Dominican Republic, Day 1

I won't report the news. I won't bore you with details of narrowly making flights and what was left behind. Instead, I want this to glorify Christ.

Today, I felt joyful that I was embarking upon a journey with my family. My sister, Laura, was such a delight to visit with on all the flights. My brother, Michael, has got to be the wisest 16 year old I have ever met. I was overcome with such love for these people, though I barely know them.

What's more, I met Anne, Garrett, Katie, Robin, Cara, Miguel, Jenni, and Diego, Riley, and Jody. These are the staff members of Makarios who are hosting us this week. It was so refreshing to dine with them, laugh with them, and bring small slices of Austin to them. I am eagerly looking forward to getting to know them more over the next week.

This, I think, is what it means to be the Body of Christ. We love each other, unconditionally, though we may hardly know each other. We treat others as though they are more important than ourselves. We give as though nothing we have truly belongs to us, but to our Father in Heaven.

I have yet to see all of God's beauty that He has planned for us here. I can't wait to share more with you as the week progresses.

Romans 12:5
"so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another."

Music, Music, Music

So this will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. But I LOVE music. We're talking can't live without it. It is rare for me to not have itunes running at the house, earbuds stuck in my ears, or the radio turned up loud in the car. It is what God has most often used to comfort me, convict me, love me, minster and reveal Himself to me. I have been completely stuck on the song "None but Jesus" for about a year now. (If you've gotten an email from me a line from it is the tag line in my signiture--it's my favorite!) I can listen to the song 20X in a row for days in a row and not be sick of it. It is a reminder of who God is and how He loves us and what our reponse to Him should be. It makes me smile and it makes me cry and it makes me just sigh in awe of Him. Do you have something (a song, a verse, a quote) that does that for you? That just completely fills you up? Share please!! :)

"None But Jesus"

~Hillsong

In the quiet, in the stillness I know that You are God

In the secret of Your presence I know there I am restored

When You call I won't refuse

Each new day again I'll choose

There is no one else for me None but Jesus

Crucified to set me free Now I live to bring Him praise

In the chaos, in confusion I know You're Sovereign still

In the moment of my weakness You give me grace to do Your will

When You call I won't delay

This my song through all my days

There is no one else for me None but Jesus
Crucified to set me free Now I live to bring Him praise

All my delight is in You Lord

All of my hope, all of my strength

All my delight is in You Lord Forevermore

Blueletterbible.org

I got this off their website; really good stuff from Charles Spurgeon:

"If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" — Luke 23:31

Among other interpretations of this suggestive question, the following is full of teaching: "If the innocent substitute for sinners, suffer thus, what will be done when the sinner himself --the dry tree--shall fall into the hands of an angry God?" When God saw Jesus in the sinner's place, He did not spare Him; and when He finds the unregenerate without Christ, He will not spare them. O sinner, Jesus was led away by His enemies: so shall you be dragged away by fiends to the place appointed for you. Jesus was deserted of God; and if He, who was only imputedly a sinner, was deserted, how much more shall you be? "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" what an awful shriek! But what shall be your cry when you shall say, "O God! O God! why hast Thou forsaken me?" and the answer shall come back, "Because ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." If God spared not His own Son, how much less will He spare you! What whips of burning wire will be yours when conscience shall smite you with all its terrors. Ye richest, ye merriest, ye most self-righteous sinners--who would stand in your place when God shall say, "Awake, O sword, against the man that rejected Me; smite him, and let him feel the smart for ever"? Jesus was spit upon: sinner, what shame will be yours! We cannot sum up in one word all the mass of sorrows which met upon the head of Jesus who died for us, therefore it is impossible for us to tell you what streams, what oceans of grief must roll over your spirit if you die as you now are. You may die so, you may die now. By the agonies of Christ, by His wounds and by His blood, do not bring upon yourselves the wrath to come! Trust in the Son of God, and you shall never die.

Hip, Hip...HORRAY!

I had an MRI last Monday and then a follow-up with the Cyberknife dock on Thursday with GREAT news!! My brain is healing nicely and there is NO MORE TUMOR. Radiation will not be required; scans for rest of my life will be but that's ok by me. This was really a great bit of news as i now feel like i can hit the play button on life again. Everything has been on pause pretty much since last August when i was first diagnosed. Nothing has been planned until we found out about radiation and now that we know treatment is done it's pretty stinkin exciting! I don't have to wait until after radiation because I'm not having it!! Such a relief and blessing to be done--at least until I have another surgery ;)

Headaches:Take 2

That's right...here we go again. I've been having regular headaches pretty much every day for the last month. I'm back on the allergy meds and hopefully will be able to determine if they work since I don't have a nut sized tumor shoving things around. So the roller coaster has started once again and who knows what the results will be this time. I'm praying for the simplest solution (allergies) but at the same time know that not all the tumor has been removed and so it could be more complicated. Next MRI is the beginning of March and I hope that things are healed enough and the scan is clear enough for some definitive decisions to be made about the next step in treatment. The frustration level is pretty high at the moment as well as disbelief. I mean, seriously...headaches...again. In the the famous words of Charlie Brown "Good grief."

Learning one's limits

I learned an important lesson yesterday about what I can and can not do. For Christmas, Quinn got a Ripstick. it's a two-wheeled in-line skateboard that swivels in the middle so it can be kept in perpetual motion. Brad had to go help set up at the school for church and so we went with him to get out of the house and let the kids ride their wheeled vehicles (I should have stuck with Liam's scooter)

So Quinn makes this ripstick thing look easy. He's really good at it and so I decided to give it a try. His helmet was too small for me so i, foolishly, thought "Well if i lose my balance I'll just be able to jump off; no problem." Yeah, big problem. So I get going, am on this thing for a split second and next thing I know I'm on the ground with my butt bruised, my elbow on fire and my glasses half way across the parking lot cause they flew off my head when I hit pavement. I'm lying on the ground calling myself all kinds of idiot names when this sweet high school kid with first aid training rushes up to check on me. The boys have disappeared and I'm just hoping I haven't broken anything (I landed on my phone but it survived); I found out later from Brad that they had gone inside to get him. Here's how that conversation went: "Hey Dad we might have to call EMS" Dad: "Why would we need to do that?" Kids:"Well come here and we'll show you. Come here Dad" So Brad sees me on the ground and is all "What is she doing on the ground?" So he comes outside and I have to relay the the whole Ripstick incident. not once did the boys mention I'd fallen or smacked my head. Nice to know they can remain calm in a situation like that and thank goodness it wasn't more serious. So today I have the sore muscles and gross looking scrape to remind me that no matter how young I think I am my body is happy to remind me that I'm not.

Umm...wow

It's been more then a month since I've posted anything; that is really kind of pathetic. I follow other people's blogs regularly but can't even keep up with mine. In my defense it's much easier to read than write :) So what's going on here? Well firstly there has been no radiation yet. Good or bad? I can't quite decide. The last scan I had (mid-December) showed some "areas to watch" but no definitive tumor tissue. This can mean one of two things: 1)the docs got more of the tumor then they thought and the tumor is gone (not likely, but here's hoping) 2) the tumor is too small right now for the MRI to pick it up (and my brain still hasn't quite healed enough) and so we have to wait and let the tumor grow some more--sounds like fun there let me tell you. So in March I will go for another scan to see what we can see. I feel like a broken record..scan, meet with the doc, scan, meet with the doc, scan...

P. T. is still ongoing as well. I think I'll ask today how much longer I have. I'm surprised by two things 1) how much and how quickly it has improved my stamina and 2) how much of a weakling I still am. I realize surgery was really not that long ago, only 3 months, and yet it feels like I should still be able to do more then I can. I still have those unknown limits that I talked about in other post but fortunately the limits keep getting better.

Since it's New year's Eve I'll go ahead and wish everyone a Happy New Year. I'll try to be better about posting int he coming year. Anyone have any resolutions? My mom's is the same every year and one I can get behind "Try to eat more avocados this year then last".