i survived! 2014

Y and Zeeeee!!

It is the end of April and another year participating in the challenge. I will say I didn't feel my heart was in it this year and I'm sure my writing reflected that. I'm really not sure why as I have loved the challenge in previous years. I will try again next year.
I will end with a picture of one special little guy who absolutely loves every letter from A-Z!

My little buddy and grandson Liam.May he always love his letters and books!

The letter X

I have been so fortunate to spend one day a week with my grandson Liam.
I love to teach, especially children and my greatest joy is teaching swimming. Although I have not been able to teach my little swimmers for a while, I do get to teach Liam all kinds of different things!
He LOVES letters!! So in looking for a topic to write about using the letter X I searched for some fun crafts we can do together.
Here are a few I found, along with 10 books for letter X.

X-RAY

Wisdom

We pray for wisdom constantly. There are so many decisions to be made. Some are small and some are huge. Life altering, scary, and usually not without high risks. So we pray for wisdom. For us, for my doctor's and nurses.

Then we hand it over to the Lord as we wait for more test results and options, so many decisions. More than a few times my doctor has walked in the room and said " I was planning to go one way with your treatment but now feel another choice would be better".

We pray for wisdom,wait for God's answer and find peace in the choices we must make.

Vacation!

My husband and I figured out this very important lesson early in our marriage. Take vacations! Travel, see as many places as you can and experience as much as possible.

When our boys were young we traveled with them. Lot's of camping and road trips. Then we added a week just for ourselves to get away and spend time together as a couple.

The boys stayed with their grandparents, aunt and uncle's homes in Oklahoma. They have the fondest memories of their summer trips and it is a lot cheaper than therapy for the parents.
Now that we are "empty nester's" our travels have broadened taking us to places we didn't even know existed!

Understanding

I have come to the understanding and acceptance that this year's blog challenge has been difficult for me. Why, I am not entirely sure. However I don't like to quit so I'm not going to. Instead I will post some of my favorite photo's, quotes, scriptures and the like to finish. Each day seems to bring new understanding for me of what my life used to be, what it is today and what my future holds.

Time of year in Texas

Today was that day each Spring that Chris and I put the finishing touches on our yard and gardens.

Unfortunately we lost another tree in a storm a few days ago. In our part of  Texas we value our trees, so each one is special and very much appreciated.

The first tree was a gift for Mothers day when my kids were young. It was sad when it came down along with all the fences and my swing in it's path! Not long after, a shoot from the downed tree began to grow and we once again have my " mothers day" tree growing! My son and hubby cutting down what was left of it.

The tree that came down a few days ago had a beautiful bench under it, which also was in the path of destruction.

Today we, meaning mostly my hubby, finished the gardens, and have the yard ready for another Texas Spring. Hopefully with all remaining tree's intact:)

S is for....

Sunrises and sunsets

SAILING

 

SWEETNESS

SWIMMING

SAVIOR

SURPRISES

           

SUCCESS

SONS

SNOW

S IS FOR SURVIVING!

Questions & Responses

I'd like to try a little Q & R for this post.Meaning questions you may have about living a life with cancer and response' s  I can hopefully give.

Nearly everyone is affected at some point in life by cancer. It may be you, a loved one, friend or acquaintance. Our family has been through all of those.

I am not a doctor or therapist but have been living with cancer for nearly 16 years now. All I can do is draw from my experience and hopefully answer those questions you have wondered about but were not comfortable asking.

Your questions may be about the affect on my life or perhaps you have wondered about the caregivers, children of survivors, parents of adult survivors. Life, facing death, pain, joy. It's all open. I hope this will be a place you are comfortable to ask anything and hopefully I can be of help with some Responses.

Pistols & Pedi's

A couple of my new favorite's! In following along with trying new experiences, hobbies and even a little pampering, these two are as different from each other as they can be.

I never had manicures or pedicures till my 40's. Same with massage. These luxuries felt way out of my realm. Now they have become a part of healing and therapy. A way to relax and enjoy something that helps the body feel better instead of worse. These visits are still not often but very helpful when I do indulge!

As a child I absolutely loved archery. Took lessons every summer at camp. Due to my surgeries and injuries I am not sure I can handle the bow anymore. However, learning to shoot sounded like a blast...and it is! This is a new sport/ hobby that I am learning and can do. Trying different guns, targets and ranges has been very exciting! I could shoot all day! My experience as a kid with archery seemed to help as I hit the  bullseye on my first shots! Last week I tried shooting one handed, it was easy. Can't wait to try more.

As much as I miss some of my other passions, it is a new challenge to try all the new possibilities out there. Do you have a new passion, something you are learning? Please share.

N & O

I am getting drastically behind so it's time to double up on a few letters. This post is about two very special ladies and their babies. They have been best friends since kindergarten. They dreamed of their future husbands, children and living close to each other raising their kiddos together.
We all have those friendships from our childhood, but how many of us get to live those little girl dreams? These two have! Nikki is my daughter in law and Nicole is her best friend as well as a friend of ours.

N is for Noah! He is the son of Nicole and Ryan , just recently born to these fantastic parents!

O is for Oliver! He is the son of Nikki and my son Kevin! Our second grandson! We will soon get to meet him. I am already in love with him! Our grandson Liam will soon be a big brother and "cousin". I love all 3 of these boys and see some babysitting to three little boys in our near future!

Love these girls, their hubby' s and their beautiful son's! How wonderful to see their dreams coming true.

Minimalist

Trying to become minimalists. Our first experience with living a life minimally was about four years ago when we took a trip to Europe. We were planning to see many places in
two in a half weeks so we decided to travel with just a back pack each. Rick Steve's travel books provided all the information we needed to achieve this and it worked wonderfully!

This opened our eyes to how much we do not need to live happy, fulfilled lives, Several of our kids also choose to live with less rather than more and we have learned a lot from them.

These are a few changes we have made over the years and have not regretted any of them.
_ We have never traveled anywhere with anything other than a backpack, including several trips out of the country.
- I constantly go through closets, attics, draws, etc and either sell or give away/ donate anything we no longer need or use. This one can be hard especially if one of you likes to hang on to things "just in case", A rule I try to follow is if i haven't used it in a year or more it usually goes.
- There are online garage sales on Face book and I sell everything on these sites, they are great!
- When our boys were in high school they had to start narrowing down their choices in sports because they simply did not have the time to play them all. We had to take our own advice and narrow down our activities and the time and responsibility that came with them. We gave up a boat we loved as it was just too big for the two of us as well as our camper. However we have kept the "toys" we can maintain and fit better into our lives at this time.
- Protecting our time. It is so easy to get caught up with all the media that surrounds us. Especially when you spend a great deal of time not feeling well. We turned off cable, don't
watch TV and I personally have to take Face Book breaks from time to time. This of course allows us to choose the movies we want to watch, read or simply do something else.
- If we can't pay for it...we don't buy it. Living within your means allows for a great sense of freedom from debt.
These are just a few examples and we have a long way to go. By de- cluttering, downsizing, and focusing on what you really need in all aspects of your life opens the door for more time and money to enjoy the areas of your life that are truly a priority.

A very helpful website to check out is  http://www.becomingminimalist.com/

Life with Liam

Little Liam

Two and a half years ago my life completely changed on the day our first grand baby was born....Liam James. For the longest time I literally could not take my eyes off of him. He was mesmerising.

My son's son...amazing! He looks just like his dad and sometimes I look at him, watch his movements or see that sneaky little grin on his face and it's as though I am looking back at Kevin again.

Kevin on left/Liam on right

I have been so fortunate to be a regular part of his life. We have Nonna day at least once a week. Now he is 2 and half. I've watched him learn to crawl, walk, talk and so much more!

It's those little special moments we share just between us that I will always cherish.
Some of our favorites are swimming, bubbles, walks, bike rides, playing guitar and singing his ABC's with his Papa, making cookies and snuggling after bath watching Super why!

Then there are the "firsts".The first time he said Nonna, my grandmother name. I was in the hospital, he and my son Kevin came to visit. I always saved the cookies for Liam from my meal. We sat in the bed eating cookies and watching the Cowboys..that's when he said Nonna! Last week as he was leaving, he gave me a hug and kiss and said I love you! Those were the two best firsts that melted my heart.

I love being a grandparent and feel this is not only a blessing and honor but a responsibility given to us to be a loving, nurturing part of his life. It is almost unexplainable the love you have for your grandchildren. In 4 months we get to do it again with our next grandson. More on him when we reach the letter O.
I thank God for my little buddy Liam!

Komen

This past Saturday I along with 2 very close friends and fellow survivors attended the Komen survivor celebration of Hope.
This was my 4th year to attend. As happy as I was to have two of my closest friends with me, my heart breaks that they also were attending because of a breast cancer diagnosis.
Each year we look forward to a little pampering, delicious brunch and being surrounded by so many who also walk this path.
There are women who have been diagnosed as recently as just a few weeks ago, to the longest living survivor of 39 years! This brings so much hope to all of us, no matter how long your fight has been.
They ask us to fill out cards at the table acknowledging the newest and longest surviving person. This year it happened to be me and one of my friends.

There is a fashion show and choir made up solely of survivors. The Komen foundation shows where the money raised goes to in the surrounding counties.
For me I am inspired by all these strong women and the people in their lives known as co-survivors.
I have hope for myself and my friends that are there with me when they ask all survivors of 40, 30, 20 years and so on to stand up.
I also hope that when I stood up when they called out for 15 years that this brings hope to others as it did for me when I was in my earlier years of this fight.
This event has inspired me to find some way to volunteer to help others, whether in a big or small way.

J-juicing

As a part of doing my best to live as healthy a life as possible, my husband and I have always made nutrition a priority.

We have a juicer, but like most people didn't use it much for two reasons. Too many parts and pieces and having to waste so much of the food we were juicing.

About a week ago there was a report about the juice we were drinking saying they were adding harmful chemicals that were not on the nutrition label. Whether or not this story is true, I have no idea. However this led to the decision to buy the Nutribullet!

We have been using it for about two weeks now and love it! It is so quick and easy to use and clean. We like to have smaller ,easy to prepare meals for dinner and this does the trick.

We both feel better and I have even lost a couple of pounds. Looks like juicing will be part of our "healthy living" decisions.