Well, a lot has gone on since Oct.

I went in for reconstructive surgery at Ben Taub in Dec.  The surgery lasted 15 hours.  My mom was here to help while I recovered.  But soon after she left, I went into a severe depression.  I guess I was holding it all together and then my body just said "enough".  Because we had no insurance to pay for the surgeries and chemo treatment, we are in a major bind financially.  Not only because of that, but my husband was laid off in 2003 and worked at 75% less than what he was making before for about 1 1/2 years.  Then I went to work for 7 months while he stayed home and collected unemployment.  All this time, we didn't humble ourselves and go to the church for help.  We just kept using credit cards thinking that something would come along soon.  God is doing a work here!  Last year I went to Dave Ramsey's money makeover conference and then promptly came home and cut up all my credit cards.  "The borrower is slave to the lender".  Boy, I never took that verse to heart until now.  Duh!

The first thing I'm doing is going through all my books and such to sell off everything I don't need.  I have accumulated too many books.

Our church homeschool is coming together this weekend to help us clean out our garage and to see what we can get rid of and see what we can sell.  I'm selling a few things on eBay (look for me MEL4JC if you need anything) and through some of the yahoo groups (BobJonesCurriculum, Bookroom-FS, ChristianCurriculum, RecycleSonlight - my ID is Melani4jc).  Please take a look!

Another church member is buying me new bedding to perk up my bedroom and then I guess they're going to paint.  Our kitchen has been falling apart and I heard they may have some new appliances, but they are not telling me much.

A homeschool dad came by today to take a look at our roof and a wall that is leaking water to see if they can do anything in that area.

God is working in us and is blessing us through so many others as well.  Please pray!

Thank you!

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So what's the fantastic prize for being the one with the most correct answers and all that hard work?

Don't forget you want to use the text right there above for your own blog entry to enter the contest.

Now for the graphics!  Remember, it's Back-to-School.

There they all are.  Now go find them! 

In the event of a tie one entrant will be chosen at random.

Tia Linschied

Senior Editor of HSB

 Related Tags: contest, blog, bloggers, Back-to-School, scavenger, hunt, prize, spanish, HSB, graphics, homeschool, program

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I can't believe I have not posted for so long.

Yesterday I finished my 8th and final chemo treatment!  Praise God!

I will now be down for about 5-6 days due to the pain.  No nausea though!

Thanks for all your prayers!

On the homeschool front; I chose to go with Sonlight again.  There's more work for me but the kids seem to be faring well with it.  Once I'm up and about and have more energy, I will be more involved.

Sometime in December, though I will be having another surgery, but we usually take off the entire month of December anyway.

I wish that I could take the time to visit some of y'alls blogger pages.  In the near future I will.

Hope you all have a blessed day!

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Since my oldest is away for 2 weeks, this week I sent my other three off to a music camp.  This is the first time since I started having children that I have none in the house.  It is definitely different and I had major plans for figuring out what we're going to do for homeschool this year and when we're going to start.

I've done a little planning, but I have been praying and waiting on the Lord to give me a clear word about what we need to do.

Because of having to pay for my surgery and cancer treatments, we don't have a lot of money to spend (and with gas prices and electricity charges the way they are right now, there's even less money).  However, I know that God provides and when he lets me know what we're doing, he'll provide the means to get the items I need.

We have been using Robinson curriculum this last year and a half and I still want to have them read most of the books, but I feel like I need to add something more, especially for my 11th grader.  I have been looking at Sonlight (again!).  I absolutely LOVE Sonlight but I also love the books that are in the Robinson curriculum.  I guess you just can't read TOO much!  I only have ONE child who really does not like to read, but he willingly reads the Robinson books, and I want to get back to reading aloud to the kids because I know that this is an important thing.  So.....

That's what's going on in our homeschool journey at the moment.

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My oldest son (16) is on a trip right now that, I think is a great opportunity for his future.  He is on a student leadership / mission trip.  He left a week and a half ago for Orlando, FL on a bus with a group of other teens from our church.  They attended classes on leadership and having a Christian worldview, got a behind the scenes tour of Sea World, and spent some free time at Universal Studios and a waterpark there.

Then after four days of that, they left for Pass Christian, MS and worked for 5 days in that area devastated by hurricane Katrina.

He is now in Washington, DC (the furthest and longest he's ever been away from home).  There, his group will be in more classes about leadership, civics, government, Christian worldview, etc.  They will attend a private wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington, they will get to see the monuents at twilight, attend a Congressional hearing, have dinner at the ESPN press club (or something like that).

I think this is just such a great opportunity for teens in this day and age.

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Hey all.

I just haven't got the hang of getting on this blogger thing every day or even every other day.  Too many other things that take up my time I guess.  But, I will try to write a little something.  Not only about my cancer journey, but our homeschool journey as well.

This blog will be about my cancer journey though.

I have recovered from my mastectomy and have now gone through two rounds of chemo.  At 14 days after the first chemo, my hair started coming out.  So on day 16, I had my husband shave my head.  24 hours after each chemo treatment, I have to give myself a shot of Neulasta (a drug that helps build white blood cells).  This shot has worse side effects then the chemo.  Between 6 and 8 hours after giving myself the shot, the side effects start kicking in.  These are joint, muscle, and bone pain.  It's like having the worse case of the flu you've ever had.  It hurts everywhere!  I just tell all my family members that they can't even breath on me it hurts so bad. :-)  The good news is that the effects only last about 48 hours.  So the 3rd and 4th day are the worst.  Haven't really dealt with a lot of nausea, but from the 3rd to the 6th day, whatever I eat gives me indigestion so I take Tums often.

One of the side effects of the chemo is that it could damage your ovaries, liver, kidney, heart, etc.  Pain in my ovary areas is one of the side effects I'm having.  I need to talk to my oncology nurse about this.

Anyway, that's the latest.  I have chemo every 2 weeks.  2 down, 6 to go!  I have met several other women in my church who are having surgery / chemo at the same time I am.  It's great to be able to bounce things off each other and pray for others going through the same thing.

One other thing, a woman in my church was going through her stuff and found a bunch of her mother's chemo hats and scarves.  I was given these along with 2 free wigs.  God is good in providing for our needs.

Thanks for listening!

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Thanks to all for your support and prayers.

I've finally had surgery.  I had a mastectomy on May 23 and was sent home the afternoon of the 24th.  This is the first surgery I've ever had and from all the doctors said, I did very well.  Thank the Lord my mom is here to help plus I have many friends that will drive me to appts. and are providing meals.

It is now roughly 5 1/2 days since surgery and everyone around me feels that I am doing well and am in good spirits.  I couldn't imagine going through this without Jesus and the love of friends and family.

I was late getting into surgery, was scheduled for somewhere around 10 but the case before me went long.  I finally got in at a little after 1pm and was out after about 4 hours.  Being a county hospital, I never met the residents who were doing the surgery BEFORE the surgery but I knew that I was in God's hands.  Many were praying for THE BEST.  It seemed that I had a great team.  It took a while for us to get in touch with the doctor that did the surgery and when she finally called and talked to dh, dh said she sounded exhausted.  Anyway, long story short.  They found cancer in the sentinal lymph node during surgery and had to go in and get more.  They took the level 1 and level 2 nodes but left the deepest ones.  They said they took somewhere around 10 nodes but never know for sure how many they got. This means some sort of chemo for sure and another surgery down the line to reconstruct.

Again!  Thanks for all your prayers and comments.  Even though I don't get here to update as often, I get to read the comments and feel very encouraged.

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Now about my 16 yods.  Saturday, before he got sick, we attended an orientation at the Houston Zoo.  He will be volunteering about 144 hours this summer working with the birds.  Even though this is his first year being accepted as a volunteer, they gave him second year privileges.  I don't know why they did that.  I'm hoping it was because of his application, interview, and reference letter but at the same time, I think they needed someone to work in the bird area.

I am so proud of him and I pray that he will be able to use this experience to get a scholarship to a university where he can get a degree in an animal field.

I'm planning on putting him in dual credit for his 11th grade year but am struggling about putting together a transcript.  I just started teaching him how to drive and I think that's going to have to be put on hold for a few days while I recover from surgery.  Either that or dad is going to take over that task.

If anyone has suggestions or comments on what they've done with dual credit or work experience/transcripts, please let me know.

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I appreciate all who have signed on and watch to see how things are going.  Sometimes a person just needs to write things out.  I mean, I see friends face to face and they ask how are things going but these days there is little time to just sit and just chit-chat.

I'm not one to go up to a friend and just start talking about what's going on at the moment, so it's nice to be able and just come and sit and type out my thoughts (and hope I don't put anyone off, if you know what I mean).

So, tomorrow is surgery.  I have to be at the hospital at 6am.  My dear husband is coming with me and taking off the next day as well so he can drive me home.

My mother came in last night and I'm sure she'll be a big help with the house.  Many friends have asked that should I need anything to please call.  My problem, I don't know what I'll need until the time comes.  I am VERY greatful for all the offers and definitely the prayers.  I know people are praying because I have such a peace about this.  Even if things were "worst-case", I still believe that God will work things together for his good.

Well, as I wrote before, my 16 year old boy got the flu on Saturday.  Now the 13 year old boy got sick last night too.  His system is a bit stronger than the 16 year olds so he only got sick one good time and then was okay the rest of the night.  I believe God is sparing my husband and I from getting this sickness so that it doesn't delay surgery.  I just pray now that my mother doesn't get it.  She's 71, but she's pretty healthy.

About the dog with heartworm.  The vet treated him with the shots they get and he's actually doing fine.  He's got another week of having to stay calm and not going on walks or running after squirrels, etc.  Everything is really working out fine, it's just some days it all comes pouring down on you and you feel like you're being crushed under the weight of it all.

Thanks for listening!

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I feel like this is all I can talk about but I know there's more to life than a little setback like cancer.

Yes, I've been busy.  Seems like when it rains it pours. 

I took the dogs in to get them their rabies shots so I could take them to the groomers before flea season hit.  One of them has heartworm.  I know, I know.  Some of you would say, it's just a dog.

Then, I was so looking forward to being able to swim in our pool (once I was able after surgery), but a part on our pump broke and the pool is (still) green.

Now I've got a teen with the flu and my mastectomy is scheduled for Tuesday, the 23rd of this month.  If I get sick, they postpone surgery.

You know, it's the little things that seem to discourage me the most.  I'm not really complaing (I don't think).

Oops!  Must go!  A sick 16 year old is calling again!

Thanks for your prayers!

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Well, I had my first appointment at Ben Taub.  When I finally got in to see an oncologist, they said that I was in the wrong department.  The next step would be surgery so that's the department I should be seeing.  However, they said they'd take care of it and boy did they.  What a whirlwind day.  By the time I got out of there, I had appointments for pre-op, bone scan, muga scan (heart), chest x-ray, chemo port, and one with the plastic surgeon.  These are all within the next month. 

Parking down there is ridiculous but I've had numerous friends tell me different options.  One is to park elsewhere and take a short bus ride right past the hospital.  I've also got many friends that are willing to take me to the appointments.

Now it's just the logistics of what to do with the kids while I'm at these several hour appointments.  At least I am thankful that things are rolling now.  I feel like I'm in very good hands at the hospital.  I KNOW I'm in good hands with God and I know that all things will work together for HIS good.

Thanks to all of you who have stopped by to get updates and to give me encouraging words.  I am not able to post to your blogs right now because I am trying to get all these loose ends put together.  But I do thank you all!!!!!

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There are no words to say how anxious I am to get started with this treatment and get it over with.  I have researched and prayed and studied different diets and my brain can no longer take in any more information.  <>

Only less than a week before my first appt. at the hospital.  A friend who was going to take me ended up getting a job and cannot go with me.  A God thing, I think because my husband is going to go instead, as it should be.

We are trying to finish up a busy week of activities and I think that is the reason that I don't have an appt. until next week.  After this week is over, most everything else I can just blow off.  Friends are very willing to help with driving kids around and getting them to the places they need to be.

I hear that summer (especially in Houston) is not the best time to be going through treatment, but I know (with the Lord's strength) I will survive.

Hey, has anyone heard of The Hallelujah Diet.  I have been researching their website and it seems pretty cool.  Especially getting away for 10 days and being taught how to make the meals and stock your kitchen.  I think I'll pick up the book and see what it has to say.  I really do NOT want to go totally vegan, but if it will keep us all healthy... it's worth a try.

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Had a blessed evening last night.  A couple homeschool mom friends of mine set up a meeting to encourage me and cover me with prayer as I head into a new trial in my life.

There was much scripture reading and we sang the song "Knees to the Earth".  That song just speaks exactly where I'm at.  I OWE my life to him.  None of us would be here if it weren't for Christ.  He is a wonderful Saviour.

I also FINALLY received a letter stating that I have an appointment at Ben Taub.  It's still two weeks away, but at least things are getting started.

I am also looking into ways to change my lifelong eating habits for the better and take a healthier approach to life.  I've always been the meat and potatoes kind of gal.  I love a good grilled steak (Porterhouse is my fav).  I do not believe that I can't have it once in a while, but I'll try to go organic.  I know that I need to stay away from red meat at least while going through treatment.  We'll see what life holds in the days to come.

Praising God for a better understanding of what it means to fully rely on Him!

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Well, what a busy day today was.  Church, then lunch, then Bible Drill, drop off two kids for flag football, pick up kids after Bible Drill, drop off another kid for something else. 

I think we are in way over our head.  Can't wait for the oldest to drive!

I am beginning to be concerned about Ben Taub not contacting me.  I don't want to be one of those that "fall through the cracks" yet I'm telling God that I want his will to be done.  My concern is that I found the tumor back in December of '05.  I'm wondering if there are any out there that have had to wait for this long after finding the cancer and being diagnosed.

I am probably just concerned for nothing.  Since it's Sunday, they'll probably call tomorrow.  Or one could only hope. 

Speaking of hope, I love the song, "My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness.  I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholey lean on Jesus' name.  On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."

You know those times when you don't feel appreciated and I wonder what they'd think if I weren't here.  Or, I'm not needed here.  Once you have something that is potentially fatal, the things you do seem to become bigger than you ever thought.  I mean, it's not like the COULDN'T manage without me here, but I know it would be rough.

Just a few thoughts as I sit and wait for that fateful call.

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A new season of my life has just begun.

March 27^th, 2006, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  It is invasive ductal cancer, high grade and I am at stage 2A (so far).  There are other tests that need to be done in order to determine exactly what stage I’m at.  This is an aggressive cancer but I am trusting God for whatever the outcome.

I am not afraid.  I am in investigating mode at this point.  I do not have insurance to cover this and am having to fill out applications for assistance, etc.  One organization, The Rose said that my husband most likely makes too much money for me to get into their program however, I should go ahead and fill out the application anyway.  They were very nice and gave me much information along with a few things like a t-shirt for the Susan B. Koman Foundation, a pillow (for when I am lopsided).  Yes, I will likely choose to have a mastectomy.

I have an appointment with Ben Taub next week to see if I’m eligible to be in THEIR program.

I’ve called MD Anderson to see if there are any clinical trials that I could possibly fit into.

God has given me a peace about this and our four kids are handling it very well.  My mother on the other hand, is more worried than anyone.  J  Yes, it was a shock to hear, but I thought I would be more of a basket case about this.  Nope!  Life continues.

Please comment if you’ve got any words of encouragement.  Prayers are very much appreciated.

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This will be fairly short and to the point. 

I have been researching a bit on these two "sugar substitutes".  There is a lot out there regarding the danger of these products.  I have had health problems that I have associated with each of these products.  The research I have done has confirmed that the health problems could very well be linked.

A few of the symptoms were:

PANIC-TYPE AGITATION

DIZZY SPELLS

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

KIDNEY PAIN

TIRED ALL THE TIME

LACK OF ENERGY

INSOMNIA

These are the symptoms I'VE had.  There are many things that others have experienced.  Please do some research on these yourself and see how they could be affecting your life.

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I ACCEPTED JESUS AS SAVIOR … at my home when I was 18.  This was after my mom and I had been attending church for a short while.

My mom had recently gone through a divorce and decided to find a pastor whose church we attended on and off while I was growing up.  We met a wonderful lady named Sylvia there who was instrumental in my mom becoming a Christian.  An “adopted” daughter of Sylvia started talking to me about becoming a Christian too.  At that time I didn’t understand or really care what she had to say, but in order to “get her off my back”, I “said the prayer”.  Some time later Sylvia was at our home visiting and she questioned whether I really understood what it meant to be a Christian.  I told her that I really didn’t think so and she proceeded to take out her Bible and have me read John 3:16 and 17 out loud.  She said to substitute “the world” and “whosoever” with my name.  I read it again and again and it finally hit me.  He DID die for ME.  She said that if I were the only person on earth, he would have come and died for me.

Well, I knew I needed to talk to God about this and I prayed.  I told God that I KNEW I was a sinner (boy was I ever).  I said that I believed that Jesus was His son and that He died on the cross for me.  The best part was that Jesus rose from the dead.  He didn’t stay in the tomb but he became alive again and lives still.  He sits at the right hand of the throne of God and waits for the day when we can be with him forever. 

Growing up, I was very naïve and was “taken advantage of”. The older I got and the more I was “taken advantage of”, I began to have a very distorted and perverted view of life.  I felt guilt and shame for things I had done as well as for those things that had been done to me.  Somehow I felt that I had brought it on myself or encouraged it.  I never told anyone about it because I just knew that they wouldn't think very highly of me.

Since trusting Jesus as Savior, I have gradually given Him that shame and guilt.  It took time for me to accept that I was also forgiven of the pain that I caused others.  Totally and unconditionally forgiven!  Praise God!!!  I continue to pray for those I’ve hurt and those who have hurt me.

Shortly after trusting God with my life and letting Him lead, another woman and I started a singing duo.  We weren’t really that good but as we  traveled around to different churches singing to background tapes, we gradually got better.  As the years have gone by, there have been voice lessons and singing has become a wonderful way for me to express love, give hope, send a message; music can be a catalyst for so many things.  Crying out to God for mercy through music can bring you to your knees.  Songs can also draw your attention to things that are in your life that need tending to.  God is the wonderful creator of all things and we can express praise to him through music and singing.  The Bible tells us to sing to Him a new song and to make a joyful noise and to give thanks to him with hymns and spiritual songs.

May God bless all who enter here and read what God has put in my heart.

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Since blogging is "fairly" new and I am just now engaging in this intriguing way of communication, I would like to begin at the beginning of our homeschool adventure.

How many of you remember the exact moment that you knew you were going to homeschool?  Not me!  When my first son was old enough, we sent him to preschool two days a week.  Sometime during that year, whether I spoke with a friend or heard something about the schools in California, there was a change of heart and I just KNEW that we would be homeschooling our children.  There wasn’t anything wrong with the preschool, per se.  There was just SOMETHING – maybe God was instilling it in me – and I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time.

Although not as excited to begin this new adventure, my husband didn’t say anything against me taking on something he knew would be huge.  Homeschooling a few years and then putting them into public school when they got older was something that I think was in the back of his mind.

Eleven years ago, there weren’t as many choices of curriculum as there are now.  Shopping for curriculum today would just about send me into a breakdown.  “Where do I start?” I would be thinking.  As it is, we have changed what we use and how we do school many times.

ABeka was one of the curriculums I looked at for our first year, but with my dear husband being between jobs, I opted for a mixture of things.  Our first year we used Rod & Staff and bought a few used workbooks.  I enjoyed R&S that first year, however it wasn’t quite the way I wanted to do things.

Sonlight became our curriculum of choice for the second and third years.  I truly loved Sonlight and am considering using again with the current curriculum I have. 

Near the end of our third year, we moved from our home in California because my husband was offered a job in Texas.  This threw me off a bit with having to prepare a house for the market and having my husband in another state while I stayed behind for a while.  By this time we had four children; two boys and two girls.  The youngest being 7 months. 

Once in Texas, we continued using Sonlight, however my husband thought it would be a good idea to put our kids in public school at this point.  “The schools are much better in Texas,” he said, adding, “They are run by the county, not the state.”  I wasn’t comfortable still and told him so.  We ended up deciding to continue our homeschool adventure.

I later tried putting them in a private school but was not able to follow through with that either.  I supposed that the Lord was telling me that I would be homeschooling them until he told me otherwise.

At our first church in Texas, we met another homeschooling family with four children who had removed their children from public school just the year before.  The mother and I became close and we talked about using KONOS and getting together once a week for a sort of co-op.  The unit-type study was something I was yet unwilling to try but figuring I’d have someone to be accountable to at least one day a week, I went ahead and ordered the curriculum.  We met a couple of times, but then this family decided to give up homeschooling again and I was left alone once more.  I hadn't joined a homeschool group (which I highly recommend, especially if you are just beginning your homeschool adventure) so I continued using KONOS on my own until the next year when we moved yet again.  This time I decided to join a group that was in my area and dropped KONOS and took up using Sonlight again.  I enjoyed reading aloud to my kids, and they enjoyed being read to.  I had a schedule to follow and even though our days were not perfect, we were forging ahead.  For a few years we continued with Sonlight until one day, when Dr. Bennett came up with the K-12 curriculum, I jumped at the chance to be one of the first to test out this new curriculum.  Everything was sent to you for free (computer, printer, supplies, crafts, everything).  Wow!  What an opportunity.  Halfway through the year, I became discouraged.  There was too much time being wasted, in my opinion.  Added to that, I wanted to start my then 5 year old on the curriculum but she wasn’t old enough to participate.  Her birthday was a few days short of their cutoff. 

Well, it was back to Sonlight for us.  We used it for a couple years and then I felt the need for a change... AGAIN!   

I had thought about doing ABeka video and voiced that thought at my homeschool group meeting one night.  Another mom was using Bob Jones video via satellite and told me about it.  I had heard briefly about it before, but at that time didn’t feel compelled to pursue it.  This time however, I was all ears.

We began using Bob Jones satellite during the middle of the 2002 school year and it’s a good thing we did because in March of 2003, we moved my invalid mother-in-law into our home to care for her.  Soon after moving her in, my husband was laid off from his job.  Thankfully, he was given a fairly good severence and we had all that we needed the time. Severence pay doesn't last forever and we soon found ourselves in need of buying books for the new school year. Our church family came through for us so we were able to continue AND my husband was able to land a contract job (way below his pay before, but it kept us going).  Bob Jones, for the most part was enjoyed by my kids and I was able to keep up with the taping and correcting until the contract job ended too.  So we decided that I needed to go to work and I landed a job the very week my husband's work stopped.  The following week, when my job started was the week I was going to begin the new Bob Jones school year and thankfully I was READY.  All my husband had to do was monitor the kids and look for work.  Easier said than done.

Well, I worked full-time for seven months and just couldn't keep up with the correcting of the papers.  My husband finally got another contract job... WITH THE SAME COMPANY THAT LAID HIM OFF IN 2003.  Ha! 

Before I stopped working, I was looking into using the Robinson Curriculum and after coming back home, I went ahead and purchased it and sold my BJU satellite.  It has truly taken a load off and since I have a 16 year old that will be (possibly) taking dual credit next year, this will make my life a little easier.

I am however, as I mentioned before, looking into using some of the Sonlight material along with the Robinson Curriculum.  Sonlight, I think has been my most favorite of all curriculums.  We used that more than any other.

Well, that’s our story so far.  What’s yours?  I’d like to hear about other homeschooling adventures.  I’ll be hunting them down and hopefully taking some time to comment on other's blogs.

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