Blogger bonus points to the person who can tell me which movie I stole that quote from.

We countered. They counter-countered.

The paperwork has to go through our relocation company. We technically "sell" the house to them, and then they sell the house to the buyers. It keeps us from dangling until closing.

We're still praying and waiting...oh, and cooking and sewing (stress cleaning didn't appeal this time, for some reason). I'm feeling a bit cross-eyed, but three pair of cute Muppet PJ bottoms are made for some lucky relatives, and we tried out new recipes for Turkey Pumpkin Chili (sounds gross, but you can't taste the pumpkin...it just boosts the fiber and vitamins) and yummy Corn Muffins.

Thanks for the prayers and the kind words...they mean a lot.

We have an offer on the Phoenix house. Please join us in praying.

Most of my writing energy has been focused on churning out our Christmas letter. Except that I sort of "forgot"--read: couldn't pull it together--to send out change of address cards when we moved here, so our Christmas letter really ended up being a change of address/Thanksgiving/Christmas/explain about having cancer and moving letter. Most of my mental energy went into condensing the last 14 months into one page, front and back.

On the tail end of all of this, we were blessed to have Thanksgiving with my dh's side of the family. Hopefully, Susan will supply the photos...I've gotten out of the habit of taking them and missed some very sweet moments with all of the cousins in one place.

We love hosting, and the family made it easy...no pressure, no expectations--yet another thing to be thankful for, a family who doesn't expect me to mop before they arrive! We hung out eating delicious pre-event munchies, watching football, and perusing Black Friday ads. At one point, half the neighborhood seemed to be playing soccer in the backyard, much to the delight of my older next door neighbor (thank you for neighbors who don't fuss when the ball hits their screened porch for the umpteenth time). The only snafu was that my poor oven was struggling to keep up with the 40 pounds of side dishes in stoneware that I was trying to cook all at once, so we ate a little late. Did I mention I'm thankful that my nephews profess to love undercooked corn pudding?

My sister (Chemo Sabe extraordinaire) called (from Phoenix!) to remind me just how far we'd come...and how last year she wasn't sure I'd be here to wish a Happy Thanksgiving. It wasn't a new thought around here, and it made our day all the more joyous.

Hope yours was full of blessings, too.

Blogosphere darling Heather Armstrong regularly writes about the odd objects her daughter (age three) chooses to sleep with. Here's our take on it over at the Redhead's house. Maybe he was just really, really happy that Grandpa had replaced the batteries this weekend...or he was protecting it from Mom and Dad taking the batteries back out of it (which we did with the obnoxious talking grill that wouldn't stop talking--sorry Dad!).

Thank you.

I was so fed up with my gel-faked 'do that I sent up a flare prayer and walked into the closest day spa/hair salon in the neighborhood.

Thanks to my practically non-existent phone Spanish, there was some confusion when I called beforehand, and they had slotted me for a pedicure as well. Who was I to argue with that type of mistake??

Sometimes, things just fall into place. The hairdresser was a doll (as was the nail tech) and I will be going back despite the fact that I was the whitest girl in the place. Nothing like hair salon gossip to sharpen one's second language skills.

Despite my initial panic when the scissors started snipping, I was glad to have things evened out. Somehow, the left side had grown in faster than the right (???). It's short, but it feels more like me.

I'll get some pics at the Relay and post later this weekend.

Son: Wow, Mom. You got twice your goal for the Relay.

Me: Well, It's not like I worked very hard for it. People were just very kind and generous.

DH: I don't know...seven months of surgery and chemo sounds like a lot of work to me.

Thank you to all of my blog lurking donors...you're the best.

WOW...thank you to everyone, but extra cyber smooches to my co-decorating "interventionist", Amy, for bumping me up to the Honor Donor level for the Relay!! I'm really a bit stunned, as I evidently set the bar too low. I'm currently the 7th or 8th highest fundraiser for Hunters Creek!

And, yes, dear, you get one free "I told you so" for me setting my fundraising goal so low...

On the lighter side, how scary is this?

I recently got this letter from the Howard Phillips Center for Children and Families. While the names have been changed to protect those involved, I did NOT make up these factual and grammatical errors. Comments in red are my snarkiness. I'm grateful for the funding for M's speech, but...well, you'll see.

October 29, 2007

Heather (Misspelled Last Name)
My Address
Oralndo (how did spell check miss this one?) , Fl 32---

Dear: Heather (Interesting choice of punctuation, I would have gone with a comma after my name)

M------'s Family Support Plan expired on 11/31/2007 (First, if you wrote the letter on October 29, then the FSP will expire in November, it hasn't expired. Secondly, and I know I'm being a snob here, November only has 30 days.) and in order for her (Um, he's a boy) to continue receiving services through Part C, we will need to update her(See comment above) family support plan together.
Please feel free to contact me at (---)--- - ---- extension ----.

Sincerely,

English-impaired Case Worker
Family Care Coordinator B.A.

That's the tag line on Heather's blog, and it never fails to resonate with me.

In the course of this week:

My maid of honor lost a dear friend.

My sister's friend found out that their only child has an incurable and fatal genetic disorder.

Our best friends (family, really) were involved in a ATV accident that resulted in the husband/dad of four suffering some terrible and extensive injuries. (You can get the updates and prayer needs here). I hate, hate, hate how far away we are from them right now. Being so distant from my friend is like walking around with a body part missing.

Oh, and my husband is going to the doctor today. It could be nothing...or it could be something pretty scary.

Add in the small stuff...unsold property and mounting debt, sick kids, and petty annoyances with things at the kids' school, and it adds up to a good cry (which, I confess, I indulged in Sunday morning after finding out about Tim's accident).

Sometimes, it's tempting to give into the lie that God is capricious.

He is not.

Today, this is my sustenance: