First let me start by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY (yesterday) to my wonderful mom! I wish I had a beautful heart felt post about how amazing she is...but I don't. My words aren't flowing as freely these past few days. Maybe it's the sinus infection, maybe it's the weather or maybe I'm just tired. But I am sure if you read this blog regularly or if you have the privilege to know my mom in person...I don't have to tell you how wonderful she is! She spent her 51st birthday in the car driving to Minnesota with Steph. On Friday Steph got a call from Mayo telling her that they could see her Monday morning! They tried to get a flight, but had no luck so they decided to leave on Saturday and drive. They were able to spend the entire weekend talking and catching up. They stayed Saturday night in Iowa somewhere and got up yesterday to head to Rochester. My mom enjoyed ALL of the text messages she got on her birthday as well as all of the messages on facebook! They were VERY close to running out of gas because they forgot to fill up when they left that morning! Right now they are probably waiting to see a doctor. She just wanted to get another opinion just to make sure she has covered all her bases. We DID get a little bit of good news from St. Louis. Dr. Fleshman is the surgeon she is seeing. He was "Listed in Best Doctors in America, 2002 - 2009," (Best Doctors, Inc). He feels confident that he can remove all of the visible cancer but radiation would be neccessary first. The radiation oncologist and the medical oncologist didn't seem to agree. They seem to think that the cancer will continue to flourish in other places while they radiate that area. However, after a lecture from....ahem....a discussion with Steph he is on board. Now we think he understands exactly WHO he is dealing with. She made him understand that she is NOT a statistic and she will NOT give up! They are currently putting together a plan of attack.

I also wanted to share a little something else. I woke up yesterday and felt terrible. I didn't mind getting out of bed, but I just wanted to stay home and drink coffee while I was warm and cozy by the fire. I knew it was Vis10n Sunday which meant we would be watching a video of what our church had done over the last year and talk about our goal for this year. I KNEW I would love it, I always do...but I just didn't want to go. Thankfully, my wonderful husband encouraged me to get up and moving. In the meantime he got both kids ready which made things SO easy for me! We got to church early (that's two weeks in a row!) and got the kids to their classes. I filled out my 57th (approximately) prayer request for Steph and got ready for my favorite part of the service. The music at our church is truly amazing. We praised and worshiped as the sick came forward to be prayed over by the elders of the church. As the music faded and Pastor John came out he said something that I was truly meant to hear. He was doing his regular, "Thank you Jesus! He is GOOD! We praise YOU!" All of the sudden he just said, "It is such a wonderful thing to praise Him before He moves!" He briefly spoke of times in our lives when we are hurting and how those are the times when God is testing our faith. They are the times when we should praise Him!! The people of Jericho we shouting His praises BEFORE the walls came tumbling down!! I knew right then, God got me to church to hear JUST that. The other stuff was AMAZING as well, but THAT was what I was supposed to hear. I am so thankful to be serving a God who knows just what I need! So join me today and praise Him for the wonderful things He does for us every single day!!!

We also need a little extra prayer today. I got a text from my mom this morning saying that Steph was up all night throwing up! She has the flu!!!! Wow. I will post as soon as I hear something from Mayo.