About

About Kathy:

I grew up in the sixties and seventies when a root beer float (or 'black cow' as we call it here in the South), a red vinyl bar stool, and Johnny Angel crooning from the jukebox at the local drug store, were as close to heaven as one could get.  It was an innocent childhood filled with sleepovers under the Texas stars, unlocked  doors, and catching lightening bugs in Mason Jars. All those summers spent with our family in Tennessee did even more to wrap me up in a tightly woven cocoon--sheltering me from the harshness life can bring.  I was definitely not prepared for the cold reality that lay ahead.  Right after college,  I married and moved out to California where my husband was a part of the first graduating class for the brand new Top Gun program.  We were crazy about each other.  However,  a series of unexpected and uncontrollable events soon sent our relationship spiraling out of control.  During that period of my life, I battled severe depression and questioned everything from my faith to my mere existence.  But on the brink of suicide, God reached out to me through a miraculous experience and told me it was not my time.  And so with shaky steps, I slowly became stronger.  Gradually,  I began to reclaim my life.  Before long I was re-married, had two children, and moved to Denver, Colorado, where my husband , Gene, was based with United Airlines.  And just when my life couldn’t get any happier, I was blind-sided by a diagnosis of breast cancer.  No family history, no indicators.  I was thirty-five at the time with a three and seven-year old.  Once again my faith was rocked to the core.  But this time,  I held onto God’s promises.  The Bible became my constant companion.  And I beat cancer not once, but twice - when almost nine-and-a-half years later the original cancer metastasized to my lungs.  I had been only six months away from being declared cancer free. But by the grace of God, I am here to tell my story.



It has been twenty-seven years now since my initial diagnosis and the mastectomy, and seventeen years since it metastasized and the grueling lobectomy that followed. (I've heard that  this type of surgery has greatly improved) The road has not been easy. For years, cancer was the first thing I thought about when I woke up in the morning, and the last thing on my mind before falling asleep at night. But for all you newbies to this journey, I'm here to assure you that it does get better.  And the Lord wants nothing more than for you to be healed and to prosper.  I decided to share my message with other women who may find themselves in similar situations in hopes that they would find hope and encouragement as they forge their own trail on the road back to health.   I want others out there who may feel overwhelmed and hopeless to know that there is always hope despite the doctor’s diagnosis. Never forget that God is the great physician, and  that by the stripes of Jesus Christ, we ARE healed.  We have to claim it and believe it! 
 

Please feel free to contact me.  And while I would much rather be sitting across the table from you while we both indulge in a tall white chocolate mocha latte (skinny, of course J ), demographically that is most likely impossible.  So instead, I invite you to put on those pink fuzzy slippers I know are hiding in your closet, turn up the Mamas and the Pappas, grab that steaming cup of latte, settle into your favorite chair, and let’s chat a while.

About Casey:

Besides being Kathy’s daughter and occasional stand-in co-blogger, I am a product of the eighties.  I had a cabbage patch doll named Maggie, which my sister stole, a Strawberry Shortcake bike which my dad ran over in the driveway ( I think just to drive home his point about not putting my things away), and was an avid Care-Bear and Rainbow Brite fan.  I love Esther Williams movies, any movie with Meryl Streep, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and everything vintage.  I am an old soul.  While my mother swears she was born in the wrong state (especially on these 105 degree-fry an egg on the concrete-summer Texas afternoons), I swear I was born in the wrong decade.  I come from a long line of Longhorns (Go UT!), I am a conservative with a degree in Social Work (yeah, figure that one out:), and I am married with two kids.  And while I would like to say I have some glamorous job, in reality most of my time is spent peeling crusty Cheerios and stickers off the floor, helping my three-year-old put away his building blocks for the umpteenth time in a single day, and debating with my ten-year-old daughter again on why she cannot have a cell phone like every other kid in her class (and you must imagine her saying this in a Scarlett O’Hara voice complete with the most pitiful, put-upon look she can possibly muster).  But to be honest, amidst the craziness of it all, I wouldn’t want my life any other way.
 

Growing up I knew bits and pieces of my mother’s story, but it was not until recently that I fully learned the magnitude of her journey.  And perhaps you cannot fully understand all your mom went through until you become a mom yourself.  Only through the sisterhood of motherhood can we understand the trials and triumphs that our mothers faced.  Magnify those day-to-day challenges with over a dozen surgeries, monthly check-ups, and the side-effects of the drugs you are on.  Not to mention the inner silent battle that you are waging every day just to keep your head up, your faith in check, and put one foot in front of the other.  And my mother did it with grace and love.  Even though her own faith was being tested she made sure ours was not.  She made sure that we made it to school, swim practices, Sunday school, friend's birthday parties, that we did our homework, studied for those weekly spelling tests, and completed those science projects, all the while trying to juggle her own doctor's appointments, faith and sanity.  Was it easy?  No.  Did she have her meltdown moments like the rest of us moms?  Sure--and Lord knows she was entitled to them.  But she did it.  And so can you.  Knowing there are so many women who will be able to relate to and find hope in her story, I have encouraged her to start this blog with me. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us.  We would love to talk, pray, or just connect with you.  We will be posting every Friday.  So as we say in the South, “Y’all come back now, ya hear!”.

About Kelly:

My mother always told me I was the one who really kept her on her toes and brought laughter into her life. She said I was singing before I was talking, and dancing before I was walking. Well, guess you could say I was always eager to start living and since I was one of those rare kids who was born on her actual due date--that'd be a pretty safe assumption. I was walking before I was 9 months old and have been off and running ever since. Well, for starters, I absolutely loved everything that belonged to my big sister, almost as much as I loved her.  Her cabbage patch doll quickly took on the title of "My Maggie" asserting territorial rights at the ripe old age of 2.  My mom learned quickly that she'd have to channel my enormous amount of energy or go insane. So, she enrolled me in  USS swimming when I was 6. I competed for over 10 years all over the state of Texas and once in Indiana at a National Age Group Championship.  After high school, I was accepted to my dream college,  The University of Texas at Austin, "Hook 'Em Horns!" :), and received a degree in Sociology with a minor in Psychology.  Looking back,  it's crazy how fast those days fly by.  My parents had eagerly anticipated my graduating and returning home until I got my feet on the ground, but life would have other plans for me.  I met my future husband and best friend, Brandon, my senior year. So, instead of helping me pack up my 'stuff' for the return trip home, my mom was making 2, sometimes 3 trips to Austin every week for a year helping me to plan my dream wedding. I know that was a mixed emotional time for her since she had lost her mother, my grandmother, shortly before.   My husband and I just recently moved to the thriving metropolis of Marble Falls where he grew up, so that he can pursue his dream of working with his father.  I was blessed to land a terrific job as the human resoures manager at the Horseshoe Bay Marriott. 

I've faced a lot of changes this past year, but then that's what life is all about. I learned alot about coping with change and how to hold on to faith during the storms in life  from watching my mom.  I was so young both times she faced her battles with cancer, that I wasn't able to fully comprehend the magnitude of what she was going through. I just knew that we had to b the luckiest kids on the planet because we had the best birthday parties on the block. She tried hard to make our life as normal and yet as magical as possible.  I still remembr the pizza 'picnics' we had every Friday on the living room floor while watching a Disney movie, and Sunday afternoon bike rides and kite flying at the McAllister Park. When her cancer metastasized, I was 11 and realized a little more of what was going on.  The one thing that strikes me is that I was never really afraid of losing her.  Somehow she made us all believe that she was going to be here for us no matter what.  She lived her faith. . Now, looking back, I'm amazed at what she endured and how she coped with everything, especially since my dad was a pilot, which forced him to be gone so much of our lives. That translated into everything kind of falling on her shoulders. My mother's grandparents were an integral part of her recovery I believe. They were both very strong Christians and supported her spiritual journey. She was very close to both of them, being an only child and their death was devastating to her, but still she overcame.   Her incredible strength and her faith in the Lord, are two of the traits that I've grown to greatly admire about her. The Lord truly blessed me and our entire family when he healed my mom, and we will all be eternally grateful for that precious gift..