No Sugar--WHAT?

Ok so it's been a year since Dr. Northfelt told me to read the book "Anti Cancer" and I decided to give up sugar, white flour and processed food.  I know you are probably wondering if I was able to give it all up? I am proud to say, NO ...... I can say honestly that I have given it up about 90% I still allow myself to have a little treat treat, every once in awhile.  Do I think it will help?  I'm not sure but I did it so that I would have no regrets, if the VILLAIN comes back I can look at myself in the mirror and say "I did all I could to prevent the cancer from coming back" Realistically it's been hard at times to say "NO" but I save up and make sure it's totally worth it before I indulge.  Giving up processed food was easier than I thought, since I never really eat a lot of it anyway.  

This is how we Roll....

Recker loves, loves, loves the pool, well actually he just loves water.  You may be wondering why he is nakey ....  well here at the Williams home we run nakey.... just kidding...on the one day we take him in the pool without his swim diaper on he decides he wanted to go doo doo.  So I hurried and took off his swimsuit, got a diaper but in the meantime this is the picture I got.   Don't judge.... ha ha  
Take a look at his toes, they always slip away in these flip flops, I love the baby Havaianas so cute.

Father's Day 2011

This post is dedicated to my incredible husband Eric, it's Father's Day today and as I write this I'm thinking of him.  I don't have a father to celebrate with, neither does Eric, so we will celebrate with our children.

Eric learned how to be a dad from his own father who was so special to us.   Ray passed away a few years ago, and I'm telling you from the bottom of my heart I loved him so much... he truly was the only dad I knew.  I felt so blessed when Eric and I started dating to have Ray and Viola in my life, they were true examples of unconditional love, not only for one another but for everyone they came in contact with--I love you both and miss you everyday--If there was one woman I would like to pattern my life after it would be Eric's mother-she showed me how a mother loves her children, and she showed me love every time I was around her. I heard a song the other day, it said something about if going to heaven were easy he would pack up his kids and go visit, I have to agree with that, the 1st people I want to see is Ray and Viola Williams.  With parents like Eric had it's no wonder he turned out to be such an amazing husband and father to our children.
Have you ever felt a little proud of a decision you have made?  One of the best decisions of my life was marrying Eric, he has blessed our family.  My girls adore him, we also get a good laugh at his expense (sorry Eric but you make it so easy sometimes)  Blake has grown to respect and admire his dad,  not one week has gone by since Blake has been gone that Eric has not written him.  Personally, Eric has supported me and loved me unconditionally through my cancer treatments, showing our children how to take care of his wife during such a crisis.  Thank you Eric, you have helped to change my life for the better, together we have raised 4 wonderful children and I could not have survived without you.  I am blessed to call you the father of our children. Happy Father's Day !!

Today, we had "man food" for dinner--steak, potatoes, asparagus and rolls- and Eric got his 1st pair of TOMS.  

Mayo Visit-

Needle for accessing my PORT

I went to Mayo Hospital yesterday for some tests..... still looking at that hip.  It's been a year ago this month that I finished up my radiation treatments.  One of the doctors told me yesterday that Mayo is building a new radiation department at the Hospital.  He was explaining how the new system is so precise, it hits the tumor no matter what size at a 99.9% effectiveness rate, with no room really for error.  This is so awesome for the world of cancer.

Yesterday as I walked into the Mayo Hospital, I felt calm and at peace, until ........ I stepped off the elevator onto the floor, the floor where it all goes down, you know what floor I mean?  The chemo floor, it reeked of chemo smell and made me sick to my stomach, as I waited outside the door for my beeper to go off I was pacing and remembering and wishing Tamy was there to help me "get over" this panic attack I was having.  I mean seriously? it's been over a year now since I've been done with chemo yet every time I get there I am sick.  When I walked into the room my eyes immediately went to a young girl who was having her chemo treatments, she could not of been more than 16-17 years old, my heart started to race as I sat across from her and watched her being injected with that RED dragon.  The nurse took my vitals and said I needed to calm down, I thought to myself "I wish I could, I really wish I knew a way to do that" She accessed my port took my blood and I was outta there.  When I got to my car I had to take a deep breath and remember where I've been, how far I have come and where I am going--

Chemo Brain

Physically I feel the best I have felt in 2 years, thank you Heavenly Father, my prayers have been answered. Blake will be home in 3 short months and I want to look healthy for him.  My hip pain has subsided, it's really strange,  there's a spot on the bone they still  are not sure what it is,  once I started to exercise again the pain went away.   I also started back to US AIRWAYS about 6 weeks ago, seriously I had no idea how smart I used to be.... ha ha!  I  have chemo brain and forget things all the time, I forget my children's names even when they are looking right at me, I forget simple daily things that should come easy to remember,  now that I am back to work I realize how much knowledge I had, being re-trained has been difficult for me, I have to write everything down.  Just so you know chemo brain is an actual condition some patients get after going through extensive amounts of chemo... boy, that's good to know I was beginning to think I had the start of something new like Alzheimer's or dementia, those are awful diagnosis to have.  
It's fun to see people at work that I have not seen for a long time, some will look at me and say "Oh did you cut your hair?"  I just smile and say "why yes, yes I did"  I am only working 4 hour shifts a couple days a week, but I am thankful to be back to work and challenge my brain a little.  I feel like my life is finally getting back to a "Normal" I can live with.

Nutella Sandwich & the HULK

What do you get when you mix NUTELLA, ROASTED ALMOND BUTTER & WHOLE WHEAT BREAD?  One happy Recker.... He loved it, and wanted more... mix that with a cup of milk, while wearing an INCREDIBLE HULK shirt and you have one smart kid----

Blake in Puerto Plata-3 months left

Blake with Columbus

Blake's on TEAM MOM YA

Blake and a Cannon

Blake with the other missionaries and the MANGOS

This week has been really hard and really rough the rain hasn't been helping us at all either. It has been pouring down rain and all the streets have turned into little rivers,  the water has been getting in all the houses here,  we usually get to the house soaked in water.  i am againt umbrellas the first one i had was the last one I  that i had, I  told myself that i was not going to use another one i love the rain sometimes haha.  Well this last week for P-Day we hiked this mountain and really hiked it something new we went and hiked this mountain the biggest mountain here it took 6 hours in the rain too. Iit was soo muddy the whole zone went it got rough cuz there were parts that we were jumping and hanging on to roots and branches and trees to safe our lives haha and this 15 foot straight up rockwall we had to climb but we had to use the roots of the trees and the branches cuz we made our own trail from the bottom it was soo fun.  In the wild there are  so many wild mango trees bananas and everything we ate soo many it was a lot of fun i fell down this muddy mountain like 30 feet rolling backwards with another dominican cuz i was pulling myself up from his foot and tthe branch he was holding broke off and we went flying down i nailed my head.   When I finally realized what was going on and grabbed a banana tree and stopped me and the nhe came rolling down and nailed me and this 30 foot muddy part we climbed took like 45 min......but we finally did it and made it to the top we couldnt take pictures cuz it was all raining but it was fun a lot of energy was sucked out of me.....and today we went to this place where Christopher Columbus was when he came here and its just a sweet fort with cannons and everything it was a lot of fun......well we have put a baptisimal date with the family Diaz and its for the 18th of this months so we are trying all that we can to get them married so they can finally get baptized and can achieve one of their goals we have been working really hard to find new people its really hard here cuz of all the churches that are here but theres people waiting for us we were able to find this new family Carlos and Yanni and they are really religious people and love it everytiem we go there and they read what we leave the mand as well are praying and the wife said that before he never prayed but now he is and he and her said that they want to go to church they have 6 kids so its a big family.......well we are going to try and baptize thsi guys David this weekend he is the bishops dad he has been listening to the missionaries for 10 years and goes to church every week but i have realized he doesnt have a testimony of the BOM o the restoration and we have been working a lot with that but who knows his whole family is member even his wife shes gone trough the temple she lives in Florida

I LOVE YOU GUYSSS AND MISS YOU ALOT

elderWILLIAMSSS

Recker is Accepted to YALE

Recker is the 1st in our family 
to be accepted to an Ivy League 
College, wow and he's only 18 months 
old--I told you he was smart,
fun and happy---- Ok to be honest 
he was accepted to the  Yale Autism child 
study center. Kayla had a 2 hour interview over the
 phone with them last week about them wanting to do 
a research study on Recker. We have been praying 
for our little Recker,and even fasted for him Sunday. 
They will do an intense 2 day study, and will write 
up an average 50 page reccomendation and review for 
them. It will include what we should do, intervention 
and therapy wise, for him for the next couple years. 
Then between the ages of 3-4 we come back and do it 
again, then again from the ages of 8-9. It is so hard 
for a lot of peopleto get into this program/study and 
usually have to pay close to $5000 because insurances 
wont cover it. BUT because Recker is so young and we 
caught it so early, we will actually be compensated 
from YALE (not $5000, not even close...but its better 
than having to PAY THEM) each time we go. Anyways we will 
be going July......YES I said "WE"  I get to go too, 
I'm so excited that they are including me and since I
 fly for free it helps out.I took all this information
 off of Kayla's blog-

"The Yale Child Study Center's Developmental Disabilities Clinic provides a 
range of services for children with pervasive developmental disorders. This clinic 
builds on a long tradition of research and service at Yale for children and adolescents
 with autism and related disorders and their families. Comprehensive evaluations
 are provided by a multidisciplinary team of highly experienced clinicians. These
 evaluations take place at the Child Study Center over a two-day period, and focus 
on issues of diagnosis and educational programming/intervention. Each evaluation
 has three components: psychological testing, speech-language testing, and a psychiatric assessment. The assessment team works together to provide a report which is typically
 provided ten to twelve weeks after the assessment. A significant portion of the report is
 devoted to recommendations for intervention and educational planning. Depending 
on the needs in a specific case, referrals to other professionals, e.g., pediatric neurologists 
or geneticists, can be provided."

GO BULLDOGS !!!!

"in addition to our long-standing clinical program for children 
with developmental disorders such as Autism and Asperger 
syndrome, the Yale Child Study Center is one of the foremost 
research centers for autism spectrum disorders
in the world.  Several of our active protocols involve an 
assessment of your child's cognitive functioning and social 
communication characteristics. The assessment, an oral 
feedback, and written report are provided to research 
participants. The assessment is tailored to the research protocol 
but may be able to start you on 
your way while you still pursue a more tailored evaluation for 
your child through clinic." 

30 Year Class Reunion

Seriously?  I am not this old, am I?  It seems the years have just flown by, I still feel young,  however, I would never want to go back to those High School years and do it over again.  I was a good girl, if I knew then what I know now I may have done a few things different....like study harder, taken advice from adults who I admired,  and been more kind and compassionate.   I was offered several times an alcoholic drink at the reunion, when I refused one guy said "You still don't drink?"  I said proudly "Never have and never will"  I have never been tempted by alcohol or drugs, I wonder sometimes if it is because of having a father who was both addicted to alcohol and drugs, and he regretted it, those things are what eventually took his life.  Eric and I have had friends who order a glass of wine when we go out to dinner but neither one of us have ever been tempted nor offended when they do.  I remember in High School the kids who "partied" would ask me to come and quickly tell me they would provide "sprite or 7-Up" I never went to any of those parties, I always hung with the kids who had the same standards as me and believe it or not, we had just as much fun or more fun than those who "partied"  It was interesting to see the changes in people's lives as I mingled with my classmates, some made no changes at all , still the same hair style, same personalities, same clothes, but we all had one thing in common-seems everyone I talked to were grateful for family and for experiences that have brought them to the place they are now.  This night just reassured me of who I am, where I've been and where I want to be in another 30 years.

Recker is the Man

I seriously cannot get enough of this little guy, look at him he makes me laugh, smile, cry and rejoice we are so blessed to be able to say he is a huge part of our family.  Recker love, I love you so much.