Bovine Theology

I find myself focusing on endurance these days. This struggle with Leslie’s cancer is a marathon, not a sprint. We’ve just got to get through it.

Leslie had an okay day today. She continues to battle with the shooting pains that are a side effect of the chemo, as well as the exhaustion.

Cindy came over this evening. She is such a blessing to us, not only meeting physical needs we have around the house, but especially as a friend. The kids love her so much and it was fun to watch the girls run to give her hugs when she left.

Uncle Wil & Aunt Kristin came by this evening after their recent travels. We all couldn’t believe how much Kyla has grown! Leslie enjoyed feeding her a bottle before they had to head out.

I talked to Poppie briefly this evening. He sounded good and was out at a dinner theater. So I think he’s definitely improving.

Leslie had her fourth chemo treatment on Tuesday. She’s had an okay day. I think she’s done better with each treatment, but she continues to have bouts of pain, and of course plenty of exhaustion.

McGrooter was sick yesterday morning. This is the second chemo day in a row that he has woken us up throwing up. I’m not sure if it is coincidence or if he is dealing with stress this way. I ended up staying home with him and he was fully recovered by day’s end.

Poppie came home from the hospital yesterday. I haven’t gotten a chance to talk with him today.

My plate feels extra full right now. I’ve got quite a backlog of work at the office, and I’m a good bit behind with some work for my web business. I have been particularly thankful the past two evenings as fellow teachers at Leslie’s school have brought dinner to us.

Early this morning, Mike took Poppie to the ER with chest pains. After a long day of tests and eventually a heart catheterization, Poppie is resting in the hospital this evening. The doctors found a blood clot in his heart and have put him on a blood thinner. They also found a bacteria in his stomach that can cause chest pains. They have prescribed an antibiotic for this. I stopped by the hospital tonight after work and visited with Poppie a few minutes, and had dinner with Mike and Becky. Poppie looks good, but it is hard seeing him in a hospital bed. He has not only become a grandfather to me, he is also my good friend. So please pray that the clot would be dissolved and the antibiotic would quickly knock out the bacterial infection. We hope he will come home tomorrow.

Leslie had a good day today and goes in tomorrow morning for her fourth liquid chemotherapy treatment. We both dread each treatment, but are thankful that each one has been a little less traumatic. Pray for her strength and recovery this week, and also that we’ll be able to juggle all our responsibilities in the midst of this.

We are also still trying to sell our van. I got a call today from a guy who has a friend who is interested. Please pray the van will sell soon.

For Thanksgiving, we traveled to Greer, SC to visit at Leslie’s sister’s house. Neither Leslie or I felt well all day, so it wasn’t as grand as it could have been. But the company and hospitality was great, and everyone else seemed to have a wonderful time.

Today we both woke up feeling better, and Leslie fixed a wonderful breakfast of eggs, turkey bacon, and chocolate chip pancakes. The kids gobbled it all down, of course, and the Munch ended up with her traditional chocolate ring around her mouth.

We worked on cleaning out the garage some more today. I started a couple of weeks ago, but today we made some real progress. I got several shelves put up, and then various items which were on the floor up on them. We’re trying to get room cleared out so Leslie can get the van pulled in. The chemo makes her very sensitive to cold, so much so that she cannot open the fridge. So now that the temps are getting much cooler, getting the van inside is key, so that she doesn’t have to be out in the cold any more than she has to.

While Les and I were working, the kids enjoyed a sunny but cool day outside. So often I look at our house and complain that we don’t have a big flat yard. But the kids don’t do that. They think, “what can we do with a big hill?!!” So they each got a hula hoop and enjoyed rolling the hoops down, countless times. Here are some pictures:

• Headed up the hill - I’m not sure what Munchkin was so excited about
• Chasing the hoop
• Steering was a challenge
• The trauma of a mis-steered hoop
• Aggie posing
• The Hoop Master
• Loving the leaves
• McGrooter
• Always posing

After cleaning up, I enjoyed watching a beautiful full moon rise in the eastern sky. We warmed up inside, but I noticed Aggie wearing a scarf and gloves. She looked at me and said, “I have to wear these everyday because I can’t breathe cold air.” She has seen Leslie do this everyday due to the chemo. It’s interesting to watch how each of the kids process their mother dealing with cancer. Soon she was helping Munchkin do the same thing.

Today was a good day for all of us. I continue to be extremely thankful for these days. Leslie had enough strength to do several things around the house and help with the garage. We were saddened tonight, however, to learn about the death of a close friend of one my co-workers. Anamaria lost the battle with cancer, at a very young age. She was a young Romanian girl, who just recently was diagnosed with cancer. Her battle was short, but she is now free of cancer and with her Lord.

I decided to switch my look up a little bit. What do you think?

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving with Leslie’s family, including her Uncle Gary & Aunt Joan, and cousins Meghan and Allie. We went out to eat, and then back to Poppie’s to visit and play some football. It was a great time, although hard without Nannie.

Leslie continues to gain strength and today was a good day for her. We are very thankful for another good day!

Our week is slowing down, and boy do we need it after this past weekend. We’re all off the rest of the week and ready for some good family time over Thanksgiving.

Last night I brought home some goodies for the kids, after an impromptu trip to the PCA bookstore at work. I saw a book by Judy Rogers about a girl named Isabelle. It takes Proverbs 11:22 and teaches little girls that no matter how pretty they get dressed up, when they act ugly they look ugly. It’s really a cute story/song that is a good lesson for all of us when we act ugly. But I thought it would be especially good for Aggie to have and read at this time in her life. It’s also a coloring book, so she has enjoyed reading and coloring. For the Munch, I got one of Judy Rogers’ CDs, which has the song about Isabelle acting like a pig with a gold ring in her snout. We have some other CDs of hers and the kids enjoy them. For McGrooter, I’ve been wanting to start reading more adventure-type books with him so he could get more into the stories, instead of shorter books. So I picked up Little Pilgrim’s Progress for him. I read the first three chapters to him last night and he didn’t want me to stop. So I hope it continues to be a hit.

We were going to eat together as a family last night, but by the time I joined them at the restaurant Leslie needed to leave and head home. They had already eaten, so that was good. But it wasn’t how we’d planned (even though we did get to see an old friend on the way out the door, even if it was a brief visit). She ended up going to bed early. However, overall Leslie has had several good days in a row. I am thankful her schedule worked out such that Thanksgiving week was not a chemo week. It will allow us to really enjoy our time.

We have much to be thankful for this year, especially. I am thankful the doctors found the cancer and that the surgery was successful. I am thankful the radiation is over, that this round of chemo is only every other week, and that Leslie hasn’t lost her hair (although I think she’d be beautiful, I know the kids would have a hard time with that). I am thankful the kids have been so resilient, and that God has protected them in so many ways. I am thankful we lived so close during Nannie’s final year. I am thankful for the huge sacrifices family and friends have made to come alongside and help us during these past five months of Leslie’s cancer journey. Most of all, I am thankful that we are God’s, He loves us more than we know, and that He is at work in our lives.

We had a really good weekend. Leslie made it Friday night to join me at the Global Missions Conference in Atlanta. Thanks Dad, for bringing her down. Mom and Dad kept the kids for us and they made some great memories. Leslie was able to come to a couple of the sessions and rested the remainder of the time. She was sick some on Friday, but had minimal effects the rest of the time except for exhaustion. I have to say that I wrestled with exhaustion too, but it was very worthwhile. The conference was a wonderful blessing to me, and I believe to so many others as well. There were about 2,000 folks there, including nearly 200 from Covenant College. Drs. Richard Pratt and Paul Kooistra delivered the Word with boldness.

If I wasn’t so tired tonight I would share many wonderful accounts from my time this weekend. The seminars went well (except for one technical glitch with my computer). I had a number of great opportunities to talk with missions pastors and leaders from all over the country, as well as with missionaries. Many people there encouraged both Leslie and me by speaking to us and praying with us for Leslie. My only disappointment was that Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb only sang one song during the Saturday evening worship service. But they did perform a concert afterward. I just needed to be in the exhibit hall during that time.

I am so thankful to be a part of Mission to the World, and to see the many ways the Kingdom of Christ is going forth throughout the earth.

Leslie had a good day today! The chemo has not taken the toll on her yet, as it has with previous treatments. We are continuing to pray that her stamina is sustained and that the nausea and other symptoms are minimal this week. She was still not able to go to work, but she wasn’t in constant pain and hasn’t been confined to the bed. Continue to pray!

We are also rejoicing this evening that God has answered our prayers for rain. The storms are rolling through! Even McGrooter was excited that it would rain this evening.

Today, I stayed home. I didn’t want to. It was probably the worst day of the week for me to miss. But that is the way it panned out. McGrooter woke up this morning saying he felt like he was going to be sick. Eventually he was…all over the living room floor. Leslie had chemo, and her mom was taking her, so I was called from the bench to play Daddy Daycare once again. It turned out to be a good thing. I got a call from Becky later in the morning to say she was taking her good friend and her husband, Karen & Don, to the hospital. Don had a colonoscopy this morning and Becky went to be with Karen during the procedure (it was in the same building as Leslie’s chemo). The docs didn’t like what they saw, so much so that they wanted Don to go straight to the hospital for a CT scan and possible surgery tomorrow. Leslie was able to go to the hospital after her chemo to visit with them, and she said they did conclude it is cancer but didn’t think it was through the colon wall. Don had no symptoms. Later they found spots on his liver. So folks, you know what I am about to say. Yes you who are 50+, even if you have no symptoms, go get a colonoscopy. Do it now. Call and schedule right now. I’ll wait. Go ahead.

Uncle Wil came to the rescue, taking our van to the dealership this morning, and then upon this news, taking a few hours off to go and pick up Munchkin and then Leslie after her treatment so I did not have to get McGrooter out (even though he is continuing to show signs of improvement). So I sat with McGrooter as he watched TV and rested, and tried to get some work done in preparation for the conference this weekend.

So while I’m at it, let me dish out some more bovine theology for us all to partake of. This week is a pressure cooker week for me. There is lots to be done for the conference, and even though I thoroughly enjoy it, right in the middle of the week is a full day of missionary assessment that I am a part of. I didn’t need to be out this morning. Really, I didn’t need to be out any morning this week. But it was this morning, especially, that I didn’t want to miss. We have our weekly staff meeting on Tuesday, and I knew we’d be making many last minute arrangements and decisions. But God, in His good providence, saw fit to keep me home today. For one thing, I now know that Becky needed to be with Karen. There were many other things throughout the day that reminded me, God is in control. When am I going to let that sink so deeply into my heart that I don’t blow my lid when things don’t go as I have planned?

Tonight as I was getting the kids ready for bed, I got a call from Uncle Gary that Poppie had gotten an iPhone! I was so excited for him. But they were having some challenges. They ended up coming over so I could get the phone up and running and I had fun with it. It was also a blast to watch Poppie with it. We boys never outgrow our toys!

Leslie is feeling okay after her third chemo treatment. She was tired tonight though, but we are praying that her stamina won’t take the hit that it has in past weeks. We’re still not sure if she will be able to join me this weekend. Please pray for us all this week.

Poppie went to the heart cath lab this afternoon where they found one artery that was 70-80% blocked and two that were about 40%. They were not worried about the two that were 40% and will treat those with medication. They treated the more clogged one using the balloon and stint and he is done and recovering. They will keep him overnight for observation and then he will go home tomorrow. I’m breathing a sigh of relief as this could have been worse, like open-heart surgery. Leslie is still at the hospital this afternoon and Uncle Wil went to pick up the older two kids at school. He took them on a special “errand” to Brewsters before bringing them home.

The Munch still has a fever, dark circles under her eyes, and is a little whiny. But all-in-all, she is a low maintenance sick kid. I can’t complain. I’ve endured “Wow, Wow, Wubbzy,” “Yo Gabba Gabba,” and lots of “Dora The Explorer.” I just hope that I didn’t accidently write a note about doing the peanut butter dance from Yo Gabba Gabba in my PowerPoint for next week’s Global Missions Conference. We went to see Miss Kristi, who is so fantastic with our kids. She explained that it’s viral, so it’ll just have to run its course, and the other two may very well get it. Munchkin did well, and only cried when she had her thumb pricked to check for really yucky stuff (which showed all clear). She quickly recovered and soon we were both happy! She got a cool bandaid and sticker for being brave which was a welcome distraction. We got home and had lunch, and she took a good nap. We are just praying she doesn’t share it with Mommy at this point.

As for Mommy, she had a good day as far as her health goes. It certainly wasn’t the way any of us would have wanted to turn out as far as Poppie goes, but I was at least glad she felt good enough to be there with him. I think it would have nearly killed her to not be with the family. I was proud of her that she at least wore a mask most of the time she was there. The next several days should continue to be good ones for her again. She’ll go for chemo again on Tuesday. We are praying that this next round will not be as harsh as the last two because she is planning on joining me at the Global Missions Conference. My parents are coming up to keep the kids, so please pray she will feel strong enough to join me, even if it is to rest in the hotel room most of the time. The conference is in the same hotel we’re staying at, so it would be fine and I can come up and see her in between sessions.

On to other, nearly as important news. My friend Van, who has been on a blogging hiatus, made a recent video post. It’s well worth the watch. Even though I’ve already endorsed Fred Thompson, this response from Huckabee was brilliant. He handled himself and the question very well.

My brother got his first deer of the season.