Loving boring days!

Hi friends! I was thinking the other day how I missed my boring days of doing homeschool and ministry. That was my norm and somehow it seemed boring to me at times. Crazy how my life was perfect and I could think I was lacking something. If that is you today, please don't waste another minute waiting to lose weight or make more money, get a better job or whatever it is that you may think will make your life better. Enjoy every day! We have been making the most of our time here in the states. Visiting with friends, going on field trips, enjoying family, and sharing Christ with those we meet. We are not about to let Cancer get us down. 

Before this journey began I thought I saw people. However, I see people now in an entirely different light. If someone is having a bad day, if they are rude or not exactly kind, I always have to wonder, did they just find out bad news? Are they struggling taking care of a loved one? Is their child suffering in some way? Did they just lose their job? Did someone they love just pass away? I mean, these aren't things people know when they see you. So I now just see people and seriously pray for them if they seem to be having one of those days. I know I have said we are doing well, and we are. However, I still have my days where I just wish our life was back the way it was before cancer. 

 Please pray that Greg continues to do well and stays healthy as he ends his radiation in a week. We are so thankful it has gone so well. Pray that when he gets his scan done at the beginning of March that it would be clear and show no evidence of cancer cells. We thought we had a home to live in, however due to a 'no pet rule,' we are having to try and find other arrangements. So, please pray we can find a home in just the right location so that we can free up my parent's home so it can be put on the market again. I continue to be in awe about how good God is to us and how much He blesses us in the midst of a storm. Thanks for your continued prayers!

We have taken a few homeschool field trips. This one was to the Billy Graham Library. It was really impressive and we learned a lot! 

This was the York County Museum. We had fun there too and learned a lot about different animals. We were in the kiddie section here. 

Alex is my BIG kid! (He had fun dressing up in the clothes provided.)

We didn't get a lot of snow, but we did get snow. I look so tired here, I think I was! ;o)

Greg has continued to amaze us with his progress! He hasn't had any side effects from the radiation or chemo other than being tired. (Well that and they have radiated his hair off one side of his head!) ;o)  Not only is it amazing that he is walking everyday, it is amazing that he has become friends with our dog! 

This is our friend, David, he is on our team in Mexico. He and his wife Ann are here in the US for a short time and we are enjoying getting to see them. David came down for a visit here. 

Annie loves her "uncle" David! 

Greg and Alex had a PE day with uncle David and actually played 18 holes of golf. We don't take blessings like this for granted! These are amazing days we are experiencing and we are so very thankful for each one! 

We celebrated Greg's 47th birthday! We look forward to celebrating 47 more!!  

I have always been in love with this man, however this journey has made it even more clear all the many reasons why I am so blessed to call him mine! 

This is where we first met, 24 years ago. 

I have gotten to see my childhood bestie, Mindy. We have had some fun times together! 

I have loved being with my "Honey!" He is the best daddy I could ask for! 

We have made some incredible friends during our daily visits for radiation. It has been neat to see a sort of family form there. One of my dearest friends, Vicki, made these scrubbies for me. She brings her sister for radiation everyday and we sit and visit and talk about Jesus and have had some amazing conversations. Please pray for Linda's treatment and for Vicki as well. They are dear to me. 

This weekend my husband and son will be watching the Super bowl surrounded by a city of Panther fans. Since the Colts are not in it, the next best thing for them is Peyton Manning. So, they will  be cheering for their second favorite QB and hoping for a victory. It may be a blessing that we will be watching this alone as a family!   

Thanks for following us on this journey. 

The Red Sea

 Dear friends and family,
 It's Missy and this is a little long for me, but I hope you are encouraged by it. As I think about all of the things I want to say, all I can really say, is, "Don't worry, God is in control." I think that God continues to teach me each and every day just how much He truly loves us. Every day I wake up and am in awe about just how blessed I am to have my family all around. We even have our precious Max, who is very much a part of our family.

We have been given a book by some friends, (The Tummons family) entitled the Red Sea Rules. We are learning a lot from it. One thing it brought back to my memory was a lesson I learned a few years ago while teaching Annie about the Israelites. We had just learned that they had been set free by the Egyptians and were no longer slaves. They were facing the Red Sea and were doubting the decisions of Moses, then God parted the Red Sea and brought them to safety. Then they were in the desert and began to complain about not having enough food and even said they were better off when they were slaves. The point is that they forgot all of the ways in which God had provided for them in just a short while. When Annie and I studied this, I told her it is just like humans to forget all the ways God has taken care of us and begin to complain when we have to suffer for the least little bit. So we started to go over all of the ways He has lead us across our "Red Sea."

In 2005 He called us to a mission field and took care of every little detail needed in order for us to make that a seamless transition.
In 2008 Annie was badly burnt and He got us to the U.S. in less that 24 hours for treatment. He provided us a car, a house, clothes, food, friends to support us, you name it, He provided it. Then He healed her and used it all for HIS glory.
In 2015 we were in the U.S. on stateside and connected with amazing friends, and churches. What we didn't know at the time was that those friendships would prove to be extremely important to us as we walk this journey.
He allowed Greg to finish his seminary degree before this happened.
He allowed us to go back to Mexico and see our people and start a few works and be blessed by them.
He allowed us to find this tumor at just the right time, and get back to the U.S. for surgery before it caused any problems.
He allowed the surgery to go so perfectly that our Dr. removed as much of the tumor as possible without causing Greg any damage to his motor skills.
He allowed our van not to be sold so that as soon as we returned, we were able to drive it immediately.
He kept my parent's home from selling so that we would have a home to stay in while Greg is receiving treatment.
He allowed a missionary couple to reserve a missionary house in the Charlotte area, only to tell the church at the last moment they wouldn't need it b/c they took the voluntary retirement package our company offered them. That meant that a home was now available for us to stay in once Greg's radiation treatment is complete. This means my parent's can sell their home once we leave. I can't wait to see how quickly it sells. Please pray for that!

So, as you can see, He has helped us cross the "Red Sea" and taken care of our every need and far be it for us to complain while we wait and see just what He is going to do with and through our family. I think of the poor missionary who just lost her husband in the shooting in Burkina Faso. He was just having coffee and in an instant her husband was gone. I am thankful I have today. We get to fight for life. We get to enjoy each blessing and trial that the Lord brings our way. We are so very hopeful that God is choosing to use the chemo and radiation to destroy his cancer. We don't know and we won't know for 4 more weeks. But, I won't worry about that outcome, I will enjoy my every day with my husband and children and be thankful for the life that the Lord has given us. We are truly blessed, cancer and all.

One of the things Greg has said he has learned from this book is, when we are in a difficult situation one thing we usually ask is, "How can I get out of this mess?" However, what we should be asking is, "How can we glorify Christ in this situation?" We are going to do whatever we can to glorify Christ every day. Please continue to pray we can do this well. We love you all!

Our kids enjoying shakes at Steak ~n~ Shake.

Jerod and Alex have enjoyed being together over the past month. They even make going to Wal-Mart an adventure! 

Our friend Doug brought us our dog and that has been a huge blessing to our family. We met him at Chick-fil-A for a quick meal before he heads back to Mexico. 

Max has loved having Jerod home as much as we have! 

This is our AMAZING oncologist! Dr. Sumrall is a wonderful christian doctor who is helping  us in every way. We are blessed that God chose her to be our doctor. 

We are also extremely blessed by our International medical consultant. Dr. Pate has helped us in ways that no one will ever truly understand. We are blessed by this woman! 

We had to visit High Point recently, and that is where Greg and I met. It was 24 years ago that we met in this very spot. I am looking forward to spending the next 24 with him as well! He is my everything! 

Jerod was blessed with a new, used car after his was totaled  the day after Greg's surgery. God blessed us once again that he wasn't hurt and it wasn't his fault! 

Jerod had to say good-bye today as he went back to LU. Please pray he has a great semester! 

The last breakfast before going back to college. 

Love them 2 pieces! 

Hugging, bro style. 

I hate good-byes! It sure has gotten quiet today! ;o(

Thanks for praying for us as we continue on God's journey! Missy and family

Treatment update- Next phase

I began the next big stage of my treatment this week which includes a chemo pill taken one hour prior to a daily radiation treatment.  As I noted in the past, my surgery was seen as very successful by the doctors but not all cancer cells can be removed with surgery.  Thus, the next step is the chemo/radiation attack of the aggressive cancer cells that were left behind.

These are the chemo pills that I take every morning. Please pray they kill the cancer cells. 

God has truly blessed us with amazing doctors that we have connected with deeply.  My radiation doctor is only five minutes away from my in-laws house.  The office is super efficient in getting me in quickly and after 15 minutes I am done.  I have a daily appointment at 9:15 and we are often leaving at 9:40 - quick, no stress and back home!!  I was told by my doctor that if I was going to have some bad side effects from the chemo pill I would have seen it the first day or two.  After 4 days, I am feeling good.  Your prayers are working and I thank each of you of for your support of me and our family.

This is where I get radiation everyday at 9:15 a.m. Please pray that the radiation will hit the exact point in my brain where the cancer cells are lingering. 

I will continue this process for five more weeks and then an evaluation will be done by my oncologist to evaluate how well the treatment is working.  Continue to pray for limited or no side effects and that the current treatment would be destroying, weakening and confusing the cancer cells that still exist.  

Suffering is something we see promised us in the Bible.  Not wanted or desired but part of life in this fallen world.  Romans 8:35 says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"
I have seen God work out so many details, logistics, and grant His favor and grace to our family during the last five weeks that it would take me pages to list them.  I stole this well spoken quote from a John Piper devotional today that explains this well:

"We should not be surprised that God gives us wonderful graces in the midst of suffering that we had asked him to spare us. He knows best how to apportion his grace for our good and for his glory." (sorry I could not un-highlight this, I don't know how to do that)

We have been blessed by fun visits with many of our friends. The Stefflers are our friends from Mexico. They drove for 2 days from Texas just to visit us. 

We had a great time celebrating New Years Eve with our family. 

We have had a lot of quality family time doing regular stuff! 

We were even given the huge blessing of our dog. Our friends all worked very hard to get our dog ready for travel and then brought him to the US so we could all be together! 

God is good and we thank Him for his never-ending grace and mercy.    I love you all you and appreciate your support and prayers.  

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!