Abandoned by Booklikes

Task 1:  Have you had any miracles in your life?  (Kids are a given.)  Just enough change for tolls?  Just enough gas to get you to the station?  Been tragically late for a flight only to find the flight was even more tragically delayed?  Nothing is too small - share your miracles with us!

After I found a lump a few years ago (back in 2013) I was scared to death. My mother died of breast cancer and every time I get my mammogram (which I have been doing since I was in my mid 30s since my mother was diagnosed when I was in my first year of college) I would just worry that I would get told that they found something.

I was asked a few years ago about doing genetic testing and I said no to that. I just rather deal with the here and now, and not sit and fret about something that may not come to be.

Anyway, I found a lump. And because I am an idiot I ignored it for about 2 months (no don't do this). I just hoped that it would go away. I finally sucked it up and went to my primary care physician who said, yeah that's a lump. They ordered an ultrasound which came back inconclusive and off to get a mammogram I went. At this point I just said, yep it's cancer, I am probably going to die. And I spent a lot of time randomly bursting into tears. I didn't tell anyone about it at first because I was so stressed about it.

After the mammogram came back though, they said nope, it's not looking like it's cancerous. They diagnosed it as being fatty breast tissue that had traveled to under my armpit (which apparently happens sometimes). So I felt like I got a great reprieve. Of course though after a year of dealing with the pain from the lump and it swelling up every month during my time of the month, I finally had enough and had it removed in 2014. They had to do a biopsy of that, and it turned out to be fine, they didn't find any cancer cells in my lymph nodes. So that's my miracle right there.  

Task 2: Light 9 candles each representing something you’re thankful for (share a picture with us; sharing anything else is optional).

Updated: 12/23/18

Task 3: Have a donut – and let us share it via a photo. Homemade donuts and shared recipes encouraged … but any donut will do just fine.

Here's my donut picture! 

Task 4: A miracle crucial to Hanukkah is the Miracle of the cruse of oil, which concerns a jug of oil that (ostensibly) only contained enough oil for a single day, but miraculously turned out to last all of eight days. – Miracles aside, tell us: Have you ever experienced that something you had bought or you owned lasted a lot longer than anticipated … or where you expected a shortage which then fortuitously didn’t occur after all?

Crisco is that for me. You get a regular sized can and that thing can last for ages. I think the longest one I had was almost for a year. I think it's because if you just use a regular tablespoon you end up having enough to just coat your pan all dang day. I used to love to watch my mom scoop up a ton to fry chicken in. And of course we take that grease and put it into an empty Crisco can that we also use for frying :-)

Book: Read a book about light, miracles, characters who are Jewish or books set in Israel.  OR: Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of the second temple in the second century; read the second book in a series or a book with the word “second” or “two” in the title.

Stumped on this one.