A Bitter Sweet Weekend

Yes, I must explain the title of my post. Forgive me as it may seem a ramble.  There is a point, bare with me.


My sweet niece, Ashley Kate is in the PICU at Omaha, NE.  She had gone into severe rejection with one of her transplanted organs.  On July 30th, the transplant team had to go in and remove all except 3 inches of her intestine and 3 inches of the donor intestine.  My brother, Chuck, older sister, Kathy, and I grabbed some clothes and a toothbrush and rushed to Omaha, so Trish and my brother-in-law, Dave would not be alone. We made it right after they took her back.  We stayed the entire weekend and arrived back home Sunday night.  (So, there is the very BITTER.  Wait there is more to come.)

Monday morning I had to go cake supply shopping (Why does that always take for ever?).  I had only one order for a customer, a smash cake, 100 sugar cookies, and a 3 tier cake to do for my niece who was turning 5 on August 4th.   Wednesday afternoon, as soon as I took cakes out of the oven, I ask my customer if she could pick up her order 2 days prior to the original date.  Unfortunately, she decided to cancel after I spent money and time working on her order.

Of course, I needed to get back to Omaha with the cookies and cake for my niece.  So, I pressed on and finished my sisters order.  On August 6th, we left at 10:30 a.m. for Omaha and the 7th celebrated Ashley's birthday.   About 90 people, including family and friends made it to Omaha for Ashley. That was such a blessing, and the SWEET part.  When I saw Ashley, I thought, she did not look right, but was still beautiful. (I chalked it up to she was scared of all the people and still had not recovered from her ex-plant.)  Sunday morning came, packed up and ready to go home, we drove to the hospital to say goodbye.  On our way there I received a text:  They had to take Ashley back into the O.R.  That was so scary knowing my thoughts at the party.  I was so grateful we had not left yet and were able to be there once again for my sister and Dave.  They did not find what they were looking for, but an ugly infection from the prior surgery.  Ashley is still battling the infection.

I'm not looking for sympathy, just your prayers. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is...Even though you have no clue is going on in someones life and they should never have "cake" conflicts, don't rush to judgment.  Sometimes life just happens.  Remember, it is not in their control, just as it is not in yours.

(If you would like to know what is going on with Ashley Kate, her blog is ashleyadamsjournal.blogspot.com)  "She will leave finger prints all over your heart."


Thank you for allowing me to ramble, I know this is a cake blog, so I'm happy to post CAKE and COOKIES.  I have already put it on Cake Central.  There are over 100 favorites of her cake and that made me smile.  I hope you enjoy the cake as much as I enjoyed the privilege to make it. 

Have a blessed week.

Smash Cake

Under the Sea (front)

Under the Sea (back)

2nd Tier

"Ashley's Place"

"Bob" the Blue Fish

(yes, I named them and gave them a voice!)

"Clown" Fish (Notice the big red noses and wig!)

"Sam" the Swordfish (Poor guy lost his sword fight)

"Red" the Crab, "Orion" the Starfish & Mr. Puffer 

"Lola" the Kissing Fish (Love those lips!)

See the clam?  It has a pearl too!

"Grandpa" the Octopus

Funny Flamingo Cookies

Party with Palm Trees

Fat Fish