Ok, so here we...

are, almost at the end of May already.. geez, it must be true when you hear people say that time goes faster the older you get!

Sad news to report.. I told most of you on your various blogs, but for those who haven't heard (or would like to hear it again HAHAHA), my mom's older sister (second oldest) has a recurrence of her cancer; only this time it has gotten into her chest bone. I have absolutely no doubts that she will make a full and complete recovery, since she's responding so well to the treatments, the fact that they caught it early and it's something identifiable. (chemo and radiation are the treatments she's enduring). IF it comes down to it, I have even offered to donate my bone marrow to her (and I'm completely serious). In fact, I'm going to contact the National Marrow Registry next week to ask a few questions and give them my medical history (God, I hope they don't write a book), since it's a pretty lengthy one.

This is the THIRD family member in the past seven months that has been inflicted with this dreaded disease - two of which have passed on. I have mixed emotions about it. On one hand, it's just awful that cancer, at least to me, has made an incredible resurgance (at least in our family) and we need to do EVERYTHING in our power to stop it.. and to tell you the truth, cancer research has become a "back burner" type thing, which just sickens me. On the other hand, I'm almost becoming used to the idea of people dying in the family, and I'm not liking it at all.

I mean, yes, I know when people get older, they die. I know that's what God put us on this earth for; to be born of His image, live out his "works" and then we're given back to Him.. and for that, we should be eternally grateful that He would allow us to do this. For someone like me, who is TOTALLY family oriented and so into family functions, it's hard for me to accept death.

Someone had asked me one time if the reason that it's so hard me to accept it is because I haven't really done anything with my life (I'm not putting myself down) and haven't become an active member of society. The answer was yes. I know what my calling is, but haven't done anything to further my advancement (for lack of finding better words) in that. Yes, I did spend four of the most GLORIOUS years of my life working with children at a before and after school day care setting. I can't tell you what that meant to me; so in that respect, I believe PARTIALLY "completed" my calling. But in the end, when it's time for me to face our Lord on Judgment Day, is that going to enough for Him to say, "Thank you, good and faithful Servant"? I honestly don't know. Believe me, I'm not real anxious to find out either (not until it's time to).

I know, in recent months, I have had some medical issues that have come up (not getting into it here) that have prevented me from "furthering my advancement", and I know your health is always first, so I'm gonna take care of that. But if it turns out that I'm not gonna be able to, what then? (This was written as a rhetorical question, but I will accept any and all comments).

I apologize for such a lengthy post, but I wanted my feeling shown and known, which, as you can see, I'm not afriad to hide.

This is my family...

This was taken Thanksgiving '07. Top Row, L-R is my niece Erika, Krysti, Jeff, Lorraine, Paul and Patti; (Jeff, Paul and Patti are my siblings) Middle Row: are Dad, Mom and myself; On the Floor are Allison, Maddie, Casey and Haley.

Tomorrow is...

my BIRTHDAY!!!! YIPEEEE!! I'm gonna be 38 years old. I know I'm sort of tooting my own horn, but I'm so blessed to be turning another year older. Due to my earlier medical issues, I wasn't supposed to live past the age of five; and then more recently, I had a bout with cancer (in my 16th year of being cancer free). God obviously has something to do with that, and I thank Him for allowing me to see another year.

Nothing new going on. Just waiting for July to roll around (described in last months' post).

More birthdays next month, as my oldest brother and youngest niece will be celebrating (5th and 25th, respectively).

Tomorrow, I'm going to see some cousins that rarely come down. Their children are dancers, so I'm gonna go and watch them.

Wow...

I can't believe we're almost at the end of March already. I hope everyone had a blessed Easter.

Yesterday, (Easter, obviously) was spent at my parents house. I went to church with the folks and my sister and then we had 14 for our traditional Italian brunch. We had a great time spending time together. We also played a dice game called LCR; it's with money and I won one game (about $33.00, all in singles), one of my brothers won one and my 10 year old nephew won the last one.

I'm slowly getting my life in order. I'm paying all my bills through the respective websites, so I don't have to worry about getting anything in on time, especially when I'm not feeling well. I'm keeping a calendar of all my appointments (and there has been a ton of those lately, mostly medical).

This summer, if I didn't mention it before, my friend and I are "doing Vegas". We're going to go see Donny and Marie Osmond, which I've never done before. It's been like ten years I've been to Vegas, so I'm really looking forward to it.

That's about all I have to report this month. Happy Spring, everyone.

Nothing new

to report. I'm still walking my little legs off; I'm up to a mile already..hoping to increase to two miles this week. In total, I've lost 23 (so far) pounds since September.

Next month I go have my cholesterol and other stuff checked. I'm thinking that my cholesterol is WAY down because of the exercising. Last year, I got it down 30 points; so I'm very much looking forward to seeing what it is now.

I've also started back with Karate (TaeKwonDo) this month. I'm also looking forward to starting Yoga with my blogger friends I'm losing the weight with.

So, as you can see, I've been very busy with the exercising. Yes, I'm eating, but not very much. Only concentrating on the healthy things in the food department.

Yesterday, we celebrated my niece's 8th birthday at my brother's house. Her two little cousins from my SIL's side of the family was there, so that made it more fun for her. Her actual birthday was Saturday.

Until next month...

Happy 2008...

everyone. I'm hoping it's gotten off to a great start.

It certainly has for me. I started this "Biggest Blogger Loser" thing with some friends of mine; since starting, I've lost a few pounds, but since I think October, I've lost like 24!! I'm feeling GREAT...the best I've probably ever felt. I started walking since starting this thing.

Healthwise, I'm starting to have problems with the leg that had the blood clot in it again; but it's not that bad.

Well, November...

didn't end in a very good way for us. We lost (my mom, actually) a very dear friend of the family to cancer. My sister also lost a very dear friend to the same thing. That's why I wanted my Christmas gift this year to go to the American Cancer Society (we draw names in our family so we only buy for one person - except for the kids - and our limit is $75, so instead of getting a gift this year, I wanted to donate). I did it in the memories of two people that we lost this year (the friend I mentioned above and my brother's mother-in-law) and my aunt, who we lost almost five years ago from pancreatic cancer.

I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and a joyous and safe New Year. Please let us remember the reason for the season. I'm hoping and praying that 2008 brings the family adopting from Africa the precious gift they're anxiously waiting for.

Merry Christmas everyone.