What's Been Happening

This post contains a little bit of what's been happening here, lately...
David has begun working at his summer job, taking new responsibilities as part of the boats' crew. I've been getting up to make breakfast for him before he goes to catch the ferry to Seattle and on to work.

Our NYC Cosmopolitan magazine-editor friend, Anna, returned to Seattle to give two book readings. The one in Poulsbo at Liberty Bay Books was so much fun; Anna gave us a real look at the world of N.Y. publishing. We had so many questions that she didn't even have time to read from her book!

After the book event, we hosted a little party here so that Anna's local friends could gather, catch up with her and celebrate her success. Of course, I forgot to take any photos. Fortunately, Paul Dudley came (fresh from shooting a wedding, with his son Miles) and took this shot of Leslie, Shelli, me and Anna (holding her new book, "Wrecked"):

Pretty great stuff, considering we're a group of people who met through a camp for children who have cancer. This is not a depressing crowd!

Gregg is now working with suppliers from Spain and France. He is going to hand off the Italian work package, but still covers that when others are traveling or on vacation. He loves working with overseas suppliers and traveling to their plants.

I am sending out information about my book to nursing schools all across the country. I'm also working to shepherd the DVDs through the last few "gates" so that we can edit them further. The next step will be to share them with other hospitals and groups who want to/need to learn about family-centered care.

David worked overnight this weekend (a graduation cruise), and kind-hearted Laura and Tom invited him to "crash" at their house when he got off work at 3:00 A.M. (there is no ferry service at that hour). He never did go to sleep; Tom got up at 4:30 and they went golfing at dawn! Then they took the ferry & came over here for lunch; David went to bed after we ate, and slept for about 16 hours. Tom, Laura, Gregg and I went to the Harbour House Pub to raise a glass in honor of Laura's father, Moe Drabowsky (Sunday was the anniversary of his passing).

Due to mobile phone issues, I am now on my fourth Droid 3 this year. Each one has had a problem with one thing:  the camera, the keyboard, the opening/closing mechanism. Fortunately, this one seems to be okay. I've been testing the camera on each phone, and here are some of the results, tweaked (for fun) in Picasa:

Native Americans launching a canoe on the beach near our home

Latte insisted on taking a walk with us.
He went 1/2 mile and started panting like a dog,
so we turned around, and I carried him most of the way home.

We planted some new lavender.
There has been so much rain here that everything is growing like crazy.

I love playing with these photo filters.

Neighbors' roses make a nice contrast against their shed.

Maribeth made a lightning-fast visit to Poulsbo after her daughter's graduation from college. Taylor has accepted a job at Seattle Children's Hospital after graduating cum laude from Seattle U., and we couldn't be happier for her. After one day & night here (complete with our favorite Thai take-out dinner and a visit with Gregg, David and the cats), MB has returned to the city, and will be on her way back to Kansas tomorrow. It's always wonderful to sit on our couch and talk into the night, and then resume the discussion in the morning over coffee in our p.j.s. God was so good to bring us together 12 years ago, and to allow us to share our lives since then. She is a treasured friend.

The coming weekend will bring a visit from blog-friends from Ohio, and Father's Day celebrations. Meanwhile, back to work on marketing "Because of Katie."

Thank you for your orders from the Pampered Chef fundraiser, Elizabeth & Karen!

Twins

We delivered the video (and some books) to the hospital today. I feel as if I just gave birth to twins.

It's been a year since we began this project. Paul & I started filming here at our house last March, then filmed again, then interviewed eight members of Katie's care team, then edited, did a little voice-over, and then countless hours of editing on Paul's part...and we now have four videos of about an hour in length (each), telling our family's story, with a view to teaching family-centered care to medical professionals.

Look at these beautiful presentation boxes and covers that Paul made

Who thinks of things like this? Paul does. A book tie-in and individual photographic labels for each disc.

I have to say what an INCREDIBLY FABULOUS hospital we have here, and what INCREDIBLY FABULOUS people are at the helm. They not only embraced our project; they PAID Paul to make it (I didn't take a salary). What we have is something that we are both rather proud of making. It is Katie's story, our family's story, a gift of "thanks" to the hospital staff for all they have done to help each one of us. It is also a glimpse into how the staff were affected by knowing and treating Katie, and by her medical case. There are numerous "GOLD" teaching moments which blew us away as we were interviewing the team, and we hope and believe that those moments will be priceless in teaching new doctors (and other staff) what more-experienced staff (mentors) think and feel as they care for a patient who is critically ill.

After Katie passed away, I began to pray for meaningful work. As a full-time stay-at-home mom, my work was pretty much completed when David left for college. God, in His enormous grace, has given an answer to my prayer; Thank You, Heavenly Father. This video (and the book which came from it) comprise a work of heart that I couldn't have even imagined five years ago. I pray You will use it to bless Your children.

Thanks to Seattle Children's Hospital (especially Dr. Bruder Stapleton and Dr. Doug Diekema) and to Paul Dudley Photography for an opportunity and an adventure which has also become an education.

On a different topic:
Several wonderfully generous and thoughtful people brought flowers, wine and cards to the book event on Friday. I wish I knew who brought what, so I could thank each person properly, but I don't know who all of these wonderful folks are. To Reba: thank you for the card and flowers. To Angela: thank you for the card and flowers. To whoever brought the wine and flowers: thank you! If I missed anything or anyone, thank you!

This gorgeous glassybaby, called "Truffle," was brought by Janna, who I met through Camp Goodtimes. Thank you, Janna!

We Had a Blast...

All photos courtesy of Paul Dudley Photography (who else?)

...after I got through my nervousness!

The talk and book-signing event at the Loft at Latitude 47.7 in Poulsbo was lots of fun last night. We started with dinner for those who wanted to arrive early, so Gregg & I met a bunch of our Camp Goodtimes West peeps and ate dinner at a long table. I left a little early to get organized in the private room that the Loft provides for Liberty Bay Books' Author's Night events. Suzanne Droppert, the owner of the bookstore, really knows her stuff. She hosted NY Times Best-Selling author Kristin Hannah at the previous event - pretty impressive, particularly for an Indie-Bound bookstore in a small town!

Liberty Bay Books' owner, Suzanne Droppert with the book's poster and me (thanks to Cami Hattick for holding this for us)

The room was packed - estimated 90+ people - and some had to stand, when the seats filled up. All of the books were sold; I'm sorry to say that a group of people had to go away empty-handed, but more books are on order now.

The Loft provided a comfy easy-chair for me, and the gas fireplace added a cozy feeling to the room. There were flowers and tealight candles in the room, with a no-host wine bar. I spoke (had to read from note cards, which I detest, but it can't be helped), read excerpts from the book, and then opened it up for questions & answers. The audience asked great questions, which brought up topics dear to my heart (Katie's Comforters Guild, the Ben Towne Foundation, Dr. Michael Jensen's work at the Ben Towne Pediatric Cancer Research Center, the need for reform in adult medicine, hospice...). What a thrill, to have an open forum for such important topics! I couldn't have planned it any more perfectly.

A number of Katie's classmates attended, which meant a great deal to me. Paul & Suzanne both videotaped the event, so I may be able to post some of that here, eventually. Of course Paul was also recording all of the fun with his digital camera.

I see that I need a haircut

People are so kind. I was able to personalize and sign books, hug people, hear their stories and thank those who came. And after all was said and done, a few of us die-hards went to have a little after-party (hence the first photo).

I have to say that the Camp Goodtimes crowd performed brilliantly when Paul called out, "NINJA!" and they all replied "WHAAH!" in unison, with "Ninja! hands." It may have been a bit of a shock to the rest of the attendees, but that's how they roll. Their presence boosted my spirits and confidence.

To see so many of our neighbors and friends in the audience made it much easier to speak, though I still get terribly nervous. UGH...but it was worth it. My prayers that God's love would show through the event were answered, from what I could see. I'm deeply thankful to Him, to Katie, to our community and all of our family and friends who have been so supportive of us all throughout this journey. I'm exhausted, but happy!