Sapphire Skies

Hi Donna!

Donna,

I think of Christine and Ariel OFTEN. I always wonder how the young ones are doing. I am SO SO SORRY to hear about your husband. THANK GOD FOR PEOPLE LIKE YOU IN THIS WORLD. It gives me such peace to hear Ariel is adjusting well. Christine and I were dx around the same time. I was 36. I am now battling metastatic disease. IT IS SO HARD. I WORRY beyond believe about my kids. That is why hearing the news of Ariel doing VERY well gives me SUCH GREAT PEACE. YOU ARE AMAZING.....I will also add you and your husband to my prayers. I HATE CANCER....

I just wanted to stop in and tell everyone hello.  I am Chris's sister, Donna.  She has been gone about a year and a half now.  I am kind of shaky as I type this as it is heartbreaking to read some of her posts.   We miss her so much.

Anyway, I wanted to let you all know that her daughter, Ariel is doing very well.  Much better than I would have hoped.  She is in 8th grade and has mostly A's and maybe one B in school.  She sings in the school choir, and will be in a singing competition this weekend.  I have her taking horse backing riding lessons and she just loves it. 

We live near Lake Michigan and it has been a mild winter here.  Every couple of weeks, she and I bundle up and go to the lake front and we poke around for sea glass.  We have found some pretty pieces, and maybe this summer we'll take a jewelry class and make some necklaces.  It is a nice bonding time.   She likes to stop and have a Starbucks with me too.  :-)   I work in the childrens section of the public library.  I've made her into quite a good reader.  We both have just devoured the Hunger Game series and are eagerly waiting for the movie to come out.

Her father died when she was 5, and then after her mother died she had to move 2 hours away from her home to come and live with us.  She has made many, many good friends, and I am thrilled about that.

She has a new bedroom she designed with purple walls, lime green and white accents.  We bought a new white bedroom set to go with it.  She has a nice, cozy setup.

We love having a girl in the family.  Our son is 17, and was adopted as an infant.  He never really liked being an only child.  He is very active in high school, and when she goes next year to high school she will be very comfortable.  She already knows a good amount of teens there and some of the teachers.

Immediately after my sister died, my hubby was diagnosed with a rare cancer, and was not expected to make it.  He had 2 back to back bone marrow transplants at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.   He went thru a lot, lost a lot of his hearing from the chemo and had a lot of neuropathy (sp?) in his hands and feet.   Slowly his hands and feet are getting better but he may never regain all of his balance and feeling. 

After being off work for many months, he went back to work in Nov. 2011, and was laid off after only 7 weeks back.  They had to do major layoffs across the country so it had nothing to do with his cancer.  He only worked for that company for a year and a half.  Less actually because of his illness.  There are a few jobs out there in his field -- certainly more than there was 2 years ago.  

We have hope and he has been cancer free for a few months now. 

Now I am off to read up about some of you.

Donna and Dana, are you both still active on the boards?  Dana, how are you doing?  I think of you and your mother often.

Warm hugs to all,  Donna and Ariel

Donna:

Thanks for the update Donna; it means a lot for us here who cared about Chris and her daughter. I will be praying for you and your family.

Best,

Natalia

Dear Donna,