Posts Tagged ‘cancer’

why this matters.

Thursday, August 30th, 2012

I know lately there’s been a huge emphasis on all the new products. We’re all so excited, and it really is fun to think about the cool designs and practical memory-keeping solutions that will be in our hands later this year. It feels completely appropriate to constantly remind ourselves of why this matters, what this is all about – not just the Project Life system, but the idea of documenting life at all, in any format.

We received an email from Michelle in Michigan and with her permission, I’m sharing it here because I know without a doubt this will be just the inspiration that someone will need on cultivating a good life – and recording it.

From Michelle: I am on my second year of Project Life with last year being my first attempt. Documenting for it gave my whole family more pictures of my dad than we would have had had I not begun the process. Your inspiration as well as others (Ali Edwards especially) led me to document as much as I could those last days together—even before we knew they were the last. While still painful to look at, I am forever grateful for those pictures … capturing that last year.

In the spring of 2011 before his cancer returned, I was able to take some random, un-posed and incredibly beautiful pictures of my dad that I will always hold dear. Without all of the encouragement, I might have not picked up my camera as often. My dad had been “cancer-free” for only 6 months (though we suspect not as free as we had hoped), but we were blessed to have him an incredible 16 months post diagnosis … longer than many others. As you said, time is just so precious and should be cherished, even and especially when the days turn so painful, heart-wrenching and difficult.

My heart breaks for your brother, his family and your entire family with the days ahead … and yet, it is moments like these that make you truly understand what loving and cherishing family and friends is all about … in this gift of life we are all given. As someone who works in estate planning, I have seen moments of passing tear families apart, but God blessed my parents and my family as my dad’s passing (incredibly painful as it was) brought my 2 sisters, brother and myself even closer than before. I pray those same blessings for you and your siblings.

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That was Michelle’s email to accompany the donation that she was making to my brother’s family. She did this in memory of her dad who passed away in October of last year from esophageal cancer. It goes without saying that I am deeply moved by her email, very grateful for her donation, and further inspired to keep on photographing + preserving memories.

If you missed the post about my brother, please check it out. It truly was the most difficult post I had to write, but I have been – my family has been – very moved by the outpouring of love and support and generous donations. The deadline to place an ad on my blog with 100% of the donations going to Jonathan’s family has ended this week. Those ads will all go live this Saturday.

However, ANY donations in ANY amount from ANY person, family, organization, or company – are still welcomed and so, so, so appreciated. If you are able to contribute even just a few dollars to my brother’s family to help ease the burdens they’re facing, email brandi@beckyhiggins.com and she will let you know how simple it is.

 

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Posted in family & children | 19 Comments »

jonathan.

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

David, Jonathan, me in Maryland 2 weeks ago. My mom got that shirt for him a while ago and it’s the truth: Colon Cancer IS a real pain in the butt.

When we all found out that my brother Jonathan was diagnosed with Stage IV Colorectal Cancer last December it was like someone punched me in the stomach. I can’t even begin to imagine how that news affected his wife and children.

But he fought. And he continues to fight. He’s been through a full course of radiation therapy and continues to undergo chemotherapy. Jonathan is strong and amazing in so many ways. He is a devoted husband and father, insanely talented (including the very coolest architect handwriting you’ve ever seen), and incredibly selfless as he serves tirelessly in church and his community – all his life.

Of the 1,200+ blog posts I have published, there has never been a more difficult post to write.

Our family learned recently that the chemotherapy has lost its effectiveness and the tumors continue to grow. To say this is breaking our hearts is an understatement. Jonathan’s suffering has consumed me. I think about and pray for him constantly – as well my sister-in-law, their children, my parents, my other 4 brothers. And there are many, many more (his employees, colleagues, students, youth at church, friends, neighbors) who are heartsick about what Jonathan is going through.

Our family has a tremendous amount of faith and there is no question in our minds about God’s eternal plan of happiness for every person that comes to earth. I don’t usually use my blog to share much about my personal life and I haven’t said much about Jonathan’s battle or how it’s affected us this year. But there is something really special about a community of people (you being part of my community) who can make a difference in someone else’s life when they face heavy challenges. I’ll come back to that. First I can’t help but share a few pictures.

The cowlick. The shirt. Honestly, could he be cuter?

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Me + my brothers + sisters-in-law a dozen years ago. Jonathan and his enthusiasm in the top-right.

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A couple years ago when we met up for lunch during his layover in Phoenix. We live on opposite sides of the country so we were happy to get even just an hour or so with him as he passed through town for business.

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David and I went to Maryland to be with Jonathan and his family in February. This was a day or two before another round of chemo.

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Hanging out during chemo. My sweet parents have literally been by Jonathan’s side during all of this.

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Jonathan & Tina have raised Eagle Scouts. Last week Jonathan mustered up all the strength he had to be there for Tyler and Spencer’s big night.

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My mom has spent much of her time keeping her hands busy, crocheting blankets for family members lately.

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Taken just 2 days ago. Back: Spencer is 15, Tyler is 18, Tina is Jonathan’s sweet wife of 20 years.

Front: Garrett is 11, Jonathan (just 42 years old by the way) and Kristyn is almost 9.

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Every. single. day is precious.

This is true for Jonathan. For his family. For all of us. Even though our family is spread out – from China to the western U.S. to Maryland – each of us has been able to spend time with Jonathan in the past several weeks. What an honor – although a heartbreaking and humbling experience for each of us. And yet it has been an incredibly enriching and blessed experience. I love Jonathan and his family with all of my being.

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In situations like this it’s easy to feel helpless. David and I want to do something that will help Jonathan & Tina’s family during this incredibly difficult time as they face so many challenges and ultimately, as they transition to the next chapter in their life. The financial burdens they are facing are unquestionably very difficult.

Anyone who would like to send a donation to Jonathan’s family will have the opportunity to place their ad on my blog sidebar. The ads will be published on September 1 and stay there for 2 months – through October 31. As you know, I don’t have ads on my blog. I have never monetized my blog. This is a very unique opportunity to do something so helpful while also enjoying the benefits of fantastic exposure for your business. 100% of the donations will go to Jonathan’s family.

Anyone who would like to donate – even in a small amount – can most certainly do so without necessarily having to place an ad on my blog if you don’t want to.

Whether you are a company or a family or an individual … whether you already know Jonathan personally, or you don’t … whether you want to place an ad on my blog or remain anonymous in your donation … email brandi@beckyhiggins.com with what you’d like to do, and she will let you know the next step.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for even considering to help Jonathan and his family.

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Hug your family. Spend more time together. Don’t let unimportant, trivial things take away from cultivating stronger relationships with those who matter most.

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Posted in family & children | 277 Comments »

documenting life heals

Friday, May 20th, 2011

Documenting life is a blessing. Anyone who takes pictures, writes in a journal, scrapbooks, or records life in any form knows how rich the experience can be — both the act of documenting, as well as being able to go back and look at what has been recorded.

And for many, documenting life has taken on a whole new level of significance. I know many of you have used Project Life to record the journey through difficult times. Like Karin.

In her own words: Really It all began December 1, 2010. My beautiful little boy was diagnosed with leukemia and our world turned upside down. We spend 45 hellish days in the hospital getting Elijah healthy enough to come home. Once we got home I didn’t recognize my little boy and I really felt like things were happening and changing so fast. So on January 14, 2011 I decided that I was going to start taking a picture a day of Elijah to document his year in treatment for leukemia. I wanted to be able to look back at this time through treatment and be able to show him that we lived a life with joy despite the circumstances. I wanted him to be able to look back at his treatment years from now and see that we lived life to the fullest and didn’t let life keep kicking us while we were down. Quickly I realized that I didn’t just want that for Elijah. I also wanted his baby sister Aliyah to see her life was lived and loved through all of this. So I started taking pictures and looked for an album to put the pictures in and write a little story about their day. I knew I didn’t have time to make them a scrapbook.
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So I found a simple album that was just picture slots and got one for each child. The problem? There was no place to journal. It left me cutting out little note cards and trying to fit the days journaling around the picture. Quite frankly, the end result was awful. But — that was what was available. Then my sister-in-law heard about my project and asked if I was using Project Life because she had just found out about it and ordered herself an Amber kit. I quickly looked it up and it was exactly what I had been wanting. I was sold and so I ordered a Amber kit for Aliyah and a Turquoise kit for Elijah. As soon as it arrived I copied everything I had already put into the cheap albums into the new kits and I loved the results! This was exactly what I had been looking for.
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Now I have 17 completed weeks in their albums and daily filling each new day. I am in love with your kits and don’t think I will be stopping at the end of this year. By keeping up with the journaling and photo processing every day I have found an amazing thing. My experience of life has changed. There are days that my experience says it was a terrible, horrible, no-good day with nothing redeeming at all. Then I go up to my loft office and process the day’s pictures and write the kids’ journal entries. Not one day in the 118 days of photos I have taken, has my kids’ overall experience been a total bad day. Sure, there are bad moments and hardships – especially in treating cancer – but my kids are thriving and still happy despite all we have given up. I see their joy and realize that the day wasn’t as bad as I experienced it and so I can go to bed each night in peace.

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I have seen my children’s amazing spirit and it has saved me from the darkness I feared when my son was diagnosed. Having Project Life has helped me to really live life with my children and see each day with honesty and hope. I believe whole-heartedly I would have given up on the albums long ago if it wasn’t for the simple brilliance of the Project Life system. Thank You for giving our family the gift of amazing albums as well as a changed outlook. While I am sure many people do not have as big of a push as we did to preserve our history I feel as though I would have greatly benefitted from the fresh eyes daily journaling and photos doing Project Life has given me. The time I spend each night on their albums is so centering it has just become part of my daily routine much like lunch. So again thank you.

Sincerely,

Karin Herman

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Posted in family & children, organization, photography, products, scrapbooking | 43 Comments »

Q&A: Tuesday

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

It’s been fun to see what’s on your mind. I’ll take a handful of your questions at a time and try to answer some all week long. Here we go!

Q: Do you have any suggestions for people who don’t get their photo taken because they are always taking the photos. I have tried getting my husband to take some but he doesn’t get those in the moment shots (which I love more).

A: You could always hand the camera over to your kids. Sure, they won’t get the most amazing composition and you are guaranteed to get a handful of blurry shots. But they will love that Mom’s letting them use the camera and they will take a LOT of pictures. And you will be in front of the camera for once! Of course you could hire a photographer too. But my favorite idea is to trade real-life photography with a friend. I’ve actually been thinking about doing this for a long time. You would have a friend come to your house for a couple of hours when there’s a lot of activity and she clicks away while you and your family just do what you do. She captures you in the essence of your roles and duties at home. And then of course you would do the same for her. Think of the documentation that results from such an activity.

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Q: How do you keep track of everything going on in your life? Do you use a big paper calendar? On-line calendar, notepads, etc?

A: We use iCal. It comes on every Mac computer. It has become the key to our scheduling coordination success. Seriously. I love it. And it syncs with our other computers, iPhone, iPod Touch, etc. So I could add something to iCal right now and David would see it on the calendar at work almost immediately. I especially love the color coding for categories. So our family stuff is red, birthdays are blue, church stuff is purple, work stuff is green and so forth. I am experiencing one of the very busiest times of my life and organized calendaring has never been so important. I’d show you a screenshot of our iCal as it looks right now, but that’s a bit personal. So here’s a screenshot I found online. You can learn more about iCal here.

I also keep a small notebook by my computer and sometimes it even follows me to bed. This is my place for random notes, ideas, sketches, lists, etc. For all areas of my life. I have learned that whenever ideas pop into my head, writing them down is the BEST thing to do with the ideas. What this does is frees my mind for better ability to think creatively because I’m not always trying to remember stuff. If I write it down, I don’t have to work hard to remember something. If I have to work hard to remember stuff, I am not able to clearly think about stuff. Get it?

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Q: I wonder if you’ve considered, now that you are not affiliated with any company or entity, writing a book on organizing? People read your blog for so many different kinds of ideas, not just scrapbook-related. I’d sure buy a book with chapters on organizing for a party, organizing for crafting, organizing nightly dinners (recipes), organizing your home/chores, etc. I’ll bet I’m not the only one who feels this way.

A: You’re sweet. I’m not that organized. I have a long way to go before I would feel like I could write a whole book on organizing, although I do love the subject. So I will continue to share my organizational thoughts & ideas here on my blog. Free of charge.

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Q: I always use your sketch books for my layouts. Your sketches were the only thing that kept me buying Creating Keepsakes mag. Are you going to be doing anymore sketch books ???

A: It makes me happy to hear how my sketches have helped scrapbookers. Thank you for sharing that. I think I have exhausted my mental supply of sketch ideas. But that’s not to say that you’ve seen my very last sketch. Next time I come up with one for a layout I’m working on, I’ll be sure to share it with you here.

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Q: Has cancer affected anyone close to you?

A: My brother, my dad, my grandmother, several extended relatives. Close friends. So, yes. It has.

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Q: Do you scrapbook everyday? I work full time and have four boys and am really struggling to find time. I’ve been scheduling scrap nights once a month with friends but I miss my scrap time! How do you do it?

A: Heck no. I’m struggling to find time just like you. In fact, I haven’t scrapbooked in months. Months. But I’m itching to do some catching-up in our kids’ books and am hoping to do that in the next month or so.

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Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have about 5 or 6 things to check off my to-do list before I do what’s next up on iCal. Meeting some girlfriends for a quick lunch. So excited to see a friend I haven’t seen in a while. Be back tomorrow.

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Posted in Q&A | 7 Comments »