Pressing on...

I really should be better about posting on here - I guess I can blame it on how well I've been feeling :).  I had my first cycle of ICE chemotherapy about three weeks ago.  Besides having a bit of a headache for a few days (which I may attribute to breathing in new paint fumes in my apartment), I recovered quite quickly! In fact I was able to rock climb a little bit a few days after treatment :).

The Lord really has prevented me from unwanted side effects. People ask me how I'm doing and I really have to stop and think about it because I feel fine! Praise God!

Since treatment I celebrated a birthday and was surrounded and blessed by wonderful people in my life! We had a taco dinner, played miniature golf, raced go carts, competed at arcade games, and stayed up way too late playing games. I was also able to go to a UCLA football game (which we WON!) and ride roller coasters at Magic Mountain! Needless to say, it was a very fun weekend!

Thank you all for your kind words, birthday wishes, gifts, cards, and prayers! I can never explain how much you mean to me!

In addition to birthday celebrations, I was able to travel up the coast to Oceano, San Luis Obispo, and Morro Bay - just a few of  my favorite places to visit. I am continually blessed by the friends and family in my life, in addition to the new lives that are being interwoven with mine! It is such a joy to be part of community, have opportunities to get to know others and truly love on them!

I am now finishing up my second cycle of ICE chemotherapy in the hospital and I'm hoping to be discharged tomorrow morning. Again, it is just amazing how well I feel and that my side effects are minimal. Yesterday I had a surprise visit from my Mom which was wonderful. We were able to go outside and enjoy some sunshine for a half an hour or so. Then had a little competition in card games :). I probably did about 35-40 laps around the hospital floor this morning - as the nurses said I was causing an indentation in the carpet, lol. I was racing with some of the other patients. That was pretty funny.

Once I'm outta here, I'll take some time to rest tomorrow - then it's off to Disneyland for some fun rides and more friend time! Gotta make use of that annual pass, ya know!

I just wanted to take some time to update you all and thank you again for your loving kindness! Here are a few quotes that I have read recently that I'd like to share. I hope you are blessed by them!

"Peace is a margin of power around our daily need. Peace is a consciousness of springs too deep for earthly droughts to dry up" - Harry Emerson Fosdick

"God's holy beauty comes near you, like a spiritual scent, and it stirs your drowsing soul...He creates in you the desire to find Him and RUN after Him - to follow wherever He leads you, and to press peacefully against His heart wherever He is." - John of the Cross

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength" - Isaiah 40:28-29

God is definitely the source of my power and strength. He keeps his promises and is ever faithful. He continually provides me with an overwhelming sense of PEACE and JOY. This physical struggle/battle is but a small part of my journey on this Earth but an important piece of my destiny. I'm excited about what the Lord is doing in my life and the lives around me! 

"Your faith has to be stretched by what you encounter" - Graham Cooke