Cancer, Cody and Christmas

Once again, I have been a total blog-slacker since Thanksgiving. It has actually been a really difficult month, and just like earlier this fall, I wasn't sure how to blog about random, happy things when my mind was so consumed with painful and sad things. As many of you know by now, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this fall. It was a total shock to my family and it seemed like everything else in life faded into the background as we all struggled to understand how this had happened, what the best course of action would be and watched my mom attend multiple different appointments at different hospitals to figure out what the next step was. She ended up having a mastectomy on December 8th at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. She was blessed with the most incredible surgeon who she totally trusted (Kerri is actually a really good friend of one of my friends that I work with at Proctor and our whole family fell in love with her) and after the first week of recovery, we received that great news that all the cancer was removed and none of it had spread! It was such an answer to prayer and my mom won't be needing any follow-up treatment!!! Here are some pictures from our day at the hospital...
My mom playing with Camden in the hallway while we waited for her to be admitted into surgery...

My mom and Camden reading together. She was thankful to have Camden there to help keep her distracted...

My beautiful mother just after her surgery...

We brought lots of pictures of our family in to help make her little area feel more homey. It's hard to believe but it was just a day surgery and she had to come home that evening. Even so, we're glad we brought things to make it feel homey.

My mom is doing amazingly well. She is healing properly, has great energy, had tons of delicious meals made for her during her recovery from all of our caring neighbors and friends and is committed to making lots of lifestyle changes (eating healthier and organically, exercising, etc...) to make sure the cancer doesn't return. Thank you for all your prayers - our family definitely felt God's healing and provision during this time. Check out my sister's blog for her reflections on my mom's cancer.

"When it rains, it pours..." I guess you could say that this fall/early winter hasn't exactly been the easiest season for us. In addition to struggling through a personal loss of our own and worrying and fearing the worst for my mom, we also had to say goodbye to our beloved dog, Cody, after sharing 14 1/2 incredible years of our lives with her. We got Cody when she was just a tiny puppy when I was 13 years old. I helped train her in those early months, she used to sleep on my bed with me and keep me company when I was board or lonely and she used to love going swimming with us and going on long walks - I've never seen a dog so completely obsessed with chasing a tennis ball either! She was half black lab and half golden retriever - the perfect combination. I am honestly not a huge dog person in general, but I LOVED Cody more than anything. I always tell Scott that if I knew our dog would be just like Cody I would be excited to get one, but otherwise I don't need one. Cody has been sick for a while now - she had lymes disease and also had a big tumor growing in her chest that spread down her leg. It was really difficult for her to walk and it got to the point that we all knew it was time to say goodbye. I miss her so much - she was a beautiful dog and a wonderful companion to everyone in my family. We were lucky to have her in our lives.



On a happier note, we have had a WONDERFUL vacation so far and truly enjoyed all our Christmas festivities this year! Some highlights were spending a few days in Vermont with the Allenbys, enjoying Christmas eve at our family friends the McAllister's house as we do every year, spending Christmas morning just the three of us at home and spending a couple days with my parents, sister and her family and grandparents! We've even had time to go on nice walks in the snow and spend lots of down time together as a family! Here are some pictures of our last week or so!

We attempted to make a gingerbread train from one of those little kits. They make it sound so easy, but it was tough! Obviously, ours didn't come out very well, but we had fun working on it together as a family!


Out for a snowy walk with my boys...

Camden...

Playing Legos in Vermont. Scott and his brother Brian (and Sarah until she realized that it was a never-ending project!) spent HOURS digging through all their old legos and creating a lego mansion. It was pretty entertaining, and Camden had fun "helping out"...
Gathered around singing some Christmas songs with the Macs on Christmas Eve...
Camden and Clara playing some instruments as we sing carols...

Our little Christmas tree on Christmas Eve...

Stockings hung with care (I WISH they were hanging by a chimney...some day we'll have a home with a fireplace!)
Camden opening one of his presents. It was still dark out, but we were all up early and were excited to get started!

My LL Bean presents from Scott! A down jacket and boots for the snow (Yes, I've lived in New Hampshire my entire life and didn't own a winter jacket or boots...Now I do! YAY!)

Camden working on his new puzzle at his adorable little table that Nan just refinished for him! Thank you, Nan and Pop!

Here's a little video (in bad quality...sorry!) of Camden dancing with Ami and Bepa on Christmas morning. He loves spinning in circles when he hears music and he usually gets so dizzy he falls down! It's pretty cute! n

It was a beautiful snowy day today and we had a blast bringing Camden for a walk in his sled. We honestly haven't spent much time outside in the snow with him since it's been either freezing temperatures or whipping wind all winter. Today was a perfect day though!





We are so thankful for all of God's blessings in our lives. Despite a difficult season in many ways, we have also seen God's provision and healing in ways we never have before. Needless to say, we're looking forward to a year of HEALTH and HAPPINESS in 2010!