North Texas Giving Day!

Every donation of $25 & above made online today between 7 a.m. & 7 p.m. will receive a 25% match if you donate to the Community Enrichment Center through www.donorbridgetx.org North Texas' online resource that connects donors with nonprophit organizations like us.

For more information, please contact Latoyia Dennis or Ramdy Clinton @ 817-281-1164

Thank you for supporting the CEC & The Sharon Washburn Center for Hope!

Yea! for Lower Temperatures!

What a blessing to have a bit of respite from the hot Texas sun! We've been able to enjoy temperatures in the high 80's, which doesn't sound good at all, unless it's held up beside the low 100's day after day that we've been having! It's all perspective in the comparison of the two!

I'm still doing well, all considering & God stays good every day. As hard as I may try to see how bad things can be, it seems impossible to do! Even on the darkest of days, He's faithful!

I have not moved to the hospital bed at night, yet, but have taken a few naps on it & it's nice. I can raise & lower it to ease my back & fit my knees into very comfortable position for sleeping, so I'm pleased. I stay thankful for all I have available to me through the uneasiness of cancer. I'm off to bed soon since I had a full day, but have to be thankful first. Thankful over a very long long list of people I love & who love my family & me. Thankful to my God who never gets tired like I do.

Randi took me out today to run errands & like I said, the weather was fabulous, so we had so much fun together & laughed a lot, really. (Mixed a few tears into the day, but mostly laughed.) Heard from Taylor & all their power in that part of California area is out, so life goes on with the good & the bad. Cancer here hasn't made life here better or worse in those ways. Things like power, credit card interference, new neighbors, opening of football season & car tags all keep happening. It's life & it's full.

Today I prayed a lot about many friends. There's a lot of people I love that are facing decisions that need facing only with the Lord. So, that's what I pray. God's guidance. God's strength. God's peace.

To All- Many Blessings!

Medical Update 9/3/11

Hospice visits are now increasing to twice a week per my request & their agreement that this needs to happen. The rapid cancer growth was confirmed again last Thursday & there's just so many places in my body this can grow not interfere with normal body actions. My body will not be able to do what it's doing much longer.

This is horribly sad to Mike, Randi, Taylor & me. Any of us & all of us, can only guess at the number of our days. (That number belongs only to God.) Some of you, who aren't even anticipating death, may face it before me. But, guessing & adding to what we know, this cancer continues on the same path & that is a short one. Much shorter than what I want.

I continue to take pain medications & am most thankful for these. As my back hurts from nerve endings & torso hurts from cancer growth, these meds make all the difference. Hospice is prepared & right on any & every need I have. A hospital bed was delivered to our house this week & that was hard for me to see. Wow, such a reminder this life is going quickly. I haven't moved to the bed at night time, yet. (Only nap-times at the moment). But, it's there when we need it for convience & help me sleep more deeply propped up. I'll move to that bed when the time comes but thank God daily for the medical care I've recieved all through this process.

This week, Mike & I are reminded that we're blessed in so many ways! It's embarrassing to even list all the blessings, but one of the ways is the diversity of people we know & love. We have friends all over the age scale & this keeps us blessed like crazy. We have friends older than us, our own age, young families a couple of decades behind us & then friends even in the youth group. It really is a blessing to know & love such a variety of people.

One such friend we were able to be with (I'm wthholding her name because I didn't get permission to use it) this week lost her ring finger in a tragic lake accident over July 4th. She is in her late 30's & did nothing wrong or out of line. She was "obeying all the rules on the lake" & didn't cause this freak & tragic event. It just is what it is. It happened & it stinks! I've prayed for her these 8 weeks & she will live & be okay physically. The blessing, though, about being around her is that she is sad & still leaning hard on the prayers of others. She's depending on a steadfast Father to see her through this tragic loss in her life. What a blessing to me to see a physically beautiful woman go back to the cross to get her bearing in life. Learn again where her hope is found & sustained. Although 20 years behind me in life's age, she reminded me of the sweetness of Jesus & how He loves us, oh, how He loves us at all times in our lives! Through our dark days, He's there!

Thank you, dearest friends & family. Thank you, Hospice, Thank you Sweet Father God!

Blessings!

Pick Me Out of the Crowd!

Even through hundreds of 4 through 6 year olds on the soccer fields, my daughter can pick Cason out of the crowd as she scans crowd & fields following the games. She can follow every move he makes during the game, too. And, even if she loses sight of him for a moment as he plays, she can pick him back up quickly through his walk or the gate of his run, his manner or the sound of his voice.

She & Taylor can hear Cason, Braden or Paisley through a room full of children screaming sounds of joy at a birthday party or a hurtful cry of a mis-step at the nearby jumping place they love to go to for an afternoon

Taylor can hear Paisley's cry above any other baby's at the church nursery & both mom's can tell you what kind of cry it is that any of these three are using at any given moment. Is it a cry of pain? What about anxiety or stress? Then, it could be a "fake" cry or one that's calling for Mom's attention even when things really are ok.
Randi knows Braden without me having to tell her who he is after his Thursday school. Of all those hundreds of children, Only two go home with her. Cason & Braden. She doesn't leave any activity with more or less children than she came for & it's only those two. Taylor is just now leaving Paisley with other caregivers & she's the same way. She came with one baby girl & she's leaving with one & it's Paisley. None other. Randi, it's Cason & Braden. Period.

I've watched this happen since my girls have become mothers & it's a remarkable thing through history, that a parent knows their own child & cares for that one or those that belong to that parent.

Watch an animal show on tv about penguins, elephants, lions & most other mammals & you'll see the same pattern. The parent has the child, knows & cares & can easily pick that child or those children out of a crowd & care for those in particular.

My daughters are no different than all the other young parents I know. The soccer fields, Bible classrooms or any other venue & all the children clear out in a moment's notice once it's time & all those little kiddos go with all the right parents without anyone having to tell a parent that this or that one baby belongs to them!

What I'm saying is nothing new. My girls & their children are no diffeent than any others through history. They're parents & they know their children. Their children know their parents & want back in their arms at any opportunity they have.

I've just been waching this & thinking about it a lot lately as I watch sports, schools, playgrounds & church activities. And, then I've known for all these many years that just like my daughter's & their children, I am God's daughter. He knows me & can pick me out of a crowd. He knows my name, the hairs on head, my cry & what I need when I call out for Him. He knows me & I know Him. He's the One I want to leave the birthday party with. He's the One I want taking me home. He's my daddy & I want no other.

It's so comforting to know that I am known. I like knowing He can pick me out of a crowd & that He's promised to do just that at all times. Pick me out of a crowd. Know what I need when I need it. Teach me, comfort me & love me with all He has.

It's an amazing thing to know & it's time to thank God for being the father He is. To praise Him for knowing & caring for every detail about me. And, to be ready for His call when He picks me out of the crowd!

Blessings!

Did You Hear That?

Recenty, Mike & I traveled to San Diego & back to Texas (not to worry, I don't have another bad airline story! lol!), then, Blessing Ceremony over the Sharon Washburn Center for Hope & finally, Washburn Women Weekend with cooking class. It was a few days full of travel & fun for me. Seeing & spending time with people I love & some I didn't even know well, but fun & exciting all the same. I noticed something as I watched people living & going & doing.

I noticed parents & children traveling through the busy airports, all the while, keeping tabs on one another so no one would get lost or separated. I noticed ticket agents & airline staff working with passengers to get them on the desired plane & to their destinations. There were passengers, like me, needing assistance with wheelchairs & pre-boarding; there were pilots & airline stewards giving direction over the intercoms during flight in case of emergency, so we'd all know what to do. (One even sang the instrutions to the tune of "Heartbreak Hotel" just to keep our attention!)

In San Diego, there was a lot of the same communication on the beach. The keeping up with one another & parents applying sunscreen to children who were ready to run in the water & explaining their efforts so children would understand the delay of play in guarding them from a potential sunburn.

Back in Texas, we attended the Blessing Ceremony that was one of the sweetest events I can remember. There were speakers wanting to get the word out about the Center & care of abused women & their children. The staff was excited in showing all who attended the ceremony their work of the apartment projects & what they'd done so far in this effort.

Finally, the Cooking School that evening that was so much fun! The Chef wanted our attention as she demonstrated rolling egg rolls & pot stickers. As she spoke, it came to me that every single person I'd seen in the last week wanted the very same thing... to be heard. Isn't that funny? We all were in different circumstances & locations & stages of life & career, but all wanted someone to listen to what we had to say.

Every person I've mentioned above & including all members of our family later in the weekend together, all wanted the same thing! We all came together from busy lives & had needs & wants to share. We all just wanted & needed a listening ear. To be heard & understood by another person.

As I thought about all the people I'd seen as I people watched through airports & ceremonies & family gatherings, I realized God has the exact desire & that's to be heard. He wants desperately to be heard because He knows if we listen to Him, we'll like what we hear. We'll follow His lead in our lives. He tells you & me all through His word that if we knock on the door, He'll open it. He's saying when we come to Him, He'll tell us about Himself. He shouts every morning as He brings the sun up that He loves you & me & He just wants us to hear that from Him. He wants to be heard when He sets a rainbow in the sky. So, as a result of this recent trip & family time, I'm going to hear as people speak. Whether I know them or not, I will hear them out. The desire is to be heard, so I will listen. All my loved ones are worth listening to, & so is my God.

Blessings!

Medical Update- 8/20/11

There has been a lot of patience shown by all our friends & family as you wait on me to communicate these updates. Thank you for all your love & support. (I've said this a million times & still mean it!) Thank you most of all for your prayers because we believe with all our hearts, that God hears you & answers with a merciful hand. Please continue to beg Him to speak me healed of this disease. Mike & I pray this boldly every day & God continues to answer in the negative on our request, but we still go boldly to His throne & ask the Creator of the Universe for healing. He can do this at any moment & we give Him praise for life it's self! Whatever He chooses to do with our lives, so be it. We choose to live in submission to Him even when that means a completely different scenario than we would imagine. So, with that said, I want to update you on the continued rapid growth of Metastatic Disease on my body.

OK! Everyone says how good I look when they see me, so I will not argue that point! My face & demeanor is quite pretty! LOL! I'm out & about for basically one run a day. I'll meet a girlfriend for lunch, or run an errand even though I'm very limited by the heat! There are a couple of friends, along with my daughters & husband, who drive me on these errands (I have given up driving completely as I'm too slow due to pain meds & I'm terribly restricted in my movements of my left torso.) After the one outing for the day, then I'm at home resting or "piddling", as I like to call it.

Nearly all women in my circumstance began getting very sleepy as the cancer grows & overtakes their bodies. (The nurses with Hospice are incredibly in-tuned with me to keep me out of pain & give me any sort of comfort they can.) Women just begin to sleep & sleep & basically, after some days or weeks, sleep with pain meds & pass from this life to the next. However, I'm proving to do this differently than the other women nurses are ministering to. (This is of no surprise to any of us since I've asked God from day one to walk this walk the way He chooses & the submission to Him will chart the course for my life here & my life to come.) Even though my face & demeanor are beautiful, the cancer is ravishing my left torso. It's growing at a rapid pace & there's no hiding it unclothed. So, Mike & I are well-aware, that even though I can go & do a bit & look good, the cancer is what it is.

This makes for the "guess" that I might face death without as much "warning" as other ladies. That I'm not sleeping like I should be in corolating with my torso. More than likely (IF God doesn't heal me miraculously), we'll not have much head's up. This news does not make Mike, Randi & Eric, Tyrel & Taylor or me sad at all! This has been our prayer as a family, that I live until I die. That, with God's merciful hand, He will give me days to live (& not sleep) to enjoy with my family & friends & church.

Please join us in that prayer- that I live until I die- & thank Him already for these days. Like I said, the cancer is really taking it's toll on my left side & I cannot continue to physically live this way, even though, we still have no timeframe on my transition from here to Heaven.

I'm still thankful to serve the God I serve. I'm still thankful beyond words for my family. I'm still living an incredibly blessed life because God loves me all the time.

Blessings!

Happy Birthday to Taylor, 2011!

Spending time with Taylor for her 29th birthday was no option for me this year! Spending THE day with her was low key and wonderful & then getting to spend several days was icing on the cake for Mike & me!
Top that off with being in 78 degree San Diego weather & it was fabulous!
There are fewer things in life sweeter than a daughter and to have Taylor is just the greatest. (Both our girls spent their birthdays this year under a bit of distress, to say the least.) Randi turning 32 and Taylor turning 29. They're incredible women of God & it has been an honor to be their mom all these many years.
So, even though there was no big fan fare, we had a perfect day together, starting by eating breakfast as the pier & making friends with the resident pelican & ending by soaking up all that beautiful San Diego sunshine! All in all we had a wonderful day that I wouldn't change for anything.
Thank you, Taylor for being such a wonderful, sweet-heart of a daughter! I pray you have many, many birthdays to come & each one have laughter & sunshine in it! I'm not sure I could love you anymore than I do right now! God gave Dad & me time with you & that is a direct answer to prayers we've prayed, so I'm forever grateful to Him for that.
I know it's been a few days since our time together but was waiting on our busy weekend together to come to completeltion & didn't want to miss a minute of it. So, Happy Birthday, again, my dear daughter! I love you with all I got!