Why would God do this?

Hi friends! It's Missy. We have just had an amazing week spending Christmas with my sister, nephew and all of Greg's family. My parents were so gracious and gave us their home to use so Greg's family could come here and we could all be together over Christmas. We will spend Christmas with my parents this weekend.

We can't explain to you how God has provided for our needs. I remember when Annie was burnt and I felt as if I was being carried by some force and all of our needs were being met. We were given a house, a car, clothes, food, and we felt so loved on it was crazy. Well, we are feeling that same way now. My parents have given us their home to live in for as long as we want, however we will think about other arrangements after Greg finishes his radiation. God was gracious and didn't allow our van to be sold, so we still have the van that we had while we were on stateside assignment. Then we were blessed by so many of you with gift cards, and meals. We can't tell you how blessed we truly feel. It has made this experience seem like a dream  of sorts.

At the movies.

I remember reading blogs or posts of cancer patients or their family members and I always wondered how they go on with life, how they cope. It is crazy really, if you would have told me that my husband would be diagnosed with cancer, I would have thought I would cry all the time. I would have thought of myself as becoming very depressed and sad. It is something I can't explain, except to say that the force that I felt carrying me when Annie was burnt, was a force for sure. It was the Holy Spirit. He is now carrying me during this time as well. I truly don't cry. I get weepy sometimes, but that is usually when I think about the loss of my old life. The life when I didn't have to worry about doctors appointments, or how to get my doggie to the US, or the life when all I thought about was the little girl we were going to adopt. ( We still hope to adopt her, but only time will tell what God has planned for our adoption.) Other than that, we generally go about our days like normal, making goofy jokes and living life as if we are just here visiting family.

One story that I heard years ago has encouraged me. It was when my friend Anita asked a nurse about a cancer patient she and her husband had grown close to during her husband's cancer treatment. The nurse said that he had completed his cancer treatment and was doing well, and then he died of a heart attack. This may seem like a strange story to encourage me, but it does. None of us are promised tomorrow. Cancer could take his life someday, but I could die in a car accident tomorrow. Point is, we can't wait around wondering how anyone is going to die. One of my favorite verses from the Bible is Matthew 6:27, Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? I think when people hear the word cancer it just scares them. First thing I told my kids was, it's just a word. A scary word. We will not live in fear of cancer or anything else. We will live as if we have one purpose in life, and that purpose is to share Jesus with anyone who will listen. We have such an amazing God and He loves all of you. If being diagnosed with cancer brings one person closer to Him, we will say it is worth it!

 It has been almost 11 years ago that we became missionaries. It was never something I thought I was equipped for. It was never something I thought I would be good at. Then once I was in Mexico and fell in love with the people, all I wanted was to share with them the good news of Jesus. I read in a devotional today that God always seemed to use ordinary people to reach the lost. They didn't have seminary, they weren't scholars, most were just ordinary people that could relate to ordinary people. I suppose that is why He has allowed me to be used for His glory. I am a sinner, saved by grace. I am not a missionary that knows a lot about theology or anything like that. (That is Greg's gifting) But, what I am good at, is loving on people. I do love people. I copied this from my devotion in Girlfriends in God.

When an ordinary woman meets an extraordinary God, normal life takes on a whole new meaning. Knowing God changes everything. We simply cannot encounter the living God and be the same.

Some people have said they didn't understand how God could allow this to happen. Or that they were mad at him because it has happened. Please, don't ever be mad at God on our account. We have never once been mad at Him. We have questioned him, because we really don't understand the timing in it all. We don't understand why He would lead us to adopt and then put a hold on that. We don't understand why He would have us set up a household in Mexico for just a few months only to have us come home. Trust me, there are many things, we don't understand. However, I am sure that when Jesus was hung on the cross, all of his followers didn't understand either. They shook their heads in confusion.  But, God's plan truly is perfect and we will trust it. 

I know this has been a little long, but I just wanted to share with you from my heart how we are doing. I know you have seen our pictures and maybe you think we are just holding it together for the camera. We truly are doing well! We have laughed a lot, and will continue to laugh our way through this journey. If there is one thing I am good at, it is laughing. If you need prayer for something, please let us know. We would  count it a privilege to pray for you.  Thank you all for following us on this journey. We love you!

Next steps....

I need to get you a quick update on how I am and next steps.   A bit more then a week has passed since surgery and I am healing well but still a bit low energy which is normal.  I get the stitches out of my really cool scar I have on Monday.

Missy and I had our oncologist visit late last week to discuss next steps.  The doctor and pathology verified it was a fast growing/grade 4 tumor, which is the most aggressive.  This did not shock us as the surgeon felt post operation it was grade 3 or 4.  

I asked her to give me some positives I can hold onto based on what she was seeing and she encouraged me with several.

1.  My young age 

2. A very successful tumor removal surgery

3. I was in good health and recovering very well from surgery

4. Strong faith and good family and friend support structure.

I praise God for all of these and they are answers to prayers.

As has been explained to us, these tumor surgeries cannot remove 100% of the cancer cells, which will require me to start on January 4th a radiation and chemotherapy via pill for a six-week period.  An MRI will be done after that to see how things are looking and then most likely more chemo.

We are very pleased with the oncology team and the lead doctor attends a Southern Baptist Church and knew all about IMB mission work so there was an instant connection.  We finished our time by praying together in her office, which was amazing.  God is good!!

We have such incredible support from Missy’s family and I can’t thank them enough for their love and sacrifice.  We are also super excited to get a visit from the Hoosier side of the Wood family next week over Christmas.  I have been in constant contact with them but it will be great to give them all a hug.

Continue to pray that these weeks would be characterized by strength, courage, strong faith, laughter and most importantly that we would be a testimony that God’s grace is sufficient in all of this. We will continue to get more general updates via Missy's Facebook and our blog- www.hisvillage.com on a regular basis. 

Merry Christmas to you all and blessings to your family.

Greg

Cancelled!

As I hung out last night and reflected over a few things on my calendar in December and January I noted:

     1. Jerod flying to Mexico Dec. 18^th-Jan 15^th to spend college break with us (CANCELLED)- Praise God he is still with us here in South Carolina

     2.  Baked Christmas goods evangelistic outreach for our local Mexican neighbors and friends (CANCELLED)

     3.   Christmas party and time with our wonderful missionary team in Mexico (CANCELLED)

     4.   Leadership training and encouragement to visit the churches and families where we served our first nine years in Michoacan, Mexico from Jan 5-12^th (CANCELLED)   

     5.   Local leadership training/vision casting in Veracruz including our missionary team, local Mexican pastors and leaders on Jan 23^rd (CANCELLED)

“Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”  “Instead you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” James 4:13-15

There is one thing that the Mexicans say and it is spot on, they finish a sentence by saying, "Si Dios Quiere." Which translates if it God's will. So, just like this verse says above we all need to think more like that and understand that God may change our plans at a moments notice. 

We should set goals and plan but always knowing that God is in the middle of it all and he may move us in different directions and we must be humble to accept these changes.  Easier said then done but Lord help us accept your plans. 

Greg

How are we?

Many of you have asked how we are doing. We are really doing okay all things considered. I mean Greg is feeling good and getting more energy everyday. He took me out on a date to Olive Garden yesterday, and we enjoyed just being together. His eye was swollen from his surgery, so it looked he had been in a fight. We want to thank all of you for your gift cards! Greg really liked taking me out and not having to pay! ;o) 

While in the hospital, we had so many friends, I didn't get pictures of all of them, but I did get a picture of some. So grateful for friends! Thankful for Alice Forest! 

My childhood bestie showed up at the hospital with a huge Chick-fil-A nugget tray! It was just what we all needed as we waited the long wait during Greg's surgery. Thanks Mindy!

A precious group of women made this prayer quilt for Greg and they prayed for him with each knot that was tied. As soon as he got home he covered up in it. Thanks Paula for this special blessing!

Dana not only spent all day with me at the hospital she also got her friends to help us out with some frozen meals. We are blessed with having at least a week or so of meals to eat! Thanks Dana and Joel for being there for us! 

I haven't gotten pictures of every visitor, there have been so many of you and I will never forget who you are, but today Alejandra and Alfredo came to pray for us. We are so blessed! 

Please continue to pray for our family as we definitely are feeling as if we are under attack. The day after Greg's surgery, Jerod was in his first (and hopefully last) car accident. Another student turned left in front of him as he was going through a green light. Her car is the one on the right and Jerod's is the white one. No one was hurt and for that we are very grateful. However, this just caused us a lot of stress and a lot more things that we now have to take care of. On the bright side, Jerod is driving a rental home and he will hopefully get a new phone! We do covet your prayers! 

 Jerod's phone, or what is left of it. 

Last night we made the very difficult decision to let our Ali go. This for me was probably as hard as excepting the cancer diagnosis. I don't understand what God is doing, but I will just trust him. You can read Greg's post about this decision in the post below. Please pray for Annie as I know this will be a very hard part of this journey. We have cried as much over giving up Ali as we have over hearing the word Cancer. We pray that our little Ali is blessed with an amazing family who will love her as much as we do. 

We are looking forward to tonight as all of our family will be back together! We even get to meet Jerod's Bri. Please continue to pray for us as Greg has doctors appointments over the next few days and we will gain more knowledge about our future. We love all of you!