The weather outside is FRIGHTFUL!

Hi, everyone!

I’ll start out by saying that we made it home safe and sound. So, here I am, writing from my own desk. It’s only three days till Christmas, and we have the weather to prove it – Snow, 22 inches of the cold white stuff. It’s so beautiful, but not appreciated if you have to be out in it.

We had quite a time getting home from California on Thursday evening. Our flight was scheduled to leave Sacramento at 4:15, and we were delayed a couple of times before we boarded the plane. That same flight had been canceled a day earlier, so we were prepared to spend the night at the Sacramento airport. We were finally airborne just after 5:30 p.m. and landed in Portland at 6:50. That boy put the pedal to the metal, I wanna tell you. Normally the flight takes just about an hour and 40 minutes, so our pilot made up some lost time up there at 30,000 feet! The most exciting part was landing on a surface that was obviously covered with a sheet of ice – Yikes! But our trip, including the scary landing, was completely uneventful up to that point.

Then we were faced with the challenge of navigating the icy roads to make it home safely. Darrell & I had planned to stop and pick up a sandwich on the way home, but aborted that part of the plan when we saw how treacherous the conditions were. Tends to ruin your appetite. It snowed at near-blizzard levels for several lengthy portions of the 45-mile trip.

Actually, the most interesting (a totally inadequate descriptor) part of the journey was the 5 miles after leaving I-5 North driving on the country roads to our house. We slipped and slid all over the place, and saw several unfortunate pickup trucks that had slid off into the ditch or up against a front yard fence at an awkward angle. We alternately prayed (during a slip or slide) and praised aloud (when Darrell safely worked our way out of a slip or slide), and I held on for dear life. Very exciting! It was a relief to round that last corner and see our own porch light shining in the distance! However, we only made it about six feet off the road into our 40-foot driveway, where our van remains stuck and covered with snow as of this writing.

On Friday afternoon my brave husband fired up our old 1982 4WD Ford pickup (which takes 20 minutes to warm up and, by the way, has no working heater). Between storms he made his way to the little market in Castle Rock for supplies needed to ride out the storm(s). We were out of the basic staples – ice cream (don’t laugh!), bread, milk, eggs, and (last but definitely NOT least) toilet paper! Now, I can make bread and can get along quite comfortably without milk or eggs (even ice cream), but TP…, uh, I don’t THINK so! Our septic system would NOT appreciate pages from a Sears catalog (and besides, we don't have a catalog)!

Here’s a side note: Our pastor called Saturday afternoon to let us know that Sunday services had been canceled because of the weather. Pastor Dan said he had never canceled a service in his career, so this was a first. However, it was a moot point for us, since we can’t get out of our driveway, anyway.

I’ve talked to my brother a couple of times since we’ve been home. He sounded so good when we talked on Saturday morning, even after having an Avastin infusion (one of his chemo meds) on Friday. He said he had no energy (one of the side effects), but his speech was so good and we had a good (albeit brief) visit. He wanted to know how much snow we had gotten, among other things.

We aren’t doing much of anything for Christmas. We talked about putting up a tree, but with all of the little ornaments that our kids have hung on our tree year after year, including ones they made with their own little hands as children, I just don’t think I could handle it this year. We’ve bought a few little gifts for our grandkids and will deliver them when the weather permits, but I think that’s about all we’ll do. I bought myself a new (inexpensive) printer as a gift to myself. We really have need of nothing, so gifts aren’t a priority between the two of us. Jesus is our best gift - He gives himself to us anew every day. Praise Him for that! And He is the healer of broken hearts, so we have that promise, as well.

Have a blessed Christmas with your family, and a peaceful and happy new year.

Love you all!

XOXO


MY TEXT FOR TODAY: Isaiah 9:6-7 (TLB)

Thank you, Lord, for the Gift of All Gifts!

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders. These will be His royal titles: Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

“His ever-expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule with perfect fairness and justice from the throne of his father David. He will bring true justice and peace to all the nations of the world.”

Just when we thought..., Chapter 2

Hi, again!

This will be a lot more fun to report than yesterday's news. We went late this morning to Vallejo to visit my brother. We arrived at the hospital about 12:30 and found him sitting up in a chair eating watermelon and drinking from a juicebox. He was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and we were able to actually have a conversation with him. What a difference from the grave situation of yesterday!

This current problem is unrelated to the brain cancer, except that some of the medications he is taking have caused him some pretty serious gastric issues, which were the primary source of his pain. In retrospect, my sis and I have wondered whether God allowed the gastric troubles to develop so that they would run the tests that uncovered the blood clots. Otherwise, he could have died from the blood clots and we might never have even known that there was a problem till it was too late. Thank goodness for an excrutiating gut ache! God certainly works in mysterious ways.

Dick isn't out of the woods by any means, but they have resolved the gastric issues and are dealing with the blood clots, which is still an extremely serious problem. At least now they know about the problem and can address it. We are so thankful that he's feeling better.

Once again, thanks for hanging in there with us and for your faithful prayers.

XOXO


TODAY I DO HAVE A TEXT: Psalm 9:1-2, 9-10 (NIV)

"I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High."

"The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you Lord have never forsaken those who seek you."

Just when we thought...

Hi, everyone. Well, so much for the good news. You know, I thought to myself when I was telling you how great Dick was doing that maybe our rejoicing was a little premature. Not that my faith was weak, I just know how things go sometimes.

Dick had another "double-whammy" chemo infusion last Friday, which always sends him into a bit of a tailspin for a few days, but he always comes out of it and eventually feels tons better. He felt pretty rocky through the weekend, and still wasn't feeling well on Monday. He went to bed Monday afternoon and wouldn't come out of the bedroom the rest of the day. He begged Nancy to stay home with him on Tuesday, but she was unable to get a substitute to take her classroom. So she went to school at the regular time that morning and was able to come home just after 9 a.m. He never did feel well enough to get out of bed on Tuesday and pretty much spent the whole day there.

When it was obvious that Dick was feeling even worse on Wednesday, Nancy arranged to spend the day at home. She contacted the Dr. who advised us to take him to ER, but Dick refused to go. By Wednesday evening, he was writhing in pain and Nancy's son (a home health nurse) dropped by and assessed the situation. He was able to convince Dick to go to Emergency. He was so sick we knew we couldn't get him into the car, so we had him taken just down the hill to St. Helena Hospital by ambulance. They ran some tests and admitted him that evening. At that point he hadn't eaten or drunk anything of significance for nearly two days. Among other things, we're pretty sure he was severely dehydrated.

The Emergency Room tests showed that he had blood clots in his right leg and multiple clots in both lungs, which they felt were possibly the source of the excrutiating pain. They kept him on high doses of heavy-duty pain medication throughout the night at St. Helena. On Thursday evening he was transferred by ambulance to Kaiser in Vallejo, where he is now. Nancy spent the night with him at Kaiser.

We went this morning to Vallejo to visit Dick and take poor Nancy some clean clothes and some other things she needed. She reported that they had a horrific exhausting night, and that Dick had developed a low-grade fever. They haven't determined what's causing the fever. He seems extremely disoriented and confused, and we can no longer blame it on the pain meds, since they are no longer giving those to him. It's more than a little frightening to consider why that may be happening.

We stayed with Dick while Nancy went to her son's home to take a shower and get a few minutes rest. Dick's daughter arrived to spend some time with her dad. She said, "Hi, Dad." He didn't open his eyes, but he called out her name and grabbed for her hand, gripping it tightly for a few moments. A couple of tears rolled down his cheeks, - He seemed so pleased to know that she was there.

While Nancy was gone, they took Dick for an ultrasound to check for gallstones. We left the hospital just before 4 p.m. and he still hadn't come back to his room after the ultrasound. We may have to wait until after the weekend to learn the results, since they haven't given us any clue about what they found. We would love it to be something fairly simple and benign like gallstones, but fear it could be something much more serious. He looked so frail and helpless lying there.

So... Just when we thought things were looking up, we crashed and burned. But, not to worry, our faith is strong. We know God is still on His throne. Please let your prayer warriors know of this new crisis and ask them to lift Dick up to the Great Physician.

I love you all!

Too tired to choose a text tonight. Please forgive! XOXO

Thanksgiving and other delights

We just got back to Dick's after spending two weeks at home for Thanksgiving. We flew home on November 22 and got back yesterday, December 3. The time at home was so great, but went by so quickly. I spent the first couple of days just vegging out. Darrell & I did some fun shopping at our favorite thrift stores, and did the necessary shopping for our family's Thanksgiving dinner items. We always have our holiday dinner on the Saturday after Thanksgiving day. It's just easier when your kids are grown and have inlaws - a whole lot less stressful for everyone. Not to mention the fact that turkeys and trimmings are often on sale the day after Thanksgiving!

Our dinner this year was a little bittersweet - so much sadness and strife going on in the family right now, with our daughter's ugly divorce and the fact that we aren't even certain where our son is these days. It does tend to take the glint off the holiday glow. Christmas will likely be more of the same. However, we decided not to let the negative circumstances steal our joy. We were thankful and treasured the company of the loved ones who were there with us. We enjoyed a wonderful day with Darrell's brother, our daughter and her four kids, my mom and my sis. There were ten of us around our table and we had a blessed time together.

I have to tell you about something I did the week before we left to go home for Thanksgiving. Remember the story I told about the sweet girl I met on the plane a few weeks ago who had lost her father-in-law to suicide? Well, I was almost haunted remembering her sweet, sad face as we talked during the flight. The Holy Spirit kept pestering me about getting in touch with her (But Lord, I don't even know her last name!). So I finally gave in and did a little online sleuthing. I found the Dad's obituary in the Oregonian - His was the only death listed on the date in question. So now I had a last name for Leah. Then I searched further and actually found an address and phone number for her and her husband, Chris.

I bought a couple of cards that I felt might be appropriate (it's not easy to find a card that fits when someone has taken their own life!), but it took four days before I had the courage to actually get one sent in the mail to her. I prayed for a very long time before composing a note to enclose with the card. I worried that Leah might think I was a weird stalker or something, but I mailed the card and held my breath.

On Saturday morning before we left for the airport to fly home, I made one last check of my email, and there it was - a message whose subject was simply, "Wow!" and it was from Leah! I burst into tears when I saw her name, and opened her message. She was so precious and very impressed that I had gone to the effort to search and actually identify and find her last name and then to find her address. She shared in detail what the family is going through - the unending questions and the digging for answers. It's heartbreaking to hear, but I was so encouraged that she opened up to me and didn't regard me as some kind of weirdo. Thank you for your prayers for Leah and her family. This holiday season will be a particularly hard time for them, I'm sure.

Now for the really encouraging news: My brother is doing so well, and we are so thrilled. This new chemo combination seems to really be helping him. He's feeling so much better, his speech has improved and he walks totally without dragging his right foot (until the end of the day when he's tired). We don't know if this is the beginning of a healing miracle or just that the medicine is temporarily shrinking the tumor. Either way, it's truly a miracle and we are rejoicing - so thankful that his symptoms have improved, even if that's all it is. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Another new development: While we were at home Dick & Nancy got two new darling baby kitties. Well, they actually aren't babies - more like young teenagers. "The boys," as they refer to them, are such a blessing - therapy kitties, in reality. What a kick in the pants to watch them attack and roll around, wrestling, kicking and play-biting. Their names are Fritzie and Charlie (actually, Charlotte, but I just can't bring myself to call a boy kitty Charlotte - My brother's wacky idea!). At any rate, they are precious and everyone adores them both.

I am so thankful for each of you who faithfully reads my ramblings and is out there pulling for us and praying every day. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

I love you all!
XOXO

MY TEXT FOR TODAY: Psalm 118:23-24, 29 (LB)

This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous to see. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is so Good! For his lovingkindness is forever.