God shows himself once again!

I sat down tonight to eat a quiet meal and read while the girls played, hoping to find something uplifting and light-hearted. I picked up one of my life long favorite authors, Erma Bombeck, because as a kid I remembered thumbing through them at my Aunt Marmie's house and it brings back such great memories. Kind of like a home-cooked meal, just makes you feel good inside.

Anyway, I remembered I had casually picked up one at my mother-in-laws used book store months ago and stuck it in my basket for a rainy day, not even really looking to see what it was about or even reading the title! So before dinner, I rummaged through my basket of books, filled my plate and sat down to enjoy my quite moment, when my heart nearly sank. I read the title and thought, I don't believe this! It really has to be God because the odds (if you believe in odds....which I will get into later) of it being a coincidence are just too scary~! The title...."I Want to Grow Hair, I Want To Grow Up, I Want to Go to Boise" about Children Surviving Cancer!!!

Now, I mustered up the courage to start reading it and in the first chapter I concluded that it definitely was God's plan for me to read this book. You see, with SHawn's next scan scheduled for Thursday to see if there is still any cancer left in his body, it has been heavy on our hearts. Shawn's definitely been such a strong fighter, but also I know it is very emotionally and physically exhausting for him too. We of course pray for the scan to be clear, but of course the thought of ...what if.....is always in the back of our minds.

In the first chapter of this book , I couldn't believe what I was reading. We both are not believers in "Odds" and "Statistics" It is what it is and that's that. You fight the hard fight regardless. In the book, she writes speaking of doctors " They usually say something like there are no such things as chances when you're talking about a child. It either works or it doesn't. There's no such thing as 50 percent or 60 percent or 20 percent. There's either 100 percent or zero. Naturally they're going for the 100 percent- not the zero." I like that. I kept reading.

Then it went on to talk about something we both are very strong believers of....positive attitude! "How important is it to the survival of a patient? I couldn't find anyone who would rank it right up there with chemotherapy......But a couple of doctors I talked with conceded that although it can't cure cancer, they see some pretty impressive results from being positive. The kids who flat out accept the disease on its terms don't seem to lose as much weight, miss as much school, and aren't in the hospital with infections in between treatments. Others who are severly depressed throw up more, lose more weight, don't eat well, and don't bounce back as quickly."

Attitude is contagious and, in a family can be crucial! I feel that we feed off each other's positive attitude. Our children have done extremely well with this situation because of our attitude, and we are doing well because of everyone else's positive attitude! It's amazing! I truely believe Shawn is doing so well because of it!

As Erma writes "Better to have a case of out-of-control optimism than to sentence the family to the Temple of Doom."

LOVE and POSITIVE Thoughts to all!
Jess


Romans 15:5 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus;