My mom is officially done with all of her cancer treatments! Yeah!
Now this does not mean that she is all good. She is still bald and way tired and her body hurts and she is emotionally drained. She still has a long road ahead of her to find a new normal, but the chemo and radiation are done. And that is worth celebrating!
So we threw a party.
A “Things are Looking UP” party.
We played off the movie UP and used lots of balloons around the yard.
We wrote different UPs on some of the balloons to acknowledge how the guests have helped my mom: Lifted Up, Cheered Up, Drove Up, Helped Up, Cleaned Up, and Buoyed Up were some of our UPs.
We served sherbert & 7-UP floats along with different kinds of cookies and bars.
We said “thanks” to all those that helped my mom.
But my favorite part of the party was the service banner that my mom made. She wanted to note all the different acts of service that were performed for her throughout her cancer. So she wrote them all down on small flag pennants and sewed them together. We strung the services around the yard.
Can you believe she counted over 500 acts of service done for her over her 8 months of cancer treatments? Phone calls, meals, rides, treats, smoothies, foot rubs, cards, blankets, Race for the Cure, flowers, yard work, visits, magazines, books, movies, CDs, prayers, fasting, comfy clothes, cancer helps, hot chocolate, jewelry, and singing visits are just to name a few.
The pennants were an awesome visual reminder of the awesome support system my mom had through this experience.
I’ve learned that it doesn’t really matter what you do when someone has cancer, but just do something. Anything. It takes hundreds of little things and lots of people to endure this trial day in and day out.
A big thanks to all those that supported my mom and our family during her cancer.
We are grateful things are looking UP.
![I spoke in church today and said the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest act of Charity. I read Moroni 7:45-47 to make my point. But wherever there was the word ‘Charity’ I substituted it out for ‘the Atonement of Jesus Christ.’ See if these scripture verses now have new meaning for you:
“And the Atonement of Jesus Christ suffererth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth in the truth,
[The Atonement of Jesus Christ] beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not the Atonement of Jesus Christ, ye are nothing, for the Atonement of Jesus Christ never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail-
But the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.”
So Easter really reminds us of love. The first and greatest commandment.](https://www.raisinglemons.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
What a great idea to celebrate! Love your mom’s banner, good of her to remember all those things! That’s a lot! Also perfect picture with the balloons & blue sky 🙂
It was an honor to serve you mom, she has such a sweet place in my heart. I was so sad I couldn’t make it to the celebration. We love the Stenson family! It was a wonderful way to celebrate her and her valiant fight, so glad she is winning the fight!!