Cousin Megan's Cancer Treatment

First week of Feb Cousin Megan will be going down to Seattle for "Gamma Knife Treatment". Good news is that they only found active cancerous growth on one part of her brain. Pray for the sucess of this treatment and for God's complete healing.

Also Pray for the Criss's family. Their Aunt Judy will be passing away from cancer, she is a believer, so we all know we will meet her in glory. Just pray for the family that they would be strengthened.

Thursday Jan 21st. 10:29 PM

Many things have been going on since Mom came home! We are very glad she has been home!
Mom has been talking a lot more, she helps us do our chores, cleans herself, dresses herself (and makes sure we are all ready for the day, or ready for bed:), makes her own breakfast, helps with other meals, teaches Teddy reading lesson...and guess what she did today! She cut William's hair for the first time since her stroke!!! Praise the Lord, she is doing SO good!!! Its a miracle at work!
   William loves it when she calls him to do the dishes! Sometimes he waits for Mom to call him from something, to do the dishes! just so he can hear her call! "William Dishes"! :-D
It has been a really joy to have Mom home again! We are thanking the Lord for His goodness!

Keep on praying for Mom's right side to get stronger, she did squeeze 23 pounds of pressure in her right arm! Also that her speech would get healed as well! Thank you all very much for the prayers and the meals, they are such a blessing!
~Krista Joy~

Saterday Jan 16 2010 9:17 pm

Grandma and Grandpa have been staying in Lynden since yesterday, and its been a wonderful two days having them with us. Mom has been doing things at home that she always did before, not nearly everything she did before, but normal lifestyle is slowly returning. Mealtimes are once again restored to normal, Dad is cooking still, I dont think it will be long before she takes over in that capacity! She has fantastic balance, and even moves with more grace than before, I think its because she is focusing so hard to make the right movements. 

At bible time she reads 4 verses for, then she pass's the baton to the kids an they all take turns reading, she can read as fast as ever before if she does not have read orally, but she reads slowly when she has to orally read to people. You can pray specifically for her speech that she would be able to speak her thoughts quickly and freely. One great breakthrough, she raised her voice at me! Therapist had been trying to get her to raise her voice, because her volume level was low, she couldn't do it for them. Once she made it home, she had no trouble at all with that!

Praise the Lord!!! Mom is Home!!! Jan 11th. 3:25PM

~Krista~

The Lord has done wonderful things, in the last four weeks!!! He has shown His remarkable power and majesty! Praise the Lord O, my soul!!!

Today Momma  is home with us!!! This is her official home coming, and we are very grateful to God that she had a speedy recovery!

Picture coming soon!!!

Sunday Jan 10 1010 9:39 pm

Adam:

Mom made it to church today! She was beaming! Everyone was so excited to see her. This Sunday was also the official Murphy Family sendoff. We had communion with them, and after the service had a lunchion. We love you Murphys, Godspeed.

 Krista spent the day with Mom after church, I went duck hunting with my Bro's. Mom went back to the Healthcare Center after the service, she was too worn out after visiting to stay for the lunchion. I talked a bit with the nurse's tonight, they will be sad to see Mom go, (Moms a heart theif) but very glad to see her progress. I am confounded every day I look at Mom, and see the work God is doing in her body. God's power and glory are apparent in her speedy recovery, even that her life is spared, shows his grace to us Hebrews 4:15-16, his Power with us Psalm 46:1, and his mercy toward us John 10:27-30.

Saturday, January 9 7:36 pm

Beth Short:

Two days ago when we were on our way to Lynden to visit Cousin and family, this verse from Hebrews 11 came to my mind:  "out of weakness were made strong."  We stopped at the house to meet Bill before going to the care center, and there was Cynthia sitting in her chair in the living room!  She really enjoyed surprising us!  Cynthia has made amazing progress in the two weeks since our last visit, by the grace of God and hard work!  She continues to glorify God in every circumstance.  Thanks to all of you who have prayed for my beloved cousin, and for all the practical ways you have loved and cared for her and her family.  That makes it easier for me to go home again. This morning when I came to her room, Cynthia was sitting on the bed, but all of the bedding was in a pile on the floor!  She had not had clean bedding in five days, and had taken charge of the situation!  Cynthia worked on her arm and hand today, and is getting more movement and strength.  Her speech is gradually improving as well.  She will continue therapy 3 times a week as an outpatient for at least a few weeks.  Monday is her Homecoming Day, and she is so excited to get there!  Praise the Lord for the wonderful things He is doing!

Jan 8th. 3:21 PM Pictures! Of Other Days!

Jan 8th. 11:35 AM

Today Mom read the Bible to us!!! What a wonderful turn out this is! Priase the Lord for His mighty acts! She read John 16:1-4!

~Krista~

Thursday Jan 7 2010 10:33 pm

When the cousins arrived today, we brought Mom home to suprise them, they thought that she would be at CHCC. They were shocked to see her in her own home. After that we brought her back to CHCC.

Wednsday Jan 6 2010 7:43 pm

Today we had a therapist visit our home (with mom) to see if we need to modify our home for mom to move in again. Dad had already modified the shower to be more user friendly. It looks like we wont even need a hospital bed, she is so mobile now and has such good balance, bed wont be an issue. Today we started a game of Scrabble, and she crushed me for the first half, I got one lucky 50 point score, that put me 10 points ahead. But she is able to focus enough to play a killer game. Will post results of game after its over (as an update to this post) she will probably crush me.

After the therapists visit to our house, we are tenatively planning her homecoming on monday. I heard our cousins the Shorts are en route to our house and will arrive Thursday (tomorrow).

Score: 268 to 233 Adam's favor.

A Wonderful Suprise!!!

~Krista from Mom's bedside.~

~Mom with Mrs. Criss~

Today went normal as usual, chores, school and breakfast...but before Teddy and I started on our math, Adam came in the house to tell us to get in the van, we are taking Mom for a ride! Sure enough there ws Momma all ready to go in the van! I was wondering where we were going, until we stopped in the Crisses driveway!..We pulled up and Mrs. Criss saw us through the blinds, we saw a lady jumping up and down in the house and running towards the door!!! She was very excited and suprised! Mr. Criss and Rebekah were out, so we stayed there for 15 more minutes and talked! Finally they pulled in the driveway, Rebekah Criss came in first and smiled, but didn't tell Mr. Criss anything, when Mr. Criss came in, he didn't see Mom at first, but when he did, his mouth opened wide! He was very suprised! It was fun and exciting to suprise our friends!
       We headed back to the nursing home after our little adventure ride with Mom. Teddy, William and I headed back home to make lunch, then Dad would follow with the van after.
Dad came home and told us what to do, then he and Adam left for B-ham to get some groceries and supplies.
Teddy, Will and I came back here (CCC, Christian Care Center) just when Mom was doing her speech therapy. So we got to watch what the lady did with her. She gave Momma clues to a certain item or thing, then Mother would have to tell her what the thing was, Mom was very good at it! (She is taking a nap right now.) Praise the Lord that Mother is able to do more! Thank you all for your prayers! May we continue without ceasing. Also thank you all for the meals!

Answered Prayer continued.....

I just thought I'd expand on the previous post with a little more detail.

Last night as bedtime was approaching I asked mom how the swelling was in her right hand and dad thought it would be good if I massaged it. So I got out the lotion and massaged her right hand and fingers. When I was through I asked her if she was able to move her fingers at all yet. So she lifted up her arm and concentrated really hard on her fingers and I saw slight movement. So I told her I thought I saw them move and put my hand in hers and told her to try to squeeze my hand. She concentrated again and sure enough she did!!!!! Words can not express the look of joy and excitement on her face! She was smiling ear to ear and beaming!!!! I told Krista and she immediately ran out of the room to go get dad. As soon as he walked in he took her hand and told her to squeeze it and she did it again! What an incredible answer to prayer and a great way to end the day!!! Praise the Lord!!!!!

~Melissa~

Answer to prayer!

Mom squeezed Melissa's hand, with her right hand! This is the first time we have seen movement in her right fingers. I asked prayer specifically for her right fingers today, and the Lord saw fit to restore that function tonight! Praise him!

Monday Jan 4 2010 3:48 pm

They don't even log how far mom is walking anymore, she walks so much now it's not a necessary statistic. And they cleared her to walk by herself, I'm here so she never does. We have gone walking several times today.

Today in therapy she showed a little attitude, there was more people in there than usual and they were all elderly. She looked up at me and said "I'm not old!". Her right arm is getting stronger every day, her speech is improving and she is pounding down all her meals. She is having no trouble using the bathroom after getting the catheter out.

The fingers on Moms right hand are the only parts not responding at all. Pray specifically for her fingers on her right hand. We are planning on taking her to church with us on Sunday.

Family Photo

A prayer request.

I just learned my Cousin Megan is going to Seattle soon to get treatment for a brain cancer. She has run out of treatment options in eastern washington, so she is coming to Seattle to see if they can treat her cancer there. She already has history with this, she has had a large part of her brain removed, and it was a miracle, she retained all of her moter skills, she is perfectly normal!
 Pray that they would find sucessful treatment for her and that she would rest in Jesus no matter what happens, that she would wholly trust in him to decide what is best for her!

Jerimiah 32:27

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh:

is there any thing too hard for me?

Big news! Saterday Jan 2 2010

Mom had her NG Tube (feeding tube) and her catheter removed! She can eat enough to sustain her without the aid of the NG now. It wont be long before she comes home now! Waiting for a good picture, I will post it as soon as I get it!

1 John 5:14-15 KJV

(14) And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing

according to his will, he heareth us:

(15) And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know

 that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Psalm 105:1-2

Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;

make known his deeds among the peoples!

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wondrous works!