Father’s Day Week

My dad lost all three of his dogs in the past few months and this dog loving man was without a canine best friend for the first time in decades. He asked my mother daily for a new dog but she needed a little break from dog hair and all that comes with these furry friends. But…he asked anyway…every day! So when I chatted with my sisters it was clear to me that getting dad a new puppy for Father’s Day was going to be the perfect gift. It didn’t take much convincing to get mom on the same page so this became, according to my dad, THE BEST Father’s Day gift he’s ever received! Thankfully our cousins in Peoria, IL breed the top Brittany spaniels in the country and they just happened to have a beautiful litter ready 8 days before Father’s Day and had one available for me to purchase!! Providence? Synchronicity? God’s timing? Luck? Call it what you want…but my dad is now the proud owner of this gorgeous male Brittany puppy he named Gunner. Thanks to Dogwood Brittanys this daddy of mine now has his hands and heart full! Thanks also to my family who pitched in and made it financially possible! 

Then onward to my favorite Illinois working farm where Wendy and Rich hosted me for a night and treated me to the freshest farm food and goat milk, unbelievable strawberries, and I got to see and learn about the goings on at this organic farm where a dog, cat, goats, chickens and sheep have the best lives and fruits, flowers, herbs and vegetables get to grow in the richest Illinois soil with kindness and love spoken into their very DNA! This is a slice of Heaven on earth for me to bask in the garden and barn with Wendy as we share life and perpetuate a sweet friendship with spoken and unspoken understanding. I love that our goodbye always ends with a hug that is filled with longing for the next time. 

The next several days I rejoiced in the fact that my body is capable of such physical activity as hiking and mountain biking because I got to venture to northern Wisconsin where my mountain biking coach and friend, AKA my shred sister, Brenda lives. I met Brenda on a Facebook page called Mountain Biking Ladies a couple years ago and she became one of my greatest sources of encouragement during my cancer journey. Because coaching is her life, I fully believed in myself as I did my first gravity style mountain biking with her last week!! Her coaching company For The Love Of Bikes is something everyone who owns a mountain bike should check out!! We also hiked new glorious Wisconsin trails and fished at her private lake where we relaxed in the quiet paradise of Harrison Hills near Tomahawk, WI. 

Then back to Rockford, IL for a couple nights to see my family a bit longer. Lys and I rode twice, and I had a few short but cherished conversations with nieces, Aunt Ro, sisters and my beloved parents!  I got to puppy sit that energetic bundle of love too!! This may not be the year for an award winning flower garden with Gunner as the guardian, but it sure made me smile to see the innocent curiosity of a 9 week old puppy!! 

After a long drive back home to Ohio, I was thankful to sleep in my own bed again after a week and spend a day with my hubby.  He bought me a surprise gift that I recently shared that I was interested in having!!! Now my woods will get cleaned up and I’m going to have some good dirty fun!!

God is so good to me. I have beautiful family and friends and I’m a rich woman. 

I know my days may be numbered, but then again aren’t we all walking around with an unknown limited amount of days? I choose to be grateful for this past week and today and right now. Every second of life is a gift. 

Gratitude Everywhere

Where to begin? Gratitude. Always Gratitude!

This weekend was one of those where this mama’s heart got filled up because my adult kids chose me and desired to see and hang out with me! My daughter was in town for a wedding and hung out with us on Saturday, plus she asked this very willing Granita to babysit my sweet granddaughter, Saileigh!!! My son, Jonathan, is still in town from a short return from living in Mexico and joined us, plus my Chinese son, Alex, flew in recently from China to introduce his new lady friend and to see his American mom!!! We all hung out together as a family and had precious time together! I thank God for this gift!

I had the opportunity to hang out with these fine ladies and I took Journey on her first hike with me and her big sis, LillyMae. I’m grateful my body feels well enough to hike!

As many may know, I love mountain biking (green trails mostly). Last week I got to take another young lady on her first mountain bike trail ride and she did great! No Fear is not only my bike’s name but it’s how she approached the trails! Of course I informed her that to celebrate she needed a victory bike lift! Her Daddy would be so stoked to see her bravery and fearlessness! I’m so proud of you, Zoey! Plus I’m grateful that a friend of mine offered to give her a free kids mountain bike after telling him about her need for one! Shout out to Skip Torres!! You’re an amazing human with a big heart! 

I’m still pursuing a dream of creating something special for the cancer world that I’d love to see come to fruition. It’s one legacy that I would really be grateful to leave behind and see the idea grow into a reality for all people diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I have the vision but not sure how to make it manifest. It all started here on this trail in Yellow Springs, Ohio at John Bryan State Park’s mountain bike trail called Abracadabra. Hopefully, in the near future it will happen. I’ve emailed my oncologist to see if she would support my idea so I’ll see if she responds next week. As this unfolds, I’ll keep my readers up to date. If anyone is an entrepreneur and can help me and wants in on my secret and is willing to join me in making my dream come true, please message me. 

Tonight I listened to an interview with Brandon Lake. He’s someone I’d love to tell my story to about how his song Gratitude literally has been my anthem as the cancer in my lungs clogged my lymph channels so much so a year ago that I could hardly breathe or walk 15 feet without supplemental oxygen and how God miraculously cleared them to the point where I can effortlessly breathe, hike and bike daily! As the lyrics say, “You’ve got a Lion inside of your lungs so get up and praise the Lord!” I was filled with gratitude when I couldn’t breathe and I’m filled with gratitude now that I can! That’s something I can choose no matter how I physically am doing or feeling! This Gratitude is something worth celebrating! Here is Brandon’s Gratitude once again. 

Hiking, Hubby, and Florida

A couple weeks ago when I did a hiking/camping trip in Wisconsin, my poor feet had that barking dog feeling after 7 miles of hiking the Ice Age Trail with LillyMae and Coach Brenda.

This got me thinking that I needed fresher, newer, more comfortable hiking boots since the Keens I wore were probably 5 years old. I have visited our local REI store thrice last week and finally settled on a couple higher quality pairs of hiking footwear…La Sportiva hiking boots and La Sportiva trail running shoes. The craziest thing I discovered is that my feet may have have grown and instead of getting the usual size 6, I ended up purchasing 7.5s!!! I also discovered that that brand runs smaller, but I also learned that due to feet swelling when hiking, many long distance hikers get footwear that’s a little bigger than their normal size. Therefore, after hanging out at REI multiple times and trying on lots of boots, I’m the proud owner of some new hiking footwear for my next hiking adventure coming up in June where Brenda and I will crank out 4 full days of long hikes to finish several sections of the Ice Age Trail in SW Wisconsin. I’m so full of GRATITUDE that my body can physically do this much strenuous activity even with the frequent charlie horses and slight neuropathy in my feet! I have nothing to complain about and everything to be grateful for!

A week ago Friday was a very special evening where some of John’s and my friends joined us for a surprise dinner at The Golden Lamb restaurant as we celebrated his retirement a little more officially, despite him not wanting any fanfare. God has blessed us with so many beautiful friends! John was indeed surprised and pleasantly so!

Before heading to Florida I got to get out this past week with some girlfriends and hike a few miles with Andrea, Jess and Doni! Each of the ladies enrich my life and I do not take lightly the time I have to spend with them. I take no days or hikes for granted! I see beauty in the flowering weeds, the un-mowed grassy trails, the fallen trees across the paths, the soaking rain while hiking as well as the smiles, laughter and meaningful conversations. 

Saturday I made my monthly trek to Florida and it started with my Mother’s Day gift of a massage with my daughter! 

Then I had the pure joy of babysitting my granddaughter, Saileigh, and to meet up with my mama and sister, Paula, as we all took turns caring for Saileigh’s every need. To have 4 generations together for the first time since my grand parents were alive was such a blessing. 

While we were in Florida there was some excitement one evening where a large black bear walked behind the house. Thankfully it was uninterested in anyone and just ambled by! 

However, this did put my mom and sister on a bear hunt to get a photo of its footprint the next day! Here they are ready to stave off any unwanted bear!

Retirement Day Is Here

It’s been a blessedly uneventful week in general. No major setbacks from treatment medications other than some typical skin issues & GI stuff and I had about a week of minor charlie horses again. Those are slowing down so I am beginning to think it’s from the medications vs dehydration. 

This past week John and I have really ramped up the organization of all our stuff from clothes in closets to odds and ends in drawers and deciding whether they will be stored, sold, disposed of or used in the WonderVan. My house is looking more and more sparse every day. It’s definitely something that my kids will one day thank me that they won’t have oodles of my junk to go through. For now we just keep buying more bins from Costco to place everything we are keeping nice and tidy. 

Mother’s Day was a lovely one where I got to virtually see my mama, daughter and granddaughter and had a campfire dinner with my son!! Flowers and cards, time and sharing! I’m very grateful for each moment with my adult children. 

The big announcement that I must share with my readers is that my husband has finally completed his very last stair job and is OFFICIALLY RETIRED! Tuesday was his last day as a professional woodworker and now John Wonderly Architectural Woodworking is no longer a business! I’m so thankful to have such a skilled husband building out my WonderVan home now and it will be full steam ahead in that arena! He is still selling off his equipment but John can now focus on completing our van. He didn’t want to make a big deal out of his retirement so no big party but I’m thankful he made such a difference in the craft of woodworking. 

I’m especially thankful for a former neighbor, Bonnie, who hand made an absolutely beautiful quilt for our WonderVan life to remind us of all our friends while on our travels!! John relaxing as a retired Woodworker for the first time showing off one side of her quilt!

I’m feeling strongly about a project I’d like to tackle and it involves my cancer and my healing and the Gratitude song and if there is any way of contacting Brandon Lake who wrote it, I’d love to know how but I can’t figure that out. 

Thanks to my cousin Pam, I’m starting listening to a new book called Mama Bear Apologetics by Hillary Morgan Ferrer. God knows how I pray over each of my kids and for their hearts, bodies, minds and souls.

PA to OH to WI to OH

Pennsylvania proved to be a really lovely trip. Old and new friends from the SMA (Stair Manufacturers Association) filled our days for almost a week. Another of my highlights in PA was the auctioning of John’s first ever Woodworking project, a decoy duck he made at age 12!! Thankfully it was bid on and received with jocularity and brought in $500!! But mostly I was blessed that it was won by the perfect person, Roy. John was dumbfounded that anyone would want it, let alone bid on it, but I just knew that it would be interesting to someone. Thankfully it didn’t end up in the burn pile at home as John predicted it would. 

I experienced riding the famous Pittsburgh Duquesne Incline trolley a few times and we were overjoyed to have run into Shawn at a random coffee shop and got to spend quality time with this fine gentleman! I love how God orchestrated our days with gifts of friendship, love and kindness.

Then home in Ohio for literally one day and look at this beauty! My dogwood tree is one of the most beautiful trees I’ve ever seen! She’s in full bloom!!

Then on the road again to Wisconsin for a camping trip with LillyMae and friends. John had a trade show he attended for the first couple days while LillyMae and I visited my family in the area. We ended up staying at my niece’s house because my other niece’s baby was vomiting and my brother in law had gone to be with them and was exposed to it.  I really didn’t want to put myself or LillyMae at risk to that vomiting virus. So we switched it up a bit and ended up not staying at my sister, Karen’s. It was a sweet and unexpected change of plans. My niece, Stephanee loved having us there! We had Taco Tuesday at a restaurant for dinner then ate a bowl of Wisconsin’s finest frozen custard at Oscar’s where I got to see my favorite oldest sister after all!

Steph brought out her guitar and we sang worship songs together and I experienced a Milwaukee famous fried cheese curd at Camino, as well as a perfectly foamy lavender honey latte at a local coffee shop. 

Then I got to enjoy the rest, friendship, surprises and beauty that comes with camping. Found my first ever black morel mushrooms, hiked with mountain biking Shred sister, Brenda, was the recipient of lots of smoked Nueske meats, enjoyed the crackle of a camp fire and stunning beauty of a full moon and orange sunsets plus had the gift of some family members hanging with us. 

Then back home to Ohio for my next CT&MRI scans followed up with my infusion and doctor appointment. Here is yet another PRAISE! Dr. Sudheendra said my scans were GREAT! No new cancer concerns. No need to change my treatment plan. In fact, the fractures in my ribs are healed! She asked if I wanted to review the scans in detail but I told her I didn’t need more details than that. Sometimes hearing all the nitnoid details of what was on the scans is worse than just hearing that my oncologist thinks they look great!! “So I throw up my hands and praise You again and again, cuz all that I have is a hallelujah!”