A Few More Photos from the CCCF Party

 

The Most Anticipated Party of the Season

Due to a very special man following through with a dream to make life happier for children with cancer, our family has experienced true kindness from our community and made wonderful memories for the past seven years.

It is a true blessing to be in the company of our cancer friends for two nights in a row each December. Watch volunteers from our community play with and entertain the kids, and most of all, feel the spirit of love , generosity, and service.

Here is the link to the CCCF Party as seen on KSL news:

"BYU basketball hosts 11th annual Christmas cancer party"

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=9060531

It's Beginning to Look (more or less) Like Christmas

Our family lives in a community full of cute and colorful houses. Ours is beige, inside and out (sigh...) If it were up to me, our house would be red, or light green, or a cool shade of blue, maybe yellow, I'm really not sure. What I do know is that our house looks best when decorated for Christmas, it's like adding jewelry to a T-shirt and jeans outfit. It makes my little beige house look happier and helps give it some personality. So, we added the lights (they went up in October before the weather turned bad). The fresh evergreen garland and vintage sleds, skis, and ice skates go up after Thanksgiving. And, as I find new things, those are added as the days grow closer to Christmas.


Inside the house, decorating for Christmas really doesn't take that much effort or time because our decorations are few, but meaningful. In our early married years I collected Eddie Walker Nativities, Santa's, and ornaments- I love them. It's a good thing we got them when we did because she is no longer making them (sad).





Another thing I love is our Christmas art. Caitlin sketched "The Grinch" in her Fourth grade art class and did such a great job. This year she is giving copies as gifts to some lucky people who have blessed her life.



The Santa sketch is my uncle Rob's work from several years ago. When I saw the original, I really wanted it. He found a printing company that could make copies without losing the amazing detail and shading and now I have my very own.



Some of the other things that we get excited about bringing out this time of year are our many Christmas books, music, photos, and toys. There is something special about decorating for Christmas and displaying collections that have meaning and memories.

The Best of 2009

This year we are sending Christmas cards, but no letter. I love to get them, but hate to write them. It has been a great year in many respects though and I wanted to quickly write down the highlights.

January- Caleb was ordained a Teacher in our church and got his braces off. Caitlin won first place (4th Grade) in the science fair at her school. Our family attended the open house for the Draper Temple

February- Caitlin participated in the play, Aristocats. Clint and Jamie (and Caitlin) participated in Financial Peace University

March- Caitlin had a MRI.

April- Clint and Jamie went to Wicked and graduated from FPU. Caitlin, Jamie, Grandma, and Aunt Toni went to Wicked. Our family had a backstage tour and met several actors from Wicked. Our family traveled to San Diego for Easter.

May- Clint, Jamie, and Caleb participated in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. Caleb participated in the Youth Celebration for the temple. Clint and Jamie traveled to New York with friends.

June- Jamie celebrated a birthday. Clint and Jamie celebrated 18 years of marriage

July- Clint celebrated his 40th birthday! Our new niece and cousin, Halle May was born.

August- Back to School, Caitlin is in Fifth Grade, Caleb is in Ninth. Our family went to the Dedication of the Oquirrh Mountian Temple. We met President Thomas S. Monson and Dieter F. Uchtdorf. After working hard for a year, Caleb finished earning $2500 so that he can attend the National Scout Jamboree in 2010.

September- Caitlin celebrated her 11th birthday at the zoo with many friends. Our family participated in our first 5K for Hopekids. We celebrated Caitlin's 6 years off treatment anniversary.

October- Our family traveled to Maine for Camp Sunshine. Caitlin and Jamie traveled to Denver to see Wicked with friends (we have a bit of an obsession!). Caitlin had her second MRI of the year and again, it looked good.

November- Had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Jamie survived an extensive training for her job.

December- Looking forward to Christmas and spending the month enjoying the blessings of the season. Caleb is excited to turn 15 this month and can't wait for Driver's Ed.

Ouch

Yesterday started out like this

It ended up like this

Caitlin started her orthodontic treatment yesterday with an appliance (torture device) called a MARA.  It’s going to be a long couple of days until she gets used to it.

Now we are off to the pediatrician for immunizations and more fun.

The Spirit of Christmas

"The Christmases we remember best usually have little to do with worldly goods but a lot to do with the spirit of caring, the spirit of love, and the spirit of compassion."

-President Thomas S. Monson

Caleb (almost 8) and Caitlin (4 years old and on chemotherapy)

I was reading the Ensign the other day and came across this quote. It made me think of the year I experienced the true meaning of Christmas.

Caitlin was diagnosed with a brain tumor on December 28, 2001 and then relapsed 10 months later, in early November 2002. The relapse was even harder than the initial diagnosis due to knowing more about Caitlin's type of cancer and how a relapse lessened her chances of survival. As the holidays approached I felt hopeless and scared. We were up to our eyeballs in chemotherapy and I just didn't care about gifts, decorations, or anything else that required effort or cheerfulness. I wanted a miracle for my daughter and our family.

The miracle didn't come in the form of healing, but in the form of caring, love, and compassion- those very things President Monson mentioned. These sweet acts of service and love came from my husband and children, from my extended family, from our neighbors, friends, and church members, from our medical team, and from our community. I realized in our trial we were given the best gifts of the season.

This Christmas we are aware of several close friends who are hurting and struggling with trials far larger than what our family has experienced. It is my hope that I can find many opportunities to serve, show love, and lighten a burden, making this another Christmas to remember.

The Most Inspired Christmas Gift

A little over five years ago something rather strange happened. Out of the blue, I had a strong feeling we should get a dog. I played with the idea in my head for awhile before mentioning it to Clint, because out of the two of us, I am definitely the picky one. Once we had talked about it and he seemed to be open to the idea, I started looking at online classifieds for our new family member. Another strange thing is that I knew what kind of dog we should get, a Shih Tzu, even though I didn't know a thing about this breed of dog, or any other for that matter.

A few weeks into the search, we went to my parents house for Thanksgiving as we usually do. Shortly after arriving, my mom mentioned to me that she and my sister had visited a pet store earlier in the week and there were the cutest puppies for sale. I instantly knew our dog was sitting in that pet store, waiting for us.

The day after Thanksgiving, we left Caleb and Caitlin with my dad and the rest of us went in search of "our dog". We found her in a big cardboard box with a whole litter of Chiwawa's, not very nice Chiwawa's I might add. She was a fluffy black and white ball of pure cuteness and I fell in love with her on sight.

My parents bought her for us as a family Christmas gift and to this day, she is the best gift we've ever received.

Daisy came into our lives after being abused by her former owners. She was filled with love and sweetness, but had some fears and insecurities that resulted in some odd behaviors. Our family came into Daisy's life with some fears and insecurities of our own. We were putting our lives back together after a battle with cancer. I believe we were meant to heal and love each other. She was a gift to us, we were a gift to her. We love our Daisy.