On a lighter note...New Aspenisms!

-After helping me feed the dog, I said "thank you very much for helping." Aspen replied, "you're welcome, your Majesty."

-Her prayer earlier today: "Thank you for toys, lips, and food."

-After the wedding, our family was hanging out in my Aunt and Uncle's hotel suite. My Uncle had his dress shirt unbuttoned, which of course drew Aspen's attention. She pointed and said "look at Gary's tummy! It's so awesome!"

-I uploaded the wedding pictures to the computer, and had Aspen on my lap as I was looking at them. We came across one of Laura all decked out in her veil and dress and Aspen got so excited and said "Look at her eyebrows! They are sooooo beautiful!"

-Aspen LOVES balloons. A month ago, she had a purple balloon in the car that accidentally slipped out of the open door. She was devastated. Seriously, she cried and cried. The other day she said "My purple balloon will fly away, but a cupcake won't fly away."

-With all the wedding talk lately Aspen is very into all this "getting married" chat. She often will tell me she's going to marry Daddy. (awww!) When I ask her who Mommy will marry, she promptly says, "Grandpa, because he is your Daddy."

-She is so much a Daddy's girl. Not only does she want to marry Daddy, she thinks he can fix anything. Another one of her ill-fated balloons popped one day, and she saved it until Daddy got home from work, and gave it to him saying, "Here Daddy, you can fix it!"

Update, thank you, prayer requests and praise.

Mom made it through her surgery yesterday with flying colors. The BEST news was that she has NO CANCER in her lymph nodes. That means she doesn't need radiation or chemo and as of right now, she is cancer free! Can I get a "Hallelujah!" :)

The Doctors are hoping to send her home today, but will only do so if her pain is under control. Apparently she had quite a bit of pain in the night and they want to make sure she is more comfortable before letting her leave. She is coming home with some drains in also and has to take it really really slow.

She has a bit of a long recovery ahead of her, which another surgery down the road. Right now she has "extenders" in her chest to stretch out the skin for her new breasts. My aunt had the same thing a few years ago, and it can be quite painful. They are essentially stretching out her skin, tissue and muscle (I think) by adding fluid every couple weeks until she has room for the implants. She was not able to have recontruction. For reconstruction they take tissue from her tummy to make a new chest. My mom doesn't have enough tissue for that (essentially she's too skinny), so the only other option is implants.

Thank you friends and fam for your prayers and offers to help and outpouring of support. It means soooooooo much!

Prayer requests:
For mom- pain will be kept to a minimum, and she will have a smooth transition to home.
For dad- job search
For our church's women's conference this weekend (and that I will be able to share my journey the way God would want me to).

Praise: BFF (and hubby) are adopting a baby!!!! Woo hoo! Can I get another "Hallelujah!"

It's a lot.

Sister's wedding over. Went awesome. Danced a lot. Paying for it today. Mom has breast cancer. Breast cancer. Found out 2 weeks ago. Double mastectomy tomorrow. We are moving. Within the next month. To a bigger house. Not packed. Dad losing job. Forced out after 14 years of service. Mom doesn't work, doesn't get paid. Dad won't get paid after June. Unresolved health issues for me. More that I don't want to share.



It's a lot. A lot, a lot. Would you pray friends? Just pray.





My mom's shoes at Laura's wedding. They are actually pink, not red. She purchased these shoes months ago, but on Saturday they appropriately were named her "breast cancer shoes."





Aspen and Grammie last Easter. One of my favorite pics.




Matthew 11:28-30
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Chop! Chop!

I did it. I had to do something. I take a medication for pain that seems to be working a bit better than my last pain medication. It has also completely eliminated the restless legs problems I was having every night!

However, this medication makes me sweat terribly. I have tried other pain meds to no avail. I have to take this specific medication right now.

In order to attempt to combat the sweating (or 'glistening' as my sis puts it), I decided to cut my hair off! It's shorter than it has EVER been. I don't know if I would have cut my hair this short had it not been out of necessity. But, this season of my life has forced me to face reality and do what makes sense. This short hair cut makes sense for me right now, and I AM already more comfortable and not, um, "glistening" quite as much.

What do you think?

(Oh and I got color too)

Easter Pictures

Could someone tell me who this HUGE girl is?!





I like Lola in this one. Running. Never stops running.




Thanks for looking!

Peace out. (Kip style)

What we woke up to this morning...

hearing Aspen yelling...

"Mommy, Daddy, I TOOTED! Hahahahahaha!"

It's a bit disturbing how proud she was. :)

A shout out

Before I forget again, I need to send a shout out of sincere thanks to my friend Julie.  I have been such an airhead in communicating this to her, but Julie-you ROCK.  Thank you sooooo very much for thinking of my little Aspen and giving us a huge bag of clothes.  It is such an extremely generous thing to do and a lovely little surprise to come home to such a treat on our porch!   You are very sweet to be so thoughtful and bless us in this way.  Those clothes will get a ton of use this summer.  We'll have to get the girls together soon to play! 

Thank you again.  You are a true sweetheart.  

A season of fullness.

We're EXTREMELY busy right now. I kind of broke down at the beginning of this last week because I just did not want to think about or do ANYTHING ELSE. But, the reality is, we are in a season that is busy and time consuming and overwhelming. And I have a choice as to how I'm going to handle it.

When I started praying for strength, I realized that most of the so-called overwhelming things in my life are just so, to put it quite simply, good.

Oh Lord, help me to see the blessings you've given.
Help me to just relish this special time.
Help me to bask in the joy all around me.

So I am trying to be better, and I am overwhelmed, not with the busyness, but the fullness of my life during this season.

These are just a few of the things I was blessed with doing this last week-
-Enjoying the beautiful Oregon coast with close friends
-Seeing my Aspen play with her cousins whom she adores and who adore her
-Laughing so hard with my sister in law that my stomach hurt
-Shopping (need I say more?)
-Making my 6 month old nephew smile and laugh
-Sighing relief due to an answer to prayer regarding a family member
-Hearing that Grandma, at age 91, came through her atrial valve replacement surgery with flying colors.
-Appreciating a dear friend who offered her shoulder to cry on and continued encouragement
-Helping plan the wedding of my youngest sis who is one of my bestest friends

I could go on and on...


Thank you Lord for
A season of Fullness.