MY CHARITY

"Count Your Many Blessings Angels will Attend, Help and Comfort Give you Until Your Journey's End"

I was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in November of 2011.  My previous blog posts outline my journey with this horrible disease.  A disease I would wish upon NO ONE!  I had metastatic tumors in my right lung and behind my tailbone.  I was very lucky to have no liver involvement.  I have been so blessed.  My journey is a MIRACLE!   This past Friday I looked at the survival statistics for Stage IV colorectal cancer.  There is an 11% five year survival rate.  I am at six years.  At this time I am CANCER-FREE.  You can trust me when I say I have "paid the price".  I have endured numerous chemo and radiation treatments  and a new treatment last December that literally saved my life!!!!.  I suffer each day from the effects of the disease and the treatments.  BUT------ I AM ALIVE!!  I am so GRATEFUL to be alive and compared to being dead my daily problems are NOTHING!   I have learned to cope with everything that has come my direction.

In 2012 I started BOBBY JO's BLESSINGS.   This is a nonprofit organization aimed at HELPING others.  My prayer on a DAILY BASIS is that I can be an instrument in GOD's HANDS to help others.  I have not been cancer free until the last PET scans I had on October 2,2017.  I am READY to get the nonprofit up and running to be a help for others facing similar challenges and difficult financial trials.  I have had small donations in the past few years which have immediately gone to help those in need.

At this time I have partnered with an amazing company - FLASH WIRELESS!  This is a cell phone company - I can give you further details if you message me.   FLASH wireless is an MVNO.  Similar to Boost Mobile - Straight Talk, etc.  FLASH uses the very same lines as Sprint, Verizon and T-mobile.  In fact - if you become a customer - your phone will still say the name of the carrier you are currently with.   The ONLY difference will be to whom you pay your bill.  It will be to FLASH.   You keep your same phone number and 99.9% of the time the same phone.  No one wants to mess with that!  With SPRINT customers - which my husband and I WERE, nothing changes.  The only difference is we are saving about $40.00 per month with FLASH - SAME SPRINT lines - bill paid to FLASH for $40.00 less a month.  Some people may only save a couple of dollars and may think it isn't worth it.  It IS!  You will be HELPING OTHERS!!! With Sprint you are able to use the same SIM cards.  With Verizon or T-mobile we get a new SIM card for you - the cost of that SIM card is $3.00.  Once the SIM card is changed you are with FLASH.  It is that seamless.

FLASH WIRELESS is amazing.  EVERY SINGLE TIME a customer pays their monthly bill - FLASH donates a MEAL to a hungry child within the area code of that customer.  This company is  all about HELPING OTHERS.   Your cell phone carrier DOES NOT feed a child in your own area code on a monthly basis.  In fact - they don't feed kids at ALL!!  And..... who do you know at that company???   You know ME!  .There is also a referral program.  You do not have to refer anyone if you don't want to.  You can just be a customer and save a little money and feed a child once a month.  BUT - if you want to refer 5 other customers - your bill is now FREE.   Who offers a FREE bill for a referral program???   No one!   That is what I am all about -  I love being a partner with such a WONDERFUL company!  I love being able to contribute to this amazing service. Let me help you with this.  Please contact me for any and ALL questions!   Send a text to 801-372-9180.  Or you can email me at bobbyjojackson5@gmail.com

Another program we are involved with and have helped others with their expensive health care insurance, is CHM. When I was first diagnosed with cancer we had HORRIBLE insurance.  I will not go into that at this time but TRUST me!   We had HUGE medical bills.  I KNOW how it feels to be in this situation.  I am helping others have a little peace of mind.  We eventually were able to get on the CHM  (CHRISTIAN HEALTH MINISTRIES) insurance.  This is a shared insurance plan.  They have paid 100% of my medical bills.  Where we used to pay $600.00 a month and a HUGE deductible for the HORRIBLE insurance, we now pay $300.00 with a $500 deductible.  If you are interested in looking into this - again private message me so I can give you facts about this WONDERFUL GIFT!! 

If you have any interest in looking into either of these programs please contact me.  If you don't know anyone at any of your current carriers - come with ME!  You know me and you will be HELPING others and SAVING a little money on your phone bill.  It is a WIN/WIN for everyone.  It is a seamless transition.

I love this quote from MOTHER TERESA:   "I see Jesus in every human being.  I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus.  I must feed Him.  This is Sick Jesus.  This one has leprosy or gangrene:  I must wash and tend to him.  I serve them because is LOVE Jesus"

Remind me, Lord that to get nearer to YOU, I must care about others.  Please help me see YOU when I look at those in need, and give me the desire to be a servant in Your strength.

GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!   LOVE AND HUGS!

I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES

For a LONG TIME I have felt the need to write again!   I am so grateful for LIFE!   For the OPPORTUNITY I have to still be on this earth!!

November 30th will mark SIX years since my diagnosis of STAGE IV colorectal cancer.  That day I had a routine colonoscopy where cancer was found.  I was sent immediately to the imaging center where a CT scan showed "it" had spread to my right lung with a tumor behind my tailbone - Thus the diagnosis of Stage IV cancer.  I had Lung surgery in November of 2013 to remove one of the tumors in my right lung. 

My other posts detail those experiences - experiences that have changed my LIFE!   The night before I started chemotherapy/radiation I told my husband that life as "I knew it" would never be the same.  I am grateful for the struggles that have been HUGE character building experiences.  My life has NOT been the same.  Oh how grateful I am for what I have!   If you look at the statistics - which I just did for the FIRST TIME today - you will see that stage IV colorectal cancer patients have only an 11% -5 year survival rate.  I am basically at SIX YEARS!!   This journey has definitely been HARD.  I have done LOTS of HARD things!  I have FOUGHT hard to LIVE!  There is not ONE DAY that goes by without physical reminders of treatments.  I CHOOSE LIFE!!!  Now without being flippant, I am deeply humbled by those that I love dearly who have passed on because of this TERRIBLE disease!!  I think of them daily and I am a better person because of their bravery!  I want to honor their lives by helping others!

I had PET scans again this past Monday at the Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake City with a doctors appointment yesterday to find out the results.  We took a small vacation for several days last week - a bucket list drive down the California coastline with the top down on the convertible!  It was breathtaking!  It was a great time and helped take my mind off what was coming up.  I have felt pretty confident about where I am with my health and my physical abilities.   When I entered the doctors office my blood pressure spiked and I felt my heart beating very rapidly!   GOSH!!  I had tried to be so calm!!

The doctor, Dr. Brandon Barney, the son of my first cousin, came in and said "YOU ARE GREAT -  I told you those tumors would be gone"!!!!!  Dr. Barney did a treatment last December - STEREOTACTIC RADIOTHERAPY.  The tumor behind my tailbone was deemed inoperable because of where it was.  They told me that since  I could not be cured, it would be fruitless to operate on my right lung again.  This new treatment was a chance at SOMETHING.  A HOPE that the tumors could be BLASTED away!  

My tumors are gone!   For the first time in SIX YEARS I am deemed NED!!!  NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE!!!   Friends - there have been so many tender mercies along my path.  So many situations where I have taken a path that was not exactly like it "should have" been.  I feel that I have been guided and directed to the path for ME!!  I am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL for the inspiration and guidance on this path! 

I have MUCH to give and to OFFER other people.  I have referred MANY people to Dr. Barney who has helped many of them.  I will CONTINUE to be a huge ADVOCATE for those who need ANY type of help.  I am so incredibly HUMBLED!  So GRATEFUL!

This week I reviewed where I am and what it is that I want to ACCOMPLISH with the time I have left on this earth!   I PRAY daily that I can be an instrument in GOD's hands to help others.  I am working hard on my CHARITY -   BOBBY JO'S BLESSINGS.  I am going to work hard on this so I can HELP others.  You too can help me to help others!    I will post tomorrow and show you how you can help me without any financial donation on your part.  It is simple and easy.

"To awaken each morning with a smile brightening my face, to approach my work with a clean mind; to hold ever before me, the Ultimate Purpose toward which I am working; to meet men and women with laughter on my lips and love in my heart; to be gentle, kind and courteous through all the hours; to approach the night with weariness that ever woos sleep and the joy that comes from work well done- THIS is how I desire to waste wisely my days"

Love and Hugs to ALL - GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!!! 
 

QUIET REFLECTIONS OF GRATITUDE

Today is my FIVE year anniversary!   Wednesday November 30, 2011 I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer during a routine colonoscopy.   Trust me when I say -A colonoscopy can save your life!  On that day five years ago they took me right from the surgical center across the road to the radiology department for CT scans.  It was pretty routine except for two spots that showed up in my right lung.  Because I had had a previous lung disease (sarcoidosis), it was hard to determine whether these spots were scar tissue from that previous disease years before or whether they were new metastases from the colon cancer.  In January of 2012 I started 30 chemotherapy and radiation treatments.  Those ended in March.  I was able to recuperate until May when I underwent surgery to remove a part of my colon at the Huntsman Hospital in Salt Lake City.  I was given an ileostomy which I had during the summer of 2012.  On the last day of August of that year I was once again at the Huntsman Hospital to have everything reconnected.  That was a HUGE blessing.  There is not a day that goes by that I do not suffer from the effects of all this havoc wreaked on my body!  But I am TRULY GRATEFUL for LIFE.  To LIVE!  I pray to make a DIFFERENCE!!

For the past five years I have been  monitored with CT scans and one PET scan in November of 2013.  At that time in 2013  the PET scan  showed that one of the lung nodules had grown to 1 cm.  I was scheduled for lung surgery to remove that one tumor - which was a  metastases from the colorectal cancer.  The other spot took the whole five years to get to 1 cm.  I had scans in October of this year that showed the other nodule had grown to the 1 cm size.  It was determined it would be removed surgically again and I was scheduled for surgery TODAY - November 30, 2016 - my 5 year anniversary day at the Huntsman Hospital once again in SLC.  For the past three weeks I have undergone every test basically known to man!!!  Cardiac evaluations - breathing tests - scans - you name it.  The last thing on the list before the scheduled surgery today was the PET scan.  That was accomplished at the Huntsman Hospital Tuesday November 22nd - a week ago - right before THANKSGIVING.  With a PET scan you are injected with glucose and then you remain quiet for 90 minutes.  The glucose will STICK to any cancer that is in your body.   I had not heard the results so on Wednesday I asked my oncologist, Dr. Bott (he is in Provo) to check on the results.  He called me that evening.  The news was not as good as I had hoped it would be.  We of course knew about the spot in the lung - which once removed you are cured until another one grows - but there aren't any more.  We did not know there was a new spot right behind my tailbone.  UGH!  Not the news I was hoping to hear.  Not the best - but certainly NOT the worst!

That Wednesday evening as I was deep in THANKSGIVING day preparations, Dr. Bott told me he did not think I should continue with the lung surgery that was scheduled for today - and that he had taken the liberty to contact a Dr. Brandon Barney who is a radiation oncology specialist here in Provo at the Huntsman/Intermountain Clinic.  He told me to call Dr. Barney's office to schedule an appointment.  Here is where another tender mercy occured.  You can trust me when I say this whole 5 year experience has been FULL of tender mercies!  Dr. Brandon Barney is the son of my first cousin - Cindy!  Her mom and my dad are brother and sister.  Dr. Barney truly has my best interest in any of the decisions that are made.  He has studied extensively at the MAYO Clinic in Minnesota.  He is very specialized in the treatment that he does.

I made an appointment with Dr. Barney for this morning - the morning I was scheduled to have surgery - but needed to make sure this was what the doctors thought was best.  Dr. Barney had a conversation with my lung doctor at the Huntsman Hospital on Monday of this week.  They determined that Dr. Barney would treat me at this time.  So Monday evening the schedule fell into place.  Tuesday surgery plans were cancelled

Now to Tuesday evening.  My brother-in-law Dr. Lee Bahr is a radiologist.  He called me from Chicago last night - not knowing before he spoke to my sister, that surgery had been cancelled and I was going to go with Dr. Barney.  Yesterday in Chicago at the Radiology Conference, he listened to 17 papers on different ways to treat tumors  - all over the body.  There are techniques that are available that were not available probably even 5 years ago.  He said I thought of you, Bobby, when I heard some of these papers.  You do not have to go through with surgery.  I told him of my visit that would happen this morning.

I met with Dr Barney. He uses different techniques that will ZAP not only the tumor in my lung - but also behind my tailbone.  He said he would have me all treated and completed the week before Christmas.  This was such great news to me.  No open lung surgery!!   These new techniques can treat just the same - but without the trauma of surgery.

I am GRATEFUL.  I do NOT know why my life continues to be spared.  You can trust me when I say I do NOT take one day for granted.  These six babies are my WHY! Simone, Lukas, Stella, Charlotte, Zigmund and Johnny.  I did not know that I could love them as dearly as I do.  They are my everything!  Along with my 4 children and of course my WONDERFUL husband.  I would not know what to do without him.  I love him dearly!  He does Christ-like acts of service for so many in quiet, unassuming ways.  He is  a GREAT man!   I love my nieces and nephews and my siblings every bit as much.  They are DEAR to me and I am grateful for them.  I hope to always help them in any way that is needed!

I KNOW that my work on this earth is not complete.  I have had dear friends and family members - diagnosed after me - who are no longer with us.  They are some of the BEST people I have ever met.  I love them dearly.  All I can say is that their work must have been completed on this earth.  There are no whys or wherefores.  I believe that when your time is up - you are finished.  I have been the recipient of such CHRIST LIKE love and SERVICE.  I have reciprocated that love and service to others.  There is not one day that goes that I don't pray hard to be an instrument in God's hands.  To help others and lift them up and TRULY be there for them!  I am truly GRATEFUL.   If you have cancer and   you do not know about some of these new treatments - please contact me.  People who have full skeletal metastases can be treated.  I am here for anyone who needs a helping hand.  I try to be of service every day of my life.  I am GRATEFUL.  I will have to go through the treatments and I am anxious and happy to do so.  I will endure those treatments well and I will be grateful when they are complete.  For now I am ALIVE!  I am so GRATEFUL to be here!  To continue to complete my work on the earth!

If you are struggling in any way - please take a moment to COUNT your BLESSINGS.  If you truly do this you will see the HAND OF GOD in your life.  He is there!   Not always how you HOPE HE is but I can promise you - GOD is there for ALL of us!  Thank you for your prayers in my behalf.  I FEEL them.  GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!   LOVE AND HUGS TO ALL!!

FEELING GRATEFUL.......

It is the Eve of my Birthday!   I am GRATEFUL for the OPPORTUNITY I have to enjoy another Birthday and for the continued time I have on this Earth!  I am grateful for the People in my life who mean SO much to me!  I feel such immense JOY!   My Heart is so FULL I feel it could burst!  I am truly COUNTING MY BLESSINGS...

I am GRATEFUL for opportunities.  The little opportunities that present themselves in various ways.  The day to day opportunities and activities that make this life so interesting!  As I awake each morning I give THANKS for ALL my BLESSINGS!  The first THANKS of the Day is for simply AWAKENING!  I am grateful to be alive, to enjoy and experience.  I do NOT take one day for granted.  I am acutely aware of my own mortality and I want to live each day to the fullest.  I pray each day to be an INSTRUMENT in God's hands to HELP others along this journey we call LIFE!  To be there for family and friends who need HELP. Please know I am HERE.  I am HERE to HELP!

This is a short post.  I felt the NEED to express my THANKS for my LIFE!  For being able to live and just BE!

I am working hard on BOBBY JO'S BLESSINGS.  This nonprofit is the vehicle I have been able to use to help some and I hope to be able to help many.  I am going to  be posting regularly.  My HOPE is that you too may be inspired to help others along their way!

So on the Eve of my BIRTH -  Remember to Count YOUR Blessings!   Here's to ALL of us!  GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!
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IT'S A HAPPY DAY....HAPPY ANNIVERSARY....

I just received these beautiful flowers delivered to my front door.  Today is our 38th Wedding Anniversary.  Happy Happy Anniversary to the LOVE of my life - BUBBA!

I think back 38 years ago today and all the planning and running to and fro before the BIG EVENT!  It was a magical time - Right before Christmas!  There were last minute things to do - not to mention the sandwiches for the reception.  It was discovered that those had NOT been ordered.  Rather than telling my mom and having her stress more - Kerm and I decided we would make them ourselves.  BAD IDEA! It was the end of the semester at BYU.  Kerm was studying engineering and had several HARD final exams.  I remember going to the bakery to buy bread dough - I bought the stuff for the insides of the sandwiches and at about 10 pm on the night of December 18th we started that long arduous process!  We were missing one very important piece of equipment!   We could not find a rolling pin.  We implemented with a 2 liter bottle filled with water.  We made HUNDREDS of little sandwiches - all through the night.  I ASSURED my mother that we were doing something BIG.  She was none too thrilled with me spending the night before I got married at Kerm's house!  At 7:30 in the morning we were finishing up and he had to leave to take the last final of the semester.  We were to be at the Provo Temple at 1:30.  We had NOT gone to get our marriage license YET!  Those are some great memories -  And that is how we started our married life!  There has never been a DULL moment in our household.  It was been the absolute BEST ride and I am filled with THANKS!  I am thankful for a LOVING husband who has supported me through thick and thin.  He gently urged me to find my purpose and has supported me quietly by simply being the WIND beneath my WINGS - LITERALLY!  I love him to the moon and back - FOREVER!

I am filled with THANKS that I get more time with this man!  The last few months have been such a whirlwind and I am just GRATEFUL to be able to take a little time and write my thoughts.

I had lung surgery November 18th at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital in Salt Lake City.  They removed the little 1 cm mass that was in my right lung.  This was major surgery and I was taken immediately to the Intensive Care Unit.  The lesion proved to be a metastases - it had been there since the day I was diagnosed.  The doctors were not sure what it was - just followed it.  It grew to the 1 cm size and they decided to get rid of it.  They took a large section of that lung and several lymph nodes around the site.  All margins and lymph nodes were completely free of cancer.  My oncologist says at this time I am cured.  I am GRATEFUL.  Of course we all know how that goes.  Something else could pop up.  I have a great deal of FAITH and HOPE and my gut feel is that I am fine and will be fine.  I have had several Priesthood Blessings that have given me HOPE and COMFORT.  I am grateful for those blessings.

My surgery was on a Monday.  They gave me a pain pump to use like usual.  I only pushed in 3-4 times the whole time I was there.  This is a very painful surgery - so they say.  They go in a couple of places through the ribs.  The next day on Tuesday morning they told me I would probably go home that day.  In the morning I told them they were CRAZY!   They pulled the chest tube out later that afternoon and I honestly felt GREAT!  We were discharged about 7 pm and came home.  Kerm stayed the whole time with me at the Hospital and planned to stay the rest of the week.  Wednesday morning I woke up and told him he could go to work.  I was fine.  I did not get dressed Wednesday but did some straightening and ironed his shirts.  Thursday I got dressed and cleaned the house and went shopping.  My doctors were AMAZED at my progress and  my lack of pain.  With all three surgeries that were cancer related my pain was very minimal.  I only took a couple of ibuprofen over the next week or two and really did not skip a beat!  This has been a HUGE blessing for which I am grateful.  I continue to be amazed and blessed by TENDER MERCIES!

I am THANKFUL for my life.  I am THANKFUL for the things I am able to accomplish and the support that I have been given and for each new day!  You can TRUST me when I say - I take NOTHING for granted.  I give THANKS so many times throughout the day and I am humbled.

THANK you for your love and SUPPORT.  I have had so much support and honestly - that is what we are here for.  To support one another and to bear the burdens of one another.  I am THANKFUL for your prayers!  I truly BELIEVE in the power of PRAYER!  I am THANKFUL for a loving HEAVENLY FATHER who hears and answers our prayers.  Not always in ways we expect but in ways that He knows we NEED!  My heart is full.

So Happy Anniversary to My GREAT HUSBAND.  The LOVE of my LIFE.  I am so THANKFUL to be here to celebrate this day with him!!  

Please continue to pray for me when you think about it.   My job is to help OTHERS and I am thankful to have the energy and strength to do that.  

THOUGHT: - "The Soul that Perpetually Overflows with Kindness and Sympathy will Always be Cheerful".

Love and BIG HUGS!     GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!  

IMMENSE GRATITUDE...

It has been a few months since I expressed my thoughts and feelings.  The last was on my birthday in July!  Since then we were blessed with a new grandson.  Zigmund Guacomo Snure - the son of our beautiful daughter  Kamie (picture) and her husband Mike Snure.  This is our 5th grandchild - 2nd grandson - Each are so special to us and we truly love them.  These babies are truly blessings in my life and I am so incredibly GRATEFUL!  Especially this time of the year when people are counting their blessings.

With that being said - I just returned home from Church today.  It is such a beautiful day here in Utah and the messages were on GRATITUDE!  Immediately following the first meeting I was approached by the Bishop of our Ward to come talk with him in his office.  He told me he had "sensed" that all was not well with me.  This was a humbling experience for me.  I had my scans in September.  At first we thought all was well.  For those of you who do not know - I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in November of 2011 - basically two years ago!  I spent 2012 in two rounds of chemo and radiation with two surgeries and was proclaimed in remission.  I have my check ups every three months with scans every six months.  Since the day I was diagnosed there has been a spot in my right lung.  Last November and December I had a disease flare up that I had 30 years ago.  It is called sarcoidosis.  30 years ago it manifested itself in my lungs.  My lungs are permanently scarred but with that being said, I have never had any problems with any of my activities and things I have wanted to do.  Last November and December that disease flared up.  The spot that has been in my lung was still there.  The scans in September showed that it has grown some to 1 cm.  

Over the past six weeks I have met with two different lung doctors and now a thoracic surgeon.  The THING in my right lung is coming out.  I have not wanted to say anything because I do NOT want people to look at me as though I am SICK.  I just have a little thing I need out of my lung and I will be fine!  I feel amazingly well.   I am happy and I do not feel sick at all.  I will meet with a cardiologist on Thursday of this week.  With the lung surgery there is a remote chance of a heart attack.  They want to be sure my heart in in good shape and I will then go to have breathing tests - which I did last year at this time but they have to be done within six months.  Last year I passed with flying colors.  Surgery will be either Friday the 16th or Monday the 18th.  I am now making this public because after my Bishop approached me today and KNEW that something was going on with me - I feel it best to ask for YOUR prayers.  I feel the prayers of those who pray for me.  When I was sick last year I would go to sleep at night and smile because of the warmth and love I felt.  I know now that Heavenly Father indeed loves me.  He is aware of my needs and my problems because my Bishop had the perception today to question me.  I am humbled.

This is what I have learned.  We are NOT ALONE in this life.  There ARE Angels - on this side and the other side of the veil who are sent to HELP US!.  I felt that so strongly last year and I have felt their presence.  I can testify to YOU all that I KNOW and I have felt their presence.  I know they are looking after me.  I have felt the influence of my own dad on several occasions.  I KNOW he knows what I am going through.  I KNOW that there are MANY there for me.  THANK YOU to those of you on this side who have been and will continue to be here for me.  I NEED you all.  I NEED your prayers and faith in my behalf.  A couple of weeks ago as I was leaving for the Huntsman Hospital in SLC I asked for your prayers.  You didn't know what you were praying for but now you DO!  I felt your prayers and continue to feel them.  I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that GOD LIVES!  That he knows EACH AND EVERYONE of us.  He knows our needs and our struggles and HE is there for us!  

I will continue to work for the behalf of others in helping and serving.  Thank you to ALL of you who have helped me serve others this past year.  It is unbelievably humbling!  Please pray for me and my family once again.  I need your love and support.  The surgery will tell whether this is the sarcoidosis, a metastases from the colorectal cancer or a NEW lung cancer altogether.  I will let you know as soon as I do.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  HOW BEAUTIFUL A DAY CAN BE WHEN KINDNESS TOUCHES IT!   Be Kind to EVERYONE - You just don't know what they are going through. 

GOD BLESS US EVERYONE  ----   LOVE AND HUGS!!!

QUIET REFLECTION....

My heart is full tonight! Tomorrow I will turn 60!! That sounds so OLD... However - I am so incredibly GRATEFUL... Grateful to be alive! Grateful for the OPPORTUNITY to celebrate another year on this earth! Grateful for my BLESSINGS! I am just plain GRATEFUL!

I remember while growing up how old 60 sounded. Well I am here and I would like to believe what THEY say... 60 is the new 40! I actually don't even feel 40... Maybe 18 1/2!! I have to throw in the 1/2 because of my journey during the past year and a HALF!

I have reflected tonight on my life! I am grateful for all my blessings. Grateful for the many things I have been able to accomplish in my 60 years. My greatest accomplishment thus far would definitely be my marriage of almost 38 years to a GREAT man.... and the opportunity we have had of raising FOUR great, successful people! We are expecting our 5th grandchild very soon and we are overjoyed!

I am GRATEFUL for the opportunities that have come my way and for the incredible experiences and growth I have enjoyed. I look forward to many more great experiences. I have great dreams and aspirations and I KNOW I have much left to accomplish!

I am GRATEFUL to a Loving Heavenly Father who has seen fit to allow me more years after my battle with colon cancer! This is a HUGE Blessing! I daily experience side effects from my treatment which actually is a GREAT reminder of my mortality. My heart is GRATEFUL!

I am THANKFUL for the SMALL things. Kerm and I ride almost nightly on our bicycle built for two! I am grateful for energy and strength. I am grateful for the sights, sounds and smells that I enjoy along the route we take. I marvel nightly at the beautiful sunsets, the cool canyon breeze and the smell of summer rain and lovely flowers. Tonight there was a beautiful double rainbow.... It was fading by the time I snapped the picture but it was beautiful!

Thank YOU! Thank you to all my family and friends! I am thankful for YOU and your continued support!!
I am here for ALL of you... To help or assist in any way I can!

My heart is FULL!!