Who can resist a weekend that consists of parties and food!?!

One week & two days down, 50 weeks to go!!

Yesterday we attended a costume birthday party for a family at our church.  It was so nice to get out.  The kids had a wonderful time.  It rained quite a bit, so that restricted their activities to inside.  But it was still good.  And, for me, it was nice to get to really chat with a couple other ladies from church.  One I have barely spoken with beyond the general pleasantries and I got to chat with her a lot.  The one who hosted is sometimes in the nursery when I’m in there, so I’ve talked more with her but, still, not a lot.  It was pouring when we got home which nixed our usual park excursion.  So we got food from Wendy’s and took it over to the PX playland.  After church today there was a pizza luncheon for the deployment ministry.  Loved not having to cook!!

I’m working in the kitchen today.  I made some yummy glazed cinnamon biscuits this morning.  They were really good, so I’m going to make a double batch to freeze.  I made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce the other day, so I’m freezing it today.  And I made taco meat yesterday that I need to freeze today.  I was going to make some banana muffins this morning for a friend who’s household is filled with strep but the bananas looked well past “very ripe”. LOL  I have some apples I need to use, so I think I’ll make some apple cinnamon muffins today, as well.  I can freeze those leftovers too.  And I need to menu plan, make my grocery list and reclean off my counters (that rarely stay clean for long) so I can do lots of cooking & freezing this week.

I don’t have much to write but I wanted to write something.  So this is something I’ve thought about sharing for awhile now….

A lady at my PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) group participated in the high jump Olympic Trials.  That, in itself, is pretty impressive.  But consider this…18 months prior, she was an alcoholic, a pill abuser, cigarette smoker, deep in depression, 80 pounds heavier and hadn’t high jumped in seven years.  Oh, and the wife to a deployed soldier and mother to three small children!  Something got to her and now she’s so much more than her former self.  She is SUCH an incredible lady! You can’t walk away from her and not know that there is something special about her.  And you also can’t walk away from her and not know that she lays herself at the feet of God.

First Blog Post w/Intro
One about her jump that got her to the trials

She has a couple articles linked on her blog that detail her trip to the Trials.

She recently moved away for training.  I really wish I had the opportunity to really get to know her while she was here.  She left quite the impression on me in the short time I was around her.  Whatever your religious beliefs, her physical changes alone are inspiring.

I’m getting closer to having everything picked out for the kids’ rooms.  I realize now that I should have done all the shopping before he left instead of waiting until he was already gone–too many choices + shipping means I’m not going to get it done in time.  So I’m going to save it all and do it one day when he is at work.

I decided to scrap the border idea for E’s room.  The ones I picked weren’t the wall-cling type, so I’d have to worry about how it would come down, etc.  So I ordered two rolls of wall cling border–light pink & lavender.  Depending on how far that will actually cover, I’m going to do two stripes near the middle on at least two walls.  Plus I have the cork board I already ordered. I’ve been looking at lots of art prints and I think I’ve decided on this one.

Now I’m trying to decide between these two lamp shades.  Preference?

Now to Ben’s room.  I found this wall cling border, so I’m ordering it.

I can’t decide between these two lampshades. The coloring is a bit off in each of them compared to the border. I could stick with a white lampshade (I have that). Or a solid color one to match the border. But these shades are cute!

I’m going to attempt to find locally (eBay if not, I already have a seller in mind) some raffia grass skirt material that I can use for a valance in each bedroom plus over the top of the mirror in the bathroom.

I never do this kind of thing.  So please bear with me.

The personal…
One year ago today, my step-dad Gary died of pancreatic cancer.  It took him quickly, just under seven months from diagnosis.  But it was better that it went quickly.  There was no hope of remission.  At the time he went into the hospital, we had a good idea he would not come out alive, except to go home to die.

My last two blog posts about Gary are here and here.  I thought I wrote about his funeral but can’t find a post about it.  It was really a nice (if you can call it that) funeral.  The night prior, there was a visitation at the church.  Mom didn’t want his body there but older relatives did.  So his body was in the church and the celebration of life (as it was called) was in the fellowship hall.  And it truly was a celebration!  Lots of tears, of course, but tons of smiles & laughter as well.  The next morning was the funeral.  Again, Mom didn’t want the body there but older relatives did.  Gary almost always wore a baseball cap, so there were a couple in the casket, including the one brought back from China that said ‘grandpa’ in Chinese.  Mom had a few people get up to talk about Gary.  They shared good stories, brought smiles to our faces and tears to the eyes.  We sang a few of Gary’s favorite hymns.  And the pastor gave a wonderful dedication and memorial.  Gary was to be cremated, so there was no burial.  But there was a cookout at Mom’s house afterwards.  All in all, its just about what I’d want in my own funeral.

My mom is doing well.  The last couple weeks have been understandably rough.  But she’s good.

The nitty gritty…
97% of patients die within six months of diagnosis and less than 2% are still alive at the five-year mark. If the cancer has spread beyond the pancreas and/or can’t be completely removed during surgery, there is virtually no chance for survival.  Less than 10% of patients have pancreatic-confined cancer at the time of their diagnostic surgery.

The signs of the disease often don’t show up until the cancer is in an advanced state.  And the ones that DO show up can easily point to many more-benign conditions.  PLEASE take these signs seriously, especially if you have a family history of pancreatic cancer.  If you or anyone you know are diagnosed with another condition and symptoms don’t improve, PLEASE get a second opinion.

• jaundice
• diabetes
• pancreatitis
• unexplained weight loss
• loss of appetite
• nausea or vomiting
• abdominal pain
• diarrhea

For more information about this disease, visit:

Cancer Compass
Wikipedia entry
Johns Hopkins info

And, if you care to and are able to, please consider donating to pancreatic research.  Three foundations are the Hirshberg Foundation, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and the Lustgarten Foundation.  With the recent death of Dr. Randy Pausch (of The Last Lecture fame), I pray that more attention will be given to this terrible disease.  While it may not effect as many people as other forms of cancer, its among the deadliest.

I know its been awhile since I posted.  I just don’t feel like I have much to say lately.  Let’s see…

My night bible study is over.  It was such a good study.  Beth Moore’s Breaking Free.  But it was also very hard emotionally.  Those hard emotions, though, were shared by many and I’ve come out of it feeling much closer to the ladies in the study.  I love that God is bigger than my anger.

My day bible study on base is also over until the end of the month.

I’m working on redecorating the kids bedrooms & their bathroom while Jim is gone.  I can post my plans & pics, if anyone is interested.  I’ll definitely post when they are all done.

Ben started sitting a couple weeks ago.  He’s also *finally* broken his first two teeth through.

Jim is gone for the month.  Missing his birthday at home yet again.  He’s in California near Death Valley.  Says its hot and ugly.  One of my top bases I hope to NEVER get stationed at (it took over the spot of Hawaii LOL)

Elizabeth is going over to the hourly day care for two mornings next week.  And I’m counting the seconds down!!  Yes, yes, I know that sounds terrible.  But, truly, she talks from the moment she wakes up until she’s asleep.  And then IN her sleep as well.  I need S-I-L-E-N-C-E!!  I’m one who used to crave noise.  It helped me stay focused on my task.  Now I crave every second of silence I can get.

Elizabeth starts back at AWANA in a couple weeks.  She loves it and can’t hardly wait for it to start back.  She had my iron her vest already.   I’m thinking I may start doing my grocery shopping those nights with just one (non-talking!!!) child.  At least once Jim deploys.  Until then, I think I’m going to snag those nights for myself.

I haven’t been sewing much but I plan to spend the weekend on my machine.  When we go home in September, I’m planning to hit some fabric stores.  I have yet to find a good one here.  I found one that has a HUGE variety but it makes me nuts to go in there.  There is little organization to it.  The flat bolts of fabric are stacked on top of each other (rather than standing on end like books @ the library), so in order to see what is under the top one, you have to pull the stack out and look through it.  Like I have that time with two kids in tow!!  HA.  I’m hoping to go to Hobby Lobby and Jo-Anns, at least.  I have a list of projects.