4 days to leaving ...

4 days and counting down ... we are leaving for MDA on Tuesday.

I have LOTS and LOTS to do before leaving ... knowing that not only are we going to be gone almost 2 weeks (at least), but that in coming back I will be on REST and not allowed to do much of anything for a while. Sigh. Course, I am supposed to be on REST now too. And yes, I am resting more than not ... but I still have to do some things. Thankfully, Rick is helping all he can, and so are his parents. :-)  

Will be going to Rick's cousin's house - Al & Christine's. They are so sweet and precious. More than family - they are friends!
It's awesome when your family here is also your Christian brother and sister! :-) 
 
Wednesday I have an MRI scheduled ... Thursday is a meeting with the doctor, pre-op, blood work, genetic counseling. And then - Friday. Surgery.

I know that God has all this in His hands, under His control. So I am not afraid ... but, I am scared.
I am not sitting around wringing my hands in worry and fear. Fear is not consuming my every thought and dream.

But, as a woman, a human - I am scared. I have cancer. And I am fixing to have major surgery. I do not like to be put to sleep. Going to sleep isn't the difficult part for me. The waking up is. I have always had a hard time - not with actually waking up, but my body usually reacts violently to the waking up. Major trauma. Sigh. So, I am praying for peace and quietness, that my body and mind will just be still and rest in the Lord's promises - before, during and after surgery! 

I don't know why I have cancer. The only thing I could have done to "maybe" prevent it? Not be overweight. But then, if I have to have chemo or radiation, I have a greater rate of survival because I am overweight. Sigh.
I do believe that God has a purpose in this. Praying that He will find some good for us thru it all, and glory for Him.

---

Our new "home" for the next several weeks ... :-)
Rick has an older recliner - but the handle for the reclining is on the right side, down low. And due to his shoulder surgery coming up - right side - we realized he wouldn't be able to recline.
But this will work - a small handle up higher on the LEFT side :-) for him.
And now, I have a more comfortable place to sit as well :-). Better than just my porch rocker that I have been using for a while! :-)
My only problem so far? I find it hard to stay awake once I sit down and get comfortable! LOL

Rick bought me a MP3 player ... and I loaded about 100 songs into it yesterday. Thought it would be a good way to keep focused on worship as we go to the hospital. I can use it at night if I cannot sleep, and Rick can use it whenever. I still have more songs to load. I only wish that it was easier to "program". That we could just go straight to a playlist without having to skip thru so much. But, oh well ...

We went to my sister's on Wednesday. Visited a while with her about our family. Trying to get the answers for the genetic counselor. Not a whole lot of quality information about our family that we can find so far. A lot of "stories" that have been passed down thru the years. But how many of those are true and right? KWIM? Not much documentation - at least so far.
Which in dealing with all this has become a matter of importance to me.
I am trying to document everything with us - so that if at any time in the future, our kids or grandkids or later generations need to know what happened, the info will be there, available to them.

While at Wal-mart on Wednesday, we met "Kandi" - she is a precious lady. We have known her for several years. She hugged me, and I asked her if she was a praying lady. She said that she was, very much so. I then asked her to add us to her prayer lists, please. She wanted to know what was going on, so while we were being checked out, we told her.
She grabbed our hands and standing there, she prayed. She preached! :-) The lady that was checking us out stopped and prayed too. It was AWESOME!!! :-) We felt lifted to the throne of God, and knew His angels were surrounding us. "Where 2 or 3 are gathered in My Name, there I am in the midst of them." I don't think we have ever felt that more than we did on Wednesday afternoon standing in the checkout line at Wal-mart in Sulphur Springs! :-)  
We love "Kandi" even more!!! She was not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not ashamed at the power of prayer! Oh, if we as Christians would just take that step forward in faith and courage! Not be so concerned with where we are, or what others think!
Lord, make me more like that! Full of courage and grace and dignity and faith!