I think we are all touched by cancer at sometime.

I've been catching up on many of my favorite blogs in the past week and though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised I still find it staggering how many lives are touched by cancer. I want to share my loss with you now. I lost, no that isn't right, I didn't lose my father he died from lung cancer almost 9 years ago. In many respects he was very lucky. He had several years earlier been diagnosed with lung cancer. He had 1/3 of his right lung removed along with a few radiation treatments and for the most part lived the next few years as if nothing had changed. He quit smoking except for the occasional cigarette he snuck from a friend or family member. He hid that from my mother, knowing she would go ballistic on him if she had found out.

Then about three years after his surgery he found out he had prostate cancer. As most of you may know prostate cancer when caught early has a high cure rate. Fortunately for my father it was caught in time and surgery was all he would need. Another couple of years passed and he began having trouble breathing once again. He was put on steroids and breathing treatments to ease the breathing and occasionally he required oxygen. Mostly however he appeared to do well as long as he kept up he daily regimen.

Several months after finding out the cancer was back in his lungs he required a hospital stay that lasted about a week. He felt much better and even went on a trip to the dog races in West Virginia with my husband. They had a fantastic time and it seemed he was back to his old self once again. Only a few short days later he was back in the hospital again having more difficulty breathing. I visited him and thought he would be back home in a couple of days and that he would just have to take it easy for a bit.

Dad knew better. He was trying to prepare me for what he knew was inevitable. I didn't want to hear it. I'm a tough cookie and I knew he was too and I had no idea that he truly knew what was about to come. I shrugged it off and told him I'd see him at home in a few days. I was a nursing student at the time and a couple of days later while I was at my clinicals at MCV hospital I received a phone call that said I needed to be at the Chippenham hospital and I needed to come as quickly as I could.

I kept saying that things would be ok I really thought that the call had come from my mother who always makes more of situations than she needs too and just wanted to be dramatic. I was wrong. I arrived in dad's room to find he was unable to verbally respond to me but I held his hand and kissed him and told him I loved him. I know that he held on to his last breaths for me to arrive. He did squeeze my hand once when I asked if he knew it was me. He died within minutes of my arrival.

I took his passing much better than my mother. I felt that he was now at peace and I also felt I now had a guardian angel to watch over me and my family. I have no doubt that my dad was there during many close calls that I or the children have had. I've not really mourned his death and I'm not sure why. I mean Bob will tell you that I'm the first to shed tear at a sad movie. Some may think I've a hardened my heart and perhaps that is the case. I think it is the thing that helps me to get through the hard times without completely losing my mind. However I guess it is debatable, I am sure friends and family could argue that I don't have a mind left to lose.

I've lost a cousin to cancer as well and I recently heard that a nurse that cared for Nickie for 4 years recently lost her battle with cancer too. More than anything I hope that cancer will soon be obliterated. I know life is not meant to be easy, we all have our trials and tribulations we must go through. I just wish cancer was one thing we could eliminate.

And here is a picture of my dad in happier times as a grandpa. This was taken in 1988 with my son Shaun and my daughter Jackie.

Somebody, break it to the baby chick easy... I just can't bear to do it myself! 

So that's how they get the lime in the Pepsi! 

Yeah I'd say this is me.

My Personal Dna Report

http://personaldna.com/psychyou-psychme.php?for=e3267be7cdce

Proud new homeshooler

After a disappointing start in the local public school and after much discussion, Bob and I made the decision to homeschool Brandon. I am not new to homeschooling as I did it for a while with Shaun, Jackie and Nickie. I'm a lot less stressed with it this time and I'm not sure if that is because I have some experience with it or because I'm homeschooling just one child this time.

I'm excited about this journey we have embarked. Everyday is new and exciting. I've met up with a local homeschool group that meets weekly for the children to play and for the mom's to have time to discuss homeschooling and whatever else comes to mind. These women are fantastic! They are so very diverse. I'm learning so much from their different styles and points of view. Who da thunk that I could teach and enjoy it? Yeah I know what some of you are thinking, "God, help that child!" or "What makes her think she can do this?" Well, I know that we will both learn as we go along and I have the support of a great group of women and I will also have the support of my chosen curriculum.

Today Brandon has taken the first part of his CAT (California achievement Test) and we will complete it tomorrow. When we receive the results of that testing I fully expect that he will have passed it with flying colors. We will then be taking some testing to determine the most appropriate levels for each subject to continue his homeschool path. He is a bright boy and an excellent reader. He's very hands on and loves building things with leggos and magnetics and such. This is the reason I've decided to use the Math U See curriculum for Brandon. I just have to find exactly where he is now to determine what level to begin using.

At our next meeting with the homeschool group and with their permission I'd like to get some pictures of the mom's and the kids.

Citation

Fish 


OK I've been slacking I know! I had to post about Bob's first Citation fish! He caught this beauty last week, an 8 pound, 25 incher! Yeah he's so proud! He caught it in Briery Creek Lake! That's the lake I mentioned is just a 2 minute drive from our home. He's been catching them a lot this last week or so and he is having a blast. I suppose I'm gonna have to go and see if I can out do him... LOL!

I have corrected my dial up problem and I'm not being kicked off line as much so I promise to get back to posting regularly. I have some updating to do as well as some blog reads to catch up on!

Must Read!

OK my friends you must go check out MM's blog currently being guest blogged by his Big Brother (BB). Obviously the hilarity runs in the family...See for yourself If you haven't had the pleasure of reading MM's bog before you have lots to catch up on. Hurry now.

First snow fall of the new year....

and God willing the last. I sit here watching the beauty of the snow fall from my computer chair and the warmth of the house from the dining room window enjoying the view. I love to watch the snow fall it truly is a beautiful thing.
I just don't like the cold and I just can't drive in the stuff and not owning any 4 wheel drive vehicles at the present time well I forsee a couple days of staying home and watching TV and surfing the net.  
We will be eating those winter meals like brunswick stew, chili, soups, grilled cheese and hot chocolate. All the things that warm you from the inside out. I love those things, really I do I just know that after about 24 hours of being cooped up in the house with no real means of escape... well I'll be stir crazy. The forcast is calling for somewhere between 6-9 inches of the white stuff and you know what that means! I'll have to catch the youngest before he darts out the door unprepared for the cold with his mind set on throwing snowballs and building snowmen. He's ambitious so I wouldn't be surprised if he builds a snow family complete with pets.
For those of you that don't have the ummmm, "luxury", that was the nicest word I could think to use, enjoy the pictures.

Our new home!

Please forgive me in my lack of posting! IÂ’m so frustrated with my dial up connection! IÂ’ve tried to post about my town and my house for a couple of weeks now. IÂ’ve lost everything IÂ’ve written dozens of times. IÂ’ve been unable to add photos even in my trip to the local library with their DSL I didnÂ’t have much luck uploading photos. My last post was the only luck I had with uploading pictures. So today is my attempt via Microsoft Word IÂ’m hoping to be able to cut and paste not only the post itself but also the photos I wanted to share. So here we go.

This is my new home!







the view from the road




We have moved up from a small 854 SF rancher with 3 bedrooms and one bath to this 1840 SF 4 bedroom 3 bath home. Yes you read that right 3 baths. We no longer have to wait for a bathroom. Our home is located just 15 minutes south of the town of Farmville, VA. In the heart of VA, or at least that is what the water tower states!

On an 11 acre tract of land. The drive is approximately 2/10 of a mile long. I get a work out just going to the mailbox! Bob and I drove down to Briery creek lake to snap a few pictures. The lake is only a two-minute drive from the house. IÂ’m looking forward to spring and some leisurely fishing in the johnboat. If this proves to be a way for me to post both word and picture without the hassle of uploading on dial up I will soon be posting many more photos. Today we are expecting the delivery of our shed/carport. What a wonderful birthday present for me! Well, it is my birthday today 2/6/06 IÂ’m a whopping 41 years young, it is not however my birthday present it just happens to be arriving on this day.
We celebrated my birthday on Saturday when Jackie was here and also BobÂ’s parents and Sisters and brother in-law were all here to celebrate with me. We went to a local restaurant for a fine dinner and came back home for some birthday cake and ice cream. Fortunately Bob spared me the embarrassment of 41 candles and I only had one on my cake.
Brandon and his cousin Mathew sure did love the cake and ice cream!

The cake and the company were fantastic! It sure is nice to have family and friends to help one celebrate!
Well I hope this post worked. If not I will have to be content with posts that lack pictures. Well thatÂ’s it for now!
Update: Well as you can see the pictures didn't work. I will try once more at the local library... wish me luck!

update: as you can see I was not able to upload the pictures as I had wanted to I did upload a few but I was not able to put more than one per post. I will see if I can work out the kinks in the future.


Final UPDATE: OK As you can see I was able to upload the pictures finally. I was able to use Hello and Picasa2 and with some extra work I was able to get more than one picture per post. I will have more pictures soon.

Just had to share!

This is a photo of the card Brandon gave to his teacher just before he left his old school and we moved out to the country. I thought it was too cute not to share it. What do you think?