Thanksgiving

On Friday, October 7, circumstances dictated Joanne to write the following email to our friends, relatives and prayer supporters

We are writing at this time to ask for continued prayer especially about the up coming M.R.I. It has been 15 months since Gary was diagnosed and up till now has not had any symptoms like he had before his surgery.

Over the past 2 1/2 weeks Gary has been having mild headaches and last week he experienced dizzy spells as well. This was becoming quite a concern but did not effect his work until early Friday morning when he got up in the night because of a headache and had a black out and a fall. The rest of the morning he felt dizzy and nauseated and the headache persisted so we went to University Hospital Friday after lunch to see what was going on. They did a CAT scan that evening but nothing was found different or showed need for alarm which made us sigh with relief. Thankfully Gary could go home. They increased his steroids again and he takes pain medication for his headaches as needed.

The MRI date was pushed up as an emergency to this Friday afternoon which is almost a week earlier than planned. We are grateful for this as there is continued concern especially with the happenings of the last few weeks.

We are thankful for the past MRI results and pray this time will not be any different. The headaches and dizzy spells are definitely a great concern and we pray that it is only due to increased swelling and not regrowth.

We were very calm about it all and I give thanks to God for His constant nearness and the peace He is giving us from day to day.
All praise be to God,
Joanne (also on behalf of Gary)

It was unfortunate to spend the entire Friday afternoon and evening in the hospital, especially as we had three children who had come home for Thanksgiving.

Michael was home for the weekend bringing with him his guinea pig, Henry, as well as his brother Ryan, who his landlords, Richard and Cora Wilms, had been nice enough to drop off in Hamilton.

Ryan and his SKS rifle

We all slept in the next morning and had a late brunch after which we went for a nice walk through the woods. All of us went , as well as many of our animals. Only David and Leanne were missing, as they had a camping weekend with the Adams family.

Christine leading Brownie

Jessica and Ruby

Joanne and Starlight.

Even Danny the cat came along

Ryan showing his woodsman's lore in identifying plants.

It was a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend.

The soya beans are ready to be harvested

An interesting tree that has grown up in the middle of a rock, splitting it in half.

The moist few weeks we have had have resulted in a proliferation of weird mushrooms in the woods.

The rest of Saturday was taken up in getting ready for winter and regular maintenance things, such as storing the trailer away

Ryan contemplating whether his oak tree will survive the winter ravages of rabbits, deer and mice

Taking in supplies for the horses

Unfortunately, Danny the cat did not come home with us after our walk and we spent some time worrying about him since we have coyotes in the woods and Doug started to combine beans that same evening.

Christine and I stayed home and listened to the sermon on the telephone on Sunday morning, after which we went for a walk out to the woods to look for Danny. We did not see a glimpse of him, however when we returned home, we found the cat in the barn sleeping on a straw bale.

The water in the creek is surprisingly clear for the time of year.

All in all it was the type of weekend in which we realize that though we are still living in a world ravaged by the effects of sin, God already in this life  gives us many undeserved blessings which have been promised:
 2 Peter 3:13 "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."

Letting Go

On Monday, Sept. 5 we left our son, Ryan with another family in Lindsay, Ontario, to board there as he attends Fleming College. An  acquaintance of ours did some inquiries in her church and found a family whose son had just moved to Calgary, and who have a lot of empty rooms in the house. Ryan could even share meals with them. The room is absolutely perfect: roomy, a desk at a window facing east, walk in closet, receptacles in the right places, a fine bed, everything he needs.  He has been planning this for over a year and we have been planning with him, and yet we looked on this event with much apprehension.  It is natural for parents to try to make paths easy for their children and when there are many uncertainties it can be difficult to continue.

We had many worries. When living in dorms on campus, peer pressure can be negative and difficult to resist.  The other option was living off campus and six km away from the campus in a town we knew little about, and  we wondered how he would travel to and from the campus. Cars are expensive to insure. Are bicycles safe? All winter? His place of board is close to a bicycle trail that winds through Lindsay and can bring him straight to the college.

Ryan and I spent three hours on Saturday checking out the beautiful bicycle trails and the best routes for biking from his place of board to the campus.

Are there buses? We had not seen any evidence of Lindsay being serviced by buses, but when we explored over the weekend with our bicycles we saw bus stop signs at nearly every street corner.
The church we attended on Sunday couldn't have been more welcoming, even praying for us in the evening service. We enjoyed the services on Sunday and heard a very good message from Psalm 23 about God's love and care for us.  The new youth pastor is staying in the same home as Ryan as well.

It has been three weeks now since we dropped Ryan off  and we are confident that he will get along well in Lindsay. He has been back for one weekend and we have had encouraging emails from him. We need to practice living out Philippians 4:6 " Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." We need to  trust  God that He  will make all things well, trust Him before the outcome actually happens.

Life Keeps Changing

Hi Family and Friends,

Monday, Aug. 22nd we received the results of the MRI Gary had on the 17th. We are happy to report that there was no significant change again this time.

We are thankfull that all things are good at this point and we are very happy how things are staying stable.

Gary has been keeping busy with work and projects and is feeling well or just like always.

We also had 10 great days of camping at the beginning of August, sharing weekends with both sides of the family as has become a summer tradition.

Please continue to pray for good results and thank God for His faithfulness and His mercies that He has shown us over the past year.

Have to see the sunset!

A lot has happened since the last entry. Our home life keeps changing. Jessica our youngest graduated from grade 8 and has finished home schooling. She plans to go off to high school in September.

 

Gary spoke at Jess' graduation on behalf of all the parents to the graduates.
Their graduation text was Psalm 32:8, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you."
The following are exerpts from the speech:
This verse talks about God's initiative and does not mention our involvement in the process. God promises to instruct us, teach us and to counsel us.
We know from scripture that He wants us to be involved in the process as well. We are to be actively reading and studying His word and praying and listening for the voice of His Spirit.
The author of Hebrews gives us a challenge in chapter 11:1-2 ...let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus...
When I supervised the hurdles at track and field I noticed that some of the participants looked at the track, some at the hurdles, but some couldn't help but look at the person next to them. This generally slowed them down. The author of Hebrews uses the illustration of an Olympic race to illustrate how we are to walk the Christian life. Athletes would make sure that they carried nothing with them that would slow tham down and that nothing would distract them form doing their utmost best. In the same way, we need to focus on God and His teachings and follow Jesus our Saviour.
Graduates and all of us: God's eye is on you...there are blessings...so let us keep our eyes on Jesus. May this encourage and challenge us.

 

David and Leanne are engaged and plan to marry next June 9th D.V. We are very excited for them.

Ryan graduated from grade 12 this past June and is heading off to college on the long weekend.

Christine went to Ireland to meet David's family and friends.

Michael is starting his second year of teaching.

Thanks for all your on going prayers for us.

Gary and Joanne



Progress of My Illness

     To all who are following the progress of my illness, here is an update. My regular doctor, Dr Macdonald was away, but I saw one of his associates, Dr Bainbridge.

     The results of the scan I had last Wednesday were as good as could be expected: there was no growth of the small area that they have been following. Dr Bainbridge said that this small spot would likely always be there and that it is difficult to tell whether it is scarring from the operation or something similar, but the fact that it is not growing is as good news as can be had at this time.

My bloodwork is in good order, and since I have been tapering off the steroids I had been on, some of their side effects (insomnia, weakness in my legs, facial swelling and weight gain) are starting to disappear as well. The reason for the steroids (pressure on the optic nerve of my eyes) has been alleviated and the ophthalmologist I saw says everything is in good order with my eyes now.

The plan is for me to stay on the study drug for the next 11 months, every three weeks instead of every two weeks, with regular M.R.I. scans every Nine weeks. As I am writing this I am sitting at home having had a bout with some stomach ailment and hoping to be over it by tomorrow so I can go back to work.

I would once again like to thank everyone for their prayers and other forms of support such as emails and best wishes. It means a lot!

Here are some pictures of some projects I am undertaking. The picture above shows some acrylic panels I hope to install on the roof of the horse barn as the existing panels shown below leak badly.

I am also working on strengthening the beams supporting the roof.

As one can see, the snow tires are still on our vehicles, which is good since we had snow and were driving through slush Monday morning when we went for our medical appointment. We are looking forward to spring in Southern Ontario!

MRI Results

I was visiting Gary's mom the other day and looked through some old albums with her. I found this picture of Gary when he was a little younger :) I love this picture! His love for animals has definitely been passed down to his children.

Gary just finished his fifth round of chemo. We met with the doctor and received the results of the MRI taken on Feb. 12th.

The news was good! This MRI showed improvement from the last one. The area that the doctors have been watching has become smaller. This is definitely encouraging.

Gary continues to feel good. He continues to go to work each day, enjoys his food and is really enjoying time spent with family and friends.

The few side effects he has been having don't seem to concern the doctor. A little more sleep would be nice but we blame the steroids for waking him up at 5 a.m. every morning.

The progress and effect of the treatments have been slow but things are stable. Life has been good and our routines quite back to normal. This is all good and we thank God through it all.

The next MRI will be at the beginning of April. Please continue to pray for healing and peace for our family as we continue to live our lives from day to day. 

Thankful to God,

Joanne, Gary and family.

Driving Again

Gary is taking a drive in David's new car, a Mazda 3, just before dark.


Hi Family and Friends,

Another prayer answered.

The day has arrived...last week Monday Gary was given the ok to drive again!

It has been just over 6 months since Gary's surgery and he has not driven since.

Gary said it felt weird to drive on his own again, like he was doing something he wasn't supposed to do.

It felt really strange for me too as driving Gary to work and picking him up had become a daily routine.

I will miss spending all this extra time with him but I'm very happy that Gary can drive again.

I think Jessica will benefit from it too as our homeschooling will once again start on time.

Gary's next MRI will be on Sat. Feb.12 and he has tolerated his fourth round of chemo very well.

We are very thankful to God and ask that you continue to pray for us.

Thanks Joanne and Gary

"Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You." Psalm 67:3,5

Surprise 50th by Gary and Kids

On Friday January 14th, Gary and the kids surprised me with a house full of unexpected company.
My birthday was on Dec. 21st so by this time I no longer expected a party, let alone thought about my 50th birthday. How they pulled it off without leaving a hint was amazing. I was 100% surprised. After going out for dinner with Gary and Greg and Laurie Kenyon we came home to visit some more. I didn't even notice the lane way full of cars. (Our lane way is always full of cars!)


Thanks Gary, kids, family and friends for giving me the surprise of my life. Thanks too for all the food and gifts. I felt very special. Now I can't forget I turned 50!