Month: January 2026

What a great memory!  The girls and Garrett with my youngest brother Andrew.  Life used to be so simple.  We talked about nap time, snacks and diapers.  Now life is getting ready for college and complex life!  Ha!

It’s hard to believe that Garrett is a senior already.  It’s been a crazy month of – turn this in, do this, pay for this ect.  It makes it harder because I don’t trust my memory – it’s not 100% so I’m always praying, asking Scott, my mother-in-law and my notes will get us to where we need to be.  He’s been busy working at Chick-fil-a and keeping up with what goes on at school.  He loves being at church and everyone who is in the ministry with him.  Hard to believe he will be heading to college next year!  Still waiting to finalize that.  We are celebrating Homecoming this week and in the second picture….Garrett is set up as Mr. Rogers…was supposed to be someone you enjoyed as a kid.

Abbey and Ashton are busy as 10th graders.  They love life!  They have been busy with their high school and club team.  Course I am coaching both of them, but I love them and the girls on their team.  We are planning to head to St.Louis in a few weeks for a tourney.  There has been so much rain it’s been crazy to practice and play.  It’s been really hard!

The girls are always super busy with friends and creating memories.  It’s a new day everyday.  We are thankful they have good friends and spend time with them.  They are doing good in classes and just love spending time worshiping the Lord – especially in the car…even when they are driving.

Nathan is in 3rd grade and just growing so much.

He had no desire to try any other sports but, he’s loving tennis so we are glad about that.  He goes twice a week and enjoys the kids and the sport.  So that’s great.  News to us, he competed in the spelling bee and ended up finishing 1st in 3rd grade.  He’s not someone who usually likes to be in front of people even though he’s a great little explainer and actor.  He loves to sing too!  He was embarrassed to say he won. So now he competes again in a month.  He was asked to carry the game ball out for Homecoming this Friday.  He will walk out with last year’s queen, a girl with special needs.  Course, he wasn’t super excited about it either!  We also celebrated his 9th birthday party and my parents were here for the weekend so they got to go to the party too.  He took the day off and enjoyed time with Scott and his mom Ann.

 

This fall has been crazy for me.  I’ve probably been more tired than I normally am which stinks.  But, I finally feel like maybe I’m not as tired as I was.  I was very regular at the beginning about sleeping and taking naps.  Once school started I had to change when and how I did things.  I tried to stay a head and not allow myself to be super tired.  What I have figured out is that after chemo and radiation I felt good and then I got really tired.  I got myself to take a nap everyday during my lunch to help my body out.  It helped some.  What has been great the last couple days, I haven’t taken a nap.  Yesterday I felt great.  Just really praying for the Lord to provide the energy and focus I need.  School has occupied some of my thinking and I really needed to go back to the Lord and ask him to help me to stay focused on Him.

It’s harder during the school year to spend as much time with the Lord as I did during the summer.  I miss that time.  But, I also get to love on and challenge these teens.  Just really pray for me to share with the kids and be more and to be focused on what the Lord has for me.  That’s my desire.

I was blessed by a student who wrote me a sweet card and got me this coffee mug and lotion.  I coached her in soccer when she was little and she has been in my film class.  It made me smile.  Really made me happy.

I’m about used to my hair ha!  The wig has been hard to get used to and my hair is starting to grow back a bit.  When I take my wig off it’s funny to see how my hair is underneath.  I usually wear it Sunday-Friday and then I take it off and wash it.  I’m more used to seeing myself with the wig than without it.  My head gets colder too without it!  HA!

 

One of our favorite pizza places is Larry’s pizza.  We have enjoyed pizza there for years!  We’ve done bday parties and team parties forever there.  Mr. Larry has been such a blessing to us and makes sure we get pizza from him.  Him and his family have been in our lives for soccer and other things and I have been blessed by him and everyone else in his family.  I am so thankful for how they choose to help us and bring us joy.  Thanks Guys!  Please tell them thank you for us!

 

The Lord has been so good to me.  I’m going to admit, it’s been hard not having the time I love having with Him.  Yet, when we choose to spend time with him and choose to praise Him, he will come and love us and teach us.  My memory and my focus has been crazy and I can tell my brain isn’t focused like it used to be.  When I read the Word, sometimes I don’t remember what I read and sometimes I can’t understand what I’m reading.  That’s been hard for me because I look to the Lord and really want Him to teach me and show me his Truths.  I’ve found myself more like a child lately.  I need to focus on simple Truths and what matters, not necessarily what will grow me or what I can teach.  It’s different, but simple is what Truth is.  Jesus came to show us love, by choosing to die for me.  I deserve death, yet, if I choose to believe and accept what He has done for me, then all the things I’ve done that make me deserve death are taken away from me and Jesus takes my sin and takes them on the cross.

I was in class this morning and one of the kids in my class said a cuss word.  I called him up to my desk and asked him about it.  I have a different attitude and way that I deal with these things.  I told him he needed to do 50 pushups.  He didn’t want to.  He hurt his knee and he couldn’t do it.  I kept telling him he had to pay for what he did.  He was trying to blame another kid, so I had that kid come up.  This kid was like, I didn’t do anything.  It wasn’t me, not my fault.(It was the first kid not his friend.)  So I looked at this other kid who wasn’t even involved with the group and I asked him if he would do the 50 pushups for this kid. (now he is a football player) I said we need someone to pay for this.  The kid looked at me and the kid and said he would do the the pushups.  I asked the kid who said the word if he would let the kid do them.  He was very happy to not do them.  So after a little bit more conversation, the kid who wasn’t apart of any of it did the 50 pushups to pay for the mistake that was done and pay for it.

As I was talking to these kids.  The story of what Jesus did stood out to me.  Jesus chose to save me and die for me.  I am guilty and I don’t deserve his love or forgiveness.  Yet, he gave it to me and took the pain for me.  I’m going through hard things.  I am.  Yet, Jesus chose to DIE for me.  To be beaten so that I could be with him forever.  He has changed my life today and for eternity.  I was thankful for this simple yet foundational reminder this week.  I get so caught going forward so much and wanting to know more, I forget to spend time just being thankful and focused on what the Lord chose to do for me and for those who choose to believe what Jesus has done for those who love and believe Him!  It’s important for me to celebrate and focus on the HOPE of Christ and be filled with his joy and peace.  Pray that this is where I CHOOSE to spend my time and to share this others!

“May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

ROMANS 15:13

Thank you for the love and prayers!  Want to thank the families who are still bringing us food and come to talk to us.  Nikki Funk has been such a blessing making sure we are where we are supposed to be.  Was blessed the other day to get to talk with Darla Self and just laugh a bit together.  All these moments bless my heart and make me smile.  Thank you!!!!!

Love you,

HOPE WARRIOR

My Story On Video – Click Here To Play Video

I haven’t fully written in a while.  The last time I wrote, I wrote a few paragraphs and then got distracted and quit writing.  Then I’m sure I moved on with life and that was it.  So Lord, don’t let me do that again!

Enjoy this story done by my friend Billy and feel free to share!  Please continue to lift us up to prayer – we love you all!  If you click on the link above  you will see the short video.  Hope you enjoy it!  #hopewarrior

 

 

 

 

 

 

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”’

2 Corinthians 12:8

How long has it been since I told you all about my life?  I feel like forever.  It’s been different, and harder than summer was for me.  I was thankful for the rest and thankful for feeling so great all summer.  Then the beginning of August hit and I started school things and life changed a bit.  It got busier and my body got tired.

I have been so blessed to have so many people around me who have prayed for me, written to me and checked on me.  I feel so blessed and I needed it.  My life has been a bit different the last few weeks.  I started school and started ok.  But, then I got sick for a couple days, I think with the lower immune system I was getting sick really easily.  Which really isn’t me.  Last year I didn’t miss one day of school and this year I was already missing school.  It’s hard when you are dealing with sickness and your body make you feel weird.   But, I was thankful I came out of it with a couple of day before we had to leave for Duke.

Going to Duke was new for Scott and I for lots of reasons, but we were glad we were able to go.  They were very organized to have me come in and be a part of what they were doing.  I saw 4-5 different people in there which was nice.  The new doctor that was there Dina Randezo to see who was very nice and helped me understand what was going on with me.  We just hired someone at the doctor’s office here, her name is Shirley Ong and set an appointment coming up who is a Neuro Oncologist .  It was nice to meet the people there and let them give us their opinion on what we were doing and how to do what we needed to do best.  After we talked to them for a while they told us we were done….the remaining days weren’t needed by the doctors any more.  Which was hard to realize.  There was nothing else at Duke we needed to do until we got done with a year of chemo.

I am going to be busy taking the chemo pill for 5 days every month.  I will also be going in for my MRI every couple months to see how they are seeing what is going on after the radiation and the chemo.  We are really praying that as time goes on the shape shrinks and that what the doctors see will be pleasant.  Please be praying about that.  We don’t need a slow year that doesn’t get cleansing from the Lord and doesn’t give us a huge opportunity to just tell others about the Lord. 

We did get to spend a day together while  we were near Duke.  We were able to look at some places, eat a little food and we enjoyed just being together.  Since Scott and I didn’t get to take any trips this summer together, at lease we had a day where we could spend time together and looked at some of the town a bit before we were going to fly home.  We went to the chapel on Duke’s campus, looked at the basketball court, we ate lunch on campus, we looked at the old baseball park from the movie “Bull Durham” and we loved seeing all of the sports areas that were there.  We finished the night with a movie “Beautifully Broken”. I slept a bunch while I was there and really started sleeping a whole lot more since then.

We were blessed to have my roommate from Mexico who drove over two hours to see us there with her husband and one of their daughters Jane.  We had a great time sharing time together and eating at this really old place.  We walked around and got ice cream and just loved seeing each other again.  Kate had come this summer to see me and visit us.  It was such a blessing for us that they would drive and see us again.

I haven’t had a chance to really write too much lately because I have been tired and unable to really be focused when the radiation finished and really made me tired the last few weeks.  I am starting to feel better and starting to be able to focus on what is going on with me a little at a time.  I used to consider myself someone who could really figure out what I wanted to say and what the Lord desired to say.  It’s been harder.  I noticed it more this weekend.  I had the opportunity to teach Sunday school and I was so excited to start doing it again.  My brain was slow and shut off for the few days leading up to teach.  I prayed a lot and I was very thankful that the morning of teaching, my brain was at least clearer than normal.  It still wasn’t as clear as normal, but the Lord did what He wanted to do and honestly, I just left him in charge.  I was thankful….very thankful.

Having started back at school, was harder than I thought.  It’s hard when your brain is slower and more tired than it used to be.  I have to admit that when I sit in my class and try to teach every day, I felt very behind.  It’s hard when I have never been that way and I can’t focus or do what I need to do these things.  I am thankful to see the Lord providing for me and continuing to give me everything I need every day.  We have been blessed with foods from so many people and people continuing to minister to us. Thank you.  I’ve noticed the cards, flowers and gifts have been a constant blessing, because the tiredness is hard to continue to fight against.

One of the things that has encouraged me and makes me smile, are all the students that come and see me in my office.  Especially when it’s my girls and their friends.  They are always encouraging me with the shirts to remind me that I have Hope and I am a Warrior.  I need that reminder everyday.  I had worn all of these bracelets to school one day, and two of them were lost.  I thought I may have lost them in the field house and the next day one of the softball girls and one of my soccer girls found them both.  What a sweet blessing.  It made me happy.

We have been really busy since before school started with club soccer.  I have been trying to keep the girls growing and engaged, while my brain is trying to stay caught up with training!  It’s so crazy how it’s hard for me to say things I know and I have to think longer to know what I’m trying to say.  UGH!  Thankfully it’s getting better and the girls and their parents have been super gracious and loving to me.  I am grateful for the other coaches that want to pray for me and help me.  My team was very giving to give me money for foods, airplane tickets and spending money while we were in Duke.  So, So sweet.  I am blessed.

It really is hard to believe that we are in school already.  I have enjoyed getting to know the new students, but I would ask you to pray that I would I have the energy and focus while I’m at school.  I don’t ever want to not give my best to everyone, so it’s challenging when I don’t feel 100%.  So just pray that I will let go of having to be perfect or look like I know what I’m doing all the time.  

The girls are finally getting more excited about the thought of playing soccer in college. I am really praying that they love the game, work hard, and enjoy the process of learning.  This was a picture from going to OBU the day before school started.

Well….. One of the other big things this summer we wanted to do was get some stuff done around the house.  We had not done much after we built the house, so we decided to go a head and get some of it done this summer.  Well, I passed out right before I found out of my cancer and didn’t think doing home stuff during treatment would be a good idea.  So we put it to the side.  Until school was about to start again and we really decided we needed to get it done.  Oh my.  We are thankful for Philip Rye and all he did to help us get it all done. We are glad to be almost done and ready to just rest this fall.  Now we have some new things in the house and our house is finally painted again.

I would really like to thank everyone for helping me and praying for me.  I need the prayers again a lot as I look at trying to wake up again and get my life on track how the Lord desires to use me.  He has been so faithful.  I wish I could tell you the million things he’s taught me…But, one of the amazing things the Lord has done for me… this summer as I wrote I was writing a ton on warrior angels.  Ok, since school started and the Lord knew my time would be less and I would be more tired, I didn’t read about Warrior Angels anymore.  And as I read really felt the Lord desired me to be quiet and to rest in Him.  He gave me this passage from 2 Corinthians 12:5-7-10.

 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶ Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Anything that happens is never about me or because of me. The Lord desires to teach me so much and asks and desires me to learn from Him no matter what.  And I have to be honest, being busy has made it harder for me to learn from the Lord and to be able to rest.  I am choosing to be faithful and give Christ my weaknesses even if it’s not what I would “want.”  Thank you to everyone who prays for me and encourages me.  I am so thankful in this battle and I need each of you every moment of the day!  Thank you Lord for providing for me.

 

 

“Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.  Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths….how precious is your unfailing love, O God!”

Psalm 36:5-7

So hard to believe that we started and finished our first week of school.  It seems like I finished treatment and then school started right away!  I guess it was close to that anyway!  Not how I would’ve planned it out.  I had planned to have the whole year all ready to go and tweaking what I wanted to tweak, and then having school start.  Meanwhile….I’m tweaking as I go!  That’s harder for me…not really how I normally like to operate.

I am thankful I’ve had some pretty good classes and I am starting to get to know some new students.  I can tell I am more tired than I normally have been and that the amount of thinking that I’ve been doing is more than what I did all summer…. course isn’t it like that for everyone?  I am thankful for the students and teachers who have been so kind to bless me with so much.  I am also just beyond blessed by all the people who are bringing meals.  It has been so wonderful to visit with people and hug people.  We have just loved each visit.

So right before school started, I was able to get a (wig) hair piece.  This piece is real hair and needs to be taken care of like all hair.  I was blessed to go to the salon and have it put on the Saturday before school started.  I was very thankful that we styled it and spent a couple hours there.  Tonight I took it off to wash it, oh my.  It’s a little more work than I was expecting.  It’s going to take a while for me to get used to working with it.

Abbey and Ashton have had to drive us to school.  Garrett is driving his own car since he has different things going on than we do.  The traffic at our school has been pretty heavy before and after as people are getting used to the construction and the craziness at school.  The funny part of our lives right now: my mind is a bit crazy, my school is a bit crazy because of the construction and my house is crazy right now.  I’m thankful for the help I’m getting from so many people.  The girls have done a great job driving me around and it’s so weird to not be able to drive.  I feel like I spend a lot of time trying to figure out who is going to drive me one place or another.  The hard part, my car is parked up by my classroom and during 7th period I go to soccer which isn’t close to my class.  The school has been really great to make sure someone can drive me down to my car.  The hard part is after practice…. walking to our car that is far away makes tired players….more tired!

A few weeks ago we finished thinking about the things around our house that needed to get done around here.  We have waited a while to get things done and one of our plans this summer had been to get the house past the 12 years we’ve owned it.  Since we started the summer with a different plan, we hadn’t done anything to plan for the stuff that needed to get done.  We decided to meet with our neighbor to get some stuff done and here we are now, trying to get some stuff repaired and ready for the year and make some updates…only problem is that you are living in chaos.  But, I am trying to be thankful as different things get done… because it’s been needed for a long time.

I’ve enjoyed my new club team and my high school girls.  During 7th period right now, I get the softball girls and my girls.  They also added some PE girls who lost their teacher.  So, I have a huge group 7th period.  It’s keeping me creative…. I guess.  Now that it’s my second year, it’s been so much more fun to hangout with the coaches up there.  I have many of them who are praying for me, and I am very blessed by that.  It’s so hard to believe as I look at the soccer girls that it’s been a year since we started getting ready for the state tourney.  But, here we are.  I’m super proud of the girls and ready for them to improve more and to nail it this year.  My club girls have been so kind and have just loved being together.  I’m blessed to know all these ladies and train them all.  They are all so full of love and desire to improve so much.  I love that.

We were supposed to have high school tryouts this past Friday, but it rained too much.  So now, we will have it this Tuesday.  I’m ready to get these tryouts over and get the year started!

I know many of you are following this wondering about my health.  I have been really blessed to feel as good as I have felt.  However, I think all of the treatment is catching up on me and making me a bit tired and less able to focus.  It’s hard to believe that I finished my treatment and then pretty much started school stuff.  It’s been a crazy week this week.  I had great plans to get everything ready for my classes and have less to plan, but my adventures this summer kept me from being focused on this.

We have been trying to figure out when our MRI would be and what we would do next.  Well, we got a call saying my MRI is going to be this Wednesday night at 4:45pm.  Please be in prayer for this.  I am asking for the internal swelling is down enough for them to see what’s going on and it’s accurate.  I am also asking for prayers for wisdom for the doctors and peace for us.  We are trusting the Lord that He has healed me already.  We have also gotten a call back from Duke about going there the end of the month.  Obviously this is a good thing and the people we are set to see there are some of the best.  It’s hard for me to think about missing some school and what all I will need to do before I can leave.  Please be praying about all of this for me.  Safe travels and great wisdom from the doctors.  Thank you

Also, please be in prayer for me to be able to manage my time better.  This summer was such a blessing to slow down and have time.  Now that school has started, we are busy going so many places.  The girls are playing less sports, but they are loving the extra time they get to spend and want to spend with their friends. Garrett is busy preparing for college next year, ugh and Nathan is trying to find himself something he really enjoys.  Prayers for these kiddos and Scott as we go in for appts and start doing more things again.

ESTHER

 

Esther was Jewish and the Xerxes decided that Esther was his favorite and announced she was queen over the other previous queen.  Things were looking good for Esther.  Until, Haman was brought in to work under the king.  Haman hated the Jews and did many things to show himself as important and powerful and to get rid of the Jewish people.  Esther, got worried about what was happening and she knew that she would need to go see the king and get him to change the laws Haman was introducing.  In Esther 4:15-17

 

The King had grown to love Esther that he allowed her to live.  She was brave enough and trusted God enough that no matter what happened going forward, the Lord had Esther right where she was supposed to be.

I love Esther.  I love how bold she was and how she was willing to stand against those that wanted to kill her and others.  She had everything going for her… but the Jewish people meant a lot to her…she didn’t let the fact that she was good to stop her from standing up for what was going on.  I am thankful for that.  Thankful that she was willing to be strong when she didn’t know the results.   She trusted that God would do what was best.  She just knew what needed to happen and went for it.

I hope and pray that we are like that.  We don’t read in here about her concerns or fears…only that she asked people to pray and she walked into a tough situation and she trusted the Lord to do what needed to be done.  She never wondered or questioned, she just did what needed to be done for the people.  I so want to learn to live with my eyes focused on the Lord and others and to not focus on myself every day.  Please pray for this for me.  As I am feeling more tired and more physically drained, I don’t want that to be my focus.  I want others to be my focus.  Lord help me do that!