Luehrs Line --------------------: April Joy Dare

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

April Joy Dare

Join me in counting gifts: April Joy Dare by Ann Voskamp

269. A bowl of strawberries
270. Quarters found in jean pockets
271. Cherry tomato
272. Flowers
273. White out
274. Flour sack dish cloth
275. A bird stuck in a rain gutter (I set him free!)
276. Spelling test
277. Speeding down the lane on the 4-wheeler
278. Birds bathing in a puddle
279. Instructions on how to pray
280. Rewards for following instructions
281. His mercy
282. Some alone time sewing
283. Leftovers
284. Cup of tea
285. Dogs fed, cows fed, boys fed!
286. Forgivness
287. Mercy
288. Grace
289. Down time
290. Sleep
291. The wind to stop blowing
292. The leader to lead
293. A growing boy
294. Weeds!
295.
296. Baby chicks
297. Music
298. Priority package
299. Mail
300. New tooth paste tube
301. Tulips outside
302. Orchid in my bathroom
303. Forsythia tree
304. Fuzzy flannel jacket
305. Work jeans
306. Scarf
307. Sunrise
308. Candle in the dark
309. Stars in the sky
310. Hawk
311. Leaves on trees
312. Clouds
313. Birds sitting on power lines
314. Birthday present for a friend
315. Live Full Throttle
316. Patience - with the boy child
317. Joy - in the midst of pain
318. Respect - not based on merit
319. Dirty clothes, washing machine & dryer
320. Sun, clouds and wind
321. Written words, guitar, voice to sing
322. Organizational skills
323. Stubbornness
324. Blue eyes
325. Envelope
326. Chocolate bar
327. Photograph
328. Old cards in a basket
329. Cash in an envelope
330. A cat waiting to pounce on it's prey
331. Passion to live
332. Confidence
333. My hide-away
334. Smell of horse hair
335. Sitting shoulder to shoulder with hubby in the tractor
336. Money found in my pocket
337. My boy
338. Mirror
339. Cow eyes in the dark (easier to spot a black cow in the middle of the night!)
340. Baby chicks
341. Tea cup
342. A child's spirit
343. Purple bandana
344. Seed - starting plant stand (homemade)
345. Old Pallets
346. Case Tractor
347. Wind gauge on weather station
348. Horses running in fields
349. Tests
350. Infertility
351. Grey hair
352. Tangerine in bowl
353. Tulips blooming
354. Hot wheel race track scattered across living room
355. Substance for life (seed)
356. Rocks - some you can move, some you can't
357. Worms
358. Card
359. Dinner
360. Time

No comments:

My Cancer Story

Many have asked me how long have you been sick? When did this all begin? Tough questions even for me to answer...all I can say at this point is I finally found some Doctors who listened to all my symptoms and did something about it. Late in April 2011 I went to see a family practitioner who sent me to a GI specialist for a colonoscopy. This resulted in a diagnosis on May 13th, 2011 of cancer in the colon. The extent was unknown at that point in time. I had to wait until Monday May 16th, 2011 for a CT scan. Then wait till Tuesday for an appointment with the surgeon, who would later remove the colon. I was informed of the biopsy results: adenocarcinoma. The CT did not show any signs of the cancer spreading to other organs (praise the Lord). In fact the CT did not even show the tumor. It was estimated by the GI Doctor to be the size of a golf ball. So surgery was scheduled for May 31st, 2011. Surgery was successful. They removed about a foot of the sigmoid colon and 20 lympnodes. I had to wait again for lab results. On June 2nd, 2011 I was told about the lab results. The tumor had evaded through the colon wall. Two out of the twenty lymph nodes tested positive for cancer. This elevated the stage of my cancer to 3 B. This is when I knew chemotherapy would be necessary. Recovery from surgery went well. GI functions are returning on their own and pain was easily controlled. I had my first appointment with the oncology team at MSTI (Twin Falls) on Friday June 17th, 2011.

I started chemotherapy on July 13th. The plan was set to give every two weeks for infusion treatments of poison. Sounds great on paper. The reality is this: chemo drugs deplete the body of healthy cells as well as potential rouge cancer cells. Keeping this schedule of every two weeks has proven to be difficult. On my off weeks I get my blood levels checked. This is to determine if it is "safe" enough for me to get chemo again. Safe...uh...it's poison right? Anyway chemo treatments have come and gone now, twelve in all. I finished up with my last round on January 27th.

On January 29th 2012 I had a CT scan. My oncology doctor said everything looked fine. No cancer detected. Doing the party dance! I am officially on the other side of living cancer free. I am celebrating in many ways. This has been the hardest thing in my life to do. Not to mention to try to balance so called "normal" life at home on the farm.

As far as the future goes with my health I have a few more doctor appointments scheduled. I will have another colonoscpy in May. For now, it is just watch and monitor my blood work and pray cancer doesn't return. Prognosis is good and I am believing and trusting in a mighty God. He is faithful!

Fast forward seven years -- 2018! Still cancer free! After many lab tests, blood work and CT scans so far no cancer detected. Miracles still happen everyone!

Favorite Quotes

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do. Helen Keller

"Every good work should be a revelation of the glory of God. What makes the good deed an act of love is not the raw act, but the passion and the sacrifice to make God himself known as glorious. Not to aim to show God is not to love, because God is what we need most deeply. And to have all else without him is to perish in the end. The Bible says that you can give away all that you have and deliver your body to be burned and have not love (1 Corinthians 13:3). If you don't point people to God for everlasting joy, you don't love. You waste your life." John Piper ---Don't Waste Your Life

"Surrender is the key that unlocks the vault of God's best and deepest treasures." Charles Swindoll

"You can't move people to action unless you first move them with emotion. The heart comes before the head." John Maxwell

Spiritual growth is a conundrum. The key to spiritual growth is developing healthy and holy routines called spiritual disciplines. But once routine becomes routine we need to change the routine. Why? Because sacred routines become empty rituals if we do them out of left-brain memory instead of right-brain imagination. When we learn how and forget why we start going through the motions spiritually. Mark Batterson

Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with you forever in the next. --Reinhold Niebuhr

Luehrs Line --------------------

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

April Joy Dare

No comments:

Post a Comment

It's About Time

Prayer Requests

Praise Reports