My family could use your prayers right now, if you’re the prayin’ type.

 

A week ago my mom had a biopsy, and on Friday night she called to let me know that she has Stage Zero Breast Cancer. 

UGH.  Stupid Cancer! Grrr…

The good news, however, is that they doctor caught it early.  Stage zero is pretty good…I guess (as if anything about having cancer could be remotely “good”).  She’ll go in for an operation in a week, and then endure 6 weeks of radiation after that.  They doctor is hopeful that after the treatments they cancer will be 100% eradicated, but they will be watching her for the rest of her life to see if this beast rears its ugly head again. 

 

And another prayer request:

Right now my brother and his wife are at Stanford having their baby, whom was diagnosed several months ago with Hydranencephaly.  This is a crazy disorder where there are sacs of fluid instead of a brain.  This child may only live moments or days…we have no idea…so we all are waiting on pins and needles as they are in the hospital.

 

I REALLY TRY TO KEEP IT DRAMA-FREE around here, but this is quite the exception.

Like I said–if you’re the praying type–The Semsen family would appreciate your prayers.

Thank you, friends!

I believe in marriage.  I believe in commitment and faithfulness, and I KNOW that you have to WORK on it for it to work.   Christy and I are coming up on 11 years of marriage, so I have me a little experience in these things…a little.

One of the guys over at Addison Road recently posted a great blog about what he and his wife do in order to get some alone time on a regular basis.  You can click over to the original post, or just read it below.

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(Originally posted by Mike Lee on Addison Road)

I got an email from a friend today, and it started me thinking about the things we do that build relationships, particularly marriage relationships. We’re in that stage where kids and careers are stealing away time from just the two of us, and we have to be more “on purpose” with almost everything in our lives.

So, here’s the big questions: what’s one thing you do, one habit or ritual, that builds up your relationship with your significant other.

Gretchen and I have struggled for years to figure out how to get regular time together. Date nights are great, but they end up being more expensive than we can really afford right now. Instead, we do a once-a-week “Late Dinner”. We feed the kids crap food at 5, let them have a movie night until 8, then one of use gets them to bed and the other starts cooking. We cook good food, we relax with no time pressure, and we talk in the kitchen while we do it. We sit down at maybe 8:30 or later, and we have a slow dinner. No kids, no distractions, just time to sit and talk.

It’s a new ritual, but so far, I think it’s our best habit. And it’s on my mind because I’m missing it tonight for a crap gig. Sorry, love.

What’s your best habit?

You could consider me one of the “regulars” at my local Starbucks.  I go there a lot, and I like the Starbucks partners that work there–they are cool, and super friendly.  In fact, if someone asked me if the customer service at my Starbucks was good, I would respond with “NO, it’s GREAT”.  They usually spot me in line and start my drink, even if there are a few people ahead of me.  They know me by name, and they engage me in light, friendly conversation most of the time.  It’s pretty wonderful.

 

BUT the other day one of the partners did something that went SOOOOOOOOOO far above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to customer service…it completely blew me away and I think deserves some recognition (from all 7 of you that still read this thing, HAHA).

 

A month or two ago Starbucks released Iced Via–sweetened instant coffee that dissolves easily in cold water or milk. 

 

I tried it with water and it was OK, but I was SOLD on it when I tried it with nonfat milk and shaken.  THAT was the ticket!  So I became a regular purchaser of this stuff and decided to also get one of the Iced Via Tumblers.  A good purchase, but the tumbler was pretty fragile and broke after I had it for only a few days.

 

 

So I brought it to my store and mentioned it casually to one of the baristas…he told me to exchange it for another…and then the dude reached over to grab their last one and accidentally dropped it on the ground and it broke…EPIC FAIL! HA…so I was out of luck for the time being.  He told me to check back in a few days and they should have some more…and I did…And then they told me that the warehouse locally was out of them and they were TRYING to order more, but there were none…so I kept checking back, day after day…

“Did you get the tumbler yet?”

“No…sorry…warehouse is still out…”

 

This happened for a few weeks…

 

In preparation for the eventual re-stock of the tumbler at my store, I drove around with my broken tumbler in the trunk of my car, waiting for the day when they would finally arrive…I EVEN tried to return the tumbler at a DIFFERENT Starbucks, unsuccessfully.

 

So I walk into my Starbucks this past Friday and one of the baristas–who we will now refer to as Marcie (because that is her name) says to me, “Oh, did anyone tell you that we got a tumbler here for you?”

“What? You DO?!?”

“Yes, we have an Iced Via Tumbler for you so you can finally exchange it.”

“No, no one told me.  THAT’S GREAT!!!! What happened?! How did you get it?”

“Well…”

 

AND HERE IS THE CRAZY-AMAZING PART…

Marcie continues…

 

“I was at a Starbucks near my house, and I noticed they had the tumblers in stock, so I bought one, brought it to this store, returned it so I got my money back, and kept it in the back with your name on it.”

 

(TOTAL SHOCK AND AMAZEMENT)

 

 

I went on to profusely thank her and tell her how totally thoughtful that was…and I JUST WANTED TO SHOUT IT TO ALL THE STARBUCKS CORPORATES that read my blog (and I’m sure they all do) that at the Burbank Rancho Marketplace Starbucks (on Alameda) you have an employee that went SO FAR out of her way for a total stranger/customer.    

It made my day, of course…

 

Hats off to you, Marcie-from-Rancho-Marketplace-in-Burbank…you rock.