Queen of the Vine Coronation Dinner

Tonight Dwight and I attended the Queen of the Vine Coronation Dinner by the Brighton Center. It was held at a beautiful private club and the food was wonderful!

You might remember that I had been nominated for the Queen of the Vine and agreed to raise money for Brighton as part of the running for the Queen of the Vine. All proceeds for the Queen of the Vine benefit the children of Brighton Center, which serves children (including Ryan) with disabilities or delays and their families through an array of services. You all know how much we love Ryan's therapist and all the support people at Brighton.

So, it was an honor to be nominated; however, when I was diagnosed with cancer and started to realize what that would mean to our lives, I had to make the difficult decision to drop out. I've tried to help in some small ways since then, but could not do the larger projects that would have been fun and meaningful. I look forward to helping more in the future.
Last night the Brighton Center crowned the 2010 Queen of the Vine, Jenine Beckel who had raised an amazing $80,000! Yay, Jenine! Very impressive. They also honored the other candidate, Julie Martinez, who held more fund-raising events during her campaign than any previous candidate. They also honored last year's 2009 Queen of the Vine, Cynthia Lee, would do an amazing job!

They also honored me and gave me some beautiful flowers. I was not expecting that and was very glad that I had dressed for the occasion. :) Whew... They said the nice things about me. I look forward to doing more for Brighton Center.

Speaking of doing ... if you live here in San Antonio, I'd love for you to come help me stuff bags for A Taste of the North Side. Have you heard of Taste of the North Side? It's another benefit for Brighton, and a yummy one! You buy a ticket to the event, which you can buy from me, and when you get there you get to taste yummy food from all kinds of restaurants on the north side. Last year, Kemille, Dixie, and I attended and had a great time. It was a beautiful day, and I ate more than I should have. :) At the end, I still had some tickets left over.
But, I digress.

So, they need 750 bags stuffed for the event and since I have amazing friends, I said I'd take the job. My plan ... in mid-April (as soon as I have the supplies) ... I'll put out some yummy munchies on the bar and you can come over and spend as much time as you have available talking, eating, and stuffing. I'll let you know the dates as soon as I know. I hope you'll all show up to visit and help.

Dentist Appointments

We have the best dentists in the world! Today I took all 6 kids in for checkups, even Ryan. At each child's first appointment, Dr. Bob has his picture taken with the child. We now have pictures for all 6 kids with the dentist. I thought you all might enjoy seeing these.

It's a grape.

It's a grape.
Just a grape.
One single grape.

But my boys were
fascinated
by this grape.

Poem by David Mann

Fire or Ice

A difficult question, though it seems nice,
Which way will we all go: Fire or Ice?
My first hope, I must say, (for I am no liar)
I had hoped that it will be fire.

Because then, I said, there would be no pain,
The time would come and then firey rain.
Then again, I said, mankind takes long to burn,
So I guess that I have a lot I have to learn.

So fire is out, I said, then what about ice?
It’s not much more painful then everyday head lice.
But, I said, what if people are frozen?
Maybe it is wrong this thing I have chosen.

It’s a good thing, so nice,
That I don’t pick, (I got it wrong twice.)
Because of this question, I’ve gotten quite sick,
And I shall end with a question: What would YOU pick?


FIN

Jessica took these pictures of Deborah today while they were cleaning (aka playing in) their room.

Another cake by Jessica

Jessica made this cute cake for one of her friends at church. Her friend just turned 14 years old and is thus joining the church's young women group called "Miamaids." It's the class for young women ages 14 and 15. The decorations on top of the cake were carved from rice krispy treats and then covered in fondant and painted with edible paints.
She really loves making these cakes and just keeps getting better. I love that she's so willing to share her talents with others.

Deborah took this picture of me this morning as we were getting ready for church...

"I'm SOOO big, Momma!"

Pink Magic

I have found a new love. They call it "Pink Magic." It's a compound prescription that the Dr ordered for me on Friday. It's a thick liquid that I swish around my mouth and then swallow. It has an odd consistency, but it's worth it.

It makes it so my mouth doesn't hurt so much. It's so good that by last night, I thought, "Oh, my mouth isn't hurting much at all now. Just tingling a little still."

Then the meds wore off around midnight. Um. Yea. The pain is still there. But, it's definitely not as bad as it was on Thursday and Friday.

As for the other little discomforts of chemo, the body aches have moved down to my lower back and hips. It's weird how it's just making its way down my body. I wish I understood that on a chemical level. The intensity is definitely weakening now and I'm hoping for a good week.

Dwight and I went to Lowe's yesterday to pick up some clippers for the bushes. I'm really excited to try it. I've never trimmed a bush before and hope that I don't make a mess of it. I figure I'll start slow and small. We also looked at purchasing a fruit bearing tree for the back yard. The peach trees have beautiful blossoms and look like they would eventually make beautiful trees. We have a spot that used to have a large tree. Now it's just growing little weeds. I thought a pretty blossoming tree would work well in its place.

I hope the cold weather that we had yesterday and that is supposed to be here still today doesn't kill our little garden. It's been fun to see the plants growing and the kids take such an interest.

Well, time to get everyone ready for church. I hope you all enjoy a beautiful Sabbath!