A goal accomplished

Our son Nick wanted to join the Air Guard. When he graduated from High School that was his plan. He didn't want to go to college - he wanted to go to boot camp. With some medical delays he was forced to wait until the October after his graduation to enlist. But on the Monday before Labor day I came home from work to find him at home, not at his much needed job. When hubs arrived home I explained that Nick was home and I wasn't certain why he wasn't at work. My DH noticed a hospital band on Nicks wrist and he told Nick if he was having medical tests it would be nice to keep us informed, as we would be paying the bills. Nick very angry (and afraid) snapped that he had been in the clinic and the hospital all day having tests, and that the clinic called wanting him back before they closed to go over his tests. As he slammed out of the house he yelled "And they haven't ruled out cancer"

Cancer -what an ugly word. Life Changing. The fact that the clinic called to see him before closing, that they wanted to go over the results of the tests in person scared me. I asked if he wanted us to with him he said no. An hour later he called home and asked if I could go to a surgeon's appointment with him the next day. At home he told us he had been having swelling and increased pain in his groin all weekend. It became so severe on Monday he went to our doctor.

His appointment with the urologist was for 10 AM on Tuesday. After an exam and discussion Nick was told he would have to have surgery to remove the testicle. Most definitely cancer, not certain of the stage. The surgeon said he had time at 1:30 today or Thursday. Nick chose Thursday but after the surgeon left the room I asked why he was waiting - the outcome wouldn't be different and his anxiety would increase over the next few days. Nick decided to have surgery that same day. By 9 PM we were back at home with our son. A life changing diagnosis and a life changing surgery in just a few short hours. On Friday of that same week, just 3 days later, he met with the oncologist. He was given 3 choices. First chemotherapy - several meds for short duration and follow up for a few years. 2nd was surgery from below his sternum to his groin to remove lymph nodes. The possibility of certain physical problems with this surgery put it on the no list, don't even want to consider it. 3rd he could have exams every month then every 2 months then 3 months then 4 months and so on for 5-6 years with the possibility that the cancer was not contained during the surgery to remove the testicle. Nick chose chemotherapy. He wanted the shortest possible treatment to get him back to living his life.

Treatment was completed with a just a few hitches. His hair was falling out at the end of week 1 by week 7 he was done with his treatment. Enlisting and Boot Camp were out of the question. The recruiters told him 3 years and he could try again. He had to go to college that January to stay on our insurance since he was turning 19. But he didn't do well -with continued fatigue and terrible classes, like the History of Rock and Roll. He slept a lot, lost a lot of weight and failed every class that spring. It was 18 months after surgery and treatment that he told us he felt normal again.

He continued with school and has an Associate degree in Advertising and Design with an emphasis in photography. He works full time and continues to attend college for an additional degree. After 3 years he went back to enlist. He was rejected again and again and again. I lost count of the number of times he met with recruiters. The number of times he was told no.

Then a few months ago he received his clearance now he needed to find a job -his MOS. He wanted to be a load master (whatever that is) actually he wanted to be a lot of things but many jobs were closed to him because he is color blind or in military language color deficient. But he persevered again and yesterday we received the call we had been waiting all day to hear - "Well it's official I have enlisted in the Air Guard. My first drill weekend will be in October."

At Nicks request the recruiter cut off the LIVESTRONG bracelet that Nick has worn for the 6 years since his cancer.

Goal Accomplished. Congratulations Nick.




Nick




Nick with his sisters last Christmas




All 4 at #4's graduation

60 years

Today we celebrated my parents 60th wedding anniversary. My dad is 85 and my mom is 78. They'd asked their priest for a anniversary blessing at the end of mass. They were not planning on a big celebration since we had a family wedding in Minneapolis yesterday and they felt it was just too much. So this was supposed to be simple and quiet. We made plans to be at the church - as many as could make it. And a few showed up, 102 at my best count. My parents did'nt have any idea we were all there until when they went to the back of the church to get the gifts they caught sight of a granddaughter. And they cried. We didn't get to see or really hear the blessing he gave since we had all exited after communion and were in the church entrance. When Father gave us a nod we all came forward starting with my oldest brother and his family and on down the line until we had each given them a rose. After mass we went to the church basement for rolls. It was a beautiful way to celebrate a 60th anniversary.

Downside to the day was the fact that this is a very small country church and when you add 102 people there is no place for the parishioners to sit in their regular places. This is a 3 parish cluster and 10 o'clock is usually a full mass so we displaced quite a few people. I felt anxiety about being there and taking up someones 'usual' space. And I felt bad that to honor my parents Mass ran over 15 minutes (mass started 5 minutes late as chairs were being set up). I felt bad that some people left before the final blessing and hymn. I know I should not feel bad about going over 15 minutes or that we took someones spot but I do. I do have anxiety about disrupting what should be prayerful time of the week for community. But there is a part of me that realizes that some of these people may have been from the other 2 parishes - that they do not know my parents and were annoyed. Some may be at mass to get their ticket punched for the week. But there were lots of people that gave my folks cards and well wishes.

So I am glad that this time was spent today. It is so much better to celebrate now knowing that too soon we will be there for a funeral.

So funny story. My parents have been receiving cards in the mail and this past week they received a card with a laminated copy of their anniversary announcement from the weekly Diocesan paper. The note was simple and said congratulations... blah blah blah signed The Daniel-Williams family.
My parents do not know anyone from the Daniel-Williams family
this is a marketing tool..............for an area FUNERAL HOME !!!
It really made us all laugh out loud - how hard it must be to market a funeral home.


My Mom and Dad with all 9 kids and spouses



Just mom and Dad and kids

These next 2 pictures are from the family wedding yesterday 10/16/10

He is off for boot camp

This past week we had supper at our house for Michael and his parents and the boys recruiter. The recruiter brought his wife and 1 year old daughter. It was a difficult night. Michael leaves today he will be 2 months ahead of Chris.

Chris and Michael went camping for 3 days. They have been talking about doing this all summer. It was a time for them to talk and spend time together. This weekend Michael said goodbye to his girlfriend. He told us they both cried. I know Chris and Megan will be going through the same good byes in a few short weeks.

These 2 young men have soft caring hearts but they are both totally committed to the decision they have made to serve our country.

How can we not be proud of the men and women who have chose to enlist and serve our country. The night of the supper I took pictures of the boys smoking cigars - these are the only pictures I have of that night.

Please pray for our soldiers.

Fall Trip

This year my hubby and I took a fall trip. This was our 2nd time and we went back to the Buffalo Round-Up in Custer State park in South Dakota. It is crazy that we have such a good time. This year we took our friends (Sr. Mary's parents) with us. The weekend started a little stressful. I had a full week of work with bible study on Thursday night. I charted until 2:30 Friday morning and crawled into bed for an hour before jumping in the shower. We left our house at 4:20. We'd found a little Marian Shrine in Alexandria SD which we stopped at after having breakfast in Sioux Falls. We spent quite a bit of time in the badlands and arrived in Rapid City at suppertime. It was a loooong day of driving. Saturday morning we were up early to cruise around the black hills, we went shopping, went to winery and had a much more relaxing day. We went to church on Saturday - not our usual thing but we wanted to be up and out early so we could see the morning wild life in Custer. Sunday morning we were out by 8 and did we see wild life. We saw the bison and the antelope play ....know what I mean? wink wink nudge nudge. We were glad that we had no little kids to explain the birds and the bees to. We hiked a few areas off the beaten path and spent a nice quiet day. Which was a really good thing because we were up at 3:30 AM Monday to get out to the round up!!! Here are a few pics

10 things

10. I love to be outdoors and grew up on a hobby farm. I could put a chicken to sleep tucking it's head under it's wing and moving it in a large circle. Then laying it on the ground it would sleep until we nudged it with our toe. Seems mean now.... making that chicken too dizzy to move!!.

9. When I was a kid (on said farm) we would play cowboys and Indians in the woods. Mom would call us in for lunch and supper by honking the car horn. It was a wonderful childhood.

8. I met my husband in a bar....I saved him from getting beat up.

7. We were engaged after knowing each other 6 weeks.

6. After 13 years of wedded bliss we FINALLY went on our honeymoon. We went to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northern Minnesota. We were away 3 nights. 1 night in Grand Marais - we left all our cheese and lunch meat in the fridge at that motel. 1 night in the BWCAW -lots of work to go for 1 night. 1 night at a campground on the way back home. ( I figure I am still waiting for my honeymoon ....or I am still on it!!!)

5. Our belated honeymoon was the first time we camped by ourselves.

4. We took our kids to every state park in Minnesota starting in 1992. We finished this on July 22nd, 2000. (It took us 8 years to get to every state park but there were several years we didn't go to any new parks.) (And we actually never made it to Franz Jevne SP along the Canadian border. please don't tell anyone they might take away our plaque.) The road was washed out when we got there. The wash out wasn't marked and we got stuck trying to turn around our big purple conversion van pulling a red trailer loaded with camping gear. We got pulled out by a tractor, the drivers window got stuck wide open while we were in this predicament. A boy came by on a four-wheeler to visit his dad who was stuck in the park. His dad been camping when the road washed out and he stayed to fish. The boy first went to get a farmer with the tractor to pull us out and then he took our State Park passport book to the park to get the stamp. So we didn't make it to the park.... but we saw it through the trees across the washed out road :P Oh, and we had to stop in the nearest town to get our window fixed by the time we got out to the campground it was after supper and we were the only ones camping in a park of over 3000 acres.

3. #4 counts for 2 at least

2. I have flown 3 times (there and back counts as 1). Once as a junior in high school with my grandma who threw up the whole way. The second time with my husband just 1 month after 9/11 -that was an experience. And the 3rd time in 2004 to get my stubborn daughter from Australia who was trying to decide if she was ready to come home. She called me the angel of death when I got off the plane.

1. For our 25th wedding anniversary my husband and I went on a sunrise hot air balloon ride. I would do it again.



The real #3 -I am an awesome procrastinator.

A prayer bowl.

My walking buddy called and canceled this morning. She has been walking with a gimp hip and this morning it hurt too much to walk. So I find myself here. I am so excited for Lauren and her husband at the adoption of their baby girl. I took a moment to look through the number of women that are either pregnant or have adopted in the few short months that I have been lurking on blogs. That number is amazing. But on the other side are those that still wait. The women of this IF blogging group has taught me much about faith. And I they are in my prayers. Lately I have been examining my prayer life. And I have more questions then answers.
How do people remember to pray? My days get so busy and after morning prayer I find myself getting busy with things of the day. I have a song I often play as I drive to work that says I will make this day my prayer..... Then I start my day and by supper I am so tired I have forgotten that this day and everything I did was my prayer my offering to our Lord... UGGH!
A while back we started burning a prayer candle. My husband lights it each day and we have a small bowl near it with our prayer list cut into small pieces. When that candle is burning we remember all of our prayer intentions in our bowl. I get so busy through out the day that I needed a visible reminder to pray when I get home. Do other people have trouble with this? Do they have cues to help them remember to refocus our efforts and prayer?

Bible Study

This week we started Acts. I am SO EXCITED!! Jeff Cavins Bible Timeline series is a wonderful way to learn the bible. He has so much knowledge and is able to pull it all together not just for our present day and learning our Catholic faith. He also shows how the life of Jesus was a reliving of the Jewish history. Now in Act he will show how the New Christians will be reliving the life of Jesus. I am truly in awe and encourage everyone to participate in the study if they have a chance. We did the first study The bible time line 2 years in a row. We did Matthew and Revelation last year and this year we will do Acts then in the spring we plan to do a 10 week Catholism 101 course.

Yay Jeff Cavins !!! Yay Bible Study!!! ! am SO EXCITED!!!