Pause

Treatment is complete!  I finished the radiation treatments at the end of July, right before school started for us.  I was just beginning to really feel the physical effects of the radiation about the time that the treatment was drawing to a conclusion.  My neck and chest were beginning to resemble a piece of toast left in the oven too long.  Thankfully after the old roasted skin was gone (imagine scrapping the burned black edges on a piece of toast) I have beautiful new fresh baby skin; I've never looked younger! (lol)

As I was finishing up my treatment regime, our family was gearing up to start another school year.  After much prayer and consideration, as a family, we decided that it was time for me to retire again.  This is my third "retirement" and it has never felt better!  I am so thankful for the wonderful friends at Monrovia Elementary School; the teachers and staff at MES made the last few months in the Spring bearable.  They were extremely kind, helpful and loving to our family and I will miss them and the children very much this school year.  BUT, I am LOVING being at home and focusing on our family, gaining my strength, and working to strengthen my relationship with the Lord.

Mark and I were blessed to be able to attend our church's youth Back to School Retreat (along with over 300 awesome youth and leaders) a few weeks ago.  The name of the retreat this year was "Pause".  The theme was "I will hit pause in my life so that I might rest in God and have lasting joy!"  I hope the messages taught over the weekend meant as much to the youth as they meant to me.  I am pressing pause.  Our family has dropped a few activities so that we are not running from here to there every day and we are striving to divert that energy to more Kingdom work.  I pray that each of us are able to PAUSE and focus on what is most important; our relationship with God and our relationships with others.

The next big event on my medical calendar is a PET scan in September.  We are praying that the PET scan confirms that all the lymphoma is gone and there are no more cancer cells in my body. 

Our family appreciates your continued prayers.  We also ask that you pray for friends that are still in an active fight against cancer. 

I pray that each of you are able to PAUSE and rest in God and have lasting Joy!