Mom is resting today after her first 4 1/2 hour chemotherapy session.
The painkillers and anti-nausea medications are being injected at regular intervals.
I feel fortunate to be here to help mom put her swollen feet into her sandals, rub cream on her itchy back, checkout the hospital food before she looks at it and be here resting in her presence.
Yup, cancer. The big C. The beast. The indiscriminate illness. One of our worst nightmares. I am talking about you little c-a-n-c-e-r.
First, I want to introduce you to my mama. She’s magnificent. Really magnificent. She celebrated her seventieth birthday in a March. In April, she rode in a Tour de France training Camp for two weeks riding sometimes 90 kms per day. She even fell off her bike three times.
Yup, that’s my mom, she’s one tough, athletic, caring and beautiful woman.
She came from a small farming town where she rode a horse to school. She is resilient.
She loved helping her dad around the farm rather than hanging out with her mom in the kitchen. She is strong.
She was a leader at school as well as an academic and basketball star. She is all around smart.
She put herself through University to become an excellent teacher and then she gave up her career when my sister and I came along. She is passionate and compassionate.
She went back to work once I hit school and she managed to do it all – work, home cooked meals, travel, organize our lives, plan fabulous parties and I could go on. She can do it all!
Cancer, I almost forgot to tell you, if my mom is feeling tired and weary from trying to cast you away. She’s got my dad at her side. Her knight. Her partner in crime. No cracks have I seen in their 42 years of marriage. He’s even put his golf clubs on the shelf, so watch out. He is a force!
Plus you’ve got to add one power into this “thing” you are trying to do in my mom’s body – God. My sister and I plus our hubbies, we know Jesus. We know his power to heal and transform lives. You bet we will have our mom and dad covered with prayer. We know the angels will be sitting by her beside. We will also be by my mom’s side to love her up and keep her going, especially with a few good books, reality tv shows and neck kisses.
And if that ain’t enough, we have got family and friends all over the world ready to kick your butt. Special niece in Spain, nephew up north, siblings to the east/south and friends in PG, Vtown, Western Canada, Australia, and 100 Mile. You don’t know who you are dealing with.
So, cancer now that you’ve met my mom, and her team brace yourself because you aren’t going to know what hit you! And we haven’t even met her medical team yet!
I used to drive by this church every day. The quotes they put on their front billboard always fascinate me.
This quote made me want to weep.
When I first saw this sign I felt incredibly sad. I was in a place of feeling like a discarded “thing”. As we are moving, certain friends have fallen away. See this blog.
Two weeks later, I saw this quote with new eyes. It made me want to cry tears of joy.
God had placed me with an incredible group of Christian women in a boot camp/bible study ran by our good friend “Bam” of HappyFitMe.
These women gave me hope as they shared of themselves, their healing, their love of God and their struggles. Jesus’ loved poured out of each of them every time we were together. The words were honest. The actions were truthful. They gave everything they had in our workouts at the playground, on the field, in the gym and in the pool. It was incredible.
And now as our family moves down the lake into our new house, I have hope.
Hope that God will prosper me. Hope that God does have a plan for my life. Hope that the friends He will surround me with will be like these boot camp women and all the women that have walked/ran with me during this very difficult transition. 
Today is the last day of Kindergarten for our first born. What a year it has been!
Negotiating the great educational experiment of full-day every day Kindergarten. (We did half days til Christmas). Getting to know the school culture as a parent, not just as a teacher. Plus, having the younger brothers without their eldest brother five days per week. Whew!
From the very first day of school, we have been very intentional about the importance of JC saying goodbye to his younger brothers with a hug and a kiss. I believe it helps everyone’s transition into the day. Plus who doesn’t want to start their day off with a hug and a kiss?
Here is our last day of Kindergarten:
HUG and a….
KISS!
Now off to line-up for school.
Today I will leave you with one more photo: the two big boys after they went to watch their best friends’ ballet performances. We stopped for a break to look at one of the most beautiful lakes in North America.
What do we really WANT and NEED?
This question keeps rolling through my mind as I wade through the copious amount of stuff in my parents basement and the torn apart house we hope to occupy in less than four weeks.
You will be happy to know that we are not going on the Hoarders TV show, but we are making steps to remove a closet so that all three of our boys can share a room.
Yes, in the world of resale, probably not the best move. But in the realm of us having the priority that our boys will be close, share their lives and their worlds with each other, getting rid of a closet is something we need to do.
One decision down… 1,368 to go!
The view of the closet from the hall. Look at all that space we will have for the boys literal bed room. We plan on keeping their clothes, books and some toys in the other bedroom down the hall. The boys are excited about their “sleeping” room and their “book” room as they are calling them.
I love my man! Usually when I talk about ‘be a man’ (see here), I am talking about Sexy Neck.
In the midst of cleaning, moving and digging out trees, I had to add a guest “man” to my banter with my man.
Papa Bob or Baron Bob as we lovingly call our dear friend, is a great man.
He came to dig out our boy’s placenta trees. Trees we had planted with our boys placenta’s underneath. Strange, I know, but really interesting. JC has an autumn blaze tree because of the colour and CC has a plane tree because of the size. OC will get his tree this fall when he turns two.
Since we were moving today, the boys requested that the trees come with us. They also asked if we could bring the bathroom mirror, but we left that behind.
Our Papa Bob, was busy digging a humungous hole in our heavy clay soil, but when the boys arrived he had them digging with him, avoided hitting them with his sledgehammer and looked like a superhero when the roots finally gave way.
Here is Papa Bob in action. Let’s remember it is easy to get our heads down in a hole, but it is the people that God has placed around us that really matter. Thank PB for reminding us of this!
Big Brother, JC, was a STAR last night. His little brother was sick.
He got his brother’s bear and blankie. He then proceeded to get a puke bucket and lie with him.
I remember running in fear to and from the stop sign,
searching, looking for the boogie man.
I remember monsters lurking under my bed and around every
corner and in every closet.
I remember fire, falling and blindness in my dreams,
sometimes I still remember those.
I remember being trapped in a bin, outside the house,
in closets, in darkness.
I remember being shut out, turned from, not listened to,
I ran away alone.
I remember sleepovers I didn’t want to be at,
many I came home from.
I remember feelings of discomfort, judgement, inability to live up to expectations,
oh ya, I still have those.
I remember fearing alcohol, the effect on my body and others.
I remember preaching abstinence from it.
NOW I know in my body the light,
I remember God’s light shining in my basement bedroom in 1995,
I remember God’s love, His acceptance, His peace, His kindness, His grace.
I remember His ways are not my ways. Everything doesn’t have to make sense.
I remember God is who He says He is in the bible, in nature, in wise people around me.
I remember the fragrance of heaven surrounding me.
I remember to trust, let go of performance and to REST.
I remember the FoRest, by the pond where God meets me.
I remember His word is alive and active in ME… yup me.
I remember to swing and to allow God to push me. Swing Joanna!
I remember that I will be healed in 2013. Glory, Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus.
My Favourite Song to end off this post:
"Be" ENOUGH 