I had just rolled into my room after having a double mastectomy on December 11, 2014 when Chelsey took this picture. Time passes so quickly and this year was no exception and I am still here! I will forever be thankful to Dr. Bill Mitchell and Dr. Peter Turk for immediately taking me "under their wings" and providing me with competent and excellent VIP care and swiftly getting me to surgery. That same "red carpet" care continued throughout my chemotherapy sessions and throughout breast reconstruction with Dr. Bryan Criswell. Dr. Criswell did a superb job with putting me "back together!" My new breasts are proof of his "perfectionist" work personality - only the best for his patients!
This was my view from my hospital bed. I love fans so I was ecstatic to actually have a ceiling fan with its wonderful sound! I remember being so thankful that my lymph nodes were negative for cancer and being so pleased and thankful that I had always practiced preventive care with mammograms and monthly breast checks. Early detection is definitely the key to a better outcome.
We ended yesterday with Claire's school chorus concert. Claire is the first beautiful blond on the far left on the bottom row! She loves chorus and has a beautiful and angelic singing voice. It was with a thankful heart that I sat and enjoyed the music. I began to think about my one year mark and how happy and grateful I am to be here tonight listening to this grand performance! They even sang the first verse of Silent Night in German and if you notice they didn't require books. They knew the words to all five of their songs! It was a wonderful and memorable night for me and a great way to spend my first year "cancerversary!" Life is a journey and every day is a gift. I am humbled and so thankful to God that He continues to give me gifts. From the words of Silent Night - all is calm, all is bright! Merry Christmas and love to all of my readers!
Thank you Dr. Todd Hansen and Lake Norman Woman Magazine!
Ten of us decided to celebrate Labor Day together at Candy and Larry's log cabin in the Pisgah Forest! The "ten" includes Foxy the "boss lady" and King BooBoo! lol. Ricky and I brought Ava and Claire with us in the RV.
It was a pleasant two hour ride with the help of their electronics!
We arrive and Ricky backs up the hill as Larry waves and directs him onto our site with full hook-up and the price is unbeatable! lol
There we are at the top of that very long and steep driveway for the next seven nights! The view is absolutely spectacular any time of the year and you get a work out every time you climb the driveway!
Their log cabin sits high on the mountain surrounded by lots of trees and flowering bushes! It is in an excellent and beautiful location and convenient to the town of Brevard, which we love!
The cabin is very nicely tucked away and naturally air conditioned by the many surrounding shade trees. What a great sleep!
We enjoyed a lot of coffee as we rocked the mornings away on the front porch! I love porches and the bigger the better!
Ava and Claire played a lot of "I Spy" in those same rockers! If you look closely, you can see our RV down below. It is really a great RV site for us when we are in that neck of the woods, which is quite often! It was also fun watching the sunset from the porch too!
This bridge crosses over the creek that is in the front yard of the cabin. We sat in lawn chairs on the bank and in the creek while the girls had their own waterpark with a boot full of cold water! See the beautiful sky and all of the green!
Chelsey and Chad joined us later in the weekend and off we went to Whaleback and Coontree for cold water fun!
There are so many beautiful watering holes in Transylvania County! We all had such a wonderful family trip but way too short. Ricky and I had decided we would stay for a few more days after they left since school and work didn't call our names! lol
Ricky and I decided to go visit "Pretty Place" which is only seventeen miles from the cabin. We were so excited to finally get to see the place that we had heard so much about! It was such a beautiful drive on Solomon Jones Road that leads to the well known and very popular chapel!
This is a place that you see and feel at the same time! Despite the cloudy day, it was easily the prettiest place we had ever seen!
The cross and the background was mesmerizing! I can only imagine the view on a clear day!
Someone had left two beautiful red roses at the foot of the cross.
This chapel is reserved almost every weekend for weddings and what a beautiful ceremony that would be!
This hangs at the entrance to the chapel.
There were numerous plaques inside the chapel all in memory of a loved one. This particular one was my favorite. We will definitely return to Pretty Place on a clear day. I highly recommend Pretty Place to everyone! It will not disappoint! We thoroughly enjoyed every second of our visit here! What a pretty place, hence the name!
Oh how wonderful, oh how marvelous is His love for us!
My surgery will not be until September so we decided to load up and go to Devils Fork State Park on beautiful Lake Jocassee! This park was highly recommended to us by several fellow campers so we were pretty excited to get there. We love "trying out" new places and seeing new faces and it was only 134 miles away!
This is the gorgeous Lake Jocassee and we were not disappointed!
Check-in was quick and simple and we were soon set up on site #6. Our site was large, level, paved and next door to the bath house! We brought our canoe and tubes knowing we would be spending a lot of time in the water! Sweet little Ava came along with us and will stay a couple of nights before Chelsey comes for her!
The campground was beautiful with lots of shade trees and gorgeous water views. There are two big paved loops with one way traffic and no dust! lol. The rangers are very friendly, helpful and make frequent rounds throughout the campground. Each campsite is large and will accommodate your camper plus two tents. All RV sites have electric and water for $23 per night for non South Carolina residents. We had easy access to this enormous lake and were able to stay a week for $161 - not bad!
This is the main dock in the park and is very busy especially on the weekends. It is well constructed, large, pretty and fun to walk out on it and just take in some of the lake's beauty!
This is the "camper preferred" floating dock in the park that we always used. It is not as busy and closer to our site.
Ava and Papaw Ricky did a lot of canoeing. Ava has had a lot of experience kayaking and was delighted to show off her skills today!
The lake is also a great place for paddle boarding. This lady was always on the lake with her dog quietly riding along with her!
Ava was fascinated with the lake's clear water. Papaw Ricky taught her how to "skip" the rocks on the water this trip! She loved going under water to collect the rocks over and over and over and over.....
The beach and swimming area is roped off to protect the swimmers from boats. Beautiful beach!
The beach is small but the water is cool, refreshing and ideal for "floating" all day long. It is a very popular spot for families with children, dogs and picnics!
Ava learned to balance really well on the tube! Ricky and I definitely passed on that! lol.
There's only one thing better than one PB&J and that is two PB&Js! lol.
Chelsey came for Ava but they did not leave before visiting the floating dock and giving her Mom a tour of the campground!
This is called "jumping" rock and is located in the tent section of the campground. You can jump off of it into clear and beautiful water!
I took this picture while standing on the "jumping" rock!
This is why they call Lake Jocassee South Carolina's Caribbean! I took this picture in the area near the "jumping" rock.
There were several small beaches scattered around the water's edge at the campground. Campers who brought boats were able to dock and walk to their campsite just steps away! This campground is ideal for boat lovers!
This is Whitewater Falls on the lake. The waterfall's top starts in North Carolina and ends in South Carolina - interesting!
This is Lake Jocassee from a distance. Absolutely breathtaking!
The more we explored, the more beauty we found at every turn in the campground! It's a great place for getting lots of activity walking when not busy on the water!
Beautiful at dusk too! Water gets so pretty as the sun begins to say good-bye!
It was a great lake for catching bass and Ricky was certainly in his happy place! lol.
BooBoo (who always runs from water) decided to go for a swim! This may have been the "high" point of the trip! See the clear water!
Our week at Lake Jocassee is over and we are on our way home. BooBoo is sleeping soundly as Ricky drives. I guess it was all of the swimming! lol.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Devils Fork State Park and highly recommend it to anyone who loves camping near water! The campground is in the woods and well shaded. Site #41 is the most popular campsite. It is closest to the water with a magnificent view! The nearest grocery store was eighteen miles away so of course we stocked up the one time we went. That may be a negative for some but at the same time would be a positive for others.
We leave here today thanking God for another fun and safe journey!
