Weekly Update

It's been a very different week.  I honestly don't even know where to begin! 

First off, Reed had his birthday this week!  Yesterday, to be precise.  He turned the big 30!  He's been sick with the flu all week so we kept the day kind of restful.  We did manage to spend the morning watching our favorite movie, Guardians of the Galaxy.  It made us laugh so hard!  Laughter is good after what he's been through this week.  I made him waffles for breakfast (since he loves waffles) and we "argued" over Mrs. Butterworths and her origins which led us to watch old Mrs. Butterworths commercials from the 1960s.  In the afternoon we took a little walk in the sun (60's and sunny all day every day) before dinner.  For his birthday dinner, Reed chose homemade pizza so I tossed that together and then I sang him Happy Birthday over his FOUR birthday cakes!  He couldn't choose just one flavor so we took the choice out of it and got everything.  haha  Then in the evening we watched sitcoms until we were tired.  It's hard to believe Reed is 30 now!  He loved all the birthday phone calls and text messages he received...it made him feel really good and certainly kept a smile on his face.  Thank you all for making his birthday special!

As some of you may know, Reed's dad has been in the hospital for 4 weeks.  It's been a difficult battle where he would take big steps backward and tiny steps forward.  The pain from his growing tumors has been unbearable and he's become very weak.  His oncologist sat down with us and discussed the options from here.  Harold chose to switch the focus of treatments and is on hospice now.  He was transferred to inpatient hospice last night and once he gets his medications under control then he will be transferred home.  It was a brave decision that he made and one that did not come lightly.  Recently, an ESPN sportscaster verbalized my feelings on fighting cancer perfectly.  He said "You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live.  So live, live, fight like hell.  And when you get too tired, lay down, rest and let someone else fight for you".  The fight is never over, Harold is just telling cancer that there is no way it will make him live in pain and force him to be in the hospital.  He's saying that he wants to flip cancer the bird and take control over his own life.  In the meantime, Harold and the family could use your prayers for comfort and strength.

The rest of the week has been consumed in work (we're preparing for three big inspections), Reed's flu (he's getting much better now), and life in general.  I hope everyone has been having a really great week and enjoying the New Year.  Today is my Mommy's birthday so anybody who has her contact information, make sure you send her a message!  She's the greatest and I made sure to buy extra birthday cake so that we could celebrate her birthday in style here!  :-)