I hate cancer!

I'm sure you are saying of course I do, but I am so sick of it being everywhere I turn. I am in the choir at our church. Each week at rehearsal we spend an hour and a half practicing our music and then share prayer requests and pray together. There are about 80 of us in the choir so you can imagine the different needs that are shared. Sicknesses, accidents, new babies, job searches, broken bones, unsaved family members, addictions, the list goes on and on. Just this past week there were so many prayers needed for those fighting cancer. My mom who started chemotherapy this week is sick with the effects of that. A young woman who grew up in our church, her parents still attend there, who had breast cancer several years ago and has been cancer free just had a baby a couple of weeks ago. When the doctors performed the cesaerian section on her to deliver her baby they found her full of cancer inside. An older couple, married for over 50 years, physically separated from each other as the husband is in a nursing home undergoing a difficult recovery from a broken leg, just discovered the wife has breast cancer. An unsaved co-worker of a choir member recently diagnosed with cancer, a young man, a dad of young children with a cancer affecting his brain and causing him to die a slow, mentally strange death, another man with lung cancer, my aunt in Hawaii with lung cancer...it just seems as if there are so many suffering from this disease. It takes people of all ages, social status and religious beliefs and tears through their bodies often killing their host. I am so glad that I have a good God, a God who is always right and always, always wins. I just pray that God can use the circumstances each of these people go through to draw them closer to Him or even to Him if they aren't already believers.

Ain't it strange

Something Shannon and I have noticed so often over the past several years is that it seems like the different teachers we listen to, whether they be pastors at our church or bible teachers on television or radio, so often are teaching about similar subjects at the same time. I'm not talking about the typical teachings you hear around holidays but rather just everyday type of teachings. Often they are in the same passage of the bible or a similar subject. We have often joked that God sets up a conference call with all bible teachers each week to tell them all the subject for the week. I guess in His on way He does tell each minister what to teach but not quite in that way. Funny thing is, after what I wrote on Saturday, comparing the Christian walk to an endurance race, I have heard two bible teachers on the radio do the same thing. I just found it kind of funny.

Collin ran his last track meet yesterday, doing well and placing in each of his three races. His spring choir concert was tonight at the school where he sang a beautiful solo.

My mom started chemotherapy yesterday. So far she is a bit queasy and has some discomfort from where the iv was placed. She is still experiencing a great amount of discomfort as well from the nerve damage caused during the breast surgery. Please pray for her.

We remain busy with end of the school year activities. With 5 children in 3 different schools plus our homeschool we feel a bit stretched thin. For example:

1-Brandon is a senior so has some graduation activities even though he will remain in school for three more years due to his disabilities. Some other seniors from his class are going to take him out to Pizza Hut in a limo to celebrate with him as we have chosen not to have him participate in the ceremony. He wouldn't understand it or enjoy it and could possibly be disruptive. What a neat group of kids to want to do that with him. His aide from school will go with him.

2-Collin has an 8th grade graduation ceremony. Because his private school has just begin having a high school program by adding grade 9 this year and grade 10 next year, the 8th grade graduation is still happening. Collin is one of only 3 boys and 9 girls returning for 9th grade next year as the other 6 boys are going to ove to the public high school-at last count anyway. He also has two separate field trips coming up in the next couple of weeks.

3-M and E and I have a couple of field trips to go on with the homeschool group. One is to an area Ethanol plant, another will be with S and her school group.

4-S has a last day of school potluck picnic coming up with her school as well as a field trip to Fort Snelling and a school track meet.

Amongst all of this are the typical work hours for both of us, cleaning house, keeping up with the outside work and most recently added to the schedule, training the dogs to understand the underground fence. Let's hope the dogs figure it out. Even though we have 6 acres here, we have a neighbor right on the other side of the treeline. He does not like it if the dogs cross the line and has a gun he is not afraid to use. Ask me how I know...Izzy(our lab) has shotgun pellets in her body from their last meeting. Unfortunately she didn't learn her lesson though so we need to watch her carefully when she is out. She is a large dog with tons of energy so tying her or kenneling her is not an option.

Oh, Debra and 4 others(3 from the End Time Glory Ministries board) are currently in Rwanda and Uganda for two weeks. They will also be met there by Pastor Richard and his wife Gertrude. They have a very busy two weeks scheduled with no rest days. We are hoping there may be news on the Tanzania land when they return. Shannon has been asked if he can accompany Debra to Tanzania again this fall. She wants him there as do we but we are so unsure of whether he can get three weeks off from work as well as find the $3000 it will cost to go. Pray with us as we try to make that decision. The sooner we decide the better for all.

The Endurance Runner

We just returned from watching one of Collin's track meets. This was only the second meet he had run in the longer races. He had been running shorter sprints early in the season and it was discovered, by accident, during a phy ed physical fitness test that he was better at running the longer distances. Today he ran a mile in 5 minutes 56 seconds, 21 seconds faster than the previous meet on Thursday. He also ran in the half mile and improved his time on that one as well. He ran that somewhere in the 2 1/2 minute range. Collin has a long stride. It is fun to watch him run as he starts out at the back of the pack, then as everyone tires toward the end he picks up the pace and starts passing the others.

Does anyone else see the lesson in Christianity here? That we need to be in for the long-haul. Sprinting isn't where it's at. We need to be able to maintain our pace through our entire lives, keeping our faith strong and reaching out to others until the end. I am reminded of my great-grandmother. In her last few years on earth-she lived into her 100s-she had wondered about her purpose. As she had been to so many friends' and family members' funerals, she wanted to be in heaven too. Why, she asked, was God leaving her behind. We encouraged her to know that He had a purpose for her, on earth until the end. Maybe there was a family member or a caregiver in the nursing home still to be reached by seeing her daily lifestyle of Christianity. Keep the faith, through all circumstances, staying strong until the end.

Oh, and "Go Collin!" There is still one last meet on Monday.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1

It's a crazy life

Here are the latest updates:
My mom, although her cancer was caught her early, is planning to take all of the treatment options available to her which include-chemotherapy, hormone therapy and radiation. We are all aware it may be a difficult summer. Please keep her and my dad in your prayers.

I started my new job last week. With both of my part-time jobs I worked over 45 hours last week. Along with homeschooling and the many children's typical appointments with doctors, therapists and counselors, my annual exam(Yippee), a concert at one of the schools, another at church and an awards program I ended up having something going on every single morning, afternoon and evening for 8 days straight! This week is much lighter with work and I can get the house cleaned, the laundry done and see my family. I hope that doesn't happen again in the near future.

Spring has sprung and Shannon has started on the outside projects-landscaping, planting grass and installing the underground fence for the dogs. Now the rain has come too so he needs to work between sprinkles.

Collin is finishing up his first ever track season with his school. He has enjoyed it and has discovered that although he may not be the fastest sprint runner he does very well with endurance running. He did a mile last week in about 6 and a half minutes I think he said. I am hoping to get to his meet this week and he also has one on Saturday we are hoping the grandparents can get to.

We received an email from Pastor Richard in Mwanza. He has internet service at his home now so keeping in touch with him by email will be much quicker. In fact, I emailed again this morning and have already heard back from him. The easier communication is exciting to all of us through this process.

Shannon and I are still pushing hard to get through our bible school courses by July. Graduation has been set for the end of July. When we finish, we will have done the entire 24 month course in about 10 months.

We find ourselves still being asked on a nearly daily basis if we are still planning to move overseas and when. The answers are yes we are planning to move and no we don't know when but God does and that is all that matters to us. We know that when it is time for us to be listing our home for sale and begin packing He will make it perfectly clear.

So good to be home

After all week in Kansas City for training I arrived at the Kansas City airport yesterday to discover my flight back to Minneapolis had been canceled. I was not happy. After half an hour with an agent for the airline I was even less happy. I ended up having to fly down to Houston to catch a flight back up to Minneapolis! Instead of getting to the MSP airport at 7PM I ended up arriving at 1AM with a two hour+ drive ahead of me. Anyway, I am home and glad to be here. I have spent the morning after a quick few hour snooze, doing laundry and unpacking. I plan to catch a nap this afternoon as I am tired. I am questioning whether I will fly or not if I have to return to KC later for more trainings. I could have driven home from KC faster than it took me to get home by plane yesterday. On top of all that I was so lucky as to be chosen to be searched. So after a pat down I had to stand and watch while my briefcase and purse were searched. I had forgotten to throw my 9 oz bottle of discontinued, favorite scent, expensive( although I got it on clearance) hand lotion in my carry on. It was in my purse and since they don't allow anything more than 3 oz on carry on was thrown away. The flight out of Houston was delayed by over an hour...so that was my day.

I am amazed how travelers in airports are so rude. I felt like it is a place where people's true colors really show. I guess people think that since they will never see each other again, they can be rude and selfish and it won't matter. I made several efforts to strike up conversations with people. Most either ignored me or walked away as quickly as they could. I had even showered! In Houston, however, during my 4 hour wait, I struck up a conversation with one young guy. A couple of minutes later, another one sitting in the vicinity joined us. Then an older woman, then her husband arrived. It wasn't long before we had about 8 of us visiting and laughing together. It seemed like people were drawn to our group and several left for flights while others would join in. It sure made the time go faster.

I will get my first assignments from the Census Bureau on Monday so will be busy this next week getting to know my new work. It will be a fun job where I will get to meet many new people and make a little extra money to help pay off some debt as well. Our van is in need of being either traded in or getting some major repair as well so this should help. We are also moving into spring planting weather so I will be working more on the mail route while the regular carrier gets his crops in. I'm very glad the kids and I are mostly done with their schoolwork as May is looking busy.

Living More with Less

I am currently reading several books. Two of them are quite eye opening and I'd like to share about them with you a bit. The first is a book about clutter and how it affects our lives. It is helping me examine my clutter-why do I have it? Why do I continue to hang onto cassette tapes I haven't listened to in oner 15 years? Why is that book, that I will probably never reread still on the shelf? How about the many winter coats? Why do I need more than 1, or even 2? what about the outgrown clothing I will not fit into for a long time, and when I do, they will be so old and out of style I won't wear them anyway.

The other book is called Living More with Less. I have just started it but it is examining some of the same issues. It is really making me think and causing me to really regret some past spending decisions. Over the past year or so, I can see that Shannon's and my spending habits have changed a lot but I know we still have a long way to go. I wish to share with you a quote that is in the front of the second book as food for thought. Spend some time thinking on it and let me know your thoughts on it if you wish.

"When someone steals a man's clothes we call him a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the man who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.
-Basil the Great
Bishop of Caesarea, c. 365

Also, please pray for the family as I will be away from home for several days this week for a training for my work. Shannon has a big job ahead of him, keeping up with 5 children's schedules in addition to his own.

Womens Ministries

Last night in the women's "coffee talk" group at church we talked about women's ministries. Since it is something that I believe I will be doing a lot of in Tanzania I was pretty excited to hear people's thoughts on it, although I am certain it will look much different there. My vision for our ministry in Tanzania includes a well ministry. In Mwanza, in Tanzania, in most of Africa, clean drinking water is hard to come by. I am hoping we will be able to have a well on the property where area women will be able to come to get clean drinking water. I have dreams of going each morning to meet with the women at the well, develop friendships and minister to them. I hope that through giving them water I can share with them the truth of Jesus Christ and what he has done for each one of them. Oh my, but I must get much better at my Swahili!

"Jesus said, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14

Our church is, in effect, revamping our women's ministries. Ideas that came up were many and it was agreed by all that for individual ministries within the umbrella each need a committed leader, someone who can't not do what they are doing, for it to succeed. One idea I had shared stemmed from my speaking engagement several weeks ago. Each month the women of that church have a ladies night out. It involves, praise and worship, a devotional and lots of food and fellowship. I have been the church librarian for 6? years at our church now and have been feeling a need to move into other avenues of ministry. I suppose God is preparing me for different things. This spring I facilitated a Beth Moore bible study-real hard by the way, I had to push play on the VCR. I am considering trying to head up ladies night out at our church if the leadership would approve. I would love to hear ideas from you that are reading. What are some things that are a part of your church's women's ministries? For those who do a type of ladies night out, what do you do during that time? How long does it last? How often? This is your chance I want to hear from you. Click on comments and speak to me!

More good news

Mom heard back on the lab results yesterday. The lymph nodes show no signs of cancer, confirming the diagnosis as Stage 1. After her incisions have healed she will undergo 6 weeks of radiation. We are very happy to hear that this was caught so early on and was so easily treated. Mom had been kicking herself as she had been 3 months late for her mammogram but I suggested that if she had been on time, the lump may not have even shown up this time around. It might have been yet another year before it was discovered. Only God knows but we all feel mighty fortunate.

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High." Psalms 92:1

Good News!

Mom's surgery yesterday went better than expected! Earlier in the week when she saw the surgeon he had said it looked like a stage 2 cancer. Then on Wednesday, the oncologist had told her it was likely a stage 3. Stage 1 or 2 would only recquire radiation directed right at the cancer site. Stage 3 however would need chemotherapy to treat.

Yesterday, Mom went in for surgery around 11:30. The surgeon removed the lump along with several surrounding lymph nodes. The lymph nodes were then sent to the lab to be checked for cancer. If cancer would have been found in the nodes they would continue removing nodes until they found one without cancer. Anyway, the preliminary lab tests showed no cancer in any of the nodes. According to the surgeon her cancer was actually only a stage 1 cancer. This will require much less invasive treatment and we are all thrilled about this.

Mom's surgery was completed by early afternoon. By supper time she was planning to be headed home again after her doctor checked in with her. She has a follow-up appointment with him on Monday where she will get the final lab results on the lymph node testing. Thank you for your prayers and support. Please continue to keep those final lab results in your prayers through the weekend.

Oh, and an interesting sidenote---the surgeon has a unique feature. As a young child, he crushed the ring and pinky fingers of his right hand. At the time, doctors removed both of the fingers as well as a large portion of the outside of his right hand. He says it is amazingly handy during surgery as he can fit his condensed hand into tight places. He even ties the knots of stitches with it with no problems.

Surgery today

Please be praying for my Mom and her doctors today. She is currently at the hospital, with my Dad. A couple of the kids and I are leaving in a few minutes to join them. Until they begin removing the lumps and check the lymph nodes for cancer, it is unknown whether they will do a simple lumpectomy or a full mastectomy. We are hoping for the lesser invasive lumpectomy.

Spring has sprung?

Current local conditions:
Temperature 30F
Wind Chill 15F
Partly sunny
Light snow

So what do you think? Does it look like spring has sprung to you?

We woke up this morning to 2-3 inches of wet slushy snow. The picture is taken from our front deck, looking out over the front yard and the field across the street. The wheelbarrow in the yard has been being used to move around the crushed granite we recently had hauled in for the driveway.

The forecast for a week from now, however is for 60F temps.

Don't even try to tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor.

Happy Belated Resurrection Day!

Here I am, a day late, posting about Easter. That's not so bad though, I still haven't gotten my Christmas letters out, LOL! I had finally decided in February that they were going to be sent as Easter letters after rewriting them but that didn't happen either.

Anyway, I hope you had a great Easter Sunday and really took the time over the weekend to remember what Christ did for us on the cross, but more importantly, that he rose from the dead. Without the resurrection he would have been just another dead person.

Easter morning we went to our church for both services. As always, I sang in choir during both services. The Easter performance was an hour plus long musical and going through it two times in a row was fun. Shannon and the children attended the first service, then during the second service the younger children went to kids church while Collin went to youth worship team practice and Shannon attended a bible class called The Truth Project. After the second service was out we went to my parents home for Easter dinner with them and my sister Corryn and her boyfriend Matt. Dinner was yummy as always and we enjoyed our time together. There was something about the day that was a bit more special than usual. Since Mom's breast cancer diagnosis last week and knowing her surgery is coming up on Thursday this week we just appreciated each other more I think. Please continue to pray for my Mom as she prepares for surgery on Thursday. We are hoping for the less invasive option of a lumpectomy rather than a full mastectomy but will not know for sure if they can do that until after they check the lymph nodes on Thursday morning. Mom is doing amazingly well and is feeling very supported by those around her. People are coming out of the woodwork to send her encouraging words through mail or by phone.

"And the angel answered and said unto the women, 'Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen." Matthew 28;5-6

Change is inevitable

I find it quite humorous that as much as Shannon and I hate change, God continues to throw it into our lives at every turn. Many would say that we choose change-such as we have experienced with fostering, adoption, jobs, home remodeling, ect-but for most of the big changes in our lives over the past years since accepting Christ personally, we have been directed by God to do.

Anyway, if you have been reading our blog before now, you can see that it has undergone a change. This one was not directed by God and it didn't come by choice either. The site we use has been prompting me every time I sign in to update to their new format. I have fought it as long as I could but today had to make the upgrade. I think the site does look nicer and I really like the option of being able to list some of my favorite blogs and websites on the side. I feel like it gives the readers a way to see even more of who I am by checking those out too. Let me know what you think. Is it easier or harder to view? Are there any changes you'd like to see-colors, format? I also like the idea of being able to label my posts into certain topics and will probably work through them over time to update that as well. That way if someone wants to search, for example, our travels to Tanzania, they could do so.

What is really funny is that God still has a major change in store for us...the one of moving to a completely different culture. That is one change though, that with a bit of hesitation, we are looking forward to.

He Chose the Nails

Today, Good Friday, the day we remember what one man has done for us. A day, never to be forgotten, a day that changed history, but more importantly, a day that changed eternity.

Why did Jesus choose the nails? Why didn't he resist when he was beaten and mocked and crucified? Because he couldn't stand the thought of an eternity...without you!

"For God so loved you, that He gave His only son, that if you believe in Him, you would not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Breast cancer

Please pray for my mom, Sharon. She was diagnosed with breast cancer yesterday. I am hopeful as I know that surviving breast cancer is much more common than dying of it and hers was discovered early on. I am concerned though because my mom has fibromyalgia as well and this will aggravate her condition. Please also pray for my dad, John and the rest of the family.