Update 9/19/24: Trip to Washington

Psalm 119:145-148 “I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord, and I will obey Your decrees. I call out to You; save me and I will keep Your statutes. I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in Your word. My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on Your promises.”

On a jet plane to Oregon/Washington to see family and pick up a car.

Naomi drove us to the airport early on Wednesday for our flight to Portland, Oregon. We were so thankful that Wayne was feeling well enough to fly. The hardest part about the trip was I was the pack mule…I had to lug two suitcases and other bags. When we landed in Portland, we were the farthest gate from the exit. I got my workout that day! But, we made it safely and were able to spend a few days with Wayne’s family. We had traveled to Washington to pick up a minivan from Wayne’s parents. 

We played train dominoes and the game lasted 3 hours! 🤣

Wayne’s mom made him homemade ice cream and he was all smiles.

No trip to Oregon/Washington is complete without visiting Bobs Red Mill and Dave’s Killer Bread. We transported 25lbs of oatmeal and hot cereal to KY. 

Playing games with the nieces and nephews. This one here is like Wayne’s twin…sweet and loud. 🤣

Family!

Our new van! A 2017 Sienna. It drives so nice! It made the long drive home comfortable.

Park near Wayne’s parents. It’s just beautiful around them!

I will post the second part of our trip in a couple days. For now, we are thankful to be home after driving 2600+ miles in 4 days. 

While we were gone, Naomi traveled to St Louis to volunteer with Inheritance of Hope. She had an amazing time with her family and the other volunteers. 

Abigail traveled to Lynchburg to celebrate Elijah’s birthday and get engagement photos. 86 more days!! 

Prayer Requests:

- Wayne: he has his pulmonary appointment next week to see what we need to do about those spots on his lungs. Please also pray for him as he does all his therapy. 

- Rebecca: I have another immunotherapy appointment tomorrow morning. I’m thankful for my medical team, but I wish I was done with all of this. I’m still exhausted from the long drive home. I may fall asleep during my treatment. 

Update 9/11/24: Chaos

Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow Histories precepts have good understanding. To Him belongs eternal praise.”

Life has been chaotic the past few weeks, which means I have been too busy to update the blog. Wayne continues to baffle his doctors with his come back. He’s walking and talking a little bit better each week. Take that terminal cancer! God isn’t done with him yet!!

Wayne is sampling cookies we are going to have at Abigail’s wedding. We had to make sure they were Wayne approved. 

Part of our chaotic lives is due to adjusting to a new school routine and homework. The girls are learning how to juggle multiple tests a week and lots of homework. We believe this is a great learning opportunity for them. They even got to have their grandparents visit them for grandparents day, a first for us!

I thought that I would have more free time to work on things, but we have been busy with wedding preparations, doing projects outside, and coordinating projects that had to be addressed.

We had to have our subflooring replaced off our deck. The whole floor had rotted from the previous door. Thankfully, they were also able to address the issue with our door that was improperly installed a few months ago, which allowed puddles of water on our floor! I’m thankful for Wayne’s friends who help give me contacts for these types of situations projects.

We also worked on graveling part of our yard. Lots of work, but I looks great. The garage was the next project on our list to get organized and cleaned. We also managed to have a garage sale a few weeks ago to sell off some extra stuff. How do things accumulate?!?

The kids and I also had a crazy adventure helping my parents with their new baby miniature horse. He wasn’t nursing and was not doing well. We went to bottle feed him and he went downhill rapidly. We rushed him in the car to the local vet. He was very sick and they weren’t sure if he would make it. I’m thankful to say that he has fully recovered and is a little stinker. His name is Dakota and he likes to kick you if you aren’t careful. 

We celebrated Sophia’s birthday this week too. How are my kids so old?!? This girl is amazing and keeps us on our toes. This next week she will rank up to Captain at CAP. 

Wedding preparation is underway. Abigail decided she wanted a soup bar for her wedding, so we have been busy making fresh tomato and basil soup. Many hours have been spent picking, roasting, and chopping. Good thing I love her so much. 

We also managed to catch covid, so that made life a little crazy for a week while I recovered. 

Update Wayne: As I mentioned, he continues to baffle his doctors. He did go in for his CT scan for his lungs. We have to follow up with a pulmonologist regarding what was seen in the scan. We will meet with them 9/24. Meanwhile, Wayne walks 2-3 days a week. He even went with me to the gym a couple times and has been working his good arm with weights. 

Update Rebecca: I’m feeling really good, minus a case of poison ivy I got after pulling out some old plants. I didn’t see it, but I feel it now! On 9/20 I have my next infusion and follow with my oncologist. My broken ankle is healing well and I have been going to weekly PT. I’ve enjoyed being able to get back to some things I love like teaching Bible studies and playing piano at church. 

Prayer Requests: 

- Wayne’s upcoming pulmonologist appointment and that nothing big is going on. Please also continue to pray for him to do well.

- Please pray for all of us as we navigate wedding plans and stress.

- Naomi is leaving Thursday to serve at a retreat with Inheritance of Hope. Please pray that it blesses the families that are being served and for safe travels to St Louis. 

- Travel safety for Abigail as she travels to Lynchburg to celebrate her fiancés birthday and they take engagement photos. 

Once again, thank you for your continued prayers and love!

Update 8/16/24: Ups and Downs

Psalm 16:11 “You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

As summer comes to a close, our family is experiencing some firsts. Micaela and Joella finished their first full week of school, Sophia and Shan start their dual enrollment classes this week, and plans keep moving forward for our first child getting married. We are so thankful for these amazing days with our children. These are up days.

Wayne went with me to my orthopedic appointment earlier this week. My ankle is healing nicely. I can start PT and also begin to transition to an ankle brace a few hours a day. This was another up day with all that positive news.

Wayne had a visit from his palliative team. He continues to blow their minds with how well he is doing. We did not realize with all my health issues that we are quite a few months behind getting him a follow up chest CT scan. He will be seen this week to check the two spots on his lungs. When life is topsy turvy, time flies. We thought we were only off by a few months, when he should have had it around November last year! 😬 Despite that delay in testing, we are so thankful for all the up days with Wayne. 

Today has been a down day. I woke up feeling pretty bad. I assumed it was a bad cold, until I found out someone close to me tested positive for covid, and I had just seen them a couple days ago. I took a test to be safe, and it came out positive. So, today has been a lay in bed all day to rest and give my body time to heal. 

Another up day was yesterday. Sophia was selected to be cadet commander for our local Civil Air Patrol squadron. Sophia is thrilled for this honor and has many plans for our squadron. She continues to amaze me! She sees a dream and she actively pursues it. 

Prayer Requests:

- Please pray for Wayne's CT scan this week and for his continued health.

- Please pray for a quick recovery for me and that no one else catches this.

- We have a couple friends with loved ones facing daunting brain cancer diagnosis. Please pray for them as they face the journey at different stages (some are at the beginning and some are near the end). 

Update 8/10/24: Sharing Our Story

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

Yesterday was another long day at the hospital. Even though my infusion isn’t the longest, between getting blood draws, seeing the doctor, and waiting on the pharmacy to mix my immunotherapy, it makes for a long day. One of my favorite nurses, whom I’m also blessed to call my friend, was assigned to my case. Her smile always makes my day! I feel okay today after my treatment, but I'm feeling a little exhausted. I don't know if it's the treatment or two long days. 

When I arrived home, I had to fill out paperwork for Sophia and Micaela. They are gone this weekend at a search and rescue training. I love all the opportunities that CAP provide them. 

Today, I was blessed to be an invited to share our story at a women's luncheon. If you'd like to hear it, I'm attaching the links below. There are two parts due to a health crisis that happened. The first video should be stopped at 1 hour 18 minutes and then it continues in a second video. Thank you to everyone that supported me today and for all who prayed for today.

Part 1: 

https://fb.watch/tTLR6OBljN/

Part 2:

https://fb.watch/tTMhDjwLQu/

Update 8/7/24: A Taste of Heaven

Revelation 7:9-12 "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no once could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!' All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.'"

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to get away for two days with friends from church to see Phil Wickham and Brandon Lake in concert. We stayed at a cute Airbnb in Louisville since we knew the concert would get out late on Saturday night. Last year, I was supposed to see Phil Wickham in Indianapolis, but I was diagnosed with cancer two days before the concert, so I didn't go. A few months ago, I was very excited to discover they were touring together this summer again and it was even closer, in Louisville! 

It was an amazing night of worship. Saturday night was the highest amount of tickets sold for a Christian concert at the Yum Center. There were 13,000 people who gathered and worshiped God together. The only disappointing thing was Phil Wickham didn't sing "Hymn of Heaven" like he did last year. That is one of my all time favorite songs. There were a few times that I would stop singing so I could hear the 13,000 people around me singing praises to God. The verses above came to my mind in those moments. What a taste of heaven! (The pictures are at the bottom of this post from the weekend)

Sophia is back from her two weeks in Wisconsin where she trained with the Blue Beret with CAP. She had an amazing time, learned a lot, and had some once in a lifetime experiences.

Sophia received this patch from a 4 star general who was at the air show. My girl never fails to amaze me. The general wanted to encourage her to keep pursuing her dreams.

They enjoyed a free night of fun after serving at the air show. 

Sophia is up front in the gear. She was shorter than everyone at the event. If she ever joins the military, they will have to make her custom gear. 🤣

Sophia participated in an honor flight during the air show. This young lady right here also found out the day she flew home from WI that she was selected as a youth ambassador for the honor flight program in KY!! She is so excited for this opportunity. 

Sophia had the honor of plane marshaling, ground team work, and various Air Force assigned missions. 

Sophia made some great memories and friends.

My plan was to take Sophia hiking, since she is always asking to go hiking, and then I broke my ankle. So, Naomi took her hiking with their friend Madeline. They helped me clean our Airbnb, went hiking, and then their payment for cleaning was to have pizza at Miguel’s. 

Paying for pizza in exchange for cleaning the airbnb was totally worth it!!

Micaela and Joella had orientation at school a few days ago. They start school tomorrow and they have mixed feelings. We really liked all their teachers that we met. 

My view the past few days. Keeping my foot elevated to help with the swelling. The positive of this blasted broken bone is that I was able to get a lot done for my women’s luncheon that I’m speaking at this weekend. 

On our trip to Louisville, we were adventurous and tried an Ethiopian restaurant. The food was amazing and full of unique flavors.

We ended up with great seats since I broke my ankle. They had extra handicap seats and they let me sit there so I didn't have to walk down the steep steps!

After we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant on Saturday, we decided to stop in a Davids Bridal next door to see what they had. I found a dress on the clearance rack that was in Abigail's budget. The dress looked just like her, so we Facetimed her. She loved the dress and drove down Sunday morning to come try on dresses. Abigail and I had planned on doing that next weekend, but we couldn't pass up this dress. Just to make sure she would love the dress, we tried on a few other dresses. She didn't really like them, but when she tried on the one, we all knew. The dress was made just for her and fit her perfect!! She just needs to get it hemmed. I was thrilled that we were able to find her dress at such a steal. It was originally $1800 and we got it for $499!!!

Look at her smile. I wish I could show her face in her dress, but that will be kept secret until December. I can tell you this, it was made for her and God totally provided the most amazing dress for my sweet girl.

Prayer Requests:

- Please pray for Wayne as he has an appointment tomorrow with his palliative team. He is a little tired and sore today from helping us organize and clean the garage, but he’s getting around like a champ. 

- I would appreciate prayers as I have my next immunotherapy appointment this Friday. Unfortunately, I don't have any more veins for them to use in my left arm, so I am down to my right arm. Please pray that my vein holds up so that I don't need a port. Please also pray for my ankle to heal up and for my presentation this weekend at the ladies luncheon.

- Please pray for Abigail as she continues to make wedding plans and that God opens up the married housing for them. 

- Pray for Micaela and Joella as they start school tomorrow for the first time in person. Pray that they make friends and adjust to this new schedule.

We are forever grateful to each of you and your faithful prayers for our family!🩷