Keep on Truckin'

Caleb's red truck (take a picture of me with my truck, Mommy)

Aleah & Nella pick flowers while on a hike

(or flower picking trip-don't worry Rhoda, they were all invasive) this past Sunday

We attempt a family photo. No new photo for the title page of the blog yet.

Aleah, throwing sand.


Caleb & Nella, throwing rocks into the Grand River. Luckily, none of us were hurt. :)



We are still home. Things are becoming more and more normal here. Medication doesn't dominate our day to day life and leukemia is sometimes even forgotten. It's a bittersweet gift. Those moments when for a second or two I forget that Caleb has leukemia are followed fast by the reality check that things aren't the same anymore. That I can sometimes forget about the leukemia reminds me that our lives are bigger than cancer, that we won't allow this disease to take over our lives. There are times when it needs all of our attention out of our love for Caleb and desire to see this cancer gone, but cancer can take a backseat to the wonderful things in our life. Cancer is just one part of what we're doing in the Brand house right now. We spend a lot of time doing other things too, and they are important!

We have 3 kids who are growing and learning things at an incredible rate! I sometimes joke that Caleb must have gotten blood from a genius that has really accelerated his desire to learn (this is actually not possible, in case you were wondering). What's quite possibly going on is that Caleb's blood counts have been low for a very long time and what we had adapted to as Caleb's relaxed personality was actually part lethargy. That's hard to say out loud, but I think it often, so it's probably better said out loud. Or in writing. Like many other kids his age, he wants to learn to read; he's frustrated that he doesn't know what the words in his Machines that Work book say. As frustrating as it can be to deal with constant questions about this or that, my heart is warm to see his energy and enthusiasm for just about everything.

We were able to go camping this weekend! After Thursday's clinic and report of good counts, Tim and I independently thought of the same plan (how often does that happen??) to camp on the weekend. We were thankfully able to borrow a camper at a few hours notice, and Saturday morning we packed and left for Brant Conservation Area. We didn't want to leave the safe umbrella of the Greater Hamilton Area (sorry Brantford, you qualify for GHA), so camping in Brantford was perfect. Highlights, and Caleb will most likely blog about this himself, were our campfire, the big swimming pool, throwing stones in the river, and cooking grilled cheese on the fire.

Camping is therapy for me. Being out in a different space, outside, trees blowing, fresh air. Enough said.

J