Sharing & Caring

Wow! I must start with a precious gift that we each received on Sunday night. Our next door neighbors have three wonderful kids. A nine year old and seven year old twins. The twins learned about Sharing & Caring in Sunday School. In response to that, they made gifts for Ben & me. They took brown paper bags and decorated them with sweet comments about caring for one another. They are both decorated with a big heart that says "caring first aid." Ben's has a picture of our dog Hank & Ben on it and also says, "I hope you get well soon." He also managed to throw in a scoreboard with a tie between the Aggies & t-sips. My bag has a picture of our neighbor "helping an old lady out of a market." So incredibly sweet and the kicker, they were filled with all kinds of yummy candy! We love our neighbors and their sweet spirits. We hope that our children will have hearts as sensitive to the Lord's teachings as these sweet neighbors'. We love them dearly and will miss them considerably when we move! We also found out tonight that they are getting two new kitties and plan to name one after our dog, "Hank!"

The Lord has made sure that we felt extra hugged today! Within minutes of each other, we recieved e-mails from two different people offering to come over and help us move. One was a friend from Rockwall that is also an Aggie. The truth is we had no idea that he even knew. However, his wife and he have been keeping up with the blog, saw the need, and listened to the Lord's calling to offer their muscles! Wow! I wish I was that responsive to the Lord! Then, we had a sweet girl from the agency that Ben used to work at (dental stuff) that said she and her supervisor were watching the blog and they saw a need and have trailers, trucks, and big brothers!! Wow! We are just humbled and feel the Lord's love for us and comforting touch through each of you!!

Ben was able to have a nice discussion with a physician in Rockwall that had a severe form of Hodgkin's Lymphoma a while back. This doc is now doing all alternative meds/nutritional supplements. I believe that we have decided to do the supplements and chemo. So, our next visit to the oncologist will be for Ben's first chemo treatment. It was scheduled for Oct. 19th. However, they ask us to push it back a day to the 20th. So, we will spend the entire day at Baylor as his first appt. is at 10:30 and his chemo will start around noon or so. Ben's parents will also arrive in town that night.

This doctor that Ben spoke with made sure to make the point that Ben's immune system is now extremely compromised. He is not to really play with any babies, go to enclosed places, etc. He told him to act like the bubble boy. We may not be that strict, but we've been trying to tell Ben that there were some things he needed to avoid and he's such a trooper, he didn't want to cut anything out of his plans!! However, this doc was able to make the point and Ben bought into it. Based on that conversation, we will not be traveling for Thanksgiving...we were originally supposed to go see Ben's parents. So, we are hoping that his brother, sister-in-law, and nephews and his parents will be able to come to our house for Thanksgiving!

Thank you all for the encouragement regarding my hair. Apparently, stress and hormones can cause hair loss and I'm not short on either right now. So, we're just praying it comes back soon!

Prayers:
*safety for Ben's parents as they travel
*safety for me as I am away on a business trip
*protection for Ben while I am away
*wisdom for Ben with his classes
*wisdom and peace for the decisions we need to make regarding chemo/radiation.
*Ben has been getting tired lately...strength for him to overcome these little things.

Praises:
*sweet friends that are wrapping their arms around us
*our Sunday School class has also offered to help us move!!
*God is faithful to heal and we trust that He will heal Ben
*You...you are each such an encouragement to us!!