The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk
Through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
For You are with me;
Your rod and your staff,
They comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
 In the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
 My cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
All the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

                                                            Psalms 23

I have always loved the 23^rd Psalm but since my diagnosis of cancer a year ago, it has become even more special! Life is so uncertain—I NEVER dreamed I would get cancer, but since the Lord is MY Shepherd I have nothing to fear! Life was crazy before my diagnosis with never a minute to spare; but now I have time to enjoy the green pastures, ride a horse, lazily watch the clouds drift by, hike to a waterfall and sit beside the still waters. Even when the days seem dark and I don’t know the future, I can feel my Shepherd’s presence. Yes, the Lord IS MY Shepherd and because of this I lack nothing!!

Thank you SO much to all who came to my Celebration of Life Friday night!

Such a wonderful weekend—My heart was SO warmed by the love and support! I was SO excited to have Jessica and Wes here from California! I was shocked and excited to see Charlie and Mary, my special nephew and his wife along with little Grace, who came from Kansas City. Plus Marjorie, my special niece, who came from California, along with my two special nephews, Jeff, and Luke who live in this area! It was such a special evening and such a high point after the devastating news we received this time last year! It has truly been a special weekend and so excited to have Joshua home from Georgia Tech and Meagan here. It would have been perfect IF Eric could have been home but SO proud he is studying so hard for dental school. God is SO good and I feel SO blessed!! THANKS to ALL who made it SO special!!!!

Yesterday was the day I was suppose to restart chemo. Oh how I struggled with it, but had finally found peace and truly given it over to God since one of my liver enzymes had continued to rise a little. Sunday, my sister-in-law, Terri told me about a clinical trial she had found on the clinicaltrial.gov website that fit the description of what we had been looking for. My kids and I looked at the site and read all the details, and I found myself getting very excited—it just seemed so much more of what I want. The new drug, which is FDA approved, but not on the market for regular use “may stop the growth of cholangiocarcinoma by blocking blood flow to the tumor” and disrupts the mitochondrial metabolism of the tumors.(www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials). Government clinical trials have very explicit criteria for eligibility, but it seems that I fit all of them. After looking at all the information my oncologist felt that it would be better for me to postpone chemo and proceed with this clinical trial. All of my information has been sent, and I am scheduled to go for a full evaluation on Monday, December 2.

We definitely serve an awesome God!

You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?

Psalm 56:8

What a wonderful promise this is and even though in my humanness I stressed about restarting chemo—God had a bigger plan and revealed it at the perfect time.

                        Praise the Lord!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,
Praise the name of the Lord!
Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its going down
The Lord’s name is to be praised.

The Lord is high above all nations,
His glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God,
Who dwells on high,
Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?

He raises the poor out of the dust,
And lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
That He may seat him with princes—
With the princes of His people . . .
Praise the Lord!              Psalms 113