The Summer of 2007 Has Begun!

Lord willing, this is my last post to "He Leadeth Me." This blog was mainly used to communicate information about Mark's health during his cancer journey. But, thanks be to God, he is cured and continues to live in great health day by day!

However, let me introduce you to my new business blog where you can keep an eye on my work and occasionally I get personal.
blog.pure-photography.com

Thanks to all of you who have kept this site bookmarked and have on times of extreme boredom have actually checked to see if I had updated it! You are indeed dear friends and family!

"Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, ,so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done had been done
through God." John 3:21

Let the Summer of 2006 Begin!

I love our summer pace around here! With Mark being a college professor and choosing not to teach summer courses, we get up late and go to bed late. Nothing too exciting in between, unless it’s a late night Nerts (a card game) game with Katie or whoever else we can drag in to play with us!

Just as a word of updating everyone: Mark recently had a check-up (routine) with his oncologist and his “numbers” and other blood work are excellent! And, you can tell by his golf tan that he’s feeling great also!

Katie and Will are continuing to amaze their parents with how they choose to spend their days by serving God and serving others, especially children. If you want to share in their journeys, check out:

Katie’s blog: www.katieriggs.blogspot.com
Will’s blog: www.counselorwill.blogspot.com

We are more than proud of our kids. People will ask us what has been the secret to raising such good, funny, smart, faithful, believing kids? I tell them, “it’s nothing that Mark and I did, except to raise them in a strong church family, pray for them daily and get out of the way and let God use them as He will.” I cannot stress how important I think it was to raise them in a church family that held them as accountable as their own family did! And, when the church had some down times, we didn’t change congregations. We told our kids that when they had down times, we wouldn’t be leaving them. Oh yes, their smarts came from their dad and their funny came from their mom! (I guess the good probably came from their dad, too!) Oh well!

We love you, Katie and Will, and just thank God daily for how you use your lives to glorify Him and teach your parents a few things along the way, as well.

Sam and Kerri

God has woven some amazing people into my life. Perhaps someday I'll start a list of them, but on purpose not finish it, as I know God will continue to add more wonderful people to my journey.

However, last week, two of them passed away. Their physical bodies tired of pain and suffering, God delivered them out of this world and into their home with Him. While my world feels dark without them, my life is so much brighter with their memories. In a very small way, I'd like to honor them now...

I met Sam McReynolds in August of 1980 when Mark and I moved to Abilene. I was a 22-year-old bride of one year and I thought my husband had moved me to the end of the Earth! Mark taught at ACU and we worshipped at Eleventh and Willis Church of Christ. Both places provided us a feeling of family. Sam, was a Math professor at ACU and a member of Eleventh and Willis, so we got a double dip with him! Sam never married and yet, had a huge family of those who loved him dearly. He was quiet and gentle, generous and funny, a man of God. I have so many lovely memories of Sam, but I will only share two.

When I was pregnant with Katie, I was due May 3rd. Sam's birthday was May 2nd and he told me for months "it would be just fine if you'd have that baby on my birthday!" Then he went on to tell me how his mother had always made him a Cherry Pie for his birthday and he had not had one since she died. Well, I did not give birth to Katie until May 25th! So, the least I could do was bake Sam a Cherry Pie for his birthday. And, I continued that for the next five years we lived in Abilene. I could only hope that pie gave him half as much joy as he gave our family. Below is a picture of him holding Katie (age 10 months) at Mark’s surprise 30th birthday party.

My second memory of Sam is from just one year ago this past weekend. Mark was admitted to hospital with what turned out to be a malignant tumor. He was in the hospital for most of three weeks and had a long recuperation period. (Let me add our praise here that Mark is now 100% cancer free!) But, while Mark was in the hospital, Sam came up to visit Mark about every other day and on the days he didn’t come up, he called to check on him. Even as recent as this past fall, Sam called the house one day and said he just wanted to know how Mark was doing and what the doctors were telling him. Sam was faithful, caring and loving. Now he’s in the arms of a faithful, caring and loving Jesus.



If God had not lead us back to Abilene almost three years ago now, I would not have had the abundant blessing of knowing Kerri Lane. I first met Kerri at Highland Church of Christ. Now Highland is a big church at around 2000 or so members. I had seen Kerri from time to time, but didn’t know who she was. You couldn’t miss Kerri really. She had a smile and laugh that was ten times more contagious than any flu bug! The following summer after we moved here, I attended a Ladies Bible Class and I saw Kerri sitting at a table and I had wanted to meet her so I went and sat down across from her. Turns out, that she was the discussion leader for our table and that was the perfect title for her! Not that we discussed our lesson much from that day, but we had lots of good sharing time amongst the wonderful women at our table and that is when I learned a lot about Kerri and her girls and their life. That is the summer when Katie was traveling alone in Australia on a mission trip with Lipscomb University. So, I was constantly asking the women at my table to pray for her safety. Kerri would stop me at church from time to time and ask me about Katie and how she was doing. When Katie arrived back in the states, she moved to Abilene and visited Highland with us and I can remember Kerri coming up and saying, “is this our Katie I’ve been praying for all summer?” Little did we know then (but God knew) how Katie would come to love Kerri and their lives be forever entwined.

Kerri lost her ten-month battle with Melanoma last week. She was a prayer warrior like I’ve never known! She blessed me richly and I will continue to be blessed by loving her two very young daughters, Carlee and Jolee. Below is picture that I took of Kerri, Carlee and Jolee as Kerri was getting ready to leave for M.D. Anderson to be evaluated for her disease. I wanted her to have great pictures of the girls to take with her since they had to stay behind. While I was photographing them, I never once thought that Kerri wouldn’t survive this illness nor that this picture would become somewhat “famous” around here. I think this will shape how I photograph people for years to come. I love you, Kerri.

Let Summer Begin!

Since moving to Abilene, summer typically means no schedules! Go to bed when you want, get up when you want, play golf if you want, travel when you want. But, this summer has been a bit different so far.

Most of you know that Mark had a malignant tumor this past February, had surgery, some complications and then a slow recovery which meant missing most of his classes in the spring semester. Then, he started what was suppose to be 30 rounds of radiation treatments which turned into 45 rounds. Now, some of you know what this means....his treatments were at 9am Monday thru Friday for nine weeks. So, we were pretty much held hostage in Abilene with the exception of a few weekend trips or one business trip for me that they gave Mark a two day reprieve to go with me.

Mark has done so well with his treatments. Very few side effects and nothing that kept him from playing golf or eating at Rosa's when we all went there! I would say he's been a poster child for radiation! The immediate and far future holds some blood work, body scans, MRI's and the such to make sure nothing sneaks back up on us.

But, now he's completed all 45 treatments and so.....LET THE SUMMER BEGIN! He has to be back in his office in about three weeks, so I see him spending a lot of time at his favorite place....Diamondback Golf Course!

I must share how thankful we are and have been this whole way! So thankful for his prognosis, his resilient body to handle all the treatments so well, all our friends and family and church who've prayed for him tirelessly and for our kids, Katie and Will who've been there and done what was needed when we couldn't and who kept us cheered up and made us laugh and took our minds off what was happening at the moment!

So, perhaps this will be my last posting on Mark's journey with cancer and from now on you can spend your time reading other folk's blogs of worthy reading and I can go back to just journaling my random thoughts and feelings on subjects important to only me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lane girls

Lane girls
Originally uploaded by dkrapplepie.

FRIENDS and family, Some of you know Kerri and some of you don't. But, Kerri is a friend of ours from Highland church. She was my Bible study leader last summer and I've done some photography work for her. She is a single mother of two of the most beautiful, kind, sweet girls you've ever seen. Carlee is going into 4th grade and Jolee is starting Kindergarten. Kerri's husband left her when Jolee was a baby and has not expressed too much interest in raising the girls.

KERRI was diagnosed with a melanoma this past April. After two surgeries and blood tests, scans, etc....she started Interferon treatments last week. Today, after her second treatment, she received a phone call from her oncologist and here I will paste part of her email:

Dr. Kevin Kim, her MD Anderson oncologist, called her this afternoon to tell her that he was recommending a suspension of the interferon treatments, at least for the next several days. As you are aware, Kerri recently had a repeat of the full body scans and complete series of tests that were originally conducted in April at MD. Apparently, these new scans revealed some unidentified spots on her liver as well as nodules in the left and right breasts that were not present in the original scans. Before proceeding with the interferon, Dr. Kim wants to biopsy these areas in order to determine their nature or possible malignancy. She will not know the timing of these tests until sometime tomorrow. She asks us to specifically pray that all the spots and nodules will result in nothing, just benign areas of no consequence. Pray also for the girls as I know they sense concern.

PLEASE join me and Mark in praying to God for our special friend, Kerri and her girls. This latest news is sobering, but we believe God can heal her and Kerri is THE MOST faithful prayer warrior I know! She is and will continue to give God the glory no matter what this journey holds.
I am also attaching a picture I took of her and her girls prior to her second trip to MD Anderson for surgery.

Love and blessings, Debbie

I Feel Close to God When......

In the front yard of our home on Walnut Road in Temple, there was a huge fruitless mulberry tree. Most of you know that those type of trees are famous for having huge roots and no grass that will grow underneath them. And, both was true in our case. But, the good thing was it had a HUGE span of branches that covered half of our front yard! These brances were so thick that if a nice shower came thru, you would barely get wet underneath! So, that is where our swing was!

We bought this swing from one of Nell Brindley's garage sales just before they moved away from Bobcat Trail and we also moved away a year or so later. I put the swing in our front yard on purpose. I wanted a place to sit and watch the world go by! I also thought it would make a great place for Katie and Will to "court". I know! I know! I'm totally showing my age! And, like they didn't know I could see them since it was right out my kitchen window! Many evenings, Mark and I enjoyed sitting out there and waving to folks who were out walking or riding their bikes or strolling with their babies. When we put the "for sale" sign in our yard upon our move to Abilene, many people inquired whether or not we'd be selling the swing. No way! Now, when we got to our new home, there were no trees. So, we had to actually plant two trees in the hopes that we'll live long enough to put our swing underneath one! Now, it's in our backyard where it faces ACU (over our wall/fence) and is very wonderful to watch a West Texas sunset!

The thing I have most enjoyed about our swing is that when I'm sitting there watching a sunset or enjoying a slow rain as in the past or whatever, I feel so much peace. No matter the problem, no matter how bad my day has been, I feel like nothing is too bad while I am sitting there swinging away! I think it's because I always feel so close to God when I'm outside. I am NOT an outdoors person generally. I like AC and heat, since I live in Texas! But, when I'm outside and sitting on my swing and feeling a breeze and watching a sunset, I feel like God is so close to me and me to Him. I need to take the time to sit out there more. I wish our trees would grow faster!

When or where do you feel the closest to God?

Part Two: Friends and Family

Mark and I are both so blessed with great families who raised us and still continue to be there for us. Encouraging, supporting and caring. Wonderful role models!

We've also been blessed with really good friends who feel more like family. Mark and I have lived in College Station (1979-1980 married years) Abilene, TX (1980-1987), Temple, TX (1987-2003) and now back in Abilene as of June 2003. We have made life-long friends in each of these cities. Three of those friends have been Bob Gorsline from our Abilene stint, Becky Smith from our College Station stint and Preston Goforth from our Temple days.

Within the last month, we have buried each of these dear friends. Becky and Bob in April (see my blog April 8th and 9th) and now Preston yesterday. Each in their prime, each enthusiastic and devoted Christians. Each leaving a grieving family and grieving church.

Preston Goforth was just the most wonderful Christian man, husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, brother, friend and doctor. We met he and his wife, Judy when they moved to Temple not long after we did. They have two daughters and then two sons, one is a year older than Katie and the other her age. We also lived in the same part of town and enjoyed each other very much. We watched our kids grow up together. Preston was a wonderful, respected podiatrist at Scott and White Hospital. He took care of me, Katie and my mom at one time. We knew his parents and they were wonderful Christian role models for us and very dear to us and our kids. As mentioned in his memorial service yesterday, Preston was a bicycle enthusiast. Also, mountain climbing and just outdoors in general. The true picture of health. I imagine his body fat percentage was very low with the way he ate and exercised. (I, on the other hand, eat real butter and sit at the computer way too long! And, what is exercise?) Sunday, after one of his bike rides, he came in and showered, dressed and died. Judy, his wife, came in and found him, but it was too late. He leaves behind his wife of almost 26 years, Judy, daughters Julie and Joanna, sons Douglas and David and five grandchildren. Doug is to be married this coming weekend in Colorado.

I am 47 years old and until Bob died in April, I had never lost a friend. Maybe that's amazing, I don't know? I was preparing myself for Becky to die of cancer when Bob died suddenly. Now Preston. This is all pretty unimagineable to me. Such precious people, such workers in God's kingdom! I'm not asking "why" now, but I think I might just have to save that question for God in heaven.

I am just so thankful for all the friends that God has woven into my life at different times, different stages. Each has marked me in different ways. There is a saying that "it takes a long time to grow old friends." Mark and I are finding that to be true here in Abilene this time around. We are realizing how long it's going to be before these new friends feel like old friends.

But, we will keep on living and loving our friends, old and new. And, we'll keep thanking God for his blessings of friends and family.

Part One: Mark

A "little bird" has told me recently that I need to post more often about Mark's recovery process. And, I would be happy to do that but more often than not, there is really nothing to report on. He's going to radiation treatments Monday thru Fridays at 9am. It takes him usually no more than 30 minutes from the time he walks in the door till he leaves for the car. There might be a time in the next few weeks when other symptoms might appear. But, for now, he's feeling good and looks good!

Mark experienced a tumor. Technically, we know it's cancer. But, we've all talked about how it's hard to say "cancer" when it seems more like it's just been a tumor and they removed it and now there is treatment and then we're done! I suppose it's one of those brain versus heart thing. Our brain knows it's cancer, but our heart says he's cured and it's just not real to us that he had "cancer!" Perhaps it's because of the good prognosis, I don't know.

In the past month, we have buried three very dear friends to Mark and I and our family. Maybe this is why we are not feeling like a cancer patient and just being thankful for each day that comes and living with a good prognosis and every reason to praise God!

Part Two: Friends and Family