Thankful Thursday!

Hip, Hip - (you say, Hurraaaay!) Hip, Hip - Hurraaaay! Mama is STILL cancer-free. Our Miracle Mama is living up to her nickname!! Thank you, Lord, for this gift! What a fun Christmas we will have with Olivia and my Miracle Mama!

We are also very grateful to Sherri, who is in Haiti for her court appointment. She sent us this picture and note: "She (Patricia) REALLY wanted to make sure that I told you she loves and misses you so much. Even as we were getting ready to drive away she was in the window asking me to tell you :-)"
This of course brought tears of joy and sadness. It is bittersweet to be having another Christmas without them, but let me tell you, when these kids are home, what a celebration that will be!!! Love to get new pictures!!

Terrific Tuesday!

We just learned that my dear Miracle Mama is STILL CANCER FREE!! What amazing news!

Here is my mom in April of 2008, after she nearly passed away

(keep in mind that I took this picture because of how good she looked at the time!!)Here is my Mom (with my Dad) last week:
Amen! Praise the Lord! Love my MAMA!!!!!!!!

And it is my Dad's 83rd birthday today! We had them over for dinner, and he and Olivia had some sweet time together. He is one of the only people she goes to without a fuss - and she stays on his lap longer than anyone else's! We signed him up for his own Facebook account so that is pretty fun! :)

Dad making a goofy face!

Blowing out his candle

Olivia was wiped out!What a TERRIFIC TUESDAY!

Fantastic Friday!

I didn't get it posted in time to be Thankful Thursday, but my mom found out yesterday that she is still CANCER FREE!! If you don't know, we call her our Miracle Mama, as it is truly a MIRACLE that she is still here! Thank you, God, and YAY MAMA!

All Clear!

My Mama's last doctor appt was good news again! The "inoperable, incurable" cancer seems to be staying away! Thank you, Lord!

My Mama Drama

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that one of the things that made these holidays with everyone so special was that my Mama was here for it! Not just here, but cancer free and getting chubby cheeks! YAY!

April 5, 2008

January 1, 2009LOVE YOU, MIRACLE MAMA!

Fortunate Friday (or Sweet Saturday!)

My Mama had her second three month follow up appt this week to make sure we keep tabs on this ugly cancer business. The tumor marker is supposed to be 35 or less. Three months ago it was 13. Her doc (we love you, man!) said that even if the number went up a little this would not be cause for concern. Well, he said we would have results Wednesday or Thursday and when Friday rolled around and we hadn't heard anything, I bugged her to bug them. She said that they said we wouldn't hear until Monday (AAAGH!). Then, at 5:13, she called me and said they called and the results are "excellent". It didn't go up! It actually went DOWN (12)!

She is such a reminder to have BIG FAITH. She believed she would be healed. We were scared of her faith because it was so big. Some people have told me that when she was on her deathbed in March, that my faith that she would be ok scared them. Please take something from her illness. PLEASE. Ask God to give you big faith for something. Something that seems impossible. Like a 77 year old woman with inoperable stage 3C ovarian cancer with pneumonia, a staph infection, a blood infection (totally septic), a skin condition and on a ventilator in the ICU for 17 days surviving. Surviving three deadly infections, any one of which could have killed her on it's own. Surviving inoperable cancer.

We took this picture because this was the best she had looked for so long. She finally got her tubes out and we could see what makes up so much of my Mama. Her SMILE.

And look at her now. WOW. I simply LOVE this woman. I can't even tell you how much or how big. You have to know her to really get it.

She doesn't remember any of her ICU stay and not that much of her rehab, either. My Dad and I joke that we wish we didn't remember it, either. Sometimes (always with a tear strolling down my cheek) I wonder how my Dad, (who was receiving radiation treatments for his own cancer all the while she was in the hospital), and Lee and I made it through the daily hospital visits (I had 45 days in a row until I got sick) and through all the feeding tube stuff and meds once she came home. FOUR months of non-stopness. But then the lightbulb goes off. It was the Lord who brought us through and it was the prayers of all of you who carried us and gave us extra strength, extra grace, extra sleep, extra stamina, and everything else we needed to be there for HER. Thank you all.

...and still no cancer...WOW.

What a Fortunate Friday. What a blessed girl I am.

Ovarian Cancer Walk

Saturday was the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance SILENT NO MORE walk.

It was borderline chilly out there as the rain fell. It stopped about half way through, and after we all got to our cars it started back up and never stopped. Even rained all day today, too!

Mama couldn't walk that distance so she got to ride :) Well, Isaac did, too!

The color used for Ovarian Cancer Awareness is Teal. The survivors wore teal shirts. They handed out teal bandanas. Even the port-a-pottys were teal!

We had a great time, in spite of the rain! Thanks to everyone who sponsored us!

Sadly, our friend Amy, lost her mother to ovarian cancer just last week.

This is Team Flossie, an impressive group! Family, friends and numerous co-workers of Flossie turned out to walk in honor and in memory of Flossie. We continue to pray for Amy and her family at this very difficult time.

Updates...

Us: We just got home from our wonderful vacation! We have a ton of pictures, but have no fear, you will be subjected to them we will gladly share them with you!

Mama: It was one year ago today that we learned my miracle mama had cancer. While I am grateful that she is doing so well after almost dying, I am scared of her cancer returning. I am especially feeling weird because one of our friends from the Twin Cities Chinese adoption community just lost her mom to the same kind of cancer. Her mom was diagnosed one month before my mom was and she was diagnosed with the same stage - Ovarian, Stage 3c. It rocks my world a bit, along with simply feeling so sad for Amy and her family. Cancer stinks. We all know that. But we hear the word so often I think we get numb to it. Until it is you. Or your mom. Or dad. Or in my case, BOTH your mom and dad. Please, if you know anyone who has a family member fighting cancer, send them a card and tell them you are praying for them. The cards I got meant so much. Of course emails are great, but there is something about getting a card in the mail that touches people. I can't be alone in that! Ok, so I am being reminded to trust the Lord and not worry...it is hanging on my wall right in front of me..."Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers." Phil. 4:6. I know. I know. Just. gotta. stop. Please pray for Amy and her family! Thanks.

China: Three years ago today we decided to adopt from China. I have nothing else to say about this because you can already imagine what Lee and I think about that as we still sit here without Olivia.

Haiti: The third tropical storm in three weeks is really taking its toll on this small, desperate country. The world has gotten so much smaller since our children are so far away.... Here is a very short video from the BBC. Here is a report bringing some hope!

GONAIVES, Haiti — A ship carrying 33 tons of U.N. relief supplies managed to dock Friday, the first significant aid delivery after four days without food or water for thousands of survivors from Tropical Storm Hanna. Soldiers with assault rifles stood guard in the crumbling port while dockworkers offloaded 15 metric tons of relief supplies from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The container ship was loaded with bottled water, 36,000 water-purification tablets, 16 metric tons of high-energy biscuits and two metric tons of rice, along with cooking oil and other supplies managed by the U.N.'s World Food Program.

Belching white smoke from its stack, the Tres Rivieres ship was able to dock after the Argentine soldiers worked through the night with heavy equipment to drop boulders into a gap in the pier left by the storm. They aimed to distribute the biscuits and water within hours to emergency shelters where 40,000 people were marooned and increasingly desperate.

For more of the article and photos, click here. Please pray for our children, whose orphanage is in Port-au-Prince, and please pray for Haiti.

Another Fundraising Garage Sale! (and Mama Update!)

Several weeks ago, we started going from room to room clearing out things we no longer used or needed to make room for three more people in this house. In short order it turned into the very real need to have a garage sale. So we had a sale on Saturday and raised another $250 to go toward the adoptions. We sold bottled water and baked goods, too.

I added everything up just for the adoptions (all three kids) and it comes to about $60,000...probably more. This includes fees for the US government; fees to get documents; to get documents certified, apostilled, sealed, etc.; translation fees; foreign government fees; agency fees; fingerprinting fees; homestudy fees; re-fingerprinting fees; homestudy updates; travel fees; etc, etc. You will get bored if you aren't already, and I don't want to lose you here. The bottom line is that every bit of money we can raise helps!

On the phone with my mother-in-law who called to see how it was all going.

We had us some HIGH drama during the sale. A HUGE turtle was trying to cross the four lane county road next to our street. A customer asked for a snow shovel and picked the turtle up and put him back on the side of the road. After he did this, he said that the turtle will probably try to cross again since he wanted to get where he was going. I told my dad this and we wondered why the man didn't just carry him across to where he was headed. Dad said, go check on Mr. Turtle and see if he was indeed trying to cross back. I looked into the woods. Didn't see him. Huh. I guess he didn't decide to cross the street. I turned around to go back and almost stepped on the guy. Ugly, huh? Look at that TAIL!! He had to be 40 or 50 years old.

So, Daddy came to the rescue and this time we put him on the OTHER side of the road.

Up close of Mr. Turtle's Wild Ride

For just being rescued from certain death he wasn't very grateful. Here he is looking at my Dad and giving him the business.

Shortly thereafter, Mama spotted this little critter trying to cross, too. Where are all the turtles headed? Is there a convention in town? So my friend, Carla the vet, and I, go get him and take him across the four lane road. All of a sudden Abby is there. WHA?? My poor Mom nearly had a heart attack watching Abby run after us and cross that road. She hasn't gotten her voice back fully since all the Mama Drama so her "yelling" at Abby to stop did nothing. Mom said there were tons of cars (there are four-way stops, not lights, nearby) and then a clearing and she bolted across in those few seconds where there were no cars. We are so thankful she didn't get hit by a car. I suppose if she had I would have been grateful that our vet was with me, but thankfully it wasn't that situation.

Here is Abby, resting on a rug in the driveway (sold it!) Behind is the four lane road.

Lastly, here is the latest picture of my MOM!! Doesn't she look FAB? Her hair is really coming in and it is more wavy than it was before.

Ovarian Cancer Walk! Sponsor Me! Sponsor Me!

In honor of my dear Mama, I am going to walk in the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance (MOCA) Silent No More 9th Annual Walk/Run on September 13th. My mother was diagnosed on September 6, 2007 and boy have our lives changed since then. My Mom has been through SO much in the past 11 months. I cry just thinking about it all. Seriously. Anytime I ponder it, I start tearing up! You just never believe THAT word will affect YOUR family. I remember the SHOCK I felt about my Dad's cancer. The shock was twice as bad about my Mama, because there was such little hope floating around. Stage IIIc out of 4 stages, words like "inoperable", survival rates, etc. But the Lord is in charge and HE has seen my Mama (and all of us) through.

Ovarian cancer has been called a silent killer because the symptoms are often things we experience as women anyway:
- Bloating Pelvic or abdominal pain
- Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly
- Feeling a frequent or urgent need to urinate

ONE OF MY GOALS IS TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THIS DEADLY DISEASE, FOR WOMEN TO BE AWARE OF THE SYMPTOMS SO THAT MAYBE ONE MORE LIFE CAN BE SPARED. It is better to get checked and find out that it is nothing than to "put up and shut up".

Also, it was so hard for my Mom to tell something was wrong because she was having many bladder infections which cause the same symptoms as listed above! Her surgery to move a tube (in the wrong place since birth) is how they found her cancer. However, I noticed something was wrong before that. I attributed it to the aforementioned problem, but looking back, I wish I had pushed for more. If you notice something is off, don't excuse it.

If you live locally and would like to walk with me and be a part of "TEAM PAULINE", registration is $20 and that includes a t-shirt and quality time with me! I am not a runner, so I will be WALKING the 2K part, not running the 5K part. We can walk slow! It isn't a race! So think about joining me.

My other goal is for "TEAM PAULINE" to get to the $500 mark. If you would like to sponsor me, I will collect your pledge personally (make checks out to MOCA); you can mail it to MOCA, 4604 Chicago Avenue SouthMinneapolis, MN 55407; or you can do it directly here, whatever is easiest for you. Just make sure you enter Pauline Wilson under the "WHO SHOULD THIS DONATION BE PLEDGED TO?" part on the website or include a note that it is to be pledged to her if you mail it in.

The money generated from Silent No More helps Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance (MOCA) will:

- Fund ovarian cancer research
-Raise awareness of the disease through medical education programs and awareness campaigns
-Provide support to women with ovarian cancer and their families

1 in 57 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. For more facts, click here.

I am doing this post in TEAL as that is the color of the ovarian cancer ribbon :) Thank you for your consideration and PLEASE! Be grateful for your health today!

Now THIS is PROGRESS!!

April 8May 7 June 7Cravings are a funny thing. My Mama has been craving a corn dog for a few months now. Of all the food in the world she wants a corn dog! :) Well, the great news is that Mom has PASSED her swallow test and can eat solid food now! Her speech therapist, Garrett, told her, "You can go eat a corn dog now!" So I took her to the A & W Drive In and she finally got to eat one! Mom hasn't been shy about her bald head - if someone looks at her a smidge too long in the store she will whip off her hat and say, "Wanna see it? Ain't I cute?" So of course she was totally fine with it when I asked if I could blog her peach fuzz. It is really coming in! Good thing, too, because it is getting too hot to wear a hat or scarf!
Sincere gratitude to all who have supported me and my Mom through this whole thing. The emails, notes, calls, cards, thoughts and prayers have sustained us both. Thank you so much!!