Howdy from Texas

I've been in Texas for the past couple of days spending some time with my mom and dad. Kevin stayed home with the kids so that I could come check on my parents and help them in getting some things done around the house. Not totally a vacation, but still a break from the normal day to day. First, a praise report! My dad's diagnosis on the tumor came back benign! Hallelujah! The roots are there of course, but we are claiming a complete healing. And my mom is doing better, although still in recovery. I was able to help her get her house cleaned and get some stuff unpacked. The kids really wanted to come, but it was just better they didn't this time. When I was telling the kids that I would be flying to TX, Denae looked at me with her big blue eyes and said, "I come too?" It was so sweet. Then she spent the whole day before I left running around the house in excitement saying, "I go fwy!(fly)" The girls gave me a little letter before I left saying that they wished they could come and that they were praying for me and grandma and grandpa. They also drew a picture of an airplane on it. When I talked to Dallas the other night, he wanted to know when I was coming home. He also wanted to know why he couldn't hear my mom and dad when I was talking on the phone. I guess he thought they should be as loud as the kids are when mommy is on the phone! The kids are being really good while I am gone, or so I have been told. Kevin's mom and dad came down to help him while I was gone. I guess Denae's potty training wasn't going as well as it had been, but with her mommy gone, I guess that's to be expected. Anyway, I'll post more when I get home, but I have really enjoyed my visit 'home.' As Kim said, "Home is where the mom is!" I think that is true no matter how old we get! Hopefully I'll get to bring all the kids and Kevin back for a visit, maybe next Christmas. I can always dream, right?

Prayer Request

For those of you who don't know (and even those who do), my mom and dad have really been through it the last couple of months with my mom being in and out of the hospital with surgery, etc. She is doing a lot better and is at home, but still needs prayer to continue getting better. However, recently it has come to light that my dad has lumps in his right hand. It turned out that the dr thought they were most likely benign tumors and he had surgery to remove them on Thursday. During surgery, the doctor discovered that it was actually one very large tumor that had grown extremely fast and did not look good. He wasn't able to remove all of the roots as they went to far into the muscle, etc. and to do so would have cost my dad use of his hand, especially his thumb. This is very important to his livelihood as a millright. Anyways, the surgeon called a pathologist to come in to look because even though they originally thought the tumors would be benign, he no longer was certain of this due to the speed of growth and the look of the tumor. Now we have to wait 5 days to find out the results of the labs to know if it is malignent. If so, the dr will have to go back in and remove the rest of the roots, which will mean Dad won't be able to use his hand like he needs to. And of course, cancer treatment. Please pray for my dad and my mom, that God will intervene in this situation for my dad and continue to heal my mom (and for me, because I am going crazy worrying about them but am not able to be there).