Monday, September 28, 2009

Wisdom and Peace

We haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd better get on here and catch everyone up on what has been going on in our lives.

Mark is doing very well - he is still recovering from the surgery but has a lot of energy and looks great!

We had decided to go the all natural route and had started down that path when our oncologist really started pushing chemotherapy. We decided that we would be open to what she had to say and would commit it to prayer.

Just some of the facts that we were dealing with:

*The side effects of chemo could make Mark really sick for the next six months
*Chemo only improves his overall prognosis by 8-12%
*Chemo is covered 100% by our insurance company
*Our homeopathic doctor and all treatments are not covered by insurance
*Our natural path is very time consuming
*We both feel great on this new diet and God is definitely changing our taste buds
*For all we (or the doctors) know God has already cured Mark completely

After spending two weeks doing more research and trying to get all our stats in order and spending much time in prayer asking God for wisdom and peace about our final decision we both came to the same 100% conclusion that we are not going the chemo route but are staying on the natural path.

Phil. 4:6,7
Be anxious for nothing, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,let your requests be made known to God:
and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

We praise God for passages like this and for prayer that has led us to where we are.

The greatest peace is this - we know that God in in control completely of our lives and He knows our future - we could make all the "right" decisions or all the "wrong" decisions and still have the same outcome.

All of our kids are very supportive and they have been a huge help and encouragement to both of us.

The support and prayers from friends and family has been awesome!

We have also been referred and recommended to go to the Rudolph Steiner Health Institute in Ann Arbor, Mi. which we are looking into. He would go to two weeks for treatments of all kinds - he would stay there where they feed you an all organic diet and have classes, etc. The next date that he would be able to go would be November 9-21.

Prayer Requests:

*weekly IV treatments that I am administering to Mark here at house
*discipline to remember all the supplements and treatments Mark takes daily
*decision about whether or not to go to Rudolph Steiner
*as we continue our organic diet and juicing (btw - we highly recommend the Vita-Mix!)
*protection for our daughter Jessica as she is moving to Brazil from October 3-December 21

That's about all for now - we love you all and look forward to hearing from you!

Mark and Lee

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Update, Wednesday, September 9

Mark is recovering very well! He was able to go to church this week-end and this week is easing back into his full work load.

He started driving for the first time officially Monday. He did sneak one time and have someone take him to pick up his car from the shop and drive it home - when I came home he tried to play it off real sweet and all!!! I thought about hiding the keys but after that he behaved himself!

We are full fledged into the diet. We have had a couple of setbacks - when I say setbacks I really mean weakness - we've had some great food brought over to the house and sometimes we just can't resist...such as the warm backberry pie that arrived last week....we looked at it and it didn't take long to realize that we were gonna eat that pie! Forget about the kids!!!

Seriously, we are thrilled that we are enjoying the diet so much so far. I really feel that God is answering our prayer in giving us joy in this diet and changing out pallet so that we desire this course.

One example of a breakfast we made this week-end. We took about 3-4 different organic peppers and onions and sauteed them in coconut oil and then added organic eggs. Meanwhile we mixed up a fresh organic fruit smoothie and put some Ezekiel bread in the toaster and spread organic coconut oil on it. It was a great breakfast!

My favorite new food so far has been organic white sweet potatoes topped with coconut oil and stevia - delicious! (dietician said we can only have sweet potatoes once a week so that is something to look forward to!)

Mark's favorite so far are all the fruit and vegetable smoothies. I've included a recipe at the end that is great if you would like to try it.

He is still sore and not sleeping as well as we would like for him to - we are still just taking it one day at a time!

Tomorrow we go to the doctor for me to get trained to give him an IV at home once a week. We will also both get trained at giving him shots so we can do that at home also.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support -

Much Love,

Lee

Lamentations 3:22-24

Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.



Kale and Pear Green Smoothie
Yield: 4 cups (960 ml)




Variable to High
1 1/2 minutes


1 cup green grapes
1 (130 g) orange, peeled
1/2 Bartlett pear
1 (120 g) banana, fresh or frozen
1 cup kale
1/2 cup water
2 cups ice cubes
Place all ingredients into container and secure the lid. Select VARIABLE speed #10, then to HIGH for 1 ½ minutes. Turn machine off. Serve immediately.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Doctor Visits and Recovery - September 2

Mark is recovering well - he gets stronger every day and he looks great!

We spent yesterday at the doctor's office learning more about what he can and cannot eat and about what supplements to take. He also got some IV treatments of vitamin C mixed with some other metabolic and immune boosters.

We went to Whole Foods for our first big shopping experience and it was pretty overwhelming! Mark is supposed to eat an organic diet with some restrictions completely from sugar, red meats, some nuts, no pork of any kind, etc. When you come to the organic eggs that cost 4.99 a dozen you are trying to not let your jaw drop too much and be too conspicuous! It was fun and we came home ready to get going on our new diet!

When we got home and settled in for the night Mark made a Pear and Kale smoothies for us - it had a lot of fresh fruit along with the kale but it was delicious! We have to juice twice a day and so I ordered a recipe book with all kinds of good ideas that we can use.

Today Mark is getting his staples out for which he is very thankful - they pinch some when he bends over. His Uncle Montie is down for the day to help out from Chattanooga.

Overall things are going well and we praise the Lord for where He has brought us and where He will take us. We are very thankful for good friends and supportive family members whom we know we can count on.

Psalm 62:1
Truly my soul silently wait for God: From Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense: I shall not be greatly moved.

We praise Him for being our rock and our salvation!

Lee