Quick Update

Things are going well this week, just crazy busy as always. We had a great time visiting with Tabernacle Baptist in Pelzer, SC on Sunday and even discovered we had been praying for their pastor for the last two years, but had not made the connection that he was their pastor until we got there! How "small world" is that?! He is doing great and we are looking forward to their visit to the Campus in July and seeing what the Lord will do.

Austin got registered on Saturday at NGU, and he is really starting to get excited about starting school in the Fall. Rachael and I are wondering where the time went. After 18 years, our buddy is going to be moving into the dorm in 83 days. When did THAT happen?

We were able to get The Calvary Compass (our ministry newsletter) in the mail on Tuesday, so if you have not recieved it by now it probably means we do not have you on our mailing list. If you would like to be, just shoot me an email with your snail mail address and we will get it out to you. If you would like, you can also read it online at www.CalvaryCampus.org

We are going to try to get our garden planted this weekend, so hopefully we haven't waited too late. (Here's a couple of pictures of Austin doing the last round of tilling yesterday.) After the temps (low 40's) we had a few nights ago, maybe it's OK. Many blessings! Have a great day!

Updates and such

Well friends, we are delighted to tell you that my 3-week checkup Thursday went great! Dr. Kinard said I am progressing fine (not as slowly as I thought), and that I am right on schedule for where I should be recovery-wise. He did say that he missed the fact (when I was still in the hospital) on my path report that it was indeed a stage-3 tumor, but he said even that was good news in that it was a HUGE blessing that this stage-3 cancer was caught and removed before it could get outside the kidney. God is sooo good! My next visit will be in November for a CT scan and blood work, just to make sure everything is still as it should be. Praise Him, Praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness! Sing, oh earth, His wonderful love proclaim!

Yesterday we were at the orthopedic doctor for my right shoulder. Yes, I am falling apart at the seams...LOL. Even this was great news in that the problem is my AC joint (where the collar bone meets the shoulder) and he gave me a steroid shot in the joint and he said that should clear it up. If not, he will need to go in and scrape away some of the rough stuff in the joint, so pray with me that the steroid shot will be all the cure that's needed.

Right now I am sitting with Heather and Rachael in Einstein's Cafe, across the street from North Greenville University while Austin is going through placement testing and pre-registration. We walked around the Campus for a bit and even bought a NGU coffee cup in the bookstore, so now we are enjoying a cafe mocha and free wi-fi. Thank you all so much for your prayers, notes of encouragement, emails, cards and everything. I am blessed beyond measure with the best family, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ. My cup indeed runneth over!

Tomorrow we will be at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Pelzer, SC. A mission team from their church will be coming to the Campus this summer and we will be sharing the ministry slide show with them during Sunday School and I will be preaching in the morning worship service. After lunch at the church we will be headed back home. Pray with us that we can be an encouragement to the folks at Tabernacle and that the Lord will give me the right words to say from His Word. Pray also that we will have safe travel home. We love you all! Many blessings to you and yours!

3 weeks and headed for a check-up

Today marks three weeks since my surgery and I am happy to say I am feeling better each day. Well, I can't exactly say that I sense a noticeable improvement every day, but progress is certainly being made. I have taken advantage of this time to catch up on all the "sitting down" things that I never seemed to have time for before.

Late last night I finished the newest edition of our ministry newsletter and it is at the printer and will hopefully be in the mail by Thursday. It is also posted on the ministry website, www.CalvaryCampus.org if you would like to read it online. Thanks to the invaluable help of Austin, the calendar on the website is also updated to reflect all the goings-on that are in the weeks and months ahead. I have also begun to catch back up with the ministry blog, and should be up-to-date with that by Thursday also.

We will be headed back to SC Thursday. I have my post-surgery check-up with Dr. Kinard on Thursday, another doctor's appointment on Friday, Austin will be attending pre-registration at North Greenville University on Saturday (including placement testing), and we will be visiting with Tabernacle Baptist Church in Belton, SC on Sunday. It sounds like a lot, so please pray with us that I won't overdo it and that the Lord will give us plenty of rest inbetween each of the appointments. Pray with us also for Gil and Debbie as they remain here to take care of the Campus, and horses, and dog, and cat and... well, you get the idea.

Please also know that we are very grateful for your continued prayers as I recover. When Dr. Kinard said that recovery would take 4-6 weeks, I really thought I would be farther along at this point in time than I am. Hopefully we will find out on Thursday that everything is right on schedule. As always, we continue to rest in the Lord.

2 weeks out and holding

Yes, it was just two weeks ago today that I was taking a nap on a table at Spartanburg Regional. In some ways it seems like much longer and in some ways it seems like it was just a few days ago.

I continue to get a little bit better each day, although most days I don't really notice any improvement over the day immediately prior. We continue to be amazed at how your prayers and the Lord's strength have sustained us. I am still spending most of the day on the couch, although I have found that it helps tremendously to go lay down for a short time a couple of times a day. Last Friday I was way too energetic and spent too much time on my feet and sitting in a hard backed chair. I certainly paid for it the next day...I could barely move, and was not able to spend any time outside during Kid's Day. I thought I had been doing good until I woke up Saturday morning! LOL

It has been raining here off and on for over a week now, and they are calling for more rain every day this week. The cooler temps are nice, but that grass sure will be a bear to cut (for Gil) when it finally does quit raining. A local ministry passed on a tremendous blessing to us last week that had been given to them, but they could not use. It is one of those string trimmer lawnmower things...like the DR Trimmer Mower you see on TV. It's not self-propelled, but it sure does the work on weeds and trimming along the fence line. Gil has already been out there with it a couple of times and says it's great. I'm looking forward to getting back up to speed so I can get MY turn on it, too.

Rachael's folks headed home yesterday and we are sad to see them go. What a great help they have been and we have really enjoyed having them here. They "forgot" a couple of things, so maybe they will have to come back soon to get them.

Hey, don't forget (especially us guys) what this coming Sunday is! Make this Mother's Day the most special one ever.

Many blessings to you and yours!

Taking it easy...

Well, I am now officially 10 days out from surgery and feeling a little better every day. My typical day right now is spent mostly on the couch, with either the computer or mail or thank you notes in my lap to keep me occupied. I have discovered that Rachael wears a great nurse's cap, but she is swapping it out more and more with the old police captain's hat. I guess you could say I have heard "While you are sitting there..." more than once in the last several days, but I have to admit, I don't really mind. I'm just glad to be able to, if you know what I mean.

I try to get up every hour or so and make a few laps between the front of the apartment and the back, and then 2 or 3 times a day I'll wander out on the Campus as far as I dare for a short walk. It feels good to move around and I can sure tell when I have waited too long inbetween. I am hoping to make it to church Sunday, but I just don't know right now. As much as I want to see everyone and hear Bro. Mike preach, I don't want to get too frisky too soon. Dr. Kinard made it pretty clear that how well I behave myself will be the biggest determing factor to the length and effectiveness of my recovery.

Tomorrow (weather permitting) is the Letcher County Kid's Day here on Campus. There will be free food, pony rides, fire truck rides, train rides, inflatables, racing pigs (a 1st in Letcher County) and a petting zoo. We have hosted this event for the past 4 years and attendance is usually about 400-600. A team from Ivy Creek Baptist in Buford, GA will be here in a few minutes to help us with this event, and we are SO GLAD they are coming. It will be great to have the help and I don't think we would make it without them this year, since I am obviously useless. It will be hard not to be involved, but just another lesson in the "it's not about you, Jamie" lesson series that God has been taking me through.

Hope this finds you healthy and happy, and making a bigger differnce with your life today than you did yesterday. Many blessings to you and yours!!