Please pray Mike's procedure tomorrow will go smoothly, and will enable him to breathe more easily. Then again on Tuesday morning as he'll have his second chemotherapy treatment since last week.

I wanted to share a poem, that is special to me, by Beth Moore. I have loved it for several years and noticed it shares a verse, "the lifter of my head" (Psalm 3), which is a Bible verse that is one of my favorite. That same wording is in the lyrics to a song, done by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, which was recently introduced to me through our church. I hope you will click on to the link below to listen to the song, and you can follow along with the lyrics at the bottom of this page.

God is Good ALL the Time!

Trust Me With Your Issac

For every Abraham who dares

To kiss the foreign field

Where glory for a moment grasped

Is for a lifetime tilled....

The voice of God

Speaks not but once

But 'till the traveler hears

"Abraham! Abraham! Bring your Issac here!

"Bring not the blemished sacrifice.

What lovest thou the most?

Look not into the distance,

You'll find your Issac close"

"I hear the tearing of your heart

Torn between two loves,

The one your vision can behold

The Other hid above."

"Do you trust me, Abraham

With your gravest fear?

Will you pry your fingers loose

And bring your Issac here?"

"Have I not made you promises?

Hold them tight instead!

I am the Lover of your soul--

The Lifter of your head."

"Believe me, O my Abraham

When blinded by the cost.

Arrange the wooded altar

And count your gains but loss."

"Let tears wash clean your blinded eyes

Until unveiled you see-

The ram caught in the thicket there

To set your Issac free."

"Perhaps I'll send him down the mount

To walk right by your side.

No longer in your iron grasp

But safer still in mine."

"Or I may wrap him in the wind

And sweep him from your sight

To better things beyond your reach-

Believe with all your might!"

"Look up, beloved Abraham.

Can you count the stars?

Multitudes will stand to reap

From one dear friend of God."

"Pass the test, my faithful one;

Bow to me as Lord.

Trust me with your Issac--see

I am your great Reward."

-By Beth Moore-

It was comforting watching Mike sleeping peacefully last night. I was thankful the oxygen allowed him to sleep soundly for the first time in a week. For whatever reason, the machine isn't as annoying to us this time, as it was last year. Perhaps that was because it was foreign then, and now we knew what to expect. The dogs are use to it, getting less tangled up in the tubing. But poor little Ethan is wary of it. He preferred me picking him up to get him around it.

I've noticed Mike is pretty much taking his highest dosage of pain medication, as timely as possible now. His neuropathy pain is minimal, now that he is on the Lyrica, but the right drain is incredibly uncomfortable for him now. He's also developing sores from where his body is sitting, or lying down, now. It is pretty much skin to bone in those areas.

Mike and I are wondering what the plan will be for Monday for the thoracentesis....whether it will be one lung, or both. At one point today Mike thought the oxygen was helping to possibly dry out his lungs. He felt the crackling, when he was breathing, was less. It was hard for me to tell a difference. I think Mike wishes he didn't need to have this procedure done. It's somewhat uncomfortable for him, and I think the bad experience he had once before, is always in the back of his mind.

As always, we covet your prayers. We are so grateful to hear how so many of you care about what is happening with us. Thank you for not giving up on us...for continuing to trust God with us, for divine healing. Hope, love and prayers is what is keeping us going.