Pressing On

In contrast to last week, it's a beautiful spring day here in my neighbourhood. My sincere apologies to those on the east coast still in the midst of winter. I truly do feel guilty, I do!  The maple tree is blooming outside my window, the tulips on my porch are ruby and amethyst, and the deer can't find them there, so they should last awhile. Last week, in comparison, was dreary in every sense of the word. So much rain and grey it seemed to me. It was a grey week spirit-wise as I heard bad news about 3 different ladies struggling with cancer. All younger than me, similar cancers, one of them, a beautiful mom of 4, Kara Tippetts, gone now. Even Angelina Jolie, with all her news-making pre-emptive surgery, found some cancer markers in her blood and opted for even more surgery to cut out the places where the cancer might want to live. Very dreary indeed. But back to spring. It's a beautiful, dry day, my school term reports are nearly done, I have plans this afternoon and e...

This post has nothing to do with cancer.   : ) You can't immediately tell from this picture but this is "home".  Ours was the first house built on this new street.  Six years ago, almost to the day, we moved into a brand new home with my mom after a very long and harried year of plans, realtors, finance disasters and general all-around stress. We had long wanted to move closer to family and finally took the plunge in 2008 by making a MAJOR move across a large body of water.  A lot of things can change in 6 years.  My Mom is gone now (see this post ), the street is a childhood utopia with great families and lots of space to play, and the kids don't look like this anymore:  In fact I have 2 teenagers now! (which I'm really loving by the way).  So anyway, just a little happy anniversary to us. We have been so happy since moving here. It has been a wonderful blessing in every way!

These are not health food packages. These are not foods you should eat if you want to avoid cancer. Ever since I went to a naturopathic doctor about 5 years ago, I have been totally convinced that we are what we eat. Changing what I ate converted me from a moaning, groaning collection of achy joints and brain fog, to a functioning person again in a reasonably short amount of time. So when I went to see a naturopathic oncologist before I started my treatment I was prepared to listen carefully to what he said. He said I can't eat any single thing you see in this picture! Interestingly, even harder than the chemo I think, has been trying to revamp my diet. Firstly, I've been eating pretty well for the last 5 years and I've been consoling myself equally as long that I'm eating better than most everyone around me. But now I need to take it to a new level and I feel like my life hangs in the balance with every meal. I really don't know if that's an exaggeratio...

Here's a picture I tried to post a while ago but technical difficulties won.  This comes out of my daughter's Abeka Science 7 book (sorry about the glare): Outside of just being a really cool picture, why does this matter to you? Well, one way your Killer T cells are activated is by exercise! Hence, one key factor in fighting cancer is exercise, the more the better.  That's what I keep reading anyway. This picture of what my body is naturally created to do is a great visual to get me off the couch. I visualize Killer T-cells flooding my body cleaning out cancer and other junk as I go for my walk.  Apparently it doesn't have to be crazy hard exercise, just getting up and moving your body is the idea. If you want to get motivated to move around in more creative and interesting ways you might want to check out this blog I enjoy called  Katy Says  .  She's a biomechanist with lots to say about our "diseases of captivity".  She does not have furnitu...

A little gift I got while out doing the shopping I didn't want to do:  The girls and I were slack-jawed in the grocery parking lot.  The *grocery* parking lot. The epitome of mundane confronting the majesty of the Creator.  He really does find me everywhere. “What  no  eye  has  seen, nor  ear   heard , nor the heart of man imagined, what God  has  prepared for those who love him”— 2 Corinthians 2:9

Well I'm almost a week post-treatment and I've managed ok.  I've felt crummy, but not terrible. My spirits are a little low.  I think where it's getting me is just staying home too much. I'm just not going anywhere, seeing anything, seeing anybody. I don't feel quite up to being out, but the (teeny) social butterfly in me is suffering for it. I'm really NOT a socialite, but for my own good I need to not sequester myself at home as much as enjoy it. For example I didn't make it to church on Sunday because I thought I might get there and be too tired  to drive home, thus the prudent decision was not to go. Unfortunately that meant I didn't get to see my wonderful church family and be encouraged by their love and care nor be a support to them, which is equally if not more important. I hate being bogged down by my own "stuff" all the time, it just gets really old really quick. It is good to bear one another's burdens. Being a homebo...