God is really doing something big!

Interesting! It has 5 1/2 years since I've written in this blog! Much has happened. We have two adorable grandsons! Yes, grand-parenting is amazing! One boy is 2 1/2 and the other 6 1/2 months. They are so cute at every stage! I love every minute with them, and can't get enough of them! Also, I have a new employer: another religious publisher in town. I started 4 1/2 years ago. I'm not in an editor position as I formerly had in the career I lost, but am doing production editing. I get to work on children's products and that can be fun. Some days I work puzzles, make crafts, and color! I do enjoy that! The main reason I decided to resurrect the blog is to provide updates on the health of husband David and me. The last six months have been crazy! I suffer back pain that seems to have no cure. Surgeons say I'm not ready for surgery, which is fine. I don't want surgery. I've long seen a chiropractor, which offers minimal help. And I've gone through the gamut of injections and other procedures, which has done little. In October I saw a new surgeon to get a fresh perspective. A few days later, on my birthday, I had an MRI on my back. Then after getting back to work that day, I received a call to return to the doctor's office immediately. They said the scan showed something unusual. It turns out they saw a large tumor, probably attached to my right kidney. Now any attention to my back trouble would have to take a back seat. Happy birthday to me! I had surgery December 7 and did well. They removed the tumor and the kidney. After 4 days in the hospital, they released me, and I went to stay at my Mom's, since David was at school during the days. My time at Mom's was fun. I was there about 12 days, I think. And I believe she enjoyed mothering me! I know I enjoyed it. We sometimes plan for me to hang out with her some weekend to return to those days! In January I saw an oncologist and he prescribed my treatment plan: surveillance! No chemo or medical trial, but a watch-and-wait plan. I'll have a scan in July to see if cancer returns. The day after my surgery, David was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma! He had seen a pulmonologist in the spring for his coughing. The doctor thought he had fibrosis from an earlier illness, but no treatment required. Then in October David had pneumonia, which required an X-ray to diagnose it. After he was over it, the doctor had him have another X-ray to confirm the pneumonia was gone. It was, but the scan revealed a couple of unexplained spots. The spots had originated from the melanoma he had had two years ago when he had a mole removed from his back. David has since been seeing an oncologist and been part of an immunotherapy treatment plan, plus had a little radiation. He began infusion right after Christmas and has had it every three weeks. The infusion isn't like chemo to kill the tumors, but chemicals that encourage the body to attack the tumors. He had a scan two weeks ago to see if there has been any improvement. Unfortunately, the answer wasn't cut and dry, but only indicated activity, which is the tumors being attacked. The plan is to keep getting infusions for the next few months until they scan again and make another determination and treatment plan. David has held up well, despite the side effects. The first side effect was a rash, which has been extremely itchy. And his cough is increased and he has many times of extreme exhaustion. He struggles with keeping an appetite. Unfortunately, this has caused him to lose over 25 pounds. I know this is all1 frustrating for him. I'm so thankful for daughter Natalie, son Zach, and daughter-in-law Marie. They have been such great support. And because I was still fragile after surgery (29 staples for the 13-inch zipper-like incision down my middle), Zach and Marie accompanied David to his first appointment. They all have attended some of his subsequent meetings and appointments so this new information is absorbed and comprehended! Whoever heard of a husband and wife being diagnosed with cancer at the same time?! I think it is interesting how my kind of cancer and treatment allows me to be fairly healthy (after surgery) while he's doing treatments. I know God is doing something big! Our job is to wait and watch! We are taking each day one at a time, and letting Him handle it all! He's got this! He knew we'd go through this. Some of my favorite sayings/Scripture are: "In my distress I called to the Lord and He answered me" and "I'll make it because He carries me." So we carry on. Life is a little less hectic, because on some days we just can't do what we want to do. We've missed church and Sunday School, as well as other services and gatherings. I was out of orchestra for a while, and continuing attendance is hit or miss. I had to decline playing in the orchestra in the latest community theater presentation. I just couldn't do it. That was disappointing. But God is with us and He will get us through! He is doing something big!

Hope!

Have you ever thought about the word "hope"? We casually may say, "I hope the team wins!" or "We hope that the house sells soon." But the word means so much more! I recall after my job was deleted, I'd locate job ads that seemed really promising. The hope would just rise in me! I could imagine a new commute, new workmates, new responsibilities. My whole look on life was temporarily boosted while I waited to know more. But that hope was always short-lived. No interview, so no new job.

Thankfully, real hope is not in possible jobs,, team wins, or real estate transactions. Real hope is in Jesus Christ! Romans 15:13 says "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him." The apostle Paul wrote that Christ Jesus is our hope (1 Tim. 1:1). The next time you use the word "hope," think about what it really signifies. Do you have that hope? Do you know Him? Let the joy of knowing Christ rise in you! See you next time!

A Fun Day

Wow, isn't it amazing to have a great day when you least expect it? The Lord is so good and gives us so much more than we deserve! This morning our church orchestra had its annual Christmas workshop/rehearsal. We're three months away from the presentation and got our first look at the music we'll play. I love that first introduction. We get to learn the "personality" of each piece, and begin a relationship with them, whether it is fun, difficult, or boring! This music seems to be fairly challenging, which is always good, yet not impossible. This afternoon David and I had talked about going to our city's monthly flea market. Every month I want to go, but something comes up or I forget to plan it. The only issue with going today was that we'd be going in the afternoon, which I've heard isn't as much fun for some reason. Plus, I was torn about taking up David's time that he'd needed to use mowing or doing something else. We wound up going antiquing in Goodlettsville, Nashville's antique capital and my hometown during the last half of my school years. There are several "malls" one can visit. We chose the one I thought might be the largest and most productive. And it was lovely, though hot. The building was a car dealership in the 60s and 70s. This mall had several settings of living arrangements in the "showroom" area, then the back "repair shop" of the building was the bulk of dealer booths. I was surprised to see a decent variety of items for sale. I'm always drawn to my favorites: blueware and chairs. And I'm on the hunt for a coffee table to distress for our den. There was a great amount of cobalt and Delftware, my two primary collector items. I found a couple of unique pieces of Delft and purchased, plus a cute, solitary blueware saucer in a pattern unlike the usual Blue Willow or Currier & Ives. I'll try to post photos soon. We also did a little Christmas shopping, which is always gratifying! We dodged raindrops and came home to an afternoon of watching the Little League World Series playoff with the team from Goodlettsville! So exciting! One of the boys goes to David's school and others have family connections to both our church and my work church. One positive that transpired today was the decision to finally make business cards for myself. While I wait for God to provide my "happily ever after" job after my downsizing 4 years ago, I will continue to use my skills for additional income. So I created two business cards for those two lines of work. One is for my writing and editing work. That's my bread-and-butter work and I need cards to promote that with folks I meet. Then the other work is chair caning. Today I found a chair with a broken cane seat that I hoped to buy at a reduced price, knowing I could repair the seat. But the chair wound up being part of a set of 4 and I didn't want the whole set. Besides thinking that I'd offer the mall owner my information about caning chairs, if a customer needed me, it dawned on me that if I had a chair budget, I could buy the set, fix the seat, then resell them myself. Might need to think about it! Oh, and still found no coffee table! Anyway, I ordered two sets of cards! See what you think:

These cards only cost the shipping and I'm happy with the formats. The editing business card photo reminds me of the glaciers we saw on our Alaskan cruise a couple of years ago--my favorite scene! And the chair caning card photo seemed inviting and suggested thoughts of chairs. Guess what I named my caning business: "Have a Seat." Seems kind of welcoming and Southern! I'm sorry if there are no paragraphs in this posting. The preview shows none and I know that makes reading tedious. I've rambled enough for now. Time for sleep before church tomorrow! Blessings!

Revive!

Well, I think I've had a long enough break from writing this blog! I really should revive it and continue this endeavor. After everything that has colored my life in the last four years, I understand now how blogging was not the best thing to do. I'd need to share some of my heart, and I've been working so hard to heal it. In finding new adventures and ventures in which to fill my mind and heart, I've discovered that I'm in love with home decor. I usually have to avoid Home Goods and Kirkland's stores since I love so much there. But my house has been in flux forever. Hopefully things can began to come together. Maybe writing about home decor, among other things, will help me accomplish things. More to come!

Sad Day

The last few days have been interesting, with treacherous driving conditions in the most recent snowstorm and the passing of a 26-year-old family friend.

A snowstorm hit yesterday afternoon, making a huge mess of everyone's commute home. I left work around 3:30 and was home in almost 2 hours. My normal drive is about 25 minutes--10 miles. Folks downtown had huge trouble since traffic just stopped. Some people reported 5- and 6-hour commutes! Son left a little early, so missed the worst of the driving. Daughter got some good driving experience, as her normal 40 minute drive took 2.5 hours. She did great!

Roads were still covered today and temperatures very low, so we stayed home from work! That was nice!

We were saddened to learn that our daughter's friend, who had recently been diagnosed with colon cancer, was being transported to hospice right in the middle of the snow yesterday. She had abdominal issues in the fall, with severe pain that led to exploratory surgery. That exposed stage 4 cancer, with the colon and liver affected. They tried alternative health treatment since her liver was too affected to endure chemotherapy, and had plans to go to the West coast for treatment last weekend. But instead, they had to take her to the ER, where they determined her liver had shut down. She passed today. We are so thankful that she knew the Lord, so she's there ahead of us!

Show Us Your Life -- Singles

Kelly at Kelly's Korner http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ is having a "Show Us Your Life - Singles" blog, where we can introduce people to their single friends and family.

Let me introduce you to my friend and daughter Natalie!

Natalie is in her mid-20s and lives in the Nashville, TN area, She's a Christ follower and loves the Lord. She's witty and fun and a true friend. Natalie loves music and movies, Elvis and cupcakes! She formerly worked at Starbucks, where Ricky Skaggs and Taylor Swift were among her regular customers. She now works in customer service at a Nashville media conglomerate. Natalie enjoys hanging with friends, going to concerts, or simply watching a movie at home.

You are truly blessed if you can call Natalie your friend!

Why We Do What We Do

In orchestra rehearsal tonight, Keith made a great point. Some songs we may really enjoy playing (singing) and others may not be our favorites. However, we should remember that each song touches someone else. It doesn't matter how we personally feel about the song. Our job is to play (sing) it for His glory.

Much of what we think is important is actually not. How we feel doesn't matter. What does matter is that we are obedient. We may think we're in limbo, but if we stay focused on Him and obey Him, He will use us in remarkable ways.

So it doesn't matter! We might love a worship song or might have the perfect ministry career. Or we might not.

If you don't like the song, play it like it is your favorite! It is His!