27 Years With My Best Friend

Happy Anniversary to Tom...my very bestest friend in the whole wide world!  27 years ago God blessed me with the man of my dreams and then some!  Never could I have known the godly man God blessed me with apart from His grace in allowing us to meet.  I am so thankful to God for all He has done and will continue to do in our marriage...we are blessed.

July 6th, 1985

"Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.  But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.  So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.  Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband."

Ephesians 5:22-33

Tom has and continues to love me as himself and I am truly blessed to experience his unconditional love.  We have brainstormed over our plans for our special day...you will have to "stay tuned" to know what we planned!

Love...

Respect...

Honor...

Cherish...

Over the 4th Tom and I enjoyed having Matt and Katelyn with us.  We made a silly decision to go to the Westerville Parade (1:00 on the 4th) in the heat of the day.  We found a little shade to set our chairs as we waited to enjoy the passer-bys...we waited and waited...becoming increasingly miserable in the heat.  We wanted to see the float our church entered in the parade but, Tom (and all of us) gave out before it passed us.  We stopped and got milkshakes to cool us down before heading home to play some Skipbo.

Matt & Katelyn endure the heat!

For our 4th of July dinner Matt ventured into the kitchen (impressing Katelyn I'm sure) and out to the grill to grill chicken for quesadillas and some fresh pineapple and peaches!  What a blessing to have him in the kitchen with me and use his creative side!  It was an amazing dinner we all enjoyed.

Chicken Quesadillas, Fresh Corn, Grilled Pineapple & Peaches...YUM

(We still do cook around here...every now and again!)

Continuing to harvest garden veggies!

Chicken Bruschetta, Broccoli Salad

AND

You guessed it...more ice cream!

Thank You Karen Huling...you're a sweetheart...love our visits!

Independence vs Dependence

"However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.  For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God."

I Corinthians 11:11-12

It's been on my heart...
Realizing how dependent I am/was on Tom...
Today, Independence Day...
I realize how dependent he is on me!
Marriage...it's a beautiful thing!
However, what's on my heart today isn't about the marriage between a man and a woman...
It's about becoming dependent upon God...
A "marriage" with my Savior...
As humans we have (given by God, because we all "originate from God") a free will that naturally begs for our independence, individuality and a "me first" attitude.  I remember when my children were small and they would say "I do it"...and praise the Lord that they have grown up and can live independent of their parents!  However, one truth Tom and I pray that they "caught", is their total dependence on their Creator Who begs for their dependence on Him.
As you enjoy family, fireworks, parades, cook-outs and celebrating the freedom we have to worship our Creator...remember Who you are dependent upon and just because we are celebrating Independence Day...do not ever become so independent that you think you don't need JESUS!  He is our Life-giving, Life-sustaining Creator of our souls that demands our response in need of Him as our Savior.
Depend on Him today...and you WILL be FREE!

"But what does it say? “ The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  For the Scripture says, “ Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

Romans 10:8-11

Storms, Power Outage, Chemo...Life

I'm not sure where to begin...
I guess I'll start chronologically with thanks for our meal last Thursday evening:

Chicken, Broccoli, Rice Casserole, Applesauce, Rolls

AND

Tom's Favorite Dessert

Thank You Lisa Siders!!

Allie loved Addy

Friday evening we were anticipating guests, Tim, Carrie & Allie Clothier, from Indiana (friends of Zac & Sarah) when a rather sudden storm with hurricane force winds hit Columbus.  We praise the Lord for His protection over the Clothiers as they traveled through the storm, allowed our electricity to stay on and our trees to stay standing.  My sister's home didn't fair as well...

1 tree down & 7 others damaged!

Electric OUT

Saturday Terry, Dan & Zac became lumber jacks!

Saturday Visitors!

Matt, Scott, Brian, Tom & Kevin

It was so good for Tom to visit with the Weakley men (minus Jason).  Brian is in town (from Texas) with his wife and son...thanks Brian for making it a priority to come and visit.  There is always much laughter and good memories from the basketball court to the paint crew when the Weakley's are here!

Saturday evening Kelly, Brittany, Declan, Zac, Sarah, Matt and I traveled to North Fairfield, Ohio for my cousin's sons graduation party.  I am so thankful to Zac for staying with Tom while we went.  They enjoyed "guy time" and Chipotle with Terry and Dan.  What a beautiful evening on a beautiful property to celebrate Austin's accomplishments.

Ryan, Austin & Becky Hintz

Their beautiful home...

Catching up with my cousin, Brenda & Aunt Carol

My mom's big brother, Uncle Bob & Aunt Carol

So good to see them!

Sisters/Cousins

Abbi, Kelly, Lisa & Jenn

Siblings

Jenn, Ryan & Abbi

Cousins fishing at the pond...

Braden, Zac, Matt, Austin, Haydon & Noah

Abbi's daughter Avery Grace enjoys the critters on the farm!

Quinton keeps Rhys & Abbi on their toes!

Sarah gets Declan snuggles!

An amazing God gave us an amazing sunset to end the evening!

God has blessed us with some awesome cucumbers from the garden!

Sunday evening we braced for another round of storms.  As the lights began to flicker, Tom and I prayed that the Lord would see to it that our electric remained, we were some of the few left in our city with power!  Well...after several flickers...it went.  God blessed us with some candle light Skipbo games that evening.  After several hours without power, I began to wonder if the refrigerator and freezer could hold out in this heat, so I started making calls to see where I could take our cold stuff to refrigerate/freeze. 

Thanks to Kent Homoelle whose brother, David, had a generator we could use.  They said they would be here in 30 minutes.  With the refrigerator and freezer plugged in we could sleep a little calmer to the din of the generator.  We were so thankful for the drop in temperature so sleeping wasn't too bad.  Monday morning I woke to the generator out of gas.  Matt was off to get some gasoline and a few coffee's to go!  Tom was bummed that a shower was not going to happen before we headed back to OSU for his 7th Avastin infusion.  I promised him a shower as soon as the power came back on.  We prayed that the power would be back by the time we arrived home from the hospital.  Sarah text me while we were still there and said "it's back!"...we praised Him for answered prayer.  I was already trying to get creative with where we would go after chemo since the house had heated up and I knew Tom would be miserable...so my creative thoughts were not needed!

Our meal Monday after chemo...fit for a king!

Thank you, Karen Rugg-Klapheke

Steak, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans

AND

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie

AND

Yummy Cinnamon Rolls for Breakfast!

Last week my sister was so generous to stand in line (outside in the heat) to get us a bushel of fresh Georgia peaches!  Today (they are still without power!) she came over so we could freeze peaches and she was able to do a couple loads of laundry.  Life slows down without electric.  As our children all head downtown tonight to enjoy "Red, White & Boom"...Terry and Kelly will come over and join Tom and I in the air conditioning and I'm sure some Skipbo time too!

Happy Anniversary Alan & Abbie!

Today we honor and celebrate the third anniversary of our niece, Abbie and her husband, Alan!

Alan and Abbie were married on June 27th, 2009

Alan serves the Lord as an assistant pastor at Heritage Baptist Church in Burlington, Iowa and Abbie teaches in the church's school.

We praise the Lord for His leading them together, guiding them and giving them great joy together.

We pray their day is as special as they are to us.

We love you Alan & Abbie!

"But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
 For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield."

Psalm 5:11-12

Thanks to Susan Stewart for our Pennsylvania Dutch meal!  Susan is from Pennsylvania and wanted to share some dutch heritage with us!

Onion Beef, Buttered Egg Noodles, Baked Corn, Corn Bread & Pickled Cucumbers

Buttered Applesauce Cake

AND

Made in Pennsylvania!

A sweet daily devotional from Susan and her daughter, Arielle (student at WCHS)

Thank You!!

 

Communion Eucharisteo

What a time of thankfulness we had last night at communion.  Life-filling gratitude for the Life-Giving Jesus!  We have so much to be thankful for.  We were trying to guess how long it had been since we experienced the "Grace Brethren" communion...at least 18 months if not longer.  You see the "Grace Brethren" way of communion is 3-fold:
Supper

"got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself."

John 13:4

Foot Washing

"Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded."

John 13:5

"If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet."

John 13:14

Bread & Cup

"and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”  In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes."

I Corinthians 11:24-26

Not only are we thankful that Tom could experience this, but that we could do this with our immediate family and our extended church family!  I certainly wished I could have been a fly on the wall in the men's foot washing room as Tom washed Matt's feet...I'm still not sure how that happened!  What a sweet experience for us all.  I soaked in the sound (from the women's room) of the men's voices lifted in praise as they sang hymns and washed feet.  I was honored to wash Sarah's feet and then have Julie Bradley wash mine.  We ladies sang many hymns but the one that spoke to me was:

Verse 3:

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
 Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
 Power, all power, surely is thine!
 Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

Before we left for communion, Tom looked in the mirror and said, "sometimes I see the 'old me' then other times I see the 'real me', the one who can't walk, swallow or breathe."  He didn't use all those words but if you link them together that was what he said even though I'm not sure about the "swallow and breathe" part!  He has the "swallow" part on his mind because Friday we were back at OSU Medical Center for a swallow test.  He passed with flying colors, for which we are thankful, but he has had some bouts of aspirating saliva into his lungs which is why the test was ordered.  We treasure every event...not knowing if it's the last one we'll share here on earth.  We continue to praise the Lord for allowing us more and more events to treasure.

This week we had the pleasure of harvesting summer squash from our garden:

Our first squash,

...with more quickly to follow!

The garden has been so fun for me, but I'm realizing what encouragement it is to Tom too.  Everyday he wants to go out to the garden and "check it out".  We need rain desperately here, however since our ground is so dry it makes it easier to wheel Tom's chair to the garden.  It makes for a bumpy ride but according to Tom it's worth it!  Matthew likes to make the ride an adventure and giving Tom some wheelie's along the way...just for the thrill of it!

This past Friday evening we had the pleasure of going to dinner with Zac's parents, Rich and Elaine Hess, to celebrate a belated anniversary for Zac and Sarah.  What special fellowship we enjoy together with them.  In typical "Elaine style" she came bearing gifts.  This beautiful "A" reminding us Who we serve.  Thanks, Rich and Elaine for a wonderful evening together!

Meals this week:

BBQ Chicken, Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli

AND

Yummy Brownies

Thank You Daryl & Susana Wicker!

Beef Stroganoff, Spinach Salad & Chocolate Roll

Thank You Ursula Van Kley!

Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo, Green Beans, Garlic Bread & Salad

Thank You DeMuch Family!

We continue to be blessed and amazed by the outpouring of God's love through His people.  The meals certainly are a blessing.

A Chapter Ends...

Clean Out Crew

Lisa, Matt, Tom, Sarah & Zac

Saturday is the day we decided to clean out Tom's office at the high school.  We awoke to another beautiful day to put sunshine in our hearts and prepare us for the task ahead.  I fixed bacon (from Zac & Sarah's hog) while Sarah made blueberry pancakes to start our day.  The five of us then headed to WCHS to remove any personal belongings, organize and prepare Tom's old office for the new principal...Dr. Buzz Inboden!

Tom gives us instructions!

I am so thankful that the kids wanted to and could go with us to make the job a little easier and much more fun!  We packed boxes of pictures, diplomas and mementos from the years.  The boys carried items to the car and shredded some documents while Sarah was patient with Tom as she lead him through his many files.  I organized, filled trash bags and removed more paperclips than I could count from many papers!  We were able to complete the job in two hours.  Trust me there was plenty of laughter, some sadness and really a good family memory as we worked together as a team.  Tom's attitude also made it easy...he is absolutely the BEST!  He has been amazingly strong through ALL of what he has had to endure.  We treated ourselves to Dairy Queen on our way home...we can always find a reason to get ice cream!

Matt makes us all laugh as he imitates his dad!

Matt said he'd like to sit "officially" in this chair one day...we'll see how God's plan unfolds!

"The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You support my lot.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

 I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;

Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.

 I have set the Lord continually before me;

Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will dwell securely.

 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

 You will make known to me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever."

Psalm 16:5-11

So this "chapter" comes to a close...we are SO thankful for the previous chapters that have gone before that make this such a beautiful story.

Yesterday we traveled back to the OSU Medical Center for Tom's 6th infusion of Avastin.  We didn't get in right away but once we did they moved quickly and we were home in record time!  The nurse shared with us that another patient who was there earlier was also getting Avastin and ended up waiting 4 hours!  When she went down to the pharmacy to see what was going on she remembered Tom was coming in and would need Avastin too, so she told the pharmacist while he mixed the one he should go ahead and make another one!  So one person's wait became our expedited trip.  I asked the nurse if the other patient who was getting Avastin was a GBM patient and she said "no", they are using Avastin as a clinical trial on patients with Melanoma!

The biggest thrill yesterday was when we got home we were greeted by the fresh aroma of an extra clean house!  Sarah surprised us and cleaned when she got home from her job!  What an awesome blessing.  Matt informed me that he "helped"...before he left for work he did carry all the belongings we brought home from Tom's office to the basement.  Thank you Sarah and Matt...my heart is full, light and so appreciative.