Rally Time

After 3 years in remission a close friend of ours was recently re-diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia. To make a long story short the past few months have been grueling for him, his wife, and their two children. Tomorrow will begin a new step in his treatment process. He will be admitted for further chemo in preparation for receiving his brother's bone marrow.

I can only imagine their fears and anxieties to the unknown. Having witnessed my extended family go through this a few years back with my Aunt Cindy and her diagnosis of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, it can be a scary time. I remember checking her blog multiple times in the day to get any little update. Being on the outside I felt there was nothing I could really do. However, through that experience, I think many of us found that although we couldn't do much, we could do some....by sending positive thoughts, energy, prayer, or kind thoughts. Having her in Cleveland and being limited to visitors due to her immune system, her blog made this all possible. As a family we simply rallied around her and her family in hopes of pulling them through that tough time.

Starting this post I wasn't really sure what I was going to write, or why, but I had an urge to do so. I believe the reason I am writing has come to me while writing. I'm hoping that anyone who reads this will rally around the Pohorence family, as we did just a few years ago with our family....visit their blog, post, or just take a moment out of your day to send positive energy or prayer.

Mr. And Mrs. Randy Hammons

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with friends celebrating the marriage of Randy and Shannon. It was a beautiful wedding and a ton of fun. I'm still getting used to the camera so it was great to be able to test the waters a bit with it. Be sure to check out the other photos from the big day. Congratulations Randy and Shannon!!

He's Okay

Anyone ever feel like you've run all week and look back and all you see is a bunch of jumble and you still happen to have tons of more stuff to do on your list? That's how I feel. We had tons of birthdays in our family this week and I feel like such a horrible person that I didn't get to half of the people or even send cards or anything. So Cassie, Grandma, Devin, and Ande'....we love you and hope you all had wonderful birthdays. It was also Viking's 4th birthday on Thursday. I can't believe he's already 4! I have tons of yardwork to do this weekend. And I want to get some organizing/cleaning done too. I'm probably going to do it while David goes out with his sister and her husband, to the movies. The week seemed so odd and I can only attribute that to the passing of our friend. Our thoughts and actions were consumed with him...and as most of you know I analyze situations and just couldn't put it out of my mind. However, I have a peace about it. Even when Sita called us I knew something was wrong and when David told me my heart went out to the family, but I just had an inner peace about it. My MIL calls it discernment...you can call it whatever you want but it's a comforting feeling. I am a large dreamer when I sleep and also a believer that people who have passed meet us in our dreams. Well, that evening Phil, our friend, met me in my dreams. He didn't say anything but I did ask him "why?" He didn't say anything but just looked at me. Then God arrived. Although I couldn't make out a face I knew it was Him. And I asked Him "Will you take him?" Although no one physically spoke to me in my dream, the calmness continued and I knew that more than likely I already knew my answer. Then the funeral day arrived. It was nice to see everyone that came together to remember him. We watched the chaplain and another gentleman walk to the front of the room and then it happened. The Chaplain opened his mouth and I had my answer from God. It was as though God put his arms around me and whispered in my ear, "he's okay and here with me". The feeling was so overwhelming that I just wanted to fall on the floor and raise up and praise Jesus at the same time. I know many people probably don't believe in this type of thing or understand it. And in all honesty I do not understand it either, but I trust in Him. I cannot tell you why Phil chose me to "visit" and cannot explain in true colors the immensity or intensity of feelings that came over my body. However, I do know that they happened and all things happen for a reason. Needless to say it was a long day of emotions. As I stated I had peace with the situation but seeing everyone else cry leads me to get teary eyed. Then we were in the processional and turned the corner to enter the cemetary and there were approx. 10 veterans/civilians standing on the side of the road. Each with their own flag. Some saluting, some with their hands over their hearts. Just out to honor Phil. I lost it. There was even a sign in front of a restaurant saying "God Bless You" for him. Whew, just sitting here writing this the tears come back. I hope everyone has an enjoyable and productive weekend.

Aren't We Too Young?

Hope this finds everyone well as we enter into a new week. I do like mondays as it is a fresh start to a new week. That's why I've always said mondays were my favorite day of the week. We did some family things on saturday. David worked in the morning, came home, met the rents at panera bread for breakfast, then went to Petco's grand opening and got some free food. Can't complain about anything free. Headed home, hung out, then headed back out to Subway around noon, and then the call came. David's mom left a "teary" message saying, "call home asap." Never a good sign. So we called her immediately and found out one of David's good friends from high school died. She received a phone call from the guy's mom and was told to send the message along. David's and his family were really close with both him and his family so it's been pretty hard. We decided to head over to his rents house and then went to the mom's house to do anything we could. She had been out of state for about a week and came home to the police at her front door giving her the news. They still are going to perform an autospy to find out what exactly occured, however it looks as though it was intentional suicide. Gosh, why didn't he call someone? He's had on and off issues with depression as most everyone has. He's also in the Army and was actually one of the guys who caught Saddam Hussein. He has pictures and all. I know he has issues due to many things that have gone on in his life and that had been going on, but of course with things as they are, the war issue definitely stands out in my mind. I haven't met too many of our friends that have come back from the desert who are "normal". Most want to go back and I think it's because they have a sense of accomplishment when they're there. Most of all they feel needed over there and I think when they come home they feel they have unfinished business because of the men they lost over there and that everything is still going on there and it doesn't look even close to the end. Of course, this is just my viewpoint. I know I've been asking for a lot of prayers on my blog for the past few postings, but I must ask once again for prayers to surround the family and all the individuals around them. It's crazy. Every so often you'll hear of someone who's passed that was in one of the grades around you or someone you never really knew, but then it hits close to home. I know, it's one of those things you go through in life. You know how you near the end of junior high, entering into high school your relatives start passing away. Aren't we too young to be having our peers die at this point? You know, I expected it to occur, but not at this point. Then a few months ago one of my friends from high school was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. He had been married for just under a year and his wife had just found out she was pregnant. It sounds so horrible of me, but I do not know how he is at this point as I have no contact information and I only had heard everything through different individuals. I can only pray that God is with them as they go through this trying time. As with most of my posts this one probably doesn't make sense as I'm just spouting off, but death and words don't often go together that easily.