Visit with my sister

As many of you know, my little sister is dealing with breast cancer.  She was diagnosed last November and has been undergoing chemotherapy since late December at University of Pennsylvania Hospital.  She has been doing amazing!!!  This past Thursday was her tenth treatment and she wanted me and the kids to come and visit with her while she was getting her chemo.  The hospital ENCOURAGES visits by many different people and has no age restriction!  The kids thought this was great and were so excited to go see Aunt Lisa.  I think they were also a bit curious as to what exactly happens.  Daniel was a riot and has been super sensitive towards Aunt Lisa.  He really enjoyed getting to see what goes on – and playing with her iPhone!

The best news, however, was finding out that there is no longer any detectable mass!!  YAY!!!  The doctors are quite pleased with how well she has been responding to treatment.  She has two more treatments in this phase and then four more in the second phase.  She will then have surgery June 2nd and have the entire summer to recuperate (she is a P.E. teacher for a public school).  Please continue to pray for her, that she would continue to respond well to treatment, for strength as she is getting tired more easily at this point (to be expected) and that the surgery would go well.  More importantly continue to pray for her heart to be moved towards God and to rely upon him for strength.

January Recap

I had two major goals for the month of January – to cook more dinners at home and to get to the gym more often than not.  With the gym, I did GREAT!!!  Out of the 31 days I went 28 of them!  The three I missed were generally due to the weather.  I really enjoy going to the gym – even though I have to get up when it is still dark outside!!  But I love the quiet of the morning and getting my body and brain going.  I especially like the reading that I can do while I am on the elliptical! 

If you remember a couple of posts ago I posted my menu for the month of January.  I know you couldn’t read it – but I put it up to be held accountable.  I learned a lot about myself and cooking last month.  The biggest thing I learned is that when I plan and “know” what I am making – cooking goes a lot smoother.  Another thing I learned is I really HATE trying new recipes.  It takes me FOREVER to put a meal together when I am just learning – and with a one-year old crawling around and getting into everything – it’s hard for me to focus that long.  This month also happened to turn into a crazy month with a lot of unexpected events taking place.  In the end I managed to cook 26 out of 31 meals.  Some of those eat out meals were planned – but three of them weren’t – they were “I’m too stressed to cook with everything that is going on today – SAVE ME!” meals!  I still hate cooking but it’s getting easier to handle when I plan.

I also had a few little goals – like keep caught up with the laundry and try to de-clutter a specific area in the house.  This month I focused on my bedroom.  The one big thing that was cluttering our room was Drew!  He has been in our room since birth and it was time for him to MOVE OUT!  The problem was – where to put him.  Sarah has her own room and we thought about putting him in there – she really wanted him there!  But she’s an 11 year old girl and will be wanting her “space” before too long.  The boys room isn’t really big enough for three of them – but that’s where he ended up.  We just moved his pack-n-play into the room and it seems to be working out pretty well.  Matt was white hot mad when we first did it.  He REALLY wants his own room – but there is no other bedroom.  And we aren’t moving!!!  After all the work we have put into this house – and the knowledge that we have done our best to protect this house from further bedbug invasions – I can’t imagine moving.  Sometime in the future we may have to rearrange people – but right now things are okay.  What we are really praying for – and this is a HUGE DREAM on my part – is that the house next door to us would go up for sale and we’d be able to purchase it.  The people that live in it now aren’t staying in there because they can’t afford the heat – they have moved in with other family.  We kind of hinted we’d be interested in purchasing – if it came to them selling.  I’m praying and God knows what is best for us – but it sure would make life a little easier with that much more space!!!  As far as the rest of the de-cluttering of my bedroom – it’s a work in progress!  It’s getting there – and hopefully by the end of this month it will look decent.  The laundry is a never-ending source of contention with me – it just NEVER gets done!  But at least I’m getting into the mode of doing at least two loads everyday.  Winter clothes are the worst because they are so heavy and bulky.  Summer can’t come fast enough!

Well, that’s January.  It has taken me FOREVER to get this blog post up.  Life just doesn’t seem to be slowing down.  But my new goal for February is to start blogging more regularly again.  I know a few people have been missing it.  Thanks for the prayers!  I really need them!