Happy Ho-Ho-Holidays!

Life is not a race, but indeed a journey. Be honest. Work hard. Be choosy. Say "thank you," "I love you," "great job" to someone each day. Go to church, take time for prayer. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. Let your handshake mean more than pen and paper. Love your life and what you've been given-it is not accidental. ~ Author Unknown

Christmas is in full swing at our house. All of the trees are up and decorated. We have 8 trees that sort of came about by accident. Only 2 big ones that require work, so no big deal really. Brooke LOVES the holidays! The plan for today is to finish wrapping gifts and our finalize our Holiday letter we mail out each year. Oh...and a few homemade gifts need to be finished as well.

Thursday, Brooke got her second Neulasta shot (stimulates neutrophils in the white blood via bone marrow). Neulasta is a longer-acting form of Neupogen, which is what she had been getting. She gets a shot bi-weekly at the cancer center and we had good results with the first shot. After two weeks, her neutrophil levels were normal, which we haven't seen in two years. So we skipped a week because insurance won't pay for the expensive shot unless it can be justified. Blood work on week 3 showed her back down to almost nothing. So we know the shot boosts her white blood cells for a little over 2 weeks. That's better than not at all! We love Dr. Curry and his nurses! Clovis is blessed to have such a nice facility!

Tomorrow we leave for Albq. for another dental appt. Monday. A cavity requing a filling. Please pray for a safe, uneventful trip and for a successful dental visit.

I still have no van (it's due to be here next week if all goes to plan) and I am appealing the wheelchair denial with insurance. The insurance folks have a deadline of next Wednesday...if I don't have a denial or approval letter in my hand or haven't received a call from them...my nice tone will be replaced with my not so nice tone. Enough is enough and my patience is quickly running out. To date, I haven't received the initial denial letter yet I have already appealed the denial over the phone. The cart is in front of the horse! It's been two months.

I'm busy with school...trying to get all of my homework done now because I'll be taking two classes in January at CCC and my 4 will overlap for a month. YIKES! The plan is to GET ER DONE! After I finish this semester (Feb.) I only have 3 classes left, which is why I am going to take two at CCC and my final class with WBU in March. So, I'll be carrying 9 hours next semester which I've done once before but it's hard. 3 classes...5 months of stress...and I'M DONE! I hope to graduate next August. I'm so ready!!! Please pray for me as I wrap up my degree. I know it's not going to be easy on me, nor Mike or Brooke.

I hope everyone has a blessed Saturday! Hugs to each of you.