Here is a Steven, Mom, and life update.  It is now October.  We have had a huge struggle the last 6 months since Steven had a tumor removed from his rectum.  It has really been hard to keep his schizophrenia stable.  It has really been crazy, but I am sure because of prayers and blessings he got stable in time to have his reattachment surgery two weeks ago.  It is such a blessing that he could be put back together and not have his intestines sticking out with a bag for the rest of his life.  The treatment for cancer is a blessing, but the treatment is hard and in Steven's case complicated by his mental illness.  Now I think he has to go to the Dr. twice a year for 5 years and then he can be declared cancer free.  Mom is struggling with dementia, but she has a senior class where they work on brain function.  It is amazing that there is a class like this.  Mom is much happier when she attends because she is taken care of in a safe environment and they engage her all day long.  They have music, play games, do puzzles and crafts, and go to the senior citizens center across the street for lunch.  She is always happier when she attends.  Our sweet little angels Leighton and Hailey are doing great.  Leighton is a cute little character and has learned to crawl.  Hailey is a powerhouse little girls packed with energy and cuteness.  Tycee is amazing cute.  She did not loose or gain an extra chromosome.  She talks and is a delight in every way.  She reminds me of her Daddy.  It is so fun to have her.  The rest of the grand kids are also amazing, cute, talented, and the best kids ever.

I have not posted for a while.  Life has been busy.  My mom has been staying here for two months and my brother Steven has had cancer-surgery-complications-a mental crash- and is finally coming out of the hospital tomorrow (after almost 3 months)  My friends (best friend whom I love) son died a couple of weeks ago.  It broke our heart!  My little darling grand daughter has surgery next week.  It has been a long hard few months.  Sometime I will try to put to words what I have learned from all this.  Right now I am not sure.  Here is a picture of my brother Steven.  This picture is the face of cancer.  My post will not let me upload a picture, but I will do it soon.

Cute Grandma Harding's 98 birthday party with her kids.  What can you say.  We went to her favorite restaurant (Sizzler) she paid for everyone's dinner.  We decided to let her because we would have had to fight about who paid the whole night and she wouldn't have enjoyed her dinner.  She said she had to pay for it because she takes turn living with us and we feed her all the time.  She is amazing for 98.

I am posting pictures of Steven.  Tuesday he had his tumor removed.  It was a 4 hour surgery.  He is still in intensive care.  It has been difficult to say the least.  He still doesn't complain but you can tell how hard it is.  After he recovers from the surgery he has 4 months of killer chemo.  The good news is that we can probably cure this cancer.  The bad news the cure is hard. 

Brother Steve

This is my brother Steve.  We are  sitting in the Doctors office.  He is fighting cancer.  He has courage does not complain and I think life is not always fair.

We had a great trip To Disneyland.  We went twice.  Once in September with three of our kids and once in November with out other kid.  We got to go to Disneyland in 2011 with all of our 13 darling grand kids.  The was the best that happened in 2011. I am going to try to post some pictures.  Hope it works.

Great Grandma Harding

The last few months

I am trying to post a few pictures of the last few months. I felt like the last few months had been a real trial until I looked at the pictures and was reminded how blessed and mostly happy my life really is. The bad was my brother (single-50years-mental illness) was diagnosed with Rectal Cancer. It was a huge blow. He entered 7 weeks of chemo and radiation, is having surgery in a couple of weeks, and then has 4 months of killer chemo. Hard times for him and he needs massive amounts of help getting through it. The blessing is his body is strong, and he seems to handle chemo and radiation really well. The other hard thing is my baby sister, whom I loved, shot herself on December 1st 2011. I can hardly talk about it. I miss her, but I do know that she is in a better place. She also was single and suffered from depression for most of her life. I think she was 47 had fought as hard as she could and couldn't fight anymore. It still breaks my heart and I miss her. I hope I can upload some of my pictures because there is too much joy to dwell on the bad for too long.