Wow!

I'm baaacckkk! It's hard to believe I haven't posted anything for such a long time. Life just gets in the way sometimes.

Spoiling Kiddos

I've had a wonderful time lately spoiling some kiddos. Shopping trips and lunches cannot make up for the questionable choices their parents make but it can at least give them a brief respite from their reality. What little girl doesn't love being pampered and loved? It is a joy to get them more prepared for winter weather with warm coats, long pants, cozy shirts and stylin' boots. Of course, clothes cannot change their circumstances but it can give them a boost of confidence when they face the world. Despite of what they go through daily, they are all unique individuals and it truly is a joy to spend time with each of them. So a special thanks to J, A and K for letting me share some moments with you. Much love!

Gone, Not Forgotten

Such a short time ago, so short there was barely time to deal with the news, our loved one was diagnosed with cancer. Before we knew it, he was gone. Those brief days are already becoming a blur, the photos of his last birthday celebration too painful to look at. This has opened up much discussion around the family - we are making decisions about the future. Instead of being filled with grief we are actually filled with the relief of closure - 14 years in the making. At long last we can examine feelings left raw and bleeding for all these years after we physically or emotionally lost two people in 1995. Now they are together, now they are at peace. 'Til we meet again, rest well V.B.B. and E.L.B.

Life Is Too Short

Yet more cancer is invading our family. Just a few weeks ago, all was going along smoothly. Everyone was involved in their own lives, their own schedules, their own stuff. Then we get the call. A family member has suffered a stroke, has been taken by ambulance to a hospital, and then flown by helicopter to a bigger hospital. Our hearts skip a few beats, the tears start and then the panic. After tests, tests, tests it is discovered that this family member has suffered a bleed in the brain - but it was caused by a cancer that the oncologist refers to as "aggressive." It cannot be stopped. Chemo will make it spread. Either out of kindness or because they don't want to overwhelm us, they only tell us of four locations the melanoma is: brain, lung, pancreas and lymph nodes. What they keep from us is the cancer is also in the liver, the kidneys, and other organs. So all our lives have now changed course. Instead of being involved in our own stuff, we have a single focus, a firm resolve to spend as much time as possible with our beloved family member. Caring for physical needs, responding to emotional needs, searching for direction, treasuring each precious moment - as painful as they are. We want more time but at what cost to the one who is suffering?

This has narrowed our focus as to what is important. The things we surround ourselves with are, after all, just things. We can become petty and vindictive, desperately trying to hold on to the "stuff" when in reality we just want to hold onto the person and rail at the unfairness of it all.

So live your life in such a way that if a loved one is snatched from you too soon, you will have no regrets that you left things unsaid or undone. Because now, more than ever, life is too short to sweat the small stuff!

Bunnies!

Look at these sweet little bunnies we found hiding in the brush pile. We moved them to a safe spot since the brush pile had to be burned today. Aren't they just the sweetest things?

That's Entertainment!

We enjoyed a night with friends recently at the play "Defending the Caveman." It sure explains some things about the opposite sex that you may not have known before now. I especially love the last line of the play!

I'm looking forward to a Brandi Carlile concert this Monday night. Should be an enjoyable evening. Then next month, some of us are attending a Celtic Woman concert.

Most entertaining, however, was watching the guys organizing their base camp on Easter and setting it ablaze. Three pyros hard at work was something to behold. Following close behind was the intensity behind the gun battle that waged just prior to crawling around in the dirt. (We got some great pics and videos)