Mom and Dad were away from their home pretty much all of last week (celebrating their anniversary, various meetings, etc) and then came up to Rochester Sunday night and stayed with us that night.  Mom had a couple of appointments at Mayo Clinic about her cancer diagnosis and treatment -- I realize that I haven’t given any details about Mom’s cancer.  Maybe I will at some other time.  Basically, she’s been going through radiation and chemotherapy in Ames, Iowa to treat cancer in her lungs and brain.  She’s a trooper and really a saint.  I know I wouldn’t handle everything even remotely close to as well as she is and does.  She’s so strong and optimistic in the face of a very real and scary thing -- and she’s hanging in there.  Anyway, it’s been a whirlwind tour since her diagnosis not long ago... an exhausting tour for her on so many levels.  Chemo and radiation every day, continuing teaching piano lessons and all her church responsibilities and EVERYTHING else that she always does.  Mom is a “care for others” type of person, and never stops long enough to be CARED for herself.  So anyway, while she and Dad were away from the house, an entire army of friends and loved ones from church and from their neighborhood, organized themselves, and sacrificed their own time, expertise and resources to completely remodel the upstairs bathroom, and did it all without her knowing -- or she would have fought it out of concern for “inconveniencing” anyone.  Now, this in itself is amazing.  They all wanted to do something to show their love and support for Mom, and to maybe help transform her bathroom into a bit of a “haven”.  But, in order to REALLY appreciate how incredible this heart-felt makeover really was, you’d have to understand what the bathroom was like BEFORE.  Let me try to describe it. 

Mom and Dad have redone just about everything in the house over the years since we moved there in 1990 -- new carpet, tile, windows, paint, furniture, cabinets and kitchen countertops etc... BUT, the one thing that has been left was the upstairs bathroom.  They have replaced elements of the bathroom like the toilet and stuff, but the vanity has always been in pretty bad shape, and I think it embarrassed Mom a bit to have guests go into there sometimes.  The counter top was this terrible puke-olive green formica with a huge chunk broken off of it in one spot exposing the wood underneath.  The single sink was old and pretty cruddy and the faucets and stuff were old and boring too.  The medicine cabinets were old and banged up dark wood, the floor was 1970’s era linoleum, and the laundry shoot located on the wall above and behind the toilet had no door... literally just a square hole in the wall.  The bathtub and shower were also pretty old and the bathtub drain lever thingy didn’t work.  So now that I’ve given a decent description of the bathroom BEFORE the makeover... let me show you what it looks like now... and these photos won’t even do it justice...

...again, these photos don’t even come close to doing this justice.  Mom called me on the phone when she got home last Monday night.  She cried as she told me about her new bathroom and how beautiful it was.  She’s wanted a new bathroom for so long, and has deserved one for even longer -- Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to this.  We really are so blessed and fortunate to have such caring people in our lives.  It meant more to Mom than you can know.  Thank you all.