It's My Survivor Anniversary! Slow Stitching.Felt Food

Welcome!  
I'm so glad you're visiting - especially today!  

It's my first Survivor Anniversary!  November 13, 2015 

was the last day of treatment for 

Triple Negative Breast Cancer!  

No more needles.
No more pokes.
No more chemotherapy.
No more radiation.
No more skin burns.



It's My Survivor Anniversary!

For a bunch of different reasons, I ended up going to church by myself.  I wasn't sad about it, I was kind of glad.  

You see, many years ago I was celebrating beating back precancerous cells in my cervix.  

I was home alone - 

kids were at school and 

my husband was at work.

I check the mail box.

There's the letter with the test results.

I'm clear!  

Yea!

Who to call?  

Everyone was at work.

And then I heard it - 

God's still quiet voice.

"It's ok.  I'm here to celebrate with you!  Let's celebrate together!"

And we did.

Today, many years later,

during praise and worship, 

God reminded me of that day.

So this morning

we again

celebrated together.

Then, my family and friends met at a park.

We played.

We ate.

We laughed.

My granddaughter asked for her fingernails to be painted bright pink for 

breast cancer.  She's five.

I sat the children down with me and explained to them that the balloon represented breast cancer.

And we were going to release them and say, 

"Good bye breast cancer.  

Go away and don't come back!"

So we did.

And when I thanked my son-in-law for the video and pictures he responded with this message:

"You're welcome, many more balloon releases."

From his heart to God's ears.

Dear Friends, this is my truth.

Slow Stitching
Remember this felt food - really the sandwich and chips are made from felt!  I blogged about it here.  :)

Here's the bag for the chips!  I need to make three more!  In both pictures, everything is slow stitched except the vertical lines on the chips.  :)

My grandson made up my name - Ama - when he was but a babe.  It means love in Spanish.  
Pretty cool, huh?

I'm linking up to Kathleen's Sharing Sundays and Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.  

Living Life. Church. Pick Me! Get Out! Next Week.

Living Life Through a Miracle

I'll make you a bet.  I bet you that after hearing how rough Round 3 of chemo was, a bunch of you were praying.  Let's look at the stats.  After Rounds 1 and 2 I had about 10 out of 14 good days.  After Round 3 I was down for just about the entire 2 weeks.  It was harsh.  Really harsh.  Some of your read about this experience.  And that’s when I bet you prayed for me.

We are now into the 10^th day of Round 4 and I have had 7 out of 10 good days!  Unheard of!  Praise God!  The power of prayer is awesome indeed!  This is my miracle.  Thank you everybody!  Thank you, Lord!

Church

I love my church!  We go to Heart for the World in Las Cruces, NM.  God has moved so many times in my life there that my heart has been irrevocably changed.  Many times it’s a quiet whisper and other times it’s a funny little “God wink” to let me know how very much He loves me.  At times others know how He’s moved in my life and other times it’s just between He and I.  I love meeting Him there.  It’s wonderful.  It’s encouraging.  It’s God. 

He has raised a group of prayer warriors for me from my church that truly love me and, more importantly, love the Lord.  I am truly blessed. 

I finally made it to church today – the first time since before Houston!  Yea!  It was wonderful to be encouraged by Pastor Dale and my group of prayer warriors.  I even met people who are praying for me – and I didn’t even know it!  Wow!

And the sermon was amazing!  I'm sure they'll post it soon, but here is the link to the series: 

http://www.hftwchurch.org/Learn/Sermons

 

It really spoke to me.  I realized that I cannot let my current situation impact my desire to minister – I just have to get a bit creative.  Fatigue is my reality – but not my lord – God is my Lord.  He is showing me ways I can be used in spite of cancer and chemo.  And I, God help me, am willing. 

Pick Me!

I want to be used of God, but, I also know that in saying that, I need to hold on and be ready for the ride of my life.  I agree with Pastor, suffering produces in us compassion – if we let it.  Here’s my take.  We can choose to be bitter or better through our suffering.  In my past, I would become bitter.  However at some point in my journey with Him, and I cannot pinpoint when, I learned to become better through suffering.  And God helped me by filling me with His grace, mercy, strength, joy and faith.  I am richer for it.  As Pastor said, I am now saying, “Pick me, Lord!” Eeesh!  Kinda scary……….but, exciting!  Pick Me Faith…..interesting concept, huh?

Get Out!

Then Pastor said the Lord says to “Get out of our comfort zone.”  My comfort zone has certainly been invaded.  Through this journey, I’ve learned that I am used to giving, ministering and taking care of others.  Now, however, I am learning to receive, be ministered to and gracefully accepting the fact that others are now caring for me.    However, this does not mean I’m helpless and unable to be used of God!  I just have to be a bit more creative and open minded to how He can use me.  I need to be more sensitive to His voice.  Praise God!

Next Week
Next week I begin a new chemo regimen.  Instead of bi-weekly, I'll be receiving twelve weekly treatments of  Taxol.  It's supposed to be easier than what I've been blasted with the last two months, not easy, but easier - whatever that means.....

After these next 12 weeks, it's surgery to remove the tumor in my breast and that lymph node.  After I recover from surgery, we're looking at 6 - 7 weeks of radiation. 

Please pray for me.  On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I get really nervous and depressed as I dread the Chemo Thursdays.  

God has truly blessed me.  I was able to go to church, He shared a vision with me and I have you - my loving family and friends.  Life is good.

And for today, that is my truth.  Love you all!