Normal Life In Between 3 Weeks

Finally with the rain behind us here in Ohio I can start riding my mountain bike regularly again.  My sweet friend, LillyMae, and I went to John Bryan State Park to get our legs back in condition after having about 2 months off! So so good to be back in the saddle again! 

Last year we offered a large area of our land to my dear friends who live next door and have successfully started a flower farm to sell bouquets to locals. This gives them a little more room to plant sunflowers which has blessed us every morning and evening as we drive down our lane! The first sunflowers popped these past couple weeks and now we get to be greeted by these beauties every morning! More to come as they are planting a new patch every few weeks!🌻 This reminds me that God’s mercies are new every morning. 
 

WonderVan update…now that I took FOUR, yes, four weeks to pick out the improperly cured epoxy in the flooring, John is going back with a multi tool to remove the residue so the next pour will be sure to work. This is taking another 2 weeks to do!! He did a test of the material to try and figure out just why in the world it didn’t set and it appears that we got a bad batch of epoxy. This will have set us back about 6 weeks. Thankfully the second pour has indeed set up and next week John will sand and smooth it to perfection!!  With that and our upcoming plans to be in Quetico Provençal Park in Canada this Fall and the UP for leaf peeping, it’s probably not going to be ready until the end of this year! But John and I are having fun working on it together!

On June 15th I had the privilege of a lifetime! Life IS like a box of chocolates and we never really know what we’re gonna bite into, and yet this sweet sister of mine was handed a box of assorted chocolates (pun was not intentional). What I can say is that this was truly the day the Lord had made! Kevin is the gold wrapped, heart-shaped chocolate that has become Melissa’s favorite flavor! He’s a loving, adoring, faithful man of God and I was privileged to perform their wedding ceremony on June 15th. I love how our Creator divinely conducted the entire ceremony! 

Father’s Day was spent hanging out with family in Rockford, Illinois and I’m very grateful my dad is still here to spend time with! 

One of my idiosyncrasies is that I loathe tv! In fact, 13 years ago on my Match.com profile I specifically stated for my future husband’s wishlist several non-negotiables and one was that I was not interested in any one who liked watching tv or even owned a television!! Fortunately, John Wonderly fit that bill perfectly, and I love it that our days are never consumed with much screen time other than an occasional movie on our laptop. 

However, I admit that I have absolutely loved watching The Chosen, which is a beautiful portrayal of the life of Jesus and season four just came out. There are so many moving and impactful scenes in this series that I can’t recommend it highly enough! In particular in season four, episode four at the end there was this scene that moved me to tears so much so that after watching it, I had to just sit, worship and literally raise my arms and I sobbed in a posture of worship of my Heavenly Father and His Son! What Jesus has done for me is incomprehensible, and I am literally filled to the brim with gratitude for all his son Jesus has done for me! It can be watched in The Chosen app. These are the three songs I listen to afterwards which you can take time and click these to listen with me. Of course, Gratitude, by Brandon Lake, Million Little Miracles by Elevation Worship and this impromptu soaking worship time with Sunmisola and Yinka. 

Three weeks have flown by and it’s infusion time once again at The James! John and I are planning on spending the next few days in Columbia, OH for the Special Olympics State Meet afterwards and we will be volunteering as judges for tennis, bocce and volleyball! It’s been 5 years since we have been able to participate and we are looking so forward to it!!

Food, Family, Friends & Epoxy

Healthy and delicious food brings me great joy more than ever! Scrumptious stone ground, organic, whole wheat, sesame bread topped with fresh fixings, a side of walnuts and strawberries with frothed soy milk atop homemade chai is heavenly! These have become just one of the many joys in my days! 

And while Mother’s Day happened several weekends ago… and, yes, I got a sweet card from Sarah and a text from Alex…several days later my son, Jonathan, finally was in town when I was and he stopped over and offered to serve me however I needed most. The grass was getting out of control and my weekend was about to get busy with family visitors so I asked and he agreed to cut the grass!! Thank you, JP!! 

Memorial Day weekend was one for the books! I had the privilege of having my first ever sleepover with my granddaughter by herself at my house, so I asked my mama and sister to come hang with me and squeeze in some great grandma time!! When Saileigh’s mom and dad came to pick her up they graced me with exclusive time and asked to see my bench for the first time that is at Patricia Allyn Park. 

Health-wise for me, other than getting over a head cold which always ends in laryngitis, it’s the same. A few skin issues that struggle to heal, neuropathy causing numbness on one toe in particular and tingly finger tips and digestive upsets causing me to pop an Imodium almost daily, I feel perfect! 

I had yet another infusion last Friday and was blessed when I asked my nurse , Diane if she was aware of the Gratitude Bell hanging in the hallway. She said she was, and she was so thankful it was there because it is always difficult when her stage four patients hear others ringing the other bell…The victory bell and she knows that they never will. She asked me a little bit about how long I had been getting treatment at The James and what my story was. I got to share it with her and the miracle of how God healed me and how much the Brandon Lake Gratitude song has meant on my journey. I also shared with her how the creation of my Gratitude Bell came about. She stood and listened with tears in her eyes at the wonder and the miraculous of all God's doing! It is still my hope and desire that every cancer treatment center in the world would have one of these bells available for others who want to share in celebrating gratitude… Whatever that means for them in that moment. I also told her that anybody can buy one of these bells and have it personally available in their own home like I do. John and I ring it almost daily and share something were grateful for. This week I was especially grateful for my nurse, Diane and the wonderful compassionate care and listening ear as I was infused with $50,000 worth of anti-cancer drugs!

Last weekend, I had another opportunity to spend with our Amish friends in northern Ohio. The serenity and sheer beauty of the landscape and people there provided me with the gift of friendship, beauty, and a little bit of excitement! Although I wanted to take a horse and buggy ride with Amy, she informed me that she wasn’t equipped to be a buggy driver, but she was happy to take me on a ride with their e-bikes. I think the e-bike was more dangerous as I fell off 3 times because it literally was like an out of control bucking bronco at times because I didn’t understand how to work it!! We had some good laughs anyway! Mostly I love how our love for Jesus draws us close even though we live very different lives. I’m an extreme extrovert, while Amy is an extreme introvert. Yet we both love Jesus. I dress in shorts and T-shirts while she’s donning her homemade dress. But we both love God’s Word. I drive a car while she’s always a passenger. But we both enjoy worshiping Jesus. So being gifted with a friend like her is one of my great joys because we can learn about each other without judgement and we can celebrate our mutual gift of being called the daughters of God!

Lastly, I got to fist bump John yesterday afternoon as I completed picking out my very last bit of epoxy in the Wondervan floor that needed to be redone because the epoxy did not set up properly. It took me four full weeks of picking to get it done, but I’m happy to say it is finally completed and ready for John to repour it. I did have a little help from some neighbors for a few minutes!!