Saturday, July 28, 2007

Happy Birthday!

Happy 30th, excuse me, 29th Birthday Tisha! I know I already got you that rockin’ pool basketball set for your birthday, but I have one last gift. I have composed a beautiful touching poem to honor you on this special day.

Happy Birthday Tisha
This Birthday Wish I Send Ya
That Your 30th Year Will Be
A Year of Prosperity
A Hallmark Card This is Not
But I love You a Whole Darn Lot
So Happy Birthday to You
And Happy Independence Day to Peru!

So not only is this a birthday blog, but a world history lesson! Ok, so that was a sad attempt at humor, but Mom and I do have one last gift for you: OUR SMILING FACES! (Insert cheers and loud applause). That’s right, Mom and I are in a hotel less than 10 miles from you house and will shortly be on your doorstep to surprise you! We love you!!!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Keeping Young

Our family spent this past weekend together celebrating Metisha’s birthday a week early. Birthday celebrations are low key in our family, but we always seem to add our own odd activities. So this year’s celebration started out with a cake decorating contest. My husband’s (Jeremy) birthday is two weeks after Metisha’s, so Mom decorated Metisha a cake and Tisha decorated Jeremy a cookie cake. Each chef picked a theme and was responsible for providing their decorating materials. Mom picked Little Mermaid for Tisha’s cake while Metisha picked Cars for Jeremy’s cookie. Mark made voting ballots and 1st and 2nd place ribbons. It was a heated battle but Metisha won the blue ribbon and she didn’t “play the cancer card” to win! That story brings a few points to mind. First, our family really likes to eat. Second, our family really likes Disney. Third, we are a competitive family. Fourth, the entertainment options are few in the small town of Fairview.

We continued with the “young” atmosphere and moved from the Disney themed cakes to presents which included a pool basketball set. The next day Tisha and I and decided to re-live high school and “drag main”. Stop laughing; again, there are not many entertainment options in Fairview. Apparently 8 pm is a little early for the Fairview night life because Main Street was quiet so we just cruised around town. We ended up at our old elementary school that appeared to be a safe haven for all of God’s little creatures. First, we saw a pretty little white bunny rabbit setting in the grass. Then we saw a speedy green turtle climbing off the sidewalk onto the grass. Metisha thought we would see a rainbow next, but it never appeared. So after we laughed about the perfect little elementary school moment, we decided to take advantage of the play ground equipment. We spent about 30 minutes on the twisting slides, wave teeter-totter, wooden bridge, scooters and monkey bars. We had a great time but did realize that even though we are young in spirit, the bodies are too out of shape for the monkey bars!

Our small hometown of Fairview has been hit hard by cancer. Metisha is the third person from her high school class to develop breast cancer and this week we learned that another of her high school friends, Jeff, has been dealt the cancer card. They do not yet know the source of his cancer but they have begun the exhaustive tests this week. So we want to extend the prayer request and join Jeff’s family in the prayer battle.

Continue to pray for total healing as Metisha has a mammo on Thursday and a PET scan on Friday. We also praise God for two women that have given Metisha a legacy of beating breast cancer. Grandma Karber’s cancer has been in remission for over a decade and Tisha’s high school classmate Amber is also a breast cancer survivor. We praise God as we believe Metisha will soon join the legacy of women who viciously beat cancer!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Last Round, Hopefully ….

Tisha had her 6th round of chemo yesterday. She’s feeling ok so far; just tired. We are praying this is her last round of Pac-Mans. She is definitely had her fill of the Pac-Mans, a bald head, and eating ice during the treatments. But she continues to keep her strength and a positive attitude.

She will have a new mammo and PET scan on the 26th and 27th and then the oncologist and surgeon will decide on the next steps. We are praying the liver spot is completely gone so that liver surgery is not necessary. Pray for wisdom for the doctors.

Tisha’s birthday is on July 28th and it is one of the milestone birthdays. I won’t say the exact number but it begins with a 3 and ends with a 0. Some women would probably want to spend this momentous day being pampered at a spa or having a nice dinner party, but that doesn’t really fit Tisha’s spirit. She has instead requested a themed birthday party like Strawberry Shortcake or Care Bears. That’s one of my favorite characteristics of my big sister – she always care free and lighted hearted!

Continue to pray with us. Pray for total healing, that she can be done with chemo, that no liver surgery will be needed, and for peace and continued faith in healing as we wait for the upcoming scans.