...so that you may have great endurance and patience...

Colossians 1:⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,¹⁰ so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

(***please note that the time blogspot says i posted is incorrect...i'm not sure how to change it.  yesterday's post said 1:30 but it was actually around 4:30...thanks***)

Doug, Brennan and I got the the hospital last night just in time for the Neurologist to come and see Dad.  Dad's confusion remains.  The doctor said that there are patches on the brain MRI and he's not certain what they are.  He said it could be a spread of the cancer, or a protein that cancer secreets, or fluid caused by swelling.  His plan is to check Dad's blood for protein (a test that has to be sent out and can take a few days) and if the protein is present, they would try to remove the protein from his blood...he said that this procedure has about a 50% success rate.  He also wants to do a spinal tap to check for infection & cancer cells in the spinal fluid but doesn't think that he can get Dad into the position he needs to be in for the test with the significant pain he's having in his right leg/hip.  He said he'd wait a day or two to do that.  So, again, we wait...

Doug, Brennan and I were blessed to have Uncle Michael & Aunt Roxanne, Aunt Joanne, Uncle Joe & Aunt Ada, Anthony & Colleen, Brianna, our dear friends Drew & Laura, Matt & Dawn, Al, Keith, and Travis all visit while we were there.  It is good to have company and it was wonderful to be able to just take a walk and talk with Dawn.  It is good to have the blessing of friends and family who love the Lord and who love us enough to remind us of His goodness.  It is good to have Godly men and women gather around Dad's bed and pray.  It is good when friends bring us cake :)  It is good, when we start to feel weak, to have strong people with strong faith who love us deeply stand beside us for us to lean on.  It is good to be hugged.

It is still very, very hard for me to leave Dad there.  To tuck him in, kiss his face, and turn and walk out of that room makes me feel sick.  I do think he sleeps better when he's alone at night since he's not trying to stay awake to check in on us.  But it's still so, so hard.

This morning my cell phone rang and it was my dear Dad.  Brennan downloaded "I Just Called To Say I Love You" as my ringtone for when Dad calls me.  I haven't heard it in awhile and it was good to hear it today, although my eyes fill with tears at the first note.  When I answered, he wasn't there but I could hear him pushing buttons.  I called back...no answer.  He called again and said "Where are you?"  ...  "Coming soon, Dad", was my reply.  "I haven't seen a soul"...he said and then hung up. 

Please continue to pray for us as we wait with hope.