Hi!

March already! I have had a few people encourage me, in a nice way, to please update my blog more often. This problem has plagued me since I started this endeavor. I am a good planner, but my follow through is so lacking. Please have mercy on me for that!

I am a writer, though, and my one explanation for taking so much time is that I need to hear the muse before I feel comfortable writing anything. The muse could rightly be called inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

So, here goes: I had my regularly scheduled MRI in the beginning of February. I was driven in style to the MRI office by two of my friends and compatriots in homeschooling and mothering. Jeanne, Cyndi and I then treated ourselves to dinner. Hey, it may be a little unorthodox to use an MRI appointment as an excuse for a mom's night out, but, if you have children, you know you'll take whatever you can get!

The next day Craig and I went for my neurology appointment. The dr. said that the tumor had not changed and since there had not been a change since October, he didn't think chemo would be helpful. Yeah! I don't need to make a decision! I am glad I don't need chemo right now. God deserves the credit for that victory!

I do need to have my wisdom teeth removed along with another bad one. Since my teeth were jostled around when the tumor swelled, they have been cracking and breaking. I hate to have to deal with it at all but they are giving me ogada (sp?) so out they go! But it's a process to get the oral surgeon to talk with the radiologist and make decisions about the procedure, etc. AH!

My pastor's dear wife is declining in health. She is home but sleeps all the time. She has been asleep for two days without waking to eat or anything else. Pastor Brad called it a coma. There doesn't seem any other outcome now but that she will soon be home with her Creator, God. Of course, God could choose to raise her up and restore her health.

Lazarus, the centurion's son, Jesus himself escaped from the grasp of death. It is not that God is not able, it is that He has a bigger perspective than I do. It is a hard way, but I trust that love and capability even when it brings me sadness, great sadness. God loves Linda and Brad so much.

It sounds cliche but if she dies, she goes to a place so much better than here. A place where there is no death, no sorrow, no separation. And, in just a twinkling of an eye, we'll be there too. Not a place where we sit on a cloud and play harps all day. A place where there is no sin! No hatred! No corruption! The best way I can describe what I think heaven will be like is that it will be just like living on earth, but only the best parts of it. The love, the joy, the friendships, the sunsets, sunrises. Trees bursting forth with flowers. The smell of the air is so sweet and it never gets old. Never to have to leave the ones we love so much. And best of all, to be in the presence of the One who knows me so well and loves me so much. To be with the One who created me. I want everyone I love to be there with me.

I love a lot of people. Many, I know, I will see in Paradise. But there are others about whom I am not sure. Please, please figure out if you know where you're going when the inevitable appoinment with death comes. A year ago, Linda could never have imagined she would be sleeping all day in a hospital bed as her loving husband stokes her forehead and tells her he loves her. I don't want to seem too preachy, but I am just pulled asunder by these events. I love you too much to lose you eternally.

I just got a phone call that Linda went home to be with Jesus this morning. I am so thankful I got to tell her I love her yesterday. It'll be just a moment before I get to see her again; this time in perfect paradise.

Joyfully,

Elyse