Hi there. I hope you've been enjoying your summer like we have. It's been so great to feel so much better now than I did last summer. We've been on day trips to Little River Canyon to swim in the creek, hiking, visiting family in Georgia and North Carolina, and in general have just done what we felt like doing (within reason). :-) We even purchased a $10 baby pool to relax outdoors without passing out from the heat.

Most of June Tim kept coming up to me and hugging me and saying "I've missed you!" To which I would reply something like, "I've been with you all day." or "I was only at work for 5 hours." Until I finally realized what he meant - he missed ME. The "me" I was before cancer. And now that I'm "back", he just wanted me to know "I'd" been missed. Wow. 12-year-old words.

I wanted to update you. I am scheduled to have reconstruction surgery in a few days (August 12). This is the last step in this long journey. I've been walking around more than a bit lopsided for a year now (mastectomy was this time last year!). So we are ready to put this behind us and move on with our lives. I should be in the hospital for 3 days and then home recovering for up to 6 weeks.

Friends at church have set up a "take them a meal" schedule which just blows us away again. :-) And someone has also set up a visiting schedule for when I'm at home alone and the boys are at school and Matt's at work. Awesome and will be so helpful. Thank you in advance.

Thank you also to the fantastic friends at UAB who have donated their own sick days to me (because I've run out), so that this medical leave is with pay instead of without. Their generosity feels like a robust lifeboat for our family.

So, without further rambling, here are the links:

If you can help with meal, go to:
www.takethemameal.com
Search: Theus
Password: Lisa

If you can help with visits, please sign up for a day to visit on this Google Doc:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ju3q7gCJFu0CRj-zXVzEG9OPZSDn5nRjcM0E72a6wis/edit?usp=sharing
Her address is:

616 19th Court South Birmingham, AL 35205

Thank you so much! Here are a few pictures from this summer.

July 4th arrangement

July 4th weekend in North Carolina (it was refreshingly chilly!)

Little River Canyon, Alabama

Oak Mt. State Park, Birmingham

Town Lake, Notasulga, Alabama

Cute pink and white spider

Wildflower hunt

Little River Canyon

Figs from a neighbors tree

Birmingham photo safari

Tuco relaxing

View of Daniel and Tim from the top of Vulcan Statue in Birmingham

Our city on a bright summer day

Visiting with Rosie and her daughter Hannah from the UK!

Big family/friend reunion in Atlanta

Hiking Oak Mt. State Park

Daniel and Tim were in a play together this summer; Fantastic Mr. Fox

Daniel was Mr. Fox and Tim was Mr. Weasel, a villager, and Rat

Our brand new pool ;-)

I left off on my last blog at the moment we arrived in Bombardopolis. It was a short night -- the only electricity is by generator. To save money, no light switches were installed in any of the bedrooms. There is just a cable and a naked light bulb in each room - too high to reach - the ceilings are higher to allow for hot air rising.
So, the generator isn't turned off until everyone in the 3 home compound is finished with their work, and that wasn't until 2:30 a.m. It was a short night.
The first morning we opened our bedroom door to the outside air and were welcomed with a fresh breezed - it was glorious.
That morning we ate avocado and oatmeal for breakfast and set to the task of orienting our minds and bodies to this new reality we would be experiencing for 5 days.
We were surrounded by trees - something I didn't expect in Haiti. A lot of the trees were avocado trees - hence our breakfast. We had brough with us crates of fresh drinking water, but we enjoyed seeing where all other water came from: a big concrete water collection tank. One of our hosts has to climb a ladder and dip a bucket in the tank to collect water for things such as cooking and baths. The ladder was homemade from tree branches and rope.
Our days consisted of running a medical clinic for the children at the Good Samaritan School - this is the school our church has sent school supplies to in the past.
The children we saw were underweight and some were malnourished. It was a rude awakening to the hunger and poverty that exist.
But the JOY we saw was amazing. I can hardly put into words the resilient, funny, and joyful character of the Haitian people - I'm generalizing here, but honestly, when you look at what surrounds them every day of their lives, and then look at their character, it's awe-inspiring and, well, inspiring.
We spent four unforgettable days in Bombardopolis and the other days traveling. What this trip did for us and for my church is a big deal.
My church, Shades Valley Community Church, located in west Homewood, Alabama, has been back to Haiti two more times since that first trip. Our little group now flies on a charter plane to get to Bombardopolis - takes about 2 hours instead of 16. Great improvement!
I can't wait until I can visit again. We are scheduled to go the summer of 2016. Come and join us!

I am beginning to feel more like myself. My unfit, need exercise self. ;-) But this is a good thing. I'd almost forgotten what it felt like.
I'm also turning my attention towards things about which I was passionate before cancer distracted me. Haiti.
In 2008 my church began a relationship with an organization in Haiti called Reaching Haiti 4 Christ. The executive director is a Haitian man named, Steven Daniel Exantus. He and his family live in the Miami area, but have been going back and forth to Haiti for decades with the sole purpose of giving back to their hometowns and spreading the good news of the gospel.
Pastor Steve has founded two schools and churches in Haiti. One is in the capital city, Port-au-Prince, and one is in his hometown in Northwest Haiti, in the community of Bombardopolis. Our church began sending school supplies to these two schools back in 2009, and also began planning our first missions trip.
When the earthquake of 2010 struck, we did not know if we'd be able to go, but Pastor Steve said we should still try. So in July of that year, six months after the earthquake, six of us from our church made our first trip to Haiti. We traveled by car to Bombardopolis from Port-au-Prince - an unforgettable 16 hour drive over mostly dirt roads. Haiti's equivalent to our west coast's "highway 1" is beautiful, rugged, dangerous and rocky. I have to tell you….
We left Port-au-Prince around 7 a.m. in two four-wheel-drive vehicles. The first half of the trip was on paved roads through various small towns along Haiti's northern coast. We drove at a normal pace for crowded roads. I saw fields where rice is grown. I saw walls around expensive homes right on the coast. I saw children bathing in ditches. I still remember the hot sun beating down on us as we made a few stops along the way to pick up food and supplies. The blue Caribbean sea on our left and the mountains to our right. Occasionally we would go through small pockets of civilization with grocery stores, cell-phone booths where you could buy your minutes, fruit stands - honestly, just bustling caribbean towns. We also stopped in the first capital city of Haiti, Gonaives. This city was hit by a number of hurricanes between 2004 and 2008. But it still stands proud. With amazing architecture.
But eventually the pavement ran out. Shortly after leaving Gonaives there was simply no more pavement. The road narrowed and the landscape became less populated. We passed salt flats. We passed thatched huts. Yes, thatched huts. Fishing boats. Rocky beaches strewn with conch shells. Children playing soccer with a ball made of wadded up and tied together plastic grocery bags. The road began to climb until we were on a rather narrow rocky road 100 feet above the sea. No one lived up here. Or so we thought. We passed a small hut on the cliffside - as we passed five or six children ran out to greet us and ask for food. Two of them were naked.
The sun was beginning to set. We'd been on the road for 10 hours. When I asked Pastor Steve how much longer to Bombaropolis, he replied, in typical Haitian form, "Less than 10 hours."
We ran into a roadblock at one point. Just for us. Apparently word had gotten around (by motorbike - they were faster than we were) that there were foreigners on the road. At the roadblock Pastor Steve got out and talked to the men who said we could go by only if we gave them $100. Pastor Steve said to them, "Do you know who I am? I'm a pastor from Bombardopolis and these Americans are coming with me to work in that community and bring food and medicine to my neighbors. How dare you demand money from them. They are here to help." And we were allowed through, no more problems.
However, it's really getting to be dark now. And the landscape more and more rugged. As the sun fell and the moon rose the going got very slow. The road was like driving through a dried up riverbed. We slowed to a crawl. We saw a glowing fire in the distance and learned that this was the reason the mountains were deforested. The glowing was from a buried tree or trees which were on fire to produce coal which is what's used to cook - even in the cities.
Our little caravan began to climb into the mountains now. Our exhaustion was palpable. Time began to have no meaning. And then, just like that, we were in Bombardopolis. We didn't see it coming because there's on electricity. No lights to guide us. Just the bumpy road. But Pastor Steve knew where we were going, and we trusted him completely.
Somehow we found our sleeping quarters - four to a room - two on a bed and two on the floor. There was a generator, so there was light at Pastor Steve's home compound of about 3 acres. And the drive was done.
It took us 16 hours to drive 90 miles.
If you're still reading, congratulations. I can get long-winded when describing life-changing events. To learn more about the organization and to see photos, please visit our website - yes, I said OUR website, by going to www.hope4haiti.net -- I feel so connected, even 5 years after that first trip. I will journal more about Haiti at a later date. My passion is still strong.

Solid week vacation. No charge. At the beach. No strings attached. That's what we received last week. There is an organization called Little Pink Houses of Hope whose mission is: To promote breast cancer recovery by offering opportunities for survivors to reconnect and celebrate life.  It's true. How do they do this?  Here's how: 

We provide FREE week long vacations for breast cancer patients and their families.

We believe a cancer diagnosis does not just affect the patient, but the entire family. Every beach retreat is designed to help families relax, reconnect and rejuvenate during the cancer journey.

How about that!?? So, last week, our family went to Carolina Beach, NC on the dime of a bunch of wonderful and generous donors ranging from beach homeowners to restaurant managers to water-fun activities businesses. It was amazing. 

We stayed in a condo overlooking the harbor, ate free meals at Kate's Pancake House and other local restaurants, learned to Paddle Board thanks to Ocean Cure, pedal-boated around Carolina Beach Lake even though they're closed for the season (they opened just for us), and spent lots of time on the beautiful Atlantic beaches. We (our family) were one of 11 families selected to receive this vacation. And we are so grateful. Here are some photos of the week - they speak louder than my typing.

 Daniel in historic Wilmington

 Me with my dear "handler", Jill, from Charlotte

 Photogenic pelican

 Fishermen and women at Kure Beach pier

 Cuties

 Tim, our new photographer

 Ocean view at Fort Fischer, on the southern end of Pleasure Island, NC

 Daniel and the live oak grove

 Cutie

 Fort Fischer live oak stand

 The beautiful Atlantic with some nuts

 We went to the aquarium while there!

Seagulls love Doritos. apparently.

 Our condo is at the center of this pic in the end of the harbor

 What we saw when we first went to the beach

 Family pic

 Pedal boating

We had such a great time! It's hard to come home and settle back into work/school routine. But it's necessary. I'm also settling into a new normal. I am cancer free! The PET scan done the Friday before we left on vacation is completely clear! No cancer at all! So so happy. Elated in fact. So, everyday from here on out is a celebration that I have another day. I beat it. We beat it. Your support, love, prayers, actions, were all weapons in this war against cancer. The chemo and radiation were the cannon balls and everything else was artillery. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's done.