The Way to Racial Reconciliation

There are two parties involved. The offended and the offender. I will deal with each separately. As in the previous post I will base the steps on principles set forth by Jesus either directly or through representatives speaking for Him.

The offended.

These principles are not necessarily meant to be applied in order but there is a little bit of intent in the order presented.

Principle 1. Jesus speaking through one of His closest followers and half-brother James says “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” I have a white acquaintance who also knows my son. At the time of this post my son is in his mid twenties and this acquaintance is well aware of his age. Invariably when I see this acquaintance he says “How’s your boy?” Decades ago referring to a grown black man as a boy would be offensive. In this case, when I apply Principle 1, I understand that this is part of his vernacular. He refers to every friend’s son as a boy and when asking about a daughter he says “How’s your girl?” no matter the age of the man or woman. By applying Principle 1 I don’t take offense. I don’t even say “He’s a man now”. I just answer the question and continue with the conversation.

What if after applying Principle 1 it is obvious that there is reason for to be offended?

Principle 2. Jesus says “ . . . and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors . . . For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

There are three words that are similar that I would like to distinguish. Mercy, forgiveness and pardon.

Mercy is needed when someone has ill-will towards you and has the ability to do you harm. For instance, if a two-year old has purposed to do me harm, most likely I won’t feel the need to ask for mercy because there is no real threat of harm. On the other hand, if the person wishing to harm me is a 6’3” 250 lbs. (1.9m, 113.4kg) athlete, then I have a need to ask for mercy.

When someone causes me to experience anger or wrath, then I need to forgive.

A pardon is a legal term for when the record of a person’s crime has been removed along with the punishments to which it is associated. This usually done by the executive order of a leader in a government.

There cannot be reconciliation without the foundation being that the offended forgives. This must happen whether or not the offender asks for forgiveness. The initiator in forgiveness must be the offended.

Principal 3. Jesus says “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you . . . For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? . . . And if you greet only your brothers, [and sisters, i.e. friends] what more are you doing than others?”

Jesus also says through his former enemy Paul “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all . . . if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink . . . Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The person who projects hate or ill-will should be treated with the same treatment as a best friend.

Principal 4. Paul again speaking for Jesus says “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’

Jesus’ representative Habakuk says “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

After applying the first three principles, wait

The offender.

Principal 1. Jesus states “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

It is not possible to come to God if an offense is knowingly unresolved.

What is the best way to resolve and reconcile?

Principal 2. Jesus says through Paul “For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.

A little background is in order. Simply put, Jews have a strict diet and non-Jews do not. This was causing friction at he time of this statement.

That means if there is something that can be removed or an aspect of lifestyle that can be altered, make the change.

These principles are actually laws. Just as there are laws governing the physical universe, there are also laws that govern our relationship with each other. Just like the physical laws (e.g. gravity) these laws are universal and absolute because they are ordained by our creator. If we do not respect and understand gravity, it will bring about our ruin. It is the same with these principles.

In conclusion, if you think these seem hard, you’re wrong. Their impossible. Only God can give the guidance and strength to apply these effectively. Check out my first post here about taking the first step.

Next. Why I don’t associate with Black Lives Matter, or All Lives Matter for that matter. (that was kind of a pun)

Thoughts on our non-COVID-19 problems facing our society

I wish to shed some light on the tensions we are seeing in our country at this time. Being a christian, I will be referencing statements of God from the bible.

Root problem
Jesus said “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within . . .” This is the short list. More to come

Extent of the problem (The real pandemic)

Jesus said (speaking through the Jewish king David and repeated a few centuries later by His follower Paul) “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Consequences.

Jesus speaking through His follower John says “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, THEIR PORTION WILL BE IN THE LAKE THAT BURNS WITH FIRE AND SULFUR, WHICH IS THE SECOND DEATH.” (emphasis mine) This is a description of Hell.

and

“They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS DESERVE TO DIE, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (emphasis mine)

How many of you have told a lie or were disobedient to your parents. We (including me) are in serious trouble with God (i.e. we are in unfathomable excrement).

Solution

Jesus, speaking through His representative Ezekiel, says, “I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.”

What rules?

Jesus again through Paul says “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

How do we get this new heart (and life purpose)?

Repent (think intent). Without repentance (change of intention) we go through life either passively ignoring God or in active rebellion against God. We must change our intent (i.e repent) to following God and His directives. But changing your intent is not enough because we will still mess up.

Believe (i.e. faith or trust). We need forgiveness. We must believe that Jesus paid the penalty (death) meant for us so that God will forgive our offenses. We also must believe that God raised Him from the dead which proves that God has the power to give us the strength to live a life pleasing to Him.

SPOILER ALERT. If you believe in Santa Claus, stop reading and jump to START HERE.

To illustrate let’s look at Santa Claus. No one was born believing in Santa Claus. At some point, upon hearing the fable, a change comes about. It happens on the inside. You repent and believe. As a result you try to stop shouting, crying and pouting. You might even leave out cookies. The night before you are filled with the confidence that Santa Claus is going to do his part. The difference is that Santa Claus (a historical figure) cannot perform the deeds in the fable that has become a part of his story. Jesus can and will do all that He has promised.

START HERE

If this is new to you I encourage to repent and believe so as to become a part of the solution.

If you have already have done this (repent and believe) I encourage you to insert this message into every conversation in which you are involved that is based on the problems of our day so as to become a part of the solution.

Next post. The way to racial reconciliation.

Dang!

My latest lab is completed for keeping an eye on my cancer indicators and other things. My oncologist was looking over my lab results mumbling things like "good", "yes" etc. when all of a sudden he said "Dang!". I said is that a good "dang" or a bad "dang". Then he said "I'm going to start attending your church because their prayers are really working". My immune system is not only in the normal range but continues to improve. Next came "Wow!" and "Amazing!". The indicators for myeloma were as normal as any other person. To God be the glory. Thank you for your prayers.

Weighing In

Last year at this time I weighed 175 lbs. After Christmas I weighed 185.4! So I decided to lose 20 lbs by this Thanksgiving. The last 4 weeks were somewhat eventful. Oct 29 I weighed 170.2 lbs., Nov 5 168.3, Nov 12 166.8, Nov 19 169.7. (What! I gained 2.9 lbs. in one week leaving me 4.3 to lose in 4 days) On Nov 22, 72 hours later, I weighed 165 lbs. losing 4.7 lbs. I used the same scale (Velda thinks it may be defective. It is a nice digital one in the YMCA) My family can attest that I didn't do anything different the last 72 hours. I have no explanation but am going to celebrate the victory over the holidays (Hopefully not to the tune of gaining 10 lbs. in 5 weeks. Velda is emphasizing moderation). During this journey I made 1 lifestyle change in that I stopped eating lunch and walked in the park (1.25 miles) as fast as I could to maximize the workout and also because I have a fairly short lunch period. Another bonus is that I can wear some slacks that I had to lay aside back in January.

Confidence

My latest checkup continues to indicate that I am in remission! My appointments have been 6 months apart. The farther apart the appointments, the greater the confidence that the cancer is going to stay in remission. This next appointment is 6 months away. After that my oncologist is considering  appointments to be a year apart. Not only that, my kidney numbers have always been higher than normal and one said nurse that maybe this is my new normal. This last checkup showed my kidneys just .08 of a point above normal. Best numbers yet. We praise God for these blessings and your prayers.

Dear friends,
Thank you for your overwhelming response to my support letter! I am continuing to thank God for His goodness and for providing for my needs through you. I am currently at $5,900! I'm leaving August 28th. Thanks again! Hope to post again soon.

Grace

Why are you doing so well?

This is the statement by my oncologist said after my checkup today. Also after looking at my labs he said "Man these are good!" His final quotable statement was "You have been incredible since Day 1." That last statement refers to the fact that my indicators were the highest he had seen in his career. He's about my age so that would be a long time. It also refers to the incredible turnaround we have been experiencing. Now to get a little technical, he also said that we will see if I am on the flat part of the curve. Multiple myeloma is a rare cancer and there is still a lot to learn about it. Because of this no one is ever declared "cured". Usually, right after treatment, the numbers start creeping up and eventually another bone marrow transplant (BMT) is needed. this usually happens in 5-15 years. Occasionally some people stay on the flat part of the curve. Basically there is no change in the indicators since the BMT. He's being very cautious but so far there is a possibility that I'm on the flat part of the curve. If that is true he said he will be kicking me out of the clinic. It is the closest thing he can say to being cured. We praise God for this and also for the incredible amount of support from all of you.

Weighty Matters

As part of my post cancer regimen I get a checkup periodically. After I was taken off chemotherapy pills the checkups were scheduled every month to watch me closely. One checkup was before Thanksgiving and another was after Christmas. Each checkup includes recording my weight. Somehow I gained 10 pounds from before Thanksgiving till after Christmas. As a result I set a New Year's goal of losing 2 pounds a month with hopes of trimming 20 pounds by the end of October. That way if I gain 10 pounds over next holiday season I will have a net loss of 10 pounds for the year. Gary McClure, a friend who teaches at Southeast of Salina High School, inspired me when he shared that he had started walking at lunch. I now walk for about a mile at lunch in a little over 15 minutes.  Last Sunday Michaela (my eldest) decided to see how I was doing. We walked to the YMCA on Sunday (2/19) and found that I had already lost 6 pounds in less than 2 months! I celebrated by having 2 pieces of cake when we got back home. After all I have 2 discretionary pounds that I can use before March 1st.

New Frontiers

Since I have been in remission I have been on a regimen of a small dose of chemotherapy in the form of a pill as a safeguard against the cancer recurring. During this time I have been praying that I could stop taking pills. I told my oncologist that my first desire is to maintain best practice but a second desire was to stop taking pills. A factor about the chemotherapy is that it suppresses my immune system causing me to get sick frequently. I asked him how long I would be taking the chemotherapy and he said "Indefinitely". I accepted that but the next check up he did a reversal and suggested that I try a season off the pills. He said one of three things would happen: 1) I would stay in remission and my immune system would return to normal 2) I would stay in remission and my immune system would not change making its compromised state my new normal 3) My cancer would come out of remission. He didn't think #3 was likely which is why he removed the chemotherapy from my regimen. That was started in October last year and it looks like option #1 is what I'm experiencing. I feel great and am experiencing fewer bouts with viruses and bacteria that would keep from school and occasionally landed me in the ER. I apologize for not keeping you up to date. I will try to do better in the future.

Almost Normal

For those of you that have doubted the validity of the title of this blog when referring to me, I now have documented proof. I have just had my latest check up and my oncologist used the word "normal" for a few of my indicators! Not all the indicators are normal but the two that are in the normal range are huge when considering the state of my remission. One cancer indicator is actually deeper in the normal range than the last checkup 4 months ago. My hemoglobin and immune system are the ones that are below what they should be. My hemoglobin is normal for a woman so I should be able to do about the same amount of work as Velda, which means a lot. I'm riding my bike to school (3+ miles one way) and have also started walking 1.25 miles in the evening (~19 minutes and quite sweaty when done). The doctor describes the hemoglobin as "swell" and the immune system as "adequate". The small dose of chemotherapy that I'm taking is the reason these last two haven't reached the normal range. I was hoping to stop the pills after this checkup but things are going so well that it was decided to keep up the present regimen. We are slaying the fatted calf (a figurative way saying "Woo Hoo!") over this news and are grateful to God and to you for your prayers.

Maintaining

I had a checkup today and the results were as follows. In the words of my doctor "No evidence of multiple myeloma". My remission numbers "remain the same". Everything looks "very good". I have been taking a small dosage of chemotherapy since the bone marrow transplant two years ago. At the last checkup in April he hinted at taking me off the pills completely. Today he decided for me to continue taking them because they prevent the cancer from returning. He is also going to consult the doctors at KU Medical Center as well with respect to the pills so there is a possibility that I might stop them. We are rejoicing in the results and thank God for all His goodness.

The Latest on My Condition

I haven't updated for awhile because the news has been the same. Let me put your mind at ease by saying no news has meant good news and that is still the case. Today I saw my oncologist and as far as the cancer he said I looked very good! I asked for a translation and he said that the indicators for cancer continue to show no evidence of activity. I haven't done a bone marrow biopsy because he said that multiple myeloma is patchy and a biopsy could come up clean (all of mine have) but there could be a spots in other places. Conversely a biopsy could show some cancer and it could be the only place. He is using the indicators as his primary source for evaluation. Thank God! On another front, I am taking maintenance chemotherapy to encourage the cancer to stay in remission. The side effect of this chemotherapy is that it depresses my autoimmune system. I have been getting sick more often than usual and the episodes are of greater severity than normal. The plan is to remove me from the chemotherapy completely this summer to see if my body can suppress the cancer on its own before school starts. Another reason to get off the chemotherapy is that it has a chance of causing other types of cancer the longer it is in my body. So here is how you can pray for me. That I get sick less often and that my body will fight the cancer effectively without chemotherapy. Thanks for praying and I will update this summer.

The Creer's Crazy Christmas

I sleepily open my eyes around eight; the ground is covered with a light coating of snow. It's at least in single digits. This is the perfect Christmas setting! The only problem is, it's technically not Christmas. Since Joshua had to work on Christmas day and the rest of us were in Dallas, we decided to have our family Christmas on December 30th. After I did my devotions, I rushed downstairs to help with the preparation of breakfast. My dad outdid himself this time. The menu was country style eggs, (complete with potatoes, onions, peppers, and bacon) pancakes, and hash browns. Remember the hash browns they come in later. By the time I made it to the kitchen, Michaela and Daddy had already made the pancake batter and were partway through assembling ingredients for the eggs. I don't even want to think about how early they must have gotten up. Nonetheless, I did make it in time to scour the house for mild peppers, and to observe our new vegetable chopper at work. There was a general air of rush in the kitchen because my father had a doctor's appointment at ten 'o clock. We wanted to put everything together and then cook and eat it when he returned. Around 8:45 Joshua texted that he was heading home. When my dad double-checked his appointment time, he realized that it was at elven not ten 'o clock. Now we were in a quandary: should we continue with our original plan or try to squeeze breakfast in before my parents left? We went with the latter plan and the bustle in our already small kitchen increased considerably. I feel I should mention at this point that while most of the aforementioned was occurring, my mother was snuggled up in bed, with coffee provided for her by her husband. Since Daddy was busy with the eggs, he appointed me to make the hash browns, no simple task. Apparently, the trick is to press out as much water from the shredded potatoes as you can. Unfortunately, we did not have the tool the website suggested so we had to make do with pressing them in between paper towels. The hash browns did not go exactly as planned and ended up almost burnt in some places and mushy in others. Yet, my family declared them delicious, and I decided with lots of ketchup they tasted fine. Just as we were sitting down to eat, Joshua walked through the door. We greedily consumed the pancakes as soon as Michaela brought them out. She and I were afraid that we didn't have enough food and  considered making another batch of pancakes. However, there were just enough, with no extras. Now came the hard part: waiting. Once my parents left and we finished cleaning the kitchen, we three kids just sat around in the living room. Joshua took a nap, but I just sat there, waiting for my parents to come home so we could open our gifts. An hour and thirty minutes later, my parents came back! We opened our gifts and played games the rest of the afternoon. Reflecting on our day, it definitely was not a traditional Christmas, in fact, some might even call the day "crazy." But the fact is, our traditions and expectations aren't as important as the fact that Christ was born. Truth be told, Jesus might not have even been born on December 25th (gasp), and that's ok. Christmas is a time to celebrate Christ's birth, something that's a whole lot of fun to do with your family. From that perspective, I'd say we had a great Christmas!

                                                                      Grace

Non-Emergency Prayer Request

A looming possibility for which my Salina doctor was continually watching initially (but eventually relaxed his watchfulness) was shingles. Well shingles manifested themselves on me this past Wednesday. My family insisted that I blog about it. I was reluctant which is why the post is 4 days past the onset of the attack. Shingles are caused by the same virus as the chicken pox. They can be very painful causing severe burning and itching. On a scale of 1-10, I would my set my discomfort lever has been about 2 at the max and much of the day I don't realize that I have the shingles. So why the push to post? Location. Because of the possibility of underage readers I will describe placement my using the digestive process. We will call the mouth as the front end of the digestive process. My shingles have appeared on the back end of the selfsame process. So even though the discomfort is incredibly low, the discomfort is at the most inopportune times. This is not life threatening nor an emergency. So if you want to remember me in prayer over this I will gladly accept it. You guys have a great track record as far as prayer. If you need a reminder simply fold your hands and bow your head during a corresponding bodily function and remember me. If you feel the need to chuckle or laugh over this, I don't mind. If this were a sitcom or comedy movie it would hilarious. Unfortunately for me it is real life. I did rejoice over this just like the initial announcement of my cancer to be obedient and to release God's power and strength in my life either for healing or to endure to the (dare I say it?) end. Thanks for everything.

Joshua's leaving for Great Bend!

Joshua has been hired as a firefighter/EMT with the Great Bend Fire Department. This is the culmination of 21 years of work/prayer/spankings/encouragement/warnings/teaching/etc. Great Bend obviously saw all that we put into him. He starts July 21 with approximately 3 weeks of training. He has a 6 month probationary period and if all goes as planned he will be fully instated as a part of the force. He is required to live either in Great Bend or no farther than 7 miles outside the city limits. He has a 6 month grace period before the location requirement is enforced. He will probably stay with some friends in Ellsworth (45 minutes from Great Bend) until the relocation is complete. His first interview was Liberal (over 4 hours from Salina), Cherryvale (about 3.5 hours), Dodge City (about 3 hours) and then Great Bend (about 1.5 hours). His first preference was to work in Salina and then maybe up to an hour away but nothing opened up within that range. 90 minutes away is quite doable. He can easily come to Salina on days off and holidays. Notice that Joshua is an EMT not a paramedic. A huge perk is that the department will pay for Joshua's paramedic training if he stays 2 years after completing it. The classes are offered at Barton County Community College which is in Great Bend. That is a double bonus. That's because they are not only paying about $10,000 for the training but he will also get a pay raise when done. Sounds like a great place to work. Emotion: Much Elation.

Wait. I am feeling something else inside. Joshua is moving to Great Bend. He will no longer be a Salina resident nor stay in his room on a regular basis. He won't be a regular attendee/contributor at family devotions. I won't see him praying and reading his Bible in the mornings. He won't be able to update me on what is the latest workout he is doing at the Y. We won't able to kid each other on the frequent faux pas's that are a regular part of each of our lives. Velda's biggest rule is that everyone must be home for supper. Joshua is now exempt. In case you didn't know we home schooled our children so Joshua has spent a majority of his time growing up in educational activities that centered around the family. So until he went to Texas to school we rarely experienced long separations. (2 weeks max at summer camps) Going to Texas for school was a dress rehearsal but he still put his home address as our house in Salina. All these things are coming to an end for the foreseeable future. Besides, none of us can think of a single person in Great Bend that we know for which he could make a connection. Emotion: A noticeable amount of melancholy.

Wait. There is another emotion lurking in the shadows. Shall we ferret it out? Velda runs the house in a very organized way. Everyone has chores. Early on we were all trained that if chores weren't done in a timely fashion; heads would roll. Joshua, as well as his siblings, has been very faithful in performing his duties. He even will do those impromptu jobs that come up without (much) extraneous commenting. Who is going to take up the slack?!?! Emotion: PANIC!

All said and done. Pray for Joshua and his family as we make this transition.

P.S. Joshua will probably never see this entry in the near future. He very rarely reads the family blog and even though he has a Facebook account, he is on Facebook about as often as he is on this blog. His only hope is if someone says to him something like "Your dad put an interesting entry about your leaving on your blog/Facebook" at which point the probability will go up slightly that he might navigate to this entry and read it.

What's Up Doc

Today at my monthly checkup in Salina my doctor said "You are amazing". To which Velda replied "It's not him". It is God. Remission is when indicators are within a certain range. One of my indicators improved since last month. So I am in a better complete remission! To go along with this news, my kidney indicators improved since last month as well. My appointments have been quite short lately which is a good thing. Respectively this blog is short for the same reason.

Scwewy Squirrel

This year looks like a good year for our pear tree. We planted the tree in the spring before Michaela was born so it is 23. We have had other good years but have not had the chance to enjoy them because of squirrels. Their modus operandi is to climb the tree months before the pears are ripe. They take a bite out of the pear and realize that it is not ready and drop it to the ground. By the time the pears are ready, what started as over a hundred have been reduced to single digits. Add in the fact that when they are close to ripe the birds peck holes in them which causes the remaining ones to rot prematurely. Several years ago we used a humane trap to catch the squirrels alive and caught twelve in one summer and enjoyed our pears. The squirrels were given a one-way ride to Lakewood Park located on the outskirts of town. That was then, this is now. Again we borrowed a humane trap (compliments David Newcomer). So far we have trapped a few sparrows, cardinals grackles, five squirrels and two opossums and several sprung traps with no bait. About the opossums. One morning I found the trap overturned and the bait gone. It was a small Godzilla had picked up the trap, shook the bait out and then tossed the trap aside leaving the yard with a little snack. At that point it was determined that was to take in the trap at night. Opossums are nocturnal and were trapped when I neglected my responsibilities.

When it scurried away it went into a brush pile in our yard that had a convenient opening in the bottom of it the same size as the opossum. Velda suggested burning the pile but we thought that would simply attract a crowd of former Arkansans wanting to know who was barbecuing. I can say say this because my fathers heritage is from Arkansas, I lived there for 6 1/2 years, and I have eaten "possum" at my Poppoe's (PAH-poe, nickname for my maternal grandfather) farm in southern Arkansas when I was young. Now onto the empty traps. While sitting on my back porch I saw both a grackle and a squirrel go the following scenario. The perpetrator would enter the trap. Then it would extend its neck and grab the bait from off the platform with out touching the platform which is needed to spring the trap. Next the miscreant would would BACK OUT OF THE TRAP! If it would have gone forward it would have been toast. On one occasion as I saw a squirrel in the trap going through the aforementioned procedure, so I snuck (sneaked? spellcheck doesn't like snuck, twice) up behind it and ran clapping my hands thinking it would run forward to escape me. It backed out of the trap free as a bird (dare I say grackle) and scurried away a few peanuts heavier. Am I starting to look like Elmer Fudd to anyone? In my defense I would like to say that I don't have a lisp and Bugs was not a ninja which is what I am dealing with. I was patient and continued to feed these vermin via the trap. We caught grackles because they got cocky (another bird joke?) and careless. We didn't give them the ride because when let go them see to continue flying until out of sight. Our yard has been fairly grackel-less (spellcheck) lately. The squirrels are a different matter. We would see 3 playing in the yard fairly regularly and caught them in short order. Next we saw two more regularly. We think that one of these to was the ninja. When we finally caught the fifth squirrel I saw one sitting on our swing set (#6) chatting away. We surmise that the one on the swing set is the ninja master and there must me a training or initiation going on. The master recruits novices and trains them by showing them the technique. There is practice from a distance and finally that test. The master watches the novice from the swing set and coaches them. Inevitable one will slip and the master gives final comments and returns to the ninja lodging and starts over. Now we have notice 2 squirrels again regularly in the yard. Curse you ninja master, I will get you some day! Oops I swtiched cartoons/comics. I like being referenced as Snoopy much better. He is way cooler and it was a childhood nickname of mine.
P.S. Spellcheck also doesn't like spellcheck.
P.P.S There could be a few more blogs this summer. I have more time on my hands than usual.

Time Marches On

The thought occurred to me recently that the students who were seniors my first year teaching in Cushing, OK are now 51.

Latest Checkup

Two weeks ago I had my monthly checkup with the Salina oncologist. There were not a lot of the exclamations that accompanied the last two monthly checks. The results seem to have leveled in the complete remission stage for which we are offering abundant praise to God. He is also interested in any anomalies in my general health so I shared a couple with him. I have had a cough since early March that would nearly go away, get worse and then repeat the cycle on a monthly basis. To this he said let him know if there is a fever. I also have a ache in my right side and back that also waxes and wanes in intensity. To this he first gives me a look that seem to imply A-G-E. Then he said call if I go up a flight of stairs and am out of breath. I have had neither. It has been hard to get a grasp on this age thing. Two years ago Joshua and I were working two jobs that added up to over 50 hours a week of manual labor. We also rode our bikes to work nearly everyday which was 6 miles one way. When it comes to bike riding it is about the only area that I was still superior to Joshua. I would let him lead so that I wouldn't leave him too far behind. Last summer was the bone marrow transplant. I made an acquaintance with a man who had a BMT about 8 years ago. He said that he didn't feel completely normal until one or two years later. I, of course, thought I would beat that schedule. Well I'm approaching a year later in August and I feel 60%-90% normal depending on the day. The quandary is that I am aging and I wonder is what would be normal from two years ago. I siding with the notion that the change is still to precipitous and that I have still some more strength to gain. Now Joshua lets me lead on the bike so that he doesn't leave me behind. I am only working a 15 hours a week and I sometimes am wiped out after one shift. Velda has declared that this summer will be as low an activity summer as possible so that I can focus on recovering and being ready for the next school year. Last year I started teaching on December 9th and hardly missed a day until the end of the year. After my last day I nearly slept the entire Memorial Day weekend and was barely able to move. I must have been teaching on fumes and adrenalin. I have slowly worked back to my present energy level and have recently added mowing the lawn to my activities. We are not gardening this year giving the ground its sabbatical rest. This helps keep me idle. We are working on flowers and simple landscaping around the house (plans developed for us by Dan Fiorillo) but that really is mostly done by the girls. Joshua is not motivated on working on things that cannot be eaten. I am doing a lot reading and also working on the next school year. We are giving all high school students and teachers chomebooks so I am working on making my class as paperless as possible. My kidneys are still not in the normal range so I appreciate prayer for those two little guys. Thank you.

New Policy

In my last blog I said that no news meant no change. I have reconsidered that and have decided a change of policy is in order. Even though there is no change I think I will post to you after periodic checkups how things are going. My last appointment at KU was March 21 about which was the subject of my last blog. About a week later I had a checkup and review of the KU data with my Salina oncologist. When viewing the results he said "Wow" three times very emotionally. At first Velda asked if that was a good "Wow" or a bad "Wow". He assured us that it was good. After discussing with us what all the information meant he said "I never thought you would get to this point". God is certainly at work in my life. In the April meeting in Salina he again gave a few enthusiastic "Wow"s and again said "I never thought you would get to this point". I am getting biweekly blood tests in Salina and monthly visits with the doctor. He said if the results stay steady, the tests will become less frequent and less complex. I will visit KU in August for my yearly checkup and then they will just see me every year after that. Much of the maintenance is being turned over to the Salina staff. Thanks for all the prayer support and encouragement. It is because of all that you have done that I decided to give all the news. (good, bad or indifferent)