Letter from my friend

So I have a lot on my mind these days related to this letter, and a few others. I thought about telling Amy's story, but this is the best way to share it. There will be a few things to follow related to this, but I'll begin with this letter from my friend.

Well here goes…my first big letter to the better chunk of my contact list, because inquiring minds want to know…

Many of you may not know that I was diagnosed with cervical cancer last week. Big bummer! Given the circumstances, I think things are going very well. God is taking great care of me. I have the best possible husband available on this planet. I’m so thankful for his love and support. My mom basically moved back in. For those of you who don’t know, my sister Natalie stole her several years ago. ….I tell you …what I had to do just to get her back for a while. She and my buddy Carol redecorated my study in an afternoon using mostly stuff we had around the house. I felt like I was on Trading Spaces or Design on a Dime or something. You should see it. It’s a wonderful little nest for me to recover in.

I had an outpatient surgery two days ago to better determine how far this nasty little cancer has spread. It was my first time to go under general anesthesia. I was scared, but as it turns out it was no big deal. The harder part for me was getting the results last night. The little buggers are already into my lymph system. That buys me a PET scan next week to get a better idea if they’ve spread to my lymph nodes and other abdominal areas. That wasn’t the news I wanted to here. However, this is still a very treatable thing. And, not to brag or anything, but I’m kind of used to hanging out on the better end of statistical charts. J

If the PET Scan or CAT Scan shows that it has spread, I think I start radiation and chemo next week. If my hair falls out, expect a picture of me and Dirk with our bald heads for Christmas this year. Don’t forget to tell me how cute I am bald. If the scans don’t show spread, there will be no radiation or chemo, but I win a hysterectomy that could have up to a 10 week recovery time!! It sounds like an eternity to me. I’m really not very good at staying home, let alone lying around. I guess it’s time to learn to be still. It’s a spiritual discipline that I’ve been interested in for quite some time.

For those of you that didn’t know, I’ve been home schooling Ben, Nick and Emily for the last year. Because God takes such good care of us, I was able to reenroll them at North Avondale Montessori, their former school where you typically need to camp out over night to be on a waiting list to get in. They are all settled in their classes and are doing well. What a blessing that is.

There are so many people who have offered to help. I feel incredibly loved and cared for. And, there really are things that I would love for you to help me with. Many of them are not the usual things that cancer patients ask for. Here are some thoughts:

(Very regular one – but MOST IMPORTANT) Please pray for me and my family as we get used to our new situation.

(Again quite standard) For those of you who have offered to make meals for my small army, you’re brave. Contact Carol Brammer at cbrammer@comey.com She has a freezer in her basement to store them. Please avoid shrimp and peanuts. It’s so annoying when the kids blow up like balloons.

(Unusual, but incredibly important to me) As many of you know, Dirk and I are involved with D’Vine, www.dvineonline.org, a Vineyard church plant in Clifton. Let me tell you, this is not just your regular church. This is a group of people who are sold out to living their lives on purpose within a community. We don’t want to have a church. We want to BE the church. We exist to show love in practical ways to the Clifton community, the city and the world. I tell you, I really think Jesus would like this kind of church. Many people at D’Vine have uprooted their lives and consider themselves to be missionaries to this community. It’s great to be a part of something like that. D’Vine wants to be a blessing to the community. One of the ways we want to do that is by creating a safe place for people to come and connect with others. Sociologists call them third spaces. They aren’t our homes and they aren’t our businesses or government spaces…just places where we can belong and connect with others. I had a dream about this kind of thing over 6 years ago. At the time I thought it was a soda shop. It is a big part of why we moved into the city. We are in the process of starting a coffee house…not an overtly Christian coffee house…but a gathering spot for people to connect. My friend Carol has a coffee house, Brutopia on Ludlow in Clifton, and I love knowing that there’s a place where I can go and be known by the people there and belong, especially now that I have cancer. Carol overheard a person in her store who was trying to quit smoking say, “I came to my favorite place, because I didn’t know where to go and I knew they would support me here.” That’s the kind of place we want to create on the other side of campus. A place for people who would NEVER EVER EVER in a million years think about going to a church for support. I feel like I’m in neck deep on this project and it absolutely kills me to think that I’m going to have to chill out on this for awhile. We’re having an awesome time fixing up the building and we’re getting really close to being able to open. If anyone loves to do plumbing, electric, painting, marketing, has supplies we could use, etc….that would be the absolutely coolest thing ever. Invest in a diverse community! It’s life changing. Invest in young people. It’s life changing. Invest in authentic community! It’s life changing. My prayer is that God will show up in amazing ways in our community to unite us, empower us and resource us to fulfill this dream that we believe He put in our hearts. If you have an interest in this contact Aaron Wright at aaron@dvineonline.org Because HE’S THE MAN

Whew! Talk about some serious rambling. Are you allowed to get away with this when you have cancer? I guess I’ll find out. Seriously, I’m not emailing all of you again. Anyone who wants updates needs to [check out her update website which in under construction now]. Feel free to forward this to other people that might pray or be interested. I lost most of the Vineyard email addresses when they changed last year. If they want to be on the email list, they can email me as well. It’s ridiculously egocentric to assume you want to hear about all this. (My mom made me do it.)

I’ve spent a lot of time teaching people how to manage their money. It’s an important stewardship issue. Manage it well, but do an even better job with your time. What a priceless gift we all have today. I’m going to the Children’s museum with my beautiful kids. There will probably be some ice cream involved as well…all organic with lots of vitamins for you health nuts.

Amy

You, Me, and The Flying Pig

So I'm running The Pig on May 6th. It's a lot of training and work, so I decided if a huge part of my time was going to go to this, it should go to helping others, doing something more than checking off the "Ran a marathon" box on my life list.

I am trainning with and raising funds with Team in Training for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The money we raise will go towards patient support, advocacy, research, and public and professional education as it all relates to blood cell cancers.

My fundraising goal is $1400 by April 13th. So far (01/01/2007) I have about $330. I would love for you to visit my Team in Training webpage and make a donation; and tell all your friends (Blogger, Xanga, MySpace, or otherwise). You can donate $1 or $1 meellllion dollars. You can even do it annonymously, if that's your bag baby.

Thanks for your support!

www.active.com/donate/tntsoh/CourtneyMaxie