Love and Prayers for Jack

My friend Crystal (one of our fabulous editors and a board member at Band Back Together) found out this weekend that her five year old son, Jack, has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Jack is going to have some procedures tomorrow, and they will find out more specifics about the course of treatment. Crystal has set up a Caring Bridge site to keep everyone updated.

You can get more information about Jack, and get the code if you would like to put Jack's button on your blog. We also have an email address that has been set up specifically for messages to Jack (he is loving all the messages and e-cards). All of that information can be found at the post on Band Back Together. 

***************

Have you heard of the Be The Match Bone Marrow Registry? 

Joining the registry means that one day you could help save a life. It is super easy! All you need to do is fill out some simple medical information, and they will send you a kit with a cheek swab for you to return. 

In the past I have wanted to sign up, but due to the cost associated with having the kit processed, was not able to do it. BUT! for the month of January, American Express is covering the cost of the kit for every person who registers. 

Tonight I signed up (a very simple process), and my kit is on its way. 

I want to encourage you to check it out and join the registry. 

***************

Jack, Crystal, and the whole family can use all the love, support, and prayers you can send their way! 

Tweet

Accepting Submissions for the January 2012 Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse

The Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse is a monthly event. Its purpose is to raise awareness about the serious issue of child abuse. All forms of abuse - physical, emotional, sexual, spiritual, verbal - are discussed. We highlight blog posts, from child abuse survivor stories, to art and poetry, to child abuse as a topic in the news media, as well as PTSD, disassociation and other areas of abuse "aftermath" that adult survivors are forced to deal with. We also link to hopeful posts about therapy, recovery, and healing from abuse. All forms of child advocacy and awareness are included.

The January edition of the Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse will be hosted here, at From Tracie. Our theme is A Fresh Start.


I would love to hear about any resolutions, or plans, or focuses you have going into this new year!

All of our regular categories will also be open:
-Advocacy and Awareness
-Aftermath
-Healing and Therapy
-In the News
-Poetry
-Survivor Stories
-Art Therapy

The deadline for submissions is January 25th, and the carnival will be posted on the 27th. I'm excited to see what y'all share this month. You can submit something written especially for this edition, but please feel free to submit an older post as well.

If you are interested in hosting an upcoming edition of the carnival, please let me know! 

The Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the serious issue of child abuse and to share important posts with others who might not be frequent readers of an author's blog, and expose one's work to a wider audience. There are so many wonderful bloggers who are contributing to the cause of ending and recovering from child abuse. If you, as a reader or author, know of other blogs that you find helpful, please encourage them to submit to an upcoming issue of the Carnival Against Child Abuse; and please bookmark that page so we can continue to receive high quality submissions from a wide swath of bloggers. 

Tweet

Ode To Ice Cream or Edy's, Why Do You Hate Me?

I was always an ice cream girl.

If we were at an ice cream shop, I would take free samples of lots of flavors - but I always knew what flavor I was going to get, because I went through ice cream phases. I can clearly remember which flavor I wanted my two scoops (on a cone!) to be, depending on which age I was...

Five. I was devoted to Cookies and Cream.

Six. Neapolitan, because obviously not having to choose just one flavor is brilliant. 

Seven. Strawberry, especially the kind with chunks of real strawberries.

Nine. I was obsessed with Mint Chocolate Chip. I even had a Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream cake for my birthday (well, I was supposed to have one, but then the car ran out of gas, and all the girls at the party had to walk four miles to get to a gas station, and there were all these angry parents.....but that is a story for a different time).

Eleven. I flirted with Sherbets - Raspberry was good but Orange was my favorite.

Twelve. I loved Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (Blue Bell, people, Blue Bell is the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough master).

Thirteen. Banana Splits - but never with pineapple, because that is just wrong. (I also don't do pineapple on pizzas. Or on cakes. Really? Let's all just agree that pineapple isn't a topping for anything, okay?) 

Also Banana Split Ice Cream (much less labor intensive than a real banana split). 

And Banana Split Blizzards from Dairy Queen (A tip from me to you: these are SO much more fabulous if you have them use the chocolate shell instead of the regular chocolate sauce when they make it).

Fifteen. I was all Chocolate with Peanut Butter, all the time.

Seventeen. I discovered my true love, Swiss Orange Sherbet from Edy's.

Orange Sherbet with chunks of dark chocolate in it. There are not words to convey how amazingly wonderful this is.

*********

After Thomas and I were married, I branched out in my ice cream eating. He would come home from the grocery store with little containers of Ben and Jerry's (hello Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, my old friend) or Haagen Dazs, that were fabulous. But I always returned to my true love, the Edy's Swiss Orange Sherbet. I made every single person in my family try it, and they were all hooked. 

Then a couple of year ago, someone at Edy's decided they hated me. I know this happened, because they quit making Swiss Orange Sherbet. 

(cue depressing music) 

I have had ice cream issues ever since that day. 

I stand in the ice cream aisle, and can't decide. I have tried all my old ice cream loves, but none of them satisfy. They can't compare with the Swiss Orange, nothing can.

"But I am an ice cream girl," I think to myself, "I am!" so I keep buying ice cream. Not loving it - but not hating it either (because obviously I couldn't hate ice cream). 

This weekend I stood, once again, in the ice cream aisle. Edy's was on sale, buy one get one free. An ice cream girl's dream moment. But I felt...flat. unexcited. uninspired. I told Thomas and Katarina to pick out the ice cream, explaining to Thomas that I don't think I'm an ice cream girl anymore. The lack of Swiss Orange has ruined me. Forever.

We came home with Key Lime Pie and Egg Nog ice creams. The Key Lime Pie was good. Maybe even great. And the Egg Nog? The Egg Nog was incredible. 

For just a second, I thought the pain was over. I was an ice cream girl again! Ice cream would be my friend. We would spend warm nights snuggled up in front of a movie, and cold nights snuggled up under a blanket with a good book. 

Tracie and Egg Nog, together forever. 

I was mentally adding "buy more Egg Nog Ice Cream" to my grocery list, when I told Thomas about my breakthrough. And then, Thomas burst my ice cream loving bubble with, "I'm glad you like it. We should probably get some more tomorrow since it is seasonal, and you won't be able to buy it again until next year."

Oh Edy's. Why do you torture me so? Why do you hate me?

Do you have a favorite ice cream flavor? Clearly I need some suggestions. 

Tweet

One Word: Hope

It is not a resolution. It is one word to focus on.

My word for 2012 is HOPE.

I really wanted to have a revelation this year. I wanted to know that my word was something special and perfect and life changing. I didn't want to pick a word with secret hidden plans and thoughts behind it - a word that I would control.

Last week I started thinking and praying about my word. I knew that I wanted to know God was giving it to me. I wanted my word to pursue me, but I wasn't sure what that would look like. This is the story of how hope chased me down...

Hope. I heard it whispered in my mind.

On Monday I thought of lots of words. Hope was one of them, but I dismissed it as not really being something I needed to focus on. It felt too simple.

Tuesday night. It was time for bedtime prayers with Katarina, and as we started praying, Thomas randomly shared some things he had been thinking about that day - all about hope. It was good stuff, but I still didn't think hope was the word for me.

Hope. I heard it echo in my heart.

Thursday night I fell sleep thinking about hope, and Friday morning I woke up thinking, "a hope and a future," and it stayed with me all day. I started to realize how much hopelessness I have felt for the last two years.

On Saturday I read a book. A character spent four paragraphs talking about hope, and while I was reading those paragraphs, Katarina interrupted me to discuss naming a doll Hope.

Hope. I felt it reaching for my soul.

By Sunday morning, I was starting to admit it to myself - hope was pursuing me. I felt a real peace about it being my word. And just in case I wasn't sure, hope showed up one more time that morning when I opened up a random email that contained a picture with this written on it:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, 
"plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a future."
~ Jeremiah 29:11

Hope. It pursued me for a week, and I will spend the next year embracing it, learning its depth, and living it. 

What is my journey with hope going to look like? I have no idea...but that is exactly the way every great journey starts, right?

"Rejoice in HOPE, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." 

~ Romans 12:12

What one word would you pick for 2012?
If you want to join a community of people living out One Word in 2012, check out One Word 365.

Tweet

Thoughts On A Year Of Courage

Last year I picked the word courage for my one word focus. I put a lot of thought into that word before I picked it. I had a lot of ideas how I was going to do this whole courage thing. Now that 2011 has come to a close (am I the only one who is happy to see it go?) I am looking back and seeing that courage was not at all what I thought it would be.

The written things: When I look at the list of intentional courageous choices I wrote in my one word blog post last year, I can honestly say there were a lot of times I did choose courage. I looked at that list on so many hard days, and made myself read it.

The unwritten things: My secret list of things I was going to do - not one of them was accomplished. But to balance that out, there were some things I never dreamed or imagined would come my way (working with the amazing people at Band Back Together is a huge one!) that I stepped out in courage and got involved with.

The honest things: Remember when I said I had a lot of ideas how I was going to do this courage thing? What that really means is this - I had visions of the goals on my secret list that I was going to accomplish, and how they would tie in with my courage theme.

I never had that spiritual moment when God revealed a word to me, so I picked one. And I'm not saying that was wrong, or even that my choice was wrong, but there was a part of me that was so prepared to control this journey down the courage path. I was composing victory blog posts in my mind by the end of January 2nd. And I spent a lot of time frustrated that those plans and victory blog posts did not come to fruition.

When I examine that frustration, I realize it is really tied into that secret list of mine - and has very little to do with my courage focus. I realize that I still see courage the way I wrote about it back in the beginning of January 2011. When I compare my year to that list, I feel a lot of the frustration melt away. I certainly didn't live the list perfectly, but I was blessed during the times I intentionally focused on it and let it inform and inspire my choices.

I'm grateful for this year of courage. I'm grateful that my word traveled with me and touched my life, even when it wasn't happening the way I had imagined it would.

I still have more road to travel on the courageous path. I'm pretty sure it is something I will be working on for the rest of my life. I'm okay with that.

Tomorrow I'm going to tell you my word for 2012.
I am going in a new direction this year, and I'm really excited about it.

Tweet