A little bitter sweet

This week we would have been at the MTC. And today, Sunday, we would have been in Switzerland visiting with my Sister and brother-on-law who are serving a mission there... on our way to Zagreb, Croatia.

But... we are not. We had a lovely baptism of a granddaughter last Saturday and enjoyed seeing four of our six children and 20 grandchildren at the event.  Then this weekend my youngest daughter and family came to visit. It was a delightful distraction.

Tom and I are continuing to work on our Croatian language skills.  They are meager but growing.

Nearly a month has passed since my first diagnosis. Since that time we scheduled surgery, then had a CT scan that showed the cancer had spread outside the colon into the abdomen and perhaps into the liver.  This was beyond the scope of simple surgery... so that was postponed.

We saw an oncologist who ordered more tests. Finally had a PET scan on Friday and should have the results at my Tuesday Doctor's appointment.  This should also be the time the doctor gives me his ideal treatment plan.  We scheduled a second opinion for the following week at M D Anderson in Houston, TX, the leading cancer treatment center in the nation.

I have been using many natural remedies. Frankincense essential oil, energy healing, visualization, Chinese medicine, and essiac tea. My hope and prayer is that the PET scan will show that some of this has had an effect for good.

I know that the Lord is the Master Healer and I am in his hands.  I am seeking the treatment that will be according to his plan and design. I know he loves me and will guide me through this.

change in plans

This past week has been filled with unexpected events. I went in Monday for a fairly routine colonoscopy and learned that I had a mass that would need to be surgically removed and require a few months for recovery.

We were stunned. We were so focused on going on a mission. Our every thought was… what needs to be done before we leave… and now we felt we were letting people down-- people in the mission who were depending on us.  then we recognized that this is God's work.  He knew our problem would create this outcome.  He could handle it.

So we adjusted to the fact that we would not leave on the date planned. It would be pushed back at least several months.

As the week progressed the news continued. Cancer had taken up residency in my body. It had spread outside the colon. There were several masses that needed to be dealt with.

We spent the first few days in mourning. And the next few trying to find a sense of direction and focus.  Moving from mission to healing.

One of the wonderful blessings has been feeling the outpouring of love from family, friends and our wonderful ward family. It humbles me and I am grateful.

At this point we are walking day by day.

Regardless of the future, this much I know.

I am a daughter of God.  He loves me!

Jesus is my Savior and He is walking beside me every step of the way.

He knows my pains, my fears, my hopes and my joys and He feels them with me.

I Trust God.  I know all things shall work together for my good.

I know my Savior is strengthening and supporting me through this and all things.

I am confident that as I continue to seek God's guidance and direction, we will find a way through this.

3 weeks to go

Bok! (hello)

Kako ste! (how are you?)

We have been working on our Croatian. We are kind of to the point where we can sort-of pray in Croatian... as long as it's really simple. Part of our problem is that the language routinely strings strange letters and sounds together.  The word forCroatian is Hrvoski.  Humm.  How do you say three consonances while rolling the r?

And we need to get a more discerning ear.

j is pronounced yeh as in year.
lj is also pronounced as a y sound
dj is pronounced as a y sound
And d with a line through the stem also has a y sound.

I think sometimes the tongue moves through the L or the D to get to the Ysound... but it is creating a more athletic tongue than I've had in the past. Try it yourself. zdravlje - health or crkva - the Church or učiteljica – teacher (female). (the č had a ch sound).

A week ago Tom finished the painting and floor laying in the rental.  This week it was the fence.

This week we had two of our children come to help us prepare for our move and our mission. We have cattle staying on our property and Tom wanted to finish the 550 feet of fencing across the back. This week he got most all the fence posts in and with the help of the cow owner and a son-in-law got 400 feet of it put up.

A daughter and her children helped rake up and pick up all the dead-wood stick that had dropped from trees onto the front lawn. And another daughter... with perhaps some help from her children... packed up boxes of books from downstairs bookshelves.  This is where our tenants will be staying and all our personal things need to be cleaned out.

We are finishing up medical and dental issues.  We finally got all the paperwork- marriage certificate, criminal background check, and appostle back from the government entities and sent them off so we can get our visa. Yeah!  They'll let us into the country. We're getting taxes done, setting up on-line bill pay and organizing power of attorneys for a child to take care of anything that needs doing while we're gone.

I'm trying to make sure I have shoes that will be dressy enough and comfortable enough for walking a long time in.

When we stop and think about it... we're really sad to be leaving beloved friends and family. Tom was released as Young Men's president this Sunday.  For seven years he's loved these youth and been involved in their lives. It is sad to say good-bye.

I have a darling granddaughter who smiles every time I look at her. She's six months now... she'll be two when we return.

And yet, I know that we have a promise ahead of a wonderful mission. It will be a joy to serve others. It will be wonderful to focus exclusively on what the Lord would have us do. And we... and our family will be blessed for this service.

And so we move forward.

The mission is getting closer

The last two weeks of January we traveled to California by train to see family. We stayed with my 96 year old mom and enjoyed being with her. I have two sisters and their husbands in California as well and we had lovely visits.

My youngest son and his family came down from Oregon. They had planned a trip to Disneyland, and we spent three days immersed in all things Disney… and in grandchildren hugging and visiting with my son and daughter-in-law. They also brought the other set of grandparents and they are lovely people, too. So it was a great few days riding on rides, standing in line, and racing from one event to another. We walked about 9 miles a day. Hopefully that will put us in shape for our mission.

We worked hard for a while to learn Croatian. Then we ran into trouble with our internet connection. As we traveled by train to visit my mom there was little internet service. At my mom’s the connection would go in and out. And now that we are back home, we have no internet. That’s really just an excuse. I learn better when I hear the words, but I can still learn by reading.

We continue to work on the paperwork. The state of California sent our authenticated wedding licenses while we were gone. They needed a signature on delivery. Since we weren’t there, they were about to send them back! So we quickly called a friend and he signed for them for us. We got our criminal background check reports. Phew. So relieved to find out we are not criminals. Now we need to get those “notarized” by the secretary of state, called an apostille, and then we will have all the paperwork needed for our visa.

I have finished one of the last two writing projects I have. And I’ve passed off three other projects to other copywriters. I had hoped to be all done with writing by now and totally focused on mission prep. But alas, it’s not to be. Tom still has a rental to paint, flooring to put down in one room… fencing to install… an antique settee to tie springs in… and I don’t know what all else. We need to decide what to take and pack. We also need to clear out the downstairs for our house sitters to live in. Fortunately kids will come and visit during the month to help with some of this.

A New Mission!

Tom was released as Bishop of the Mountain Home Ward in the West Plains, MO stake in September.  That freed us to put in new mission papers. Of course there are many opportunities to serve locally.  But we thought we had the health and the means to be of service in places were there may not be a lot of members.

By November 20th we had filled out forms, completed the health and dental exams and had been interviewed by our bishop and stake president.  The button was pushed to send the forms on to Salt Lake City.  We waited in anticipation.  Our understanding was that it would take 5-6 weeks to get the call.

About the time Tom was released, we'd gotten an email from dear friends who had served with us in the Kenya Nairobi Mission.  They were now in the Adriatic North Mission and were urging senior couples to come to their mission. We thought about it, but also wanted to go where the Lord wanted us to go.  As we progressed, we came to realized it was okay to request a place to serve.  And Tom felt prompted we should send them an email saying we would be willing to serve in the Adriatic North Mission if they wanted us.

We immediately got an email from them and the mission president inviting us to call him. We did and had a delightful conversation with President Melonakos and his wife. They requested us and we requested this mission.  But we also understood that the Lord was ultimately in charge of where it was best for us to go.

My sister, Susan said, "You'll go to that mission if the mission president requested you.  The Lord loves his mission presidents."

In the mean time, we pondered what we would do with our home. The ward member who is keeping cows on our property asked us what we planned to do. "Find a house sitter."  He suggested his parents might be interested in coming to Mountain Home and might be good tenants.  What a god-sent solution.  It looks like they will be delightful people to stay in our house.  They are willing to care for our chickens and outdoor cats... and even garden (and hopefully keep the weeds from taking over.)

On December 18th, we got the white envelope.  We had arranged to skype our kids the evening the envelope came to open it and share our mission call with them. We ended up with 4 on Skype and two on two different phones... we even got Rebecca in Okinawa on the line.  We were thrilled to be called to the Adriatic North Mission.

A few minutes later, Adam messaged.... did we miss it? Akkk! In all the excitement, we didn't realize we'd missed him!  What bad parents!  So we skyped and announced the news to him and his family. (The six we initially connected with included one husband away from home.)

So now we are looking at clothing to pack, last visits to see my Mom and Adam's family on the west coast, and all the details of things to finish up before we report to the MTC probably March 12th.