Oh yes, I DID!

Here we are at the end of September and I did it. I don't even care all that much for the day and season. Maybe its the preparing for a child or the incredible fall weather. Whatever the reason I am ok with the result. What did I do you ask?????  I listened....... to........... Wait for it............................. CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!!! CRAZY! Have a splendid day!

7 years ago tomorrow

September 1, 2005 was a Thursday that I will never forget. This is the day that I finally accepted the diagnosis that would forever change my life. I had been to 9 yes 9 different doctors hoping to receive a different answer to my symptoms. I got test after test and they all came back the same. Ovarian Cancer stage T3c progressing to stage 4. The prognosis was grim. I hit me like a ton of bricks. I cried, laughed, yelled, and broke things. I went through the 5 stages of grief. I will never forget how I felt that day. Over the next 6-8 months I would spend close to two months in the hospital, being operated on 5 times, and experience two grueling months of Chemotherapy. It is not an experience that I would ever want to relive.

The doctor told that I need an immediate hysterectomy. I refused. I was 24, just divorced and had no kids. I was told because of my choice relapse rates for stage 3 ovarian cancer are close to eighty percent.  He then tried to make me feel better about it by stating that, "Scientists are aggressively working towards creating an array of strategies for reducing relapse rates." HAHA I did not care.

Well he was right because 4 years later, after being in remission for 3 years I relapsed. After the last experience I vowed to NEVER endure chemo again. This time I used alternative medicine and a very aggressive radiation regimen.  Coming up on 9/12/12 will be my 1 year mark of being in remission again! I did. Another year.

There are days when I still am too stiff to get out of bed, or have to take tons of pills just to get moving. I am grateful for those days because they remind me I am alive and I can do hard things! Thank you to everyone who has helped me and continues to help me conquer all the crap life throws at me.

It's a crazy life but it's my life

I feel like someone has hit my fast forward button and will not turn it off. :) Time is just going so quickly I need to slow down. The only thin gin my life that I want to go quickly is this adoption process, which seems to be the only thing not going fast. We will get 2 steps forward and 1 step back. I cannot discus too much on that topic but I'm stressed out enough about it to ask you to pray for us for strength and for "him" to be comforted in this stressful time. We need all the prayers we can get in the hopes that this will FINALLY happen for us.

We have not been doing anything too exciting or amazing. This has been a very draining and hot summer thus far. In the last month we have spent lots of time working on our house and yard and things like that. Well, let's be honest..... Phil has done 99% of the work but I am there to encourage (and possibly complain) him to "keep up the good work honey". Phil has built me a beautiful wooden bench for my beautiful new front porch he put up awhile back. I love to sit out there in the evening and take pictures of the gorgeous sunsets we have been having. Our front door and porch face south so it gets nice and shady and cool(ish) in the evening. I LOVE IT and him for building it. Oh, did I mention he built it while I was at work as a surprise? So amazing I know.

Remember my post about my dreams about my friends being pregnant? Well most off those sweet dear friends have since had the babies except for 1, Ashley. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to part of these precious babies lives. I will try to remember to post pictures of them all including some of other friends babies that I am blessed enough to be able to have in my life. This gives me the ability to swing by and give lots of snuggles and smooches to. My life is so blessed. I have the BEST husband in the world. He is more patient than I ever thought was even humanly possible. His family is my family and I love more than I ever thought I could too. I am blessed to have a tight circle of friends that are there for me through think and thin. They are truly the BEST friends I could have. Thank you Laura, Whitney, Ashley, Vanessa, Carrie, Janae, and many, many more for your continued love and support. I'm know I am forgetting a few but they know who they are and I love you all more than you know. 

My brain and body are very tired right now so I am off to relax in a hot bath and watch a musical. I have been terrible at updating my blog but it is on my goal list to get better at blogging in the very near future. As everyone that knows me knows that I LOVE QUOTES. Funny, happy, sad, lovey, and every other kind in between. As usual I will leave you with this quote: "If you want to be happy, set a goal that
commands your thoughts, liberates your
energy, and inspires your hopes."
- Andrew Carnegie

Also stay tuned. I am revamping the blog to make it cuter and something new. Love and hugs from me to you!! :)

For Good from Wicked covered by Lindsay & Morgan

This is a very beautiful song and every time I listen to it I think of my very closest friends. Laura, Whitney, Ashley, Vanessa, Connie, Nat, Kimie, to name a few and a ton of others. I truly am a better person simply for knowing you. Thank you to all those in my life that have molded, uplifted, and encouraged me. I am who I am today because of all of you. There are too many sweet people in my life to name but know that I love and appreciate you now and always. Love always!!!! Below are the lyrics and at the end is one of my favorite singers doing a cover of it. She is the brunette. Lindsey.


(Elphaba):
I'm limited
Just look at me - I'm limited
And just look at you
You can do all I couldn't do, Glinda
So now it's up to you
For both of us - now it's up to you...
(Glinda):
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
(Elphaba):
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made from what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...
Like a ship blown from its mooring
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/for-good-lyrics-wicked.html ]
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
(Glinda):
Because I knew you
(Both):
I have been changed for good
(Elphaba):
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for
(Glinda):
But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share
(Both):
And none of it seems to matter anymore
(Glinda):
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
(Elphaba):
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood
(Both):
Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better
(Glinda):
And because I knew you...
(Elphaba):
Because I knew you...
(Both):
Because I knew you...
I have been changed for good...

Meeting Joey

We are home now from our very long and very fun visit with Joey. I thought I would let you know what we did and how it went. Overall I give the visit a 9 out of 10. We got in at noon on Saturday. We picked up Joey and went to lunch and did some shopping. We went to lunch and came to our amazing hotel room. Joey and I went swimming. We have a waterproof video camera so we had some fun playing with that in the pool. When I get the videos uploaded online I will send you the links. They are pretty entertaining. Phil and Joey spent the rest of the first night building a cool model car. You should all ask him to see it since he was super excited with it. We were pretty worn out the first night from the long drive so we all crashed out early.

On Sunday we got up early and ate a yummy breakfast at the hotel! Thanks to Miss Lisa we were given tickets to the Denver zoo. HOLY FUN!!! We spent around 5 hours there and just enjoyed spending time together for the first time as a family. After seeing all the animals we could possibly see, we went to the Cherry Creek Mall. Joey wanted to go to build a bear. We decided to have lunch first. This is where I saw Joey in ALL his glory. He mentioned he wants an earring at our house. I told him in our home boys do not wear earrings only girls. Joey shut down and was very inappropriate. He wanted to go to the FCC but we stayed firm with him and would not move until he acted properly. That took about an hour. Once he "came back around" we took him to build a bear. He LOVED it. He chose a blear bear with white stars on it. He picked out a Denver Broncos outfit  and cleats for the bear which he named after his brother Carlos. He did not put the bear down. He even changed into PJ's and seat belted it in the car.

By Sunday night we were pretty wiped out. We went swimming again and played with the underwater video camera again. We finished then had a serious talk with Joey. We let him know that when he comes to our house we will have rules. Rules that he will most likely not care for but the bottom line is that this will be how we run our house and we are in charge. We then asked him How he felt about it and if he thought he would be able to handle that. He took some space than came back and said Yes he wants to come live with us rules and all. HE and Phil stayed up pretty late that night building a model airplane. We slept than had breakfast and returned him to the FCC.

I am really glad we got to go and spend this valuable time getting to know Joey! Thanks to everyone who helped make this trip possible. I feel like it was a good experience and I am glad we did it.

Lady bug shower decor

We made the cute little ladybug toothpicks using a cricut machine. The punch was cranberry juice, pineapple juice, ginger ale and fresh blueberries for the "spots".
I made a cute ladybug label that we glued to the water bottles. I will post more pics again soon. Leave a comment if you have questions or need ideas.

 

Kimie's Shower

A few weeks ago I the extreme pleasure of throwing my super sweet pseud sister Kimie and lady bug baby shower. We have tons of food, fun, and played some entertaining games. The pictures below are not the greatest but I will be editing them all soon and plan to post more then. Thank you Kimie for allowing me the pleasure to celebrate you and precious Averie Elizabeth. Mose pictures to follow soon.