One Live Frog is Swallowed and Over With!

 I’m sending a great big “THANK YOU” and (((hugs)))) out to everyone who has prayed for me and encouraged me  through the mastectomy on Tuesday.  God took such wonderful care of me through it all and I had exceptionally excellent care by my breast surgeon, all the staff at FL Hospital Altamonte, as well as my family.

I am relieved to have the surgery behind me and I am recovering well at home.  Do you guys know about Mark Twain’s “Eat a live frog every morning” principle?   http://www.fastcompany.com/1592454/work-smart-do-your-worst-task-first-or-eat-live-frog-every-morning  I was really dreading that operation and it sure feels good to have that big ole’ toad swallowed and over with!   The first step I needed to do in conquering this beast is done.   The final pathology report should come through next week and then the following week we will discuss the best course of follow up treatment plan with my oncologist.

God is holding me tenderly in the Palm of His Hand.

In His love and mine too,

 

Paula

 

 

Surgery Successful!

Hi folks,

We’ve received word that Paula finished surgery around 5:15 PM.  Dr. Minton just came out and spoke with us.  She shared that everything went well (thank the Lord!) and that the two sentinel nodes did not show any cancer, so she did not need to remove any further lymph nodes.  This also means that Paula should not need any radiation this go around, just chemo; the recommended type and frequency of chemo will be determined by the oncologist, Dr. Molthrop, based on the size of the cancerous nodules.

Thanks again for your prayers.  I’m waiting now for them to come get me so that I can be with my precious Paulita!

John 🙂

Paula is in surgery

Hi folks,

Greetings!  We want to thank everyone, first of all, for your prayers and encouragement.  We had a nice prayer time yesterday at NTM, and we know that many others have been and are continuing to pray for Paula and our family.

It’s close to 4:30 PM now.  I’m here in the surgery waiting room at Florida Hospital Altamonte waiting for Paula to come out of surgery, so I wanted to give you all an update:

I’ve been under the weather a bit the past couple days.  I think I may have caught the flu or something (perhaps on one of my flights back from Tanzania) and unfortunately now Joy and Paula have perhaps caught it from me.  Paula had a slight fever (99.3) this morning, but was feeling better than yesterday, so we touched base with her surgeon and the anesthesiologist, and they were good to continue with the surgery as scheduled.

After checking in here at the hospital, they took Paula to the Nuclear Medicine area to do a sentinel lymph node mapping around her right breast.  They injected a radioactive substance under the skin of her breast, waited a few minutes as it started to be channeled through her lymph ducts, then take some pictures (with Paula herself acting as the radioactive x-ray machine) which then show the primary (sentinel) lymph node(s) in that area.  I believe the thought is that if her cancer had spread to any lymph nodes, it would tend to be channeled through the sentinel lymph node(s) first.  If the sentinel nodes appears to have any cancerous cells, they will then likely remove additional lymph nodes.

We met the anesthesiologist and his two assistants, as well as the surgical nurse who will be assisting the breast surgeon, Dr. Lisa Minton.

Surgery started around 2:30 PM, so we are expecting it to finish any time now.  The plan is to do a simple mastectomy of Paula’s right breast, implant an intravenous port in the left side of her chest (to be used to administer chemo in the months ahead), and to remove and evaluate the sentinel lymph node(s), and, only if needed, remove other possibly affected lymph nodes.

We continue to pray for guidance for the doctor, God’s care for Paula, and that everything would be successful with no complications, no infections, etc.

When the surgery is complete, I’m expecting Dr. Minton to come out and speak with me.  It will probably be another hour or so after that before Paula is moved from the recovery room to a hospital room where I can then be with her again.

Thanks much, John  🙂

Surgery Scheduled Tomorrow

Tomorrow (9/27) I put on my pink boxing gloves and am getting in the ring again to punch the lights outtta cancer before I follow up by blasting any remnants of this beast to smithereens with  chemo! Although, honestly, I don’t know a thing about boxing, I’ve got God and my breast surgeon in the operating room with me so I’ve got a great team fighting for me as I sleep through this round, ha, ha. I want to say a great big “thank you” to you guys on the side lines cheering us on. Cancer is rough on the whole family. We so appreciate your encouragement and for keeping  John, Nicholas, Joy, Hannah, and I in your prayers.  

I’m gearing myself back up to get in my “Cancer Fightin’ Warrior Woman Mode” with my eye on the prize and I’m fighting to win. The surgery is at 1 PM EST with an injection in Nuclear Medicine  at 11am for sentinel node mapping.  My husband will pop a note here postop to let ya’all know I’m doing great.  🙂  I should be in the hospital over night then will continue my recovery at Home Sweet Home. The plans are for me to begin chemo in about a month.

Continuing my second 1000 Gift Gratefulness List:

33. Beth reminding me of this quote I put in my blog 9/21/2011:

“’I didn’t sign up for this! I know that I sang, ‘Wherever He leads. I’ll go’, but can’t we at least check the weather report first? How could He lead me into a storm like this one?’
Just cling to the knowledge that YOU COULD BE IN NO SAFER PLACE THAN A STORM OF HIS MAKING. You are safer and more secure in the tempest with Jesus than you could ever be in the calmest place without Him. That calm, you’ll come to realize, is an illusion, and the storm is for a good purpose and a short duration.”
quoted from Dr. David Jeremiah’s book, “A Bend in the Road”

34. A wonderful, wonderful weekend at a Faces of Courage retreat: https://facesofcourage.wordpress.com/

35.

Isaiah 26:3 in the NLT:

 You will keep in perfect peace
    all who trust in you,
    all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

In the NIV:

You will keep in perfect peace  those whose minds are steadfast,
    because they trust in you.

In the Amplified Classic:

You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.

I’m so thankful that the Lord is flooding me with peace…not that I am 100% at peace at all times and I’ve sure done plenty of crying, but I know Who to run to and that’s what I’m doing.  I’d love to be cancer-free again and that’s what I’m aiming towards and fighting for, but the real “prize” is even way better than that no matter how all this turns out.  I pray that my loving Heavenly Father will conform me to the image of His son through all He brings me through.  May I come forth like GOLD for Him in this Refiner’s Fire.  Life here is like a vapor, a mere blink of the eye and then comes Eternity when I’ll have forever with Him. Now THAT’s a grand thought to look forward to!  As far as I know, I’ve got plenty of living life to the fullest here on earth before then though!  🙂  Here is the truth in a nut-shell that has given me immense hope: http://www.evantell.org/the-gospel

Gratefully His,

Paula

Preparing my Heart for Surgery Next Week

 

Next Tuesday, September 27th at 1 PM  I am scheduled to have my right breast removed.  It’s my second and final remaining breast to lose then I’ll be plum out of breasts for cancer to try and make a home in again. I sure do hate to see my last “Bosom Buddy” go though!

My life is overflowing with gifts from God to be grateful for. Sometimes I forget to count and appreciate my blessings ’til I lose them or am about to lose them.

In our culture breasts are a symbol of sexuality and femininity. I have never considered them as “disposable decorations” on my body but it is nearly time to part ways and I am taking time to grieve and ponder and give thanks for the gifts these have been to me as I release my ownership and the “right” and “privilege’  and “desire” to keep my breast intact and remaining on my body.  Like the left one in 2011 that had to be removed, now the right one is diseased with the same type of aggressive cancer cells whose very nature is to metastasize to the brain, bones, lungs, and liver.  I am so very thankful that there is absolutely no evidence that it has gone outside this breast. I will fight every way I can so those cancer cells are stopped in their tracks and eradicated. This unwelcome malignancy beast has returned and has been given its eviction notice and my surgeon, oncologist, and I are ready to kick cancer to the curb and render it homeless from my body, this time FOR GOOD. This second breast amputation is one of the drastic measures warranted and so I will do what I don’t want to and wish I didn’t have to do.  It’s time to let go of my last breast next week so I can live healthier and longer.  My goal  is for the “Glad to be a Senior Citizen and living a full, happy life Plan” and that is my aim.  I know that it is God who has wisely numbered each of our days.

Thank You Heavenly Father for both breasts that You blessed me with for a time. Thank You that I am just as much a woman inside and out without these parts.  Even though I know this is true, I am still struggling inside and wrestling with the awfulness of this great big cancer mess and the thought makes me cry.  Please help me. Lord to see myself as You do and with Your perspective  as I am stripped of my last remaining breast next week and as I think about getting chemo again.

Thank You, God for the pleasure that you designed breasts to be between a husband and a wife and that there’s still the whole rest of my body, mind, spirit, and soul left for that beautiful blessing and gift.  Thank You for my dear husband John who understands the meaning of true love and commitment that is not based on appearance or circumstances.  How blessed I am that he cherishes, loves, and accepts me no matter what.  Soon I will  have chemo again which can make a person feel pretty gross in itself and then likely all my hair will fall out like last time. Being bald, sick, and breast-less seems like such an ugly thing. Father, these losses hurt.  It was not an easy decision for me not to have fake breasts reconstructed but I think it’s the right decision for me at least for right now anyway.  I might change my mind in the future, I dunno.  Lord, please show me practical ways through all of this  that can help me look and feel my best to be feminine and attractive. Most importantly, please make me beautiful on the inside where it counts the most.

Thank You Lord  for the uterus and ovaries that You gave me that will be surgically removed after I have healed up from chemo.  Hormone blockers to help prevent the recurrence of cancer have caused my womb to grow polyps and dysfunctionally bleed.  I am so thankful for my uterus that was once healthy and strong and, despite four miscarriages, allowed me the joy of conceiving and that it was a nurturing place to carry both my girls full term and then give birth to them. I loved being pregnant.  I am also so very grateful for adoption that allowed our dear son Nicholas to join our family when he was almost three. I love him so much, just as if I had given birth to him as well. I love, love, love being Mom to my precious three children.  It’s a wonderful gift to be a mother and I have been abundantly blessed beyond measure.

My two healthy breasts allowed me to nurse my girls as babies. What a blessing that was to me and to them.  What an awesome arrangement to be able to bond in such a special way while giving one’s baby optimal nourishment.  I treasure the remembrance of my little sweethearts snuggled close, big blue, adoring eyes gazing with sheer bliss into mine as my abundant, overflowing supply of milk dripped down their sweet, round faces.  Thank You Lord.  Breastfeeding was a priceless gift for Joy, Hannah, and I that cancer can never take away from us. Thank You Lord for designing such a plan that binds together a mama’s heart and her babe, right from the start of life together.  As I bid farewell to this last breast, I still have the memory of nursing my babies long ago to treasure in my heart.

So many things in life boil down to choice. I choose thankfulness in the midst of grieving.  I choose God’s peace which passes understanding.  I choose joy and grace and hope.  I can’t pretend that I don’t have a scaredy-cat heart because I do.  I choose to give that trembling heart over to God and ask Him to help me to snuggle up in His love and rest and trust.

Gratefully His,

Paula

“An Open Letter to my Patient on the Day of her Mastectomy”

I found this letter online and copied and pasted it from: http://www.thewebelongproject.com/blog/open-letter-mastectomy-patient

October 16, 2013

 

“Hello, Dear.

Today is the day. I am a member of the surgical team who will take care of you — the team that will remove your breast to treat the cancer that has tried to make a home in your body. We all have our role today, and the world would see yours to be the “patient.” I see it as something more: a powerful gift to us.

Because you remind us why we do what we do.

Today will feel sterile and scary. And I am sorry for that.

I wish there were a better way. Today we will ask you to take all your clothes off and put in their place a gown. Women before you have worn it. Women after you will wear it. Be sure to ask for warm blankets, because we always have plenty. We will ask of you your blood type, your medical history, your allergies. We will ask you to lie down in a bed that’s foreign to you. We will have to poke you so that we can start an IV.

You will meet many nurses, doctors, and hospital employees. We will write down important things for you to know. Your surgeon will see you soon. He will have to mark the breast we are having to remove today.

We will take you into the Operating Room — a room only few have seen. There will be bright lights, lots of metal, instruments that you’ve never seen, and we will be dressed in gowns, gloves, and masks. Over our masks, we hope you can see our eyes reassuring you as you go off to sleep.

Today is the day you will have to say goodbye to a part of your body, a part of yourself.

Your breast has felt the warmth of a lover’s caress, has fed your child with life-sustaining milk and connection. You have many memories stored in your breast, stories none of us today know about. Somehow I wish I knew them.

And yet. Here we are. We must do our rituals. We must scrub our arms and hands with alcohol so that we can fight off infection before we start. We don our gowns, our gloves, our masks. We must drape your body in blue.

You are exposed. And unconscious. And it must be difficult to trust. I honor you, Dear One.

My job is to help your surgeon take away the cancer. I get a bird’s eye view of the process. The surgery begins and I feel your warm skin through my gloves. I wonder what stories you already have and the ones that are yet to come.

We carefully remove your breast. It never gets easy to see or to do. You must know this. It never feels natural, it never feels cavalier. It feels sacred to me. Every. Single. Time.

I look down and see your pectoralis major — the big muscle behind your breast. A source of strength. It is beautiful and shiny. Sometimes it contracts a little bit while we work. Sometimes the muscle is bright red and young. Sometimes the muscle is faded a little. But it is always strong. I like to gently touch it withmy fingers. Because I feel your strength there.

We must send your breast away now. It officially leaves your body. I always feel an ache in my gut in that moment. There is no way for you to fully prepare for this day, Dear One.

I like to think that your body is already healing, as we close the incision we had to make.

Sewing your skin back together feels like I’m helping a little. But I know it’s actually all you doing the work. Even as you sleep, Dear One.

We will put a bandage on your incision. We will wake you up. We will tell you everything went well. But the road is just beginning for you.

I saw you today.

You are beautiful.

You are strong.

Thank you for entrusting me and my colleagues with your most intimate moments. I am honored to be a witness to this phase of your life.

Because now the healing begins. Now the grief is in full force. Now your breast is gone and in its place is a memory.

I watch you as you wake up. And I want to make it all go away. I can’t. Today your body underwent a transformation. And today our team took care of your body. I hope we took care of your heart, too.

There is nothing we can say or do to make it go away. But please know that I care. We care. Behind our masks and gowns are heavy hearts and sometimes tears.

Yours are a gift today. Because you remind us of human resilience. You remind us of strength. You remind us of trust.

I saw you today.

You are beautiful.

You are strong.

I will not forget.

—Niki, your Nurse Practitioner First Assistant on the Surgical Team”

Eph 5:1

 

“Chemo Brain” and aging can do that.

Continuing my 1000 Gift Gratefulness List:

25. Mulling over Ephesians 5:1  (NKJV)

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

Ephesians 5:1-2(MSG)

5 ^1-2 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

26.  Alice and Maggie coming over so we could laugh over a funny movie together

27. Jacque taking time out of her busy schedule to encourage us and help Hannah with ACT prep and Joy with strategies to best tackle a heavy college work load in the midst of all that is going on

28. The satisfaction of planting two packages of string beans (one green, one yellow) in grow boxes, and six packages of a variety of flower seeds in pots and in the dirt next to the blackberry bushes.  It’ll be fun to watch them grow.

29. Pecans and good books in the mail from Bets today

30.The aroma of fresh baked pears and apples with stevia, nutmeg, and cinnamon

31. A beautiful Celebration of  Life for Michelle who I met at chemo in 2011.  She lived well and died with grace, honoring the Lord through it all

32. I am very thankful for all the encouragement  that I am blessed with by email, with Social Media, comments in the blog, on the phone, by snail mail, and in person.  I am so thankful for all who are praying and cheering me onward and that I don’t have to face cancer alone.  I am rich indeed in family and friends.

Thank you, everybody!   I appreciate you. 🙂

Paula

 

For This I Have Jesus

 

Continuing my 1000 Gift Gratefulness List:

24.  FOR THIS  I HAVE JESUS

“Many years ago in a small church in Ireland a message was given in which the minister said that Jesus’ words “Abide in Me, and I  in you,” mean to simply say in every circumstance, “For This I Have Jesus,” and Jesus will say, “For This You Have Me.”

While he was speaking, a telegram was delivered to the young pianist. It read: “Mother very ill, take first train home.”

At the conclusion of the message she shared the telegram with us, and she added: “I have never traveled alone, but, ‘For This I Have Jesus.’ I must take a midnight train, but, ‘For This I Have Jesus.’ I must cross the channel and make connections on the other side, but, ‘For This I Have Jesus.’ Then I take a long train trip to the south of England, but ‘For This’ and all the suspense along the way, ‘I Have Jesus’.” As she spoke these words, we saw the Light of Heaven upon her face.

Several weeks later a letter came from her which was a song of praise. She wrote, “As I traveled that long sorrowful journey, I continued to say, ‘For This I Have Jesus,’ and He answered, ‘For This You Have Me.’

“As I reached home my sister fell sobbing on my shoulder saying, ‘Oh, if you had come ten minutes sooner you would have seen Mother who so longed to see you.’ Instantly I looked up and said, ‘For This I Have Jesus,’ and He came between me and my sorrow, and vain regrets had no power over me. We had never had a death or funeral in our family, and they all depended on me for every decision. Acknowledging my ignorance I said softly, ‘For This I Have Jesus,’ and He gave me His wisdom for every detail. There was also His perfect peace for all legal matters that needed attention. Now life has become joyous and victorious as in every circumstance I continue to say, ‘For This I Have Jesus.”

Christian Reader, What is the circumstance in your life today that is beyond your control? Is it sorrow, sickness, suffering, fear, unsaved relatives, disappointment, discouragement, guidance, finances, misunderstanding, or another trial? You, also, can look into His face and say, “For This I Have Jesus,” and He will say, “For This You Have Me.”

“Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will He clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Luke 12:27,28.”

————————

Yes, for ALL of this, I have Jesus…and He says to me, “Paula, for ALL of  this, you have Me.”

 

Trading my “Out Withs” with my “In Withs”

Yesterday in the early evening I got a call letting me know that my surgery date is set now.  On Tuesday, September 27th I am scheduled for a sentinel node biopsy, a modified radical mastectomy of my right breast, and a port placement inserted under the skin of my then breast-less chest for administration of chemotherapy and a year of IV Herceptin. I’ve wrestled back and forth whether to do reconstruction at the same time and have decided to hold off for the time being.  I can choose to do it on both sides at a later date if I desire.  Maybe I will, maybe I won’t but for now that’s one less thing on my plate and I feel the most peace about this route.  I’m glad that there is no “right or wrong” and that we, who face mastectomies, get to decide for ourselves if we will replace them with fake, reconstructed ones or not and the timing of all that.  It’s a lot to wrap one’s mind around.

I woke up crying in the middle of the night last night.  I wish this big mess was just a bad dream but cancer is a wide-awake nightmare that is real. Honestly I hate cancer and the treatment of cancer.  I wish I could eradicate this naturally by detoxing and building up my immune system .  It’s contra-intuitive for me, a natural health minded person, to fight this with surgery then taking  toxic drugs that kill both the good cells along with the bad. Last time I also had 30 rounds of radiation. I gave the natural approach all I had in 2011  and the cancer grew like wildfire before I went  on to conventional cancer treatment . I’m glad that I did give the natural approach a try and don’t regret that, but alternative therapy did not work for me last time and it’s still not a viable option this time though I really, really, REALLY wish it was.  I’m glad that I did not stay aboard a sinking ship but got off and went to Plan B even though it looked like a pirate ship was what was awaiting to rescue me when Plan A didn’t work. I gotta let that all go and even though I don’t like what I need to do AT ALL , I will move forward using weapons and tools that were very effective last time to fight this same beast who has returned.

How I wish I could  get to the cause of the cancer and pluck out that root so the cancer would be permanently gone and would not rear it’s ugly head again and would not  be able to pop out somewhere else after we’ve chopped it out and poisoned it with chemo. I sure wish I could fix the underlying problem of whatever makes me an unwilling culture medium for cancer in the first place.

I feel sad inside.  I’ve been grieving over the impending loss of my second breast, emotionally preparing myself to be a bilateral breast amputee. What an awful way to put it, huh? That’s what it feels like to me but I can part with my breasts because it is necessary and warranted and I figure I am trading my breasts for a longer, heallthier life which makes it totally worth it to me.   It still hurts though.

I am also trying to get my mind in a good place and able to view chemo, not as the toxic poison directly injected into my bloodstream , capable of causing other kinds of cancer and a myriad of other horrible, bad things, (which is true but I don’t need to dwell on that part) but instead, as a way to eradicate these malignant cells that are multiplying so that I can heal and get well again,.I am asking God to change my perspective and to help me view all this with courage and in His strength and grace.

I do an “out- with/in-with trade” in my mind sometimes:

Out with self pity

Our with poor me

Out with fear and trepidation

Out with mulling over grim realities and what-ifs

Out with dread and anxiety

Out with feeling really bummed out about what is happening

Out with all the negativity, the stress, the sense of being overwhelmed

In with God’s peace that passes understanding

In with His hope

In with the marvelous strength He is continually giving me

In with the plans He has to make something beautiful out of the ashes

In with seeking Him and seeing evidence of His Fingerprints everywhere through this difficult time

In with contentment, even in this.

Continuing my 1000 Gift  gratefulness List:

20. “I am strong for all things in the One who constantly infuses strength in me.” –translation of Phil 4:13 from the late Greek Schlor Kenneth West

“At all times, in all circumstances, Christ is able and willing to provide the strength we need to be content.  Contentment occurs when Christ’s strength is infused into my weak body, soul, and spirit.  To infuse means to pour, fill, soak, or extract. Every morning when I dip my herbal tea bag into boiling water, I witness infusion.

How does God enable us to be content?  He infuses contentment into us through His Word.  As it seeps into our minds, it transforms us.  Just as a cup of tea gets stronger when we give it time to steep, so we become more content when we spend time in God’s Word and allow it to seep into our lives, transforming us to be like Him.”

–From “Calm my Anxious Heart”  by Linda Dillow

(Thanks again for this book you gave me years ago, Sonia.  I’ve re-read it multiple times)

I am going to think about this analogy of herb tea as I drink it.  I am blessed with an infusion of God’s Word, steeping into my mind and transforming it as I read it,  memorize it, meditate on it, and apply it.  That’s what I need and want: for God to transform my mind through Scripture and give me His perspective in living the rest of my life the way He wants me to.

Philippians 4:13Amplified Bible (AMP)

13 I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]

 

21. Cheery butterflies in the mail from Betsy for me to iron on, sew on, or glue on and beautify something

 

22. Fresh fruit every day: such a yummy,  sweet provision from God to nourish my body

 

23. “Trust His Heart” song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWk8DRwDYDc

 I’m glad God understands when we are sad and grieving over losses or worried about scary things.  He is taking me in His Arms and letting me cry, then wiping away my tears as He draws me in closer to His wonderful Self. He is teaching me to snuggle up in His love and rest and trust.  I have so many things to be grateful for.  My cup overflows with His blessings.

Thank you for praying for me and my precious family.  We really need it and appreciate it.

Gratefully His,

Paula

 

No Metz on Petz!

I just got a phone call: the PET Scan showed no evidence of metastasis. There is no sign whatsoever that the cancer is in any of my organs.  Hooray, hooray! Whew! 🙂

That’s #13 on my gratefulness list today.  I am so relieved.

14. This poem was shared with me by a dear friend who is passing along some treasures for me to ponder:

“It has been well said that a man never sank under the burdens of today.

It is when the burdens of tomorrow are added to the burdens of today

That the weight becomes more than he can bear.

 

Never so load yourself.

 

If you find yourself so loaded,

at least remember this:

It is your own doing, and not God’s.

He bids you to mind the present and leave the future to Him.

15.

2 Corinthians 4:16Amplified Bible (AMP)

16 Therefore we do not become discouraged [spiritless, disappointed, or afraid]. Though our outer self is [progressively] wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18The Message (MSG)

16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

16.Two fragrant gardenia blossoms on the bush Joy and Hannah gave me

17. A revived autumn flower bed at the front walkway this afternoon and the pleasure I got out of digging in the dirt and planting a beautiful array of pentas and mums which were birthday gifts I picked out yesterday from Kathy and Nicholas

18. A fun gathering of friends on Saturday sharing good food, laughter, tears, hugs, and Scripture

19. Song: Oceans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBJJJkiRukY