A Week of New Beginnings...

Abigail was invited to attend the New Beginnings Program for the Young Women last Sunday evening. It is hard for us to believe that we have a daughter that will be in the Young Women's program by late summer! How did that happen?

It was interesting that while she was invited to attend New Beginnings,our family had new beginnings of its own....

Radiation and chemo and all it's fears was the first stop...

Holding hands makes everything feel better for both of us. We've been holding hands for years and don't plan to stop. :)

I'd hold his hand during radiation if I could. Since I can't, I started a new book to hold in my hands while I wait each day.

Then we had an ice storm that gave me beautiful things to take pictures of ....

A week of new beginnings and many more to come...... wish us luck on the journey but remember that we really don't believe in luck, only heavenly intervention. :)

It's the Boy Scout In Him....

This morning after radiation Tim wanted to go to the Stake Center to be able to replace the flag. He had taken it down a week or so ago because it was so tattered. He bought a new one but has not been able to go put it up...until today. That is one of the great qualities Tim has -- he does what he says he will do! I love that about him.

So, in the cold and snow coming down under gray skies, a new flag was unfurled....

And a few more icy pictures taken....I can't get enough of them!

Kentucky Ice....

A few of my favorite pictures from the ice storm of 2009.....

Happy Days....

My birthday yesterday was a very nice day! I got the biggest and greatest presents...ice, snow, a whole week off from school! :)

As if all of that wasn't enough, my sweet friend, Julie, made my day special by doing cake/present/decorating duty for Tim. We came home to a lovely cake, the table all decorated with a table cloth and shiny stars,plates, napkins, ballons, cards and presents from the kids and she even brought dinner in for us! As is often the case lately, saying "thank you" doesn't seem to be enough, but thank you, Julie! I love you bunches!

Good thing I've never been one to hide my age....Can you see the 47 made by the candles on the cake? :) Should have taken a picture of the cake BEFORE the candles went on! BWAHAHAHAHA!

Today the doorbell rang and I answered it to find a girl handing me a delivery of flowers in a pretty polka dotted cup! I could hardly wait to see who it was from so I pulled open the little envelope to a card that said......

BWAHAHAHAHA! I have no idea who sent these to me but if you are reading this, THANK YOU! It made my day! :)

Happy Birthday To Me...

The ice storm began on Monday night or the wee hours of Tuesday morning. I am not sure as I was snuggled in my bed with visions of winter storms dancing in my head! :)

Most of you know that I love winter. Each year I hope for snow and lots of it! Where we live we seem to always be on the invisible dividing line where the snow goes north and seems to miss us more often than not. The two exceptions to that was in 1996 when we had a delightful 22" of snow and school was closed for a week and in 2003 when we had a slippery slide with an ice storm that bought 1 1/2" of ice to Lexington. We are south of Lexington so we saw less ice but it was spectacular none the less! Now don't get me wrong, I don't want people to get hurt but bad weather is exciting, edgy, fun and totally what I long for each winter. Snow me in...or in this case, ice me in, I'll be just fine!

After the ice then the snow came! It was fabulous -- huge, fluffy, fat flakes! (say THAT three times fast!) :) It covered the ground quickly and I was in winter heaven. In case you have any doubt.....this weather was for ME! I just know it was because today is my birthday and I can't think of a better present to give me than a fabulous winter storm!

My present to you are my pictures of the winter storm!

Rad, Chemo...Take One...

Today began the next step on the cancer road...radiation and chemotherapy. My head still spins wondering how all this happened and how we got to where we are in just over a month's time. The first two weeks after the biopsy just crawled by but since then the time has flown. How is that even possible?

We began the day with radiation. This mask pins Tim down so he can't move a muscle. I love the Pinocchio nose the mask has!

Next came the chemo...the longest part of the day. It took just over 6 hours total. They had to give him fluids for 2 hours before the chemo then administered the cisplatin, then gave him another 2 hours of fluids. Let's just say he was VERY well hydrated! Flush, flush and more flush!

With fingers crossed it begins.....

Giving the toxic, cancer killing cicplatin.....It's a little unnerving to see the nurse come in a protective gown and gloves.....

Look at that...my head didn't get cut off! :)

On the way home we got behind a car at a red light and saw this bumper sticker.......And we do!

Ponder Anew...

Tomorrow is the day that my best friend forever (thanks Abigail and Annah for the photo op months ago!) begins radiation and chemo treatments for the cancer that plagues his body.

I was reminded today as we attended a ward conference of an experience I had just a few days after Tim's diagnosis of cancer.

We found out on a Wednesday that the doctor "was 90% sure" Tim had cancer and four days later, on a Sunday morning before church, I was in the kitchen with my thoughts running wild about what we were facing. It was then that the words of a hymn came into my mind, seemingly from out of the blue. The words were "ponder anew what the Almighty can do"....

I couldn't even tell you what hymn it was from when the words came to me but it did startle me. I thought and thought about what song it was from. When I finally had the tune of the song in my head I searched the hymn book in search of the words that fit the tune I was hearing. I found it - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty hymn 72. Do you know in that song what the first verse says? I didn't....

"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,

The King of creation!

O my soul, praise him,

For he is my health and salvation!"

I have never noticed those words before. How fitting was now that Tim faces this health crisis.

The third verse says:

"...ponder anew what the Almighty can do" ....the words that first came into my mind on that Sunday morning. I truly believe that those words were given to me that I might look at it in that way. It was not "out of the blue" at all but comfort offered to my aching heart. Today I was reminded of that Sunday morning experience when our stake president quoted those exact words -- "Ponder anew what the Almighty can do".

Today as I searched the scriptures I found a verse that I loved in D&C 38:7

"But behold, verily, verily, I say unto you that mine eyes are upon you. I am in your midst and ye cannot see me"

I will hold on to that -- His eyes ARE upon us and he IS in our midst even though we cannot see him. Tomorrow we step further into the world of cancer with radiation, chemo, steroids, anti-nausea medications, blood tests, waiting rooms, treatment rooms..the list goes on. But what a great comfort to know that His eyes are upon us and he is in our midst. Even though we cannot see Him, we can feel Him near us during all that is ahead.

"Lucky Is Coming Your Way"...

On Friday night Abigail and Annah went to a birthday party/sleepover and Jacob was home alone with us. We decided that we would take him to our local Chinese Restaurant for dinner. It was a fun time....all the way down to the fortune cookies.....

Are they poking pandas? :)

Ahh, the fortune cookie.... we all picked a cookie and were anxious to read our fortunes. Jacob and I had pretty ordinary ones but Tim's was good! So good, in fact, I took a picture of it...


We think the fortune cookie writers need some grammar lessons! We THINK it was SUPPOSED to read, "LUCK is coming your way!" :) We like the thought of luck coming his way with chemo and radiation treatments beginning bright and early Monday morning!

So, with Lucky coming his way we decided we would go looking for Lucky......

We found Lucky in Walmart! :) So Tim's fortune cookie fortune came true! Perhaps now luck WILL be coming his way.

While looking for Lucky in Walmart we also found some friends....The Darby's and the McElroys! How lucky was that? ;)

Oh, and we took a picture outside of the Chinese restaurant. Yup, you guessed it....

my head got cut off!

*Just to let you know, we don't really believe in "luck". We believe in things happening for the purposes that are to be accomplished by a loving Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ. We may not understand the purposes but we have placed our trust in them.