Is There Life Out There?

I have been home.  Like, have not left the house.  Since SUNDAY!  It is now FRIDAY!  Being sick is no fun :(  I am finally feeling like I've got this cold kicked, minus the obvious sinus/allergy that is constantly attacking me!  I have done more TV watching this week then I care to admit.  Yesterday I decided I was going to try and do a little more to try to get some energy back.  I did 3 loads of laundry (only sheets and towels b/c those are easy to put away :) ) and even loaded and reloaded the dishwasher.  I'm sure the hubs appreciated that.  We have cooked a lot of good food this week.  We made yummy shrimp and pasta with artichokes and garlic sauce on Wednesday.  YUM!  That night, I had to leave the bedroom around 12 b/c I couldn't stop coughing!  SP had a big day on Thursday showing 1.5 million dollar homes, so I wanted him to get his rest and not be kept up by my yucky dry cough all night.  SO...I grabbed my pillow and headed towards the living room for the sofa.  I needed some more time infront of the TV (ha! right!).  By 12:30 I decided to go make myself cozy in the guest room.  Before doing so, I was busy googling exactly this, "How to stop a cough so I can sleep!"  Everything I was reading kept talking about whiskey and Hot Toddy's.  I am determined to kick this sickness in an all natural way, so I grabbed the whiskey and started mixing :)  My dad has always told me that his parent's (who were not drinkers) would fix these drinks to feel better when they were sick.  I wonder if they fixed them in mason jars, too?  Anyway, it worked!  My throat was instantly coated and quickly into lala land I drifted :)  Bottoms up!

Relaxed

This past weekend felt like it went on forever...in a good way :) On Friday, SP cooked us a deliciously simple dinner of chicken with sautéed mushrooms and onions with a side of cous-cous. While he cooked, I made us bourbon and gingers :)
After dinner we went to Bronson Rock to watch the Cotton Bowl with our friend, Tom. We ended up running into a few other friends, which is always nice :)

Saturday Ryan and Melanie came over with their two little ones, Embry and Cera. We drank a little and ate snacky foods. The weather was beautiful so Sean cleaned off the patio for us to enjoy :)
They left around 3, and SP and I found ourselves incredibly lazy the remainder of the afternoon. We watched a few movies and then picked up take-out :) I was started to feel under the weather, so I wanted some warm soup and an egg-roll.
My that evening I had to write my mom and dad that I wasn't going to be able to make it to Houston for my dad's feeding tube surgery bc I had a sore throat. Shoot, I really was hoping to be there :(
Sunday I didn't do a darn thing. Laid on the couch alllllllll day nursing my cold, while Sean cooked me homemade chicken & rice soup. Yum.

Even though the weekend ended with me getting sick, it was still nice and relaxing. Just the way we like it!

I don't know what my hair is doing in this picture!

Table set w/ mismatched china plates my mom gave me when I got married :)

Snacks :)

Me, Baby Cera, and Melanie

Me.  Sick (and yes, my Christmas tree is still up!)

Relaxing.  SP cooking chicken & rice soup in the kitchen :)

Prayer of Strength

Yesterday morning I woke up to my phone ringing.  It was my mom.  The decision was made to go ahead and have my parents head to Houston on Sunday.  My dad just can't eat.  So this means he isn't able to get the nutrients his body needs in order to become strong enough for his major surgery that is scheduled for Jan 24th.  We've tried everything to get protein in him, but his body is just rejecting it.  It's been a tough road, but these last few weeks have not been fun.  Seeing my dad in pain and wanting to eat, but not being able to is NOT fun.  And knowing how tired my mom is and all her efforts in coming up with ways to get him to eat.  It's exhausting, really.  It has just sucked.  So, though we are all happy to have a set plan, yesterday I was just feeling weak.  I felt like I needed an extra push of strength and confidence that everything was going to be ok.

I turned to my best friends.  A specific bunch of girls that have been there through just about everything in my life since college, if not before.  I sent them an email asking for them to please prayer specifically for me, that I needed strength.

One friend in particular decided to write her prayer out for me so that I would know specifically how she would be praying.  I wanted to share it.  I will carry this with me and read it when I have moments of weakness from now on during this battle we are fighting.

God, I pray that You would give Catherine strength and hope over the next few weeks. I pray that you would provide her comfort and peace beyond understanding. I pray she would come to You as the only one that can provide strength, peace, and comfort. I pray she would grow closer to You during the next few weeks and despite the situation surrounding her, that she would trust in You, in Your timing, and Your will. I pray You would show her tangibly and intangibly Your love for her, and for her family. I pray you would answer prayers and have her dad's surgery go well and for his protein levels to go up as needed for his other surgery. 

Then she shared some quotes and verses....

"Do not strive in your own strength; cast yourself at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and wait upon Him in the sure confidence that He is with you, and works in you. Strive in prayer; let faith fill your heart-so will you be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." - Andrew Murray

Isaiah 41:10  fear not, for I am with you;  be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

1 Chronicles 16:11  Seek the LORD and his strength;  seek his presence continually!

"His ways are higher than our ideas of how things should go. But I can tell you this: It is possible. He hears your prayers and He is not indifferent to your plight. God loves you. Above all, don't equate your suffering with how God feels about you."

Thank you, dear friends, for being there and praying so hard for my family.  I told my mom last night the statement "battling cancer" is SO TRUE.  It is w/out a doubt a battle!  My dad is strong and he will fight and win this battle, no doubt!

Love you all, sweet friends :)

My New Journal

For my 31st birthday, my dear friend gave me this journal.  It is called The Happiness Project  One-Sentence Journal.  I didn't know it at the time...in fact, neither did she, but it is based off of a book called The Happiness Project.  The idea is to recognize how many things in your life take place on a daily basis that we forget to document or even worse, we forget completely!!  So, with the help of this journal, for the next 5 years, every single day I will write one sentence documenting my day.  

It isn't intimidating by lots of blank space.  Actually, in my 2 days so far I've wished for more space to write!  As you can see from the picture, you just write the year and turn the page according to what day you are on.  So then next year, and the year after that, and so on (at least for 5 years :) ) when you go back to Jan 1 (for ex.), you can read it and remember something about that day.  I love this idea and will hopefully will end up with 365 sentences by this time next year :)

Now I want to read the book!

Our New Year's Meal :)

I spent the day yesterday being lazy.  I had the best day.  Minus the obvious emotion and aching that goes deep down inside right now.

My poor dad can't shake his nausea and just feels, well, awful.  My mom is a saint doing everything she can to nourish him and try to keep him where we need his protein levels to be.  Today marks 22 more days before his surgery that is still scheduled for the 24th.  I hate that he is so miserable, and that makes me miserable.  And I also feel for my mom who is there with him every second.  I know they are strong and my whole family is there to push them through and get us to Houston, but we are all so tired.  And so ready for this chapter in our lives to be closed.  We are soooo ready to tell that darn damn tumor GOODBYE!  My dad will be fine.  I know it.  And he knows it.  We all know it.  But, come on digestion....GET EASIER ON HIM!!!!

Back to yesterday.  It was spent being lazy around the house.  Lots of prayer, and lots of cooking.  In no particular order.  Prayers for my dad and his healing, and cooking for good luck for the new year!

I made my first successful pot of black eyed peas, along with some homemade, cast-iron skillet cornbread.  There is only one word to describe this meal....YUM!  I am tooting my own horn here, but sometimes that's ok :)  Jack and Sheryl came to eat with us.  Sheryl brought a salad and a yummy berry trifle for dessert.  It was seriously all so good and the hubs couldn't stop raving about it, which always makes a wife feel pretty darn good :)  Especially when it's good ole' soul food (as my mama calls it!)  I can't wait to eat leftovers for lunch (and maybe even dinner, ha!).  Happy happy, day :)

Happy New Year!

GoodBYE 2012 and hello 2013!!!  2012 is a year I am happy to leave behind.  Cancer decided to take over by invading my dad's pancreas back in May and we've been fighting the battle ever since.  I am thankful the year is over and now in just a few more weeks, my dad will get to have his awful cancerous tumor REMOVED!!!!  That is the day my new year will start!  

So, here's to a new year!  January 24, hurry up and get here!!!

CHEERS!!

A Christmas Post.

I sure wanted to get this written before ringing in the new year...but well, that just didn't happen.

Just a glimpse into Christmas 2012 with my family.

SP and I drove to Arkansas the Friday before Christmas.  Adam drove in on Saturday, and the DC bunch flew in on Sunday.  We were happy to have our family all together on the mountain.  After such a crazy Thanksgiving with 16 people around the harvest table, I think we all enjoyed the slower pace of Christmas.

We did our usual..cooked, ate, drank, relaxed, loved, hugged, and just enjoyed being together.  And being quiet.

We ate 15 bean soup that my dad made.  Gumbo that SP and my mom made on Saturday.  Tamales from TX.  Bacon wrapped, boudin stuffed quail from Louisiana.  Boudin.  Prime rib, popovers, green beans, and lumpy mashed potatoes (ha, j/k mom :) ) on Christmas day!!

SP and I were ready to learn how to make my mom's gumbo, since we've now mastered (well, SP has mastered) her ribs!

Below is showing how much fun SP had on the mountain.
Pic 1 - Winning the best son in law of the year award by cleaning out my mom's fridge.  Pic 2 - Learning how to make the roux.  Pic 3 - Slowly turning into a mountain man wearing my dad's hat.  Pic 4 - His Christmas getup.  A reindeer hat and rudolph nose (gifted by my dad), a silly book, and his new cooking apron.  

When I say we did a lot of sitting around, we did a LOT of sitting around.  Christmas Eve was so quiet.  We didn't do much of anything.  Everyone just relaxed.  Watched some movies, finished wrapping presents, and of course played with our favorite little buddy, Ian.  Mom and I decorated Christmas cookies!!  It was a lot of fun.  I can't tell you the last time I got to use cookie cutters and make delicious sugar cookies :)  We turned on the music and got busy decorating!

Our decorating skills could use some work, ha!  But they sure did taste good.

We ended up not putting up the big tree this year.  Just too much work for everyone.  But my mom has lots of little trees that surrounded us :)  Ian got to help Grammy decorate her animal tree!
Pic 1 - Yasha and Grammy decorating the tree!  Pic 2 - The DC bunch being lazy and playing with their buddy.  Pic 3 - We let Ian decorate a gingerbread house :)  He had so much fun sticking things in the icing and then pulling them off, ha!  Pic 4 - SP gets reaaaaally crafty while gift wrapping!

Ian helping us make the icing for the gingerbread house :)

For our Christmas Eve meal we ate beef stew with pone bread!  This is something we used to eat every Christmas Eve growing up at my grandmother's house.  My Nana made this and it is such a fond memory for my mother, she made it for us!  Sometimes it's nice to eat just a simple meal.  We all really enjoyed it.  Then we moved into the living room and watched our staple holiday movie...A Christmas Story!  "I can't put my arms down!", ha, gets me every time :)

Christmas morning, we began our gift giving around 7:30.  I woke up around 5:30, then fell back asleep for an hour.  I heard SCT, AZT, and IFT coming down the stairs and jumped out of bed so I wouldn't miss his first real Santa gift all set up and ready :)  Santa brought him the cutest, most classic, wooden train set.  Oh my, he loved(s) it so much!  It was so cute watching him say, "choo-choo" constantly :)

SP made an aluminum foil snowman on the top of my gift, ha!

And this one was an aluminum foil wrapped MILK JUG, with a pretty necklace inside :)

My favorite gifts this year were a nice cozy long robe, and a KEURIG!!!  SP caved and finally got me one.  I have been using it so much.  I love it!!  Oh, and I can't forget my new shoes that Shawn and Anastasia got me...

After gifts, we opened the wine and started cooking!  We sure thought we were going to get snow, but it completely skipped us!  UGH!  It snowed at our house in TX though...my neighbor, Shemele sent me this picture of our house!

We ended the evening gathered in the living room watching the last Batman.   Thanks Adam for bringing all these movies :)  The next day we all packed up and headed out.  With Christmas Day falling on a Tuesday, it was hard to stick around much longer.

It was a wonderful, peaceful Christmas.  My trooper of a father had a tough time, and still is.  We are staying strong and positive and hoping and praying continually that his digestion will become a bit easier for him.  We have started our countdown till surgery.  Only 23 more days!

Merry belated Christmas, everyone.