Six Months of Memories

Life is crazy and fun.  Despite being on chemo and a new RA drug, which makes me sick all the time, I’ve still managed to have some fun!  Here is a collection of enjoyable moments from the last six months…

I can’t wait to see what the next six months holds in store for me!

The Friday Five: Five Charities You Should Support

Put your money where your mouth is and support one of these charities, or one you feel passionate about, today!

Not For Sale

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

Human trafficking is a problem that is more widesprad than you realize.  Houston ranks in the top three of  import centers of slaves in the US. The other two are Atlanta and San Francisco.  Law enforcement and the judicial system are slow to respnd even when there are reports of human trafficking.

Heifer International

http://www.heifer.org/

Heifer envisions a world of communities living together in peace and equitably sharing the resources of a healthy planet. Their mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth.

Loving Homosexuals

http://www.lovinghomosexuals.com/

Will God’s people persist in turning a cold shoulder to the legitimate struggles of homosexually oriented people, sending them the message that they must change in order to become eligible for our love? Or will we love them first?

Blood:Water Mission

http://www.bloodwatermission.com/

Blood and water represent a community-centered and integrated approach to AIDS that include establishing basic conditions necessary for health, addressing the constraints of poverty, and empowering communities to take ownership of their own long-term health development.

Paralyzed Veterans of America

http://www.pva.org/

The Paralyzed Veterans of America, a congressionally chartered veterans service organization founded in 1946, has developed a unique expertise on a wide variety of issues involving the special needs of our members—veterans of the armed forces who have experienced spinal cord injury or dysfunction.  Don’t forget these important citizens who sacrificed so much for your freedoms.

Running Around & Sleeping in Strange Places

Finding the motivation to actually sit and write something on my blog has been such a struggle. It always seems there is something more interesting to do than to sit and write something that everyone and their brother can read. And I’m happy that is so. I’d find it terribly sad if I was ignoring the joys of life to sit and write on my blog. So I will post a short update on what I’ve been up to.

Last Sunday night we had a big family dinner for my cousin Jake. He left for boot camp with the Air Force last Monday. It was really hard to say goodbye but I managed to hold my tears back until I was in the car and driving towards home. Saying goodbye to Jake was super emotional because it is the last time my whole family will be together for many, many years to come. Military branches and jobs are taking our family and spreading them across the globe. It was just kind of the end of an era (that lasted 26 years).

Last Monday I headed to Dallas with friends to see Muse and U2 live. Muse was sick! I’d pay to see them live again in a heart beat. The show totally left me crushing on their bass player, Chris Wolstenholme. (And yes, I feel like I’m 12 for saying that. But his bass line was amazing!) You know what else was amazing? U2! They are never bad and it is always a fun treat to see them.

We left for home Tuesday and had some car troubles. One of the cars in our caravan got in a bad accident and had to be left in Corsicana, Texas. This left us with fitting six people in the Dodge Charger. It was a tight fit but we all made it home (eventually) safe and sound. Send up a prayer of praise that no one (but poor Steph’s car) was hurt. We made memories that will last a lifetime and are really glad we went.

Wednesday I had tickets to see Muse and U2 again. However, the arthritis in my back was so bad that I couldn’t stand for another 6+ hours. So I, very sadly, sold my U2 tickets to someone and didn’t attend the show. I was really depressed about it that night. Then the next day I was depressed that I let that get me down. How spoiled am I if that is the big disappointment in my life?! There will be other shows I get to see in the future so it really wasn’t that huge of a deal that I missed it.

Thursday I flew to New York to visit family. Travel went smoothly. The planes were busting at the seams with people but we didn’t have any delays and got to New York as scheduled. It was in New York where I spent the next two days super sick. I get bad motion sickness and didn’t take enough Dramamine on the trip up there. So I felt like I had a bad flu. I recovered from it in time to enjoy being with family. We really didn’t have all that much planned. It was just a trip to relax and spend time together. (Which we did, very successfully!) We also got my grandmother hooked up with a computer and internet. It took some time to teach her the computer a bit but she’s picking it up so quickly! I got to play with my cousin, Mulligan, a ton. We bought good, New York apples. I ate some great Italian food, and even managed to sneak in some Beef on Weck before we left. It was a wonderful trip.

Now I’m home and that is nice. I feel like I’ve been running around and sleeping in strange places all week long. I missed sleeping in my bed with my dog. Molly seemed to miss me too. And now that I’m back in my hometown, I must get back to working. I’ve have crazy stacks of work to get to before the end of the month. Hope everyone is well!

Property of the United States Government

Jake has joined the Air Force!  He is waiting to leave for basic.  Sad to see him go but happy that he got in because he worked so hard for it.  Well done, Jake!  I’ll miss you so much!  (And work on getting stationed at Ellington!)