On the Subject of Teachers

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken
joy in creative expression and knowledge.

- Albert Einstein

As a college freshman, I struggled to succeed in my classes. What I had excelled at in high school was now a challenge. I was especially discouraged by my grades on writing assignments. Class after class, paper after paper, I received mediocre or poor grades. The entire first term I was frustrated with myself and with school. I felt woefully ill-prepared for college. I muddled on and eventually found myself in Intro to Microeconomics with an infamous Professor Azzi. His reputation had preceded him -- between the Azzi legends and the syllabus, I was overwhelmed. Economics had always intrigued me, but by this time I knew intrigue wasn't enough. I was going to have to prove myself and that meant writing some decent papers.

When my first paper was returned, I was horrified. I had earned a C-. Worse was the fact that my paper looked like Jack-the-Ripper had graded it. Red lines through entire sentences, grammatical corrections, and notes in the corners, made my paper look like a ritual blood letting. Worse was the No! No! No! written in response to the conclusion I had drawn. Ugh. As hard as it was to read the comments and accept the grade, I was determined to get through the class. I loved the subject and I was beginning to enjoy this bear of a professor that seemed to intimidate so many.

I turned in my second paper. I received a C and no fewer bleeding comments. I mustered up the courage while writing my third paper and dropped into his office. I thought, perhaps, that he would spend a few minutes and help me refine my rough draft. I was wrong. A few minutes turned into an hour, lots of chalk and legal paper, more red pen on my paper, and a few good laughs. I left his office determined to do better. And I did.

Over the next three years, I continued to shadow Azzi's door. He was always available. I often struggled with concepts, but he was always encouraging and insisted that I could comprehend even the most difficult ideas. I slowly gained confidence in what was now my major and the ability to put together thoughts on paper. My papers bled less over time and I knew that the Yes! scribbled in the margin was well earned. To this day I am grateful for all that he did to help me. He was a great teacher and advisor. I am privileged to know him as a friend, as well as his wife, Jane. They both continue to be a great encouragement to me, even in this current season of uncertainty.

My days of being a student are gone. I now get to enjoy watching my kids forge relationships with their teachers. We have been so blessed by all the teachers the kids have had. I love watching my kids delight in what they learn, curiosity fed by teachers that love to teach.

The boys had the opportunity to be in Mrs. Fosters third grade class last year. In hindsight, it was God's perfect timing. Not only did she engage the boys and direct their curiosity, she dealt with their sorrow and concern over their dad. She consistently prayed with them and for us. She kept the boys focused and engaged on what needed to be done in school, but did it with compassion and understanding for what they were experiencing personally. She helped Adam and Ben navigate a very difficult time in their lives.

Over the months, I had the opportunity to talk at length with Mrs. Foster. Sometimes about the boys, but often about Marc and our family. I have found her wisdom and faith a comfort and encouragement. As the school year ended and summer began, we invited her to help us with our garden. We spent weekend days planting and weeding, picking, and enjoying each other's company. She and her husband, Steve, have become wonderful friends. They have watched the kids so Marc and I could get away, we have enjoyed meals together...just visiting and laughing. I love watching all my kids delight in the activities they come up with and the neat ways that they engage the kids in learning. What a gift!

Today Mrs. Foster watched the boys for the day so that I could go to chemo with Marc. When we picked them up this afternoon they were so excited to tell us all they had done. She had spent the day delighting them -- movies, hamburgers, walks to the park, board games. This evening as I tucked Adam in he said quietly, "Mom, I didn't want to leave today. I had so much fun. It felt like I was leaving family."

I know that Mrs. Foster will leave a lasting impression on my children, just as Professor Azzi left a lasting impression on me. It is not understanding the Giffin paradox or aggregate supply and demand that I associate with my professor. And, it is not nouns or the multiplication tables that have most impressed my boys. I have no doubt we will retain what we learned in their classrooms; however, I would wager that these teachers have left a more important legacy with their students: One of friendship, encouragement, and inspiration.

Thank you, Professor Azzi. Thank you, Mrs. Foster.
With love and gratitude...

P.S. My friend, Liz, sent a link to this story about her dad. Another story of how a student was profoundly impacted by a teacher. Enjoy.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-stroke-teacher-student-31-aug31,0,5182203.story?page=1&track=rss

Hi-Ho...Hi-Ho...

When I woke up this morning the house didn't sound like it usually does. Didn't smell right, either. There was no sound of Marc helping the kids get their breakfast. No smell of my coffee brewing. On Marc's good days, his gift to me for the past seven months has been to handle the kids and make my coffee in the morning. Not this morning. I'm on my own.

Today is a huge day for our family. Marc is officially back at work! We are so excited! His employer found him a project that is local and that will be flexible with his chemotherapy schedule. An overwhelming blessing if you really think about it.

We have been very humbled by Marc's employer. They have been supportive beyond what anyone would expect in our situation. His boss visited Marc in the hospital when things looked so bleak, they hired a housekeeper for me while we figured out chemo and...well...life in the early weeks. They have been helpful and compassionate while he was on disability. Now, they have encouraged us by finding an assignment that is just perfect for this time. He needed to get his mind back in gear and exercise his talents. While making my coffee no doubt gave him tremendous satisfaction and joy...I'm thinking he is enjoying his work today a whole lot more!

We have given thanks for many things over the past few months. We feel abundantly blessed by family, friends, and a great church. We are also humbled by having an employer that has been so incredibly supportive. We are more than thankful to be able to maintain our home, have meals on the table, and keep life as normal as possible for our kids, during this time. Health insurance and a paycheck are HUGE gifts in this household! We recognize that without them, our life and Marc's cancer treatment would look a whole lot different right now.

So, today we give thanks for employment and an employer that cares. Thank you Slalom Consulting! We consider you one of our many blessings in this season of our lives.

With that...I'm heading to the kitchen to make my own coffee!

Have a great day!
With love and gratitude...

Jumanji and The Perfect Torte

Sunday was quite the day. We went to the Clackamas County Fair for most of the day and indulged in rides, checked out the livestock and "As-Seen-On-TV" merchandise, ate cotton candy, burgers, corn dogs, lemonade...and my new favorite...deep fried apple pie! Sigh. Only in America.... I truly felt like Templeton the Rat when we waddled away. We were heading home with our sugar-cranked kids, when we received an invite for an evening barbecue with Mel and Steve. After discussing logistics, we decided we should grill at our house. We hit the door and I tried to pick up a bit -- basically I kicked the pile of laundry growing outside of our laundry room inside and slammed the door on it, then threw the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. Good enough! Outside the kids were wearing off their sugar high and gearing up for more fun with friends. The fact that they were as hyper as rabid chihuahuas didn't phase me. Mel and Steve have proven that they love us over the years, despite our less-than-perfect kids and tornado hit house.

Mel and Steve showed up and the kids took off outside. The day had been full already, but at this point the evening took on a life of its own. As Mel was chopping watermelon she slipped with her knife and about took off the end of her finger. Jumping back, she knocked the ten pound melon to the floor -- I have never seen a melon explode before. Wow. I was mesmerized by the pink goo and juice all over my already crunchy, disgusting floors. Ah yes...Mel's finger. After I drew my riveted attention away from the melon mayhem, I was able to help Mel piece her finger back together. With the finger bandaged and the kitchen put back together, we could now focus our attention on our warring children who were engaged in World War III in our backyard. Between the boys hollering at the girls, the girls stomping and sneering at the boys, and the dog running circles around everyone, it was a regular scene from Jumanji. About the only thing missing was the rhino running through the yard.

After dinner, all was fairly calm. There was an occasional scuffle between the kids and an outburst of verbal assaults, but relative to the earlier scene it was much more serene. I took the opportunity to ask Kasie to help me trim the rabbits' nails. I had no more started trimming nails when the boys and Julia ran around the corner. "Mr. and Mrs. Mayer are here!" they whooped. Sure enough, around the corner came the kids' principal and kindergarten teacher, and their granddaughter, Jenna. My delight gave way to panic...First, my kids looked like they had rolled in dirt (actually I think they had), second my mind raced for a minute: Had I or had I not taken a shower today? I couldn't remember, and doubtful at this point if it would matter anyway. After a day at the fair, splattering melon and bleeding fingers, and now with a fine covering of rabbit hair, I was about as far from clean as...well...my kids. So, the fact that the lovely, coiffed, Mrs. Mayer was picking her way across our lawn, gracefully avoiding Hurley pooh, carrying the most beautiful torte you have ever laid eyes upon, seemed just a bit surreal and quite disarming. I was painfully aware of the loud, chaotic scene around us. In addition to their poise and enviably tidy appearance, the Mayers were extraordinarily good sports and fit right in to our crazy night. It was almost as if they didn't notice or didn't care -- kinda like they loved us despite our less-than-perfect kids, their much-less-than-perfect mother, and our tornado hit house :) We were so touched that they would drive all the way to our home to drop in and bring us a gorgeous dessert. It was a most memorable night!

I am always amazed at how decisions we make often have far reaching implications -- ones that we don't anticipate at all when the original decision is made. When Marc and I were looking at schools for our kids years ago, we didn't know how much that choice would impact our lives in our current situation. We were looking for a sound Christian school with a strong academic program. What we got was a whole lot more. We comment all the time about how grateful we are for our school, the staff, the parents, and (of course) the kids! During this season of our lives, we have been so blessed by our school family. We have been amazed by how much the relationships we have at this school have encouraged us and helped us along the way. One more blessing we can count in a long list of God's gracious gifts. Thank you to all of our friends at our school for all you have done to serve us and encourage us --from loving our kids to the perfect torte!


With love and blessings....

How Rabbits Multiply or Unexpected Life Events

Saturday we woke up and hit our chore list right away. I stayed inside to clean and Marc went out to clear some limbs from our fir trees. A little while later, Julia came to the sliding glass door and was very excited to show me her new bunny. Evidently, while Marc was clearing brush, he stumbled on a baby cottontail. My brow immediately furrowed -- wild animals are...well...wild and shouldn't be kept as pets. I tried to communicate this to my daughter, but she appealed with, "Daddy said I could keep it." Did he now? I grabbed the little fluff (already named Star...ugh) and marched out to the woods. Marc was looking pretty sheepish at this point. His defense: "You tell her she can't keep it." I looked at her and she turned on the blue eyed charm. Sigh. Bunny...er... I mean Star had a new home.

After I conceded, I casually asked where we should keep the rodent...uh...I mean Star. Marc thought a laundry basket would do quite nicely. I gave him the look of death. ( You see, when Marc and I were first married we "rescued" four cottontails and kept them in a laundry basket in our apartment. The chew marks are still evident on the laundry basket and I vividly recall them getting out and dashing for small, dark hiding places). He was unphased by the look of death. This was serious.

"Okay, but we are getting a real hutch for this thing. No laundry baskets!" I marched back to the house and called Mel. She knows everyone in East County. She would know someone with a cheap hutch. Bingo! She knew just the person. A gal in Gresham had a lovely two story hutch she was looking to unload for FREE. The catch was it came with two bunnies. Perfect.

So, after church Saturday we picked up the five foot, 250 pound, made from scratch, rabbit hutch. Oh yeah...and the two rabbits, food, feeders, etc. Marc was now giving me the look of death. I was unphased.

After loading the quite enormous rabbit hutch we headed home for dinner. We finished our meal and Julia was desperate to look at her new pet. I took the bungee cords and cardboard off the basket only to find it empty. Nothing. No bunny. Frantically we started looking around the kitchen for the little vermin. We found it cowering behind the stove (the perfect small, dark hiding place). Oh yeah, this thing is going to love being a pet! After ten minutes of maneuvering we finally had the bunny in hand again, much to my daughter's delight

We spent the next morning unloading the hutch and setting up little living areas for all of our new pets. It was quite chaotic. As I watched the dog yipping and salivating, the kids scrambling to be helpful, and Marc making small repairs to the hutch, I wondered how we had gotten to this crazy life scene. When had we planned to own rabbits? That wasn't on the radar twenty-four hours earlier. But, then this year we have learned that much of life is unexpected. There is much we have experienced this year that wasn't planned. Some things just happen.

All I have to say is that some things around here happen faster than usual. I mean, really....I know bunnies multiply quickly, but we went from none, to one, to three, in less than eight hours! Now that is unexpected!

We thought you all would enjoy some of our daily Griffith adventures instead of the usual medical run-down. Lots of good stuff happens during the in-between times. They are treasured blessings and we are glad to share them!


Enjoy the pics!


With love and gratitude.....

Can I keep him?

Little Star


More to Love!

A Big Day

We spent a good part of the day up at OHSU today. After spending two days at the clinic, meeting doctors and having great discussions, we decided to switch Marc's care to OHSU. We feel very good about this move. We feel that the medical oncologist we met with today is very attentive and is willing to turn over every stone with us to help us beat this disease. He is starting with a fresh slate -- looking at the pathology, the biopsy slides, doing additional testing, a new CT scan, new baseline tumor markers, etc. This doctor is not making any assumptions and is "leaving all the cards on the table" right now. He doesn't want to rule anything out.

We felt especially good about the impression we had that everyone there treated Marc like a unique person with a unique cancer. We also found it encouraging that they worked hard to accommodate our life and family (i.e., working appointments around school and work). They were willing to teach us about everything from nutrition to instructing us on how to unhook his pump at the end of treatment (instead of driving two hours round trip to have a nurse do it). These are the little things that make life between treatments so much more pleasant.

We left the clinic today feeling much more educated and comfortable about his future care. After a week of stress and emotion, it was a great way to go into the weekend. We have a plan and, more importantly, we understand the plan. That's huge!

So, the bummer is that Marc will be starting on chemo again on September 2nd. We kind of knew that was coming, but it seems so soon; however, this will be a different regimen...hopefully with less side effects. We are hopeful that this treatment will not just keep the cancer from progressing, but actually shrink it. We shall see...

Again and again, we must thank you for your continued prayer and support. Today was like a breath of fresh air and we are so grateful for a new direction and opportunity.

With much love and gratitude...

One Down, One to Go

We met with the surgical oncologist at OHSU this morning. We really liked him and felt like he was very thorough and knowledgeable. He helped us understand much of what we were not comprehending about the tumor. He feels that Marc's cancer is likely something that should not be operated on. His opinion is that we should exhaust chemotherapy regimens before doing a difficult surgery. The risk of complications, the lack of evidence that the surgery would be helpful, and the long recovery period required after abdominal surgery, are all reasons for staying on our current course. The doctor was impressed with Marc's overall health. He was impressed that he has maintained his weight and activity. He told us that is the best measurement of how the treatment is working.

So, with that, we will be seeing a medical oncologist in the same office on Friday. We are interested to hear what he has to say.

While the answers we received today were not what we were hoping for, we feel that we have met a group of doctors that is very interested in his case. Issues that we thought were discouraging may not be as black and white as we originally thought. We continue to pray we will find a way to knock this stuff down. We remain determined to beat this thing!

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Please pray that we have a constructive appointment on Friday with the medical oncologist. We are hoping that he has a clear understanding of what Marc has and a solid treatment plan.

With love and gratitude...

Marc Goes Up The Hill To Fetch A Second Opinion...

Marc was accepted by two doctors up at OHSU yesterday. His first appointment will be on August 12th and the following on August 14th. Until then we just get to enjoy not being in a doctor's office or a treatment center! What a change from the last six months! We are planning on enjoying this time together and appreciating the break.

We would be grateful if you would continue to pray for Marc. We are hoping that the tumor stays quiet in the next couple of weeks and doesn't give him any pain or complications. Also, that the remaining side effects from the last chemo regimen would go away. We are hoping that this time off will give him the chance to heal from chemotherapy and gain strength for whatever treatments or surgeries are on the horizon.

We remain so grateful for all of you. Thank you for shouldering our troubles with us. We feel so blessed to have such an amazing support network.

With love and gratitude...