[ success! ]

Everything went well with my Mom's surgery yesterday... so it was a success! She will be discharged from the hospital at about 11 am today. Now she'll be able to rest and recover at home with the help of my family and Aunt Shirley. We're all so glad that my Aunt is able to be here to help out- what a blessing! I want to thank everyone for the thoughts and prayers in my family's behalf, they were very much needed and appreciated tremendously!

[ a special favor to ask... ]

One of my Mom's dear friends sent this poem to her this morning to help remind her what cancer cannot do! I think it's a great reminder for my Mom and the rest of us to not let cancer pull us down and dampen our spirits. It's especially important today since my Mom will be going in for surgery at about noon.

So I have a special favor to ask all of you... will you please where something pink today in honor of my Mom and also more importantly please keep her in your prayers today. Thanks for your support and kindness everyone and I'll be sure to update as soon as I get any information.

WHAT CANCER CANNOT DO

Cancer is so limited.

It can not cripple love.

It can not shatter hope.

It can not corrupt faith.

It can not destroy friendship.

It can not suppress memories.

It can not silence courage.

It can not invade the soul.

It can not steal eternal life.

It can not conquer the spirit!

[ a few new pics ]

I realized that I hadn't posted any new pictures lately, so here's a few to show you what we've been up to. We see all sorts of animals in our backyard, but this was a first! Today we saw raccoons in our backyard! Usually we see squirrels, birds and cats, but not today! There were two, but by the time I got my camera the other one was gone! Crazy!


This is a picture of a squirrel if you can't tell. We've been hearing all sorts of weird noises in the ceiling of the kitchen and dining room and finally figured out that the squirrels are getting up inside the eaves of the roof and making all sorts of noises! Here he is caught in the act! Angie thought it was great of course! This is right outside the kitchen window!


Angie and I decided to make popcorn the other day, she was so fascinated by the whole process and couldn't wait to eat it! We like the real popcorn instead of the microwave kind... as you can tell Angie was super excited about it!



Play Doh creations... We made some of Angie's favorite things... or the only things I could actually make! :) That play doh is harder to work with than you think! There's a butterfly, snake, ice cream cone, 2 pumpkins, flag, flower, baby wrapped in a blanket, bottle and a house, in case you couldn't tell what they were! Oh and I almost forgot about Frosty the Snowman! My greatest creation! :) Don't laugh too hard, it was a fun rainy day activity!




Oh and these are my favorite pictures of them all! Saved the best for last! My family came over for Family Home Evening last week and my youngest brother, Lee had fun helping Angie get all dressed up and decided to join in too! :) If you know Lee, he's not usually the one to like the lime light... but he sure didn't have any problem letting me take pictures of him! :) He's 15, but it didn't seem to bother him one bit to dress up and have fun with his little niece! Lauren made Angie her "castle" and all three of them had fun playing together! Thanks Uncle Lee and Aunt Lauren for a fun night!

[ an update... ]

Alright, here's a much needed update about my Mom, I wanted to wait to post about it until we had all the information and now we do, so here it is... The two tumors that were found ended up being smaller than they had originally thought and the rate at which they are growing is fairly slow, so it's not an aggressive type of cancer, it's actually the most common type, which is a good thing! We also found out that the lymph node that looked suspicious was not cancerous, which means it hasn't spread. Lastly... yesterday my Mom got the results back from the CT scan that they did to see if it was anywhere else in her body and the results were negative! The cancer has not spread... GREAT NEWS! My Mom will be going in for surgery tomorrow and the bad news is that she'll have to have a mastectomy. So there are more positive things than negative, however having a mastectomy is obviously a big deal, so all we can do at this point is be supportive and helpful in any way we can and focus on the positive.

However there are moments every day, I find that the world seems to stop as my heart truly aches for my Mom. What she is going through and will have to face tomorrow is something no woman should ever have to do. I am grateful that she is a fighter which means that she WILL get through this! Although, it's so hard to hear someone talk about their experience fighting breast cancer, but your emotions are definitely amplified and different when it comes to talking about your own Mom having to fight this horrible monster of a disease. Luckily we're all fighting it together as a family and WE WILL CONQUER IT! Thanks again for all your support, I have definitely felt the peace and calming influence of your thoughts and prayers this past week.

[ unexpected emotions ]

I'm not even sure how to explain what I'm feeling today after such an emotionally exhausting weekend. I have felt everything from frustration, disbelief, sadness, fear, sorrow and humility. For those of you who don't know, my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer on Saturday for the second time. It's been 7 years since she was first diagnosed, however the emotions I felt then have come rushing back all too quickly as if it had happened yesterday. My Mom has had way more than her share of trials throughout her life, so I guess we were all hoping that when it came to cancer she was finished with it. We don't know all of the details yet about the two tumors that were found and are waiting for the results to come back in order for decisions to be made as to what needs to be done.

Right now I feel so overwhelmed. I feel like if I just keep moving and keep going on with life that maybe all of this is just a bad dream and will go away. Although I also feel that if I keep going and don't think about it that I'm being insensitive, so it's kind of a catch. Definitely weird not knowing what is going to happen and still being in shock at the same time. I feel like I have to be strong for my siblings and supportive for my Mom by holding back the tears. Then I find myself having moments where I can't pretend anymore that it's all going to be okay and thankfully John is the amazing husband that he is and picks up the pieces when the tears come. He has been so encouraging and uplifting since we've found out the news, so that's helped out tremendously. It probably sounds like I'm the one who has cancer by the way I'm talking, but at this point each member of my family feels like we have it because we know we're all in this together, if that makes sense.

However, after saying all of that... I do know that my Mom can get through this, and I know that my family can do this again because we've done it before. I also know that Heavenly Father is aware of my family's situation and is watching over us. I know that power of prayer is real and that through faith and with hope prayers are answered. I know that it doesn't necessarily mean that everything will go the way we want them to, but it means that we will be able to get through this together and that Heavenly Father won't give us anything we can't handle. It's hard to say that even though I know it's true because I know it's going to be hard on everyone before it gets easier.

Well, I'll be sure to update as soon as we get more information. I think I should probably stop here before I start rambling on. Thanks for listening and for those of you who have called me, I truly appreciate it!