In November, the Heritage Makers Pick of the Month is calendars…now available in two sizes!
Calendars make excellent holiday gifts for friends, neighbors, and family. Order today and get incredible savings on the hottest calendars around.
Want to make an awesome calendar quickly? Check out these fun templates. You can make a calendar in as little as 10 minutes!
Eh, Canadians! We’ve got some great news for you…just released Canadian art! We hope you have a great time designing Heritage Makers themed projects.
Oh wow! Heritage Makers just released today the most beautiful new holiday cards. Designer Jill Means shares 24 gorgeous cards for us. And, the best part…they can all be created in Basic, for FREE! Start creating your holiday cards today. Your cards are sure to be hung the entire holiday season.
Here’s a peak at some of the new cards.
To see all 24, go to the Heritage Makers template gallery and search “Jill Means.”
No tricks, but lots of treats at Heritage Makers! From all of us at the home office, we wish you and your ghouls and goblins a very Happy Halloween!
Rebecca Parker, Bergen Fairbanks, and Linda Noack
Brit Murdoch spreading peace and love.
Brytt Cloward, aka one half of Bill and Ted.
Elvis has taken up residence in Chris Lee’s office.
Ian Parker landed long enough to take some CS calls.
Jerry Senninger frightened many a Heritage Maker.
Marshyl Cloward looks so studious as a nerd.
The spooky Heritage Makers office.
Stay safe, have fun, and most importantly…take lots of pictures for your next storybook! Happy Halloween!
Cancer Sucks:
My head was cold. My menses stopped—one plus, if it was temporary. Will I be fertile after? This cancer had really interrupted my life! Treatment and recovery really forced me to have a more inward focus. My sense of taste had changed to bland everything. I didn’t care about receiving holiday presents; I just wanted to feel normal again.
I thought of chemo as the “big cleanse” but toward the end it was like torture. The anxiety and dread were overwhelming. If I hadn’t had friends who had taken off work to drive me, I would not have made it to my treatments.
Keep Living and Celebrating:
I was determined not to let my treatment prevent me from the celebrations that had been scheduled long in advance. Ethan and I went to
The city did overwhelm me, and I couldn’t do all the walking around that we would normally do. But it was a great trip to have before I started my second chemo drug, and it worked out that I was feeling good that weekend.
Extending My Hobbies:
I’d done a triathlon, but something was still missing: music. I joined a local women’s choir. It has been wonderful to sing with over 100 women each week. It has even improved my breathing when I swim.
Since having a baby was postponed, I really enjoyed playing with my friend’s newborn, Sebastian. Seb and I got hair together.
My friends Lisa and Dave got married and the Komen 2005 Race for the Cure happened again in October. Alicia and Debbie made it to walk with me.
I got to visit with my brother’s family fall 2005, and captured a few days in the youth of my niece and nephew. Getting back to my photography hobby helped me to feel normal again.
Will I Live?
Thanks to improved screening and treatments, breast cancer is not the death sentence it once was. Still, my cancer journey was not all flowers and snowcapped peaks. Will we have a family together; will we grow old together? Life after cancer is uncertain and you need to keep living.
Many tears have been shed and many more arise as the 3 month checkups come and go. “Suspect areas” on MRI’s elicit more biopsies. Even though I feel great, there is still a lot of emotion and stress surrounding doctor visits and test results. Currently, I’m all clear. I keep going day by day.
The Unexpected:
I didn’t expect to love Ethan even more. We make conscious efforts to love each other in small ways every day. We know that the proverbial forever is not necessarily a given 50+ years.
Storybooking is a celebration of life. Celebrate yours today.
Need help getting started? Choose a cancer awareness template: Cancer Survival Story (feminine) or Cancer Survival Story (masculine). Or pick from our wide selection in the Template Gallery.
Changes:
No one plans on getting a chronic illness. When you are faced with “the news,” you have a choice. As singer/songwriter Holly Near asks, “Do you pick fascination or fear?”
I certainly had a lot of anxiety and fear. However, I found that getting curious and understanding more about my illnesses helped me. In reflection, I now realize how much I have forgotton and how much I have chosen fascination.
Summer 2004:
I was celebrating being stable mentally after experiencing a manic episode in the fall of 2002 and finding out I had Bipolar Type 1 disorder. My husband, Ethan, and I were talking more seriously about starting a family. Then we found a lump on my left breast. I was told to watch it, assured that I was young with no family history. I was happy to ignore it. Later that summer a lump under my left armpit got my attention and within four days both lumps were removed and it was confirmed that I had all receptor negative breast cancer.
In shock, because I felt really healthy. In shock because that is how I deal with trauma. I had a lumpectomy and axial node dissection which showed that five of 21 lymph nodes removed were infected with cancer. I was diagnosed stage 2a, faced four months of Faxotere and A/C, had another re-excision in January, and had radiation in February and March for six weeks. Those are the medical details. To follow is my personal journey.
Off with the Hair:
I didn’t want to wait for my hair to fall out. I donated my 10 inches of hair to Locks of Love, a nonprofit that makes wigs for kids and adults with hair loss. My friends Esther and Josh had just bought a pair of shears to use on Josh’s head. Esther “practiced” on me first, since I wanted it all off.
I learned the true meaning of Take Care:
With my hair off and wig and hats waiting and ready, I felt prepared for chemotherapy. I was very scared heading into the first round of chemo. I attended a breast cancer support group and it helped to hear other women’s stories. I met with a doctor that specialized in holistic cancer treatment and recommended a slew of supplements; I found an acupuncturist; I signed up my girl friends to drive me to my chemo appointments; I scheduled massages every 2 weeks.
Taking care of yourself comes in many forms and often can seem overwhelming. I so appreciated Ethan’s ability to let me be however I was feeling at the time and take care of himself too.
To be continued…
Storybooking is a celebration of life. Celebrate yours today.
Need help getting started? Choose a cancer awareness template: Cancer Survival Story (feminine) or Cancer Survival Story (masculine). Or pick from our wide selection in the Template Gallery.
Now you can do so much more with your Heritage Makers photo storage system. Not only can you upload photos and store them into albums, but now you can organize those albums into folders.
To the left of the screen is where you can organize all your photos. Make multiple folders and multiple albums. Plus, you can do so much more.
My sister, Chelsea, had waited until a little later in life to find love. She was 35 when she started dating Matt. They quickly fell in love and a few months later, were engaged.
After finding out about the cancer,
Exactly one week before her wedding, my sister started to lose her hair. She decided to have a head shaving party and we all took turns cutting out chunks of hair. She even tried out a Mohawk before shaving it down to bare skin. I was quite impressed at how good she looked bald, and even more impressed with the way she handled it.
One week later, she was getting ready for her wedding. It was a bitter sweet moment—my mom helping her with her dress and wig. She’s always changed her hair so often that no one would have known the difference. But, of course, they already knew what had happened. I was sure that she would pull the wig off during the reception, (you’d have to know my sister to understand) but to my surprise, she didn’t. It was a beautiful night!
After the wedding, they decided to postpone their honeymoon until
So far, the cancer has not returned, but she’s not out of the woods yet. She had a very aggressive type of cancer, and nearly all the risk factors that make it worse. I know she’ll continue to worry as each check up rolls around. But even if it does return, I know she’ll be ready to fight again. She has stayed strong through this whole process, and it has changed her forever. I’m very proud of the way she’s handled herself, never losing faith that God would pull her through this. I hope that if I ever have to face my own battle with cancer, or any other illness, I can do it as well as she has.
It’s beginning to feel a lot like…Holiday Shipping Dates!
Order your Heritage Makers gifts by the date below in order to receive items by December 24, 2009.
Storybooks:
November 30 (First Class)
December 3 (Standard)
December 7 (Express)
Other products:
November 30 (First Class/Direct Ship Cards)
December 3 (Standard)
December 7 (Express)
Storybooks:
December 2 (Ground and Priority)
December 7 (Two-day)
December 10 (Next day)
Other products:
December 11 (Ground and Priority)
December 14 (Direct Ship Cards/Two-day)
December 16 (Next day)
The second evening in the hospital, you were watching TV with Dad and you said that your eye felt funny and that you couldn’t see out very well. I reported it to the nurse and within a few minutes it was like an emergency room. Doctors were there and they were discussing what to do. You were losing sight in your left eye. They decided to start chemo early as your tumor was a very aggressive one.
Mommy and Daddy asked our bishop to come say a special prayer with you. In the morning you felt so much better and I said, “You know why you are feeling so much better don’t you? It is because of these nurses and doctors…”
You cut me off and said, “No, Mom. It is because of…” and pointed to the heavens. You inspired us through this whole struggle. You led the way with your ability to believe.
Daddy hated to leave you and Mommy each night. He had to go take care of Ryleigh and go to work to earn money. But as he left each night, he said something that also inspired us: “Teague, remember that you have the heart of a lion, the strength of an elephant, and you are my hero.” At age six you loved animals and I think this helped you to know just how strong you were.
After about a week you were again well enough to get up and play a little. There were bikes you could ride for fun. We called you “Fonz” as you were the only one on the floor with hair. The chemo treatment seemed to be working as you started to breathe through your nose again!
So many people were kind to us. Cards, gifts, money, and even shaving their heads to support us! We posted a blog at caringbridge.org so loved ones could stay in touch.
I will always remember how you were hooked up to your pole. You didn’t like that and would complain that I couldn’t keep up when you rode the bike and you preferred dad to follow you with your pole.
You stayed in the hospital for about a month before you were allowed to come home. You usually were home for a week and then you’d get an infection and be back in the hospital again. We lived about 40 minutes from the hospital and if you ever got a fever we had to have you in within an hour.
You played hard when you were home! We would need to go in to get you a blood transfusion and you’d be running all over the playground!
After having a really hard six weeks of radiation the Yankees came to town and life was good again! Daddy & Uncle Ron made it possible for you sit in the dugout during batting practice! You met all the Yankee greats. They signed a ball just for you. It was the best day!
Daddy’s friends joked, “How did
Storybooking is a celebration of life. Celebrate yours today.
Need help getting started? Choose a cancer awareness template: Cancer Survival Story (feminine) or Cancer Survival Story (masculine). Or pick from our wide selection in the Template Gallery.
