Loss of a dear friend

On Jan. 1st the world lost an amazing sole a dear friend had lost her battle with cancer. In one moment my world stopped.

I had the opportunity to talk with her on the phone a couple weeks before Christmas. I was lucky enough to speak with her as she asked her daughter to have me call her in the hospital. Even though our short conversation gave me no hope of a quick recover I knew she still had her humor and this made me smile if even for a moment.

I wanted to share this letter that I had written about her shortly before the holidays.

A dear family friend of ours was recently diagnosed with the rarest cancer cell, Multiple Myeloma.

We worked together for 4 years. She is a loving, compassionate person who never wants to burden herself on others. Before her diagnosis she was a vibrant woman with lots of life! She loves music, quilting, her cats, drinking wine, eating good food and spending time with her friends and family.

I will never forget the day she went to the doctor. The day before we meet up with her and her daughter for the Dave Matthews Concert! The very next day she went to Grady for her doctor’s appointment, she had been to the doctor before with complaints of stomach pain and hip pain but the doctor’s couldn’t figure it out just yet. Finally they figured out that she has cancer. The cancer cells had attacked much of her body and she is already at the late stage 3 of the cancer progression.

Since her diagnosed in May 2009 she’s had many changes in her life; she decided to quit her job to focus on her health but she has no insurance; she had to move from the home she loved to a smaller place just to afford rent and utilities; her daughter and 4 yr old granddaughter moved from DC to be with her and help her out; she’s on her 2^nd run of chemo and hoping that she can afford or find funding for her Stem Cell Transplant; she’s in lots of physical pain that never stop; and now she has a hard time walking as the cancer lesions have increased and spread to her ankles which she will need a walker or a wheelchair to get around.

She went for about a month with out treatment as the first round gave excellent results. However, since she not only has a rare form of cancer, but the rarest cancer cell with in Multiple Myeloma the levels have come back up rapidly and she is undergoing chemotherapy again. Basically she HAS to have the stem cell transplant. We are working on the government funding for that so hopefully it will come through soon and we can start that process.

Soon after Thanksgiving, she was readmitted to the hospital due to her calcium levels increasing in her brain causing her to hallucinate and have signs of dementia. A few weeks later after additional and extensive chemo treatments we learned that her heart couldn't take the pain any longer.

My friend, a mother, a daughter, a wife, and a sister lost her battle after 6 months of being diagnosed.

She is in heaven pain free. Though she'll never know how much I think about her everyday, you are still with me.

She had given me a quote several years a go as a reminder of who we are and what we do isn't always easy.

"If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. It's hard that makes it Great."

Visit with Santa

Jack sat with Santa this weekend. We went up to Bass Pro Shop early Saturday morning and was early in line. Jack had plenty of time to walk around the store and find many things he wants for Christmas! He was such a trooper! He didn't cry which I thought he might. The little 15 month old girl in front of us cried so I distracted Jack so he couldn't see her. I think it worked.

As you can see he's really serious and no smiles on Santa's lap. I'm not even sure if he told Santa what he wants for Christmas but I'm sure he will bring him everything he ever wanted!

Happy Holidays!

Jack is 18 months!

Our little munchkin is 18 months old! Where did all the time go? Oh wait I remember...sleepless nights but priceless moments.

Jack went to the doctor for his check up yesterday and here are his stats:

height: 33 inches (89%) He will be tall!

weight: 24.9 lbs (32%) He will be slender!

He had another eye exam and all looks good. Two shots and out the door! He's become slightly less interested in going to the doctor at his age. As he finally understands that going to the doctor means that he will have to lay down and get check out and get those routine shots! Last week I took him into the doctor because he was sick. He had Croup for the 3rd time this year. However he's all better.

No more doctor appointments until May at his 2 year checkup!

MIA

Family: Jack, Mom, and Dad

Jack as a Race car Driver on Halloween!

Jack at the Pumpkin Patch! 'SOLD' How cute is he?

Yep that's me! I've been MIA for a couple weeks. We've just been busy!

Here are a couple of photos of our little man taken in October!

A Jack First!

We took Jack to his first Fair last weekend. The first thing we did was visit the Petting zoo. This was Jack's first time feeding the animals! As you can see he was throwing the food at the goats. But not to worry after throwing the food, the kindly bent over and kissed the goat.

Priceless moments in life are spent with children!

Please make it stop!

Those of you who are living in the Southeast...be thankfully that you are where you are today.

In Atlanta and the surrrounding areas we will get over 5 inches of rain TODAY. Now granted it's been raining for the last 7 days with some totals up to 20 inches. Note: Atlanta is not close to Seattle or Portland. I can't recall it raining this much in all my life!

I'm at work waiting on my boss to return with a Wet/Dry Vaccuum. Our office is in a old house, ranch, brick, built in the 60's and it has a basement. (ha, ha) Our air cut off around noon, so my boss went into the basement to find about 8 inches of rain! To top it off, there are several other areas of the house/office where rain is coming in. We have the attic, the fireplace, archways into many rooms, the 'garage' as it once was but now it's enclosed. But that too is raining...

My husband called to let me know that water is coming into our apartment through the sliding glass doors. The water has gone about 10 feet into our living room. Great right? After being pregnant and expecting we thought it'd be a great idea to move to the bottom floor rather than the 3rd floor, guess again!

Well' here I sit until my boss returns so we can do what we can do before we leave. At least the phones are quiet.

In serach of a Camera???

I am in search for a new camera! But I need help!

-What brand?

-What style?

-How big or how small?

What am I taking photos of you ask?

I love taking photos of my family and any vacation.

How skilled am I?

Um I'm not. I'd like to take a photography class but don't i need a camera first?

My current camera is a Kodak digital and rechargable. No doubt it's been a good camera to me but now I want to use it much more and would like to hold many more photos then it does. I think it holds 200.

What about this one?

http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/productID.145101200

Or this one?

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=144&modelid=19211#ModelDetailAct

Please help me! Any suggestions are gladly welcomed!