Scrapbooking

Several ladies in our church have an interest in learning to make scrapbooks. This fall I started looking to find someone that would be willing to come to the church to teach a scrapbooking workshop. Friday night was the big night. We had 23 ladies ranging in age from 8 to 86 that showed up. Everyone brought some pictures and had an opportunity to make a page to take home. Several of the ladies that came already has done some type of scrapbooking and it was interesting to look at the different styles. I think that many ladies were given the confidence that this is something that they can do. I've had a number of people ask me if we are going to do this again. The plan is to meet once a month just to get together and work on our albums. Maybe we will decide that there is a topic that we'd like to learn more about and will do a more specific workshop later this spring. Anyhow, we had a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday Zach!!

Today is Zach's 19th birthday. I can't believe that my precious little boy is so old. It seems like just yesterday that I brought a beautiful, 7 lb. 2 oz. baby boy home from the hospital. I remember as we left the hospital, several people stopped us to admire our new son and to tell us that he was such a pretty baby. We were so proud of him. We are still so proud of him 19 years later. It seems like he has grown up so much in the last few months. Zach, if you are reading this, I hope you have a great birthday. I love you!

YMCA

Today I went to the YMCA here in Boone for the first time to workout. We now have a membership to the Y. Actually, it is kind of a neat story. Josh got a student membership this past summer. As the temperatures dropped, Jeff and I started wishing that we could join as well but we were concerned about the cost. Jeff decided to call and ask if they had any discounts for clergy. The person in charge of programming told Jeff that they had heard great things about him and about Cornerstone Church. She wanted to know if Jeff would be willing to lead a community Bible Study at the YMCA and in return we would get a free family membership! I guess it's true what it says in Ephesians 3:20, "God can do anything, far more than you can ever imagine..." Anyhow, I'm hoping to be able to workout at the YMCA twice a week and walk on the treadmill once more at home. Boy, it's getting to be a lot of hard work to keep from getting old!!

NO CANCER

The surgeon called last night with great news! The lump is NOT CANCER!! It is fatty deposits that like to attach themselves to scar tissue. Then more deposits join the first ones until a lump is formed. This is basically harmless and they don't need to do anything about it as long as it doesn't grow too large. Jeff and I are very relieved!! Thanks for your prayers.

Deja Vu

Today I had a flashback of almost 18 months ago as I sat in a surgeon's office having another biopsy done. Let me back up a bit. I found another breast lump the end of November. Within 24 hours I was in Dr. Otteman's office (my oncologist). He sent me to have an ultra sound which basically came back inconclusive. He decided to watch it for a few weeks to see what happened. I went back to see him yesterday and the lump was still there. He decided to have me see my surgeon. Today I saw Dr. Hardy. After reviewing my file he decided to do a needle biopsy which is much less invasive than the type of biopsy that I had done 1 1/2 years ago. We should have results in about a week.

In the past 6 weeks I have seen Dr. Otteman three times, Dr. Hardy, as well as Dr. Yee (my radiation oncologist). All three doctors feel that there is a very low percent chance that this is cancer. I am not panicking or even upset although it is hard not to think about the "what ifs". I am praying that this is nothing, but know that God will be right at my side should I have to deal with cancer again. I'll update my blog when I get the results back.

Zach's Car

Zach has his car! A family from our church was selling a 1994 Mitsubishi Montero. Zach had a nice chunk of money saved up and will make monthly payments on the rest until it is paid in full. Zach is thrilled to have his own set of wheels and I'm pretty happy to get to get my car back!

Visit to Michigan

On December 26th, Josh and I left to visit family. We drove to the Chicago suburbs the first day. We visited with my Grandma Smith who is 89 years old and lives in her own apartment. She was especially happy to see Josh since the boys aren't often with us when we stop to see her. Then we went and had dinner with my brother, Ron, and his wife, Kim, and their two boys, John - 18 and Brian - 17. We stayed over night at the Best Western that Kim manages and then went to visit my sister, Leslie. Leslie fixed us pancakes for breakfast and her two youngest girls, Meghan and Bekah were there to open presents.

Later that day we drove to Michigan (about 45 minutes north of Grand Rapids) to visit my parents and my other sister, Julie. That's my parent is the picture with me. We stayed for several days with them. It is so good to have family. I don't get to see them as often as I would like to, but they sure are special to me. Josh also got to stay overnight at our previous youth pastors home while we were in Michigan. Dan and Kim live south of Grand Rapids. There son, James, and Josh are pretty good friends and I'm glad that it worked out for them to spend some time together. We came home on New Year's Eve. It's a long drive and the snow that we ran into didn't make it go any faster. Josh did the majority of the driving on the trip including through Chicago and through the snow on the way home. All in all, he is a pretty good driver. It was so nice to get away, but it sure is great to be home!