..."the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth..."

Psalms 121: I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." verses 1-2
I went to the neurosurgeon today, and he was so pleased with my progress, and said there was no cancer in the brain tissue (MRI after surgery). He will not let me drive for two more weeks (making six weeks without independence) and two more weeks without any hair "fixings"...So I will be white and straight in two more weeks! I really cannot complain, God has taken care of me so wonderfully and those are minor things! We are seeing more snow tonight, this is being the worse winter in a number of years.
I was thinking this afternoon about trips because John and I hope to go to Hawaii before I start chemo again. I go to the oncologist March 2 to sign all the papers for another experimental (this will be the fourth chemo in six years).
I am so glad we took trips when we did, with our children and grandchildren and just the two of us. We camped for 40 years and when our children were young, camped all over the United States except for three states. The longest trip was out west and back for three weeks, and had no trouble until we got between Memphis and Nashville and had a flat tire on our trailer. That was a really fun trip. We kind of divided the US and camped each direction for several years. Then we went to Europe twice, to England/Scotland once, to the Holy Land, and Egypt, Canada and Mexico, Bermuda, and many cruises all over the Caribbean. I went to Japan on a mission trip without John, but with my sister and her family. We have never regretted any trip taken, only the trips not take!. I am so glad we did this instead of waiting "until we had time, or could afford it"...Sometimes, we borrowed the money to go and one of these times was the Holy Land trip...we took our daughter and two grandsons, and this was such a memorable trip! Then we took each of the other grandchildren on a trip "of their own"which turned out to be very special times with all of them.
So we feel so blessed over the years, to have been able to do these trips, to be kept under God's sheltering wing each trip, and to enjoy the blessings of being with our family in so many ways.
I feel God continues to bless us and me each day and I am overwhelmed with gratitude each day.

"joy of the Lord....

"The Joy of the Lord is your strength..."Nehemiah 8:10
And we need strength tonight...We found out sadly that John's cousin, Anna, (the one who was an army nurse in World War II), is hospitalized, and seriously ill..She is 91 and her strength is waning especially since she found out about three weeks ago that she has a bone cancer. So tonight we are sad for her battle with all the things that go with cancer, and being hospitalized, and all her immediate family are gathering close to support her. All we can do, far from her, is pray.
Before we received this email tonight, I was wondering about my journal tonight. I had thought about family recipes today, about foods that family especially would cook, that was unique to us. Grandma used to fix something that I never knew anyone else to cook---cornmeal dumplings. She would start with a ham hock, use this as a gravy and drop in cornmeal "pones" and let them cook slowly. The loose cornmeal made a gravy, and this was so good! I am sure it was not healthy, probably full of salt! Does anyone who reads this know how to cook this??I would love to try it just once more.
Grandma would also cook fresh turnip greens, and top them with poached eggs...very yummy. She made hot biscuits every morning and used a batch as a starter, not yeast, but from lard. She lived to be 98 and never had any blood pressure or heart problems..but she also mowed her yard with a PUSH mower until she was near 90, so that might explain why she could eat like that and never have health problems.
I have several old cookbooks that were family ---they are very old.
Gran taught me how to cook a roast, and the best banana pudding, making (from scratch) homemade vanilla pudding for the base.
Well tomorrow I go to the neurosurgeon and hope he will release me.
I am really enjoying "being on vacation" from the chemo. It really feels like a true vacation!
Please pray for our Anna, and her peace at heart and mind and body, also health if God wills.

Happy are the people...

"Happy are the people whose God is the Lord..." Psalms 144:15
I really hate to miss a day not blogging...but last night was "cabin night"....a glorified older "girls" slumber party! Our care group women do this several times a year, taking advantage of a friend of a friend who has a wonderful "cabin" above Gallatin, by a creek, in the woods and it is like getting way from home. It is a connecting in thoughts, a worship time in spirit, a revival of sister-hood, a sharing of worries, happiness, and knowing God is there for each of us. We can have anywhere from 8 to 12 friends there. We talk, eat, play games, talk, eat, take pictures. We come away revived, and ready to tackle anything life throws at us.
We are especially concerned and in prayer for several in our care group who are facing serious illness. Women are so blessed to have built in their psyche this "sister-hood" and trust in each other.
It felt good for me to be able to get away for a day and night, and almost forget that I had brain surgery and have cancer. God is good and His mercies overflow.

"For I know the plans I have for you ..."

God knows the plans for us...wow, is this wonderful! I saw my oncologist today and he and several of the other doctors and nurses were so amazed at how my tumor just "went away"...and they too believe God took it away. My doctor is so believing that I am not growing cancer by the day...(my wondering since I am off the chemo for now). He has three possible chemos to choose from...they are new and each is special, two are experimental, one for multiple myloma, one for a sarcoma (not my kind) and another which I am not sure the specific cancer it attacks). Since my cancer is so rare ( a mixed mullerian)I will go sign papers and apply for the drug he thinks will be the best for now. He also says the side effects are minimal, worst is the time table. Each drug must be taken every Monday/Tuesday for three weeks then the fourth week is "off"...this is really not so bad, except the two days each week are long days. With no side effects, I will get 12 days "off" each four weeks, so that will be like a mini-vacation each month!
I should not have to recuperate between Mondays so that will be wonderful.
So today, back at the Sarah Cannon center, watching the patients with caps and hats, covered bald heads, forever hopeful, praying for the cure that is perfect. That is me, not bald but praying for the perfect cure. I also got to go back to art tonight...this is "healing" to be with these dear friends and to enjoy being creative after missing art for several months. This group is like another "care group" from church and they are such a praying group!
Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future..."

"...He will rejoice over you with singing."

Tonight was the first time I have felt like going to Wednesday night church in nearly two months. It feels so GOOD to feel nearly normal. It feels so good to not be on chemo! It feels so good to have an appetite and really be able to taste food. It feels so good to have more energy and pretend all is ok and I am not sick and I am not going to start over again with the chemo and all that goes with it. But that is not the truth and I cannot pretend that I am well and not going to go through this again. But as my doctor told me several years ago.."do you just want to sit down and die?"
I go to the oncologist tomorrow and we shall see what he thinks we need to do next. I really needed this rest and it is wonderful. I had done continually, since August, 2 surgeries,3 hospital stays, chemo, 2 transfusions, many, many white cell and red cell shots, and lots of CT's and MRI's, just staying alive. We beat it back again, God and I and the medical community.
So tomorrow I find out just what is our next move. I am not ready to give up and I believe God has more for me to do. So, stay tuned, for our next big move...will it be plan A or plan B???
One of my favorite and most comforting Bible verses is Zephaniah 3:17..."The Lord our God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

"A woman who fears the Lord..."

"A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised..." Proverbs 31:30 Well this is my last "story" about our parents...telling about John's Mother...whom I called Gran.. Last night, I touched on how she and Grandad met and married. She was one of seven children, adored by her father. (He had four boys and three girls, but loved his girls best of all...)The family's first home was in Edenwold, near the rail road, and the old Swinging Bridge (in the early 1900's the only way to get from Nashville and Madison over to Old Hickory). This home burned and they rebuilt out on Gallatin Road, where Gran's father bought quite a few acres. This time he build a large clapboard home, similar to the Hermitage. He had Iris up a long rock path and all along the Gallatin road and another long rock wall all up the property. So this is where Gran grew up...in a prosperous beautiful home. (Her mother had died after giving birth to her and one sister. Her father married again and had another girl and the four boys. All these were born down in Edenwold,); then he married a third time after they moved to Gallatin road.
When Gran's sister married and moved to Washington, DC, Gran lived with her awhile and dated many government officials but soon tired of this life and came back to Nashville where she met Grandad and they soon married. About this time, her father's second home burned and all goods in the house were lost! She had the two boys, and their family build a home on part of her father's land. When the depression came along, Gran went to school at Watkins and learned millinery. She became one of Nashville,s foremost milliners, working for McHenry Hats in the old Lovemans downtown. John remembers her working for 50c a day.
When the older son died, Gran was thrown into severe physical and emotional problems which she never recovered from. She functioned normally but the joy was gone from her life. She enjoyed our three children but John's cousins tell us she was a different personality after that death.
When Grandad died, part of her did also and she only lived two more years. She was a beautiful young woman and an energetic young mother and wife. I was always sorry I did not know her and the fun loving, sparkling person she had been.

Blessed is the man.....

"Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord..." Proverbs 28:14
John's father was born on a farm in Alabama, the 6th of seven children. (His ancestral family came "over the mountains" in the 1700's as part of the Robertson's who founded Nashville, except his family went south to the Tennessee River part of what became Alabama. They settled there when Alabama was still part of Indian land called Mississippi Territory.)
So this young 17 year old left home in the early 1900's leaving farm land to go to telegraphy school. After graduating he came to the Franklin area to work for the L&N Railroad. At this time, his oldest sister lived nearby.
When World War I started he joined the Navy and served as a telegrapher in the Navy. He was on a ship that went through the NEW Panama Canal in the 1917's. After the war, he came back to the railroad as before and was sent to work in the Edenwold area, now a memory of a place near Nashville. While working there, he started studying law and hoped to be a lawyer someday. He met a beautiful young lady locally and they soon married. They were both so good looking that it is said when they walked in down town Nashville, people would stop and stare at them, certain they were movie stars!
The depression came along, the couple had two boys to raise, and the law school fell by the wayside. He always kept the demeanor of solemnity and all his friends called him "Judge" all his life!
The oldest son was killed in World War II and these two never recovered from this death. I never met him until much later, as John was the younger brother and we met in 1950 and married in 1952. Family members have told me how they both changed so much after the older son's death.
I always called him "Grandad" and loved him very much. He was such a fine gentleman, such a man of his word, a "handshake" type of man!he worked for the L&N until he was 79 years old; just think working for a company for 62 years! He had worked there longer than anyone ever had there before. He also worked at the famous Union Station before it was closed as a rail road station and became a hotel. When he left there, his boss gave him a rolled up picture----it is a famous lithograph of the Union Station, drawn in 1900 by L.L. Gamble. We proudly display it in a frame made by John from some old
poplar from a grandparent's home.
Grandad only lived two years after he retired and spent those years walking over to our home and loving to be with the grandchildren.
He was very special and we all loved our "Grandad".