30 Days of Gratitude

I decided I'm doing something. I'm doing something during this Lenten season, instead of giving something up. I'm starting my own 30 days of Gratitude. I figure in "this season" that we are in as a family, it's better to do something positive than take away something.

So beginning on Friday with day 1, I will be posting something I am grateful for every day. The idea kind of stems off of a Facebook group that one of my friend's sister started-a gratitude group. I love reading things people are thankful for. It lifts me up. I know it lifts them up too, to share and write about it.

That's what I'm doing. Being grateful and thankful for 30 days. And saying it out loud, for everyone to "hear!"

"Do I still get to go on the cruise?"

It's a parents' worst nightmare: your child getting sick before a trip, their birthday, or some other special occasion you've been looking forward to for a while. Maybe a few months; maybe a year. Yup. That nightmare became a reality for us the day before we left on our cruise.

I was awake, for some reason, around 1:30 AM, Saturday morning, the day before we were to leave for our Disney cruise vacation. Around 2:30 I hear a little voice-"Mommy, I got sick." What? This CAN NOT be happening to us. Seriously. Sure enough…2:30, the stomach flu had struck C and struck again 3 more times until 7:00 that morning.

I was on the phone with my mom at 7:30, in tears. That's why we bought insurance, she was trying to tell me. Don't worry. We'll figure it out. I tell you, I have never prayed so much in all my life for a healthy little boy. All through the night I prayed and sang myself to sleep. After I got off the phone with my mom, I did the same, and by about 8:00 a calming feeling came over my body and I know things would be ok. It's a bit hard to explain, I just knew things would work out.

Needless to say we watched him like a hawk all day, checking to see if he was going to be sick again, to make sure he was drinking a little bit, to make sure he was eating just a little. He went to bed that night at 6:30-asking to go to bed because he was so wiped out.

The next morning-5:20-his door opens wide, he jumps out of his room, and says, "I feel so much better! I'm ready to go on the cruise!" THANK THE LORD!! Yes, this little boy DID get to go on the cruise, and we are so lucky to have a happy ending to that story and a happy beginning to our trip!

We can't wait!

**A past post I never got around to posting from January 23rd**

We really can't. I'll tell you why.

Pretty soon we get to go here.

 We're getting there by being on this.

And we'll also be trying out this.

Seriously. Seriously?! We are so lucky and blessed to be able to do this.

Here's how it all went down…
Early in November my dad and I went to a chemo appointment with Mom. It was a visit with Dr. Gall, which is why we tried to be there. We went through the whole appointment-how are you feeling? any new symptoms? any changes in how your body is handling side effects? All of the usual stuff was asked. Then at the end of the appointment he asked if we had any questions. I finally asked it.

"How long do we do this for?"

The long and the short of it: forever. FOREVER. Wait, what? Did I hear you right? Yup. Sure did. See then the doctor went on with all of the "Sometimes I give a chemo vacation. It could be 3 weeks, 3 months, 6 months; you never know. But really, this is just managing the disease. There are always miracles!" That's the word I held onto: miracles. It's always the word I think of. Miracles do happen. I know this. And we all-friends and family-pray for a miracle every day. In the meantime…this chemo/doctor thing is happening in the 2 weeks on/1 week off cycle until Mom's "Chemo Vacation."

After that news we went back to the chemo room, waiting for her drip to start and Mom says, "Well, where are we going?" Meaning, let's plan a trip. I had wondered if this was going to be a possibility. J and I had talked about it shortly before this November day. And here it was-we were starting to plan a trip.

If you know my parents, you know they love cruising. They love everything about being on a ship whether it's by themselves or with their cruisin' friends (love them dearly!), they love hanging by the pool, in the bars, finding their way through foreign lands; it's the best! So as we started talking about where we would go, it was only natural that going on a cruise came up. Then the decision on where to go and what cruise line to go on. After crunching numbers, looking at itineraries, and thinking about what could give us "the best" memories, we landed on a Disney Cruise. Woot! Woot! CAN. NOT. WAIT!

J and I have only been on one cruise before-when I was 8 weeks pregnant and couldn't fully enjoy everything the ship had to offer (I was on a self-proclaimed diet of cheese and ice cream!). We have talked about going on a Disney Cruise before, but the conversation is usually something like, "It's on our my bucket list. I would love to do it sometime, but probably not now."Never in a million years did I think we would be going this soon.

The kids, my parents, and J & I are just all so thrilled to be going. And with each other. We are blessed to be able to make these memories together. We get to see the kids reactions together. We get to go to a Pirate Party together. That's the best part about this trip is that we will be together. It can't come soon enough, with all of the COLD weather we've been having. We are definitely counting down, and…

WE CAN'T WAIT!