Cancer....free, babies, pun-kins & ribbons

It is absolutely crazy that it has already been 22 days since our last post. We have been very busy. I guess this way we don't have to wait for our vacation to get here, it is just going to smack us in the head the night before.


As a family, we got the best news in six months.....
MOM IS CANCER FREE!!!

The past couple of weeks I have been traveling for work- Fayetteville for a photo shoot and Hot Springs for a tradeshow. In between those events I have preparing our office to participate in the 2ND Annual WD&D Pumpkin Carving Contest (which i think was sabotaged/rigged) and the Tinkled Pink - where we decorate a port-o-potty for the Race for the Cure.


Here are some pictures of the port-o-potty - we don't know if we won yet- we better have!!!

Stephen joined us later and helped with all the detail work- i think he is the one that took the group photo - me, Courtney, Laura and Aaron. I know, you would want to use the potty in our bathroom!! We had all the tile and wallpaper donated. So it only cost us a/b $50 to decorate.

Before all of those events I hosted a baby shower for one of my long time friends! That was such a treat - however i do feel older by the day when my friends start having kids and Wes & Kelly have #2 in the oven. But no pressure, right?!
"In Gods time" is what i keep telling myself. Although we have had "the baby talk" but I will need to get off of my nerve pain medicine and that will be a TALL mountain to climb. Maybe I will talk more about that on another post.

Speaking of babies - Stephen & I are going to have to deal with "letting a stranger keep our baby for the first time" thing. I never knew finding a kennel that we were both comfortable with was going to be such a task! First we thought we had found someone Stephen works with to keep him, b/c come to find out they had one of JT's cousins only a month or two younger than him. Well, he was a little too rambunkcious (sp?) for dad and mom just wanted to know that he was going to be as loved there as he is at home. It will be funny to see how long we can go w/out calling the kennel to see if he's alright.

I will try to write again before we go on vacation!

What a weekend!

BIG DAM BRIDGE 100

This past week Stephen, Wes & P.D. (Amy's stepdad) participated in the Big Dam Bridge bike race. This race helps benefit the Arkansas Prostate Foundation. They chose to do the 25-mile course. They ended up doing 35 miles in a little over 2 hours with an average speed of 14.7 mph!! You can find out more about "the longest pedestrian bridge in the world" here.

I know they had such a wonderful time, however, it kicked their rear!! They were so exhausted but felt so good for completing a race. Plus, it was for a good cause - proceeds benefited the Prostate foundation.

OVARIAN CANCER AWARENESS!!

For those of you that do not know, my mom- Suzanne Holland, was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer in March. She just completed 6 months of chemotherapy. I do have to say that I think she has the prettiest bald head I have ever seen! No dents, no funny angles.

God has blessed us tremendously with this process. He allowed it to be caught fairly early and made the chemo process easier than most. She did have some nausea every time and fatigue - but other than that she has handled the drugs very well.

I will be posting more info on here about ovarian cancer "the silent killer."

If you just can't wait, the best website for more information is here at the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. They do a lot with the politics of funding as well. So when we need your help, I will post on here what you can do to get more awareness out there.

Here is a picture right after Stephen shaved her had back in May. We had a head shaving party! The whole losing the hair issue was a big one for mom to get over - she still isn't over it, would you? (and would probably kill me for putting this picture up here). It took a few times seeing it for me to get over it. But now, to me it signifies such strength and courage!

This weekend mom & I went to an Ovarian Cancer Retreat at the Arkansas Cancer Research Center (division of UAMS). It was informative but more for people currently going through everything. Mom's big question was "now what? - I've been through it, how do i get active again, etc."

When we got there for registration, on your tag it said if you were a survivor or a caretaker. If you were a survivor it just listed your name and the month and year you were diagnosed. For me, it had my name and underneath it "caretaker." To be honest, I wasn't really expecting it. It is a little weird to be identified as her "caretaker," it's that whole role reversal thing. My step-dad has done a GREAT job at taking care of her. That was just a little more for me to fully comprehend yet. I guess b/c a caretaker to me is someone that watches over the elderly or very ill and to me, mom isn't any of those things.

ONE SWEET DEVICE!

Stephen also bought his "first very own computer since high school" this weekend. We needed something just for home use and simple tasks. He was very pumped.

We hope everyone else had a blessed weekend, too!