Happy New Year!

Well, what a year here at The Hammond House! Brent and I moved in to our home at the end of January. We decided to open our home to guests and hoped to get bicycle traffic from the High Trestle Trail we recieved so much more than that!  February brought work on the house, beds, bedding, towels, decorations, appliances and dishes. Our first guests came the week of Valentines. They were in town for a family funeral. We are sorry for their loss but we are glad that we could give them a place to stay!  We added a couple of things to the rooms after having them as we asked their opinions and we value that very much!  The last part of February wasn't as pleasant as having our first guests.  I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer on February 22. I had surgery on February 27, which removed the nasty tumor and resected my colon.  March came and work on the house began. The electrical was updated, new bathroom added in the basement, then central air added to the main floor and second floor.  Oh, we also brought home our baby Porsha! What a treat she has been! Love her to pieces! Before I go on, i want to say a few thank yous. First to my husband, without his love and support I couldn't have made it through treatment!  Also to my children Maddie, Robbie and Jordan. They are the best that any mom could ask for! They took care of me!  My dad, thank you for calling me everyday checking on me.  Tawny Longnecker, thank you for your support and the meals you made for us!  Cindy Rolow, what can I say...truly a great friend! Thank you for the cards that you sent me every week during treatment! My sister in law Lora Selix for also sending many cards! I appreciated all of them!  Pastor Heidi, thank you for your visits and the all important prayers!  Charlyn Mason, thank you for meals, cupcakes and your friendship! Thank you to Darcey Schulte and Julie McCarty. Both were surprise visitors during my hospital stay and supportive friends!  Emily Johnson, thank you for your gifts and love! Thank you to the Slater community for all the prayers and support!  We had so much support from family and friends it was truly amazing! The end of March brought chemotherapy which quite frankly was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I have an awsome oncologist at John Stoddard and was treated so well by everyone there and at Methodist hospital.  April was consumed with chemo every other week and not feeling well at all.  May was busy with chemo and getting ready for Maddie and Gered's wedding. Tawny, Maddie's bridesmaids and I had a lovely tea party shower for her at our house.  Brent and I were also honored to have Joseph Houge's granddaughter and great grand daughter stay with us! Joseph was the original owner/builder of our home.  With June came the wedding and the start of many guests. Chemo was put on hold for the wedding and then my counts being very low.  The summer was awesome with all the guests we had. I don't think we really knew how busy we would be! A short hospital stay at the end of June left Rob and Brent to take care of guests we had. I received a nice email from the guests letting me know how much they enjoyed their stay and what a wonderful job Rob and Brent did!  Finally by my birthday in September our chemo journey came to an end. We celebrated with many friends and it was wonderful!  It may sound weird for me to say this but, one thing came from my diagnosis that I'm happy about. Brent and I met Craig and Shirley Phinney from Ankeny and founders of Cops Against Cancer. They both do wonderful work for others!  I'm happy to call them friends and we are looking forward to giving our time next year to help their organization. If you get a chance look it up online and read Craig's story about his journey and what the organization does for others going through cancer!  October was filled with guests from all over! We can say that our farthest from home guest was a visiting professor from Japan. He was very interesting and we enjoyed his company! November was a little slower but as busy as we had been it was ok to have a break. We celebrated our first Thanksgiving with family here at home. A few groups had their gatherings here and I enjoyed them a lot! Christmas was amazing and  we had a lot to be thankful for. As 2013 comes to end we are thankful to God above for giving us another year of family, friends old and new and finally our health! May 2014 bring all of you happiness and good health! Live life to the fullest as we never know what's around the next corner! 

Love to all,

Marcia and Brent

November and December

Since my last post I have been crazy busy! Thanksgiving was wonderful with a house full of family and Brent and I's first one in The Hamoond House!  The bottom picture is from our Thansgiving table. We even had guests.  Which was great!  The next two pictures are of our Christmas tree and a pastry that was available to the ladies that came to the house for brunch this week.   We have had several groups in for tours and love showing off our home.