Being Enveloped by God

The other night when I was out and about, I was listening to the radio.  Since I was further away from home than usual, I had to find a new station.  Sometimes that is nice as it seems each station - even in the same genre - play different songs.

There was a song that caught my attention.  It was a remake of the late Rich Mullins' song "Hold Me Jesus" - I hadn't heard it before.  I mean, of course I had heard Rich Mullins' song but I hadn't heard this remake.

It caught me off guard.  Maybe it was the timing, maybe it's just where I am in my walk....  Maybe it is just the adventures that God has walked us thru.

Take the time to listen to the song.  I chose this particular video as it has the lyrics with it.  :)

I know that God longs to Hold us as we walk thru this scary life.  I have felt His presence during the scariest times of my life.

Deuteronomy 33:12 says
“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, 
   for he shields him all day long, 
   and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.”


I love this verse.  I can almost imagine crawling up into my Abba God's lap and placing my head right on His chest - right between His shoulders.


It makes me think of holding my children as wee little ones.  I loved to hold them right on my chest.  I could almost envelop them.


I truly believe that this is what God wants to do with us.  Hold us, envelop us, shield us.


May you feel enveloped by God's love today.




By the way, I was FEATURED!  Thank you Stacy for featuring me on 

Not Just a Housewife

I feel very humbled! :)

Repurposing

Several weeks I ago I whined shared with you about how Rod and I are doing the "low carb" diet together.  You can read about that here.  We've continued with it.  Only once did I "cheat" and that was when we went to Logan's (steakhouse).  How anyone can go there and not eat one of those yummy rolls I'll never know.  Ok, Rod did but he is so ANTI-carb....   Anyway............   I allowed myself to eat one AFTER I ate my chicken, grilled veggies and salad.  JUST ONE!  I was pretty proud that I didn't eat the whole stinkin' basket! :)

Doing low carb, we have found that one snack that we can eat is nuts and we have been devouring them.  We get these big cannisters from the store and then we are left with an empty bin with a seal-able top.  So I started saving them.  I figured I could use them for something.  I saved them on my kitchen counter.  Rod got tired of seeing them there.  In his defense, there were 4 of them (I told you we've been eating lots of them!) and they are not small containers.

So this is what I did with them

I decided to Mod Podge some scrapbook paper onto the fronts.  I did the middle one and left one for the kids stuff and the right one is for the kitchen.  The kitchen one holds our sugar "substitute".

When Jared saw what I had done he asked if he could have one of the bins and I asked him what he would store in it.   He said his Nerf bullets.  So he took his bin to the basement (playroom) and gathered all of the "bullets" he could find.  I went downstairs and grabbed it so I could show it off.

I do not have one of those cool vinyl machines to print off some cool labels.  No cricut or silhouette here.  So I thought I'd show you it without my personal handwriting on them.  


There you go. 


Oh!    Yes, I am losing weight doing the low-carb and I am by no means an expert on weight-loss and do not recommend low-carb for everyone.  It has been recommended to me by my doctors in the past as I am "pre-diabetic" or more prone to develop diabetes in the future.  I've lost about 15-20 lbs so far!  Remind me to share about looking at some pics of myself.  Maybe if I get the courage up I'll even share the pics.  :)




Linking up with Not Just a Housewife
and
Debbiedoos blogging and blabbing

Siding is complete ....

Now onto the next step.

These are pics of our house taken late summer/early fall of 2010.  Remember, when we bought the house 8 years ago, the house was brown like the trim work

Here are a couple of pics taken just a few minutes ago.

The siding guys appeared yesterday at about 9:30 am or so.  I was surprised it was rainy/dreary/damp and not a pleasant day.  However, God kept the rain away and the guys were able to finish.  They are coming back tonite to "clean up" all the debris.

Hopefully the gutter guys will be coming soon to put those up.  Supposedly that should only take like an afternoon or less.

Ok, here's the skinny.  We went to Lowe's and priced new garage doors and new front doors.  If money were no object....the front entry door that I want is priced at over $4000.  The garage door is um... not cheap either.  If you look in the far left of the bottom pic - our garage door is still BROWN.  BLECH!  So in our ever frugal ways...we decided that our doors WORK fine they just LOOK not so hot with the red.  So we will revamp our doors.

Our front door has some sort of molding already on it.  It is a steel door and the paint is peeling on it.  It will have to be sanded and then painted.  I like black but Rod is leaning white.We are then looking at putting some new trimwork/molding on the door to "dress" it up a bit.

Our garage door will also be painted.  Probably white, but I like black as well.  Then we are trying to dream up a design for the trimwork here as well.  We've seen some doors that have like a big "X" on them or multiple "X"s giving it almost a barn door look to it.  What do you think?  Will that make the house look too "barnish"?

Oh, and Rod's bear will be moved to the back yard.  It is just not something I want to be greeting everyone at the front door....no matter how much he loves it.  It can greet our guests at the back door. :)

Cute story.  Last night after church I was praying with the kids before bed.  I said "Thank you Jesus that our siding is done" and Jared muttered that he hated the red.  (I got after him for saying Hate - it seems to be coming from him often lately.)  When I went to tuck him in, he said "don't you want to know why I hate the red?"  "Why do you hate the red?"  "Because I miss the rock  (tears welling up in his eyes and lip curling under)."  (The rock has been gone for a month now.)  "Why do you miss the rock?"  "Because it was different from any other house."  (I think he must have heard me saying how different it was but missed the part of me saying how ugly and dated it was.)  I then told him that we are the only red house in our subdivision and that there is only one other red house like ours in our town.  I then told him that we get to pick out flowers and bushes and plants for around our house now and asked if he wanted to help.  He liked that.

Do you think that the "X"s will look to "barn-like" on the garage?  And seriously, do you know anyone that can do garden/landscape design that is good and not horribly expensive?

I've decided that I really REALLY love the RED!  What do you think?  Somehow, it almost makes the front windows seem much smaller.  It is all an illusion! :)

Live Big!
Rach

Again ...... and again

Isn't if frustrating to have to repeat yourself to your children?  How many times do I have remind Maggie to say "please" instead of just ordering us around?  How many times do we have to tell Jared to make sure his hands are REALLY dry after washing them so they aren't so chapped?  Aren't they tired of us saying the same things to them again and again?

Last night in my class, I was to read a passage out of Galatians and happened to see a portion of Galatians underlined in my Bible.  I am blessed to have several Bibles.  One  of my favorites is the Message Bible.  For this pastor's daughter who sometimes feels like I have heard every verse a bazillion times, the Message Bible is great as it puts the Bible in todays terms and sheds new light on it.  I still recognize the verse from the NIV and/or KJV.

Back to the passage in Galatians:  chapter 5:25-26  "Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original. "


That last couple of sentences hit me over the head (again).  "We will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse."

I think that us women are really "good" at comparing ourselves to each other.  "Her home is so much nicer than mine"  I've been guilty of that a lot lately.  "She always looks so put together."  "Her kids are never running around like little maniacs like mine do."  "She is always doing some cute little craft with her kids."  And on and on.

I am notorious for analyzing EVERYTHING.  Drives Rod nuts.  But I analyze myself the most.  I will never measure up to the best of each woman out there.  If I take the best of each woman I see (and lets face it most people only present their best), I will never be as good.  That is because I am gifted with different talents than most of those women.

And that is OK.

God gave me these talents/gifts and has asked me to put them to good work.  He knows my weaknesses - and He likes to use them b/c that is when He is most evident.  I am far from perfect, my journey has not ended.  But it is a good reminder that He wants me just as I am - flaws and all and not to compare myself to others.  It is only thru His Grace that I am who I am.  Even if I fail - He does not!

So, again and again and again it seems that God needs need to tell me the same things.  I'll get it ....sooner or later.  Thank you Jesus for even wanting to use me, for breaking and molding me - a little closer to the woman you have envisioned me to be.

Linking to Women living Well

So Excited!

No, they haven't returned to finish the siding and they won't till at least Thursday b/c of rain.  It is sad to say that the house looks better now (in it's half finished state) than it did before.  See what I mean here:  Progress So I am working on patience. :)

I married a wanna be farmer.  Rod  grew up on a farm and I know that there are still days where he wishes that he could drive tractor and watch the world pass by in the serenity of that noisy beastly tractor.  Rod is a farm boy now working in a city world.  He loves his job.  I am a (mostly) small town girl and have been having to learn about the farming world.

Soon after Rod and I became serious, I learned something about his family:  they "DO" their own beef.  I used to say butcher but that isn't fully accurate.  They raise cattle.  They take a cow to the butcher who gives it back in quarters and the Jernas family processes and packages it.  The guys all stand around a table trimming fat off of meat that will soon be ground up and the women package it.  The first time was an eye-opening experience but now it is the norm.

Well, yesterday was beef day.  Rod went back to the family farm to "do beef" and I stayed home to watch the kids and be here when Jared got home.  Our kids are still a little to small to be of good help.  So here is a pic of our freezer.  Sorry that the light in the freezer led to such a poor pic.

So, since Rod had to go that way anyway I asked him to go to one of my favorite stores Bailey's in Starke County.  Ok, if you live anywhere (I do mean ANYWHERE) near northern Indiana then you need to plan a trip to Baileys!  Here it is:  http://baileysdiscountcenter.com/  Yes it is like a 5 acre big Big Lots store.  It is where we purchased both kitchens for our houses.  I wanted to get Cheez Its.  Rod got me that AND more!

Take a look!


He got me 28 cabinet doors!  He and I had been talking about making a headboard for our bed out of a door and we were struggling on agreeing.  (This is key as he won't let me touch tools - which is probably good as I am a klutz!)  So we are going to turn some of these doors into a headboard and he got me some extra to do some other fun things with.  He paid $1 per door.  Not bad, huh?  I guess that they had skids of them.

The other cool things that he got me were cabinet door pulls.  I told him to look at these but neither of them would have guessed that he would find these brushed nickle looking pulls for 3 for $1!!!  Yes, that requires at least 3 exclamation points! :)  So those will be going on our cabinets.  Oh, he bought 30 and Rod said that there was at least 1000 more!  I think I will paint them Oil-Rubbed Bronze! :)

I just finished grading and posting final grades for one of the college classes I am doing and tonite I start another but just thought that I would show a couple of bitty projects I worked on recently.

This is a grapevine wreath that I have had forever but I wanted to spruce it up.  So I added some live moss to it with my handy dandy glue gun and some flowers.  Not sure how to turn it - sorry.  But don't you love that bright green?  The grass around here is just (I do mean JUST) starting to become green again.  Yes, I will do something with that old chair....PROMISE! :)

Here is my grandpa's OLD mirror.  Grandpa was not known for taking good care of things.  So this mirror has been scratched up and so has the wood.  But I love it - I was just never sure what to do with it.  I finally decided to paint it.  Oh, this thing is super heavy!  Weighs more than Maggie and has a very unique chain on the back.  I realized when taping the mirror that it was set up more like a frame around the mirror as the mirror can move a wee bit within the wood.  So I primed it, and then painted it with at least 3 different coats.  Here it is now:

It will go in our master bedroom.  Which I can't show you b/c it is the room that stuff gets shoved into.  :)  That is another project as well!  I love this mirror.  It reminds me of my grandpa.  :)  It does have scratches in the mirror but it is beautiful!

Yep, still don't know how to turn the pic.  The mirror is about 3 feet tall and about 18inches wide.  It is a monster and has a solid wood frame.

All right must go prep for my class I am going to teach and spend sometime with my Maggers.

Go Live BIG! :)
Rach

Joining up here:
Not Just a Housewife
Elements Interiors

Progress!

See, this is my house.  They started last week and I am hoping that they come back today and finish.  We just have the front by all of those windows and also the one side (by our bedroom).

We are REALLY liking the RED that we chose.  My mom tells me that I look good in red.  I told her that was why we chose this color....so that when I am standing by the house I would look good.  TOTALLY KIDDING!

Do you notice our not so lovely landscaping?  Ummmm....yeah....overgrown evergreen bushes that Rod finally took a chain saw to!  They were ugly!  This is a picture of Jared hunting for Easter eggs 2 years ago.  These overgrown bushes were in front of our house.  Do you see why they needed a chainsaw?  Does anyone know of a GOOD but decently priced landscape designer that they would recommend?


Oh, for those of you who might see Maggie and you see that shiny slick under her nose....  Nope she isn't sick.  That is something that developed after all of her treatments - we couldn't explain it but it was just this constant clear runny nose.  Well, I recently found out it is a really common thing with other neuroblastoma survivors.  Who'da thunk it?  For some it has cleared up after a couple of years.  Honestly, it doesn't bother Mags and if it bothers us we just tell her to blow her nose.    She has gotten to be a good nose blower.  :)

Have a fab day!  The sun is trying to come out here! :)

Joining Debbiedoos Blogging

Love and War Devotional for Couples

Before kids, I worked as a therapist.  In fact, my master's is in Counseling with an Emphasis in Marriage and Family.  Bet ya didn't know that, huh?

This means that I love all these marriage books.  I love seeing new ways to help couples improve their marriage.

I was excited to read this devotional.  It is geared to be done as a couple over 8 weeks.  Within each week there are 5 days of devotionals and at the end of the week there are "exercises" that the couple is encouraged to do.

Honestly, at first I was a wee bit disappointed in this devotional.  Maybe I should have read the book that the devotional was based on (?).  However,  as I kept reading, I found what I was looking for.  The Eldridge way of engaging men into the process of Marriage building.

Truly, as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, "there is nothing new under the sun" and most authors understand that.  What is different is the way the information is told.  The Eldredges put their own spin on things that is often times very engaging.

I will give this a 4 out of 5.

This book was given to me for the sole purpose of reviewing by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing.


Please go check out my review and "review my review"! :)
My review

I can be a good wife....

Rod loves basketball.  I think that he has given up on the NBA - to Rod it has lost the true form of basketball.... But oh, how he loves college basketball.

In case you've been under a rock....the NCAA tournament is starting really soon!  ;)

So the other night, we went back to our room and I got in bed while he was in the bathroom.  I turned the TV on and was flipping channels and found a college ball game on.  No, it wasn't the NCAA tournament but a division tournament - maybe PAC10?  Not sure, but Arizona was playing Washington and there were 2 minutes left in the game.  There was a 2 point difference in score and they were in overtime.

I started doing commentary on the game for Rod (VOLUNTARILY - without being asked!) since he couldn't see!  I think I did pretty good.  He jokingly asked if I was going to try out for radio commentary cause I was using the right terms and everything.  I am definitely no Dickie V but "HEY BABY!" - I did good!  :)

So, see, I CAN be a good wife....

Here's to losing Thursday - Sunday (of the next several weeks) to basketball.  Maybe THAT is why he switched his day off this week from Monday to Friday!  The Plot thickens..... :)

It is funny how dreams change.........

Rod and I bought our house about 8.5 years ago.  I still tease him about it.  You see, less a year before that he said "Let's go look at houses."  I said, "Ok, but how serious are you in looking to buy?"  "Oh not serious at all." And yet here we are.  We knew noone in the town we bought but somehow this is where God led us.  In retrospect, we can see God's hand along the way.  Retrospection is cool that way.

Finally found a decent pic with the rock... and another dumpster.

Our house.  Our house was a fixer upper and honestly I struggled with  it because so much of it was not my style.  The rock that was on the outside was also on the inside and surrounding the fireplace.  The fireplace that was removed during our "mini" Extreme Home Makeover to bring Maggie home.  The rock was floor to ceiling and the ceilings were 12 feet high and on both sides of the rock fireplace were old real wood paneling.  Rod loved it and I did my best to tolerate it.

I've always said that a vehicle tells a lot about a man and the house about the woman.  My vehicle is the family van and is a mess on the inside: wrappers from sandwich crackers, tissues on the floor, straw wrappers, a dvd player.  Rod's truck is pretty clean.  It is um....12 years old, I think?  No, 13 and it wasn't until a couple of years ago that it lost that "new car" smell.  So, yep that is us.

That fireplace was not me.  I loved the ambiance of it but not THAT fireplace.  (It was removed for a variety of reasons including: it had no door to keep air from going straight up it, there was NO way to clean that rock to get Maggie home and it was just plain ugly, oh and it stuck out into the garage taking up a ton of room.)

When we moved in, we removed wallpaper from every room, painted every room.  We took out the kitchen and put a brand new one in, and new laminate floor.  I remember sitting and picking out everything for the kitchen.  Our kitchen is more "rustic" b/c that suits the house and Rod loves natural wood color.  We redid the bathrooms.  Oh, the icky wallpaper.

A year and a half after buying the house Jared was born.  Our first miracle baby.  Life changed and an "extra bedroom" turned into the nursery.  We were so surprised when we found out Maggie was coming and the office was turned into the little boys room.  I remember Jared spitting up ALL OF THE TIME all over our old carpet.  Orange from the sweet potatoes.  I remember putting Maggie to sleep as a newborn on the couch next to me with that fire going.

You see, I've never in my life lived in one house as long as I have lived in this one.  Growing up, I moved about every 2 years - and that has it's good points and its down sides.   And as much as many things about this house didn't reflect my (our) taste, now it is beginning to truly reflect our hearts.

I see the hands of many people in our home now.  During the week of the Extreme Home Makeover of August of '09, my friend tallied that there was over 400 volunteer wo/man hours at our house.  That is just in one week!  Can you believe that?

I am still working on making this house reflect us on the interior and exterior (any day those siding guys could start - any day but today cause it's raining).

I remember walking into this house for the first time after the makeover and was in awe of how it all looked.  The fireplace was gone.  The rooms painted and EVERY thing was wiped down.  Someone even washed all of Maggies MANY Polly Pockets and all of their accessories.  It was so humbling.  But I see so many people's handiwork in this house.

I see God's handiwork in this home.  It is HIS home.  This week with Fanning the Flame at church has been a good reminder that this is not my house - it is God's and I see His fingerprints ALL over it.

Like I said, I am still working on making our home - God's house - a reflection of us. New babies and cancer got in the way.  :)  But we love having people in our home.  We want people to feel welcome here.  We want people to see God's fingerprints here - just like we do.

Linking up with At the Picket Fence

Projects and a Giveaway! :)

Yesterday Rod came home for lunch and we put that beautiful white plastic wrap around our house to protect it from the rain that we should be getting.  So now our house is white and brown and green and plywood.  Can't you just picture the beauty of it?  At least the dumpster is gone.....  :)

I have lots of projects in the works.  Curtains, an antique full mirror redo, making a headboard, some little decorations for Jared's room and that is just the start.  :)  Oh, did I mention red siding?

In the mean time, I have a Giveaway!  I don't know about you but I absolutely love L.O.V.E  freebies!  Rod is always laughing at me and what comes in the mail.

Purex sent me a sample of their new Fabric Softener Crystals.  I LIKE these little crystals.  No little ball to use, clothes come out smelling nice and lots of other cool stuff.  Check out this web site:

Purex Fabric Softener Crystals

I have 3 - THREE - Coupons for FREE Purex Fabric Softener to give away!  So 3 people can win! :)

How to enter:
1.  Click to "follow" my little blog.
2.  Post a comment below.

Entries will be taken till Sunday night. :)

Live BIG!

The Joys of Home Ownership...

We bought our home in October of 2002.  We bought one of the "worst" houses in our subdivision and have been slowly redoing it.  Dave Ramsey would be so proud....

We did a LOT of work on our home right after buying it.  Tore down a wall, painted, stripped wallpaper in EVERY room, put in a new kitchen, new laminate floor and MORE and that was BEFORE we had our own little Extreme Home Makeover.

I was hoping that I could find a pic of the outside of our house BEFORE these latest projects but, yeah, not happening.  So close your eyes and imagine.  Ok, yes, I know you have to have your eyes open to read....

Our house was 1970's brown.  You know that UGLY brown that says 1970's.  All of it was brown except for the ugly real stone facade on the front of the house.  Oh, and it was WOOD siding and it had seen its day and was rotting.  So about 4.5 years ago we painted it - thanks to our family who helped us.  We painted it to make the siding last a wee bit longer until we were ready to put up vinyl siding.  We painted it a nice sage green color.  However, we left the "trim" and soffits brown.  UGLY!

It is now time to fix up the exterior.  In the mean time we decided to do red siding.  Oh, did I mention that we also needed to redo the roof?  Yep, this way Rod could stop getting up on our roof ever summer to put tar on it. :)  Oh, and Windows.  Yep, they were the crank casement windows and most of them didn't work properly.  (You'd have to have someone on the outside pushing the window back in to get it to close right.)  I am so looking forward to being able to open my bedroom window and smelling the lilacs that are right outside our window.  :)

Did you know that there is an order that you should do such monstrous projects?  Neither did I but I do now.  Roof, windows then siding.

Oh and we decided to get rid of all of that ugly rock.  Big, heavy rock with ugly mortar.  Definitely not J&N Stone.  (For you non-locals - that is a local company here. :)  )  So this past Saturday there was a series of 3 different types of air compressor jack hammer type tools.  I was told that one tool was a "hammer drill" and eventually a REAL jack hammer had to be used.

So currently this is what my house looks like

This is the guys removing the stone.  I told you the stone was ugly!

Here is the entry way now.

So, doesn't all of the pretty plywood look so nice?  The brown trim was removed to reveal MORE plywood.   The big yellow dumpster is a nice added touch, huh?  For the record, the bear is Rod's.  I keep telling him  it needs to go in the back yard but he won't do it and it is too heavy for me to move on my own (altho I might have to try!).

We have decided, after a long process and many discussions to build a small front porch.  We will also paint our front door.  That terracotta would definitely clash with the red siding!  I want a black door but Rod is pushing for a white door with black trim.  I might be ok with that.

Oh, and the dumpster is to be removed in about an hour!

Of course all this means that this spring we will start on landscaping as we removed all of the overgrown evergreen bushes in the front of the house

So next week the red siding will start.  Until then, to all of the people who drive past our house and especially to our neighbors who live across the street and are unable to divert their eyes that consistently.....I apologize for how ugly our house looks right now.

But I promise that it won't stay like this forever......


Oh, and just for clarity whenever I said "WE" did something....it usually means Rod with some one's help (a lot of time it is his dad) and me supervising. :)

Where's My Trumpet?

FINALLY got the news... Maggie's scans are clear.  Trumpet blast!!!!  DododoDOOOOO!


We are still waiting for some urine test results but those should be ok as her blood work came back GREAT.  Her hemoglobin was good, platelets good, white blood cell good.

Her kidney numbers were the lowest in over a year - maybe since 12/09!!  If you have been following Maggie's story - at one point I asked everyone to pray for her Creatinine to be at .7 as it hadn't been that low in quite a while (it was at 1.2 or so then) and God answered our prayers with a .78 and kept Maggie from having a kidney biopsy.   Well, her Creatinine was .5 yesterday!!!  I was seriously excited about that one yesterday.

We are still waiting on a written report of her ecko, but if the nurses remember right it was pretty good there as well.

I did talk to the doc about going to an Endocrinologist and a NeuroPsychologist.  Almost all kids who have the same cancer as Mags end up with an Endocrinologist at some point and well, I have some minor concerns that could be cleared up quickly there and just start a relationship there.  The Neuropsych....well, I have learned that one of the leading neuroblastoma hospitals in the U.S. recommends all of their kids get an evaluation done as we are really not sure what effects the chemo could have long term.  When I was talking to our oncology social worker, she was saying that she wishes that all of the oncology kids would get an evaluation done as well.  Rod thinks that it might be unnecessary.  As a therapist, I know that it "might" be unnecessary too.  I do not see any issues with her right now but parents have reported "issues" popping up years down the road.  I am just afraid to be caught blindsided.

Today at our Beth Moore Bible Study, Beth said (on video) that she was talking to a woman who's mother is a cancer survivor and how during treatment she had no fear, but now that she is past that she gets nervous about every little thing.  I could so relate to that in regards to Maggie.  Then Beth said that "God gives to us based on our NEED not on our FEAR!"  Wow!  How often do we hype things up in our head and God is going to let us go b/c our need is just not there.  Definitely makes me feel stupid and yet reaffirmed at the same time. :)

Yesterday was a LONG day.  Mags fell asleep in the van on the way home and that doesn't normally happen.  Oh, a cute story - when we went back to get the scan actually done, one of the nurses asked me "Now, do you know someone that works at Bremen Hospital?"  (This is where her very first scan was done - where they found the cancer.)  I told her no, but that we live in Bremen and our family doc (who diagnosed her) did do some work there.  She said "I don't know but I worked there and there were tons of emails going around then asking everyone to pray for Maggie."  She might have even been the one to do Maggie's first scan.

A special thank you to Sandy Miller and her boys, Mitchell and Blake for surprising us and coming to hang out with Maggie and I at the hospital.  You made our day!  Thanks for pulling the string and making the nurses jump!  :)   FUN! :)

We don't have to go back in for 6 months!  Maggie is considered now to be ONE YEAR POST TREATMENT AND CANCER FREE! :)  So we move scans and bloodwork to every 6 months!!