Praise and a Lesson learned...

No deep spiritual insight today folks, just thanksgiving from one of God's children (albeit a crazy one)!

Mom got news today that her final pathology reports from both left and right side lymph nodes are clear and cancer free. Thank you, thank you, Jesus. She has an appointment Friday with the cancer center for the "what's the next step" part. Please continue in prayer for us all and praise the Lord with us for this good news. Keep praying over her health and the nodule in her right lung, for grace and patience as everything has a "wait" involved...pray that the next step will allow her some "normal" life stuff...the tough part right now is keeping her healthy in case she needs chemo/rad -- the baby is due for "live" virus vaccines (which our pediatrician is so great to tell us to wait and helping us make good decisions for the whole family) but this would keep him away from Grandma Barbie anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months depending on certain scenarios!!! Pray for God to already have this worked out, I know He makes a way for us...above all for God's will in our lives and His glory to shine.

ON the lesson side...(and the funny for today, although, I am still not laughing)
The heating element in the toaster oven is not, in fact, toast. I learned this lesson pre-coffee this morning as I reached into the back of the blessed toaster oven for that last 5th piece of toast way in the back. Dear Lord in heaven...and the best part is that it still burns and Ollie keeps grabbing the band aid that I put on it...so that was today's public service announcement, lest any of you get confused!

This was just funny...

So, amid all the stormy days and stormy moments...I can always find humor or something will happen to me that really just makes me belly laugh because it could only happen to me.

So, here's the funny. We were unpacking a week's worth of suitcases (ugh - the laundry is still not all done) and birthday presents and Easter candy and toys and yadda, yadda, yadda...and the kids had exhibited some good behavior (though it was fleeting), so I decided it was time to reward them with some Easter chocolate after snack time. So, I let Emma Grace choose and she picked the Jameson's candy company (from the town of my birth, New Castle, Pa - I was also born at Jameson Hospital there) that my Aunt Kim and Uncle Bob had left for us on a previous trip through Rock Hill to see Momma (Aunt "Kimmy" as moms calls her is mom's only baby sister out of a family of 6 kids). So, we open it and these bunnies are SOLID milk chocolate - SOLID - did I say SOLID? I had to cut into this bad boy with a knife. So, we indulge and have chocolate everywhere - even Ollie is drooling into this rare indulgence...and Emma Grace pipes up while we are finishing our chocolate euphoria..."Mommy, you can tell Grandma Barb that Aunt Kim can come every Easter and bring us bunnies." And I had to smile and agree. ;) The Easter bunny has nothing on Aunt Kim~

Continue in prayer...

We have had no news since mom's surgery on Monday. Pray that maybe, just maybe we'll get the final pathology reports today before the weekend - this kind of stuff held over for these long waits just sucks out loud. Yeah, that's what I said...I will be honest in this. Pray for continued peace and calm from the Lord. Pray that God himself stands between us and Satan, so that the devil is not allowed a foothold in any part of this. Pray that God's glory be found to shine in us and though us. Pray for God's will. Pray for mom's continued healing; for the nodule in her right lung to be nothing or cease to be at all.

Psalm 3 - 3 But you, O Lord, are a shield around me;
you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.
4 I cried out to the Lord,
and he answered me from his holy mountain.

Mom is home...

She did come home Tuesday morning after lighting a fire under every nurse on her floor (probably). The docs said she did great. I was still in my PJs running around her house like a chicken with my head cut off trying to clean and put away and pack and answer phones...but I was so grateful! We all had some McD's for lunch and very soon after I was "ready" to go, momma sent us on down the highway. We made good time until we hit ATL at rush hour and someone missed the 285 perimeter exit and we got a grand tour of downtown - but EG loved the bridges and trains (MARTA) everywhere - and we watched Curious George for the third time - so it all worked out!

God has lavished his love on us all and I thank you all for your prayers. Keep praying - pray for mom's recovery (that she will behave - yeah, I said that!), for clear pathologies that don't require chemo, for the nodule in her right lung to be nothing and cease to be, for grace and strength that only God can provide, but as always...for His will to be done and His glory to rise above all earthly things.

Thank you, thank you, Jesus.

Mom is coming home today...

probably at this moment. The doctors are impressed with her healing so far --- and I am too --- but I know WHO did that! They should be home soon - I'm packing and planning and trying to clean and then we'll head back to Georgia today, probably. Keep praying and thank for your support and love so far. Pray for her recovery, for final pathology reports to be clear and chemo not be necessary, for the nodule in her right lung to be nothing - for above all else, God's Will be done and His glory proclaimed.

Thank you, thank you, Jesus.

God is so gracious...

yet today seemed to last forever...

We left the hospital at rush hour and came home to get our kiddos. But, the mastectomies went well and the preliminary reports are good for the lymph nodes and clear from cancer. We have official final pathology reports in 3-5 days. Momma and daddy will be at the hospital tonight and will see what the doctor says in the morning. Best case, she comes home tomorrow - worst case, she doesn't. It's one day, one mountain at a time. But, I could see the pain, yet relief and momma and daddy's eyes as they were back together tonight in the hospital room.

Keep us in your prayers - I felt them all day long and thank you so much. Pray God's will and comfort over us, for clear pathologies, for the nodule in her right lung to be nothing, for her recovery and pain.

Please pray for us today...

This morning at 10:55 am, my mom will be having two bilateral mastectomies. We have felt calm and peace from God already. But pray that the mastectomies will allow the two types of breast cancer to be eliminated from her body, that a nodule in her right lung would be nothing, and that her lymph nodes will be clear. Please pray for all the medical personnel involved...God is the Great Physician...He is Jehovah Rapha...our healer...He is Jehovah Jireh...our provider...we seek His will and hope to bring Him glory through all of this.

Romans 8: 31-39 (NLT) says,

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My baby had his first party!

Well, check out Chris's blog...we officially celebrated Ollie's first birthday with family and friends in Rock Hill this Easter weekend...there are pics at his blog. Yay.

Happy Birthday Bay!

Happy Birthday to you little man! Today, my bff Jen's oldest boy turns 3. Time flies. Wish I could, too. Hope you all have a great day - we'll be celebrating Ollie's first birthday today with a speckle of friends and a dabble of family at Grandma Jane's house. Happy Birthday party-ing to all!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby...

So, my baby boy is ONE! I cannot believe it.
It was a good day tornado watches, warnings and all...
But we did enjoy a great family dinner made by the Grandmas and dessert made by Kroger!

Hillarity..

Go check out my bff Jen's blog today...I promise you will laugh until you cry and you won't be disappointed!!! I love Fort Mill/Rock Hill...

"Oh I'm a wanderer...

I go around-around-around-around..." yeah that's a tune I'm singing in my head as this morning - I had one of those here's what you should have learned from your quiet time you stubborn girl moments.

So, we've been - I've been wrestling with joining KFBC - check previous post on that one. =) And it has been a long time in coming - I've been really rolling around in it since January...

So here's the what you should have learned part...I started reading the Daily Bible - a chronological Bible reading plan with my women's small group at home which gets you through the Bible in a year --- you have passages to read for each given day and it seems like I am never on that given day...

So, most of January, February, March, I've been reading about Moses and the Law and the wandering in the desert - just struggling to hang onto some of these texts, but there was always a fresh word for me when I made it through...

So, last night after having joined KFBC Sunday morning, I read the last passages from the book of Deuteronomy. The Lord speaks to Moses and to Joshua as the leadership of Israel passes from Moses and the wandering is ended, the Law is re-iterated, the covenant renewed and the Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land...bedtime boring, right?

Well, it took me until this morning to recognize the parallel in my own life...yes, I am a slow learner - thank God He is patient with my soul. I've been hanging onto what is was that God called me to do last that I almost missed living for Him now - I've been serving the Lord and using my gifts and going to church, but all with a sense of it being temporary...Don't you think that maybe that's how the Israelites totally lived everyday? Just wrestling and wandering and missing how good God is in every moment because they were a "stiff necked" people as Moses called them...I know I can be as "stiff necked" as they come sometimes. And this morning brought clarity and freshness -- and it was that DUH, Jen moment - like God was saying - do you see - transfer it all over and live here now and be for me now...really live in this moment not in limbo.

So, duh-huh, I gots-it. Again, God is so cool like that.

Whew...

First of all -February/March so far have been whirlwinds - mostly because at the end of February - President's Day weekend to be exact we all started getting "gut" flu and had that for two weeks, then we all got better...Then for the last week, we've all had the upper respiratory virus that's going around...WE have been the afflicted! So, we all felt better except for me - as usual - I was up last night, nearly all night, coughing up a lung, I think...so when Chris woke me in the dark to get ready for church, I did the roll over and moan routine...convincing him and me that I did not need to go to church today...

Then that little voice - gave me no peace - when Chris left at 6:30 am (really 5:30 am - dst sucks) I could not go back to sleep...I laid awake until the children awakened...we had breakfast, and that little voice still nagged --- you could make it to church --- so we sluggishly moved forward - very sluggishly! Needless to say, in a shirt that I didn't like on a day that I wasn't full throttle and I felt like pookie...WE JOINED KENNESAW FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.

Yes, folks, the thoughtful ponderers crossed the finish line here in Georgia, though I still don't know how I feel about it. I know we were drawn to KFBC and happily serve the Lord there with our brothers and sisters in Christ --- but my heart longs for "home" - for First Baptist Church Fort Mill, SC. I long for my family and my dear friends daily. Pray for me, for us, in the times that we cross your minds. I will so not lie and say this is all easy...it's hard, stinking hard...but I will count it all joy according to the words of the book of James - especially in knowing that we felt God call us to this place for Chris's career, for our family, for His Glory.

So we are officially members of the Georgia Baptist Convention when the letters are all given...that feels weird. Keep our seats warmed at FBCFM, though, we'll (the kids and I) be home for the week of Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday (maybe the Easter bunny will help Chris hop on up to The Thrill for Easter, too)...and we're all looking forward to it! I hope we'll get home again at the end of April when the Wades hit The Mill, too.

Dates worthy of note --- my baby boy will no longer be a baby this Saturday, March 15th...Oliver Thomas will be ONE at 11:54 AM and the Grands will be here for our neighborhood (of 1700 homes) Easter egg hunt, then some boy/girl outings, and a birthday dinner complete with cake! It won't be an awesome cake by the illustrious Mrs. Gale, but it will get smashed and slobbered, so it will be okay for Georgia. We'll just make due. =)

Happy Monday-ing to you!

Scattergories fun for all...

Got this in an email from a friend tonight...I thought some of you may like to play. Post here or at your own blog just for grins and giggles.

SCATTERGORIES...It's harder than it looks! Just copy and paste. Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! You CANNOT use your name for the boy/girl name question.
ENJOY!

What is your name? Jen

4 Letter Word: Joke

Vehicle: Jaguar - oh, some day...or not

City: Jupiter, Florida

Boy Name: Joey

Girl Name: Jacqueline (the other name my mom thought of naming me in 1980)

Occupation: Janitor (some days i feel like only a glorified one, maybe not even glorified!)

Something you wear: Jewelry

Celebrity: Jennifer Garner (I miss Alias, still.)

Food: Jam (relates to boy's name and an episode of Friends)

Something found in a bathroom: Jewelry (hopefully not down the drain)

Reason for Being Late: Jehovah's witness came to my door - had to reach one more!

Cartoon Character: Jasmine

Something You Shout: Jump!

Animal: again, Jaguar or Joey

Body part: Jugular

Sport: Juicing - oh wait that's just a part of sports! okay, Javelin-throwing

Word to describe you: Just Jen - there are no words... ;p