Prayer

This morning's sermon was from John 17. The setting was the Mount of Olives, before He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. In between praying that God would take away the cup and praying that God's will be done, not his, Jesus prayed for his disciples (that were actually praying for him) and for his future disciples. That is actually a comfort, knowing that Jesus is praying for us.

I have people praying for me here in OH, in TX, FL, ID, WA, CA, MI, and a few other states that I do not know about. God has answered prayers, and there a few that he hasn't answered yet. God doesn't always answer our prayers. He doesn't always answer them according to the way we want them to be answered. What I can say, is that Jesus is walking beside me, during this whole thing. When we are in pain, it is hard to remember that Jesus had been in physical pain, when He was here on this Earth.

Someday, God will reveal to us, why He answered our prayers the way He did. I so do appreciate all the prayers that have been sent up to our Heavenly Father so far, and will continue to be sent up on my behalf. God is answering them in his way, and according to his glory. I have been praying that all of this can be used by God and that He will be glorified through all of this.

God is good, even though we do not see the goodness in the hardship. I do not see the goodness in having cancer. I do not see the goodness in not teaching full-time. I am anxious about Tuesday. I do not know what to expect. I keep thinking about the worse, and that is why I have not wanted this procedure. I pray that the side effects are very minimal.

Father, you are the healing Physician. I know you will heal me in your time, and according to your will. Your will be done here on Earth as it is in heaven. Right now, I can not thank you for allowing me to go through this, but someday in the future, I will be able to look back and see all the good that has come out of this and say Thank you. You are my God and I am your child. Please continue to hold me in your hands and to give me the strength that I need. I love you Father. Amen.

Playoffs Here We Come

The Cleveland Indians magic number before the start of today's game was 1. They had to play their final game of the year against Oakland Athletics. At the end of the game, Cleveland 6, Oakland 2; the Indians were Central Division Champs. The Indians were the first team to clinch and qualify for the playoffs this year. Today, was also, game 155. The last time the Indians, were the first team to clinch, was back in 1999, also on game 155. Their record is now 92-63.

They will find out later this week, who they will play in round 1 of the playoffs. They will play either The Angels, Red Sox, or The Enemy. They are still fighting with Angels and Red Sox for the best record in the American League and all of baseball. Before today's game, Angels and Indians were tied with the same record, while Red Sox had the same wins, but one more loss. The Enemy has the fourth best record.

My family wants to try and buy tickets for one playoff game. I want to go. We'll see how I am doing come that time. The worse part is, we have to buy tickets in advance. Come game time, I will be about 10 days out from my LND, with still having the drain in me. I have never been to a playoff game before.

LND/Port/Venting

My LND (lymph node disection) is next Tuesday, September 25 at 9am. I will not be having the port implanted that day. I will now be getting the port on Wednesday, October 3 in the morning. I have to have a blood test either on October 1 or 2. I had to end up going through my onc. to get my port.

I worked 4 days this week, with a total of 9 days for this two week pay period that ends today. I hope to work on Monday of next week. I will then go into the system to make myself unavailable for the rest of the week. Somehow, my mom has it stuck in her head, that I will be able to work the following week. I keep telling her that I won't be able to, as long as I have a drain in me. She will not listen. She thinks I will only have the drain for a week. I say I will have it for at least 2 weeks. I keep telling her, she is stuck at the house with me for two weeks, because I will need her help in the changing and cleaning of whatever needs to be done, because of the drain.

We'll see.

Its Starting...

I was driving this morning to school, and I saw a few trees with leaves starting to change colors. I am so excited! I haven't experienced a real fall in 10 years. I have been so looking forward to this. When the leaves are done changing, I will take pictures and post them here on the blog. My friends in TX, you will then see what you are missing come fall.

What time is it?

I found out this afternoon, that my surgery will take place at 9am on the 25th. I have to be there by 7 am, so that I can check in, register, etc. I was supposed to do that tomorrow morning, but it now as been changed.

I am now working the next two days.

Friends

This weekend, God revealed to me another reason why he brought me. I shared it with the ladies at the retreat. God brought me home, so that I could be around people, my age, who are in remission from cancer, and somebody who is battling cancer (but now in remission). He wanted to surround me with people who knew what I was going through and who understand. I thank the Lord for that.

Retreat

Friday, was my last day for my two week stint of teaching fourth grade. I left the school about 3:15 pm to head down to the cabin where the retreat was taking place. My directions I got on Google Maps, the directions were out of the way and I had to retrace my steps at the end. I was told to turn off of Rt 39, which I didn't completely realize I was on it, but only briefly. (This was only supposed to take me 90 minutes.) I stopped to eat at a Dairy Queen around 5 pm. I left again about 15 minutes later, about another 15 minutes later, I arrived at the intersection of rt 62 and rt 60. Now where do I go. I called, and found out I had to retrace my steps. I did, and showed up about 6 pm, almost 3 hours after I left school. (Took me 90 minutes to come home yesterday.)

The theme of the weekend was Encouragement. There is a book of the Bible that is mostly about encouragement-Hebrews. I didn't know that. There were about 24 ladies there. The area was beautiful. I took pics of nature and of the ladies. We each had a box, and over the weekend, we were to write notes of encouragement to every lady and put it into their box. We weren't allowed to read them until after we got home. My box is sitting on the floor next to the green chair in my room. I haven't read any yet. But will soon.

Had a nice weekend. We were to go on two prayer walks, one by ourselves Saturday morning. I didn't do the morning one, but I did go on the group one in the evening. That was different, and I did like it. That evening, we roasted hot dogs over a bonfire and we had smores for dessert.

Yesterday afternoon, after I got home, we celebrated my sissy's birthday. Had a nice afternoon.

LND-Surgery date

I called over to the surgeon's office this afternoon after school. They called me back. Surgery has been scheduled for Tuesday, September 25. I do not know what time. I am expected to spend one night in the hospital.

What will be done that day. I will have lymph nodes removed from my right groin area. A port will be implanted into my chest. The port is for the high dose part of my treatment that will start sometime in October.

Last Day

This Friday, the 14th, is my last day to teach fourth grade where I have been teaching. The regular teacher also starts on Friday. I will let this teacher know what I have done, what I have had copied for her, and my opinion/take on the kids, to prepare her for next week. This afternoon was bad! I still have to be at Open House tomorrow night.

Hopefully I can sub next week.

Football

The Steelers are 1-0, while the Browns are 0-1. Why are the Browns 0-1? They were trashed, creamed, shut-down, stopped by the Steelers. The final score was 34-7. Guess what happened? Charlie Frye was traded to the Seahawks. Go Steelers!!!!!

Quiet is Short Lived

I think the title of this post summarizes up my week. At times it seems like they do not know what it means to be quiet. In my opinion, I think they think quiet means to talk. Don't get me wrong, they can be quiet, but they just don't like to be. One thing, I have been doing is making them wait, until they are quiet in line, before proceeding to restroom, lunch, leaving the building. From my time in TX, I could keep them after school as long as necessary (usually til 4 pm to make them practice being quiet-we were done at 3:45 pm). We have been the last ones out, and they have to be outside no later than 2:40. School gets out at 2:30 pm. I do not know what to do to get them to stay quiet, for the lesson. When it comes time to work on independent work, they like to talk, get up, not work, play, etc. I warn them that when it is time to turn in their work, whatever is not finished, I will count wrong. Doesn't seem to phase them. What will?

I have to spend the most of the time on reading, which includes reading, spelling, grammar, language, and writing. 45 minutes is not enough for math. 8 chapters is supposed to be taught in math during this grading period. For science, plants is supposed to be taught. What aspect of plants? I don't know, I'm not told. I decide for myself. I am working on pacing myself. I've been trying to give them a bit of study hall time.

They seem to have to use the restroom every hour or less. They do not like to accept the answer no. Today, the principal said on the morning announcements, nobody is allowed to use the restroom by themselves, only has a large group, go as a class. I had a few who about had a conniption. I said we would go around 10 am, maybe before lunch, around 1 pm. They need to go before school starts.

They are messy. Brand new school, floor looks terrible. I have them clean, doesn't last long. Floor is all marked up. Putting names on papers, a crime. Currently, I am taking 5 points off, soon, a 0 and being thrown away. I tell them to head notebook paper a certain way, do not want to do it. Show their work in, a few no way. As usual, there are some who thinks they are perfect, refuse to accept responsibility for the choices they make. I moved two to face the wall, away from other people. It was a crime. One chose to chunk the rest of the day. Lord, I need to wisdom, on what to do.

If I do no spend time seating during the day, my ankle is swollen, and the back, at the hole is also badly swollen.

Lake Erie

We went up to Geneva on the Lake yesterday to attend a wedding. I took a couple pics of Lake Erie.

Yellow Watermelon

My dad came home with a watermelon. When he cut into it, he found it wasn't red, but yellow. I never knew there were yellow watermelons. I think the red ones taste better than yellow.