Epic Christmas Relationships: Epilations

Tonight, our young couple group met to celebrate our Savior’s birth. We had a lot of laughs, shared our favorite Christmas traditions, ate great food, enjoyed a white elephant gift exchange, and played a spirited game of Catch Phrase. The house was full of couples and their children, and my heart was overwhelmed with love as I observed and enjoyed our LIFE group.

We howled with laughter or oohed and ahhed, as we opened the creative and hilarious white elephant gifts. Our version of white elephant required a gift from home you did not want or need, wrapped to bless someone else. We had an assortment of Christmas decorations, Japanese gifts which needed translation, pictures of the family who gave the gift, and even a bathroom guest book. The laughter and jokes flowed around the room all evening.

As I watched and tried to capture a few pictures of the event, my heart overflowed. There are no pictures that can express the love and connection felt in this room. This is exactly what Jesus meant by love your neighbor. Gathering to celebrate each other’s successes and life events, and supporting each other through the struggles of this life is what Jesus calls us to do.

Tonight, we gathered in a circle of friends and discussed our favorite traditions at Christmas, and we prayed for those who are struggling with feelings of loneliness and loss. God is at the center of our marriages, as we seek to build our personal relationships with Jesus and our spouse. The beautiful thing about living in this circle, is knowing we are never alone. Our friendships are growing deeper, and we are excited for opportunities to spend time together. We are building Godly, epic relationships. Hence, the name chosen for our group tonight…(Drum Roll Please…) “Epilations.”

The Gardner household now has a log for our guest bathroom.

Comments

Buella (cancer) Has Spread

Buella was entirely removed along with five lymph nodes and all the breast tissue they could remove on both sides. The tissues and tumor were sent for pathological testing. The report came back and was not what we hoped for. Buella has spread to the lymphovascular system, lymph nodes, and tissue around the nodes. Buella was also less than 1 mm away from the chest wall, so cancer cells are likely in the chest wall too. The tumor grade was thought to be a Grade 1 before surgery (not aggressive), and has now been determined to be a Grade 3 (most aggressive and has the highest recurrence rate). The news was hard to receive as I was praying for it to be all contained in the single tumor, and that would mean just surgeries and careful watching for a bit. However, this is not the story of my journey. I will need radiation, and we are waiting for the Oncotype test to come back to determine the need and type of chemotherapy. This will take 4 weeks, and we cannot start any treatment u...

Well, Poo: Update on Cancer Treatment

The radiation oncologist entered our room in a medical halo, looking very uncomfortable and much like an image of Frankenstein. He was healing after suffering an injury to his neck in a swimming pool two weeks ago. "How are you doing?" he asked with genuine care and concern. "Well, obviously, better than you at this point," I replied as I internally scolded myself for complaining about the rough nights sleeping in a recliner the past 6 weeks. He smiled and said, "Yeah, maybe so." Then we got down to business. He reminded me that before surgery, we had discussed the possibility of doing radiation. He had laid out some clear signs that it would be necessary. Buella (the cancer) had spread to the nodes (CHECK) Tumor is greater than 2 cm (CHECK) There are cancer cells in the Lymphovascular system (CHECK) There are unclean or close margins from tumor edges to chest wall (<1 mm CHECK) You are premenopausal (CHECK) Each component increases the odds of lo...

What a BALDLY Beautiful Day!

Today is a day of goodness and joy, not of despondency and fear. A day when I was blessed to wake up next to my best friend of thirty years, in a home that God has helped us build, filled with love and hope. A day to be thankful for all the ways our compassionate Father shows His faithfulness, and another opportunity for His love to transform and deepen my relationship with Jesus. Going bald is a side effect of chemotherapy, and it is one I kept pushing down the road on this breast cancer journey as much as I could. The hair has been falling out for weeks, and the loss intensified after the third chemotherapy round. The handfuls of hair coming out in the shower were scary at first, and then as the nausea grew worse with the medicine, the more overwhelming it felt. Gavin had to comb and remove as much as he could on days I was really nauseated while I kept my eyes shut. However, something I never knew was the actual pain involved when the hair follicles are dying, and the wei...

Inside the Mind of an Educator

Search This Blog