Thanksgiving 2010

We wish each and everyone of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Our year has not been what we had hoped for but we thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers and love.

Have a wonderful day with the ones you love!

Keep Your Fork

A woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and given three months to live.  She asked her preacher to come by her house to discuss her funeral.
She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures to read, and what dress she wanted to be buried in.  She also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible.  As he prepared to leave, she suddenly remembered one more thing.  "I have one more request," she said excitedly.  "What's that?" the preacher replied.  "This is very important,: she continued.  "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."
The preacher looked at her, not knowing quite what to say.
"That surprises you?" she asked?
"To be honest, I am puzzled," he replied.
The woman explained, "In all my years of attending church fellowships and potluck dinners, I always remembered that when the dishes were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.'  It was my favorite park, because I knew that meant something better was coming. . .like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie.  Something wonderful!  So I want people to see me in that casket with a fork in my hand.  When they ask you, 'What's with the fork?' Then I want you to tell them, 'She believed the best was yet to come.'" 

I received a copy of House to House, Heart to Heart from the Jacksonville church of Christ in Alabama and this was in there.  It made me think of Mom for a couple of reasons, one being that Mom loved dessert. . . .a lot and second she believed that the best was yet to come and now she is being able to enjoy it.  BUT that doesn't make us miss her any less or hurt any less.  It does help to remind me that she is in a much better place without the worries, hurts, problems that we have.  I love you Mom and I know that you are enjoying the best.

Memories

When I think of my Mom, so many things come to mind.  One of them was her love of the beauty of God's creation.  We miss you Mom.  Your absence is felt everyday and in everything we do.

8 Months Ago

I know I say something like this every month but it is the truth.  It is still so hard.  Just today as I was pulling out of parking lot I thought of something and said to myself, "I need to call Mom and tell her about this.".  It slaps me in the face every time.  I miss her.

Happy Halloween

 Just wanted to share a couple more pictures of Mom and her fun loving self. 

Wednesday

This time last year we were waiting for Mom's white blood count to begin moving up after the transplant.  Gosh, that seems like such a long time ago.  It is amazing how different our lives are.  This was my week to stay with Mom and I desperately wish that I could do that again.  Just to spend time with her, to tell her I love her, to give her a hug.  I miss talking to her every day, shopping with her, knowing that she was around to answer questions, give a word of advice, just being my Mom.

Dear Mom:  I miss you so much..  Life is so different without you.  Please know that we all love you and wish you were here with us.

365 Days Later

This time one year ago today Dad, Rae and I were already headed to MD Anderson to spend the day with Mom and B because today was the day. Today she was getting her stemcell transplant which as going to make her better and we were going to do this as we did everything else important. . . .as a family. It began day 100 of her stay in Houston before she could come back home to us. We had so much hope that day. The transplant took an hour, that was it, 60 minutes. Mom just had to lay in bed and we just had to hang out with her and enjoy being a family. Today, 365 days later, our life is not what we expected. We miss her. The sun shine is a little less bright, the grass a little less green, our laughter a little quieter, our hearts a whole lot broken, our feelings a little more fragile, and our world a whole lot less happy. Because you never know what life is going to hand to you, make sure you tell those you love how much you love them and never take your time together for granted. We love you Mom and miss you. Everyone misses you. I hope we are making you proud. We are taking care of Daddy as best we can (no one will ever be able to take care of him like you did). We love you.