Hello out there in "Blogger Land." My children were good enough to create this site last fall to keep friends and family posted on our ups and downs, comings and goings etc. I never read anything they had written until about the first of December and I was both amazed by their creativity and touched by the depth of their emotions. Since the last blog was posted in December they have encouraged me, along with some of you, to continue with the site. Marty posted an update last Saturday giving a thumbnail sketch of what life has been like for us since moving and I thought, "I can do this."

Moving was not easy. Well, the physical move was great because we were helped by so many dear friends who made it possible. Flying on Thanksgiving day proved to be a good choice, because flights were not full and the airports were not quite as crowed as they usually are. Tom and I were a sight in our side by side wheel chairs being pushed from gate to gate. He tried to get the attendants to race, but they were much too reserved for that. We stayed with Tommy and family for three weeks while we slowly got enough ready in our house so we could live here. The grandchildren had a hard time getting used to the fact that we weren't going back to the airport to leave again. The hard part of the move was leaving our church family, dear friends who have taken us into their hearts and lives and showed us unconditional love and care. It was hard to leave ministry as I have known it. Many times I asked God, "Could you just tell me why you moved us all the way to California, changed our lives completely, gave me a ministry I loved, blessed us with such wonderful friends, then moved us back across the country to do nothing?" Day by day He is answering that question with "Be patient, my child, and most of all be obedient. I am letting you know."

A visit to the oncologist earlier this week was good--the cancer is still in remission. Praise God! We were first given the good news in December and have waited a little apprehensively for the return visit this month. I couldn't help but wonder if the doctor had made a mistake. After all, he was a new doctor and didn't know my case as well as the doctor I had been with for the past four years. The prognosis given in May and repeated in November was not hopeful--"except for a miracle," he said. Why should I expect a miracle?

I took my own advice. For years I have been repeating advice given me by a special pastor friend about reading the Psalms on a daily basis. They are for me a spiritual staple, a food that no Christian should be without because they teach the attributes of God better than any one book of the Bible. They also are written from the heart as the writers talk to God about their innermost struggles and greatest joys. Reading and praying the Psalms once again has given me the most complete confidence in God that I have ever known. With that confidence has come renewed joy and the ability to see the blessings of every day. The question now is, "Why should I not expect a miracle?"