Ready to Move On!!!

Tomorrow is the first day of September.  September means fall, and fall is my absolute, hands down, favorite time of year!!  I love it!!!  I love the cooler temperatures.  I love the crispness in the air.  I love football games and pumpkins and hot chocolate and bonfires.  

And I must say I'm ready to leave August behind.  August has been hard on my family with my mom's diagnosis and surgery.  I really am ready to MOVE ON!!!

My mom's surgery was a week ago tomorrow, and she did FANTASTIC!!!  There were no surprises.  The surgeon didn't see anything that concerned her, meaning she saw no evidence of tumors in my mom's abdomen.  My mom did SO GREAT that she was released from the hospital on SATURDAY!!!  Just two days past surgery!!!!!  We are in awe of the mighty God we serve.  My mom is 78 years old, and had a portion of her colon removed and was released from the hospital 48 hours post surgery!!!  She is sore, of course, but she is feeling better and better every day.

The surgeon removed the lymph nodes next to the colon, and we should have biopsy results by the end of this week.  If the results are negative (which is our prayer!!) then mom will have CT scans of her abdomen every three months for a year or two, then every six months for a year or two, then every year.  If nothing changes, she won't have to have any chemotherapy or radiation.  If the biopsy is positive, then treatment will be required and we are taking her to MD Anderson in Houston, Texas.

Last Thursday before surgery I prayed with mom and my dad and my sister.  I asked for healing and I asked for peace.  And I can tell you that God delivered on both!!!  We truly are believing that Jesus has healed her.  And if He uses surgery and treatment for healing, we still praise Him.  This is a serious disease, and we aren't naive, but we serve an awesome God and we know that HE IS WELL ABLE to handle this.

We are thankful to have the surgery behind us and we are READY TO MOVE ON!!!!  

So come on September and come on Fall!!!

Please join us in thanking God for His healing power, for His perfect peace, and for His unfailing love for us all!!!  We ask that He who has begun a good work in my mom will complete it for His glory!!  Please agree with us in prayer.

Now, go buy yourself a pumpkin . . . and a hot chocolate :)!!

If There Are Words . . .

Please, take FIVE MINUTES and watch this video.  

If you don't know Jesus, this describes Him perfectly.

If you do know Jesus, then HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT because this is going to put a fire in your soul!!!  

God is real.  Jesus is real.  The Holy Spirit is real.

They are the trinity.  God in three persons.

They love us.  God sent Jesus to die for us.  He sent the Holy Spirit to comfort us.

The Bible is full of God's promises for those who serve Him.

This video is a reminder of WHO HE IS!!!!

Please, take five minutes and WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!!

Mid-August Already???

If you're like me you woke up this morning thinking, HOW CAN IT BE AUGUST 15TH???

Our local school starts on Thursday.  (Ready for some football!!!)

We've had a much needed cool down (and 2.6" of rain this past Friday)!!!

Saturday was absolutely GORGEOUS!!!  I mean, I sat outside and read for a couple of HOURS.  And believe me when I say the words "sat outside and read" are not words people in Missouri say in the month of August.  August is hot and dry in Missouri.  HOT and DRY.  But it was neither this past weekend.  We've had a very warm, wet summer.  I've mowed our yard every week.  Typically in Missouri by the end of July the yard is brown and there are just a few weeds to take down.  Not this year.  I mowed last Thursday, and frankly should mow again tonight.  Our yard is long and shaggy!!!

See how green it is??

We've also been busy canning this month.  So far this year we've canned 70 pints of our homemade salsa!!!  MMMMM  MMMMMM GOOD!!!

And I'm still praying for my sweet mama!!!

We got the results of the CT scan, and mom has a small spot on the lymph nodes next to where the small bowel dumps into the colon, and she has a small spot on her liver.  We met with a surgeon in St. Louis at Barnes Jewish Hospital last week, and mom is scheduled for surgery on Thursday, August 25th.  We KNOW that God sent us to this surgeon and we are very anxious to get the surgery behind us.  The doctor is very positive, and SO ARE WE!!! I do have a PRAISE to share with you.  We got the results of the biopsy of the large polyp that they removed during mom's colonoscopy last month.  NO CANCER!!!!  So we are excited about that!!!!  

Great news!!!!  THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!

So, these are our SPECIFIC PRAYER REQUESTS for the next couple of weeks:

#1 Mom needs to eat and try to gain some weight.  Mom has always been very thin, and she is pretty frail.  We need her to have a great appetite and eat LOTS and try to put on a couple of pounds!

#2 Mom needs to walk and build up some strength.  My mom is a putterer, she is up cleaning the kitchen or folding laundry, but she never gets out and walks or gets her heart rate up.  The doctor wants her to walk at least 30 minutes a day, every day, to get some strength built up.  The stronger she is pre-surgery, the faster she will heal post-surgery.

#3 We want the lymph nodes to show NO CANCER.  If the lymph nodes show no cancer, then they will just watch the spot on the liver.  They don't want to biopsy it, and said they would just do CT scans every 3 months and if it doesn't grow then they won't do anything.  THAT IS OUR PRAYER!!!!

#4 A completely routine surgery with no complications!!!  No infection, no surprises, just a nice normal surgery to remove the tumor in her colon.

#5 PEACE.  We know that God has allowed this trial to come into our lives.  And we trust Him.  God is God.  He never promised our lives would be problem free.  He promised He would never leave us or forsake us.  We want to be witnesses for Him in every situation.  And if that situation is a hospital, then we want the light of Jesus to shine from us.  We want others to see JESUS IN US!  The enemy thinks he has overtaken us.  My friends he will NOT WIN.  He was defeated over 2,000 years ago.  He has no authority.  None.  I SAID NONE.  

We are praying for healing in Jesus name and we are believing for healing!!!!!!  Instant miracle?  Awesome.  Surgery?  Perfect.  Treatment?  You bet.  We know that God is greater than every situation in our lives, and what the enemy means for harm, God will use for GOOD!!!  I know He has a plan.

Thank you thank you thank you for your prayers.  Please keep the prayers coming.  We are keeping our eyes on Jesus!!!  We are rebuking the enemy and praising God even in the midst of this storm.

A friend sent this to me and it is so true!!

And so I say to the devil what David said to Goliath all those years ago:

“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord
of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the  Lord will deliver
you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.    Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord  does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

 

I Samuel 17:44-47

I know that I know that I know that God is in control.  I do not know exactly what tomorrow looks like, or the day after that.  But I know the One Who does, and I trust Him.  I trust Him with my salvation, and I trust Him with my mother's healing.  

I ask that you join me in agreeing for complete healing in Jesus name for my mom.   I believe Jesus is Who He says He is.  I believe He saves, and I believe He heals.  

I am asking Him to heal my mother.  And I ask for you to pray that way as well.  The prayer of the righteous availeth MUCH!!!!

God is good, ALL THE TIME!!!!!

An Update

It was my prayer that this post would be announcing a completely normal colonoscopy.

In spite of our prayers for this "cup" to pass over us, God has chosen that we will walk through the fiery trial of colon cancer.  That was my mom's diagnosis following her colonoscopy

this past Friday.

Are we disappointed?  Yes.

Are we afraid?  Yes. (Just being honest.)

Are we hopeless?  NO!!

HOPE HAS A NAME AND THAT NAME IS JESUS CHRIST!!!

So here is where we are.  My mom has a CT scan of her abdomen Tuesday morning (August 2nd) at 8:30 a.m. to see if the cancer has spread past the outer wall of her colon.  WE ARE PRAYING MIGHTILY THAT THE CANCER IS CONTAINED IN HER COLON.  She will have to have surgery to remove a part of her large intestine, where the tumor is located, but if the cancer is contained she probably will not have to have any chemo or radiation.  THAT IS OUR PRAYER!!!!!

We also need God to open doors to the surgeon that He wants us to use.  We are looking into several options, as we want the BEST care possible for her.  So we would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and guidance and open doors.

Again, I thank each of you for praying.  We are fixing our eyes on Jesus and are DETERMINED that what the enemy meant for harm, GOD IS GOING TO USE FOR HIS GLORY!!!!!

Bless you all, and please agree with me and my family in prayer for my mom, Donna.