The Little Things

I feel such an outpouring of love from here, there and everywhere!

Last week I found this on my front porch. I knew immediately who sent them - years ago, when I was in Sweden and my best friend Stacy Julian was stuck at the MTC with a delayed visa to go to Germany, I sent her flowers to cheer her up. That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the FTD box there. Luckily, the neighbor girls came over one afternoon, and these were in a box on my front porch! They came with a cute yellow paint bucket for a vase, but I would have had to cut them way down to make them fit correctly. I put them in this vase until they need sprucing up and then I will get twice as much life out of them in the cute bucket - AND it doesn't have a lick of pink in it!!!








Today I received this in the mail - from the Young Women in Kalispell with whom I was privileged to work for almost the whole year we were there. Although the card is pink (I could call it dusty light mauve - that's better), but I will be looking at the inside and all the sweet uplifting notes instead anyway.









And then my good friend Shar Olson sent this picture with the caption:
"To Heidi.....its NOT pink. Love, from Little Si" (a local mountain in Snoqualmie). I am so in love with this picture. A, N and I have been finding and photographing letters formed by roots, trunks, and branches on our hikes. This is just so perfect - I have already made it my profile picture, and I may just have to get it framed for my desk (if I had a desk, that would be even better). They were hiking with Heather Mather and kids.

What wonderful, thoughtful peopl

. How can I not be happy and feel loved - even from afar!

UPDATE: 8-23 

 August 19 I got a package from Mike, Suzy and family. A sunshine package - filled with all things yellow - NO PINK! yellow socks, scrubbie, sticky tabs, chips, lotion, sanitizer, cough drops, etc. What a fun bright spot on the day of my port surgery

 Dinner came that same night from Luci and Lavena along with these bright sunflowers to make the table happy.









My sweet neighbor Rachel not only watched my girls during the surgery time, but she brought a freezer meal and these flowers to brighten my day.

The next day brought this game from our dear friends the Simon's. It is a fun, fast game of Monopoly - not an oxymoron, but really is a fast game. We've been enjoying it lots!

UPDATE 9-4-15

First day of chemo. Last night I got two knocks on the door. One was Connie McCoy with a loaf of fresh bread - would have been warm if I had been home earlier when she first tried. YUM! It is gone, so no picture. Next was my neighbor Rachel Smith with some yummy chocolate cups with fruit and chocolate mousse filling. Again - YUM, not picture because they are gone!

When we got home today, the front door was plastered with sweet notes from the Sister Missionaries. Sisters Mills and Thompson. Thanks for the kind thoughts!

UPDATED 10-9-15

 While I was napping during my 2nd infusion (they give me Benedryl half-way through and I immediately fall asleep), Stacy Julian took off to do some errands (plus it is not fun sitting there in the hard chairs offered for visitors). She came back with this fun scarf. She and I tried on all types of head coverings on my "shaving head day", and found out that the best thing I look good in is scarves tied around my head. None of the hats looked good.
Our next door neighbors Winnie and Clint Kimball, brought over dinner on the night of my 2nd infusion. She has a friend who makes these purses and donates them to breast cancer patients. She requested one for me. It was filled with some fun goodies, too. Sock purse, wallet, lint brush, key chain. What thoughtfulness!

I had a discussion with Summer Hill (in my ward), who recently also had chemo treatments. She suggested that I drink bottled water to avoid anything that may be in the water that my body can't tolerate. And of course keeping hands clean to stay healthy. She brought these over for me - I am overwhelmed with the thoughtfulness of others! One the same night that Summer brought the water/soap gift, she went to the YW activity where the Laurels (she is one of the leaders) made some freezer meals for us and brought them over. Unfortunately, I missed the drop-off having gone to get Amanda at the church from her activity. I did run into them all when they were coming back and I was leaving.

 My mother brought this quilt with her for my first infusion. She purchased it from her friend (and mine too) Pat French who makes quilts and professionally teaches quilting. It was wonderful to keep warm (the chemo room is quite cool) during the treatment and subsequent nap. It is a blanket that is fought over during family movie nights.

My wonderful visiting teachers Luci Jamison and Lavena Dart not only have brought dinner, checked in on me and driven me to appointments, they left after one visit to return with these fun scarves. We had discussed that I prefer the scarves to other types of head-coverings and they chose these fun ones for me. They visited me the day after my head-shaving day and I was at my worst, with my face being so bad and my bald head. They are a blessing to me and uplift me every time we get together.


This box showed up yesterday on my door step from a dear friend from home - Kim Fairbanks. She sent a fun box of Sunshine. Funny thing is there were no duplicates from the box that Suzy and family sent a month ago!