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?