One More Day

              This is an older but poignant song by Diamond Rio. Margaret found this on a friend’s Facebook page, and it now has a whole new meaning to us than it did a lot earlier in our lives together. I used to think this was a neat song with a lot of meaning – now I cannot listen to it without getting tears in my eyes. Margaret has meant everything to me since I met her 32 plus years ago. She is my angel on earth. I know that she will have the tough part of this journey, and I pray to God daily to thank Him for letting me marry her and for His strength for her as this trial moves along.

Doing great today – looking forward to the weekend and to Tom and Michelle’s wedding! It is great to have this “One More Day” too! Make it a great one!



The song is One More Day by Diamond Rio

The poem is The Last Time (author unknown)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UWx-shGM0g&sns=em

Granddaughters

 

Last weekend we went down to Yankton to attend the Baptism of Jameson Clare, our first granddaughter. Father John Rutten, a friend of Mark and Sara’s performed the ceremony at Sacred Heart church in Yankton.

     Things went well, and it was a beautiful ceremony. Now little Jameson is claimed by Christ and baptized into the faith. When Jesus was baptized we are told the heavens opened and a dove came down over Jesus’ head. God’s voice proclaimed, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”

     I believe that during each baptism, God says those same words – “This is my beloved daughter (or son) in whom I am well pleased.” The baptism washes away the stain of original sin and claims us for Christ.

          I have been thinking a lot about granddaughters this past week. Jameson is currently my favorite one, but I know that with those four sons we will have perhaps up to 6 more yet. The grandparent duties form our side of the family will fall into Margaret’s very capable hands. I will not be here to see them in grade school, to go to their programs at Christmas time, to be at their Confirmations, to see their pictures being all dressed up for the prom, or to watch them walk down the aisle at their weddings. I will be at all of those events, and watching over them closely, but they will not be able to see me there.         

          Margaret and I only have experience raising boys, so this grandpa doesn’t know how to brush hair or tie ribbons. Maybe Jameson can teach me some of that over the next few months. She is at that cute age where she will chatter to you and smile with her whole face when you talk to her.

           I was at the funeral of a retired Fire Captain a few years back, and one of his daughters talked about the “Grandpa Dates” that her dad took her daughters out on. Grandpa told the granddaughters that if any boy treats you with any less respect, courtesy, or kindness than I do, get rid of him! I liked that advice.

          Here are some words of advice for my granddaughters:

1)    Be the best version of yourself that you can be – don’t try to look or act like someone else. God made you special just like you are. There is not another person like you in this whole world. You are special and you were born for a special reason.

2)    Be nice to those people around you. Be kind to others, and help your mother and father with household chores.

3)    Pray to Mary every day – she is the mother of all of us, and she loves us a lot. When you have a big test, a dance recital, a ball game, or any big event, say a Hail Mary – she will help you get through the event.

4)    You have a special gift of your love that makes you special. Cherish that gift and give it to your husband.

5)    Dress nicely as if you were going out on a date with grandpa. Boys will respect you more for being modest than they will for making poor choices.

6)    Know that I will always love each of you and that I am praying for you and watching over you.

7)    God Bless you and keep you in the palm if his hand.

Love,

Grandpa Jarding

August 22, 2012

 

            I have been doing pretty well for the past few weeks. We saw Dr. Tolentino a couple of times in the past month. I have completed all radiation treatments scheduled for now. There will not be more radiation in those same areas already radiated. The old brain can only take so much of those gamma rays. If I grow a new tumor in a different area, more radiation is a possibility.

            I have been started on infusions of Avastin now. We go in once every two weeks for an infusion treatment. The first two went well, so now the third will take only 30 minutes or so. It takes a bit longer because first you go in and have labs drawn, then you see the oncologist to make sure everything is going well, then you are sent down to get the infusion treatment. The two most common side effects of this drug are elevated blood pressure and nose bleeds. I get pretty tired, but if I get in a nap each day for about an hour, I do pretty well. I get a slight headache in the front of my head when I get really tired – not too bad overall. I feel pretty normal right now.

            We will get an MRI of the brain every three months to see how things are going. After that, we decide on any treatment changes needed.

            Margaret has been busy cleaning and getting ready for a September 1^st wedding for Tom and Michelle. I told Johnny that at our house if you sit still you will be painted, dusted, or sent to Goodwill in a bag. We are hosting the pre-nuptial dinner in our back yard, so we are cleaning and greening to beat everything around here.

            I am on my crash two week diet to make sure I can tie a neck tie and button my dress shirt for the wedding.

            All else goes well. I have not seen many cardinals lately, but I still hear them once in a while. I do get to see a few of the little yellow finches that I also enjoy. I am reading a book about John the Baptist, and have one waiting called “Rome Sweet Home” by Scott Hahn. I also got a book from a friend about miracles that do happen that I need to read yet. The more I read, the more I learn about my faith and about God’s great plan for all of us. We waste a lot of our lives worrying about things that are not going to mean so much in the next step of our journey. It takes a terminal illness or a great tragedy for many of us to realize what is important and what is trivial in the grand scheme of things. I want to thank all of you for your prayers and concerns for our family through all of this. We do greatly appreciate all of the love we have been given.

Let’s live each day to its fullest, be the best version of ourselves we can be, and stop to listen to a songbird once in a while!

True Faith - Do I Have It?

True Faith – Do I Have It?

            This week we met again with Dr. Tolentino. My blood work was all good, so we were started on injection treatments of Avastin. I had a ninety minute session getting this first treatment. That went well, so now they push that same amount in over 60 minutes in two weeks. If that goes well, we end up with a thirty minute session every two weeks. We will do a blood draw then see the doctor or a nurse practitioner each session. If all looks okay, I get the juice. The main two side effects are an increase in blood pressure, and possible nose bleeds.  I was going to get into boxing, but with the nose bleed thing, I will back off on that plan.

            I have been feeling great for the past few weeks, and still feel good today. God is good.

            I have started to read a book by FB Meyer called John The Baptist. I have always wondered about John The Baptist. He was 6 months older than Jesus, Jesus’ first cousin, and he was beheaded right at the start of Jesus’ ministry. John had quite a following in his short life, and Jesus said of him that there was no greater man born of woman. Imagine Jesus Christ saying that about you!

            That causes me to want to learn more about John, as there is little in scripture about him. We know that he was born to Zacharias and Elisabeth, who were for all practical purposes, beyond their child bearing years. An angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias (a Jewish priest) and told him his wife would have a son and that he was to be named John. Zacharias, like many of us would, doubted God’s ability to make that happen, so he was struck deaf and dumb. He had to write things on a tablet to communicate.

            I had read earlier that Elisabeth was perhaps the sister of Anne, the mother of Mary. So Mary would have been Elisabeth’s niece. Mary went to visit Elisabeth and to help her in her pregnancy, since Elisabeth was advanced in years. Mary would have been in the early stages of her pregnancy with Jesus, and Elisabeth was in her sixth month. When Mary came into Elisabeth’s house, Elisabeth felt John leap in her womb, and proclaimed something like – How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to see me? This was truly the Holy Spirit acting within Elisabeth, as she could not have known about Mary’s pregnancy. Remember, no texting, tweeting, or facebook back then. Mary responded with her famous Canticle of Mary – that too had to come through the Holy Spirit.

            Pretty cool stuff to me – these were common poor people whom God chose to use to bring His most noted prophet and His Son into our world! John was sent to announce the coming of his first cousin, Jesus. As we all know, Jesus came to announce the Word of God and to die for each of us and open our way into heaven again, after the fall of mankind through Adam and Eve.

            I am reading the book about John now, and I came across an interesting paragraph about the faith of men.

            This is a paragraph about Zacharias and his struggle with faith – “Month succeeded month, but Zacharias neither heard nor spoke. His friends had to make signs to him, for unbelief has the effect of shutting man out of the enjoyment of life, and hindering his usefulness. How different this time of waiting from the blessedness it brought to his wife’s young relative, who believed the heavenly messenger. He was evidently a good man, well versed in the history of his people. His soul, as we learn from his song, was full of noble pride in the great and glorious past. He could believe that when Abraham and Sarah were past age, a child was born to them, who filled their tent with merry prattle and laughter; but he could not believe that such a blessing could fall to his lot. And is not that the point where our faith staggers still? We can believe in the wonder-working power of God on the distant horizon of the past, or on the equally distant horizon of the future; but that He should have a definite and particular care for our life, that our prayers should touch Him, that He should give us the desire of our heart – this staggers us, and we feel it is too good to be true. “

            That sums me up in a nutshell - I believe that God can do anything for anyone. I believe Jesus and his disciples worked miracles in Jesus’ name. My struggle is two-fold – why would God heal me? -  and if I start to say I am healed, and then am not cured of this disease, am I setting myself up for a failure in my faith. I have tried to just go with – “Thy will be done, and not my will.”

To me, that is what God wants of all of us – to have faith in His plan for each of us, and to know that things happen, both good and bad, for a reason.  I do know that if it is God’s plan, He can physically heal me. The problem is, He does not let us know the plan ahead of time.

So we are back to living each day as a gift from God, loving each other with humility and faith, and moving towards our eternal reward in heaven.

Make it a great day, and have some faith in God! He has faith in us!