Welcome October

Good morning everyone! Thank you for stopping by on this beautiful 1st day of October. 

This year has been one that I care not to repeat. The first Saturday of January, my other half's father was taken to the ER wee hours of the night as he initially was disoriented but by the time he arrived at the hospital he was unconscious. I won't go into the long drawn out details, but after a blood transfusion of 5 pints, he finally stabilized hours later. This lead to many tests, misdiagnoses and more. Mind you he has 1% of working lungs due to COPD, thus requiring the dependency on his oxygen mask. So this on top of the blood loss did not make for a good combination. He spent the first 6 months of the year in and out of ICU, CCU, rehab facilities, the skilled facility and finally LTAC. The blood loss was not due to internal or external bleeding, it was later found to be caused by a broken chromosome. With this condition his cells basically made the blood but didn't know what to do with it so it never "matured" and did its job. It was akin to making infantile blood that never knew what it's adults job was, so it died off. 
 
The hematologist was trying to get him approved for a drug that only one company in Germany makes that would be able to help repair the chromosome break. Each pill was $48,000.00 so the approval would been to have the medication donated to his care. We never did get word back in time as he passed away June 30th. 


All the while, I have had his mom living with me as she isn't really capable of living on her own. So this been a definite life change for both of us.

Early May I was informed that my Aunt on my Dad's side was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Two days later I get word that my Uncle on my Mom's side was also diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. My Aunt gave up and passed shortly after diagnosis, but my Uncle held on until the Lord called him home in July. The Lord also called home a dear friend that had been cancer in May.  

August 25th Hurricane Harvey hit and devastated the area. I'm sure you've seen the news of the unprecedented 500 yr flooding that hit the area. Several friends and co-workers lost their homes, including my other half's Mother. FEMA and Red Cross have been hard hit which makes it hard on residents as claims are still going unprocessed or denied without reason; even though those denied lost everything they had, so it wasn't a scam claim. It's just devastating to see the home debris still sitting on the side of the roads and highways waiting to be picked up. All the while homes are in disrepair as they continually wait and fight for funds to help rebuild. 

Needless to say, I am so ready for a better last 3 months of the year than how it started. 
 

Fun with yarn

I decided this is my year to get back into crafting. I had put it aside for way too long. So this morning I took my first class in learning to crochet. Here's my first attempt...

I'm so proud of myself.

From the Craft Room

Now that all the Christmas decor has been put away, I still needed to hang my winter wreath on the door. Problem is - I don't have a winter wreath! So here's what I came up with...

Autumn Scentsy

While I love all things Fall...it's been an extremely busy time here lately. So I have only put out a few Autumn decorations in the house. One of my favorites is this Scentsy pumpkin warmer. I just adore it! 

There's still plenty of time to get a few more pumpkins out but in the meantime, I am certainly going to enjoy this tiered pumpkin beauty. 

Where is your hope?

A few years ago, I happened to see these two signs sitting next to each other while out shopping. I felt that there was some sense of reason as to why they would be sitting side by side. Then it hit me...

Home is where one should always find a sense of hope. But home doesn't have to be limited to mortar & beams...home is where your heart is. So never let your heart loose hope and you'll always have a home for your dreams.