Trust in the Lord with all your Heart...

A lot of times this is easier said than done, especially when you're having a week like mine!



This is my sweet Pappy with us at Thanksgiving. Even in this picture he didn't really recognize us let alone his own son, my dad. Alzheimer's is a nasty/horrible/life-stealing disease that I have unfortunately been through before with my other grandfather. However, what Pappy still was able to communicate at Thanksgiving was that he sure loved our singing. After we were finished with Thanksgiving lunch, we sat at the table and just started singing all sorts of tunes. It started out with the old-fashioned hymns and then morphed into Christmas carols. We didn't care it was still in November, if Pappy wanted Christmas carols, we were going to sing them. I was amazed at how he could still sing his baritone line of harmony for every single song. I am thankful that the Lord did not allow him to suffer for an extended period of time and I know that he's now singing with the angels. The song "I can Only Imagine" is once again a beautiful reminder that my Pappy is no longer inhibited by his crippling disease, but he's standing in the presence of Jesus Christ.

All of this is happening while we are dealing with my dad having cancer for the 2nd time. This time my dad has melanoma and what was supposed to be just removing a mole has turned into talk of radiation and chemotherapy all over again. We've mainly been in a waiting game for about 3 weeks now; waiting on PET scan results, waiting on surgery results, and now we're waiting on more surgery results. On Tuesday, my dad had another surgery (this time on his neck rather than his face) to remove a few more lymph-nodes. If these lymph-nodes come back clean, we will be in the clear of chemo! With this second surgery he had a drainage tube put in, and I have had the privilege of learning how to change it out. We are calling it his cute new necklace! I am very sad to say that my dad's face will probably never look the same again. I have pictures but won't post them due to the fact that they are rather graphic! I am struggling with not thinking selfishly about how my dad will look from now on. My wonderful best friends are reminding me that I should focus on the fact that he's still here rather than what his new face will be. I am very thankful for that and for the reminders that all I need to do is trust in the Lord.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going" - John 14:1-4