“Write your hurts in the sand. Carve your blessings in stone.” ~ Anonymous
Talk about blessings, my husband George is a walking miracle. In January, we thought we were going to lose him in a few months due to lung cancer spreading to his brain, but he’s doing amazingly well. His latest brain scan looks good and there are no tumors in his body. He rides his bike, has taken up oil painting, and is working toward fulfilling other items on his bucket list.
Wow! As I reflect back on 2017, I’m amazed at all the blessings. Too many to count, that’s for sure.
Thank you, Susie Lindau, for hosting THE BLESSED PROJECT. Composing this post has been a blessing in itself. I’m in awe at how this year has played out.
I’ve been blessed by many ordinary little things, like friendly visitors on our back fence:
Our neighborhood squirrels are a crack up.
And some not-so-ordinary blessings such as the GAMMA Knife radiation treatment that targeted nine lesions in George’s brain without damaging the surrounding tissue.
January 2017 – GAMMA Knife radiation procedure
Although this procedure wasn’t pleasant, George felt up to having our youngest daughter Suzee and her boyfriend Brett come visit us when we got home that afternoon. George even felt well enough to play his guitar for a bit.
The following week, the oncologist told us George had leptomeningeal disease, an aggressive cancer of the lining of the brain. We clung to tiny specks of hope. Any amount of hope is a huge blessing. So far I’ve only written about the beginning of the journey, Part 1.
Family members reached out and gave us strength, especially our four grown children. We’ve never been so proud of them.
Our five grandkids are full of laughter, amusing antics, and blessings galore.
From left to right: Chatty Girl, Ninja Doll, Grasshopper, Sweet Pea, and Twinkle Eyes
We’ve been blessed by prayers and support from people all over the world. Kind words and well wishes nourish the soul.
Our oldest daughter April had moved to North Carolina in September 2016, so when she learned of her father’s diagnosis, she made plans to fly to California with her two children to spend quality time with “Gramps” while he was asymptomatic.
In the meantime, Suzee made arrangements for us to meet Brett’s parents. We went to a nice Mexican restaurant:
We hit it off with Brett’s parents, Dave and Roxy.
Later that night, Brett proposed to Suzee.
They decided to get married as soon as possible.
The wedding was planned for three weeks later, which was during April’s visit. Our niece Carrie graciously offered to hold the wedding in her backyard.
Due to heavy rain, tents were set up the night before the wedding. It was pouring, and a gust of wind blew one tent into the neighbor’s yard. It hit a car but didn’t do any damage! Crazy, huh? The rental company replaced the tent the morning of the wedding and then everything fell into place.
Suzee walked down the aisle to the theme song from the movie Forest Gump.
February 18, 2017
They danced to Sublime:
My dad is 84 and can dance like a whippersnapper and make people laugh while he’s at it:
A blessed day to rejoice, celebrate love and life and our expanding family.
Family photo with the newlyweds
Best friends
In March, we were blessed by attending youngest grandchild’s baptism. Oh my goodness, so stinking cute!
In May, I got to go to the Madonna Inn in Santa Maria, California, for my niece’s bridal shower.
My niece and my sister
In July we hitched a ride to Cambria with Amy and family to attend our niece’s wedding.
A week after the wedding, my mother and father (pictured above with the bride and groom) celebrated 65 years of marriage.
Niece’s wedding reception – July 2017
Mom and Dad celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary
In late July, we celebrated George’s 65th birthday. First, we went to lunch with our son Mike and his family.
Celebrating George’s 65th birthday – July 2017
Then we all went to a concert at the park, where our middle daughter Amy and her family joined us.
George and I celebrated 41 years of marriage in September. Amy invited us to go to Mammoth with her family and our son Mike for a four-day weekend in mid-September. They rented a pontoon boat for a few hours.
No, that’s not Maxine the cartoon character all bundled up. It’s me feeling blessed that the pontoon wasn’t rented for the whole day!
The next day we visited Devil’s Post Pile, a natural wonder of hexagon-shaped basaltic columns caused from lava and a glacier, fire and ice. A short, beautiful hike through nature’s wonderland is the best kind of blessing.
If you go to the 13:00 minute mark in the video below, you can view the hexagonal columns. Prior to that point in the video, it features the lovely hike to get there.
A few days after returning from Mammoth, we flew to gorgeous North Carolina to see April and her family. Son-in-law had to work, so we didn’t do much sight seeing. Instead, we taught the kids lots of games, put puzzles together, shared spooky stories while sitting around a fire pit, and told silly jokes.
Grammy: Where do ghosts live?
Grasshopper: I don’t know. Where?
Grammy: North Scare-o-lina!
In addition to doing puzzles, Gramps taught the kids how to play dominoes.
October offered plenty of blessings, like carving funny-faced pumpkins and attending a Halloween party thrown by my writer friend, Marissa. Each person had to read a scary story or poem. What a blast!
Writers friends
December 2nd we got to go to a red-carpet themed party for our great-niece’s Sweet 16 birthday party.
As if all those blessings weren’t enough, April, her husband and the kids flew to California the first week of December and we got together at Amy’s to celebrate Thanksmas, a term Amy coined.
There are so many more blessings, but this post is long enough, so thank you for stopping in to visit. I wish you and your family endless peace, joy, and more blessings than you can shake a candy cane at.
I’d love to hear what some of your blessings are, what you’re looking forward to in the coming year, and if you need prayers or well wishes for a special intention, leave a comment and I’ll keep you in my thoughts.
Lots of blessings, indeed, Maxine! (ooops, I mean Lynn)
Keep carving in stone!
Hahahaha! Maxine! You’re so funny, Pambelina. Thanks for the laughs and thanks for stopping by to visit.
Considering how the year began, you’ve had a great one filled with many blessings. Continued prayers for George.
Yes, Alex, it’s been an amazing year. God is good! Thank you for stopping by and for continued prayers for George.
What an incredible journey you’ve been on as a family this year, and yet, you’ve ended up having so much good come through in the end. I love the photos and your parents are adorable. Your dad can still dance up a storm! xx
It truly has been an incredible journey. I think my parents are adorable, too! Yes, Dad can dance like he’s still a young man. Amazing. It’s his mind that’s showing his age, though. 🙁 Thank you for visiting, Yvette!
I LOVE your Blessed Project, Lynn! I am so happy for you and George and his health. 2017 started out being super scary and turned out to be so memorable for the whole family. The last-minute wedding was fantastic!
I’m sending lots of positive vibes for George’s continued health.
I’ll include this in the link up on Wednesday! Thanks for participating. Merry, merry!
Thanks so much, Susie! If it wasn’t for you hosting The Blessed Project, I never would have written this post and gone through all my pictures, then realized all the awesome blessings 2017 has been filled with. This is such an emotional post for me. I never dreamed this year would be so blessed. It’s an honor to be part of your Blessed Project.
Thank you for sending positive vibes for George’s continued health. We’re so grateful for all the support and well wishes. Praying for your continued good health, too, Susie!
What a wonderful, blessed tribute to 2017. So many amazing pictures of your family and friends! Your walking that long hike when you were in Mammouth sure surprised
me! So great that you put this all together, love every detail, every word! So many Blessing to thank our awesome God for! George is doing so good and it sure makes me real happy! Next Monday we will all celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ!
Many prayers for a wonderful New Year for you and George! Love you deeply, Mom
Thank you, Mom. I’m so glad you enjoyed this post. It wasn’t a long hike to Devil’s Postpile. Pretty easy quarter-mile hike, I believe. You’d love it.
Yes, so many blessings, and you and Dad are two of them. And Monday we’ll celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus. It will be a very special Christmas. Love you, too, Mom! XOXOX
Wow, so many things to celebrate! Especially George’s birthday. What a fantastic year you’ve had, and may the next be as good (even if quieter). For me, seeing my daughter graduate college, get a good job she loves, and move out were the highlights of the year. We miss her of course, but this is exactly what kids are supposed to do, so it’s all good.
Congratulations on your daughter’s graduation, Jennette! Big bonus that she found a job she loves. That’s awesome. Yes, you’ll miss her, but you will have peace of mind knowing she’s doing what she loves. I hope you get to see her often and enjoy every precious moment. Thanks so much for stopping by!
What a wonderful wonderful year! Such a big happy family! Here’s hoping 2018 brings more blessings and more FUN!
Thank you, Annie. Yes, it’s been a wonderful year filled with good times with family and friends like you. More blessings and more FUN sounds great. Wishing the same for you!
That is absolutely amazing news that George is doing much better now! I’m so glad to hear that. Also the wedding afterwards looked so beautiful! I love love loved the photos and videos you shared of those special moments.
It’s truly amazing that George is doing so well. We’re thankful for each day. Our daughter was so happy her father felt well enough to walk her down the aisle. I’m so glad you enjoyed the photos and videos, Hanna. Thanks so much for stopping by!