M.I.A.

Wow. What a crazy past couple of months. I apologize for being missing in action the past few months.

My dad's tumor on his lung was malignant and it has been a whirlwind figuring that out...holy cats. What they thought was lung cancer actually turned out to be pancreatic cancer. Apparently each type of cancer has its own DNA make up. (I'm learning so much...NOT by choice.) So, he has an EXTREMELY late reccurance of pancreatic cancer and it traveled to his lung, which has never happened before leaving our oncologists, radiologists, etc. totally dumbfounded as to what to do. They finally decided to treat it like pancreatic cancer, NOT lung cancer because of the DNA make up and we are in the middle of treatments.

The last time my dad went through this was almost seven years ago...way healthier and way more agile. This time around, he has severe diabetes that is uncontrollable due to the benign (yay!) tumor on his pancreas. He has no feeling in his feet, due to the diabetes, so he is pretty much confined to a walker or wheelchair. He is on a 24-hour chemo pump, which is refilled each Monday and goes off every 5 minutes. It sounds like a camera going off, which does take some getting used to. The radiation treatments are every day and they are hitting him from 10 different angles. This is causing terrible sores on his lips and in his mouth, causing extreme pain when he eats, thus causing a loss of appetite, which has led to an 11 pound weight loss in the last week and a half.

It has been a blessing to have him around this holiday season, but it is so hard to see my dad in this condition. I do not wish this upon anyone once, let alone twice.

SO that's what has been going on in my life and something had to give. It was this poor little blog. Thank you for hanging in there and for all your thoughtful prayers and emails. They are so heartfelt and it makes me teary eyed thinking about this amazing community I have become a part of. I have been taking my dad to treatment as much as they will let me. I'm not missing out on any family time!! My school family has been amazing and I have a TERRIFIC substitute that continues to amaze me, too.

Needless to say, I haven't been that crafty when it comes to school. I have been using all of YOUR units from TPT and TN to write my lesson plans. :)
My sweet buzzers LOVED Cara's New Years unit that you can get HERE if you haven't yet. We did that all last week and it was a blast. I LOVE some of their New Years Resolutions!!! SO cute.













I am so blessed to be getting a student teacher for the first time! I met her randomly at a bridal show I was at yesterday (yes, I am married but I help out a friend in the photography business). My student teacher is engaged and was there getting ideas and such. I can tell she is a mini-me, so things could get dangerous in this sweet classroom of mine. I CANNOT wait!!! :)

How do you all make your student teacher feel welcome?? This is my first time, so I am so excited, but want to make sure she feels right at home!

Enjoy your week! And I hope you'll hear from me more often now that I am becoming more accustomed to this new norm.

Marcy