Just lost my last two posts…

I’ve been working hard to redo my blog… switched from Movable Type to WordPress… good decision… and trying to make both it and TNG work well together and look like they are both part of the same site…. had a problem with one of my user names and deleted it… not paying enough attention….. deleted all the posts I’d written as… well, as me…

So… to put them back in….

On 10 June I wrote….

Yesterday, Chris and Jennifer got the news from her doctor from the biopsies she had last week. Jennifer has (had?):

* Uterine cancer – stage 1 (removed during the surgery)
* Minute intestinal cancers (they think these will all be eliminated by chemo)
* Abdominal wall cancer (removed during the surgery)
* Ovarian – stage 3c  cancer

On a more positive note, Jennifer’s recovering from the surgery, she has a tremendous attitude about this, and she’s beginning to get up and down by herself. Chris returns to work tomorrow, so Jennifer will be at home and Chris will be worrying about her.

Also, a new bed was donated so that takes care of that need: THANK YOU!

Jennifer starts chemo next week. Please keep them both in your prayers, and donations to these two who have minimum wage jobs, and Jennifer can’t work for a long time… with no insurance and no savings, would sincerely be appreciated… you can send it to their Church (address in top left of the side-bar.)… thank you for both.

On the 6th of June… I blogged…

Today Jennifer and Chris get to go home to Murray (remember they’re at the University of Louisville, James Graham Brown Cancer Center)… praise Our Lord! Home is so much more comfortable than a hospital room.

A song came to mind for my kids this morning… called One Day At a Time, Sweet Jesus, it was sung by Kris Kristofferson…

The chorus went…
One day at a time sweet Jesus
That’s all I’m asking from you.
Just give me the strength
To do everyday what I have to do.
Yesterday’s gone sweet Jesus
And tomorrow may never be mine.
Lord help me today, show me the way
One day at a time.

The Lord has this whole thing orchestrated… a couple of days ago the person who drove them to Louisville up and deserted them there, with no way home… piece of work, I must say that upset me greatly, because I’m powerless… stuck here in Florida unable to do much more than provide encouragement. But, the sister of their Sunday School teacher works at the hospital and she’s going to take them home… She said, “I’ll get to visit my sister.” Makes it sound like the kids are doing her a favor… Just more proof God’s got this in control. May the Lord give them a safe and comfortable trip home, and may He bless the driver abundantly!

Jennifer’s getting sad and scared, she’s beginning to understand what all this means… your prayers for their strength are more important than ever. It’s hard to stay focused on today, when tomorrow is so frightening. There’s a scripture which says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the mind of man, the things [God] has prepared for those that Love Him.” I told Chris they should think about what this means and to try to imagine what wonderful things the Lord’s provided for them in the future… this is the last resort if our minds simply can’t quit thinking about tomorrow… switch the focus from thinking about ourselves to thinking about the Lord.

Jennifer will need to go back to Louisville every three (3) weeks for chemotherapy. It’s going to be an extremely high dosage… in itself life threatening… and it may make Jennifer very ill.

Current Needs
-Prayer – of course… tons and tons of prayer
-Transportation to and from Louisville for chemo therapy
-Jennifer won’t be able to work for a long time – so their meger income is cut in half – they were just getting by before – financial support is really needed
-Their current bed was free but it’s too low to the ground and way too soft. They need a new bed firmer and higher off the ground so Jennifer can sit on it without hurting herself. (Donated by a local mattress company – may God sincerely bless you!)

Please help them, whatever you can spare, is tremendously appreciated. Please, even a card of encouragement or sharing your own story would be helpful.

Thank you for caring enough to read this blog, I’ll keep you updated. God bless you!

Ovarian Cancer strikes in Kentucky – couple NEED your help!

Early last week, one morning, my son and his wife were heavy on my heart, I kept praying for them throughout the morning… I didn’t know why they kept coming to my mind, but every time they did I’d offer a prayer, Lord please help Chris and Jennifer, please be with them… Please take care of them… repeatedly throughout that morning… then I spoke with my son…

His wife was going to need surgery, she had a mass on her ovary the size of a small canteloupe… they (the doctors) didn’t know what it was, but they would need to remove it… in preparation they did some blood tests… her t-cells were high.. it might be cancer… they couldn’t do the surgery in Murray… Chris and Jennifer were told they’d have to go to the University of Louisville, the James Graham Brown Cancer Center…

For two young people this was a huge deal… so far a way… no car, lost wages… no insurance… no savings…

Chris, a former Marine joined the Florida National Guard (he was actually a civilian for 1 day) that was the winter of 2005… he spent a lot of active time that year with all the hurricanes and then served in Afghanistan… seeing things no young man or woman should ever have to see … when he came home… out one night with friends.. he met Jennifer… that was IT for him… they married shortly after that… He’s a fine young man… makes his mom proud… I knew too when I met Jennifer that she was the ONE the Lord had brought for my son… the last four years haven’t been easy for them, but they’ve worked together… forged a unit… “for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and the two shall be as one flesh.”… That’s what God says… Chris is a really fine husband and loves his wife dearly.

Chris was a long haul truck driver, he and his wife basically living in the truck, crossing and recrossing state after state… taught me that Florida isn’t a drive through state… never thought of that before… then one night he had an accident…. near the small town of Murray Kentucky… fortunately no one was hurt… the Lord laid on his heart (as the One who works in us to will and to do) that He’d only used truck driving to bring him and Jennifer to Murray…. they settled in… with all the warmth and love that only a small town can give… they quickly became a part of the community…

As the jobless rate rose across the country this last year, finding new jobs hasn’t been easy… the pay? minimum wage… no insurance… no car… barely making ends meet from week to week… the way so many of us have started out lives on our own… but they were doing it… and because they were working together, the bond between them continued to grow, stronger… day by day… my baby and his bride were growing up… they joined the local Church and every time I spoke with them the peace and joy in their outlook and their words gave peace to my own heart as I knew the Lord was doing something with them.. .THAT I could trust… even though I didn’t know what it was that He was doing… didn’t need to know, just to trust…

Yesterday… was it just yesterday that the sky caved in?… Seems like a million years ago… That we found out that our Jennifer, 25, so young, so much in love with her husband… starting a new life of their own, young, strong, and vibrant… was at grave, deadly risk of a very, very ugly and real disease…

The doctors operated on Jennifer in a 5 hour surgery.. invasive ovarian cancer… they removed every thing from Jennifer that wasn’t needed for life… her chances of surviving this are 50-60% and they won’t even begin to know whether or not they got it all for another 4 or 5 days… she starts chemo immediately… what now Dear Lord? Why? Please.. NO!

I’m blind to tomorrow, haven’t a clue… so are Chris and Jennifer…But, God made some promises that are worthy of note… ALL things work to good [for believers - Chris and Jennifer]… He knows the thoughts He has towards us (Jennifer and Chris)… to good and not to evil… Jennifer was skillfully and wonderfully made in the secret of her mother’s womb… and God loves her and Chris very, very much! He loves them more than they love each other, more than I love my son, more than anyone loves anyone… God IS love….

We were able to talk today with joy and peace and strength… NOT about tomorrow… our Lord tells us clearly… tomorrow has too many problems, think of today… there’s enough here to focus on…

In 1998 my darling husband suffered 2 ruptured aneurysms and a massive stroke… he was in a coma, and the doctors said he wouldn’t make it through the night… no 50-60% chance.. he simply wouldn’t live… but I was able to handle that with strength and faith because five years earlier when my father committed suicide the Lord taught me how HE would get me through… while I could clearly see my Lord’s hand in preparing me for my husband’s sudden catastrophe… I didn’t know why he’d let Gordon have such a horrible illness… until yesterday… He in His “big picture” all-knowing set me up to be a role-model for my son… it wasn’t an act… it was real…. and it showed Chris how to place his face pointed to God and hold on!!!!

So today… we were able to be IN the middle of a horrible, earth shattering, catastrophe and find things for which to praise our Lord… and do as He instructs when He says… IN all things give thanks! … there is so much peace there… Jennifer asked me last night (how she could even talk after a 5 hour surgery and all the pain she had to have been in is totally beyond me)… she asked me if I was mad at her because she wouldn’t be able to have babies… NO, absolutely not, I was just THRILLED to be able to talk to her!

I have Jennifer’s and Chris’ permission to be telling y’all this stuff… there’s some huge needs here… If you’re a believer please pray for Jennifer and Chris and their families (mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, family, friends) who are grieved by this… pray that God heal Jennifer and let her be with us for a long time yet… Pray that Jennifer not have pain.. and that God give both of them the strength they’ll need in the days to come… that their faith can be an example to others, that God might be able to use this to open someone’s eyes to Him, that they might become believers too… please pray that God give the doctors the right knowledge to completely heal Jennifer…

Scripture says if your brother is hungry, don’t just pray for him… feed him… if he’s naked, don’t just pray for him… give him something to wear…
Whether you share our faith or not… please help if you can… Right now… Chris and Jennifer are 300 miles away from their tiny one bedroom apt… neither working.. and Jennifer won’t be able to work for quite some time… they have minimum wage jobs, no insurance and no car, no savings… Jennifer will have to go back and forth for chemo therapy a lot… please if you have been blessed financially please help them… anything… even pennies.. if everyone who read this also got their friends to read it and each one sent a small amount.. one dollar… 50 cents… it would all add up… and enable Chris and Jennifer to eat, to get back and forth to the hospital, to have clothes to wear… how much can you afford… please (I’ve never asked this of strangers before…) please help them… if you can please send it to their church… put “for Jennifer Johnson” on it and mail it to… this way you’ll know it’s not a scam… this is a very real desperate need…

First Baptist Church
203 South 4th Street
Murray, KY 42071

In any case, whether you can help or not… may God bless you bountifully… we’re all in the same boat you know… people are all we have, and we are each here for each other. Thank you for your time reading this!

Lost to time…. tick-toc

My father passed away in 1993 and with both of his parents also passed on I realize my kids are in danger of losing 1/4th of their heritage without even realizing it…. tick-toc… tick-toc

My father had polio in 1955. Before that he’d been a partner in a telephone company in upstate Wisconsin. Due to the polio he couldn’t climb the poles anymore…. How many recall seeing telephone poles with steel steps attached? … I do… He took his 24 year old wife, 4 year old daughter with his 2 sons (one 2 and 1 only 1) and moved them lock-stock-and-barrel to sunny central Florida, where he’d gotten a job with RCA working on the space program….

This migration south has had a huge impact on my family relationships…. tick-toc… tick-toc… I didn’t grow up with my cousins, aunts, uncles around…. my grandparents would come and go, and my dad’s folks became rather permanent snow-birds… but my problem is that now, today, I find myself without ties with close blood lines still in Michigan and Wisonsin…. and the folks I do know are my mom’s and dad’s generation and they are moving on… my children don’t know them at all… when my oldest son went to college in Michigan, I’d encourage him to contact family… he told me, “But, Mom, I don’t know them.”…. tick-toc… tick-toc… while, thank God, my mom is still here, but when God calls her home it’ll be the same story repeated… I really don’t know them at all.

Neither my father nor his folks documented their families, they did tell me some stories, but they only went back one or two generations at most. I have artifacts… some pictures… a Bible..a candy dish… tick-toc… tick-toc…

Fortunately, my mom has a gene…. it’s a genealogy gene… and she’s documenting her family… in some cases back to the 16th century… she’s been working on it for well over 20 years and she’s given all of her kids pictures and stories with names and dates… it’s awesome what she’s done!… thanks to her my children and grandchildren will know her family.

Now it’s time I knuckle down to work on my father’s family… I’ll post my trees (with only deceased people in them), and stories, and issues on this site… my husband is joining me in this effort…. it’s going well… it’s a huge blessing in the evenings as we find ourselves with TV never turned on, reading, researching, and discussing our famlies… We were planning to take a cruise of the Amazon into Brazil next year…. we cancelled that Saturday… now we’ll be taking a trip back in time to capture family records and perhaps to strengthen some ties….. tick-toc, tick-toc….

The primary surnames we are researching are WILDER and FRINK on my husband’s side from Northern Illinois, and GLAZIER and HARRIS from mid-Michigan, Tuscola county to be specific…. my mom is working on DEGARMO and DAHLKE from Minnesota and Wisconsin… more, very much more will be published here. One of my goals is to make The Wilder Place “the” definitive website for my family, with trees, pictures, and stories galore.

Jesus tells us to put aside our “vain genealogies”…. why? … Our Lord understands and supports our desires to know who we are in terms of those who came before us, from whom we descend… I know this because in both Old and New Testimates we’re told over and over again “so-and-so begat so-and-so”…. but being descended from someone whether it’s a king, queen, or Abraham does not stand us in good stead before God…. only accepting Christ’s attoning death for our individual sins does that.

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