Prayers Please..

I shared earlier this week about my father passing away of cancer. He was one of 3 kids in his family (he was the oldest and was 40 when he died). My uncle was in the middle and my aunt is the youngest. A few years ago my aunt and my 2 young cousins moved in with my grandparents. Then my grandmother was diagnosed with ALS and passed away this past July. Losing my grandmother has not been easy on anyone in the family, especially for my grandfather and my 2 cousins who lived with her.

Then late at night this Tuesday (on the 7th anniversary of my dad passing) my aunt wasn't feeling well and went to the hospital. They found out that she has cancer, but she also has an infection in her blood that is causing organ failure. She is only 39 years old and as of this morning it doesn't look like she is going to make it to out of the hospital. So, I am asking if each of you could please say a prayer to help comfort my cousins who are only 14 and 16 as they might lose their mother right before Christmas and for my grandfather who has already buried his oldest son, his wife, and now is facing the possibility of losing his daughter too. It has been unbelievably hard on them and any prayers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you from the bottom of my heart <3

Chili Dogs

7 years ago today my father passed away. He was diagnosed with cancer on my 17th birthday and died 6 months and 5 days later. My parents have been divorced since I was just a baby and both were remarried, so I have always lived with my mom and step dad (who I call dad because he was the one who really raised me). We all used to live in Florida, but I moved a lot as I was growing up because of my step dad's job. My father always stayed in Florida and so I spent a lot of summers and holidays visiting. Our relationship was not perfect and the distance didn't help, but he was my father who I loved and no matter what I always missed him when I was away. I was beyond devastated when he got sick. I was going back and forth to Florida almost every other week those 6 months to be there for him as much as I could. Even though I regret some of the things that happened years before he got sick, I am so grateful that I was able to be there then and we were given that chance to work through everything. My dad's passing is not something that is easy for me to talk about, even with my husband, but not a day goes by where I don't think about him. While this time of year always reminds me of how hard it was losing him that Christmas, it also always makes me think of all the good memories we shared during the holidays and all throughout the years.

(the last Christmas I had with my dad)

When my dad was going through chemo he was sick a lot and became really picky about what he would eat. There were really only 2 things that he ever wanted to eat. One of those was food from a local Japanese steakhouse, once he got too sick to go out they even gave my step mom the recipes so she could make some of it at home for him. The second was chili dogs. Specifically with my mom's chili. He called one night begging for her recipe for the chili because he couldn't find anything else he liked as much. (I have to admit it is really good) I cannot eat a chili dog without smiling and thinking about him. So tonight I will be making chili dogs and thinking about my dad. <3