Today I’m linking up with Jen for 7 Quick Takes and Cari for Theme Thursday: Craft. (Scroll down to #7 for that.) 🙂

~ 1 ~

I started writing these Quick Takes last night but I was having such a bad day that I was in no mood to write. Life has been super busy. The boys are sick with colds. Despite illness, Matthew has not slowed down from being a Terrible Twos poster child, driving me up the wall. Did I mention that I am also his human kleenex? He wipes his nose on me all the time. The other day he hugged me and them wiped his nose on my hair. On. My. Hair. I didn’t need any gel that day. It’s no wonder that yesterday I woke up sick myself.

I think all the cancer stress had finally worn me down. So today I cleared off my schedule completely. I am not stepping outside the house. I put Thomas the Train on for the boys and put their tracks where they could theoretically play quietly while I rest on the couch and maybe finish these quick takes. To be honest with you, I was upset last night but I am feeling better today. I’m still sick but at least I can laugh at the craziness now.

Since many of you have been asking how things are going, we are hanging in there. I just looked at the calendar and realized that it was one year ago on this day (it was the feast of the Baptism of Jesus) that Brian had his first surgery to remove the cancer in his body. Next Friday he has to go through it all over again. The surgeon called in a specialist to help so we had to wait two weeks for them to coordinate their schedules.

In one sense, everything seems normal. Brian is at work. I am busy at home and there are moments when I actually forget about it. But when I wake up in the morning, I’ll have this heaviness in my heart and wonder why. Then I remember…oh yeah, there’s a cancer eating away at my husband. Thankfully, there are so many of you praying for us and God’s grace is carrying us through so the moments of complete freak out are few. Also, a big, big thanks to those who prayed the St. Peregrine novena with us. 🙂

~ 2 ~

Source: The next recipe I want to try.

One big change we’ve gone through is our diet. The first time around, we made some dietary changes but definitely not enough. This time we have cut out processed food, take out, white flour and as much sugar as we can. (It’s hard to get completely rid of it since there seems to be sugar in everything) but there’s definitely no more of his favorite sugary baked goods. We’ve also started juicing and on the plus side of all this, Brian had been feeling really tired and run down but the other day for the first time he felt a lot better and energetic. I hope that is due to all the toxins flushing out of this body, particularly after all the junk food we ate over the holidays.

Giving up desserts has been hard especially since the family is used to having a sweet treat after Mass.  Since donuts and coffee cake are out, I am looking for an alternative. I did find a few muffin recipes using whole wheat and honey instead of sugar so I’m going to give those a try. Which reminds me, if you have a favorite healthy dessert recipe (or Pinterest board), let me know. It can be gluten free or use whole wheat flour but no white sugar. Thanks!

~ 3~

One thing that has helps us get through this tough time it to remember that we are not alone on our journey. The more we stop looking at ourselves and instead look around at others around us, we realize how many other people are carrying their own heavy crosses. There are numerous people asking for prayers. One prayer request that particularly moved me was from Dwija. One of her readers shared that their one month old daughter Cecilia was diagnosed with an an aggressive form of cancer. One month! At least my Brian is strong and able to fight…I can’t imagine if it were my little baby girl. So please pray for Baby Cecilia and learn how you can help them out.

It also goes to show that no matter how much you “plan out” your life, you never know where God will lead you. Sometime you are blessed beyond your wildest imagination. Sometimes you are asked to suffer in a way you hoped you’d never have to. It’s hard to let go and let God but somehow He manages to get us through. I was thinking about this when I read Annery’s heartfelt post Let Me Tell You of My Foolishness. I have been foolish far too many times.

~ 4~

However, don’t think that all my thoughts have been on the somber side. A sense of humor is what always seems to pull us up and get us through many tough times. That’s why I appreciate posts like Cari’s Seven Pre-Coffee Quick Takes. Besides loving her Lego commentary, I was couldn’t stop laughing when she said she didn’t like her kids calling their rear-ends a “booty.” I don’t know if it is totally normal but my boys are going through that “bathroom talk” phase where they love to talk about rear ends. They used to call it a “behind” until my brother once referred to it as a “boom-boom” and it has become their new favorite word.

They also love to watch the movie Despicable Me and one of their favorite scenes is when they dance at the end, particularly when Vector dances on the moon and smacks his behind as he’s dancing. It is their favorite dance move. It wouldn’t be so bad if they kept it in the home but the other day we were at Mass and they were acting up. At one point John-Paul started his Vector dance move and said, “Look mom, I’m shaking my boom-boom.” Matthew, who imitates everything JP does, smacks his own behind singing, “Oh, yeah.” Not exactly one one my finer mother moments. (Insert eye roll.)

~  5 ~

Photo source: 4Life4Life

Okay, another random blog post I loved was Carolyn’s post What’s in My Mompurse? {In Which I Pretend You Really Want to Know}. First she had me laughing with her “keeping it real” photo of the contents of her purse. Then the detailed container photos had be giddy with organizational ideas for my messy life. Not to mention that I carry around a bag that weighs almost as much as my 40 pound pre schooler.

A friend of mine hosts many baby showers for our moms group and she has this purse game where you get points for having various items in your bag. After wining the game a few times in a row I had to be banned from playing because I happen to carry around so many random things – Dried up cheese stick. Check. Church bulletin. Check. Roll of scotch tape. Check. Spanish maracas. Check. Don’t ask what those were doing in my bag but it may or may not have involved kids shaking their boom-booms singing, “Oh, yeah…”   😉

~ 6 ~

Photo source: A Knotted Life

Since I’ve been mentioning various blogs, Bonnie over at A Knotted Life is hosting The Second Annual Sheenazing Blogger Awards. You can nominate your favorite blogs in various categories like – Funniest, Coolest, Most Inspiring, Best Looking, Best Under appreciated, Best Link-up and more! How fun! My only problem is narrowing it down because I have far too many favorites!! Go check it out and vote. 🙂

~ 7 ~

Lastly, since I never got a chance to post it yesterday, here is my photo for Cari’s Theme Thursday: Craft. I love looking at all the other moms sewing and embroidering and knitting skills but I have ZERO skills in that department. I am more of a paper and pen gal than a needle and thread one. I have always wanted to scrapbook (I think the last one I did was when Bella was born over a decade ago) but I just don’t have the time. Instead I am giving Project Life a try. I’ve got my supplies and my photos ready, now I just have to put it all together and journal a few favorite memories. I’ll be doing a post on it in the future but there is a quick peek. 🙂

(Hey, and don’t forget to also  link up those crafty posts on the RoL Pinterest Party. I don’t think Cari would mind. 😉 )

Well, that’s it for today. Have a great weekend.

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