Friday

What an interesting Friday it was yesterday. We had a few patients this morning for lab draws, and the rest of the day was just going to be catching up on paperwork, phone calls, etc. Basically uneventful.

All those things happened, but we also had several visitors. Two from families of patients who have passed recently, and one from a patient who is currently in remission. The first was the son of a patient who passed away on Tuesday. He just wanted to stop in and say hello and tell us stories about his dad and reminisce about when they came here almost weekly for several months. The second was the wife and sister-in-law of another patient who passed away about a month ago. This patient had come to our clinic for treatment for almost 2 years and hearing of his passing was hard for all of us here at the office.

The last visitor was a happy visit from a patient who finished treatment early in the summer and has since been in remission. It is so fun to see these patients come back and to see that they are recovering well. I love to hear the changes that have occurred since their last office appointment and that they are healthy and full of life. It is so encouraging and gives me hope.

It is so humbling to me when families of our patients come back after they have passed. It does not happen often, and usually it is from those who came often or for long stretches of time. Selfishly, it gives me closure, especially in those cases when the patient or family was one that I considered a little more special than the rest. Hearing these family members tell stories and reminisce reminds me why I do what I do. It reminds me that this earth is just a temporary home. It reminds me that in spite of myself, God can use me in ways that I do not even recognize in the lives of my patients and their families. It also helps me remember that finding a balance in how close I get to these patients and their family is important, but to not let it hinder the way God wants to use me.

What a great reminder today of many things, but mostly that God has a purpose for my life and to cherish those I love every day.

Color Me Rad

Last weekend Julie came to Texas and invited me to run with her and her friend Kerri in the color me rad 5k. I have never done anything like that so was pretty excited to give it a try. Basically you run 3 miles and at various points, people throw colored corn starch or spray paintball paint at you.
Here we are pre-race with our nice clean shirts:

me, Julie, Kerri's sister, Kerri's mom, and Kerri

 And here we all are afterwards!

\

 Basically, we were filthy, but it was so much fun! Me and Julie ran together and we were so proud of ourselves for running almost all of it. We estimated that we only walked about 10%!

At the end of the race they passed out extra packets of the colored corn starch and had a big "color bomb" to celebrate the race maybe? It was pretty crazy.

 It was a fun way to start the weekend, that's for sure! Then, as the cherry on top, Rachel and Emily met us for lunch at PTerry's and I got to squeeze on these 2 nuggets.

After lunch, I had a great nap and then me and Michael had a game night at Eric and Amber's house. Good times :). I vote that every Saturday should be this fun!

Winter Garden

It's been awhile since I wrote a garden update, so here it is! Michael cleaned out the beds from the spring/summer stuff and planted a strawberry bush, several types of lettuce, and carrots. Here's how it looks now:

The vegetables that we planted in the spring did pretty well. We had lots of tomatoes and peppers, and a few very small cantelopes. The cantelope/watermelon bed got pretty out of control but we managed to get a couple of melons that tasted kinda like a bit of a hybrid between the 2. So maybe putting them right next to each other wasn't the best idea?
We are letting the tomato and pepper plants finish out since they are still producing a little bit, and then will let that bed rest until springtime. I have high hopes for that strawberry plant so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will have lots of yummy strawberries in a few months!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I just love Christmas, so as soon as thanksgiving was over, I decorated my house....

You can't decorate without a cute supervisor :)

 Now to finish all my shopping!