Christmas

I have been looking forward to Christmas for some time. I had an assignment at girl's camp this year to speak for an hour on enduring to the end. The theme for camp was The Olympic Spirit-Light the Fire Within. So, I structured my talk around the Olympics and told them my life story, using hurdles as an analogy of going through hard times. It felt good to look back at my life and how it unfolded and to be able to see the many ways in which I was blessed and protected.

A  friend told me that I needed to write it down for the benefit of my children. So I secretly began making a book, writing down my story, using the same structure that I did for my talk at camp, and adding pictures. Knowing that I was also going to give this book to all of my siblings as well as my children I couldn't wait for Christmas when they would all be able to see it.

I had a wonderful Christmas and everyone was home...except Ian. We got to Skype with him and he looked good and it was fun to see him.
We went ice skating, made cookies, went Christmas caroling, went to see A Christmas Carol, the play,  Le Miserables, the botanical garden lights, played games, ate till we were stuffed, went shopping together. Corey brought his girlfriend home for Christmas and we enjoyed getting to know her. It was all very nice.  Everyone loved the book. It is now available to purchase on blurb.com for all my friends and family who may want a copy. You can see a preview of just a few pages by clicking on the blurb badge at the side of this blog.

One day before Christmas,  I wasn't feeling well at all. It was most definitely cancer related and I felt horrible. I have been feeling so good, for several months, it was easy to forget at times what is going on. Having that day was a reality check and made me even more thankful that I feel so good. I can handle being sick if I don't feel sick.

They're calling my numbers stable. They are now at 305. Next month is my  CT scan. I will also be getting my first PET scan. I have been having pain in my tailbone for months and it's not getting better so they decided to run a PET scan. We'll see how that goes.

Very soon we say good-bye to 2012, a year that will forever be etched in my brain. I am happy to begin a new year but remain grateful for the blessings of love and friendship that have poured over me and my family this past year.