Quick Praise Report!!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers, everyone! My Dad is doing much, much better now. The doctors thought that it would take this plasmapheresis treatment and the rehab combined to get him well again... but it looks like God might have other plans! He woke up Friday morning without any pain, laughing, smiling, and talking much better. The doctors had started Dad on antibiotics for the staph infection they found in his blood, and we think that really helped him a lot.

Anyway, my sisters and I got to spend all day yesterday with our Mom. She came home to spend some time with us while my grandparents stayed with Dad. We had a really great day together! Later Mom drove us all up to the hospital to visit Daddy for a little bit and then our grandparents brought us back home. We got to see him walk to the bathroom in his hospital room... with little to no assistance!! We were SO excited!! Daddy was really glad to see us, too. He was giggling and smiling really big at us all! Yay!! :)

Anyway... at this rate he won't even need to go to rehab! One of his doctors said he would definitely need the rehab because his symptoms had gotten so severe... but isn't it amazing when God shows us differently?!? His ways are so much higher than our ways!

Praise God! Praise God!

PRAISE THE LORD ALL THE EARTH!! :D

Also . . .

I just thought I'd let you know that my dad is still in the hospital and has "officially" (kinda sorta) been diagnosed with MS now. The treatment I mentioned the doctors would be giving him for his symptoms in one of my previous posts is called plasmapheresis. His doctor thinks that with 10 days of this treatment and a few days in rehab afterward, he will get better. They're aiming to have him home by the superbowl (which I just learned is next Saturday, February 7th.) :) He started the plasmapheresis on last Tuesday and right now he's not doing very well. He's in a lot of pain all over his body and feels extremely weak, along with his other symptoms as well. Some friends of ours took Sister #1 and I to visit my parents at the hospital tonight. That was really nice, but it is really hard seeing Daddy lying so miserably in that hospital bed. Please pray for there to be improvement soon and also about a staph infection the doctors found in his blood yesterday. We think that might possibly be the cause to all of the pain in his body.

We continue to trust in God for all things! To Him be all glory, honor, and praise!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths sraight."
- Proverbs 3:5-6

Snippets of Scripture from ~ Nehemiah 9

"Blessed be your glorious name,

and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you....

You are the LORD God,
who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham.... You saw the suffering of our forefathers in Egypt.... You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven.... But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands.... But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them.


You gave your good Spirit to instruct them....
You gave them kingdoms and nations.... But they were disobedient and rebelled against you.... From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.... But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight.... And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.


Now therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God,
who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests and prophets, upon our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today."

- Last weekend my sisters and I stayed with my grandparents who happen to have some beautiful woods behind their house, which I recently found makes for beautiful scenery and a very happy "Taylor-with-her-new-camera"! ;) Sister #1 and I took a ton of awesome pictures together, but unfortunately I won't be sharing all of them right now. These are just a few vintage-looking ones I thought you might enjoy!

First picture: Me

Second picture: Sis #1

Third picture: Me

Fourth picture: Sis #1

The Name of the Lord Be Feared

It's Monday... Another new week begins!

My dad is still in the hospital and unfortunately he hasn't gotten any better. The doctors started him on steroids last Wednesday night and they haven't seemed to help him with his symptoms at all. Therefore, they are planning to put a port in his chest today and use it to do something with his blood... you'll have to forgive me because I cannot remember what it's called or even what it's going to do exactly... I just know the process will be something similar to dialysis. If this doesn't help take away his symptoms then I think he's supposed to go to a rehabilitation center. Some of his symptoms include not being able to walk by himself, difficulty with his speech (we can't understand him when he talks unless he yells! :), occasional trouble cognitively, etc. Of course, we're praying that God will take away all of his symptoms soon!! My parents have been at the hospital for a week now and we're looking forward to them coming home. Meanwhile, we're hanging in and trusting in the Lord for what he's doing. Please, please pray for my dad's symptoms to go away and most importantly for God's will to be done.

Now... I have a few pictures I thought I would share. :) My sisters and I got to visit my parents in the hospital for a few hours Thursday evening and most of the afternoon on Saturday. We were really glad to see them!

Sister #1 sitting on the window ledge with Mom's Bible.

...Me loving on Daddy.... Tee Hee! :)

Some friends of ours brought dad this cute little monster... lol.
It looks like he stole Daddy's eyepatch! :D


"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

Psalm 23

"For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations." Malachi 1:14b

Picture at top of post: my Daddy and his mother holding hands.

Be Still...

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Come and see the works of the LORD,

the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,

he burns the shields with fire.

The LORD Almighty is with us,

the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

~

PSALM 46

The Name of the Lord Be Glorified

Hi everyone,
I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately! My dad ended up being admitted into the hospital yesterday because his symptoms are so severe and haven't gotten any better. We found out from his MRI last Friday that he had a new lesion growing at the top of his spine. The doctors then ordered him a c-spine and found two more lesions from that. They did yet another MRI of the section below that today (called a thurasic MRI) and found even more lesions. (They didn't say how many.) They have done all sorts of tests in the hospital and even another lumbar puncture. I think they are planning to give him some steroids sometime soon because he hasn't been getting any better. My mom said that once he is able to walk by himself again he should hopefully be able to come home from the hosptial.

I am so proud of my parents. They are such wonderful, godly examples to my sisters and I, and I know they have been dealing with so much. Many times I fail to be the daughter and sister that I need to be... and I pray that the Lord will help me to rise up to be the daughter and sister He has called me to be. I have so far to go and it is only with his grace and his mercy that I will be able to accomplish that. Please pray for me! One of the most important things I need to work on right now is spending more time with my sisters and treating them the way they deserve to be treated. Please pray that I won't be discouraged and that the Lord will give me the strength and the patience I desperately need. As always, your prayers are greatly appreciated!!

Whatever this is going on with my dad may still be a mystery to us, but it's certainly not a mystery to God. He knows exactly what is going on and I pray that He will receive all the glory from it. ...May the Lord bless you and keep you always-- All glory, honor, and praise to His name!

When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."

John 11:4

~

Oh, and please remember to keep Hope in your prayers as well. :)

Farm Life...

With my new camera! :)

We have chicks of all sizes!

There are about 50 of them to be exact.

This is Darcy.

And here is Molly.

One of the "ladies" fluffing her feathers. ;)

The gorgeous sunset!

Sister #1 taking her own "Molly-Darcy-Hamburger" pictures! :D

Oh, yes... and let's not forget the big tough rooster. :)

"The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways."

Deuteronomy 28:8, 9

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision."

Psalm 144:13

The Name of the Lord Be Exalted

"Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted..."

~ Psalm 148:13 ~

Hmmm... I just realized that I never wrote an update on my dad after the last one in December. So I thought I would do that. :) You can skim over this next paragraph for a quick recap on the last thing I mentioned in that post:

"We'll see what the results for the MRI are, and if he has a new lesion they want to do another lumbar puncture to see if they can find anything indicating what this is... because he still hasn't been given a diagnosis! We've been dealing with this since May of this year and all the doctors are stumped.... They also want to try not to give him any steroids if possible, because he's had them every time and they want to see what the lesion does without them. (That is, if they really do find a lesion.) The steroids have been the only thing to take away his symptoms, though. So if he gets as bad as he did last time he will most definitely have to have them."

Well, he ended up getting the steroids. :) Another lesion was growing, but this time it was not located on the brain stem. Instead, they found it on the right side of his corpus callosum. That was something new. He went for a lumbar puncture on a Monday (the week before Christmas) and afterward suffered from what they call a "spinal headache". At first we weren't completely sure if that was the cause of the headache because he had already had a bad one for a couple of weeks, before the lumbar. For a few weeks all he would do was lie in bed every day. So by the next Monday (Christmas week) his doctor said it sounded to her like a headache resulting from the lumbar puncture because it was worse for him when he would sit or stand up. She said he could either come back to the hospital to have a "reverse lumbar" done, or he could try drinking a lot of caffienated liquids. He decided to try drinking lots of liquids! ;) The doctor said if it didn't work she would be on-call Christmas Day and the day after, and she would meet Mom and Dad in the emergency room to perform the reverse lumbar herself! ...Thankfully, it worked!! Christmas Eve was the first day he came out of his bedroom for weeks. We were all so happy! Therefore, we were all able to enjoy a very nice Christmas together. :)

Dad was slowly starting to feel better again. For about two weeks he felt so good! He was laughing, smiling, taking care of the barn animals, burning trash, putting new rock on the road, etc.... all things we take too easily for granted. But unfortunately, (hey! this sounds the same as my last update--unfortunately) last Saturday what seems to be his "I've-got-a-new-lesion-growing" headache started again. Sunday morning we didn't make it to church because it was bothering him too much. We also noticed when he opened his eyes that they weren't working together properly. Now today he's unsteady on his feet as well. The doctor made an appointment for him to have an MRI tomorrow. So now we're waiting to see what shows up there I guess.

~ All of this being said, I can't help but ask that you continue to keep Hope in your prayers as well. It seems she now has an infection in her liver, which is very serious. Her mother is asking that we pray that the Lord would provide her with new strength! Please pray for God to heal Hope of this cancer as well, but most importantly that His name would be exalted in their lives.

...And it certainly wouldn't hurt to pray something similar for our family while you're at it! ;) We really appreciate all the prayers. Have a blessed week everyone!

"Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise." Nehemiah 9:5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"In that day you will say: 'Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.'" Isaiah 12:4

An Award from Lindsay

Lindsay awarded me with this "Fresh Squeezed Award" ... Thank you so much Lindsay! :)

Here are the rules for receiving this award:

• Put the lemonade logo on your blog or within a post
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award
• Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude
• Link the nominees within your post
• Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog

Hmmm... this is going to be hard! Here are the people I'm going to award...

Jessica, Rachel, Leah, Hannah, Grace, Buttercup, Moriah, Allison, Allison, & Abigail

~ Have a blessed weekend, everyone! :)

Hope Not Forgotten--Please Pray

Last November I wrote a blog post about our one and only true hope--Jesus Christ--titled "Hope Not Forgotten". Well, today I want to ask for your prayers for a 14-year old young lady whose name is Hope. Last November she was diagnosed with brain cancer and she is scheduled to have another operation tomorrow morning at approximately 9:00. You can visit her blog to find out more by clicking HERE. I know she would really appreciate hearing from you--whether it's a word of encouragement or whether you would just like to let her know that she's in your prayers. (With everything that's been going on with my Daddy since last May, I understand how much it means to have people write and tell you that they're thinking of you. Sometimes that's what it takes to keep you going, because it's not always easy!)

Anyway, I just ask that you would please keep Hope and her Mum in your prayers tonight. They have both been through so much and the best thing we can do for them is pray. I'm not exactly certain where she lives, but I think they are 6 hours ahead of our time (for those of us who have central time in the U.S.). Therefore, 3:00 a.m. our time will be 9:00 a.m. their time. If you think about it and feel led then please send up a prayer to God on her behalf. Thank you, and may the Lord bless you! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Lord,
I come to you now in the name of Jesus Christ on behalf of our sister, Hope. Only you know exactly what is going on in her body right now, and only you have the cure. I ask that you would please give the doctors success during her operation tomorrow morning, that you would guide and direct their hands as they work. Please give Hope and her family your peace that surpasses all understanding. Help them to place their full trust in you and you alone. You are our ultimate Healer, and we trust in you for all things. Lord, we know that you are the worker of miracles and your works have not ceased. Father, I ask that you would work a miracle in Hope's life today. Heal her of this cancer, Lord. But most of all we pray that your will be done, not ours. Thank you for all that you are and all that you do. May you receive all the glory, honor, and praise. I ask this prayer in faith in the name of Yeshua haMashiach, our Adonai--Jesus the Christ, our Lord. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face... then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

A Very Happy Birthday/A Pretty Late Post!

Hi everyone,
I'm sorry for not posting for so long! I've been quite busy this week! I hope you all have been enjoying the new year. :) I had such a nice birthday, and I thought I might share a couple of pictures with you...

My sisters set this up for me while my mom and I were gone! They had each made something for me, wrapped it, and written a sweet card. :)

Here I am opening a gift from a very special friend of mine. ;)

And now I'm wearing the gift! :D An adorable new apron! Yay!

~ I absolutely love it!! ~

Here, on the left, is a book I bought myself with a giftcard, and on the right is a set of audio CD's of the entire New Testament that some friends gave me!

This is a cute little snow globe that came in a package of stuff from some other friends. I just thought this pictures was neat!

And lastly, I bought myself a new camera! As you can see, it's a Canon G11 and so far I'm really happy with it! I think I'll definitely be posting a lot more pictures on here soon. ;)

Anyway, I can't believe it's already been a week since I last posted. I had a very nice birthday and I'm so glad that the Lord has blessed me with another year! Thank you all so much for your sweet comments on my last birthday post. You're each such a blessing. :) I hope you have a wonderful rest-of-the-week! God bless!!