ten seekers caroling!

on most normal weeks, mom and dad would go off to church for a wednesday night group. the groups is called seekers and they are part prayer group, part book club, part support group and part whatever else.

so on the wednesday before christmas, the Seekers group decided to bring some much needed Christmas joy to our house. About 10 wonderful Seekers came a' caroling right in our living room!!

At about 6pm, we could hear the faint singing of Jingle Bells from outside and then upon opening the door, person after wonderful person came piling in to our entry way and living room.


Luckily Wednesday was a good day for Dad and he was able to take a seat on the end of the couch and listen to the joyous singing of some Christmas Carols. We even had some recorder players including 2 1/2 year old Rosalee! After a few carols, Dad began to get a bit tired and so we all moved the celebration to the family room where he could sit in his new recliner and enjoy a warm blanket and prayer shawl (thank you, fellow Askesis employees - that was such a wonderfully thoughtful gift!!).

dad with his prayer shawl. for those of you not in the know, dad has over 2100 ball jars not to mention all the related items and photos and memorabilia!

lily even got in on the caroling. she loved all the action!

After all the carolers left, we were able to sit and enjoy a lovely chicken soup that Denise brought. And for dessert, we enjoyed some ginger snaps and Lowery's chocolates that had been given to us by others. such a meaningful evening to all of us.

kandy kane ball.

one of the year's most fun parties is the kandy kane ball at joe's on weed street. this year it was held on dec 12th and beforehand we had a little preparty at seasonne's house. most of these girls are friends i've met through the junior league and it's always a fun night out with them.

catherine, me, jamie, liz and her friend.

the jlc girls and santa claus!

catherine, me, santa, erika, and amy

there was even a photo booth to play in!

more JLC ladies: catherine, jamie, erika, megan, me, katie, hilary

merry christmas!

no one was quite sure if dad would be strong enough to make it to church on christmas eve and so we took it hour by hour. he had a rough start to the day and wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it. but, thankfully by the time it was time to head out dad felt well enough to get dressed and go. it was a beautiful service and the first time he'd gone anywhere but the doctor/hospital since we went to the lake for thanksgiving. it was a truly special evening. all of their church friends came by to say hello and say how happy they were to see him. it was so touching.

and then the next day, in a not so traditional day in the harper household, we held christmas at the house in houston in stead of at the lake where we've celebrated the past few years since its completion. most of the christmas related items (the tree, ornaments, stocking, decorations) are all stored up there. so it was all about making do this year. and make do we did.

mom had warned ahead of time that she just hadn't been able to get in the present buying mode as things have been slightly stressful around these parts. there's only so much she could handle on her own.

so we got a mini tree from target and decorated it with some sparkly target ornaments. and set everything up in the family room so dad could relax in his recliner. more presents than we could have thought! and a couple kitties in the background checking it all out.

we started the morning with breakfast and a cuddle with the kitten (lily). she is such a good snuggler and loves to be held. she melts in your arms. and if you get tired of holding her, you can pass her to someone else's arms and she won't care one bit! btw, mom's bathrobe is older than me...you can see it in pictures of me as a baby! probably being held the same way this kitten is being held!

since mom mentioned she wasn't doing stockings this year, i took it upon myself to keep with tradition. i love stockings. we have to have stockings. so cvs and walgreens provided the cheapo stockings and stuffers and i even got the scratch off lottery tickets that are always found in the stockings. i can't even remember when they started showing up, but ever since we were little there have been lottery tickets. i'm a sucker for tradition so i had to get those! and i also got us each a powerball ticket. you'll be disappointed to hear that no one won the powerball... oh well. next year!

opening presents...


pyrrh is ever so helpful and watching...

here she is just chilling out on the bar stool. i think she looks so cute ... and so funny when she does this!

dad managed to get mom a present through some online shopping and found her a gorgeous pair of ruby earrings. thank God (and al gore) for the internet!

our little blind kitten (LBK) loved christmas. she had no idea why there was so much fun going on that morning, but she jumped right in and had a blast!

dad opens one of his many presents...

dad got three redneck wineglasses (ball jars stuck to a wine glass base) - apparently it was the present of the year! cheers!

then later in the day, some friends came over for a joint christmas/hannukah celebration. we had the traditional roast beef our family eats and their latkes and other sides. it was a lovely evening with a menorrah and christmas music and so nice to have some friends to join in. afterwards, we all played the dreidel game with pennies. dad was even still up and able to play for a bit. it was such a lovely day for all of us and glad dad was feeling up to being part of it!

otis update!

otis does NOT have cancer!!!!!! OMG, friends, i can't even begin to tell you how relieved i am that my little buddy is going to be ok. it took forever to get his test results back, but it was so worth it to hear that he does not have lymphoma now! doesn't mean he'll never get it, but he is cancer free at this stage of his life.

he has IBD which is inflammatory bowel disease which stinks b/c that means he gets 4 pills in the morning and 4 at night. what a lucky boy - he loves having pills shoved down his throat. yeah... good times! but on the plus side, he's allowed to eat whatever he wants and as much as he can. luckily, with IBD otis can still live a full and long life and as long as it's under control with meds, he'll be just fine.

awww, mom snapped this one over the summer of us napping. we love to snuggle on the couch. and holy moly, that's some cleavage!

my daddy.

it's hard to believe thanksgiving was just a week ago. it seems like a lifetime ago.

you guys all know by now that my dad has kidney cancer and that it has spread to the lymph nodes and likely his lung. we are praying that the bone scans and brain scan come back as negative and that the stupid cancer hasn't spread further.

it's all happened so fast. too fast. funny how fast life changes. mid october dad came home from a work trip not feeling great - he had a cold or something developing in to a cold. i came to houston a few days later and while he was feeling much better, i got the flu. awesome. by the time i was feeling better, he was feeling worse again. and then i went home to chicago and i got sick again. fun stuff. so we all thought dad's fatigue and fevers and cough were leftovers from a cold or relapse... but he just didn't get better. he did work during this time and was tired, but fine-ish. eventually he agreed to see a doc in the box and they said he had pneumonia. maybe he did, maybe he didn't but the drugs they gave him didn't help. by then mom pretty much made him go to the doctor and the doc ordered bloodwork and based off those results a ct scan. the tuesday before thanksgiving, the doc called dad and told him he needed to see him and if mom was available to bring her along. uh oh. and then the devastating news: cancer. a tumor almost as large as his kidney was attached to his kidney. mom called me hysterically crying. until that point, i just thought... oh he needs some drugs and that'll make him better. i'd just seen him... yes, he was a bit sick, but he'd had a cold! i didn't realize how many naps and how much time he was spending in bed and just how sick he'd gotten.

on nov 17th, he was too tired and sick to work (he works from home) and so this was the first day he called in sick. he hasn't worked since. he spends most of the day in bed resting or sleeping. he has just barely enough energy to come down for meals, but then tires out and goes back to bed. occasionally he stays downstairs to watch a bit of tv and sit up for a bit. it's awful to watch.

it's even more awful to see my parents crying together. but it's also so inspirational... wow, there is such a strong love there and to see how much they love eachother is just so amazing... and then it just makes me break down with the what ifs... and i know i can't go there, but i just don't know how my mom would handle the world without my dad. most of you know they met when she was 14 and he was 16. they've been married 38 years.... and together 43. My dad turns 60 next month. that's a whole lot of time together.

the funny thing is... i always thought i'd have to worry more about mom. she's the one who's had several biopsies for breast cancer and is at a high risk for it. I just assumed I'd someday have to help mom through a cancer scare. i just never imagined my dad being the one to get sick.

if there is a best part to all of this, it is the outpouring of love from each and every one of you. you all mean the world to me and your love and support do as well. i couldn't get through this without your words of encouragement.

and the outpouring of love to my parents has been tremendous too. my mom has a strange thing of "oh we don't have many friends and no one will be there"... boy has she been proven wrong. we set the caringbridge site up for dad less than 3 days ago and already there are 50 comments and mom's had too many emails to count. we've had dinner brought over every night this week which has been tremendously helpful since mom is not what we call a cook (yes, i take after her!). they have a strong network of friends, neighbors, and church goers who are all pulling for dad. and that is awesome.

so thanks guys... you are the best.