January 19, 2006

Hey all...

I hope you all had a great Christmas. Our's was... well, interesting. We all got a nasty virus that caused Meghan to have a febrile seizure before Christmas and Mikayla and I to spend most of Christmas Day in bed. After Christmas Tim and I escaped to Catalina Island for 3 days, which was wonderful. It was so nice to be "normal" again... no one knew I had cancer or was going through chemo, I was just another tourist. Getting back to reality was pretty discouraging and it took both of us a couple of weeks to adjust. I'm learning to focus ahead at the light at the end of the tunnel and not at the walls next to us.

It's been a while since I've written... I've really struggled with what to say. And then I read Psalm 27 tonight. I actually memorized and prayed this psalm 3 years ago when we first moved to San Diego. It is so cool to see how God has answered those prayers from that long ago; He knew what I needed to pray and what was ahead of us and used these verses to prepare my heart. Reading it again was a reminder that there is no one and no thing that I need to fear because of who my God is; because of Him I can be confident. God hid me in His shelter at my darkest moments; because of His protection I am filled with praise for Him. God told me to seek Him; because I did, He is my help and has not abandoned me. I would be completely lost if I did not have a good God to believe in. We are waiting for the Lord, learning to be strong and courageous, and learning to wait for whatever is next for us.

We appreciate your past prayers and ask that you continue to pray. As we near the end of this part of this journey we ask that you pray that we would not get discouraged and for continued peace, perseverance and strength, (especially for Tim who has been so selfless and has taken on so much of my responsibilities). Also that we would not waste any moment or opportunity that God places before us.

After tomorrow's treatment I will have 4 left. yeah!!! February 17th will be a wonderful day!! Some of you know, but just to clarify, I will be taking Herceptin through my port till next December. Herceptin doesn't have the same side effects as chemo which is good; it also directly attacks the type of cancer I had, which is also good! We're almost there, so close it is both frustrating and exciting. Thanks for taking this journey with us!

Resting in Him,
Linnea (and Tim, too!)