A Visit from "Aunt Patty"

My Mama has 2 sisters (thus, I have 2 Aunts, plus the Aunts by marriage, but that's another blog). About a month ago (I know, I know...this is late), the Aunt from Washington (state) came to visit! We had an absolute blast! We didn't get to spend much time with her, but the time we did get was awesome! AP brought along her husband Todd and my cousin Logan. Sister Lindsay had to stay home due to college.....

The cousins

Aunt Patty, Carter, and Nolan

When my Mama's side of the family gets together, it's ALL laughter, ALL the time. Constant. You'd never know that we used to spell things around the younger children, especially at Christmastime, or have Karaoke in the living room at family gatherings. Nor would you know that we've been swimming in the winter before and had contests to see which guy would throw which one in first. And live to tell about it!

Our family eats and eats, and eats some more. We cook pancakes for breakfast when we're all together and what would pancakes be without sausage? Most vividly, I remember when the whole family would be together at Christmastime and everyone would covet the beds in the house! There were 3 beds and about 12-15 people or more. There were people EVERYWHERE. And you know what? We wouldn't have it any other way! Ahh...sweet memories........

Aunt Patty, Jamie (my brother), and me

Anyhow, back to the present. When AP was here, we had a blast! The kids played ball and went to volleyball matches, rode the Ranger, and generally just hung out and had a good time. We sat around and ate (of course) and just chit-chatted.

Nichole (my sister-in-law) and Carter playing outside

Me and Nichole

Most recently, my Aunt Patty was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is ready to fight and more importantly, ready to BEAT IT! (isn't that a song? Beat it........ha-ha)
{For those that know my family well, this is the same Aunt that moved to Florida for several months to help out when my Mama (her sister) was fighting lymphoma. It was so nice to have my Aunt here to help--my brother lived in Virginia at that time, and I was in my Junior year of college at UF. Her love, guidance, and humor was a welcome distraction from the agony of defeat.}

While I think we are all a little scared and uncertain, I know ONE who knows EXACTLY what will happen, for you see, HE has it all planned out. We've been very blessed with some good results from various tests and scans that the doctors have done recently, but she starts chemo/radiation in the next week or so, so I'd like to ask all my blog friends to remember her in prayer in the coming weeks and months as she fights!

We were so thankful to get to spend some time with Aunt Patty, Todd, and Logan and look forward to the next time when we get to visit with them!

Until next time....

~CB~