Childhood friends and good days

Today was a good day. We had Jules all day and my childhood girlfriend Janice and her husband Dave visited us from Tennessee. I showed her the irrigation ditch by our house because it really reminds me of South Phoenix when we were growing up. There were open irrigation ditches with cottonwood trees just like this little area by our canal here. We walked on the canal bank remembering how often we walked and rode the horse and donkey along the canal when we were kids sometimes riding into the canal even though we weren't allowed to. This is a picture of our donkey Henry. Dad brought him home in the back of the car one day. He opened up the door, and lifted him out. Henry was little enough that Dad wrapped his arms around all 4 legs and carried him out of the car to his new home, our south Phoenix ranch. Jan and Dave are bike riders and are interested in all our bike trails in Phoenix (500 miles of bike paths). Julian felt really good and walked with us. We put Jules in the stroller and she loved it also. We stopped by Mom's house on our way home, visited her and then we all went back to our house and had lunch. We had egg salad sandwiches with lettuce etc and watermelon. It was a great time and a good day. Jules connected with Merlin today. She was on the couch and Merlin was sitting on the couch back purring to beat the band. I said, "Jules listen to Merlin purring" and held her close to him. She then spent a long time squealing with glee, getting real close to his face as Merlin leaned in as if to give her a kiss. She would grab his fur and Merlin didn't bat an eye, just kept purring.

Cancer Connections Walk 2010

Well, the first round of chemo is finished, Julian is now on his week break. We went to the Walk for Hope at the Wellness Community for cancer families yesterday. This is where we go to our support groups each week. He was feeling pretty well and we walked with many other families fighting all kinds of cancer. Notice all the different colored balloons in the pictures. Each color signifies a different kind of cancer. The balloons signify hope and strength for the journey. We walked 3 K which I think is over 2 miles, seems easy, but for someone fight cancer and going through chemo it is tough. All programs are free here and there is everything from support groups to classes about fighting and dealing with cancer, nutrition and exercise and stress management. If you would like to donate and sponsor us go to www.thewellnesscommunityaz.org. Click on Cancer Connections Walk, 2010 and type in carol & julian under the search for individual or group. He did fine although he might have overdone it because he has felt really bad today. We take it a day at a time, supported by prayers, held up by each other and God. God is good and gives us many moments of joy together. We enjoy simple things like being able to wake up and eat breakfast together each day. This is new for us because we have always had to rush off to work at different hours. Today for breakfast we had scrambled eggs with cream cheese, 1/2 apple blossom (Trader Joe special) with whipped cream and hash browns.

Baby Jules is a joy to us. She is with us all day Tuesday and for about one and a half hours Friday mornings. Here she and her Papa are spending quality "hang out" time. She is amazing in so many ways. She is learning very minute she is awake and wants to be a part of everything. She is eating solids and likes to eat from the table while sitting on someone's lap. She had little bits of scrambled eggs and bits of banana bread. She loved it. She opens her mouth like a little bird and makes "mmmm" sounds like she is really enjoying it! She really lives in the moment. When she looks at someone, she totally focuses her eyes and her attention on you like for that moment you are the only person in her world. She is funny and makes us laugh.