I am a huge Dolly Parton fan and one of my favorite quotes by her is “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” I have thought a great deal about that in recent weeks as I have been trying to motivate myself to get back into writing again. I have considered turning this into a video blog, but I hate my recorded voice, so being on the camera is currently out of my comfort zone. I have made a couple test videos but couldn’t bring myself to post them, so I think at least for now I will stick to the intended purpose for this blog and write as much and as often as I can.

This really started out as a way to follow a journey through keto, our daughter’s cancer, and generally just life as I poked my toe into writing again (this was supposed to be easier than writing a book after all).  Then I put it on the back burner, and it has gone nowhere since I haven’t written in over two years now.  I have no great excuses although a list of reasons is always available. 

So to catch you up on the past couple years…

Our family went on a different path from keto after several months even though my husband ended up losing about 85lbs on a modified version of it.  I learned a tremendous amount about food during that time, and even more about reading labels.  In the meantime, my daughter Alex battled cancer unsuccessfully using various diets and other naturopathic and non-naturaopathic methods including a modified keto diet, paleo, vegetarian, vegan, and an experimental immunotherapy treatment that became ineffective before she progressed to stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  At that point she became eligible for a chemotherapy treatment she trusted at the Seattle Cancer Center, and on July 28, 2021 after 1,217 days of battling Lymphoma and 3 cycles into a 6-treatment cycle, her tests revealed that her cancer had gone into total 100% remission. Praise God!  There is really nothing that compares to hearing that news. It had been a long battle.

In the meantime, our son Derrick continued his service in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is still stationed at Camp Hansen in Okinawa Japan (since August 2019). It has been far too long since we’ve hugged that young man! After he was shipped to Japan, our daughter Savannah began and completed her senior year of high school with the class of 2020, enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, attended and graduated basic military training and then technical school, and arrived in Okinawa Japan on Derrick’s 2-year anniversary of his 3-year tour there.  She hadn’t seen him in so long that she put Kadena Air Force Base at the top of her dream sheet and got it! She is now stationed about half hour drive from him and they see each other frequently.  Of course as their mom, it is difficult to be so far away from them, but knowing they are close to each other is the consolation.  She took our hugs to him. Being able to FaceTime may not be the same as being able to hug them, but nothing brings joy to my heart quite like being able to see them both smile and laugh and be in the same room together after so long apart from each other.

In November of 2020 I picked up a bucket list hobby and reconstituted some sourdough from a dehydrated starter I purchased off of Ebay. I am happy to report that for the past 14 months, this killer of plants has kept that starter alive! I have learned and/or modified some amazing recipes along the way that I will be sharing, and I have already shared my starter with some relatives and friends. My husband and I will hit one year of empty nesting in March, and I think we have settled into the life well. We both still work full time but all of my job and most of his is done remotely, and our property definitely keeps us busy. Something always needs to be done! I drag him out of the house for date night about once a week, but otherwise I have more time to devote to the stack of ideas and recipes I’d like to try out and I hope this blog will keep me busy so I can share my adventures along the way. Wishing you blessings in 2022 and hoping that you find out who YOU are this year and do it on purpose!