Wicked

Celebrating birthdays with my favorite ladies at one of my all time favorite shows.

Smiles across the miles

While away

Time with friends is often the best medicine.

Thankful to have these two beauties in my life- cheering me on and sharing the journey.

 Tremendously blessed to celebrate 10 years of friendship.

 A wonderful mix of business and play (and coffee :)

Jumping the Pond

Its my first solo adventure... so why not hop a plane to England for a business trip 😳

But that is exactly what I did.

With a cup of liquid courage and an excessive amount of pep talks and encouragement I boarded my first flight from Indianapolis to Boston where I would then take an overnight flight to London.

Living Bravely is taking an a whole new level today. 

92 years young

Happiest of Birthdays to our dear Omi.

Celebrating with her sparkles :)

The BIG 1-0

Its hard to believe that my sweet Birdy is the big double digits this year.

10 wonderful years of her spunk, love and unpredictability.

We celebrated in our traditional fashion with a Momma daughter trip to Starbucks and an annual visit to the doctor for the official announcement.

 We even surprised her with lunch at school- Taco Bell and time with her best friend Abby (I love their matching shirts 😍)

Then back to school for a day of learning before the afternoon and evening festivities.

Opening presents after school.... with 10 comes a lot of excitement and great facial expressions.

Here are a few highlights...

 Hey... a lip balm craft kit

 Chicken Books (if you want a good laugh these are great... or just listen to Lillian silently reading them in another room and you cant help but belly laugh along with her)

 Unicorn notebooks

 Uh... are these the roller blades you said I couldn't have

 100 new markers and 3D coloring

 Lego sets (many many lego sets)

 And the very popular, much wanted HUGE inflatable duck for the pool

And finally, a special dinner to celebrate the birthday girl.... ALL SHE COULD EAT MEAT!!!

I think her face shows her excitement

 This girl loves her steak and the rarer the better

 And she also enjoyed the grill pineapple

Happiest of Birthdays to our sweet Birdy. Its hard to believe we have share 10 years of adventures with you.

Llama hair no more

Another 4 months has passed and it was time for a trim :)

Dairy Free Do's and Don'ts

Do eat McDonalds

Don't eat vegan cheese

It was a wonderful attempt and 👍🏼 for effort but fake cheese just isn't for me.

Field Trips

Its been a busy couple of weeks for the Sparkles with escapades at school.

To fuel the adventures there were extra cuddles and donut mornings.

Lillian got to kiss the bricks at the track when she toured the Indianapolis 500 museum and surrounding facilities.

And Madison traveled north with the Robotics team to compete in the State Robotics competition (they lost in qualifying)

Cooper will be visiting the state fair grounds this week (of course he refused a picture). 

Choosing Joy and Living Brave

My scans look ok.
My labs are being monitored
My symptoms are being tracked
and I am choosing Joy, Living Bravely!

Hurting with Hope

With remission has come the return of self reliance 

And as I gain health and strength so have I also gained the desire and pride to do things myself 

“I do it myself” has been a mantra from my early childhood that I have carried with me often as a badge of honor 

But in this season of life I have allowed it to cause more harm then good and to rob me of JOY

Where I have pushed too hard, too soon, and too much 

Where I have striven when I should have rested

Where I have needed to distance myself as quickly as I can from the not so recent past for fear it will catch me again. 

Because the pressure I have felt from others to be better and further is really fueled from within

Because I need to be healthy and symptom free and not a cancer patient 

Because I need a symptom to not be a death potential 

Because a year of diagnosis and a year of treatment have left me in a tales spin bracing for the next unexpected or unexplainable thing 

I live in a reality where anxiety Lurks so close to surface I wonder how I am able to function and question if I even am

Because the things that aren’t being said are the things that need said the most

I am not as ok as you assume or think I might be

I don’t know what I am doing or how to do it 

In my fear I have "turtled" sinking into my shell and isolating myself to turtle island where I feel some semblance of control 

But in isolating myself I have loaded on more baggage then I can carry, more pressure to conquer, and more expectations. 

The feeling of hope is masked by the never ceasing feeling of Hurt 

Hurting from physical pain 

Hurting from loss of norm and familiar. 

Hurting from the weight of carrying this diagnosis and its effects

But I am learning to hurt with hope. 

And to do this, I realize I still need and rely on the support that so graciously has carried me along this journey

Ones to hope when I can’t 

Ones to distract 

Ones to love

Ones to encourage

Ones to listen without fixes 

and Ones that understand (even if you don't) 

Because we aren't meant to do this alone. 

Thanks for being "The Ones" 

Swimming

The pool is open (though leaking) and its time to think of warmer weather (though snow flurries are currently falling).

We signed the Littles up for Swim Lessons to get ready... Summer is coming.

Lillian is working on refining her strokes and building stamina to join the swim team
Cooper is officially upgrading from his Doggy Paddle to actual Swimming (or so we hope).

They swim three days a week for an hour a lesson and seem to be enjoying themselves (though they are extremely hungry).

Easter

This year we were so excited to celebrate at our home church and to serve at our West Campus.

And afterward, we headed to Nana and Papa's house for the annual Easter Egg Hunt.

This year the Sparkles completed scavenger hunts with clues to find their eggs
Each Sparkle searched and successfully found 40 eggs.

It was fun to hear their giggles and to watch their joyful search

Then it was time for Easter Baskets and a Yummy dinner

Christ is Risen... Guaranteed.