Bon jour 2025!

If you personally didn’t wake up tomorrow, are you, the reader…Yes YOU,  are you able to confidently know beyond a shadow of a doubt what will happen to your soul? The gift of having a cancer diagnosis has given me more courage to share that I can be certain (and so can you) that my soul will be eternally joined with my Creator. There’s evidence and hope in one and only One. I’ve learned not to fear death thanks to Dr Mary Neal’s encounter in 2016 and her book ‘To Heaven and Back’. I’ve learned not to question this reality or wonder if it’s true. Jesus Christ fulfilled over 300 messianic promises (statistically that’s impossible unless it’s true!). Jesus died and rose from the dead (no other religions have a leader that accomplished that one!). Those who witnessed it went on to share it with the world and practically all of them were brutally murdered and willingly died in order to share this Truth so that you and I could hear it today. The book Stranger On The Road to Emmaus has been a favorite of mine and can be freely downloaded from the author’s website and it spells out how Jesus made a way for us to be assured of our destiny after we die. You simply can read the book if you don’t know any details about Jesus or read it even if you think you know the story. Jesus said that being a good person has nothing to do with going to heaven. Jesus said that no one comes to the Father except through Him through faith alone. I do believe. I trust in Jesus and the gift He gave me by paying for my sins so I don’t have to. I keep my eyes focused on Jesus alone. One book of the New Testament quotes in Hebrews where there are several translation options and several supportive scripture verses that share just one of many truths.  Believing in living multiple lives & reincarnation is a slap in the face to the One who gave up His life for me. Therefore, it’s my greatest hope that anyone reading this will investigate for yourself if you haven’t already and put your faith in the work of Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish Messiah! And Him alone! If just one person reads my blog and puts their faith in Jesus, it’s all worth it.

I also have chosen a WORD for 2025. It’s continue.

CONTINUE… 

living, 

being positive regardless of circumstances, 

sharing my faith in Christ alone, 

growing in knowledge of the Lord, 

reading Scripture daily, 

sharing smiles and compliments with others, adventuring, 

working on healthy relationships, 

having healthy boundaries, 

loving yourself well, 

being fit, 

eating smartly, 

encouraging a special friend in her faith walk,

with your cancer treatment. 

Just CONTINUE!

I kicked off the 2025 New Year chilling out in sunny Florida for over 2 weeks praising God for the arrival of my new grandchild! And as much as I would love to share the details and photos, out of respect for my daughter and her family’s request, I can only say that all is well and prayers of health have been answered!  What I can say is how incredibly grateful I am to still be alive and well and to have the physical strength to experience this gift of time! It fills my heart to hear the sounds of my granddaughter calling out my name over and over, to sing her Edelweiss and Amazing Grace while she falls asleep in my arms, and to serve my daughter and son-in-law with a hot cup of coffee in the morning, with laundry done, closets cleaned, dishes washed and dinner made so they can rest before I returned to Ohio. Thankfully before the baby arrived we did make it to the beach and I got in a good power walk along the shoreline!

As oppressively hot as the South can be in the summer, admittedly the winters in Florida are quite lovely with temps much warmer than in Ohio! And while we all donned sweatshirts and Fall jackets, sipped hot tea to warm up in the mornings, I am a little bummed to have missed the 10” of snow that fell back home in Ohio. John got to try out our new snowshoes that we gave each other for Christmas as he had that special experience of breaking trail at Caesar Creek!

My Floridian friend, Lisa, doesn’t understand how anyone can look forward to snow and thinks I’m a little crazy but I can’t wait to clip on my new snowshoes and hike out in the woods where a blanket of white pure snow awaits me! 

It was lovely to have one of my dearest friends from Ohio join me for a night out in Florida where we watched pelicans fly and yachts docked in the marina! She always joins her parents in Florida for a couple months close to where I was so we got a night out together! Thanks Karen for being a faithful friend who loves me so well!

Once I returned to Ohio so that I could receive my infusion at The James Hospital, it was good to be in my own home for a couple nights, doing my own routine. On the morning of my infusion, I treated myself at a delectable Columbus, OH bakery called Dan-the-Baker. Their citrus melange danish with blood oranges, tangerine & grapefruit with edible violet petals was off the charts! I know… No…it’s not Whole Food Plant Based, AND yet it was unbelievably scrumptious. Now back to greens and beans!

My nurse during the infusion, Stacie, was as sweet as they come. 

She was new to the floor where I get my infusions and she wasn’t aware of my Gratitude Bell inspiration. So I got to share with her how it came to be. Here’s the link to the Bevin Bell company that made these bells in my honor and the poem I wrote to go with it.

Gratitude Bell

Stage four will not define me 

Because I have a choice 

Gratitude is the song 

In my heart and in my voice 

Today ring these bells 

Softly to remind 

Yourself and others 

To be grateful and be kind 

Come on my soul 

Find the strength 

To lift up your song 

And your attitude

 

No matter the storm 

No matter the pain 

There’s always a choice 

Of Gratitude

By Tricia Wonderly

However, being home didn’t last long because John and I headed to Michigan for a special evening lantern lit snowshoe hike at Hartwick Old Growth Forest in Grayling, MI with my former sister-in-law and her hubby. We stayed at a beautiful lavender farm and got to snowshoe on their private 7 miles of trails before the evening event. I’m now a huge fan of snowshoeing! And now that we own our very own, John and I will be seeking out more snowy trails!

On our way home to Ohio we stopped at The Chalet toboggan run near Cleveland, OH. We stood in line for over an hour in weather that felt like 9F for only one run that looked like this!

Grateful. For so much!

Adieu 2024

The sweetest days I get to enjoy are ones with beloved family and friends and these past three weeks have been brimming over with those moments! 

To start, in Florida my granddaughter and I built a gingerbread house in which she enjoyed fist fulls of frosting more than the construction of the house! We also oooo’d and ahhhhh’d at all the wild primates swinging around in the Zoo! Observing them from a little river cruise boat created a unique experience and one that she squealed with such joy to see them. 

Then there was the Walk A Mile For Her Smile event for my dear friends, the Owen Family, as they honored their daughter Erica at the 10 year anniversary of her passing with a silent auction fund raiser, mile long walk around North Park and John got to be Santa yet again for the kids.  Arriving on a Harley with his elf buddy, Jeff P was as much fun for John as it was for the children! In fact, this year he has volunteered as Santa for several events. One of them I even opted to don a Mrs. Claus suit!!

 

We had the opportunity to go to St. Louis and while there we spent a few nights with my friend and former Sister-in-law, Debbie and her hubby, Randy. She and I hiked, laughed and shared the goodness of God in our lives!! I might have beat them all in a hilarious game of Mexican Train Dominos too!! So grateful for our continued friendship after all these decades! She is such a gifted artist and she’s very modest about her talent but I’d love to highlight it here. 

 

We also saw friends from the stair building association John’s affiliated with. Robin and Chas treated us to a St. Louis Blues hockey game and dinner following another Santa event John had. It’s truly amazing how many genuine friendships have come from his professional trade association!

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY!! John and I hit 12 years on 12/12/24 and I’m speechless at the goodness of God toward me. It was only 2.5 years ago when I received the devastating news of a stage 4 metastatic breast cancer! A recurrence with only a 3-5 year prognosis. One of my goals in 2022 was to hit my 10 year anniversary and now look at us!!! Twelve years and going stronger every day! We went back to Hocking Hills State Park where we celebrated our honeymoon!

En Route to Christmas at my parents in Rockford, IL we popped in at dear cousins, Todd and Pam Parmenter’s for an overnight visit. I just love it that because of our Key family reunions as kids Todd, Pam and I remain so close to this day. Todd and I share the same great grandparents who left England with 6 of their eventual 15 children, crossing the Atlantic Ocean with hopes of a better life in America! They would be so blessed to know that we maintain family ties with such sweet fondness and intentionality. I also let Todd severely beat me in Mexican Train dominos because he hates to lose!! 😂 

Then on to Rockford, IL and not only did I get in 1 workout and 3 hikes with family, but I attended my niece’s Golden birthday on December 23rd, saw Christmas light displays, played the White Elephant game, and cooked a healthy meal for Christmas with my sister, Melissa! Getting another year with my parents and sisters as we all age gracefully is our gift and being with so many family members brought lots of laughter and no drama…another reason to celebrate besides the truest reason that I am grateful for this year is to remember the birth of the world’s Messiah!

Finally, I conclude my last blog of 2024 with a final photo and video after getting yet another infusion to treat my stage 4 NED (No Evidence of Disease) breast cancer! I’m looking forward to 2025 with another successful 17 infusions in my future and anticipating the birth of another grandchild soon! It’s my hope that our WonderVan will be completed and John and I will be living full time in it! It is my greatest wish and God’s will that ALL will come to Him, praising His holy name and feeling grateful for another year to share in His goodness!

Lots of Thankfulness

These beautiful faces are my dearest friend’s kiddos that we get the privilege of doing life with!! LillyMae and Zoey joined me in hand painting our Christmas cards and Ever got to go on a wintery hike with me, then we followed up with one of our favorite traditions, making what I call “Baked Children”, aka gingerbread men!!

I treasure every first snowfall as it’s one of my favorite days of the year even if it’s only a light dusting! This is at my special bench in Patricia Allyn Park where others have seen fit to relish in the sanctity of it by adding a stick cross and wind chime. I welcome it and am grateful others have discovered this little slice of heaven on earth in Ohio. 

Thanksgiving this year we drove to Rockford, IL again as tradition has it and although my Dad was suffering in physical pain, I was blessed that he joined us for dinner as my siblings and other family members came together for another holiday with loved ones. Also very glad my sissy, Melissa, eats like me and we had a harvest green and grain bowl as our Thanksgiving meal sans Turkey, buttery potatoes and sugary yams!!! 

Lys took me on a couple frigid early morning hikes in northern Illinois and fed me WFPB breakfast which I GREATLY appreciated! However, I will share and confess that I did gleefully indulge in a small piece of cherry pistachio panettone (that beautiful holiday bread I accidentally spent $95!!!!!! on from Dan-the-baker in Columbus, OH)!

While the weekend could have included my Boylan High School 40th class reunion, I opted instead to spend every moment with those with whom I hold dearest and only get to see a couple times a year… my family…

and one of my favorite humans on earth…WT! (You know who you are 😉). I was able to sip fresh herbal tea grown lovingly in her organic garden and I added a non-WFPB splash of her perfectly harvested fresh goat milk, which I’ve have dubbed Liquid Gold. Oh, to just sit in the peaceful serenity of her home, reminiscing, dreaming, learning and laughing: it is like a healing balm to an old friend’s soul! 

I was informed that one of my cousins, Judy Parmenter, was really getting quite frail and I was thrilled that John and I got to stop by and visit with her. She’s 93!! Our families familiarity and love for each other goes way back! I’m so grateful the Key clan had family reunions with the OG 15 siblings and their offspring as I was growing up! Judy’s grandparents are my great grandparents!! Does that make her my first cousin once removed? Or second cousin?? That would be something my sister Karen could answer. I spent many a Sunday dinner at Judy’s table while in college. She and her family provided a rich and spiritual home during my early 20s and I will forever be grateful for the deposits of security and family love I received from them. Family is a gift from God and Judy has always held a very special place in my heart. 

The WonderVan progress is coming along slowly but surely.  This week I applied a final finish clear coat on our veneer panels for the closet and bathroom walls. John’s engineering the shower pan and it hurts my brain to think of all the puzzle pieces he’s putting together to fabricate this all from scratch.

Tasks completed this week.. I got out the few Christmas postcards I painted this year. Here’s a sampling of a few of them. What a joy to pick up my water color paints again. The Bible verse from Isaiah 7:14 was the theme of the cards this year. 

Lastly, it’s been 3 weeks since my last infusion at The James and here I was getting my usual Herceptin and Perjeta. This day also started the first of 6 iron infusions for increasing my iron. Dr Johnson hopes that will address my frequent Charlie horses since my electrolytes are always normal. 

November 2024

Typically I have been fastidious about journaling on the day I have my infusion to report all I’ve done in the previous weeks, however, I’m not feeling like a lot has happened to me that’s so blog worthy so I have dragged my feet this time. Really, I don’t see much different in my life than in most others. In fact, mine is somewhat regular and mundane at the moment so I hesitate to even post this. But for sake of consistency, I will anyway. 

A few days ago I had my routine 3 week infusion of HP (as the oncology nurses call it). It stands for the drugs I’m given, Herceptin & Perjeta. While there I was informed that my iron is too low which may be the cause of my frequent charlie horses. Therefore, my medical oncologist, Dr. Kai Johnson, is having me take 6 treatments of IV iron at my next 6 HP treatments. He says it’ll take an additional 2 hours and I may have allergic reactions so I’ll be on Benadryl and have steroids ready and waiting if needed.  Since my electrolytes always read perfectly, this is his next solution. He also indicated that many of his long term HP patients need to get the iron infusions. 

John and I flew to Florida for my granddaughter’s birthday last week which was lovely but way too short of a visit. Seeing her and hearing her incessantly call out my name, “GRANITA!”, with her arms stretched up for me to hold her literally lights up my life & makes me feel so wanted! I love it! Thank YOU God for the gift of time! We went to Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate making a birthday bash easier to pull off than all that goes into a party at my daughter’s home right now. 

I also got to finally see my son, Jonathan, after almost 3.5 months and got to hear all about his travels. What a blessing he has had the opportunity to travel to China and Japan thanks to my Chinese son Alex! I’m so grateful for their brotherly love and concern for each other!

Physically, I’ve only hiked a little here and there to keep my bones moving. Recently I found out that because I was diagnosed 2 years ago as terminal, and I’m still alive, our Government requires that I go on Medicare. One benefit is that I now have a free membership to Silver Sneakers (that just sounds old!!) which offers free membership to most YMCAs, Anytime Fitness and Planet Fitness!! If only I liked going to the gym. I’m seeing it as my opportunity to have a free, long, hot shower when we are eventually living in the Wondervan!! As it stands now, our water tank in the van will only allow for 4 minute showers!

Spiritually, I want to share something that I don’t typically do and that is a clip from my church where for 20 minutes my pastor, Roger, shared this message that I really liked. No need to watch the whole thing. If you want to go from approximately time 17:30 to 37:30 minutes you can listen. Roger, like me has recently battled cancer and is being given more time to live on earth thanks to God! His teachings seem to be much more impactful to me as I listen. I think we both are keenly aware of the treasure and responsibility we have to make our little lives matter for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Cancer can be a gift because with it life becomes so much more palpably fragile and living on purpose to share about the love of God through Jesus’ sacrifice has emboldened me to become unashamedly transparent in my purpose. Also, I’m watching an Amazon Prime video docuseries Jonathan and Jesus where actor Jonathan Roumie shares about his journey playing Jesus. He’s an inspiration and I’m grateful how God is using him to bring Christins together in unity around Jesus alone! I’ve been reading in Scripture most mornings and staying close to God as His Word soaks in and reminds me of His faithfulness. In fact, today I finished reading in the book of Joshua. Here are a few of my favorite verses from there. 

“Make sure you obey every command and instruction Moses, Yahweh’s servant, gave you. Love Yahweh! He is your God, so walk in his ways and obey his commands! Cling to him and serve him diligently with all your heart and with all your soul!”

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭22‬:‭5‬ ‭TPT‬‬

“Now therefore, worship Yahweh with holy awe and serve him in authentic love and loyalty. Remove from your hearts every false god to whom your fathers bowed down beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and serve Yahweh. If it seems wrong in your eyes to serve Yahweh, then make your decision today which gods you will worship—the gods which your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods which the Amorites worship in the land where you are now living—but I and my family, we will give our lives to worship and serve Yahweh!”

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭24‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Back Home Normalcy

Since returning from almost 2 months in Canada and Michigan, I admit that it is nice to be back home. Home to my warm soft bed and a washing machine, home to all the conveniences of a house, and home to all my friends nearby.

The past few weeks I’ve been hiking a little more on the Buckeye Trail with my friend Liz. On one of our jaunts while hiking next to Caesar Creek we had the rare opportunity of seeing a buck in full rut chasing down a doe. I missed the video of her but 10 seconds after she crossed the path in front of us, this big boy came shamelessly crashing through the woods in hot pursuit. What an amazing thing to see! We considered how God is like this with us…pursuing us to show His love and to give us life! Maybe a stretch but it’s always my goal to find the lesson in everything!

Loving the cool mornings to get out and be able to hike and breathe fresh air into my lungs. Of course Brandon Lake’s song, Gratitude, came to mind as I inhaled going up the inclines and was washed over with a sense of so much thankfulness that I can do this!! Out of 1444 miles we have almost 14 miles under our belt now! I love it that Liz and I pick up trash along the way to beautify the BT for others! Honestly I’ve noticed more and more stiffness in my muscles in general and I’m not exactly sure why but hoping it’s just from the increased activity and not from some reason related to the drugs I’m on for cancer treatments. It’s been my experience that when something physical acts up that I can’t specifically explain, my brain likes to tempt me into thinking it’s something cancer related! Then I need to give it to God and remember these words from this song. In fact, if you read my blog from when I recently spent a month in the Canadian wilderness, you’ll remember that God literally calmed the waves and wind for me! He does miracles like this to remind me that His eyes indeed are on me through it all!

While John works on the WonderVan, I’m finding time for little projects like cutting firewood, sanding and staining a wooden bench, making Christmas gifts from Petoskey stones I got in Michigan, mountain biking our local trails, reading a good book trilogy called Out of Egypt by Connilyn Cossette and hiking with other friends. This is a photo special lady who shares a medical journey similar to mine where we can both say how grateful we are to God for giving us more time. I got to share my bench with her and we sat and worshipped together singing Gratitude!

I’m headed out tomorrow to visit my kids in Florida! Jonathan has been in Asia for the past 2 months and I can’t wait to give the guy a mama bear hug! My granddaughter turns 2 and this Granita will go celebrate being given the miracle gift of time with her which was one of my goals over 900 days ago!! So yes, I’m ringing my Gratitude Bell to thank God for all these precious sacred gifts that I do not take for granted!!