Give up what?

So a good friend of mine encouraged a group of us to participate in Lent by giving something up and/or adding something meaningful to our day for the next forty days. I am not Catholic but thought that it may do me some good to participate this year. I have known for a long time that I have a love affair with a little red can of bliss. (I was going to post a picture here but I think it would push me over the edge so I decided against it) I look forward to it's carbonated, cold, sweet, goodness more than the meal most of the time I go out to eat. It is going to be SO hard to give it up, entirely for 40 days but I know it will do me some good. I drink little to no water and I can tell that my body does not do well on coke alone! I have already had about a dozen pieces of chocolate today as I try to thwart my cravings, knowing that here at work, there is a whole case of them in the kitchen. Occasionally I hear the faint call of my name and then a "we won't tell anyone". It sounds SO silly doesn't it? That is why I must break this sweet little habit. I think if I can go without for an extended period of time I can start from scratch after Easter. (oh what a glorious day that will be indeed!) So, here is to 39 and a half more days without oxygen, i mean coke. Let's hope I can make it. Otherwise I will be ashamed that He gave up so much for me, and I can't give up a carbonated beverage for a little over a month, to remind myself daily of how much He did for me! To hear about the affair with the silver can, check out my girlfriend's blog here.

Fighting the fight and winning some of the battles!

Here is the latest on Lana for those of you who are following. Last week she had a bone marrow transplant. From the information I can gather (I may have this totally mixed up) they took her marrow out and it will go through a process to "clean" it from all the cancer and they will soon replace it. When they took the marrow out and examined it they found that it was CANCER FREE!! This means that the chemo IS working. They will still follow the normal procedure and freeze the marrow to prevent chances of it returning easily or maybe even at all. This does not mean she is cured, she still has the tumors in her lungs, but the chemo (GOD) is doing it's job (is still performing miracles!). Please pray that Lana's body will continue to be receptive to the chemo (God will continue His process of healing for her). This is a huge victory and miracle. As the next rounds of chemo get harsher, and tougher to go through please pray for Lana's strength, and strength for her family. Please pray that the chemo has NO effects on any part of her body besides the cancer. The family has been told that she could lose her hearing, and we all know that the chemo can really affect her organs (especially her liver). Thank you for your prayers, keep up the petition to heal Lana and for God to perform modern day miracles!

I feel like complaining Thursday

So I don't have anyone to vent to today...well at least not yet. I am having lunch with a girlfriend so she may get in on a little of it. But actually I am embarrassed that I feel this way and so I am really not going to divulge what I have a problem with, only my feelings, in hopes that I will feel like it is stupid enough to just get over it. So I have a little bit of a competitiveness in me...and it usually can stay inside. I usually get over it or just push it away but lately I have been feeling it rear it's very ugly head. On a specific subject (that I am still not going to mention, because it really is silly) that I am not really that good at anyway but am feeling very territorial over, and very competitive lately. Yuck! Usually I am not the best at really anything so it's not like I have finally met my match, I guess this match just makes me feel pretty insignificant in my abilities. Actually I think I have a problem more with feeling like I am oblivious to how not good I am at something, and everyone else knowing it but me. I REALLY hate that. I think this competition is so much better than me it makes me feel that feeling, like those people on American Idol that all of their friends tell them they can sing when in reality it is very obvious to everyone except for them that they cannot. I hate feeling this way, either I need confidence, or I need to get over myself. Not sure which one yet. Oh well, on a side note, the previous post, should now be labeled currently on its way to my doorstep. Retail therapy helps a little don't you think! :) In fact, I'm feeling better already imagining myself wearing my pink high heels! I knew this would help :)

current lusting in 4 words...

ummm yes please....PLEASE?

Update on Lana

I got a chance to ichat with Lana today. She is SO precious. I wish all of you could talk with her and see how sweet she is! She is currently back home and will only receive her chemo out patient for now. (Gotta love children's hospitals for knowing that children need to be at home!) Her hair is beginning to fall out but she is doing really well on the chemo. It seems to not be making her too sick. (Keep praying for that!) Also, she is surrounded with presents from friends and family, so she is keeping busy. She will go through another round of chemo before they do some more scans to see how much the chemo is working. Some good news is that before she started chemo, she was having a lot of leg pain, so much she was saying she didn't want to walk, now she seems to not have much pain at all. Also, before the chemo she never really ate very much, ever.. (the type of cancer she has can affect her digestive system). Now her mom says she is eating more than she has ever seen her eat! That is awesome news! Please continue to pray for healing and that these signs are of the miraculous works that God has done in her body. Thanks for caring! (To hear more about Lana's story click here and here)

valentines sneak peek :)

so i have been drooling over this dress at one of my fave new websites http://www.modcloth.com/ they have THE cutest clothes (besides my other fave forever21) at mostly reasonable prices. they are geniuses because they add new items each day to keep you coming back for more. they also add authentically vintage articles of clothing and if you want it you have to be on top of your game because they go fast seeing as there would only be one of it's kind. so all this to say, i finally got the dress. they had been out of stock for a while and i kept it on my wish list just hoping they would get more in. well today MUST be my lucky day because the dress was back in stock.(disregard the fact that my work laptop hard drive crashed today and there will be no way to resurrect any of the million bazillion files i created over the last 3 months i have been working there) so as i was trying to think of how i was going to justify this seemingly reasonable purchase to my loving husband a little cloud popped up above my head. it had a reenactment of a few weeks ago when i got a bonus check and my dear dear other half said "you can use it for whatever you want, you don't have to spend it on bills or that new tv i want, use it for something you want", a smile began to creep across my face and my eyes twinkled a little. even though we did get that tv he wanted there should be at least enough leftover for this darling dress. this is not all for me he does get to enjoy when i wear it, so this is not a totally selfish want (justification?.....check) so here it is...SO cute. i cant wait to wear it on valentines this year. im sure he will plan a wonderful romantic evening out on the town (a girl can dream right?) and i will get to wear this cute little thing....oh yeah and the stole was just calling my name too...im sure there is some money left over for that too!

little lana

please hear the story of some very close friends of our family....

the week before christmas shannon took lana to the doctor for some very minor, yet peculiar symptoms that were seeming to stick around. three days later she was sitting outside the hospital room with her husband learning that their baby girl was now in a battle for her life. lana was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma. it is in her lungs, in her bones, infiltrating her entire body like the sick little parasite that cancer is. lana is 3, she is the only child, the entire world for shannon and brit. please please pray for lana and healing. she is SO precious. i know it is so easy to brush this aside when you hear stories like this because you may not know these people from the thousands of others who are diagnosed with cancer each day. but i ask you, since you know me, that you know lana, and her story. please pray for her and her family. she can fight this, but not on her own. i can't imagine experiencing this, that one day everything is fine, life is going on as normal, and in a split second the entire world is crashing around you when the most precious thing you have must now fight, hard, for her life. if only we could fight for her..... please please pray that God will take this battle from her and heal her from within and that she will live a long, happy, cancer free life.

thank you for praying and for caring