BINGO - March 13, 2009

Today the Berglinds aren't the most liked members at Communications Federal Credit Union. Every year our Credit Union holds a business meeting for its members to go over the previous years financials and the current years goals. We've attended every year since I worked there in 2002. And with 300 members in attendance and only 10 prizes we usually go more for the free refreshments and visiting with friends then for the prizes. But this year we hit our lucky streak.

About half way through the evening Christlyn was getting pretty disappointed that she hadn't won anything. After a pretty long discussion on playing for fun and not for prizes Christlyn turned her attititude around and with that her luck changed as well. She won that very game! Although her prize was a set of solar powered garden lights she was thrilled! She wasn't interested in playing the next game because she was to busy planning which flowerbed she would put her garden lights in. Her plans were interupted by her Daddy yelling..."BINGO". He won a 5 quart KitchenAide Mixer!!! We were all shocked to win two prizes but the best was yet to come. At the end of the evening we began playing the final game of bingo...BLACKOUT BINGO...for the evenings grand prize. A flatscreen TV. In the middle of the game I heard some ladies giggling and pointing at Ethan. I looked over at his card and he had only three spots left open...my card was barely half covered. He bounced in his seat announcing that he was going to win. With every number called he would repeat after the caller and then excitedly update everyone as to how many he had left. 'Only two more...Only one more'. Until finally the caller called "O64" and our jaws dropped as Ethan yelled..."I won a TV...BINGO"

I was slightly embarrased to win Three prizes and was afraid of being lynched in the parking lot, but everyone was so happy for us and came and congratulated the kids repeatedly. The kids could hardly contain their giggles and their excitement. Although Ethan was a little disapointed to learn that the TV wasn't going in his room. I think we may be banned from next years Bingo!

Upcoming Surgery

I scheduled my next procedure today. I'll be having outpatient surgery on March 25th to have my ovaries removed. I don't know why but this surgery is a little harder for me to handle then the mastectomy...and it's a much simler procedure. I guess the finality of it is difficult to handle. The fact that I'll never be able to have another baby. Not that we were planning on have a bigger family...I just liked having the option I guess. Please be praying for me as I prepare for the surgery. God has given me a peace that this is what I'm suppose to do...but it's still hard.

February 27th, 2009

I have been remiss in keeping everyone updated on my treatment these last few months. But I have a good excuse. I've had so much energy and felt so well that I'm too busy being a mom and a wife to sit down and write every couple of days. But since the kids are napping and I really don't want to do another load of dishes today I'll steal some time to get everyone updated. I finished my 33 radiation treatments in mid-January and have spent the last 6 weeks or so in a peace I'd almost forgotten exsisted. I got to go 6 whole weeks without going in to a single Dr.'s appointment!!! This week of course I've had two and I'm starting to get things lined up for the year. On Wednesday the Radiation Oncologist found a cyst on my left breast that she assured me wasn't cancer. I of course have heard that assurance before. This morning I met with the Breast Surgeon and she did an ultrasound of the cyst and believes that it is benign, but is sending me in for a mamogram to make sure. I'm thankful that she's being precautious but I'm resting in the Lord fully. He hasn't brought me this far to abandon me now. While I was talking with my Doctor it struck me that except for the very first day I was diagnosed no one had ever talked 'stage' with me (what stage of cancer I was in). The first doctor (said I was stage 2a) was less than thorough and I knew that at the time, that's why I switched, but I'd never bothered to ask where all the tests that my new doctors ordered put my cancer stage. And maybe it's a good thing because stage 2 felt beatable to me at the time. And although facing cancer was scary in itself, if I'd know I had stage 3 cancer it would have been a lot harder for me. I always knew it was bad, but stage 3 just would have been harder for me to cope with. And now, I'm in awe! Oh how very good our God is. He's protected me and sheltered me when I've needed it, He's sustained me and strengthened me on the days I thought I couldn't go on, He's cried with me, laughed with me, provided for me, and loved me every day of this ordeal and beyond. He's showed me the beauty He sees in me...a beauty that goes beyond the hair that fell out and the breast that was removed. And He's shown me that there is nothing to fear in death...and what a great gift of joy every day on earth is.

Ethan's 5th Birthday

It's hard to believe my little boy turned 5 last weekend. For some reason I wasn't quite ready for this milestone. Maybe because he's always been my sweet little Ethan, my cuddler who is now almost too big for me to pick up. And his interests are starting to become bigger than me and what's going on around the house. But despite my bittersweet sadness, his birthday celebration is sure to go down in the history books!!! On Friday afternoon Grammy picked him up early from school and took him on a birthday adventure. The went to the mall, had lunch at the food court, played in the play area, and best of all...they got to go to Build-a-Bear.

When Grammy first tried to tell Ethan that they should go into the Build-a-Bear store to look around, he insisted that it was too expensive. Grammy had to talk him into even walking in the store, let alone convince him to pick out a bear. Everything was 'too spensive'. Then he saw a skateboard and he quickly abandoned his frugal ways and embraced the adventure of creating his own skateboarding stuffed animal...a soft bunny name Scooter.

After his Build-a-Bear (or Bunny) adventure he headed home to help Mommy and Daddy build a giant maze out of cardboard boxes for his birthday party on Saturday. I think the chemo must still have been affecting my reasoning abilities because I came up with this idea and nothing could stop me from accomplishing it. We moved most of the living room furniture into our bedroom and spent 5-6 hours on Friday night taping boxes that Dorian had collected from work into tunnels. The tunnels turned, twisted, intersected, deadended, and lead to 3 different rooms that the kids turned into forts. Ethan called the tunnels/forts his Transformers Cave.

On Saturday he had a hard time waithing until 1:00pm for his guest to arrive. He couldn't wait to show everyone his box maze and get to play! By the time the party was in full swing there were 12 little boys scurrying through the box passage ways. What a fun time they all had. And if the maze wasn't enough Dor set up a bouncer in the back yard as well! Maybe that was just overkill.

As the boys left the party...and days after it as well...everyone kept saying it was the best party ever. One boy put it..."This is Freakin Awesome".

January 27th, 2008

With last years ice storm still fresh in our memories most Tulsans braced for the worst yesterday and today. But thankfully the freezing rain turned to sleet and spared the trees and powerlines from becoming popsicles once again. The sleet however did make the streets slick enough for school to be cancelled. The kids were thrilled to have a day off and mommy was happy to have helpers around the house for chores. Once the bathrooms and bedrooms were cleaned, the living room vacuumed, the kitchen mopped, and most of the laundry folded (I had energy today) the kids donned layers of clothes and coats and headed outside to play 'Penguin'. Christlyn has been studying about penquins at school for the last few weeks and it's they're favorite game to play at home...they were thrilled to get to play it with actual snow. Although Christlyn was a little dissapointed the driveway wasn't slick enough to slide down on her belly like a real pengiun, she quickly found other things to do in the winter wonderland. Jadon has long since mastered the word "hot" but when he walked out into the yard and touched the snow/sleet on the ground he was thrilled and speechless. I kept telling him "Cold" to see if he could pick up on the new word but he was too busy trying to keep up with Christlyn and Ethan. After a nice warm dinner Ethan and Christlyn made a cake (with only minimal supervision from mommy) and had fun eating the leftover batter off the beaters and the bowl while the cake baked in the oven. Speaking of which the timer has just rung for it to be done...so off I must go to eat some of their yummy cake!