A not-so-brief report from Carol!!!--now what would you expect??

Bob went to bed quite a while ago, but it's just a bit too early for me--so I thought I'd add a post on our blog.  So many things have happened this past week that remind us of God's love and presence with us and I wanted to share some of them.

A week ago, a young man (just 14 years old), who we've known since he was born, came to visit us.  He and his dad came to visit Bob when he was first in the hospital before he had surgery.  Wil showed such a deep concern for Bob at that time and prayed for him with incredible faith, love, and understanding.  Wil has continued to carry a special burden for Bob and this time came to visit us with his mom.  We were touched beyond words at Wil's heart for God and for us, as he and his mom took our hands and prayed so beautifully for us--with such tenderness and tears freely flowing--SO amazing for a teenage boy, who really is quite a normal, even zany kid!!  That day, Wil was "God with skin on" to us!!

The next day Bob's cousin Lyle Gabrielson and his wife Elaine from Penticton, were in town and took us out for lunch.  Elaine had breast cancer eight years ago and underwent surgery and chemo and has been cancer-free for many years.  It's always so encouraging to hear stories of others who have faced similar challenges and are doing well.

Last week was such a full week for Bob that he kind of "crashed" on Thursday and stayed at home while I galavanted a bit.  Our friends Chris and Lyle Hopwood (Chris was Bob's secretary at CBC for over 12 years) have recently moved from Victoria to Abbotsford, so I drove out there to visit them and see them in their new home.  They are just like family to us.
It seems that when a person comes down with cancer, they become aware of myriads of ways to fight the disease in alternative ways.  This past week we've been reading an excellent book on fighting cancer through a nutritional program, which has raised a number of questions regarding Bob's treatment and what options we might have in addition to or replacing the traditional--chemo, etc.  It can seem almost overwhelming, especially as Bob is facing not only incurable cancer, but kidney failure as well.

Saturday morning we read from our favourite devotional book "Moments with the Savior" about Jesus healing the hemorrhaging woman in the crowd as she reached out in faith and just "touched the hem of His garment".  After reading and praying, we began to discuss some of the options we might have in Bob's treatment--including chemo, dialysis, following a stringent nutritional program, and any number of combinations or discontinuing any of these.  None of the options looked very appealing, and we agreed that our preferred option would be "touching the hem of His garment"!!!

We really do need wisdom as decisions will most certainly need to be made this week particularly in regards to going on dialysis.  We see the nephrologist tomorrow morning and are looking forward to getting answers to a lot of questions.

Saturday evening Bob got a wonderful footrub from a dear friend who took a reflexolgy course a while ago.  At first I thought that I'd watch to see if I could learn how to do it myself, but I think we've decided that she will be a frequent visitor at our house!!!

(I've goofed by mistakingly putting two of the same picture up, but I don't know how to correct it without waking Bob up, so I'm just going to leave it!!)

Bob was able to go to church yesterday, a real plus since he'd just had chemo on Friday.  I attended a friend's birthday party in the evening, but Bob had a special visitor while I was away who even brought supper for the two of them to share together.

This afternoon Bob received two units of blood at the Peace Arch Hospital just two blocks from us, and we're hoping that he will have a little energy boost through this.  Just after Bob got "topped up", his brother-in-law Jerry Bouma, Vi's husband, came by for a couple of hours and had supper with us.  He was here on business from Edmonton.

It's always so special having family with us, since none of our family live close by at all.  However, we're getting ready for a big "influx" of family beginning on Wednesday with the arrival of my brother Jim and then Barbie.  Following their visits, Bob and I plan to fly to Regina for six days, arriving home in time to welcome Vi and Bart for a three-day visit.

So you see, our lives are SO BLESSED!!