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.

{dream big}

{dream big}

today i had a wonderful visit with my dear friend, doreen. we laughed and lunched and talked about the joys and hardships of real life. doreen is a beautiful person. she has a heart of gold, and loves her family dearly. (her kids are pretty darn amazing, too. they're huge cancer research advocates.) through the years doreen has been a huge encouragement to me through some of my toughest times. i wish there was more i could do to repay her for all she's been there for me on over the years. her life motto is {dream big}.

we talked about celebrating life's little moments, loving someone forever and so much more. we laughed (a lot)... because, what is life if you don't have a lot of laughter. if you're looking for someone to add to your prayer list, i know doreen and her family would appreciate it. (doreen's husband, rick, is also fighting cancer.) you can check out the rest of the pictures here.

so to my dear friend, {dream big} and kick lung cancer in the you-know-what.

{life} is beautiful

{life}
is beautiful

several weeks ago i posted about my friend, donna, who was just beginning her battle with breast cancer. this beautiful lady is now in the throes of chemo, more surgeries and all that accompanies the fight against breast cancer. i cannot express how much of a blessing donna has been to me over the years, and what an inspiration she is to me now. her heart is so beautiful. she is courageous and encouraging and hopeful. when she came over today for some baldie pictures, we laughed so hard we nearly wet our pants. she reminds me that through life's toughest moments there is joy that is found in the Lord, and that each moment we have is a blessing.

donna pulled out a bunch of her hats for one of the pictures and showed me this scarf. it had been her mom's. she told me how when she pulled it out of the storage box when she started losing her hair, it still smelled just like her mom. another reminder to cherish my mommy, too.


if you think to pray for my dear friend, it would mean so much to me, and to her. thank you so much!
if you'd like to see the rest of the pictures from the shoot you can check them out here.

{pray}

this is my beautiful friend donna. just two weeks ago she had a very sudden double mastectomy due to breast cancer. on the day of her surgery she called in the morning and asked us to pray for her. the girls and i did, and after school i got this little note from emma's reading teacher:

One of our reading words today was "pray." Emma said, "speaking of pray...I would like to pray for my mom's friend Donna, who is having surgery... could we do that?" I was touched. I told her that I would in my heart and anyone who wanted to could in their own heart. That seemed to satisfy her

donna is emma's sunday school teacher, and a walking miracle. she spen 8 years in a wheel chair with a bucket list for the "time left" she'd been given. then, within the last year, she started walking! our miracle girl can walk, even up stairs holding her gradbaby! she has one of the biggest hearts of anyone i have ever known, and makes me want to be a better person.

this dear friend starts an aggressive six months of chemo next week. so today she came by for some pre-chemo pictures before heading off for a couple days of camping with her hubby. we'll do some again when her hair is gone, and celebrate each day God blesses us with her. but i wanted to share this wonderful woman with you, and ask you to pray for her as you think to.


oh, and as a side note, i have a new article out today on the scrap review. :)