Happy New Year!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and that you are looking up to 2008!

I know I am excited about this New Year -- things have been getting better and better for me throughout 2007 and I intend to keep it that way :)

Sorry for being absent for so long... we've been back from Belize for almost a month now and it's been just difficult to write about the trip though it's been a good one. It's very tough to see your loved ones deteriorate and I've been thinking how hard it's been on Raymond to see me struggle with cancer and now see his mom going though memory loss. Sometimes, the focus on the sick person is so strong that others impacted remain in the shadow -- so I am trying to give Raymond attention and love he so much deserves. And thanks to everyone who sent suggestions/info on preventative care for Alzheimer's -- we took lots of vitamins, puzzles and games for our mom and hope this will slow down the memory loss process. Visiting both families has been very important yet very tiring for us -- I think we are done traveling for a while. Thus, so we really enjoyed relaxing and resting at home for both Christmas and New Year.

For Andryusha being in Belize was good too - he mingled with the kids there - he effortlessly picked up some Spanish and made great friends with his cousins. For me, this was the time to slow down and meditate about life... I think I have come to terms with cancer -- if we must die out of something, I prefer to die from cancer than say, Alzheimer's or dementia. OK, I don't want to sound depressed but I've been having ups and downs... even more down when my fellow warriors are down... like Shannon and Jesse ... and their SIX children! I can't accept the unfair fact but keep on praying for the peace and comfort for the entire family. Please say a prayer for them too!

My scans are coming up in the next month and while I am convinced that I am still clean I still appreciate your prayers -- they truly help me with anxiety before the scans. I certainly can't wait to switch to scans/checkup every six months - hopefully, this will be the case after this set of scans.

Oh, and about the pictures -- from both Belize and Moldova -- I am sad to say we lost them! Our big nice SLR camera broke down right before the trip to Moldova so we've used the cheap point and shoot camera and after I transferred pics to CD and erased the pics from the memory card I found out that the CDs got corrupted... I am so heart broken :( but will try to post some general Belize pics later - it's beautiful!