a lot and I remember my dreams very clearly. On occasion they are so realistic I wake up thinking it was real and can't shake that feeling through an entire day.

I am using this random post to procrastinate from getting my work done, which I feel better about than if I was procrastinating by playing games on Facebook.

I dislike talk of politcs because every one has an opinion and so set in that opinion that politics discussions usually end up in fruitless debates because no one is ever going to sway to the other way of thinking. I find it pointless, frustrating, and sometimes uncomfortable.

I do like to say/do things to shock people. Gotta love the shock factor. One time I bought a car and didn't tell anyone until they questioned everyone about whose car that was in front of the house.

I love to play jokes on people but live in fear of people playing them back on me. One time when I worked at HP we (a couple gals I worked with and I) brought in a fart machine and every time this guy Joe walked by we would turn it on, he would look around, and turn red...so funny I can't stop laughing now. I'm mature like that. This guy Remy I worked with was often the target of our games. One time we took some really stinky cheese and rubbed it on his phone so it stunk every time he had to answer the phone. Another time I left a note on his chair (which he took from a conference room because it was nicer than his) and told him we knew what he did and what the consequences would be if he didn't return it right away and signed it HP security, then we laughed hysterically when he quickly took the chair back, totally freaked out that he would get in trouble. So many Remy pranks so little time to tell them. He was always a good sport and took it well and laughed with us later, otherwise we would not have been so mean...I think.

Seriously, I gotta go get my work done, but I will bore you silly with more tells of my pranks and ex-co-workers another time. I seriously miss the fun we had. Best job ever because of the people I worked with and their tolerance for our immaturity.

These are a few of my favorite things...

1. Christmas time.
2. Singing in the car as loud as I want to all alone with praise and worship songs blaring.
3. Hugs from my children.
4. O.P.I nail polish. It's truly the best.
5. Gilmore Girls. I can and do watch the seasons over and over and over.
6. Pride and Predjudice and Jane Austen's works in general.
7. Visiting with Friends.
8. Books. I am currently on an FBI/military/CIA/police kick and lean towards books like that.
9. Giving gifts.
10. Planning trips and researching the destination spot.
11. The TV show Castle.
12. A & W rootbeer.
13. Shoes and purses.
14. Babies.
15. Shopping.
16. Dancing around the house with my kids.
17. Baking.
18. Maybelling Full & Soft waterproof mascara.
19. Oldies music.
20. Movies.

I will stop there, but there are so many more.

My week (so far)

I started my week out with bronchitis. I have been on antibiotics and a stronger inhaler for 24 hours and feel better (thank God for productive coughs once again), my back and chest don't hurt nearly as bad.

Preston is picking the cheese off of Emma's hamburger, because that is the only reason he ever wants a cheeseburger and he ate all of his cheese already. (and yes that is what I fed them for breakfast)

Preston jumped off his bed onto Emma who was under a blanket between the bed and his dresser. She now has a tiny cut on her eye and a scratch down her forehead.

My house needs cleaned but I'm stil not feeling well enough and may not be up to for days *cough* *cough*

Alissa has a C in Math after recieving three F's on three papers. She also has two missing assignments in another class. She got the missing assignments turned in for partial credit, and is redoing some math papers. She will be doing practice math worksheets after school, and we may have her meet with her teacher before school for extra help, or hire a tutor if she continues to struggle. Oh, and she lost her PE shorts.

And it's only Wednesday, I wonder how the rest of the week will go.