Happy Birthday!

to my baby! I can hardly believe that she is 5 years old today! Oh my where have the last 5 years gone! It seems like just yesterday that she was this tiny baby in my arms! Keara, you are growing up so fast! Always remember that we love you with all our hearts and soul!

Keara 1 month old



3 months old



6 months old



Almost 1 1/2



4 years old



And today!



Happy Birthday baby girl! I love you to the end of this earth and back!!!

Proverbs 3:6

In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will guide your paths.

I really needed this today as I have had a really rough emotional day! The Lord stepped in at just the right moment and made me see this for what I needed to see it as! Thank you Lord for BFF's and for husbands, even when we don't think we need them. They are there for a reason! Thank you for helping me to remember why these particular people are in my life!

4 years

It still amazes me that it has been that long already! And really 4 years isn't that long but for me it is significant! To see where I was in my life 4 years ago compared to today, WOW!!!!
Today marks my 4th anniversary from breast cancer. It seems like just yesterday that I got the call from my doctor. I can remember exactly what I was doing the moment he called and what my kids were doing. I remember how the rest of my day went and the phone calls that I had to make. The reactions of loved ones and the support of family. It seems as if it was only yesterday but it has been 4 years, 4 incredible, AMAZING years!!!!
This is a journey that I never thought I would go down. I was young when my mother was diagnosed so I don't remember much but there are things that still enter my mind every now and then. When the news came, it was like the sails had been let out of me. My doctor was concerned about my emotional state and I reassured him that I was fine. I remember calling Jason and telling him the news and hearing defeat in his voice. It was not the news that either of us were expecting. I remember throwing my lunch away (who has an appetite after news like that), and drying my eyes and heading outside where my little Mikayla was waiting for me to come and help her plant some flowers. I put on a happy face and pretended that everything was just fine, when deep down inside I was screaming with fright. Fear of the unknown, fear of what the future held for my children and my husband if I didn't survive. My baby was still a baby, she wasn't even 1 yet, that came almost 2 weeks later. I remember telling Briana, who was only in 3rd grade. So much to lay on such a young child, who doesn't understand life. I remember the day of my biopsy. It was a Friday afternoon. It was painful and left a nasty bruise. I remember driving to school that same night (I was attending Colorado Tech pursuing my Bachelor's Degree in Accounting) and telling myself "no matter what the outcome is, I am going to fight with everything I have inside of me".
Fight is exactly what I did. Fought for my life, fought to stay around to see my children grow, fought to stick around to pester my husband for more years to come. Fought with everything I had inside of me. I prayed, I cried and I relied on those around me for strength.
Then something happened on this journey. I met a wonderful God fearing young lady (and yes she was young, only 20). She had something that was missing from my life and whatever it was I wanted it. I searched, seeked, and asked questions about life and God. I have a wonderful uncle who pointed me in the right direction, a direction towards Christ. I finally found what I was looking for. I didn't find it in religion, or in a church. Instead I found it in Jesus Christ and I didn't find Him until almost a year after my diagnosis. That doesn't matter, what matters is that I finally found Him. He was knocking for many years and I was not answering, He decided to get my attention in a different way.....cancer. That got my attention all right. Loud and clear!
Even to this day, I still say that breast cancer was a blessing in disguise. Does that seem weird to you? To me, it does but when I look back over the past 4 years, in all reality nope it is not weird at all. It has been a blessing. I am grateful for cancer because of what it did for me instead of what it did to me. It pointed me to Him. It has been a journey that I never wanted to go down, but a journey that has a happy ending (so far anyway).
So here is to 4 years and many more to come!! Have a wonderful Saturday!

Cathi


Then (10 days before my hair started coming out in clumps and we needed to shave it off)


Now (taken Easter Sunday)

He is RISEN INDEED!!!!

What a Glorious Resurrection day! I have made a movie to show how our weekend was. It was a great weekend spent at home and with family! Today is just a leisure day at home watching movies that the kids got for Easter. The Easter Bunny DID NOT visit us. We are instilling the true meaning of the holidays in our children. They get to hunt for eggs that we hid and get prize baskets from us. They were excited to go hunting for eggs again. They got to do that at Grandma Bottelberghe's yesterday and they had a blast. We are blessed to have family close by to spend time with. I must say though, this post by MckMama was by far the best way to describe what Easter means to the Christians. I encourage you to click the link and check out her post for today! I follow her blog, she is a follower of Christ and you can tell that just by her posts and what she is going through with her son right now. She gives Him, the only way to Heaven, all the glory for what their family is going through. I hope that you are all having a blessed Easter and remembering that the Tomb is empty for He is not dead, but HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!

Enjoy the Easter movie! (you will need to pause the blog music to hear the movie)




Cathi

Good Friday!

Good Friday, the day that our Lord died to save us all from the fiery pits of hell. Today is a day of reflection for all that was done for us on the cross. It is humbling to know that He died for me, for you and for all who believe so that we can live forever with Him in eternity. To know that the curtain was torn at the moment He died, the curtain that separated us from God. That curtain is now gone because One Man lead a sinless life, died a criminals death, all because He loved us that much!!! WOW!!! I am speechless, but forever grateful for this day in History. I am thankful for His ever presence in my life daily! I am thankful that He came to save me! I am thankful for yesterday, today and tomorrow! I am thankful for it all!
Thank you Lord Jesus for coming to this earth, living a sinless life and dying for me on the cross, thank you for coming into my life at a pivotal point and guiding me in the right direction, a direction towards You!!! Thank you for making History!!!

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God Romans 3:23

Whoever has God's son has life. Whoever does not have His son does not have life. 1 John 5:12

Enjoy the video, this is one of my favorite songs by Matthew West. This man has a heart for God, and just listening to his testimony during LifeLight last year, you could see how God worked in this man's life.

Enjoy this blessed day and remember the reason why we celebrate this tragic day. Because He is not dead, He is ALIVE indeed!!!




P.S. you will need to pause the blog music in order to hear the video!!

BTW....

March 31st marked the anniversary of my blog! I can't believe that I have been at this for a year already! My goodness where does the time go????? I am planning on doing this many more years!!! Have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,

Cathi

Plugging away.....

Again it has been awhile since I last posted. Things have been busy around here as usual. Colby, Mikayla and I have been battling the "crud" this week, all 3 of us are finally starting to feel much better today. It has been a long week to say the least. I am glad that today is Friday and it is the weekend to rest and relax. Oh wait a second, there is no such thing as relaxing and resting in this family. It is a constantly go, go, go!!! Laundry, cooking, cleaning and everything else inbetween. An update on Colby, he is still surviving his "strict" diet and I am happy to report that after 3 weeks into this he has only had 2 headaches. Mikayla on the other hand hasn't been so lucky, she has had 7. We have just a little over a week until we can start to reintroduce things back into their diet, for now things are working. We seeing some trends for Mikayla that lead us to believe that she is more prone to headaches when the weather changes and due to the fact that she has allergies and asthma. I can report for myself that I have only had 1 headache over the course of this trial and it was just this week when I was feeling pretty crummy. So I blame it on my head cold more than anything else. We are counting down to the end of the school year. 6 weeks and 2 days left of school. YES!!!! I am done teaching piano lessons in 6 weeks, take the summer off and start again in September with possibly 8 students. Should be good. We have joined our local Christian Homeschool group this past week and have paid our registration fee to attend the homeschooling conference in Sioux Falls next month. Jason and I are both pretty excited for the conference. We still haven't decided on curriculum yet, but aren't really fretting about that quite yet. I am okay with it, the Lord will lead us in the right direction. We do know that Colby and Keara will be in 1st grade together in the fall. We feel that this is the best thing for both of them. Keara will pick up quick what she is behind her brother on and Colby will be able to finally learn at his own pace instead of being pushed beyond his limits because of the standards set by the school district. We will have to test them next year in 2nd grade and that will be the true test for how they are developing. For the here and now, we are concentrating on one year at a time. We will see where the Good Lord leads us at the end of next year. I am amazed to see how God has put it all into place for us, we are truly blessed by His presence. We know that this is the right decision and that we will be okay. He will see us thru the tough times ahead, and even though the economy is kind of crappy right now, we have seen Him work in ways that we never imagined. We are blessed to have Jason at the company that he works for, and that they are keeping him busy. We are blessed that I am able to teach piano lessons and that people are still willing to have their children in those types of "luxuries" so that I will also be able to draw a "paycheck". God is good. Have a wonderful weekend!

Cathi