Blog
Exploring what it means to live sincerely. Join in the discussion!
(To see updates specific to Vanessa and her health, please click here or on “V’s journey” in the menu at left.)
Pledges Update (9 months)
It was a bit over 9 months ago that we (Christina and Jessica) wrote the “Live Sincerely Pledge,” at about 3 in the morning. We were tired but inspired, having decided to shift our fear and worry over Vanessa’s then-becoming-apparent declining health, to what felt like a more purposeful and positive focus instead: framing in Continue Reading »
Seasons of a life
After our family Easter parties this year, I was drawn to look back at pictures from Easter last year. The difference in just one year, both in how Vanessa felt and acted, was staggering. Last year I remember her being a bit tired, but happily interacting with the kids and the extended family, hunting for Continue Reading »
Meatballs and grief
Sometimes, while so many thoughts are always swirling in my head, none of them are defined enough to come out yet. Other times I have a single topic that pops up to the top like a numbered lottery ball, and I am compelled to explore it in depth, with excessive word counts and grammar be Continue Reading »
Cancer is Ugly / Life is Beautiful
When Vanessa and Christina and I were little, we would sometimes play “fashion shoot.” To be specific, Vanessa was my always-willing model, and occasionally Christina would succumb to my oldest-sister domineering and also play along with us. Circa 1992(?), I present to you model Vanessa (at about age 11), with Christina (about 9 years old) Continue Reading »
Awesome love
Vanessa is retreating more and more to her own place in her head these days. Even if she is sitting with us in a room, it doesn’t mean she is participating in, or even aware of, whatever conversation is going on there. Her desire to talk at all is slowly shrinking (while she certainly still Continue Reading »
Finding home
“I need to go home,” she insists. “You are home, love,” I tell her. “No, home.” This is a memory from a few months ago, when it was two in the morning for the second time (daylight savings) and V was sobbing. After a hard night, she’d finally gone to bed, we thought, but then there she Continue Reading »
On Hope
As we’ve gotten through the holidays, and all the chaos and happiness and sadness that brought, I’ve been thinking a lot about hope, and about words. Vanessa says both more and less these days, compared to weeks/months/years past. On one hand, when we are out in public with friends or strangers, she can be incredibly Continue Reading »
Happy 2013!
We sincerely wish YOU a new year filled with love, laughter, hope, friendship, wisdom, health, discovery, joy and peace! Thank you so much for walking alongside us in 2012, and we are grateful to be able to travel onward together, wherever 2013 takes us. Such a gift is each single day we wake up into – Continue Reading »
Sixty-three ornaments
You may remember from Billy’s guest post how he and V went to Ten Thousand Villages and bought 21 years worth of Christmas ornaments to give to Max, Myles & Leo. That’s 63 ornaments! The basic idea is to have sets of ornaments that the boys, Vanessa’s three nephews, can open each year at Christmas. They’ll Continue Reading »
Pills, Bills, and Spills (Guest author: Billy)
The post that follows is from Billy / Bill / Billy-T, Billy Tiemeier, Vanessa’s husband. You probably haven’t heard a lot from Billy directly thus far in V’s story, because he’s (kind of) quiet like that and more a “working hard behind the scenes” kind of guy. He’s also kind and funny and patient and Continue Reading »