A Little Background

I am a born and raised backwoods girl, a wife, a mother, a farmer, and a volunteer firefighter. The four F-words I focus on most in life are my Faith, Family, Friendships, and making time for some Fun. You’ll be sure to hear more about each of these things as I add posts to my site.

I grew up with few things but always had animals and family around. My mom was known as a person who would take in just about any stray or injured animal. I remember nursing back to health many types of birds who had fallen out of their nests, baby squirrels, a raccoon, a fox, and several cats and dogs. Now as an adult, my family lives on a small chunk of land where we raise chickens, yaks, and pigs. We also have a couple cats and dogs that help protect our livestock. I try to grow or forage for as much food as I can. It is our little homestead in the backwoods.

I am a mother of three children and one adult bonus daughter. My kids are typical in that they like school, sports, animals and helping out around the farm. They are exceptional in almost everything they do and I couldn’t be more proud. My husband and I do they best we can at raising our kids right. They have certain expectations like keeping up with their chores, working hard in school and being respectful to others. They keep me extra busy with all their typical teenage and preteen activities. My husband is tasked with working full time while also trying to keep up with all the new (sometimes crazy) ideas I get. I am not one to sit around idly, unless I’m on a beach or in a deer stand.

The Diagnosis

Almost three years ago a wrench got thrown into our plans. After several years of experiencing odd, frustrating symptoms and trying to find answers, I was diagnosed with stage IV thymoma cancer and myasthenia gravis. It was devastating to me and my family. The thought of not being alive to see my babies grow up was and is debilitating at times. Thymoma is a rare cancer of the thymus gland. By the time it was discovered, it had spread to several other places. Hence the stage IV. Myasthenia Gravis is a rare autoimmune disease but is somewhat common in people who have thymoma. During my battle, I have gone though chemo twice, radiation three times, one huge open chest surgery, neck surgery, and several other small procedures. The original prognosis was not good so I work hard at trying to prove them wrong. There are still several tumors in my chest that need to be dealt with. We are watching them closely in hopes of treating them at the right time with the least amount of collateral damage.

Learning to Cope

After coming to grips with my new reality, I did the only thing I knew to do. I needed to lean on my faith and start putting more trust in God. He created me, after all, and I owed it to Him to spend more time studying His words and getting to know Him better. This also helped me realize that I needed to spend more time with my family. I was always “busy” doing something. Work, volunteering, chores, and helping others seemed to come first. I quickly decided that not only did I need to be with my family more, I wanted to. Next I realized that I needed to better nurture my close friendships. I had so many people in my life that I was trying to please or spend time with (if ever I had a spare moment) that it became so overwhelming. It was clear that I was failing at the things I was trying to do. My friendships were not getting the attention they deserved. I now have a smaller group of people who have stood by me through all the pain and struggles over the past few years and I am trying to be a better friend to them as well. Finally, I had to make the decision to let some responsibilities go and reserve some time for fun. It is a must for a healthy mind, body, and spirit. Sometimes the fun involves church or Christian concerts with my family. Other times it’s hanging with the girls kayaking or hiking. Sometimes it’s taking a spontaneous trip just down the road or perhaps to another state. This is not to say that I don’t find myself overscheduling my days at times. Old habits are hard to break! I am trying, though, and am doing better.

There is a silver lining here. I can say that getting cancer has really helped me to put things into perspective and focus more on those four F-words; Faith, Family, Friendships, and Fun.