We celebrated mom’s 62nd birthday Jan 31st. She & dad came over and I had made her a Boston Creme Pie, so she was able to eat some of that & we all enjoyed eating it, too.
We had an unseasonably warm day the other day, and mom has been craving the sun, so she sat outside against the house feeling the warmth of the sun while Dad & I sat out there too watching Liam play in the backyard. He LOVES the outdoors, that is for sure!
Not much else to report. We are continuing to believe that God’s Word and promises are true, so our hope is in Him.
So mom & dad are back from their week-long trip down to California. They went down to Redding to attend a healing conference and visit the Healing Rooms at Bethel Church. Overall, it was a good time of ministry and being ministered to, as several other family members & family friends met them down there to lend support, prayers & encouragement.
The highlight of the trip, according to my parents, was their time spent in the Healing Rooms in Bethel Church. They have a unique ministry on Saturdays where they pray specifically for physical healing and have a whole area set aside for this. Many miracles have come from this ministry, and it was definitely a time of encouragement & healing for all who attended. Many documented healings come from this church and they clearly have a great faith for miraculous healing. Praise God!
On their way back home, Mom & Dad stopped in Medford and had a wonderful time seeing dear friends. Dad preached at the church and good fellowship was had by all. I am blessed by all the love & concern so many people have for my mom.
So many people have prayed for her healing, and I know that so many continue to press forward for this. Our prayer now is that we see the MANIFESTATION of that healing in mom’s body. We are believing that we will start to see her get & feel better each day, and that she will be restored and made whole in Jesus’ name.
“The condition for a miracle is difficulty, however the condition for a great miracle is not difficulty, but impossibility.” - Faith Like Potatoes (the movie)
It has been a bit since I posted. Not much to report, except for that we continue to believe for mom’s entire and complete miraculous healing. She looks good, and although she gets more tired than she used to before this all came to be, she is still doing a LOT and staying pretty busy. In fact, I think her & dad are out right now running errands. Her hair is REALLY filling back in, much to her delight
Our friend Karen Ellertson sent my mom some CDs to listen to in which Bill Johnson, the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, CA talks about healing. Boy, are they awesome at building all of our faith!! I have listened to 2 so far, and there are several more. He addresses something that has bothered me for a long time – why do so many Christians nowadays just assume that healing is not for today? The Bible says clearly that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. So if he was healing back in Bible days, why shouldn’t we expect the exact same thing now?
It’s like the quote from the movie I recently saw, Faith Like Potatoes. The circumstances for a GREAT miracle is IMPOSSIBILITY. This is our current circumstance. But oh how glorious it will be to see this impossible circumstance OVERCOME by the blood of Jesus!
We need to have faith like Job. Here he was in the worst situation possible, dealing with deaths of family members, financial ruin, and illness, and he still said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” Job 13:15 In the most impossible of situations, our eyes need to be fixed on HIM.
Thanks so much for your prayers for my mom’s healing. We are so blessed by all the cards, letters, and encouraging notes from all of you.
Well after a very delayed surgical procedure and almost FIVE HOURS of waiting in that small little surgical prep room, mom had her port taken out yesterday and all seems to be going well with her recovery from that. She has stitches and probably some steristrips on her incision and isn’t supposed to move her arm above her head for about ten days, just so that it doesn’t tug on the stitches.
So now we are OFFICIALLY free of medical/man’s intervention for mom. No more treatment, no more chemo, no more appointments (besides followup for port removal to make sure it healed all right), no more surgery.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And it is that blood that we are believing in for full and divine healing for my mom. We know He is able. We know He is willing.
Psalm 33:18-22 “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.”
So this Wednesday morning mom will be having her “power port” removed. It is a medical grade thingy that they implant under the skin a little bit below your collar bone on usually the right side of your body. Chemo is REALLY hard on your veins as usually it is toxic substances, so using a port avoids people’s veins having to collapse. See the picture below.
So anyway, since we are no longer doing chemo for mom, she is having her port removed on Wednesday. I am glad for her because it is a little uncomfortable for her and she has to be really careful not to get bumped by people (ahem, perhaps my rowdy toddler son? or things in that area.
Anyway, it should be a fairly easy procedure, but I think they will put her partially under or at least kind of like they do with a colonoscopy, where she likely won’t remember anything afterwards. I am going to be there at the hospital along with my dad and then she will go home shortly after it is done. Please pray that it goes well with no pain afterwards for mom and no infection.
We continue to believe God’s Word and His promises for mom, that she is healed and we are awaiting the manifestation of that. Isaiah 53:5 NKJV says, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Mom & Dad will be attending a four day long healing conference in California next month, along with my uncle Tom & his wife Bonnie. We are believing God will continue to increase all of our faith for Mom’s healing and that this will be an awesome encounter with Jesus for all of them. Please be praying with us during this time leading up to that.
We also are continuing to believe for the healing of my mom’s dear friend Deanna who has breast cancer and will be undergoing surgery soon, as well as an Alaskan pastor friend of my dad’s, Pete M, who has cancer that is affecting his esophagus and lungs, I believe. God is bigger than any cancer!!
With the latest news about my mom, I have had a lot of different emotions. On one hand, I am very relieved for her sake that she doesn’t have to subject herself to chemo any longer. It made her feel so awful and she never wanted it to begin with; she only did it because we asked her to.
So I am relieved that chemo is done with, but there is also that sense that our “security blanket” is gone. Chemo was never going to be a “cure” for her type of cancer, but they told us that chemo can extend people’s lives 2-3 years on it with her stage of cancer. Now, the blanket is gone, but in a way, there is something so pure and so perfect about being in a place where JESUS IS OUR ONLY ANSWER.
So what do we do now? We cry out to God! 2 Corinthians 12:19 says, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” I think that tears and feelings of sorrow do not mean that we are doubting God’s ability to heal; to the contrary, I feel that when we show our weakness to God and put our whole vulnerable selves at his feet, He is best able to work in us and do mighty things.
So I choose to still keep my eyes on Jesus. I choose to thank him each day for healing my mom and EXPECT to see the manifestations of that healing. We choose LIFE and not death for my mom!
He is so faithful.
“Faithful One”
I find no hope within to call my own
For I am frail of heart, my strength is gone
But deep within my soul is rising up a song
Here in the comfort of the faithful one
I walk a narrow road through valleys deep
In search of higher ground, on mountains steep
And though with feet unsure, I still keep pressing on.
For I am guided by the faithful one.
Faithful, faithful to the end,
My true and precious friend,
You have been faithful,
Faithful, so faithful to me
I see your wounded hands, I touch your side
With thorns upon your brow you bled and died
But there’s an empty tomb, a love for all who come
And give their hearts to you, the faithful one.
Faithful, faithful to the end,
My true and precious friend,
You have been faithful,
Faithful, so faithful to me
And when the day is dawned and when the race is run
I will bow down before God’s only Son
And I will lift my hands in praise for all you’ve done
And I will worship you, my faithful one.
Here is the latest on my mom, in the words of an email that my Dad sent out to friends & family today:
Hello, family and friends. Yesterday we saw Mickey’s oncologist to review the results of the most recent CT scan. In brief, there was no improvement on the tumors on her liver, and two new, small tumors showed up.
Mickey has now been through sixteen weeks of chemo. It has not provided any benefit. The doctor is in full agreement with our decision to discontinue chemotherapy. He called it “the right choice”. Chemo is not helping, and as he pointed out, the side effects are proving harmful to Mickey’s body.
We are not discouraged. We are believers in the Lord and in His healing power. As many of you know, Mickey once had a long-term, diagnosed infertility condition, which the Lord healed (without medical intervention) and granted us four wonderful children. We are firmly believing for that same divine healing power to heal this cancer.
Our sincere request is for continued prayer for Mickey, leading to a complete recovery that will bring glory to God. Thanks to all of you for your love and care.
Mom did her 8th chemo session this Tue-Thur (the 4th with her newer Folfiri regime) and is starting to feel better. The nurses say that Day 3 (so thursday) is usually the worst and today is Day 5, so usually from here on out we have some great days.
Next Tuesday I believe is mom’s next CT scan, where we see how well this latest regime is working. We keep praying & believing for great results, in Jesus’ name. Please continue to lift my mom up in prayer. Jesus, you are MIGHTY!!!!!
Mom & Dad dropped by for lunch today and then we went on a short walk around the neighborhood. Mom has kept most of her hair, but it is thinning on top, so she has found some really awesome hats to wear to keep her warm (especially on a chilly day like today)! There is an amazing organization of volunteers called Head Huggers that makes chemo caps for cancer patients at no cost. I love this ministry and it makes me want to learn how to knit, too!
Anyway, thank you all for your continued love, concern and prayers for my mom. We feel very blessed to have all the support from across the nation and we know that Jesus is hearing as we cry out to Him.
So mom just had her 7th chemo treatment this week and is now “unplugged” (she goes in on the Tuesday of treatment week for a few hours of treatment there and then goes home for 46 hours with a pump that infuses 5-FU continuously). It always feels good to get her unhooked from the chemo. I hate it!!!
Her CEA is holding steady, so that is good, as for her it is a fairly reliable indicator of tumor activity. The oncologist said that in a few more weeks (probably 3-4, I believe) they will do another CT scan to see how this new cocktail of Folfiri is working out for her. I am continuing to believe in the MIGHTY GOD for good results and for her overall healing. He is the same yesterday, today and forever, and I know that His desire is to see my mom well and whole. He desires health and life for us, not sickness.
Mom has been keeping busy quilting up a storm! She just finished a beautiful quilt for John & Charity that she’d been working on for awhile and is working on a beautiful lap-size quilt that is really vintagey-looking. I love it! She has a real gift for quilting, that is for sure.
Mom & Dad stopped by for lunch a little bit ago and that was nice to spend some time with them on this cold & rainy day. They are good company
Anyway, that’s about all for now. Thank you for your continued prayers, and please keep two other people in your prayers:
1) My mom’s dear friend Deanna is dealing with a very invasive breast cancer right now. She will be having surgery sometime in the next few months and is currently on chemo and weak. We need to see Deanna healed completely in Jesus’ name!!
2) My parents’ pastor friend Pete is battling bronchial cancer that is in one bronchial tube and his lung. He still manages to preach every Sunday, praise God! Lord, please touch Pete and heal him totally, by your stripes.
Last Tuesday mom had her 6th session of chemo, with the continued Folfiri cocktail. She seems to do better overall on this than she did with the Folfox, but bottom line any time you’re doing chemo, there are some awful side effects. We want to see her blood counts stay nice and high so that she has more of an immune system, as this is an awful time to be prone to infection (ie. swine flu <— which my little family had about 2 weeks ago).
Anyway, we continue to approach Jesus every day, thanking Him for His healing power, and thanking Him for the good that He is doing and will continue to do in my mom's body to heal her.
We can't give up.
We can't get discouraged.
We must believe the report of our KING over the report of man.
Thanks again for your continued prayers!! He is Mighty to Save!
