Happy Palm Sunday!

I can’t believe Holy Week is upon us already! What a blessing to have the technology to be able to livestream our church services each day of the week so we can still be fed on the word of the Lord! Rich, Lily, and I jumped in the car to run down to the church after Mass this morning to pick up some palm branches being handed out in a car pool lane. It was so nice to get out, even though we were in the car the whole time, I was masked for the first time, and it lasted all of 10 minutes. The things we take for granted! As I type this, our two priests are driving around the city reciting the rosary and other prayers while holding the small monstrance holding the body of Christ, blessing the city. There is a person in the backseat who is live streaming this beautiful scene of love of our sheperds tending to their flock in this inventive way during these crazy times. I am happy to be lifting my prayers up with them as they drive around. They are calling it the Jericho Drive.

Tim came up from Lincoln to visit. He got here in time for dinner last night and then stayed the night and left early this afternoon. A relatively long visit for him! It was nice to have him home. Tallinn loves him to pieces (although I am not sure the feeling is mutual most of the time). Tim helped deliver a treadmill and put up our huge family cross in the front of the house that we put up for Advent/Christmas Seasons and HolyWeek/Easter Season. He took the dog for a run….his first…and it didn’t go swimmingly. Tallinn has the bad habit of swerving back and forth in front of the people he is walking (or in this case running) with and then slowing down. It is frustrating. You feel like you have a mantra in your head of saying, “Tallinn, just keep going!” He has a lot of zip to him and is super fast…just likes to be the herder of his flock when out and about, I think. Pair that with a red-headed, testosterone-filled young man who doesn’t really appreciate running in the first place and it wasn’t a match made in heaven.

This weekend is the start of spring break for Lily and her school district. Good timing. They announced that they will be weighing the third quarter grades more than the fourth, which is understandable. However, Lily had a tough 3rd quarter so she is making up grades for that as well as doing the course load for quarter 4. Sigh. Her engineering teacher is still missing in action. She really only has 3 teachers who are giving her daily works. They rest are resorting to projects. Lily is not keen on projects because it is again a time management crunch issue. Sigh. So far so good though.

Our store still remains open, getting sporting goods equipment out to the masses so they can be active at home. We are doing a lot of deliveries and curbside pickups. It is a blessing to be able to still be open to help others right now. I know it is getting crazy with parents and kids being trapped at home for long periods of time needing an outlet for their energy. Rich and Ed, a good friend of ours, are out shooting arrows at an outdoor archery range. The weather is beautiful, so I hope they are having a good time. Our oldest sons are best friends….and they spent all weekend together trying to not be too bored with the quarantine in Kansas City. It is hard on everyone…especially young people who are used to being out and about and active.

It has been 4 days since I had my chemo on Thursday. I have finished taking the steroids as of today. Tomorrow I will be all natural. I have had some nausea today. Not bad enough to take my medication yet, but did break open the queasy drops to suck on today. I am trying to keep busy, hydrated, get some exercise, and keep a little something in my tummy to keep it at bay for now. If it worsens tomorrow, I will see if I need to ramp it up and actually take some medication. For every medication, there is a side effect. Sigh. Sometimes those are worse than the actual medication. So far it hasn’t been too bad. As I said before, I hope that the medications I have been given so far have gotten me over the worst of it. I can only wait and see. I have had weird hair stuff going on. Yes, too much information maybe. But for the last 10 days or so I have lost my eyelashes and almost all my eyebrows. This was WITHOUT being on chemo. Now I am left with black fuzzy hair on my head (and my natural hair color is blonde) and some blonde hair on my forearms. That is it. Weird.

Shout outs! Thanks for the visit, Tim. It means so much to get to spend time with you. It was fun reminiscing about your middle and senior high school years last night and playing family board games. (even if you won Settlers of Catan). I got a chance to text with a friend in Norway who is from the UK…and another friend from Scotland, who I met in Norway, but who lives in Houston. It is so wonderful to be able to connect with people! Then I had a wonderful quick visit from my glove partner from Impact Kickboxing, Susan Ferguson. She brought me an Easter care package that I absolutely loved! You are the very best. I just love you so much, Susan! I broke all the rules and jumped out of the door and gave her a hearty hug. We both needed it. I hadn’t seen her in months. I have been able to catch up via text messaging with strong women whom I admire over the last few days and that has been a blessing – Michelle Nagel and Aimee Schultz….thanks for helping me to keep my mind off of cancer and letting me hear about what is going on in YOUR lives. It keeps me going and makes me smile! Well, as I close, I wish you again a Blessed Holy Week…one like we have never had like in the past. Don’t waste it.