The Lord has heard our prayer

It was the month of May and I was driving along when my cell phone rang. It was my stepmom and she told me that I needed to call my dad. I could tell it was serious and Instantly I became frightened. I called my daddy and he shared the devestating news with me.

"Loren, we aren't sure but most likely I have lung cancer. My regular doctor found a tumor and we have appointments with Mayo clinic to begin testing." I asked what had brought this about ~ had he been sick, why did he go to the doctor. I talked to my dad regularly and he never sounded sick. He shared that he had just had this nagging cough for about 3 months and after quite a few tests and xrays they couldn't find anything wrong but after doing this particular test they found a pretty good size tumor."

As you can imagine we were all devestated. During the time of receiving this news my mother-in-law was in and out of the hopsital with her own issues. She was a smoker, she was on oxygen and she went into the hospital this time we knew it was serious. My husband and I had some really good talks with her, sharing our hearts, asking her about certain issues and we knew the Lord was preparing the way for her to come home. We lost her shortly after that. Within 10 days of losing her, we recevied confirmation that my dad did have lung cancer and the kids and I loaded up the car and drove to Florida and I was able to spend most of my summer here with my dad. He was strong and healthy while receiving his chemo and although we initally found out the cancer had metastisized into his brain they were able to radiate those spots immediately and for all practical purposes things were going well.

In mid November we had yet another round of bad news. The cancer had spread into Dads liver but the Dr. was hopeful that trying a new chemo would take care of that. It didn't. The cancer continued to grow and spread. She offered one last chemo medication and upon receiving 2 of the 3 rounds my Dad was diagnosed with pneumonia. This brought my brother and I out here and it is where we remain today.

From the beginning I began blogging about my dads journey. My dad also found Facebook. He was reconnected with many friends from his highschool days along with friends he had back in California. It was so also a place for my dad to share his journey with us. He wrote us notes and shared his heart, his determination, his fight, and he inspired us all.

Through all of this I wanted healing for my dad but even before this I was praying and asking for Salvation. I know there were others out there who have even asked that my dad not be taken until I knew and had peace that dad had received Salvation.
There have been numerous times during this visit that I had moments in which I was pleading with the Lord, asking HIM ~ is this when I am suppose to say something Lord? Is it now Lord? What do you want me to say? How do I approach it?
I never received a release.

You all know that our plans were to take Dad home to Oklahoma to see his mom. My nana. Well, we were discharged from the Hospital yesterday late afternoon. We got daddy home and we were making plans to reserve the RV and to finish the radiation treatments. Overnight my dad took another bad turn. His oxygen levels dropped low just by sitting up and we all had to make the difficult decision not to travel with him. As the day progressed and different plans were being to bring my nana here. Bless my husbands heart ~ He is driving to Missouri to pick her up and then flying out here with her. She trusts him completely. As I have shared with you all before she is 88 and her health is very frail as well. She weighs less the 78! But she has agreed to come!

So today I was taking my daddys temp. It was so high the thermometer wouldn't read ~ it just flshed HI HI HI HI HI. I sat down beside my dad and asked him if he was talking to Jesus. He said "When I am sleeping I am" I said "you are? you wanna talk to him some more?" He said "no, not right now" I said Daddy do you want to ask him into your heart? He opened his eyes, reached out for my hand and patted it and said "OH honey, I have... I have mucho times" It was all so natural, not planned, not ME.... just the LORD!

I have to tell you that immediately after that I went to the bedroom and Thanked the Lord for the gift of hearing and knowing that my daddy will meet his Savior and that he does in fact have his Eternal passport. I CAN'T THANK EACH ONE OF YOU ENOUGH FOR YOUR PRAYERS ON THIS JOURNEY!!

The Lord heard each one of you and I know that your prayers, your cards, your love, support, comments, notes all played a role in that decision that he made.

My Nana will arrive on Tues. and because this is my Daddy's only wish....to see his mom we are praying he will hold on until he sees her. I believe he will and for now I am enjoying every precious second with my daddy but the Peace that has covered me on this day is a gift. While the pain is no less ~ losing your daddy is the hardest thing but knowing he will be in the arms on Jesus ........I can't even begin to tell you what a gift it is.

I love you all and as Kat said tonight ~ One day we will all have a big party in heaven together because you have all played a role in his being there


Thankyou all so much for placing the prayer request on your Facebook pages or your own blogs! I can't even describe what that means to me or to him!

Love and Blessings

Back in the Hospital we go~ UPDATED in comments

Shortly after I pushed the "publish post" button I went to bed only to be awakened around 2a.m. by my stepmom. She told me that Daddy was in pain and running a high fever again. He was also confused. We got him in the truck and I phoned the Mayo ER to let them know we were on our way. For some odd reason my dads temperature will not register in his ear or mouth but will under his arm. He had a 102.9 and was really hurting.

Where we are now....After a VERY LONG NIGHT/DAY in the ER we finally were able to get a room in the hospital. Dads pneumonia is worse. They did a CT Scan and found some new cancer spots as well. They have determined that they will most likely do radiation on his lung area to help kill the pneumonia. If I understand correctly the cancer is surrounding the pneumonia and it is not able to be penetrated by the antibiotics as well as it should but doing the radiation will prayerfully take care of it.

I am not sure how long we will be here in the hospital but at least here he is being hydrated 24/7. He is receiving antibiotics interveniously and other than the constant being woken up I feel he is doing ok. We will see his main dr. today or at least talk to her via the phone and find out the "plan" sometime today.


I know I say this all the time but I mean it from my heart.....Thankyou for your prayers and love, support. Your comments mean so much and I am so blessed by each one of you

My husband arrives home today so I know my kids will be thrilled. OH YA>>>> guess what

Our sweet Rylee took her first steps last night WOOHOO! Jantzen got it on his phone and videoed it for me and sent it to me. What a bright spot in my day ♥ God knows just how to bring a smile on everyones face! Thankyou Lord, I love you so

Love and Blessings

Pictures just for you Kim ♥

We had a really good day, today :) Took Daddy in for hydration and after taking his vitals they decided to add some potassium to the fluid he would receive. WOW! What a difference this made. When he returned home from the hospital he just won't eat and only sips here and there but it isn't enough to provide the proper amount of fluids he needs so he becomes dehydrated in about 48 hours.

Here are some highlights from today:

My brother picked up my dad from the wheelchair to put him into the truck ~ my dad says "Ah youth" isn't that precious

I hand my daddy a toothpick after he didn't really eat anything but this makes him think he did and he says to me
"Thanks sugar" aww so sweet

My son texted me and shared he won the class spelling bee! way to go BABE

My daughter texted me after she spent some time with the Lord and shared what HE told her and she was praising Jesus and sharing the Scriptures HE gave to her. Praise God for giving her an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying!!!

My husband only has 1 more day of meetings :) He will be soooo very happy to be home

Now here are the Christmas lights that I was telling you all about when I arrived and since Kim asked to see them well what kind of friend would I be if I just ignored that?? SHE IS HAVING A REALLY FUN WEEK ON HER BLOG SO GO VISIT HER HERE





















There is a gorgeous lighted wreath on the gate that I don't have a picture of but will try to get soon :) Hope you enjoy these

Love to you all

We are here

My husband arrived safely in Detroit yesterday and went immediately to his meetings for the day. My brother and I arrived safely in Jacksonville late last night. A friend of theirs came to the airport to pick us up and when we pulled up to the gate of dads home it was like a fairy tale. My dad has created an amazing array of Christmas lights on his property. I am not sure how many lights, snowmen, horses, Santa, reindeer, Christmas packages, just anything you name it ~ it is out there and you couldn't even capture all of it with even 5 pictures. There is that many lights and It just shows me the little boy that is still in my daddy.

Oh I almost forgot ~ they released him from the hospital yesterday. He has pneumonia and this is of great concern because when you have pneumonia ~ the only way to get rid of it is it must come OUT. Well, Daddy doesn't have the strength to cough it up so we are checking about some sort of tool called a green pickle to expell the pnuemonia and the other option was a bronchoscopy which he had way back in May when he was very healthy and it knocked him down big time so I KNOW this is NOT an option as he could never withstand that right now. The other obstacle is the chest tumor itself. They fear it will begin to constrict his airway since he is not able to have chemo right now and that it will continue to grow and when it does it will constrict his airway. So, as you can see Daddy has many obstacles to overcome. As I laid down last night I just begged the Lord for a miracle. I do not want my dad to suffer yet he is still fighting. We will see his doctors on Thursday. I am ever so glad my brother is here with me and can just see Gods hand in so many things right now.

Again, thank you all for your prayers love and support. When I arrived and read the comments it just brings me to tears to know there are so many praying and so many putting these requests on Facebook as well asking for others to come along side and pray. GOD IN EACH OF YOU is so wonderful, amazing, powerful!!

For now, we are just resting in the arms of our Father. I am so thankful to be here and to have these precious days with my Daddy.


Love and Blessings

on my knees

Woke up to an early morning phone call. My stepmom. She shared my dads oxygen levels had gotten below 90 and he was disoriented & that he didn't even know who she was. He was asking where his wife was. She was rushing him to Mayo.

He got to the hospital disoriented, dehydrated and unable to stand on his own. They did some tests. Chest xray. Brain scan. Urinalysis. They admitted him into the hospital and later learned he has pneumonia. This is NOT good in his already sickened state. We knew it was time that we go so, my brother and I will be flying out tomorrow instead of later this week.

This has proven to be a VERY hard day. After getting all the arrangements made. Bags packed. We prayed and we prayed and we prayed some more. My DH looked at me and said that I am right where the Lord wants me to be and HE would not give me this assignment only to leave me alone but that HE would be with me EVERY STEP OF THE WAY This I know is so true and we shared the same with the kids, who are both very upset to have both of their parents getting on a plane tomorrow. Our precious daughter is going to stay here with her brother and sister and of course Rylee will be here as well and what good medicine she will be for both of them!

I am asking for traveling mercies for both my DH and I & my brother, but more importantly for my sweet Daddy. The Lord knows what EXACTLY what he needs.

I will update you most likely on Tuesday as I get into Jacksonville late Monday night.

I love you all dearly

Spiritual Sundays

I am so very glad to be back to Spiritual Sundays. I missed everyone last week and well, if you haven't ever been a part of Spiritual Sundays PLEASE go HERE and see all the wonderful reasons you would want to be a part of such a wonderful group of believers. As I shared in my post below I just finished reviewing "JESUS LIVES" by Sarah Young. A wonderful devotional. Here is one that clearly is speaking to me in this season of my life with all my "worrying" about my dad and the things that involves to me and my family right now.

WORRY

CAST ALL YOUR ANXIETY ON ME Unless you deal with it properly, anxiety can be toxic ~ both to you and to others. Simply releasing it is not sufficient. You need to project it vigorously away from yourself, toward ME. Consider the following illustration: If you accidentally pulled the pin out of a hand grenade, you would not hold on to the grenade or drop it near your feet. Nor would you pitch it to another person. You would throw it as far away from yourself and others. When you cast your anxiety on ME I remove it so far that it cannot harm anyone. IN FACT, I delight in doing this VERY THING, because I care for you so compassionately.

Ever since the Fall, human emotions have been out of kilter. People often "act out" painful feelings without even realizing what is bothering them. Or they may bottle up their emotions and pretend everything is all right. I urge you to be self-controlledand alert so you can identify hurtful feelings and confess them to me. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you with this. As you yield to HIS work within you, your anxious feelings will subside. My Spirit can accomplish holy changes within you- producing Love, Joy, Peace ---and Self Control

Cast all your anxiety on HIM because HE cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. 1 Pet 5:7-8

Shout for Joy, O heavens rejoice, O earth; bursting into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. Isaiah 49:13

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Romans 8:9

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV

awards and a book review

Thena @ Patiently Waiting gave me this sweet award. I woke up on the morning before Thanksgiving and was so "thankful" to have been given it. If you don't know Thena, she is a sweet friend, loves our JESUS, and is currently having a great month of giveaways so please go visit her and join in on her giveaways!


This "friend award" came from my sweet friend Andrea @ Arise to Write.
I think most of my friends know Andrea but if you don't PLEASE go meet this precious woman of God and amazing prayer warrior!

This award asks that I share 5 things about myself.
1) I should NOT be on the computer right now, I have WAY TO MUCH TO BE DOING :)
2) I Love the LORD w/ all my heart and am learning and being stretched in new ways in this season in my life.
3) I LOve to watch Golf on TV.....weird I know
4) Chips and Salsa are my favorite "comfort food"
5) I love having my family around me. There is nothing better than being a mom and a NONI ♥
Thankyou friends for these sweet awards.

I have many books to review and certain dates to do them but in this case for Thomas Nelson, It is simply to review them when we finish reading them versus doing a book tour with other publishers. So I am excited to share this WONDERFUL book with you.



This little book is MIGHTY!! It is packed full of Encouragement, Scripture and has a way of helping you see a whole new perspective in different situations. Gods Love, Hope, Intimacy w/Him, Worry are just SOME of the issues she shares. I would recommend this book HIGHLY for any time of the year as a gift. A PERFECT teacher gift at school, sunday school, or homeschool teacher would be thrilled to receive this from anyone! Mothers, Fathers, and even kids will moved by reading this power packed book every day. Or if you wish morning, noon and night. Gods Word is alive and active and will speak to us EVERY TIME we spend time reading it!
and don't forget when purchasing for your friends, teachers, or family to purchase one for yourself! You will be so glad you did!

This review is my humble opinion and I received this copy free from Thomas Nelson Publishers with no compensation. All they asked what that I share my opinion once I read the book. Please visit ThomasNelson.com if you are interested or would like to read any other reviews.

Product Details
Format: Padded Hardcover
Trim Size: 4.10 x 6.10 x 1.10
Page Count: 368
Retail Price: $14.99 ISBN: 1404186956
ISBN-13: 9781404186958
Style#: 9781404186958
Carton Qty: 24

Love and Blessings

Overwhelming Thanks

I can't thank you all enough for your love and prayers today and in the days to come. It has proven to be an emotional roller coaster these past couple of days. ALOT of tears shed and decisions made.

Dad had a really rough day today. He is still not eating much and had to go to the hospital today for another round of hydration and had some other tests run. I talked to him just long enough to say I would be there soon and that I loved him. He was exhausted. It breaks my heart hearing him like this. I am just so thankful ~ Had I called 5 minutes later I would have missed hearing his sweet voice.

Our God is still in the Miracle business! HE loves and adores my daddy and wants for him to be healthy and whole, and to accept JESUS. I trust that the Way is being prepared even now!



I love you all so much and just praise God you are by my side in this difficult time. I feel the prayer covering like a shawl around me and know that as I travel and see my Dad that Our Father will Strengthen me. HIS SPIRIT will guide me, speak through me and HIS LOVE will go forth to all of us.

I have been praying this Psalm over my Daddy and if you feel led you may do the same!

Psalm 16
A David Song

Keep me safe, O God, I've run for dear life to you.
I say to God, "Be my Lord!"
Without you, nothing makes sense.

And these God-chosen lives all around—
what splendid friends they make!

Don't just go shopping for a god.
Gods are not for sale.
I swear I'll never treat god-names
like brand-names.

My choice is you, God, first and only.
And now I find I'm your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
And then you made me your heir!

The wise counsel God gives when I'm awake
is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I'll stick with God;
I've got a good thing going and I'm not letting go.

I'm happy from the inside out,
and from the outside in, I'm firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
that's not my destination!

Now you've got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I'm on the right way.

Love and Blessings!

A Heavy Heart

As I type today it is with a VERY heavy heart. I talked to my stepmom and received more of the Truth that I have been asking for and to be honest. It isn't good at all. My Dad isn't doing well and she shared with me that my brother and I need to come to Florida. We have made flight arrangements and will be going on the 10th.(My brother is a Captain on the Fire Department and this is the earliest shift he could find someone to work for him) I do not have a return flight and just want to get there and see how my dad is with my own eyes. Even as I say this, I have to be honest and share that I am also very scared to see him. He has lost a substantial amount of weight and is going days without eating as of this date.

I need your prayers and the Lord knows all the details but I am just asking my prayer warriors to come beside me, my dad and all of my family. One thing is that we have not told my 86 yr old grandma because she hasn't been doing well and feel this will only upset her and cause her health to worsen.

Dad will have a CT Scan on the 21st of December and we will know then IF this chemo medicine is working or not. There is a long time between now and the 21st for a man who has cancer but to many, I know it will fly by. Those waiting for the answer it will be a long time. I just thankyou in advance for your prayers, love and support.

I have MUCH TO DO since I have not really been prepared to be gone for an unlimited number of days. I would ask for Peace and to have the strength to get all of this done since my DH will be leaving this MOnday. He will be gone when I leave and this breaks my heart as well. We have many decisions to make and the LORD knows the answers and we have EARS TO HEAR!

I love and appreciate you all so very much. My posts will be sporadic I am sure but know my heart is with all of you and I love each one of you dearly

Love and Blessings,

Support our friend Edie

I just wanted to share a post for a friend and prayer warrior of mine.

Edie with Rich Gifts and Rich Gifts Blog Design

Anytime I have seen a prayer request go up and then a button to go along with that prayer request, guess who came beside those in need and MADE those wonderful prayer buttons ??? Most of the time EDIE! When I barely even knew Edie and my Dad was JUST diagnosed with Lung Cancer she made a prayer button for Him. I was so touched, and so was my Dad. Someone even mailed a copy of his button and it is taped on his bathroom mirror today reminding him that there are so many praying for him.

Well, Edie is now making some buttons for any price you would like to pay for this Christmas Season. I purchased one this morning, it is on my sidebar, and just wanted to encourage you all to help support Edie and to share in keeping Christ in our blogs by putting these buttons up. She even has some for free if you would like. So go check out her blog here

Thanks Edie for all that you do in the Bloggy World. You truly are a blessing :)