Good evening,

 Jeremy and I realized we have been quite remiss in sending out an update. 

We hope this message finds everyone doing well and enjoying the start to the spring season. We have certainly been soaking up the beautiful MN weather lately…all while chasing after countless  baseballs, footballs, tennis balls, soccer balls.  Did we get a puppy you may ask yourself?

Nope.

We just have a 6 year old energizer bunny 😝

Spring came in hot for our little family. We were graciously gifted some money from an anonymous DeLaSalle community member with strict instructions: go on a trip. So that’s what we did. We booked a week traveling through the low  country:  Charleston ➡️ Hilton Head ➡️ Savannah. It is an adventure that we will hold close to our hearts for many reasons. Just another example of how blessed we our to be supported and loved by our village. Highlights? Feeding stingray, spotting dolphins, eating bbq, Sullivan’s Island, ice cream cones, historical monuments, King Street, Spanish moss, chasing waves on the shore of the Atlantic. Too many to count…

We flew home and then Jeremy started his radiation treatment. He completed 10 sessions all while working and dealing with some radiation-induced seizure activity. Again,  proving to the world how resilient he is 💪🏼 

We will meet with Dr. Phillip’s for the next MRI scan follow up on 5/21/24. Living scan to scan sucks. But we are getting used to it by now. Things feel like they have settled a bit, maybe it’s the excitement of the new season. It’s easier to sit and dwell on thoughts when it’s cold out. Not so much when the sun is shining. 

Jeremy is still taking his two different chemo drugs daily. They tend to want to complete at least  6 “cycles” which would put us in the month of July-ish. We will obviously know more once we see what the scan looks like. We are hopeful that the radiation did what it was supposed to do: zap away the spots that weren’t necessarily responding to the chemo.

I wanted to share something  - I recently came  across an article by a man named Arnie Kozak called “Don’t try to avoid the Mud” - it struck a chord within me and I felt compelled to pass it on. Very zen like, being one with the “mud” // messiness of life.

( p.s. I won’t be offended if you stop reading right here and sign off…BUT if you stick around you’ll read something VERY exciting at the end!! 😉 ) - 

“During mud season, if I step in the puddles, my shoes and feet will get wet and my toes will ooze with mud. So, wanting to avoid the mess, I am tempted to make paths around the puddles. But this is not actually helpful. In fact, early in spring at Colchester Pond there is a sign that encourages hikers not to walk around the edges of the mud puddles but to go right through them. To skirt the edges prolongs the “wound” of the ground. The mud spreads to the edges of the trail and beyond, and if people keep avoiding the puddles, they will trample new growth. It makes the puddle bigger, tears up more of the grass that is just beginning to grow. 

Our tendency is to avoid the messiness, and by doing so the mud puddle spreads.

In our own lives, it’s always mud season. There are always messy, mucky situations that we must walk through: the difficult conversations that we are avoiding, the medical issues, the problems that we need to address at work. Our tendency may be to postpone and avoid, defer, and deflect, maybe even deny there is a problem at all. But if we try to avoid the situations of our lives, the “wounds” get bigger.

Still, we’d rather avoid the mud.

To do what we need to do but have been avoiding is like walking through the mud puddle: our shoes are going to get wet, and our feet dirty, with mud in between our toes and maybe even splashed on our clothes. If we can feel the tendency to avoid the mud, pause, and breathe into it, we can start to overcome it. We can accomplish what we need to get done and do it without our minds spinning out stories of fear, retaliation, and disaster. And, by being mindful, we can take care of the situations of our lives with less anguish. The mud becomes more matter of fact, more part of the normal course of life.

Of course, we don’t want to go out of our ways to create messes! Life gives us enough challenges without our needing to create fresh mud deliberately. We also don’t want to charge into the puddles without considering the consequences first. Opening to the mud is not carelessness but a willingness to confront the situations that need to be confronted. The timing needs to be right and we need to be in the right frame of mind—a mindful one can be helpful.

It might also be helpful to remember that, as children, we probably loved puddles and splashing in them. We hadn’t yet learned an adult’s dislike of mess and disorder. The mindful approach to mud puddles invokes that fearless child who isn’t bothered by the messiness. With mindfulness, we know that if we get hot, we sweat; if we get cold, we shiver; if we walk through mud, we get dirty. Curiosity triumphs over aversion. The mud doesn’t have to diminish our sense of wellbeing. All it means is that we might have to change our shoes and wash our feet!”

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

 Okay so if you’re still here….👏👏👏

I wanted to make sure that I shared a really beautiful thing that happened last week. Jeremy was named the recipient of the 2024 Liemandt Teacher of Excellence Award at DeLaSalle High School. Myself, Eddie, and some of our family members got to surprise Jeremy while his name was called at the Founder’s Day Mass that the whole school was attending. It was such a magical moment for a magical man who has put so much blood, sweat and tears into his work. We are so proud of him!!!!!!! 

 And with that, I’ll share some pictures  of “life lately” 😘

We continue to be humbled by all the love and support that has filled our home and our hearts. We are indebted to so many. 

Much love to all, we will report back after the 21st. 

-The Zavitz crew