Mid Week update

My Friends,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers.

Medical. This morning red, white, and platelet counts were all slightly improved. And...today I weighed in at 145 (versus 144 yesterday). So watch out, the fat man cometh! It was not that long ago that I was about 100 pounds heavier and trying hard to lose weight. Funny how much things can change in a year. Doc was so pleased he gave me tommorow off. Don't have to get checked again till Friday.

You know, I remember one day before cancer, driving to work, and thinking to myself that I had learned a lot about God through our churches and Bible studies, but that I still had a somewat distant and cerebral relationship with Him. I remember asking Him to do something to bring me closer to Him in the heart. Perhaps God chose to answer this prayer through cancer. After all, does the book not say something about God using the stone that was rejected for the cornerstone? If so, I must work on my heart to be grateful, even for cancer, because I am definitely closer in heart to God than ever before. And I do not want that to end. I think I would rather keep this closeness and the cancer than be healed and lose the closeness. (Of course I say that bravely now, but maybe not so much the next time they decide to stick me with 9 IVs, pump HAZMAT chemicals into me, or suck some marrow out of me.)

My friend Gary from Tucson, who built his own airplane from a kit, is flying it here tommorow for a visit on his way eastward. I am so glad he is able to stop for a visit. Now that I have discovered that I may be able to fly again, I have about a million things to talk to him about. Plus it's just been to long since we've seen each other. It will be great to catch up.

After doing some more research, I am pretty sure Granny has scabies and the doctor misdiagnosed her. She is actually catching the little bugs and killing them. Their appearance, behavior, and timing all match the description of scabies on the internet. The doctor only looked at her back for 5 seconds and did not take a skin sample for pathology testing, as he should have. She is miffed at pretty much all doctors and will not go back, and the doctor will not prescribe the proper medication over the phone to kill the bugs. He only presribed her a lotion that will ease the itching somewhat, but not kill the bugs. So I am looking for a homeopatchic remedy that I can have sent to her house. Please keep her in your prayers and that I will find a good homeopathic for her. She always treats me like royalty and it hurts to think of her suffering from these bugs. Ironically, she most likely got them from her last visit to the hospital.

After getting some very wise advice from my father in law and brother in law, we have elected to put the house purchase on hold. The foreclosure we were looking at sold to someone else, likely for more than what it's worth. And the three build sites we were looking at all have potential issues that could manifest in the long run to cause big problems. So we are zooming back out to wide angle mode and resuming the search. Timing to buy a house could be as late as spring time. In the mean time, I'm getting mortgage good-faith-estimates from three local banks that participate in the Texas vets housing assistance program that gives us the .5% off on the interest rate. So soon we should have numbers to compare and will be able to pick a bank and get our pre-approval and application in. I haven't decided yet--but one of the loan officers is an Air Force spouse (retired husband), and she seems really sharp--so I have a warm fuzzy this is going to work out. God's timing, not ours.

The flying thing has really been bothering me. It sucks up so many family resources and it could really damage our family if it's not done just right. I need to spend a lot more time thinking and praying about it. I am so worried that it could drive a wedge between me and Deanna. I will put it away forever before I let that happen. She is my true blessing and my treasure, not a chunk of aluminum, now matter how cool it flies.

Elizabeth is doing great at school. After getting off to a rough start, she seems to have figured out how to get her act together and is getting A's now, including a fair number of perfect papers. She also had a great softball game last night. Got a bunch of people out as first baseman, smacked a deep outfield hit and was able to get a homerun out of it due to some defense fumbling, and finished up pitching the last inning where she did pretty good as well. She is beaming. I remember thinking in Florida that just once I wanted to see her really smack one good-she was having a lot of trouble batting. And last night I got to see it!

Deanna is doing well too, off at a girl's Bible study right now.

Please pray for my medical stuff as always, but also that God would grant me wisdom as I make big family decisions about the house, the airplane, and my Granny.

Yours in Christ,
-Mike