Tuesday Night

Greetings for a short note!

Marty has seen some improvement today. Her throat is still hurting, but her nose is not running nor does it seem to be full, her head and ear are not hurting. Praise the Lord! We certainly hope that the antibiotic continues to work and helps her throat. She is also still quite tired and does not have a lot of energy. We hope that all of this will pass quickly.

Thanks for your continued support and encouragement. Marty certainly appreciates the cards, calls, thoughts and prayers. They are all so helpful! Praise the Lord!

Have a positive night, and a day tomorrow that truly glorifies the God!

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Monday night

Greetings to all:

It was a busy but a good week-end. Eric and Erin came over and we had a good time. Erin and Grandmother really had an awesome time. They both admitted to it on Sunday when Erin had to leave. They were pretty busy the entire time and still did not have time to bake any cookies or to have a tea party. Oh well, there is always next time.

It seems like Marty had a possible “sinus infection” start on Saturday and really kicked in today. When she got up Saturday morning her left ear and left side of her throat was hurting. A couple of hours after getting up and taking some Tylenol that was gone. But this morning, she woke up with a headache, her nose all stopped up and running at the same time, and her throat hurt. She has been in the recliner all day and hasn’t felt like doing one single thing. Praise the Lord that she has not had any temp. I called Dr. Lee’s office and got some meds for her, so we hope that will kick it real fast.

Up until this hit it did seem like she was making progress sometimes at a good speed and sometimes a lot slower. But the good thing was, Praise the Lord, she was making progress. I suppose this may slow things down a little, but she will catch back up.

We are still looking forward to the 8th of March, when the biopsy will be done and then the 14th when we will
get the results.

From the daily scripture calendar is John 15:9 - “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” The words sound so simple, the concept sounds so logical, but the reality of the last part is not as easy as it seems. To me, there is no doubt at all, about the love between God and Jesus Christ, when Jesus was on earth. It is so easy to see it in the scriptures and certainly to give thanks for it. The same is so true about Jesus love, for all of those He ministered to. His love for them just over flowed and could be seen in every word and deed He offered. But then, it comes to remaining in that love and history shows that we have not and do not do a very good job of that. And that is all the way from our individual lives to life in our world. In our world all we have to do is look at all the war, violence, and corruption. Look at our jails, prisons, court systems and one sees the greed, jealousy, sin, and sickness. And where does all this come from? I suggest it is our separation from remaining in God’s love. There are those things in all of our lives that separate us. It may be a chip on our shoulder, it may be a lack of forgiveness, it may be the need to always have our own way, it may be sheer stubbornness, it may be a simple misunderstanding, and on goes the list. And the Bible tells us that all of these things that separate us from one another here on earth also separate us from God. Most of the time, we blame these things on the other person or group, they are certainly not our fault. And that is a problem because it also means that we are blaming it on God. But God loves us!!! God does not cause these problems rather He gives us the way to get out of them. “Remain in the love that God has shown to us in Jesus Christ.” That is the answer!!!!! Remember the WWJD of just a few years ago. That came on so big and strong, but didn’t last very long. I have always thought the reason for that was that we – God’s people – didn’t like being reminded that close to reality how far off from WWJD we live our lives. So, how is it that we can get closer to “remaining in Jesus love”? It seems to me that the first thing is to have God in the first place, the first priority in our lives. And when we feel that He isn’t in that spot then spend all of our effort, at that time, to get Him there, so we don’t get ourselves in trouble. And if we do get ourselves in trouble, face up to not being in God’s love, admit it to ourselves, God, and whoever we are in trouble with as we get God back in the right place in our life. You know Jesus speaks to us about this when He talks about getting the plank out of our own eye, before we deal with the problems of our neighbors. Praise the Lord that God is so merciful, forgiving, and willing to teach us, lead us, and help us to be the people He created us to be. Thank you God for loving me!

Have a positive night, day tomorrow, and may all your days be glorifying God days.

God bless!

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Thursday Night

Greetings and Praise the Lord!

This is the 151 posting on the blog and it is certainly one of the ones that we have been waiting for, at least one that I certainly have been waiting for. And indeed I am so grateful and thankful to God and to Marty. Hand in hand the two of them have sure done a marvelous job. Praise the Lord!

We went to see Dr. Lee yesterday and got a very good report. Marty’s numbers were good: WBC 9.5, HGB 11.9, and PLT 181. Dr. Lee was really pleased with them and actually with the whole treatment. He thinks that Marty really did well and that all went very well and he expects the best possible results. Marty is presently scheduled to have a bone marrow biopsy on Thur. March 8th and we will get the results on Wed. March 14th. This is the test that will tell exactly what is going on in the bone marrow and if the AML is still active or in remission. So, this is the test that we have been waiting for. Dr. Lee believes that the test results will come back in remission and if it comes back the way he thinks, he said he does not think there will be a need for the fourth consolidation or any other treatment at this time. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!

Dr. Lee also believes that it will be another 4 to 5 months until Marty is back to “full strength” and feeling “normal”. But the good thing is that today she is feeling more like herself than she has since she got the last chemo. Never-the-less, she still has a lot of strength and stamina to gain back. But what a blessing it is for where she is now and for the news of where Dr. Lee expects her to be when all is done. God does answer prayer and is so good – all the time! All the time – God is good! And what a great job Marty has done of not losing site of her God and her goal with God’s help.

Last Fall things were a little unusual for us around here; Sept. we were running all over, Oct. we were at St. V’s, and so on, to the point that we never got the deck furniture put away. So, on the end table between the love seat and a single chair is a metal and wood church bird house. It too has remained outside. And last week the snow came and the deck filled up like I have never seen it before with snow. Everything got covered with the snow, even the church. It was pretty white snow and it really looked awesome out the window. And the thing that always caught my eye was that the top of the steeple did not get covered and was sticking up through the snow. What a beautiful reminder that has been to me, that no matter what is going on, how pure and straight forward it might seem to be, never, never lose site of God. Never, never, never cover or lose site of God completely or even partly with anything, by choice or by accident, in any situation. Always, in all situations, look for God and God will be there to help you. We certainly have seen that happen. Praise the Lord!

As I saw that steeple top all week, at a time that I particularly needed to see it, I gave thanks and praise to God. And the next thing that happened is even greater and more meaningful. What do you think was the first thing on that deck to become uncovered from the snow? Yes, that is right it was the church bird house! You see when we at least keep our eyes on a little of God’s love, we will soon see all of God’s love again. Praise the Lord! What an awesome God we have and wow how awesome God has been to Marty and me. Thank you Lord!
We still have three weeks to wait for the results of the biopsy, 4 or 5 months for Marty to fully regain strength and be herself, and an unknown time for the AML to be in remission during which time we will do our best to continue to glorify God in all we say and do. We certainly know that in this healing process, Marty has done her part and more, has been an inspiration to many, and has glorified her God. Praise and thanks be to God! We also thank God for your prayers, support, and love and pray that they will continue as we continue life’s journey. Thank you Lord!

We will continue post updates every other day or so.

Have a positive day to the glory of God.

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Tuesday Night

God bless you! Thank you for your support and prayers, we certainly do appreciate them!

This is going to be a short one just to keep it every other day and because we do see Dr. Lee tomorrow and will do one tomorrow night. Also, Marty has already gone to bed so it will just be from me. I will tell you that up front, but I also understand that many of you can figure that out on your own when you read them.

There doesn't seem to be a lot new with Marty at this point. She still seem to have her ups and downs, is slowly making progress, but generally does not seem to have the energy that she normally has had by this time. I still believe that is not a big surprise to Dr. Lee, nor is it a surprise because of all she has been through with this last treatment. We have so very much to be thankful for and we do indeed Praise God! God has been so good to us and we constantly give Him the praise and thanks.

Tomorrow at the doctors, we do have some questions for him and we expect to learn when the biopsy will be done.

Hope you are getting some really good sleep and wake up in the morning ready to go and do the Lord's work and glorify Him.

Have a positive day and God bless.

Jack
John 3:16

Sunday Night

Good evening or good morning!

We hope that all is well and positive with you and all of your loved ones. As you may have noticed I have kind of gone to every other day to publish on the blog. It seems that everything here is kind of holding its own or moving forward, so there is not a lot of reason to print each day. If something different comes up in-between we will let you know.

Now as to Marty, I would say that since Friday she has held her own and not really moved forward as she had been doing a little each day before. Saturday we went to a community awards dinner and Marty did washing and got ready to go out. We had a very good dinner and enjoyed the evening. It seems that Marty did come home quite tired. Today, we made Sunday School and worship. She sang in the choir and I preached. Then this afternoon, Marty had a real long nap. Tonight, she still was dragging a little, but we continue to Praise the Lord for how well she is doing.

While we were in Indy, I did part of a blog on positive thinking and attitude. Well, when we got home, Joan Jackson had a brief piece that Charles Swindoll has written about “Attitude” and I want to share it with you.

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude of life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…. a church ….. a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude…. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you – we are in charge of our Attitudes.” Amen.

Have a positive day and God bless.

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Friday Night

Greetings to all!

We do hope that all of you are staying warm and have not had any “problems” with the snow. Can you believe 2 -3 inches more tonight! Praise the Lord! Marty still seems to be headed in the right direction. Each day she seems to be a little better with energy but, is still having neck, back, and hip discomfort. Today, she was also telling me that her lower legs (both front and back) are really “touchy” and her feet have some numbness. She said that it is really hard to describe but they do not feel right. You may recall that she has had this in the front of her lower legs before and some in the back, but not both places and in her feet all at the same time. The doctors never have been able to say what it was, so I kind of doubt we will be able to find out now. We are praying that it will not last too long.

Marty’s CBC was pretty good today: WBC 6.7 normal 4.0 to 10.5
HGB 11.7 normal 12.5 to 16
PLT 185 normal 150 to 450
Even the HGB is still low from normal; it is the highest that we have seen Marty’s in quiet some time. So, it is good to see these in the almost “normal” range.

Next Wednesday we will see Dr. Lee late in the afternoon. We expect, at that time, that another CBC will be done and he will determine when the bone marrow biopsy will be done. Until then it is a matter of getting rest and gaining strength. This will be the longest time since the first of October that Marty’s body has gone without chemo. I am sure it is relieved and is enjoying the time of not having to fight the chemo and the cancer. Praise the Lord! Although waiting for answers is often a very difficult thing for us to do, at this point, I think it is a good thing and we must all do our best to leave it in God’s hands for as long as Dr. Lee discerns it to be necessary. God is good – all the time! All the time – God is good! Thanks and praise be to God!

In John 15:9 Jesus says: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” What a beautiful example God has given us of His love. Even more than that, He wants, no, He commands us to stay in that love. In other words, we are able to do the loving things that God has done, and Jesus tells us even more that He has done. That sounds impossible to me but, again Jesus has told us that nothing is impossible with God. So, we must gather up our faith and put it in the proper place – with God – and move on to love the way He loves.

Let each one of us think about this today and then do it: what is it that I can do today, that I usually do not do, that will show God that I am and will make new and better efforts to remain in His love the rest of my life? What an honor, what a privilege it is to be a child of Gods!

Have a positive day and God bless.

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Wednesday Night

Greetings!

And the snow came!
And the snow stayed!
And have you seen enough snow?
And are you out of the house yet?

At any rate, we do hope that all of you are safe and well and that you will remain that way.

We also want to wish you all a ”Happy Valentine’s Day” and certainly hope that all of you will continue to be our Valentines with your support, prayers, encouragement, and Christian love. Praise the lord!

Marty is really continuing to improve. Yesterday was indeed a pretty good day and so was today. Yesterday she got a lot of the Valentine decorations out here at the house. It really looks great and so festive. It is also kind of interesting how one forgets from year to year just what decorations you have, so it is great to see them again. And today she fixed an awesome Valentine dinner, it was great. She is still having neck pain and wearing the heated rice pack all the time and having back and hip discomfort, too. The later two are worse the more she is up and moving around. I still think it will be a good thing when we can get another block and the sooner the better. God is so good – all the time! All the time – God is so good! Praise and thanks be to God!

It was so neat to look out the back windows of our house and into the woods today. It was such a pretty picture. The snow carpeted the ground, all the trees and logs, etc. and are standing in contrast to the white snow. I said to Marty the missing part of the picture is the two deer that were out in the woods most of the day Saturday. But, even without them it sure was a reminder of the beauty of God’s creation and how a lot of the time I don’t pay enough attention to it and/or praise God for it like I should. It is indeed a glorification of our Lord. And the nice thing about it is that out there it will last longer in that undisturbed state. Praise the Lord!

Have a positive day and God bless!

Marty and Jack
John 3: 16

Monday night

Greetings to all!

Are you ready for this coming snow storm? Hope so, for it sounds like we are really going to get it! Please be careful, don’t fall, don’t slide, don’t lift too much snow, and don’t get too cold! In other words stay in and take care!

Sorry, I did not get anything on yesterday, everything was ok, it was just that it was a really busy day and I really didn’t have the time.

Today has also been a busy day, but a better day. Today; Marty has seemed more like she usually did when she got out of the hospital before. I now think that after the chemo, the infection, and the surgery she came out of the hospital last week weaker than she had been before and it just took those few days for her to come up to what was usual for her after the treatments. So, I think that she is at that point now, and it will take a few more days for her to get all her strength back. That also seems to fit into what Dr. Lee was saying the day we got out of the hospital and why he is waiting so long to do the biopsy. At any rate, it is good to see her “feeling” better and getting more energy. This is certainly the treatment that has hit her the hardest. Praise the Lord that it is over and she is coming out of it.

We saw Dr. Kelly, the plastic surgeon, today and she was well pleased with everything. She took the stitches out and checked the area all out. She indicated that there was one spot that was still a “little hard,” but showed no redness or warmth, so she did not think that it was or would be a real problem. Praise the Lord! She also felt that the swelling was gone and that she would not really need to see Marty again at this time. If after the AML treatment is all taken care of and Marty wants to have anything else done, she can get back with Dr. Kelly. So, that was certainly all good news – Praise the Lord!

Marty’s scripture calendar has Malachi 3:10 for Mondays verse. It reads: “Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” What an awesome verse and how true. I was asking Marty the other night, Friday I think it was, about her “blessing diary.” Remember, when she first went into St. V’s she started writing down the blessings God sent her way each day. She has continued to do that each time she has been in the hospital and since August 28th she has spent about 58 days in St. V’s and recorded about 389 blessings. Praise the Lord! I believe that is an open floodgate – thank you Lord! God is so good – all the time. All the time - God is so good!

It is late, so we better go and if we are not totally “snowed under” tomorrow we will publish more. Be careful tomorrow, be positive and God bless!

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Saturday Morning

Hi to all!

As you can well see ,I did not get anything posted last night. So ,I will try to catch all of you up right now. And to do that, I is to say that for Marty the bottom line is about the same. Yesterday was still not one of her best days, but after sleeping all afternoon , I do believe that last night was a little better. There is still a lot of discomfort in the neck, back, and hip as well as lack of energy. Dr. Lee reminded us on Wednesday that her body has been through a lot, with the chemo and the infection that was in her blood. It affected her entire body and that for a while she is going to have her good days and her bad days. His best suggestion was for her to only do what she feels she can do and not to push herself to hard or baby herself . We know that the later is not a problem but at times I do get concerned about the former. She is a Martha - Praise the Lord!

This morning still has to tell its story as how she is doing. She just got up and says she is not feeling to bad.

I am happy to say that my "kingship" is over and I promise I will not eat so much cheese in such a short time, even if it has to be thrown away. I had a busy day yesterday trying to catch up some in the office, contacting some folks, trying to make some contacts, making hospital visits, and not getting home until after 7:30pm. That is why I did not get anything on the blog last night. Today is finishing up a sermon, doing a home communion, and I believe getting some food into our house. So, I doubt I will get another posting done.

Marty and I certainly look forward to seeing many of you in worship tomorrow morning. We have missed you and our Community of Faith. The last couple of weeks seem like a lot longer than they have been, we have indeed missed seeing you, being with you, and talking to you. We give thanks for the presence of God and His promises as we took that dangerous road of infection with this disease. We hope that everyone will be with their Community of Faith tomorrow and be open to God's word, will, and way.

Have a positive day, and God bless.

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Thursday Evening

Greetings to all:

Well ,this has been a very quiet day around the Hess home. Buddy has been the only one out of the house, that only a few times, and all trips out were rather short. Marty has felt much better when she is sitting in the chair or in the bed. At other times her neck, back and hip are giving her a lot of pain. We are going to ask Dr. Lee if she can get another caudal block in her back and hope that takes care of the discomfort. Right now she is in her chair, with the heated "rice tube" around her neck, the heating pad on her back, and the heated "corn" pad on her hip. Easy to see why she doesn't want to get up, isn't it?

Further, I did not have what I would call the "best of days." I got bulletin information into the office and went over about 100 e-mails and that was about it because I was then hit with a great deal of abdominal pain. The next 6 -7 hours were taken up with some napping, but most of the time, I was on the great white throne. Tomorrow ,we will plan on and look forward to a better day.

Certainly hope you have been able to keep warm today and have had a positive day. Get a good night's sleep and glorify the Lord in all that you do and say tomorrow. God bless!

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Wednesday Night

We are home!!!!!!! We got here about 3:00 pm today. Praise the Lord! God is so good - all the time. All the time - God is so good!! The indications are that all infection is gone and Marty is doing well. She is to spend the next two weeks taking it easy to gain strength and get to feeling even better. She will have a CBC next Wednesday and then will see Dr. Lee two weeks from today. It is good to be home, Marty particularly feels this way, but Jack is right beside her. A motor home in February in Indiana is not, I really believe, meant to be. But that is now over with - praise the Lord!

Have a positive day to the glory of God and God bless.

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Tuesday Afternoon

Greetings to all:

The plan right now is that this will be the last blog published from room 6619 of St. V’s Hospital. Yes, Marty will get the last of a two week course of antibiotics tonight about 11:00 pm and we will get out tomorrow. Marty is feeling pretty good. She is still having discomfort in her neck, which no one has really been able to pin point a cause for. Her surgery site is all doing well, the dressings still have to be changed and medicine put on twice a day, and the stitches will come out the beginning of next week. All indications at this time is, that there is no more infection – Praise the Lord.! And all the numbers are looking good. So, as of now the plan is to go home for a couple of weeks and continue to recover, rest, and gain strength. Then Dr. Lee will do a bone marrow biopsy, which will take about a week to get results, and we will see where we are going from that point. It sounds like there are three possibilities:
1. Go back to the transplant doctors at St. Francis Hospital and talk to them about how things have gone and review the results of the biopsy.
2. If we have remission of the leukemia, do nothing more and see how things go.
3. Do the fourth consolidation treatment.
We have lots of questions about the first one, both for Dr. Lee and for the doctors at St. Francis. We have been praying for some time to discern God’s will, and hopefully now that the decision time is getting closer and closer we will be able to discern God’s will. Seeing that this is a very important crossroad in Marty’s treatment please pray that she will know and do God’s will for her at this time. We remember that it is God’s will and not ours; it is God’s time and not ours; it is God’s grace and not ours. We are so grateful to God for His presence and grace in Marty’s treatment thus far and hope that we will continue to know it and discern it as we move on. Praise and thanks be to God.

The last few days I have been thinking about Jesus and how alert He was to what was going on around Him and how He observed things in the people who came to Him. In so many situations, Jesus knew what people needed, before they even asked. It seems very clear to me that one thing about Jesus earthly ministry is that it is clear that He paid more attention to those around Him than He did to Himself. That is the example we have from the Master Teacher. And as I have thought about this, particularly the last few days, I have again seen and believe we are just the opposite of Him.

The thoughts above have been brought to my attention the last couple of days because of the fact that twice in the same situation and a couple of other situations I have been asked my name. Now that does not seem so unusually, except for the fact that I have had my coat on and there on the top right hand panel my name is printed in block letters – JACK HESS. It has seemed kind of unusual and has made me stop and think: Where they looking? (It looks like at me, but are they?) What are they seeing? (It sure seems like they should see my name on my coat, why don’t they?) Are they looking and asking because of HABIT, that’s the way I am supposed to do it, rather then being open and alert to what is going on around them. Is that how we really function today? In our busy, some times impersonal world, do we function more out of HABIT, then we do out of observation and compassion? How much more could your life be like God wants it to be if you paid more attention to what’s going on around you and respond to it with grace and compassion instead of HABIT or a matter of fact attitude. I encourage you to give it some thought and see how you can make your meeting with people more personal and meaning-ful to the glory of God.

By the way, are your days becoming more “positive”?

May you have a positive evening and God bless.

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Monday Evening

Greetings

Today has been a pretty good day. Marty has tried to get some rest, since last night’s party took a fair amount out of her. She got her surgical J-P drain out today and that sure has been a big relief to her. The neck and shoulder are the main areas of discomfort at this time. The WBC has come up some today and we are hoping that it will go up more by tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the last day for Marty’s antibiotic and we expect to go home on Wednesday. So far, the last cultures have not grown anything, so that is a good sign. Praise the Lord!

Did you watch the Colts getting home on TV? Wasn’t it great?? I watched it in person – I was not outside for their actual coming into town but, I was inside the RCA Dome for the program. It was awesome. There sure was a lot of people and a lot of noise and it was fun to be a part of it all.

Well, it is late and we both need to get to bed and asleep. Marty will read over this and then we will get to bed. We hope you are already getting your rest, so that tomorrow you can glorify God in all you say and do.

Have a positive night and day. God bless.

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Monday early morning

Greetings:

Way to go Colts! Way to go Colts!!! I said it all along - I knew they could do it!!! Thank you Colts!!! Praise the Lord for the use of their talents and abilities!!! Go Colts!!!!!

Well we had the staff and party in our room last night because we are right across the hall from the nurses station. Needless-to-say we had a wonderful time! The staff thinks I am totally "nuts", but that is a whole other story that I can tell some other time.

As for what you really want to know about, Marty did not have one of her best days yesterday, nor was it one of her worst. The biggest problem was a stomach that just did not feel good. She could not totally put her finger on what it was, but she just didn't feel good. Dr. Lee said maybe it was Colt's anxiety. I don't think so, the sports fan that she isn't, but she does seem to be feeling better this morning. We have been concerned about her WBC still going down, 3.5 yesterday. But this morning Dr. Lee said that is okay - he will not get concerned until it gets down to 1.5.
It does seem that the lower her WBC the more discomfort she has in the neck and shoulder.

Dr. Lee also said that we are here until Thursday morning.

I want to get this on the blog, and I have given you all the highlights and important info. So, have a positive day, glorify the Lord, and God bless.

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Saturday Late Afternoon

The Colts are going all the way, all the way, all the way!
The Colts are going all the way, all the way, all the way!
The Colts are going all the way, all the way, all the way!

GO COLTS!
O N
L INE
T O
S TOMP THE BEARS!

Greetings:

Praise the Lord! Marty is having another good day. Her discomfort level has been pretty low and she has only had to take one pain pill. Her numbers are good, but it does appear that she is retaining some fluids. She is already on Lasix by mouth daily and the doctor ordered some TED hose this morning for her legs The surgery site is healing nicely, perhaps still a little swollen, but not as discolored or painful. It is where the J-P drain comes out that is causing some discomfort. Her neck and shoulder have also been causing her discomfort today, but perhaps not as bad as in the past. It seems like the biggest problem is still the tiredness. She is still feeling a lot of that, but then again they wake her up at 4 or 5 in the morning for blood draws and vital signs. This is pretty early. Sometimes, she can go back to sleep and sometimes she can’t. This morning was one of those times that she didn’t, so, she make up for it with a nap this afternoon. The first three or so days after surgery, when she was using the Incentive Spirometer, to help keep the lungs clear, she felt like there was something in her lungs that needed to come up and sometimes she did cough and bring it up. But, today that is all cleared up – PRAISE THE LORD! God is in charge and God is good because God is love and loves us all!

I received an email from a friend today that highlighted Psalm 55:22 with a Prayer Story, which I am not going to reprint here (however some day it may be in a sermon or newsletter) but, I want to call the verse to your attention. The verse reads: “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Awesome verse! Another example of how the biblical writers understood that God was AND IS right there to help us when times are hard and seem so impossible. So often we hear and say, “Why did God let this happen to me?” and/or “Where is God in all of this?” Again, I would suggest, especially based on this verse that; God is right there to help us when we are really ready to let Him; that is when are ready to truly cast our burden or burdens on Him and let Him sustain us. In other words, we must put God as the first priority in our lives and listen to His guidance and leading. That is not always easy for us because we want to be independent and we are taught that when we are “strong” we can handle things ourselves. What a shame that we have this promise from God that when we do that, He will never allow anything to move us from His side. God will always be in our presence and He will be our guide and protector IN ALL SITUATIONS. Praise and thanks be to God!

We will miss being in our community of faith tomorrow morning, but we certainly hope that you will not miss the opportunity to be in yours. And as you do worship and praise God, I hope you will thank Him for the blessing He has placed on you this past week, and most certainly for His grace and healing that He has given to Marty this past week. Have a positive experience with your fellow believers and your God.

Have a positive evening, and glorify God to the highest tomorrow – Go Colts and God bless!

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Friday Evening February 2, 2007

GO COLTS!!! GO COLTS!!!!! Is there anything else to say right now? It sure is all that is being said in this area! This town is alive and well for the Colts, you see the Colts color blue all over the place. It is real neat and a very positive thing for this area.

Greetings to all of you!

It has been a good day, praise the Lord! As far as Marty’s situation, there is not a lot to add to the two earlier blogs of today. One thing that did happen is that on her walk this afternoon she did the entire 6th floor like she use to do. Praise the Lord! Up until that time she had only been doing the oncology wing. So, indeed this is another good step in the right direction. It is really interesting, because this morning when we were walking, I was going to suggest that we go to the other part of the floor, but then decided to let her do that on her own. So, it turned out we were on the same page on the same day. Again, praise the Lord!

We did ask Dr. Lee this morning what it is that we have to look forward to in the future. He said when Marty gets out of the hospital he will give her a couple of weeks to rest and gain strength then he will do a bone marrow biopsy (that is done in the office). The results will determine what happens next and it will take a week to get the results back. But, at this point he does not think that the fourth treatment will be necessary. I do believe that is a good thing! Praise the Lord!

Marty’s scripture calendar for yesterday used Proverbs 27:19, which we think is really an awesome verse. It reads: “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” Isn’t that awesome? Doesn’t that put the essence of Jesus great commandment and great commission into just a brief thought and sentence? Indeed if God is in our hearts, Jesus will be reflected in our lives. How simple and yet we make it so hard. All that we really have to do is let God in our heart and lives as the first priority and the rest will be an awesome reflection of Jesus. WOW it is so great that God trusts us and uses us, you and me, to be His hands and feet, and to represent Him in all that we say and do. Also, that is certainly a major responsibility for each of us. Praise and thank you Lord for accepting us for this work.

Well, don’t know if you will read this tonight or tomorrow, but whenever and whatever you may be doing, may it be positive and a glorification of our God. God bless!

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Friday Morning 11:00 am

Just a note to say we are here until Tuesday at this point. The Dr. was in and said we would keep doing what we are doing until the course of medicine is done. He looked at the surgery area and it looks better than yesterday. Praise the Lord.

Be positive and God bless.

Jack
John 3:16

Friday Morning February 2, 2007 9:00 am

Good morning!

And a positive morning it is: the sun is shinning here, there is still not much snow, Marty had a short night (and so did I) but a good night – hopefully she can catch up on some sleep during the day, - the COLTS are going to win, and all is well on the “southern front” (at least as far as we are concerned).

Marty is feeling pretty good. She is still having pain in the left breast, probably some from surgery and some from the infection; still no headache and the neck and shoulder are not too bad. Two of her numbers are still going down, WBC and HBG – in fact, today she is just .1 away from getting more blood. We will have to see what that does by morning – and the platelets are still going up. So, it seems like we may be having some “questionable results” along with positive results. Praise the Lord!

GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dr. Lee has been in and he is not in favor of Marty going home yet. He thinks she should stay until the IV antibiotic course is complete. We believe that will be Tuesday. Dr. Bunce, the infection disease doctor, has not been in yet. So, we do not know what he will have to say or do. We are still waiting, but believe that we will probably be here over the weekend into next week.

By the way, the reason I said above that “the Colts will win” is that Dr. Lee told Marty that if she wore her “Go Colts”, pink baseball hat, during the game Sunday night, they would win. So, there you are, you now have the WORD on Sunday night.

Have a positive day – and God bless!

Marty and Jack
John 3:16

Thursday Evening February 1, 2007 8:00 pm

Greetings to all of you and please continue to give thanks and praise the Lord!

Today has been another good day for Marty. She did have a one time sharp pain, like before the surgery, in her left breast last night. But, other than that, it has been just kind of a normal surgical pain which the pain medication seems to handle. The surgeon was pleased with the way it looked, even though there was still some redness, swelling, hardness, and a little warmth. She indicated that she would expect all of that at this time. But, Marty has not been running any temperature, the headache has still been gone, and the shoulder and neck have not been too bad today. She has eaten three full meals, walked the halls three times (so far), and has been doing a good job of drinking liquids. The bottom line, it’s been a good day and we Praise the Lord!

Now, the other side of the coin, is that the infection control doctor talked this morning to Marty about going home tomorrow and that she was to receive six days of IV antibiotics at home. The problem is, he wrote no orders for the same and did not talk to the case manager about making arrangements for the supplies. However, they said that sometimes his office makes arrangements and we have also heard that sometimes he does this with the intention that the patient will go to his office for the medication. So, at this point, we do not know what all this means and/or is leading up to. We guess we will find out in the morning. In the mean time, there is probably not anyway that Marty could be doing better, at this point, with what she has been through and has to yet go through. Praise and thanks be to God!

By the way, sorry about the snow that you have up north, we still see green grass down here with just a little white on it. We were to get an inch this morning and then 1 to 3 inches this afternoon but that sure didn’t happen. I feel so bad about that!

Well, I think that probably covers the water front for tonight. We will try to let you know what we are doing tomorrow when we find out, or at least we will get something on tomorrow night.

May it be a night of positive realization and rest so that tomorrow you can be on top of things as you serve the Lord.

Marty and Jack
John 3:16