"They praise you..."

Isaiah 38:19..." The living, the living---they praise you, as I am doing today; Fathers tell their children about your faithfulness."

John and I had a "date day" today. When we first retired and/or quit work (outside the home) we realized that day follows day and soon, we hardly did anything "fun". So we started taking most every Friday as our "date day", a day just for us, whether we did yard work, went to a movie, did antiquing, had lunch out, or explored a small town close by, this was our day just for us. It has worked for these 25 years now and we still for the most part maintain this day as ours. For the last several months, we lost out on it, with illness, moving, getting settled, etc. we had let it slip away, so today we started back with our special day.

We left home this morning about 9:30 and drove to a small town about 50 miles away, Bell Buckle, TN. We walked in all the shops (the town is about three blocks long) and ate lunch in the Cafe then drove home after going by another small remains of a town, called Christiana which is even smaller, but does have a great place to eat (we have been there before) called Miller's Grocery. Amazingly, these towns have live music on weekend nights and (we have heard) really pack people in. So our day out was fun and we somehow talk more when we are sitting across the table in a restaurant like that than we do at home. We make lists of things to do, or places to go. Anyhow, we always praise God for the times John and I have together.

"I will extend peace to her like a river..."

"...and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream." Isaiah 66:12 This verse was sent to me this morning by my daughter in law and I love the security and contentment found in it. Think how peaceful is a river flowing along!...Today was skin doctor day---not much fun, especially for a red head complexion person like me.

While going through my memory box (oh my I could spend all winter going thru this and putting papers, invitations, newspaper articles, etc into scrapbooks) I already have four scrapbooks of such and could probably fill several more ( I am pretty behind on doing this) These really are a family/friendship history of the last 100 years. I have letters and papers from the early 1900's that I have told about here (Example, the letters written to Grandma and Grandpa when their baby died)

I pulled out my baby book today, along with my book list from the 4th grade...I read 31 books that year! Thinking of all my great aunts and uncles who are long gone! When I was born, I had light "almost red" hair. All the baby gifts given for me are listed and it is sad to think of all the years gone, that my parents were young and excited about their first baby (me) and now they are dead for over 20 years. All of Mama's friends came to parties, were involved in our activities and they also are long gone. But they had good lives and much fun and love and happy times.

I sent matching aprons to one of our 4 year old greats and her mother. When she opened the box, she said "We need to cook something!" What fun to have little girls around! I must sing to my self, "Peace like a river..."

"A spirit of power..."

II Timothy 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline..." I gather strength from this verse, no matter what I am talking about on this blog. I finally got around today to read all the side effects to the new chemo, all the terrible things that can happen to me, the assurance that this combination of drugs has never been tried on humans before! So I am shaking as I read this and think, Can I really do this???Then I see this verse that says God gives us power and I know whatever He brings to me to take, I can do it, OR He will give me another chemo to take its place. I was talking to a friend who is now cancer free and he was telling how this experimental is what is giving some like him the ability to beat this cancer, if not forever, at least for a while. This is my dream! My hope! My prayer!

I was going through some of my saved "papers" and found our high school "Student Handbook" given me when I started high school at Litton High, one of the best high schools ever. We had teachers who really cared if we succeeded, and a principal who knew all our names, even years later upon seeing him, he would call me by name. He died of Parkinson's Disease and I went to see him a few times after he was bed ridden, and he never lost his zest for life. This handbook tells all the teachers names and tells about some, like our band leader, Sammy Swor, who not only taught band but played in the Nashville Symphony. We had a nationally famous band because of his leadership. Back then the worst thing a student did was chew gum, talk in class, bring cigarettes to school. Of course a few did worse but they were quietly sent elsewhere. We respected our teachers and did as told (most of the time). We all have stories to tell....oh well, we all know "where the bodies are buried". We had fun and most of the time were model citizens, and got a great education.
As we matured we developed more self discipline . Now we are the older generation and all of my friends depend upon God's love and power to guide them.

"For God so loved the world..."

Today was a good day, got lots of sewing done, and John felt good. He is counting the days until he can take a real shower ( five more days). They glued the incision closed and water will wash away the glue, so that is the reason for no showers. (there are inside stitches, of course). Our cousins in Missouri have a teen age granddaughter who was kicked by a horse and had to have 50-60 stitches in her leg--thank goodness there was no nerve damage or infection to her leg, but really will be a big scar. Day to day, we never know what will happen. Each day is a blessing in itself, and we take these days for granted. I remember Daddy and Mama says how quickly the days go by ( as they were older) and now I am older than they were before they died. In fact John and I have both lived longer than all our parents.
I am going to a new class on Wednesday night at church--called "living fearless in a fearful world". One of her key verses is one of my favorites--Isaiah 49:16..."See I have engraved you in the palm of my hand..." If God has us engraved in His hand, how can we fear anything that is coming..I have to remind myself of this and not get nervous as the new chemo is coming along in a week..I am fearful of the unknown, the side effects, and have to remind myself that God loves us and I am in His hand!

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

"...Your faithfulness at night..."

Last night I was really tired and could not stay awake long enough to write. Today I have been nauseated, even with the zofran, and high fevers (101.4) but I decided if it is that high tomorrow I will go to the doctor. I have slept all afternoon and evening. I can not figure this out, no chemo in nearly two months and feeling this bad...kind of makes me not too anxious to start the new chemo next week!
Our daughter was talking to a friend who is a PHD doctor working in DNA and this doctor said they believe in five years some of cancer will be conquered! That is very encouraging. She also said that those like me who do the experimental are helping tremendously in this battle.

Psalm 92:1-2 says, "It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night..."

I would love to see the grandchildren and greats in Augusta ---really miss them very much. I think we could not drive that far right now. John is doing well, but both shoulders are very, very sore. I would assume that is from the strap down for surgery. I am hoping he will be better tomorrow, and me too.

"..parents are the pride of their children..."

I went through another box in our storage and found things I did not know I had. Among these "found" items were drawings Daddy did while he was in the army. He was always sketching whatever he saw. Daddy was a poet, a writer, a painter, none of which were anything famous, but he was very talented and artistic. One of these was a colored pencil drawing showed "view east from camp at Marseilles, France". Another was a view of mountains and fields of vegetables marked "south". One of a river with a lovely bridge,is labeled "Pont du La Concorde...23 March 1945" he drew lots of Parisian buildings (which are always so lovely and so picturesque). There is a "Belgium Home, March 29, 1945" and a really intricate drawing of a gargoyle from a Paris building.

There are several more harbors, a view of a "rainy day of 20G" (drawing of guys in their tent) and my very favorite! It is a pencil drawing of a "French Cart" sitting outside a barn (kind of a two wheeled cart) and a rooster scratching beside this.
I have lots more things from him, the V mail that lots of times contained drawings or "cartoons" he would send me. I was 9 when he left and 11 when he came home.

Proverbs 17:6 says "Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children." We are blest to have these "children's children" and John and I both also had parents in whom we took pride for their character and their honesty and the way they maintained themselves.

John did good today, not feeling the best but still weak. I am sure tomorrow will be a better stronger day.

"...the great and awesome God..."

Today was the dreaded and looked for day for John to have his pacemaker battery replaced. This was a wonderful day for the technology and the doctor and how perfectly the procedure went. The worst part was the six needle sticks for one blood draw and one IV---he has terrible veins and the nurse at first had a very hard time???Anyway, they called in an IV specialist who did it perfectly her first time on each place. Then we had to wait two hours to leave after the doctor dismissed us! Ah...see how computers speed things up!!?? We were gone 12 hours for a one hour "surgery". Anyway, thankful for all going well.

Tonight, I had to find a piece of string and I looked in our catch-all box, finding a little ball of string about 2 inches in diameter. Then I remembered how large this ball of string was when John's mother died. It was in her kitchen drawer and I knew how she like my family saved the dry cleaner's string and wrapped it into this ball and over the years of saving and using, it was still 3-4 inches large back then. Only those who lived through the "depression" would think to save STRING! We take such for granted and throw away garbage like this. I even had a wrought iron string saver way back and this ball of string sat in there and I would pull out when I needed any...how convenient!
John's mother saved EVERYTHING! Again, the depression mentality. When she died, we threw away hundreds of cottage cheese boxes, paper sacks, old ragged clothes (unusable), oatmeal cartons...we even found a few dollar bills in the sewing machine and in some books, enough that we had to go through all her books, looking for more!
She also had saved the little glass bowls and juice glasses that came in oatmeal boxes, and also jelly jars. Today these items are quite expensive at antique shops.
When John and I first married, we bought a window fan and it was $36.00 and we had to pay for it "on time". John's Dad had a fit because we "charged" something!
Again, we are so thankful for today...Nehemiah 1:5-6 says "...O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with those who love Him and obey His commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night...."