Tune in next week...

 My boys are taking part in a Ward Missionary Challenge this week.  They challenged the parents to also participate.  This will be interesting!  Actually, the only thing I think will be very challenging for me is the "no electronics".  I'll do my best!  It's a good thing couple missionaries can blog!

Jake and I went to my girlfriend-in-law's and had a detox done.  It's a procedure where you put your feet in water and electrical currents pulls the toxic crap out of your body and into the water.

This one was mine.  She put crystal clear water in it and after 45 min. it looked like this!  Kinda gross huh!

This is Jake's.  His was a bit darker than mine, but mine was like this on Thursday.  Mine had flecks of black in it...metals I heard.  It's amazing to me that this crap is floating around in our bodies!  Surprisingly, I feel much less wiped out at night and I have way more energy during the morning.  We are hoping this helps Jake and his platelets.  Tomorrow, he will have another blood draw to see if his platelets are high enough to get chemo on Tuesday.  I get to have a little minor surgery so I'm looking forward to a nice long nap!  I guess I'll have to get up a little before 6 a.m. to eat breakfast!  Hey, since we are pretending to be missionaries, someone should invite us to dinner!!! JK

Well, wish us luck!  We will try hard to be good member missionaries!

Prayer time!

So, instead of chemo today, it was laundry and cleaning the kitchen (Yay!)!  I talked to the nurse today to see if there was anything we could do to get Jake's platelets up enough to get chemo, but she had nothing.  All I have is you guys and God, so if you could please say a prayer for Jake to get his platelet count up to at least 75 so he can continue with his chemo treatments so we can get this over with and he can get on with his life!

Jake's in really good spirits these days!  Sadly, he has lost so much strength in his hands and feet, just coming up the stairs is a hardship for him.  Sometimes he has to crawl up the last 5 stairs.  He told me yesterday he fell down and had to get help to get back up.  I asked him if he needed one of those geriatric gizmos so he could say, "Help!  I've fallen and I can't get up!"  I know it's more sad than funny, but we try to make light of the hard stuff so it doesn't seem like such a tragedy.  It's better than crying all the time!

:)

It's going to be a great day today, right?!

Live life...on purpose!

 Sorry, I was about to post this and the power went out last night.  Luckily, a draft was saved...so here it is!

What a beautiful, blustery day today!  I can't believe I let 2 weeks go by without posting!  I have been enjoying the warmer weather this week!  I set some goals for myself, but didn't quite get to the "washing my car" part.

My friend, Jenene, came over and helped me dig out some old memories I was keeping in the storage closet.  Three trips to the trash can, 1 trip to the D.I. (Good Will) and one box down to storage in the basement later, I have an organized closet!  I thought we were only going to do one shelf, but Jenene made me press on until it was all out (what a true friend!)!  So many things I thought would be important for the past 15 years, wasn't.  Many things our family had grown out of.  I don't spend much time on crafts, so a lot of that had to go.  A very large donation to the church library of pens, pencils and crayons.  I still have a storage room downstairs that needs the same discriminating cleansing...and I will...soon.  It's on my "ducks in a row" list.

I love the organized life!  What I didn't expect was the big relief of stress.  I wasn't even aware that mess was causing stress!  It was behind closed doors...out of sight, out of mind, right?  Not right!  It makes me wonder what life concept I have believed all my life to make me think it was import to save all the tidbits and mementos in my life.  Two binders should do it, right?  When I die, how many binders and journals do you want to look through...really!  I also wonder...what other stuff do we bury inside ourselves that causes us stress we don't realize...until we throw it away.

We didn't go for chemo this week.  I don't know why I was feeling...I don't know, afraid, perhaps.  Maybe it's because the last trip to the hospital was more than a little scary for me.  I had mixed feelings when the nurse called me and said his platelets were too low for chemo.  Glad for the break, but disappointed we couldn't get on with the treatments so they could be over.  The new last day of chemo is April 26th...maybe.  I'm ready for some good news!

Sadly, this isn't the good news week.  One of my best friends, Rinda, lost one of her boys to mental illness.  He couldn't take the battle raging in his mind any longer and he silenced the voices on Valentine's Day.  My heart breaks for her loss.  He had a beautiful toddler boy, whom he adored.  He had many people in his life who loved him, but it wasn't enough.  I don't know if it is a gift to him or not...to wake up without the rage and hopelessness that he doesn't understand, yet leave his son's life so soon, that his son will never remember the love that he had for him.  It's sad, either way.  Rest in peace, Kenny!  Rest... in peace.

Musings...

I was just sitting here getting a grateful heart for all of the different people in my life.  I don't know if we get to pick the families we are born into, or where you fall in the "pecking order".  I am the oldest girl, but I don't think I was a very good big sister.  Some people come by it naturally, but I needed a role model.  I looked to my cousins, but didn't see them often enough to grasp what a cool big sister was suppose to be like.  What I really wanted was to have a big sister of my own.  Marrying into Dave's family gave me that.  His sister, Joyce, is about 9 years my senior.  I love talking to her and hanging out with her.  We get together and play cards (with our hubbies), sometimes or go out to eat...or both.  She's an "only girl", so she likes having a younger sister to share with.  She has a wonderful gift of knowing how to validate!


I have sisters...and brothers, but it seems they are too busy or too far away to have the sibling relationships I need in my life.  So God puts substitutes in...I love that!!!  I have so many friends to fill my "relationship" needs!  Friends of every, shape, size and age.  I have sister/friends who come help me get my life organized, some who bring me "love" bread or treats, some who make me laugh, play sports with me, have nice long heart-to-heart talks, sister hugs, given me advice, shared heart aches, bring me flowers, brings my family meals when needed.  They are sisters of my heart. <3

My guy friends are awesome too!  I think of them as brothers...mostly they are the guys that love to tease me!  One brother/friend loves to steal my music in choir.  Another loves to come screaming into my racquetball court and scare the living daylights out of me...OK, that part isn't so awesome, but it's usually funny!  One of them rallied behind our family and sent emails out to all his friends in support of Jake, and raised over $1000 to go towards Jake's bills!  None of his friends knew us...I was very touched!  Mostly, they like to make me laugh...or scream! lol

So, yes...I am grateful for my brother/sister friends who fill my need to have brothers and sisters...every day!