Remembering the 4 W's...who what when where....

Hi all!...

I started this blog when I was wanting to share my cards and enter different challenges.  I have had a personal blog for almost 5 years now and I really didn't want to mix the two.  My other blog is more personal and I post pictures of the family and what is happening in our life.  It is a way to stay connected to friends and relatives that don't live close to me.  And I didn't think it was appropriate to add in cards to the mix and so I have kept them separate.   And I still will, but I have so many wonderful blog friends from around the world...specifically in The Netherlands that mean so much to me and have been sending me cards extending their prayers and thoughts for both my daughter and me.

So I am adding a link to the sidebar for my personal blog "Remember the 4 W's".  It is there if you would like to read the news about our "cancer journey" together.  My daughter was diagnosed with lymphoma and one week into the diagnosis I was diagnosed with a tumor on my lung.  My daughter has had one chemo treatment and I saw the surgeon today and I wrote about it on the other blog.  You can choose to go there if you want to read about our story. 

For now I have been making Thank You cards for my daughter using the "Faith and Hope" stamp set from PTI...You all would NOT believe the community support for my daughter's fight with this stage four lymphoma.  She is receiving gifts almost every day...and she receives four meals a week, delivered to her front door.  She has a "tab" at a local corner grocery store and people drop in and just leave $20 to add to the tab!  Last night someone she really doesn't even know brought over three meals, brownies and sleepwear from a very nice clothing store!  Unbelievable and overwhelmingly generous, kind and wonderful friends and so many others in the community.  She is so blessed and has apparently touched many many lives with her spirit and her goodness of heart.  She is loved and in return she loves all of them.  On Monday, we are all donning our "TEAM DINA"  T-shirts and Sweatshirts and having a group picture taken...shhh...it is a surprise for her!

So thank you all for your continued support and love from near and far...especially to my best blogging friend EVER, Jose!  And from Jose, I have met Anja, Marjan, Cornelie, Monique who have shown their love and concern with their hand made cards!  I thank you from the bottom of my heart!!

I will be making cards again, and hopefully soon, but I am doing whatever I can to help my daughter right now.  They live right next door to us and she has three children, so while I am able, I am helping with transportation to school or sports activities, grocery shopping, washing the sheets, folding clothes...anything that will help her to take care of herself.  On Nov. 26 I will be having surgery where the lower lobe of my left lung will be removed in order to remove the tumor, so I will be out of commission for a little while.  But...I  WILL be back...so don't stay away too long!!

Thank you all for your prayers and love!

Thank You cards for my daughter to send out

Dina has been touched by so many people in this lymphoma journey she is on...friends, family, church people, the community in general are all supporting her in so many different ways.  Some days she comes home and finds a gift bag on her front porch...and Mon - Thur there are meals left in a cooler on her front porch.  She was told NOT to send out thank you's for the food...people want to do it and she does not have to send out cards...she is sending out a quick text thanking the individuals for the meals.  But seriously, for the generous gifts and kindness so many friends are giving her she just feels it requires a personal note of gratitude.  I gave her some thank you cards from my stash, but I had just ordered the Hope and Faith Stamp set from PTI, and I decided I needed to make cards with that stamp and do it all in "lime green" as that is the designated color for lymphoma cancer.

A few weeks ago a friend asked Dina her favorite bible verse and this one came to mind:  Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding .  This friend worked with a local sporting goods store to have T-shirts and Sweatshirts available in purple with lime green lettering .  The front of the shirts say:  "Fight like a girl" and the cancer ribbon symbol has the words: team Dina on it.  The backs all have the bible verse on it.  So I made a bookmark with the bible verse and stamped the ribbon in spring moss and cut a slit in the front of the card so it can be pulled out and used.  I think you can read the inside of the card clearly enough and then of course a BIG THANK YOU!

Just today she came home and found two gift bags on her porch...she is being showered with love and special attention because she is a special lady.  People world wide are praying for her and I wouldn't have it any other way.  And I just want to thank all my blogging friends from near and far for your prayers and support during this time!  You ladies are awesome!

Here is Dina ( in gray shirt) after getting her hair cut by friend Kari

Another reason for no time to craft

Well, you will NOT believe this...I have cancer too!  Isn't that just crazy?  But I believe mine will be easier to remove...we will know more after three days of scans coming up this week.  Basically what happened was back in August I thought I was having a kidney stone while on vacation...so we went to the hospital and they did a CT scan, while doing the scan for the kidney, they picked up a lower portion of my lung and saw a small mass on it.  The ER doctor told me to check it out further...which I did.  I had another scan and it showed 1/2 inch nodule that was not calcified.  I had a needle biopsy this last week and it came back as a cancerous tumor...now we think the good news is that this type of tumor can be surgically removed.  After more testing we will learn if this is the only one (praying!) and be able to proceed.  Between Dina and me we are keeping the family very stressed!  Dina has it worse though, because of the lesion on her bone eroding the bone and causing the pain.  She has one more CT scan on Monday and will then start her chemo infusion on Friday.

I just wanted to let you all know.  We spent this Friday night and Saturday at a Women of Faith conference and it was just what we needed...to be lifted up with his Grace and Mercy, to sing words of praise and to remember that He is our comforter, our strength and our Heavenly Father who pours out His love for us.

God bless you all.

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