Spotlight on Art - Jeanette Lynton's Blog

Last week I received an email from Close to my Heart telling me that I had earned a spot in the Spotlight on Art segment of Jeanette Lynton's Blog!!!  I was completely BLOWN AWAY when I received the news!!!

I had submitted my Flakey Friends/Pun Fun cards using Dakota in late October and received a quick note 4 days later thanking me for my submission.  When I read the email, I figured that I had not been chosen.  SO much to my surprise when I checked my email last Tuesday, I had indeed been chosen and it was being featured THAT DAY!!  I was SO excited that someone could have slapped me and I would have still been smiling!  LOL

I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason....this could NOT have come at a better time in my life....

Let me explain why....

4 1/2 years ago in August of 2008, my SIL (my hubby's sister) was diagnosed with Leiomyosarcoma (uterine sarcoma) cancer.  When she was diagnosed, she was given 6 months to live which was devastating to us all!  She immediately had a complete hysterectomy and started her chemo treatments within the month.

Her first round of chemo treatments proved to be successful!  Her scans showed the cancer to be gone! But towards the end of that first year, her cancer had moved to her lungs and liver.  By November 2009 she was on her second round of chemo with the hopes of slowing down the growth.  She was told that any chemo treatment from here on out would be to extend her life, but that curing her cancer was not a possibility.

Over the next 3 years after many hours of research by not only the dr. but my hubby, they would try several different chemo treatments and even go on to try some trials that had shown success.   Some were successful at shrinking the tumors that had grown on her liver and her lungs.  But unfortunately that success was not long lasting as the cancer was spreading through her body like wildfire.  After trying radiation to shrink a mass in her abdomen, she stopped any and all treatments in the summer of 2012.

Rhonda was admitted to the Hospice House on Wednesday, November 21st 2012 and passed away 3 weeks later on Friday, December 14th 2012. She fought to the bitter end...as we expected she would!

When I received the notification of being featured in the Spotlight on Art, I was at lunch with my hubby after a LONG night at the Hospice House.  My heart was heavy and my eyes burned from the tears that kept welling up in my eyes that day.  Jeanette provided a BRIGHT moment in my day and words cannot express what it meant to me to be in the Spotlight during such a dark period in my life.  This moment will never be forgotten....

Rhonda as a toddler.

Rhonda's High School Graduation Photo

Rhonda's family at a Christian Convention in 2007.  Matt, Dan, Rhonda and Mandi.  

Rhonda with Rod (her brother and my hubby) at our daughter Rachael's graduation ceremony in May of 2012.

Rhonda attending Rachael's graduation party in June of 2012.  Rhonda was very sick when this photo was taken, but she was NOT about to miss her niece's graduation party.  

Thanks SO much for stopping by!!

I hope that this inspired you to submit your favorite art to Jeanette Lynton's Blog....

Happy Scrapping and Stamping!!!

Jen