right brain - what's left

So it's been awhile since I've updated the blog, but we've had a few things on our plate. Mom moved into our place after surgery, and we began the process of trying to squeeze the joy out of every moment even more than usual.

A few weeks into mom's stay at Club Culbertson, patient #2 came to join us. My grandparents had been taking care of my dad (with autoimmune hepatitis) since my mom had been in the hospital, but my grandma hurt her back and needed time to rest. So we picked up another patient, moved the girls downstairs and turned into a full time care facility.

Since I last had a moment to blog, mom finished her six weeks of radiation and chemo with very few side effects. She still hasn't had any pain, just a little more loss of mobility from the radiation fatigue. We've had the first two (of three) appointments with the University of Washington to get dad on the transplant list. So far we haven't had anything to disqualify us, which is really good. It's quite a process just to get to the board that decides if you will qualify for the list. Hopefully in the next couple of months we'll know if he made it. It's a long wait for a liver, but it's nice to have a little hope on the horizon there. The Navy has been gracious enough to keep Stan home (stateside) for the time being. It's a tremendous blessing to have my rock here at home.

I'm sure there is much more that I could add to this update, but whenever I sit down to write I draw a blank. So I'll add some captions to a few pictures and call it good. Thank you all for your prayers through the last few months. God is good.

"Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in the small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

-Mother Teresa

 Part of the family in our "team jackie" shirts from CustomInk
(I even got an email from them, and the company making a donation
toward my mom's medical bills! Thank you CustomInk!)

Mom with three of her four kids

team jackie

the shirts

after waking up several mornings with gobs of hair on her pillow,
Stan assisted the chemo with the clippers

dad shaved his head in support of mom

opposites attract.

if you can't beat them, join them

my mom and dad

mom's first look at the new 'do

my mom and dad

i'm a lucky girl.