Laura's dad, Gary, has been going through chemo treatments over the past few months for his lung cancer which had spread to his ribs. He went for his re-scan last week and met with the doctors today. Thankfully, the news was FANTASTIC!
Both spots on the ribs had shrunk in size, one had very little activity and the other had no activity! Leading up to the scan, Gary had been having a lot of pain, so we feared the worst. That makes the news even more fantastic! The doctors believe the pain he's been experiencing is a result of nerve damage from having the lung removed. He has another round or two of the hardcore chemo he's been doing, but he's going to move in the near future to more of a maintenance chemo. This is also wonderful news because the chemo treatment he's been on has been extremely hard on him. Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers! We are very encouraged!!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
30 Gifts in 30 Days - Results
Here are the results of my 30 Gifts in 30 Days challenge which was begun November 29.
- Ordered a DVD of the thrashing my Tigers took at the hands of the Gamecocks for my father-in-law. - November 29
- I noticed that the single mom that lives next to us had a light bulb out on her garage door opener, so when you opened the door to pull in there was no light. I offered to change it which she took me up on because she said she wasn't real sure how do get to the bulb. - November 30
- Gave our old Christmas tree to a friend of my neighbor's that needed one.
- Bought a friend lunch one day.
- Donated some money to a pet rescue organization at PetsMart.
- Donate some old linens and old baby things we had to a local children's shelter.
- Bought some supplies for a Christmas party that is being given by some people at work for a local children's shelter.
- Got the name of a family in our church that has four girls under the age of 6 and the parents have been out of work. We got our families together to give them some extra cash for the Holidays.
- Did two Meals on Wheels routes.
- Used my excel skills to help a group of music bloggers put together a year-end top 20 albums of 2009 list that was published across the web.
- Rolled my neighbors trash cans (single mother) up to her house one night when it was nasty and raining outside so she wouldn't have to.
- Did work several days for the children's shelter that I serve on the board.
One big idea I came up with that I need to find the time to get the ball rolling on.....Our 20 year high school reunion is coming up. I would love to be able to set up a scholarship fund in memory of a classmate of ours that passed away the year after our graduation, so we can begin giving a scholarship each year to a kid graduating from our high school. Just need to find the time to put together board members, track down her parents and make sure they are OK with the idea and then figure out how to create the organization, file for tax exempt status and get the administrative and fund raising ball rolling. As I type this I realize why I keep procrastinating on it, but hopefully this will give the push I need.
This will probably be the only further update I do on it, unless I add a few more little things to the list. Try the idea for yourself. It's a very rewarding thing to know that you make a difference in someone's life.
30 Gifts in 30 Days
At church today, the sermon was called 30 Gifts in 30 Days. The basic premise of the sermon was that Christmas has lost its original meaning, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy with the birth of Jesus, and has become a commercialized holiday with more focus on the GDP than the real reason for the season - a holiday that's more about getting than giving.
The pastor told the story about a lady that was on the Today Show recently. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and began going downhill quickly losing the use of one hand, sight in one eye and even the ability to walk without aid. A friend, which she quickly corrects as a spirtual advisor in the video below, suggested that too much of her focus was on her struggles and that she should turn her focus outward to others by giving 29 gifts in 29 days. By the end of her giving, her change in focus completely changed her condition to the point that she regained her sight, use of her hand and even was able to walk unaided.
This was just the perfect topic for what I'd had going through my mind. I'm going to accept the challenge proposed by Charlie and I'm going to try and give 30 Gifts in 30 Days. I can't say they'll all be fabulous or imaginative or that I'll even remember to do one every day, but I'm going to try my best. You can follow my results here.
The pastor told the story about a lady that was on the Today Show recently. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and began going downhill quickly losing the use of one hand, sight in one eye and even the ability to walk without aid. A friend, which she quickly corrects as a spirtual advisor in the video below, suggested that too much of her focus was on her struggles and that she should turn her focus outward to others by giving 29 gifts in 29 days. By the end of her giving, her change in focus completely changed her condition to the point that she regained her sight, use of her hand and even was able to walk unaided.
This was just the perfect topic for what I'd had going through my mind. I'm going to accept the challenge proposed by Charlie and I'm going to try and give 30 Gifts in 30 Days. I can't say they'll all be fabulous or imaginative or that I'll even remember to do one every day, but I'm going to try my best. You can follow my results here.
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True Life
The past few days, Laura and I watched two episodes of MTV True Life. The first was about families who had lost jobs and were struggling to stay in their homes and get by. The second was about people who were homeless. Listening to them talk about their daily struggles really made me think about how blessed I am.
One family was evicted from their house after the mother lost her survivor social security benefits when her daughter turned 16. She could not work because of medical issues, they had no family to help, and the daughter would lose her survivor benefits if she became employed, not to mention a 16-year-old salary potential isn't enough to support two people. They wound up having to live in their car. During the episode, they mentioned at one point that they had enough money to buy a loaf of bread and a box of pop tarts for both of them to eat for a week!!
I went to church with Garrett this morning and was just thinking about the plight of the people documented in these episodes. I just had an overwhelming thought: I need to do something to help people like that. That leads me to my next post - 30 Gifts in 30 Days.
One family was evicted from their house after the mother lost her survivor social security benefits when her daughter turned 16. She could not work because of medical issues, they had no family to help, and the daughter would lose her survivor benefits if she became employed, not to mention a 16-year-old salary potential isn't enough to support two people. They wound up having to live in their car. During the episode, they mentioned at one point that they had enough money to buy a loaf of bread and a box of pop tarts for both of them to eat for a week!!
I went to church with Garrett this morning and was just thinking about the plight of the people documented in these episodes. I just had an overwhelming thought: I need to do something to help people like that. That leads me to my next post - 30 Gifts in 30 Days.
Clemson vs. South Carolina
Well, we played our big rival, South Carolina, this weekend and lost. You know what though? I don't care. I'm kind of glad we lost. That's not something you'd probably ever hear me say. However, I came to realize this weekend that some things are much more important than sports.
Laura told me that she had not seen her dad, who is battling lung cancer and a big Gamecock fan, so happy in a long time. That sealed it for me. We lost? Who cares? There's a lot more important things in life. As a matter of fact, I tracked down someone who is going to make a copy of that game for me, so I can give it to him and he can watch us get waxed again and again.
Laura told me that she had not seen her dad, who is battling lung cancer and a big Gamecock fan, so happy in a long time. That sealed it for me. We lost? Who cares? There's a lot more important things in life. As a matter of fact, I tracked down someone who is going to make a copy of that game for me, so I can give it to him and he can watch us get waxed again and again.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Here's the Best Commercial for Satellite Radio Ever....
Christmas music started last week on the terrestrial channels around here. The week of November 8th!!!! That is just WAAAAAAAAY too long to be playing Christmas music.
Caine Halter Lungs4Life
On November 14, 2009, my family and I participated in the Caine Halter Lungs4Life 5k. The money raised from this event benefits Uniting Against Lung Cancer which is an organization committed to finding a cure for lung cancer by funding innovative research into improved diagnosis and treatment. Laura's father, Gary Burch, is battling lung cancer which makes this a cause that is very near and dear to our hearts.
We didn't know much about this event until Tuesday night. We quickly put together our team which we initially thought would be Laura, her sisters, Mom and each of their families. Laura asked how much we should choose for our fundraising goal with only three days left until the event. She was thinking $250. I told her that I thought people would be generous, and we should go as high as $500. Boy, did I ever underestimate the generosity of our family and friends. As of right now, we have raised exactly $3,000!!! That's $3,000 in only 3 days!! I would like to wish everyone who contributed a sincere thank you. You don't know how much it means to have people support those you love and respect in that way. If you still wish to donate you can do so at this link. A special thanks as well to those that came out and ran/walked with our team: the Herron family, the Usry family and Lori McPeak. Have to give a big pat on the back to 10-year-old Benjamin Usry who ran with our team. That kid finished that 5k in 23:36! He won his age class.
On a personal note, one of my donors challenged me to beat his time in the Susan G. Komen 5k which was 32:50. I went into the run having not run in over a year and I have never run consistently since high school, so running a 10 minute mile pace over a 3.1 mile course would be tough. I definitely felt at times like walking, but I kept at it and finished in 31:09 I'm proud to say.
Some of my favorite things about the weekend are in some of the pictures below: 1) the sign Garrett made to wear on his back; 2) watching Garrett round the corner and start running for the finish line - I had to go back out on the course and finish with him (I later heard that he was a real trooper and walked/ran most of the course); 3) Gary, Carson and I before the race; and 4) Garrett walking up to his Papa after it was over and saying, "Papa, we walked and ran for you!". Yes, we sure did, Buddy. Go Gary!
We didn't know much about this event until Tuesday night. We quickly put together our team which we initially thought would be Laura, her sisters, Mom and each of their families. Laura asked how much we should choose for our fundraising goal with only three days left until the event. She was thinking $250. I told her that I thought people would be generous, and we should go as high as $500. Boy, did I ever underestimate the generosity of our family and friends. As of right now, we have raised exactly $3,000!!! That's $3,000 in only 3 days!! I would like to wish everyone who contributed a sincere thank you. You don't know how much it means to have people support those you love and respect in that way. If you still wish to donate you can do so at this link. A special thanks as well to those that came out and ran/walked with our team: the Herron family, the Usry family and Lori McPeak. Have to give a big pat on the back to 10-year-old Benjamin Usry who ran with our team. That kid finished that 5k in 23:36! He won his age class.
On a personal note, one of my donors challenged me to beat his time in the Susan G. Komen 5k which was 32:50. I went into the run having not run in over a year and I have never run consistently since high school, so running a 10 minute mile pace over a 3.1 mile course would be tough. I definitely felt at times like walking, but I kept at it and finished in 31:09 I'm proud to say.
Some of my favorite things about the weekend are in some of the pictures below: 1) the sign Garrett made to wear on his back; 2) watching Garrett round the corner and start running for the finish line - I had to go back out on the course and finish with him (I later heard that he was a real trooper and walked/ran most of the course); 3) Gary, Carson and I before the race; and 4) Garrett walking up to his Papa after it was over and saying, "Papa, we walked and ran for you!". Yes, we sure did, Buddy. Go Gary!
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