Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day!

I would like to wish all the Mom's I know a Happy Mother's Day. I know that today can be a hard day - you want your kids to act perfect, the house to stay clean (dream on!) and everything to be just like it is in the movies (again, dream on).

However sometimes life gets in the way of that and your kids fight and pick at each other, the house will look like a bomb went off by the end of the day because "it's your day off and you don't want to pick up all the crap they drag out over and over".

But then you look at their beautiful faces and know that it is all worth it.

I would like to share with you the gift that Jade gave to me this year. For a photo class at school she had to make a slideshow as her final project. The video above is the finished result that she presented to me this morning.

For those of you who don't know we have a little girl - McKenna, who would now be 12. She was diagnosed with an inoperable brian tumor (diffuse pontine glioma) three days after her 4th birthday. This was also three weeks after we found out that I had breast cancer. We did our radiation together and then I underwent 6 months of chemotherapy. We knew from the start that our time with her was limited and there was nothing they could do for her. So we decided that we would make the best of the time we had with her and make every day count. Isn't that what we should always do with all of our children?

McKenna fought this horrible disease valiantly until the end - which for us came way too fast. She passed away 1 year after she was diagnosed. This slide show is dedicated to her and her memory.

Happy Mother's Day!

Love,

Jana

5 comments:

The Queen Bee said...

Thanks, I'm bawling, just bawling! I miss McKenna.
Jade that was a great gift, you're very thoughtful. McKenna would be proud of you. LOVE JBE

Michal said...

i'm bawling too. i think about you so often, jana, and all that you've been through in your family. thank you for your wonderful example to me. i know that mckenna is near you, watching your family and helping where she can. what a sweet legacy of love and faith she left behind.

Front Porch Friend. said...

Well, I'm crying now, too. Jade must be my siamese twin in another life. I love making movies like that, and I love watching them even more! The song was PERFECT!
McKenna is perfect, too. What a great blessing to have known her!
Your family is awesome!

The Red Hen said...

Julie, Michal & Joy,
Thanks for your comments. I know that the video was really personal, but I felt so touched that Jade would think of me on Mother's Day and "know" how much I miss her - especially on that day.
Thank you all for being so wonderful to me.

iamwonderwoman said...

What a BEAUTIFUL tribute to you as a mother to such a wonderful child, Mckenna was. Thank you for being such a great example and inspiring me to live in the moment and for hugging my children a little longer each day.

Elisa