Living a Blessed Life

Praise the name of Jesus!! “ Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. ” — 2 Chronicles 7:14 On Friday, March 24th I met with my oncologist to go over the latest CT scan and Lab results. I was feeling especially anxious as Darek and I waited in the consultation room. I think I have developed a little PTSD through this process, and I am working diligently to overcome that battle in my mind. There were words used in the report that I did not fully understand, and a finding that was new, but unrelated to anything else. I also had a couple of lab values that were on the lower side, so I was curious to know what that really meant. We waited about for what seemed like an hour (it may as well have been) but was really only 30 minutes and my oncologist cracked the door open. She peeked her head ...

I have never been great at ping pong. Let’s be real here. I have never even been good at ping pong! At least, not the physical game of ping pong. I am, however, a master at the mental game of ping pong, and let me tell you that it is good at stealing my joy. This past Monday I was initially scheduled to have a follow-up PET scan at the University of Minnesota. As the story goes, my insurance denied it because they do not find it medically necessary, so jumping through hoops again landed me a regular CT scan instead. PET scans are very expensive so I do understand why insurance companies do not want to cover them. There could also be the fact that before the scan they inject radioactive sucrose in the patient, and they do not want patients having that repeated frequently. Details, details! I am not 100% sure how they make their decisions. Instead of having to go downtown for my scan, I was able to have the CT at Southdale Hospital, which is much closer and more convenient. The CT w...

The Minnesota Golden Gophers Men’s Basketball team trailed in their game against Rutgers last week, never taking the lead until the game’s final basket. We watched in hopeful anticipation as the point gap widened and the Gophers brought it within six. Then it would widen again and come back within a few points. They just couldn’t seem to jump that hurdle and take the lead. Our family traditionally attends at least one Gophers Men’s Basketball game each season. Basketball (specifically, college basketball) is my all-time favorite sport to watch. I enjoy the NCAA tournament season and sincerely hope that our Gophers will find themselves competing further and further into that bracket challenge one day. We enjoy taking our kids to these games so they can watch, learn, and experience good basketball. Two of our three kiddos play basketball in our community leagues and they are loving it. We enjoy this opportunity to show them the level of accomplishment ava...