Opening Message from Leah

Dear Friends and Family,

I am writing to more of you at one time to avoid repeating myself (which can get confusing). Please feel free to respond to me through email whenever you wish. Also, feel free to forward this to anyone that I might have missed. I do not have everyone's email address, so if this gets forwarded to you, drop me a reply. It is much easier for me to answer emails than phone messages, because you would probably not want me to return you call when I actually have time (late night and early morning).

Danny is recovering from his surgery with astounding speed! I will attempt to attach a photo of Dan's new hair-do ("Thanks" to Rob Z. for the cut, and Roger R. for the photography!!!). If the photo actually makes it, you will see Dan's strength for yourselves. He is the very picture of health. Other than a tiny microscopic amount of cancer left in his brain that the surgery could not remove, he is fine. Brain cancer is not like other cancers. It cannot live outside of the brain itself. So, it cannot spread throughout Dan's body! We are praising God that there were no complications from the surgery itself. Once Dan physically heals from having the surgeon rooting around inside his noggin, then Dan will be exactly like he was before the surgery. He will feel fine and healthy and ready to "play" with his friends. Until then, because his healing is so important to the next stage in this battle, his momma, Susie, and me are a just a bit protective (he is a big dude and we might as well keep him to ourselves as long as we can hold him down). The doctor wants us to limit visits to a couple a day and less than 15 minutes in length. Keeping that in mind, we are really asking everyone to wait until next week for visits (unless there is a burden on your heart to see him sooner). Between taking care of practical matters (our refrigerator died again yesterday--but was finally fixed before bed) and making doctor's appointments, Dan is getting way more stimulation than would be ideal.

I promise to let Dan out for "play-dates" as soon as I can (just kidding about the play-date part...if any of you tell him I wrote that...I know where you all live!!!).

Yes, we did discover that the tumor was cancerous. That just means that Dan will have to undergo chemo and radiation. Due to his unusually good health, we have every possible treatment option available to us. Please pray to God: (1) To continue to heal Dan from the surgery and for the pain to lessen and go away completely, (2) that we all have good discernment and wisdom this week, (3) that God puts the right people and options in our path and that we are humble enough to recognize them for what they are, (4) that all of our hearts are softened during this time so that God can mold them into dwelling places for the Holy Spirit, (5) that we do the work that God created for us to do with peace and joy!

My dear brothers and sisters, none of us know how many days we have on this earth. Not you, not me, not Dan. Please share in our joy of today. Let go of your fear. Let go of your control. Those things just a waste our collective energies and dull our minds and hearts. God created each of us with gifts and purpose. We were each created for such a time as this. I pray for each of you as your sweet faces cross my mind. As your names touch my heart I am praying that God will reveal himself to you in the midst of this journey. I pray that he will strengthen you and give you peace beyond understanding.

Dan should get his staples out on Thurday and we meet for our first "sit down" with the oncologist to discuss our action plan on Friday.

I am off to do the work that God prepared for me.

Lots of love, your humble servant and friend,

Leah