5 Years Cancer Free!

This March is 5 years since my double mastectomy.  I celebrated 5 years cancer free by getting a tattoo.  I was asked if I wanted the tattoo to cover my scar and I said scars tell stories so I only wanted the sword to cut through it.  It is on my right breast where the cancer was found so very few people will ever see it first hand.  It is there to remind me what I've come through and about what God brought from a bad situation.  "It's about what you believe" is a quote from the 2017 Wonder Woman and rang true for my life.

 

Cover food in the microwave

I may have chewed the kids out shortly before this sign appeared on the microwave:  Put the Cover on food!  Maggie said she wasn't going to forget now that she had a reminder!  I had cleaned the microwave and 30 minutes later both girls put nachos in the microwave that splattered all over.

 

Philomena's Choir

Philomena's choir concert was cancelled on Thursday due to the blizzard.  Maggie and I were able to watch her perform at district music contest on Saturday instead.  They sounded beautiful and received a rating of 1!

 

New Couch

I used part of my tax refund to replace the couch with the broken spring.  The girls helped me put it together.  We miss the reclining feature of the old love seat but two of us fit on the couch even when I wanted to lay down.  Philomena didn't bat an eye when I put my feet up behind her.  Maggie looked at me and said, "Bro, your feet don’t go there!" A couple minutes later she leaned back on my ankles for a headrest :). It's a comfy couch for a decent price off Wayfair.

 

Blizzard with White Out Conditions

Thursday a blizzard hit Lincoln.  I thought I was being smart to make phone calls before leaving work on Thursday so I didn't run into closing time before I finished my phone calls.  So I left Huntington at 4:30 pm, got to LHS at 4:55 pm, drove Teona home and then drove us home by 6:05 pm.  Taking Teona home should have only added 5 minutes!  Before bed we had 4 inches of snow.  We woke up to about 6 inches of snow.  School was called off Friday, but the roads were cleared so we could run errands in the afternoon.  We were able to find a pair of frames for Philomena's glasses that the insurance covered the full cost of.

 

Ash Wednesday

They weren't as excited as they used to be when they were little but I still got a family picture after the Ash Wednesday service.  During the service, Philomena helped with the little kids, Maggie ran a camera, and I ran lights.  I love that my girls are learning to love serving as much as I do.

 

Irlen Syndrome

Reading

Thoughts after Reading

Walk Hallway

Walk Stairs

Thoughts after Stairs

Patterned Rug

Ramp

Parking Lot

Dr. Bohl, the neurological ophthalmologist, referred Philomena for Irlen Syndrome testing.  Irlen Syndrome is when the brain has trouble processing the light coming into the eyes.  The brain spends so much energy processing the light reflections that it has little energy to process what the person is actually looking at.  Philomena compared looking at drawings and words with no filter and then with a variety of colored filters.  A blue-grey tint on her glasses (the 3 filters that she's holding in the large clothespins) will block the light her brain struggles with and then she can process the things she needs to focus on.  I was shocked at how her reading fluency improved with just the color filter.  The other shocking insight was how little Philomena is able to process depth.  The reading video and the ramp video are the best at showing the dramatic improvement this precise color filter will do for her.  Each person with Irlen Syndrome is tested to determine the exact color combination that they need. 

Valentine's Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day with our traditional heart shaped pizzas.  Maggie was baffled at why I'd bought her a couple picture books until she remembered that we heard the author on a podcast and these 2 books are part of a 4 book series that teaches a Bible lesson.  The day we listened to the podcast she said she wanted the books so we could use them to teach Sunday School with.  Philomena was excited beyond belief to receive a Squishmallow Toad with her name "Philomena!"

 

Preschool

Preschool has been going well.  One of my students came in with a t-shirt on that read "if I can share my snacks, you can share your country."  If only our president was as kind as we teach our preschoolers to be.  Pretty sure someone in his family made him this shirt!  The second picture is of Brenda with me.  She's my student teacher this quarter and she's going to make a great teacher!!  She's been a great addition to our classroom!

 

Cold Weather Day

January 23rd the schools were closed due to the cold weather and bitter winds.  We got some snow but not too much.  Saturday we were able to go out when the winds had died down.

 

My Visitor

Jeff and I originally connected via Bumble at the end of 2020.  He's from Maryland and had been visiting a friend in Lincoln when the app showed us each other's profile.  We were considering meeting but then I had my cancer diagnosis and things didn't work out.  We've kept in touch over the last 5 years but nothing more than friends.  Then in November 2025, he reached out to see if I was interested in trying more of a relationship.  I said that I couldn't afford traveling to maintain a long distance relationship.  He said he could handle the expense and flew to Nebraska over Martin Luther King Jr weekend for us to meet in person.  The girls stayed with my mom over the weekend and were able to meet Jeff at church on Sunday morning.  They both liked him but I won't allow any more interaction than that time at church due to not knowing whether this will last.  I enjoyed my weekend with him and we're planning for me to visit him over spring break.  I think the funniest comment when the girls came home was Maggie telling me, "I saw you holding hands with Jeff when you were walking down the hall to the sanctuary!"  Her tone of voice was as if holding hands at church was scandalous! haha

 

Show Choir Premiere

Both girls are in Show Choir tech.  These pictures show Philomena helping to set up the stage.  She's on the far left.  Maggie wasn't ever out where I could snap a picture.  The performances were great!

 

Preschool Team

The girls hear about my preschool team all the time.  Here I went out to dinner with my team while the girls were off doing other things.

 

New Year's Day

Our New Year's Day tradition is for me to make a strawberry sauce to go on either pancakes, french toast, or waffles.  This year I made french toast.  The girls put significantly more whipped cream on theirs than I did!