"Your greatest contribution to the Kingdom of God may not be something you do, but someone you raise." ~Andy Stanley

October 28, 2015

It was good news!

The oncologist said the scan looks good!
The results showed that there isn't any cancer anywhere in Hubby's body!!!!
 Halelujah!
The doctor would not call him cancer-free yet but said he is 'in a good place.'
He thinks it could pop up in the abdomen, which looks suspicious to him. (prayers appreciated for that)
We asked for a break from chemo and he agreed. He said the chemo has been worse for Hubby than the disease and THAT is the truth.
He wants to do one more chemo because of the abdomen and then do another scan to see how things are.
We tried bargaining for it to take place after Christmas and he countered with early December so that Hubby would feel better by Christmas.. I think he won. : )
Anyway, that is the plan.

We are SOOO excited!
To God be the glory!

~Becky

Praying and believing


 "For I will restore health to you and heal you of all your wounds." 
 ~ Jer. 30:17


This is the week we've been waiting for.
Yesterday, Hubby had a CT scan and today we hear the results.

I had a personal break through the other day, when I realized how discontent I am with my "now."
I'm always pressing for this trial to be over and for things to be "back to normal."
It hit me that we are in a cancer-fighting season. This battle is our 'now' and our present 'normal,' and it has been for a long time. That doesn't mean I'm giving in or giving up.
-I'm just realizing that always straining to get this over with and to get back to the way things were, is exhausting and frustrating.

Hopefully, the battle is over, and if it is, then we are in a cancer-healing season! And that will most likely take a lot of time too.
Either way, I'm reminded of Paul, who said:
"...For I have learned to be content in whatever situation I am in." Phil. 4:11  

~Becky

October 22, 2015

This and that

Growing wheat grass totally makes you feel healthier even if you haven't put any of it in your mouth yet, so that rocks! ; )
Being someone who can barely remember to feed the fish, I feel like this is quite an accomplishment!

The vegan journey was interrupted the other day when I somehow forgot that tuna is.... meat!
I'm not sure how that happened!
I guess I agree with Ron:

Today, we tried roasted seaweed and I can tell you, I am so not a fan.

There was some sibling bonding over a Back to the Future marathon last night because yesterday was THE day! October 21, 2015! Nate is a night owl so he made it through all three movies last night but Joy didn't quite make it through the third one. 
Nate and I have started playing tennis again. We used to play for his PE credit when he was in high school. And I secretly had a blast playing with him because could be quite 'a pistol' during those teen years and I usually won. ; )
  Now, he's a sweet young adult and I feel very blessed that he wants to spend time with me! 
So, Mothers of Teenage Boys, don't give up! 
Good times are ahead!
 -In the meantime, find a game that you can beat them at! ; ) 

~Becky

October 21, 2015

Wednesdays in the Word

I love Ann Spangler's book, Praying the Names of God. I used to speak I love to list off the characteristics of what God's Hebrew names mean and thank Him for who He is! What an amazing blessing it is that He can be all of these things to each of us!

He is our King, 
our Dwelling Place, and Rock,
our Strong Tower in times of trouble.
He is our Shield and our Fortress. 
Not only our Judge but our Righteousness. 
The One Who is There and The One Who Sees Me. 
God Almighty, the Creator of all things. 
He is our Master and Shepherd, 
Our Provider and our Healer. 
A Banner over us.
The Holy One of Israel and the Hope of Israel. 
He is Eternal, Jealous, and a Consuming Fire. 
He is the Captain of the Hosts of Heaven and I Am That I Am.
He is God Most High 
and 
our 
Daddy. 

How amazing is that?!

~Becky

October 19, 2015

Fall and future testimony

Yesterday, Hubby had a good day so we decided to go for a quick outing to the park so that he could feel the fall air. It was a beautiful day to be outside!






I believe that in the future, when Hubby is the picture of health once again, these pictures will be apart of his testimony! : )

God heals and restores!
~Becky

October 17, 2015

Food and fun

I promise that this will be the only post where I sound like a vegan food blogger. : )
I'm just glad that the things we tried this week were pretty yummy.

The hunt for a really good black bean burger recipe is still aluding me.
The latest one I tried last night, made Nathan say "This tastes like a bean burrito on a bun, no offense." LOL None taken.
The zoodles (zuchini noodles) with avocado sauce were yummy, but try serving leftovers which look like a big glob of  GREEN to a guy a guy who is always nausous...
Not gonna happen! ; )

This meal was yummy and pretty.


And hooray for vegan white pizza! The sauce is coconut milk and garlic and it works! Amazingly enough!


The wheat grass has sprouted! I guess we should have some to juice in about two days. 


When Joy and I were researching it, she found a video of a woman explaining how to grow it and then taking a big drink of it while staring non-blinkingly at the camera. Then she said "It takes like...grass" and we died laughing everytime we watched it. 
Was that suppose to make us want to try it? She seemed to think so! 

It was a rough week for my hubby. Some days were ok and others were so rough that he could barely talk. He feels like the chemo funk is just now starting to wear off. And today was a good day!  

Andrew took care of him for a little while and Joy and I went out for a quick outing to a framers market and cupcake festival. Guess what happens when you get there late and it is hot out and the cupcake venders want to go home? Gourmet cupcakes come cheap! ; ) 
 But Italian ice sounded much better! 
  

~Becky

October 14, 2015

Wednesdays in the Word

The praises of heaven from the book of Revelations for the "One who is and who was and who is to come:

"Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!
 Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints.
Who shall not fear You, O Lord and glorify Your name? 
For You alone are holy." 

"You are worthy to take the scroll, 
And to open its seals,
For You were slain;
And have redeemed us to God,
by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
And have made us kings and priest to our God
 and we shall reign on the earth."

"Blessing and honor and glory and power 
be to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb;
 forever and ever!" 

 "You are worthy, O Lord,
 to receive glory and honor and power
 for You created all things, 
And by Your will they exist and were created."

"Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come."

"We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, 
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned."

~Becky

October 13, 2015

As the fight continues

On Friday, the oncologist said that chemo would always be a part of my hubby's life. That was painful to hear. I can't even fathom that right now, especially since this last treatment was so hard on him. We are believing God that that is just not the case!

My new favorite verse that I am praying for him is:
"'For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,' says the Lord." Jer. 30:17 Amen!

He has a CAT scan on the 27th and we will find out the results on the 30th. We are believing for a good report! Prayers appreciated! : )

In the meantime, we have decided to do more to fight the cancer through natural means like we were at the beginning of this journey. (last year)

A friend is coming over to teach me how to grow and juice wheatgrass today.
 I've literally dusted off the juicer and we are back to doing that. I've been making protein smoothies for him with coconut oil, flax seed, fruit and kale for awhile now.
He has been slowly becoming a vegan. (that word still freaks me out, maybe because I love cheese so much!)
His first real 'vegan day' was yesterday.
Mine wasn't. -Because someone has to finish off all the homemade cranberry, pecan chicken salad I made the other day. And I volunteered! ; )
But I plan to join him on this journey. Despite my love of cheese!

 I'm still researching how to give him enough protein by eating this way! He has to eat something every 90 minutes which keeps me on my toes. Only having half of a stomach now and being nauseous because of chemo makes it all quite the challenge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you are new here, here is a quick version of Hubby's situation:  Last July, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He had a cancerous tumor at the juncture where the stomach and the esophagus meet. Apparently, only people who smoke and drink and are over 60 seem to get this... So it seemed very 'unfair' for a guy in his 40's who hasn't smoked since junior high and doesn't drink, to get this. His was caused by an acid reflux issue that could have been treated. But he didn't have any symptoms because the acid reflux issue was 'latent.' Another thing that seemed 'unfair' if I'm being whiny.
He did chemo and radiation for 6 weeks to shrink the tumor and then it was removed on January 5th of this year. He had some complications but was cancer-free (yay!) until August. The esophageal cancer was found in fluid in his left lung somehow, but thankfully, nowhere else in his body! PTL! He has had three rounds of chemo at this point and that brings us up to date.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite how painful it is to watch him go through all this suffering, we are surrounded by God's peace. -And blessed by the most wonderful bunch of praying friends that anyone could ask for.

~Becky

October 11, 2015

Family time

Life is pretty low-key around here right now while Hubby is convalescing. There isn't a whole lot going on.

We try to keep things quiet, usually,
 except for today.
Today, we had a big Sunday lunch here with our kids and the newlyweds after church. We chose this Sunday on purpose because it was the weekend after the chemo treatment, meaning that Hubby would be on steroids and those give him a little more strength and a wee bit of energy, that he doesn't usually have to enjoy life more normally.
AND I cooked! Which I never do on Sunday afternoons! : )


Unfortunately, chemo treatment #3 must have been a doozy, because not even steroids have helped this time. He's had a rough go of it, ever since Friday. Bless his heart! Really rough!

Despite not feeling well, he was up for giving his usual speech before a family get together. (we all love those speeches)
This one was about how blessed we are to have Tiffany in our family and he thanked her for marrying Zac.
-And so did Zac! LOL And so did his siblings! : )
And Hubby reminded us that we may feel derailed during this season we are in right now, but it is just a part of the journey to get us all to our destiny.
Love him! Even in his weakest moments, he is encouraging us.

Then a very loud, fun game of charades took place, which he was somehow able to nap through.
-At this moment, certain kiddos are racing each other to the fridge for the leftovers.

Steering clear of the kitchen!
~Becky

October 6, 2015

The smell of hard work

So, besides our son whose first job was fixing audio equipment, every one of our kids has come home from work with a different job related scent.

Our oldest always came home smelling like coffee! Yum! Love that smell, even if I don't drink it. Thank you, Starbucks!

Our daughter gets in our car, very often smelling like chicken, and making me hungry. Thank you, Chick-fil-A.

And yesterday, I found out that when your youngest son works in a florist, he gets in the car smelling just like roses!!! Seriously, it was like the whole car was full of them!

He wins!
Of course, when you are a guy, you are not too thrilled about smelling like a bunch of flowers! ; )

~Becky