Two years ago today I heard the words “it’s cancer” after a routine colonoscopy. If you’ve been following me for the past two years, you know what happened next. It’s been a journey. Not one that I would choose but I’ve learned and grown through it all.
We had some things planned that we had to put on hold, such as our trip to Big Bend, but there’s time for that. But we didn’t stop planning and doing. If I felt like it, we did it!
ive recently done a couple of things I’m happy about. One is I started a book club. No big deal really, just a few friends and family who love to read like I do. We get together once a month and discuss the book of the month. It’s been fun to share my love of reading with people I love.
I can’t remember a time that I didn’t love reading. My mom is a reader and I’m sure that’s where I got it. I don’t have memories of her reading to me, but I know she did. I’m particularly excited that Carissa is in the book club. Although I tried, she wasn’t a book lover as a child. She struggled in reading and that meant we struggled in reading. So many afternoons and evenings spent listening to her read and laboring over every page. Now, a few 😃 years later, we enjoy sharing our love of books!
The other new thing in my life is I am training to be a CASA volunteer. If you aren’t familiar with CASA, it stands for court appointed special advocate. We advocate for children in the foster care system. For the past three + years that I’ve been at United Way, I’ve fretted over finding the perfect place to volunteer. Just under the UW umbrella, there are some amazing opportunities to impact and change lives by giving of yourself and your time. So, I finally settled on CASA.
One of the reasons CASA has been on my list of possibles is my own family’s experience with foster kids. When I was a child, we were a foster family. Over the course of several years, we had three foster kids living with us at different times. The first was Timmy. He lived with us for over two years before being adopted. Unfortunately, at that time, foster families were not able to adopt or were their extended family eligible. The second child was a precocious little girl named Kitty. She was adopted by a couple in the DFW area. We can only hope that Timmy & Kitty had wonderful lives and are very happy.
The third child, a little blonde cherub named K (I won’t use her name out of privacy), came to us when she was only 2. Because I was only child at the time, I don’t know all the particulars, but I do know she and her two brothers were removed from the home due to neglect, which is most common. K only lived with us for a short time, 6 months or so but she, like Timmy & Kitty captured our hearts. Again, I’m not sure how but my mom found a way to stay in contact after K and her brothers went to live with their grandparents. So through the years, she and sometimes her brothers, would come visit. My mom did her best to make sure they had what they needed for school and the like. Even I could tell at the time that they didn’t have the greatest home life. Little did we know that the grandfather was sexually abusing all three children.
CASA was not available back then in our area. Maybe if it was, and maybe if someone like my friends at CASA who are trained for such things, had spent some time in the home and time with those kids, just maybe, they would have been removed before the abuse happened or at least, stopped it from going on so long.
That has always been my initial draw to CASA, but recently I experienced another. I couple we are friends with, have been struggling with infertility for years. They spent lots of time, money and tears trying to become parents. In desperation, they chose to foster. One night they got a call. “We have a set of twins you can pick up tomorrow” That was close to a year ago. They petitioned to adopt, mom never showed for the hearing and on Sept. 11, they will legally be the parents of a sweet little boy & girl.
Things have changed a lot since we had our foster kids, and for my friends, I’m so thankful. Maybe if the laws were different, our family would look different. But I can’t spend time & energy looking back. I can spend my time, energy and talents going forward. By becoming a CASA volunteer, I hope to honor Timmy, Kitty, and K. I hope to make a difference in the life of a child. I hope that they make a difference in mine. I hope.
i have been given a second chance through treatment and the miracle that is Dr. Rod and so I feel compelled to at least attempt to give a second chance to others. I believe it is not only our civic duty but our moral duty as well.
“For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” Luke 12:48
My Life is Cake 