Get Some Bliss!

I started twittering a few months ago.  The more I twitter, the more I like it.  Facebook is an opportunity for me to catch up with old friends and stay connected with new friends, but twitter opens me up to a whole new world.  I like that I get to meet people and learn from them in a way that I never would have before.  A lot of them write blogs.  Some of them are witty (I so wish I was witty), some redundant, some are a little obnoxious, but all have something to say and I enjoy most of them.  (OK….I don’t really care for the ones that tweet like 15 comments in a row….I call this a blog, and I would elect to follow their blog if I really wanted to, but I follow tweets on twitter.  Tweets are supposed to be short!)

So a couple of weeks ago I started seeing some women I follow tweet about something called Blissdom.  After a few days I saw it come across my phone enough that I decided to take a look.  This is what I found:

http://blissdomconference.com/  ….very pretty site, huh.  

Here is the second thing I found out.  It’s a conference for women who blog….cool, I blog. 

The third thing I found out is that it is SOLD OUT…..what a bummer!

But then, across my twitter this morning!  A small glimmer of hope!  A GIVEAWAY!  Yes!  I have a one-in-a-million chance of going, but, hey, I have played with odds before…lol.    I really shouldn’t link the giveaway site since that actually decreases my odds, but….well….I’m nice, what can I say.  I also love sharing excitement.  Fun is way better with friends. 

So here’s what I would say to the decision makers of the “Escape to Blissdom” conference if you’ve gotten to this part of my post.  My story is simple.  I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer in February of 2008.  I started a blog as a way to keep my friends and family informed and to write for my children because I was SURE they would be without a mom soon.  Whatever I read about IBC suggested it was not a survivor-friendly diagnosis (although chances are SO much better now!) and they had also found a grapefruit size tumor in the other breast.  I had no idea what a blog really was.  I suppose I had seen a few, but a friend of mine suggested I start one.  I had used clergygirl for my email address (I’m an ordained minister) since no one can spell my last name, so “clergygirl” fit for my cancer blog as well.

Much to my surprise I enjoyed writing.  I have thought repeatedly of quitting my blog, yet I feel compelled to write.  I look forward to writing.   In many ways it has been my creative outlet.  And going through cancer with people cheering me on and responding with love and compassion through comments always gave me a boost.  It was one of the things that emotionally got me through cancer.  When I couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night I would go to my computer to write and in the morning I usually had an encouraging comment and I knew someone had prayed for me.  

Oh….and I suppose now would be a good time to say I am cancer free!.  Now I write purely to give women hope in the journey and because it makes me happy. 

I can’t say that I’m a great writer…..I’m surely not an editor…lol!  But I enjoy it enough to continue to pursue this door that God has opened for me in writing, even if it had to be through stinky cancer!   I am working on a book and plan to do more blog writing in the future.  I’d love to attend the conference, but if not….I will certainly put it on my “to do” list for next year and I’ll certainly register early!

Pray With Me For Haiti!

I’ve been thinking about the best way I can help Haiti heal and I decided prayer is the best way. Join me with a comment prayer at my blog site and let’s see how many prayers can go up from one little blog for Haiti! Pray along as you scroll through them! I’m starting with a few examples. Short or long prayers are all good! 

I’ll make sure our bishop in Haiti sees these to share with the Haitians!

If you’re not much in to praying….just say “thoughts” or “lighting a candle.” That would be fine too!

Haiti

Like you, I’ve been following Haiti in the aftermath of so much devastation and destruction.  I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful for current technology that brings us information in seconds.  I check twitter every morning, hoping and praying that our Bishops will report that our missionaries will all be accounted for.  I also get updates from our media relations guy Andy as he flew in to the Dominican Republic and crossed the border in to Haiti. 

But at the same time, in the same way I can instantly see and get information, I can’t respond in that same way.  I can’t zap medical supplies and blankets to Haiti, as quickly as I can receive information.  I wish we had technology like that don’t you?  Sometimes it feels like our prayers aren’t really doing anything.  But they are!  I know they are, because I felt your prayers a few years ago when I was sitting in the chemo room, or when I lay in pain under the radiation machine.  I felt them, and they comforted me.  Feeling that someone cared for me and was petitioning God on behalf for me was incredibly comforting.  I reported a study a while back that showed that people who were ill fared better if they knew they were being prayed for, more so than those who did not know they were being prayed for.

So I urge you to pray.  Hopefully down the road we can help in more tangible ways.  But right now, the best thing we can do is pray and send money to responsible charities.

I want to share a few people and organizations I’m connected with that need our prayers.  Maybe you’ll want to follow them with me.

Here is a friend from my days at seminary in Kentucky who teaches in Haiti at a Christian School down there.  Her family is fine, although her facebook reports sound like she is very tired and afraid.  There continue to be tremors in the night and she hasn’t gotten much sleep.  The last report is that she flew with her children back to the states but her husband is staying to help.  I will look forward to reading reports of how she is doing and her husband is doing in Haiti.

Here is the site for the Free Methodist Church and another site for video updates  from our Bishop, David Roller.  I’m looking forward to watching these regular updates to learn how to pray.

There are lots of great places to give, but this site through the Free Methodist Church gives 100% of the donations towards work in Haiti.  We had a new hospital that is gone now.  Lots of rebuilding for good works going on in Haiti.

As for comments made in the days following the earthquake by people who have a platform for good and who are abusing it, who shall remain nameless, but I’ll give you a hint….his initials are P.R.  Just so we’re all on the same page.  I refuse to give him any more publicity, because my feeling is, this is what he wants.  He’s like a 2 year old wanting attention.  When my two year old whines to get attention, I usually ignore him.  I don’t respond till he can talk to me in a normal voice.  And so, my thoughts are the same with PR.  Let’s ignore him and maybe he’ll grow up.  He doesn’t deserve our attention.

The Haitians were already a country with extremely low literacy rates, more than half did not have fresh water before this.  So if there is any goodness to come from this, my sincere prayer is simply that we might give Haiti the attention and help that they desperately needed before this earthquake but are virtually hopeless without at this point.  They need to know we are praying, they need to know we will help and they need to know Jesus is weeping with them.

Walk the walk (by Stella)

I’m going to walk.  I’ve been doing it most of my life so how hard can it really be?  I walk on my breaks at work (when I remember to take them).  I walk with the kids if they beg me long enough.  I walk across parking lots on my way to one store or another.  Easy peasy.

On July 10th and 11th I’ll be walking with a purpose.  I’ll be in San Francisco walking the walk… the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer!  It’s a mere 39 miles across the City By The Bay.  Thirty.  Nine. You heard me!  Ack!!!!!

I am excited to get started!  I’m going to train!  I’m going to work hard.  I’m going to raise tons of money for a great cause!!!  I’m going to do my part to ensure that no one else has to lose their parts ever again!!!!

I hope I can make it.  I hope I can raise enough money.  $1800 is a lot of money!  I’m thinking of forming a team.  Maybe Team Mothers with Cancer or Team Class of 84!  Maybe something else entirely.

Will you walk with me?  Will you help fight the good fight?  Will you walk for Andrea Collins-Smith, Cancer Visa, and One Mother With Cancer who lost their battles against the beast?  Will you donate for the many, many moms here at Mothers With Cancer that have been victimized by breast cancer?

Will you walk for me?

10th annual conference for young women affected by breast cancer! (by laurie)

Last winter, I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to attend the 9th Annual Conference For Young Women Affected By Breast Cancer in Dallas, Texas.

It was an amazing experience.

I expected to learn a lot and I really, really did.

I hoped to be inspired and I was, beyond my wildest expectations.

I didn’t think about it being fun but it really, really was.

The sessions I attended were informative, entertaining and gave me great hope. I met some terrific women. And more than once, I laughed until I cried (I will not soon forget the pajama party hosted by Pure Romance. The experience defies explanation but they’re doing it again this year, so come and join in the fun). I came home with a pink cowboy hat and a renewed determination to live well.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the conference and it will take place from February 26-28 in Atlanta, Georgia. If you were diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 45, this conference is for you. Last year, there were more than 1,000 women in attendance from all over the world who have been affected by breast cancer in a multitude of ways. It meant so much to me to see all these beautiful women, at different stages of treatment and to see other women with metastasis living their lives to the fullest.

It was a great conference, co-sponsored by Living Beyond Breast Cancer and the Young Survival Coalition, two groups that do excellent work.

I have a scholarship to go again this year. If you have been on the fence about attending – hop off and come join me.

If you are planning to go, leave a message in the comments or send me an email (laurie dot kingston at gmail dot com) or a direct message on Twitter (lauriek). Or if you’re at the conference and you spot a blonde woman with red glasses alternating between knitting and taking notes, come on over and say ‘hi.’