Uncategorized Archives - If You Give A Girl A Homestead

Three Words

When Jeremy was first diagnosed and we shared it publicly with everyone, his mentor from his teenage years reached out to him and shared something that Jeremy held on to throughout all of this. His mentor said that when his wife was going through cancer, she had said she didn’t want her pain to be wasted. This statement resonated with Jeremy and he told me on several occasions that that was what he wanted. He didn’t want his pain wasted. And I think by many of you allowing me to share the pain and hurt but yet the hope and the light in all this allowed for that. I spoke to a dear friend a couple days after Jeremy’s passing and she said that she had been shocked to hear that Jeremy was going home on hospice and that only a few short days later that he was gone. She…

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August 24, 2022

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We Dance

When my husband was first diagnosed, I realized the severity of his illness. I also realized that without a medical or supernatural miracle, our time was limited. Very limited. The further we got into his cancer battle, he and I started discussing death. The first time we talked about the reality that we were facing, Jeremy told me that he felt relieved that we had faced talking about it together. I remember in that discussion and few that followed, he would tell me he wasn’t scared of death or where he was going. He was confident in that and always, “Dee, God’s got me.” However, he was concerned about the process of walking through the door from this life to the next. And every time, I promised that I would be right there with him and that he wouldn’t have to do it on his own. We would do it…

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August 7, 2022

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They Will Be Called Oaks

The last couple of weeks leading up to the two year anniversary of Jeremy's death, I have been flooded with memories of that January and February of 2020. The things that lead up to February 13. I've thought of conversations that Jeremy and I had in the hospital room after we knew he would be going home on hospice. They consisted of talking through a lot of practical things, like what truck I would need since he wasn’t going to be around to take care of our older truck. However, we also talked about unfulfilled dreams, like getting a camper and doing more camping trips with the kids or taking a trip out west with them. And we talked about the table that he wouldn’t build. Ever since we had moved onto the farm, we had discussed him building a three-plank farm table that was long enough to fit many…

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February 21, 2022

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Ocean Waves

This week, I stole away to the NC shores to try to take some time to regroup and get my squirrels lined up and behaving. What was I thinking? It’s was going to take a lot longer than two days to do that. I think I was only able to catch one. The first day was rainy, so I couldn’t get out on the beach, but yesterday was sunny and in the sixties. So after spending most of the day on one project, I got outside as the sun was starting to go down to walk the shoreline that was calling to me. I was amazed at all the shells and sea rocks that covered the sand as I walked along. I reached down and picked up a smooth white rock and turned it over in my hand. It felt soothing, solid, and strong. And I wondered how long it…

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March 5, 2021

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Day 3

This morning I woke up at 6:30 (7:30 back home) and was able to climb one of the sand dunes to have my morning coffee. It was beautiful. I was able to catch those moments of magic light but chose not to pick up the phone to try to capture it. I sat in it. Once the sun was well on its way, I went back down to the camper to get the kids going. After they got dressed, they grabbed breakfast to eat outside and then run and play on the dunes while I prepared us to go. I was just about done when they came back. I noticed a lot of yellow jackets being attracted to the water that had dripped down from the roof of the camper so there was a little bit of maneuvering to make sure we didn’t get stung. The yellow jackets in TX…

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June 24, 2020

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Day 2

Day 2: This morning I woke up around 6:30 with dread. Last night when I went to bed I was seriously questioning my sanity. Ok, I’ve always questioned it but REALLY questioned it. We got a later start than I had wanted and I looked for a place to get an extra tire, but struck out. I think because it is Sunday. Walmart’s tire department was closed due to covid though, so maybe both. I made sure to keep my speed at 60 mph, praying not to have another blow out. Today was fairly uneventful, thank goodness. We stopped at LeTourneau University and I could tell that it was soothing to my older two. I don’t really know how to explain it. I watched as they took off on an empty campus and I could tell their hearts were full imaging their dad as he walked around campus. They wanted…

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June 22, 2020

Travel / Uncategorized

Day 1: 2020 Trip

Day 1: I am thinking what was I thinking!!??😂 Today was the longest stretch for the first three days of our travel and it was looooong. Georgia and Alabama was pretty uneventful other than getting ten minutes down the road and a guy telling me the door to my electric was flapping in the wind. Shortly after crossing the Mississippi border another gentleman flagged me over to tell me my spare tire cover decided to fly away. Aaaaaand. Even though I thought I was going slow (well below speed limit) I had a tire blow right after crossing into Louisiana. Thank God for the sway bars I had put on my truck. I had been staying in the right lane so it was easy to pull over and limp along to the exit. I had been warned by numerous people that a blowout was not a matter of if but…

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June 21, 2020

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Another Biopsy

I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. For everyone who posted or sent texts filled with pumpkin pie, thank you! Some of them made me laugh out loud. You all are great. This morning, we went in to have Jeremy's other lung drained of fluid and we found out that he could do the abdomen too instead of having to go in tomorrow for that. Holy cow, he had a lot of fluid. Everything went well and he came home to eat and then go take a nap. We were up pretty early to be there at 7 am. Thankfully Mom and Dad took the kids last night and Mom made sure they got to school today. Well the older two that is. There was lots of jumping around and rearranging schedules by my sister and dad to stay home with Ari who started getting sick yesterday. She'll stay an…

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December 2, 2019

Jeremy's Cancer Journey / Uncategorized

Pumpkin Pie and Prayers Part 2

Thank you so much everyone for participating in the "Pumpkin Pie and Prayers". It meant a lot to Jeremy to see those pics and read your words of encouragement! If you took a picture and didn't send it, it's not too late! Feel free to continue to send them. Thursday started rough for Jeremy and he was unable to join the family gathering like we had hoped. However, I am happy to report by the end of the day he was able to at least enjoy his piece of pie. So we take the wins and are extremely grateful for them. We are praying he will get to eat many more pieces of pie before the season is over! Thank you for your continued prayers and support. They mean so much to Jeremy, Dee and the entire family.

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November 29, 2019

Jeremy's Cancer Journey / Uncategorized

Round 2 of Chemo Done

It's a rainy, cool morning and the house is really quiet except for the occasional huff coming from Penny. I figured I would hop on here and give an update. Yesterday, Jeremy went in to have his pump taken down, thus completing round two of chemo. We found out this week that after his fourth treatment, he will need to have another scan done to see if it is working...so most likely after another month. His RBC's were low but they are working on that, but apparently it is a common issue with chemo. The first 24 hours of this treatment weren't bad for Jeremy, but about midday Thursday, it hit him and hit him hard and continued into Friday. The doctor gave him some new meds for the nausea so we shall see how that goes now that he tries to recover. I have such mixed feelings about his…

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October 19, 2019