Rylee has hope...

Hope with her. Rylee put on her best inauguration outfit to celebrate a new day. Join us in our quest for hope. Say a prayer, write a note, send positive thoughts. Crystal has hope, please join her with yours.

The Audacity of Hope

Crystal and I were talking about a lot of things yesterday, but HOPE seems to be very important to her and to all of us. We are all hopeful for a miracle, a great outcome, a long and full future, health and happiness. She wanted to let all of you know that your kind words, help, dinners, and donations of time, money and vacation days are what keep her going strong.

She is just tired right now. Tired of being tired. Tired of medications, and appointments, and all of the things that she has to do to stay focused. It is exhausting. She wants you to know that she is focusing on being with her family now but keep the cards, calls, and prayers coming! She doesn't have the strength for a social life at the moment, but she loves hearing from you!

Here's the good news! She is done with the first round of chemo and the internal radiation!! (Insert Cheer Here!) She has a few more radiation treatments this week and then she can let her body rest for a few weeks.

She looks great, you would never know the battle that she is fighting. But she doesn't feel quite as good as she looks. Hang in there, don't forget her in your thoughts and prayers.

Checking in from California

We have had such an enormous response to our request for scrapbook layouts. We have two baskets bursting at the seams with beautiful layouts. At the scrapbook store we have a wonderful group of ladies on our design team. Each month we task them with a different challenge for scrapbook layouts. This month we asked them to create layouts for Crystal. We have a beautiful showcase of layouts displayed at the front of the store.

I promised you a sneak peak of the layouts for Crystal's scrapbooks. This is miniscule fraction of the layouts that have been donated to Crystal's scrapbooks. We will keep posting them as often as we can. Thank you to EVERYONE that has dedicated their time to make this possible!!

Christmas with the LaGrange's

It has been a month since I have seen Rylee. I hear she has two teeth and she is standing up on the furniture. You know that that means?? Its only a matter of time before she takes off walking. I miss everyone so much. I can hardly wait until the LaGrange Family packs it up and heads to California later this month.

Crystal had lots of company over the holidays. Jason's parents Dot and Jim came in from Iowa. His brother Chad and his wife Paula and their baby came in from Georgia. Crystal's brother Michael came in from California. Her sister Cindy totally surprised Cindy on Christmas Eve by flying in from California with her husband Andre and all their kids, Brandon, Andy and Taylor. Right after Christmas Crystal's best friends Alicia and Dana came in along with Crystal's goddaughter Aubry.

Things have settled down in the LaGrange Household from all the excitement of the holidays. It sounds like Crystal shared some quality time with family and friends and that is what the holiday season is all about!!

{Trish}