Let Us Be Thankful (part 3)

"For all Your goodness I will keep on singing,
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find."
[matt.redman]

Well, I knew that this whole "write something you are thankful for in a blog post each day" wouldn't work out so well. Life has been busy and crazy with the thanksgiving holiday. With the month coming to an end, I will try and sum up this 'series' with one of the most important things I am grateful for...

family

Some people love the thanksgiving holiday because of Black Friday shopping and getting good sales for future presents. I find it funny that only in America will people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have. Although the whole concept of Black Friday shopping is fun, I personally have always enjoyed spending the day with family and eating yummy food. And this isn't just normal yummy food - it's Cuban food, which is a thousand times better than the regular traditional holiday food. But most of all - even more than the food - I enjoy recounting the many ways that God has blessed us over the past year. We have much to be thankful for.

I have always been grateful for my family. But over the past 7 months once again my appreciation for my family has grown. I know that everybody says that their family is the best. Well, this is my chance to brag and tell the rest of the world that my family is the best. I have already said how through this process my parents have been unbelievable. I can't even imagine what they went through emotionally when they found out I was sick. The first few days being back home, my dad spend many hours researching about Medicaid and Social Security, talking on the phone with people, driving to meet with people, and dealing with all the legal stuff that just goes over my head. My mom has been by myside the whole way. She has had first hand experience of my emotional break downs, my sickness, and my ever-changing food cravings. They have both been incredible examples of encouragement during this time and I could not be more grateful for them. And my brother? Well, he has a gift of making people laugh. And he is good at it too. Basically, I love the 3 of these people so very much.

lady & sons restaurant || savannah, ga || july 2009

I have not only been blessed with wonderful parents, but a wonderful extended family. And when I say extended, I mean extended. Being part Cuban, I have second, third, fourth cousins that I haven't even met. Or I "met" them as a baby/toddler and obviously 22 years later have no idea who they are. They try to explain it to me, "Oh, I'm your dad's second cousin's niece..." but I still just smile and wave and think I understand what they are trying to tell me. On my mom's side of the family there are some of her first cousins that I've never met as well. But whether I have met them or not doesn't mean they don't care for family.

As family we have made many memories. Sitting in our living room watching Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure while my uncle scares the butterflies out of my brother and I when we were little. Or how about when we were on a family vacation at the beach. And after dinner we all piled into our van and dad drove off a 3-foot ledge.

meadows of dan, va || thanksgiving 2011

Or how when we were at my cousin's graduation from the University of Virginia it poured. down. rain. I think that we were literally soaked down to our undergarments - and that is with ponchos on. I have always said that when I graduate from college/grad school or whatever, I was going to pay them back and pray that my graduation is outdoors and it rains...just so they can feel the pain we went through.

they could be brothers. its ridiculous.

These are only a few memories in the crazy life of my family. And although they are crazy and fun, they would do almost anything for their family. During my 6 months of treatment, my uncle who lives in Nashville would send me hand-made cards. Most of them were characters that he created and he told a story through them. These characters were different cartoon birds, and the main characters were penguins [which happen to be my favorite animal in the whole world]. Close friends of my cousins in Fairfax would send me things in the mail [aka: food. chocolate. it was wonderful]. Close family friends would visit and bring me a bag of goodies to bring laughter and to keep me happy at my many trips to Hopkins.I have never been more loved by my extended family.

But this blog post would not be complete if I didn't take time to express my thanks for the way my church family has been an encouragement to us during this time. When we were tempted to be discouraged about finances for treatment, biopsies, medications, etc. the generosity of my extended family and the people of God was unbelievable. Their generosity has been overwhelming. Not only with their gracious financial support, but also bringing home cooked meals during treatment weeks.

And most of all, I have been so blessed by all the wonderful cards of encouragement from family members, friends, church family, the youth group that I serve at my church, my students at Mason LIFE. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about the way they have cared for me and my family through their encouraging words. Many of students at the private high school I attended took time during their beginning homeroom class to pray for me. At a family wedding over the summer one of my dad's cousins came up to me and told me that his two youngest sons prayed for me every night. I even received a 3-ring notebook from my elementary school choir teacher filled with notes and scripture verses from her current students encouraging me. Little kids who don't even know me, who have never met me, saying that they are praying for me. That my friends, is the love of Christ at work.

encouragement notes from my caregroup

surprise gifts from friends

But more than earthy cards and gifts that will one day fade, the thing that has gotten me through this season of life - besides God, my family, and modern day medicine - has been your prayers. My parents and I have said many times that we have felt the prayers you have prayed carry us through the hard times during these past 7 months. I believe with all my heart that God hears the prayers we offer up to him. And even though I am done with treatment and officially in remission, I am overwhelmed by how many people I talk to still say they are continuing to pray for me as I am gaining back my strength.

So, thank you. Thank you to my immediate and extended family. Thank you to our very dear close family friends. Thank you Covenant Life Church, Sovereign Grace Church of Fairfax, Sovereign Grace Church of Roanoke. Thank you to my dear caregroup and friends on the admin team. Thank you to my co-workers and students at Mason LIFE. I could not have gotten through this trial without your love, care, support, prayers, and encouragement. You do not know how much you have blessed me and my family. And most importantly how you have displayed the glory of God through your generosity. I only pray that I would become more like each and every one of you who have been so gracious to serve us these past 7 months.

Little Brothers

"oh, darling, don't you ever grow up.
don't you ever grow up.
it could stay this simple."
[taylor.swift]


I wish I could tell you that I "remember it like it was yesterday". That we went to the hospital and then after what seemed a life time I held in my arms my little brother. Unfortunately my little year and a half old brain doesn't remember. Unless I dig deep into my subconscience. But that might take a while, so we'll just let pictures do all the explaining.

Twenty-one years ago, my little brother was born. I thought that it was weird when I turned 21, but when it's your little brother - now thats just wrong. He is almost a good foot taller than me (which isn't hard when you're my lovely height of 5'2") and he is growing a mustache because he happens to be born in the lovely month of No Shave November. But, he didn't use to be all grown up.

Growing up in the 90s kids our age actually played outside (shocker, I know). We would play hide-and-go seek tag and run all around our backyards, front yards, and the alley behind our house. During the summer we dug a hole in the dirt under our Miniature Weeping Japanese Cherry Tree and cooked hot dogs over a fire. He was also quite the little monkey, climbing up the door frames in our house and hang from the top until he fell down, then would start the process all over again. He was also the kind, little brother and play Barbie's with me in our top secret Barbie room (yes, we had a Barbie play room. Our house growing up was pretty sweet). But that didn't last long until he decided to play Barber and give my favorite Barbie a hair cut. He does not cease to bring laughter to the family.

the hulk

steve urkel

safety first

Well the cute, little, cubby baby grew up and became a "big boy". But even though he was older, he was still short. When we moved to Maryland him and three other boys in his class were considered the "shrimp" - especially on the soccer field compared to all the normal tall middle schoolers and high schoolers. But don't let their size fool you, they might have been short but they were fast little shrimp. The best part about him being short was making him do things only short people could do. Like that one time when my friend Sarah came over to hang out with us while our parents were at an adult meeting at church. So we stayed home and tried to fit Leo in our drier. Who would want to go to a boring meeting when you can try to stuff your brother in a drier? This kid is one of the craziest kids I know.

myrtle beach || 2008

myrtle beach || 2008

"sacrifice!!!"

pimp daddy alonso

surviving Hurricane Sandy

dressing up for the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises

men and their food

 Not only is he super funny, but he is super talented. Seriously, check him out - for reals. With our dad being a professional photographer, we have learned about photography the fun way without having to take a boring class. His artistic gift has helped him figure out what he wants to do with his life. He has his Associates of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design and will continue to get his Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree. He also works for Apple. And let me tell you, it's nice to have an Apple specialist in the family.

what happens when you ask an artist to "make 'lucy' beautiful"

Even though my brother is crazy and brings much laughter to the family, he is pretty darn awesome and I can't imagine living life without him. He is freaking awesome - at least that's what he told us to say at high school graduation. But seriously, if you don't know this kid you're missing out because not only he freaking awesome, he is really, really ridiculously good looking.

last treatment at hopkins

Since the summer, we have both served on the famous youth admin team. I love to see the way he loves to serve the youth of our church. He isn't there just to serve and "do his job," but he makes and effort to interact with the youth and get to know them.

I still can't believe this kid is actually, officially legal - it kinda blows my mind. I could not ask for a better, more loving, more weird little brother. I am thankful that I have always had a close relationship with my younger brother. Our friendship has grown a lot over the last 7 months since I've been home. I know that if I ever need anything I can count on him. It was quite helpful to have him around when I experienced my first flat tire on a road trip to Grove City College to visit friends.

Happy 21st birthday kid! I love you so much.

Dear Buttercup

"my heart's never smiled so hard, 

baby. loving you is fun." 

[easton corbin]

I remember when my family moved up to Maryland I didn't really have any friends. But I slowly got to know different people and develop friendships, especially within my high school class. And there were some friendships where I honestly don't remember meeting them, but almost nine years later we are still best friends.

All through high school we participated in our church's youth choir for a while, worked in the youth drama plays every year, and after graduating high school we both volunteered on our awesome youth admin team and made sure we had a lot of fun - even though I was busy in college and she was busy working.

And what friendship would not be complete without the weekly talks about which boys we found cute. I remember it like it was yesterday. August 2011 - in a normal chat with my best friend she says the following: "so... drew. i think i like him =) i dont know. but seriously, i think he is so cute. and I dont want to imagine my life without him." January 2012 - "Hey. um, drew just called me to see how I was doing. AHHH!!!!! =D I like him. He know I was nervous about today and wanted to tell me he was praying for me. He could have texted that to me, but he didn't. HE LIKES ME! HE LIKES ME!!!! =D AH!" After 9 months of going back and forth telling stories with all the girly details of our "like lives" I received the best text message ever.

I had been home from school for 2 months undergoing treatment and my best friend was over at my house. I didn't have much energy so we ate dinner and were watching a movie in the basement with my mom.  And then, during the middle of the movie, my little heart stopped. "Hey Andi, is DJ over at your house?" "Um, yeah we are watching a movie. Why?"

Let's just say that I was not able to concentrate on the rest of the movie, and was too busy listening for the door bell upstairs ring. Once it finally rang (after what seemed a lifetime) I quickly jumped out of my chair and excitedly said that I wanted some Nutter Butters and asked if anyone wanted any.  Somehow I had energy to run up the stairs, and it wasn't for Nutter Butters. I think I was more nervous than he was about what was going on. But he just flipped on the light and walked downstairs and went over to DJ and asked if he could talk to her. Being DJ, she thought that something was wrong. So she immediately said "sure" and went upstairs to get her shoes on, her purse, her keys, etc.

I can honestly say that I really just wanted to sneak out the back door, follow them and take pictures. But I felt like they needed their space. A few minutes later the doorbell rang. I opened the door and DJ happily said, "Hi. Um, I would like you to meet my boyfriend." She went on to tell me what happened once they went outside. "We didn't even make it off the porch of your house and he grabbed my hand. I was freaking out and told him that we weren't suppose to hold hands. But he didn't let go and said that he talked to my dad. Shockingly I said 'Why would you do that?' He then told me that he had talked to my dad and asked him if he could date me. Then I cried and hugged him. We walked along the path but then got tired. So we just started to slow dance, even though the random people walking along the path were looking at us weird."

Back in August both of them moved down to Louisville, Kentucky to be a part of a church plant. Yes, my best friend was moving hundreds of miles away, but because it was going to advance the gospel of Jesus, I was okay with that. I think me going off to school at George Mason prepared us for this new chapter in our lives of not being right down the road from each other and not seeing each other every day. And there is kind of an unsaid rule about best friends that even though you may not see each other in person for weeks, you still talk all. the. time.

Well, it is now November and they have been dating now for 5 1/2 months. And man oh man have they been a wonderful few months, mainly for them of course. But this is my best friend we are talking about. I could not be more happy for her than I am. I would still like to think that besides Jesus and her family I was her first love. It's a best friend kind of thing. But I just get to enjoy sitting on the outside of their friendship and look in, and getting to have the following conversations with her: "I am just a girl...falling in love...with the man of my dreams. =D On that subject..GAH!!! I'm freaking falling in love!!!!!!!!! =D How crazy is that Andi?! This is him - the man I dreamed about all my life. It's Drew."

My best friend is falling in love, I'm officially in remission, and I haven't seen her for the past 3 months. Not. Cool. So this past weekend with the help of Drew and Brittany I surprised her for the weekend. Let's just say she was thoroughly surprised.

The weekend was full of fun adventures and giving me tours of Louisville. We also went to the biggest Forever 21 I have ever been to in my life. It was two stories and basically HUGE. There were so many clothes. I didn't know it was possible for a department store to have that many clothes and be that large. I think I got lost in the store. Also, at night if you look up to the sky, you can see bright stars everywhere. It was one of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen.

Besides just hanging out and being with each other, I had planned to do a photo shoot with the wonderfully, talented Brittany Kauflin. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the locations where we took pictures were stunning.

Cherokee Park

Cherokee Park

Cherokee Park

I have admired the photography of many - I'm Kristen, Lydia Jane, and of course my personal favorite one and only dad. I have done mini photo shoots with friends and family, but NOTHING was better than this. I dont even think that I can formulate words to describe the fact that my best friend is falling in love. So I'll let the pictures do all the talking.

Seriously, can life get any better than seeing your best friend fall in love? Well, maybe heaven. The best part about their relationship is the fact that they have an awesome sense of humor. Like seriously, I don't think I have laughed so much in one weekend.

They are my absolute favorite. I am so excited that I am able to share in these precious moments with them and have a first-hand look into their relationship and life. Just a few more pictures to end the post.

this is how hipsters stand.

and so they danced...