May, 2007
Sunday, May 20th, 2007. Yesterday Christie and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. On the day before my wife informed me that I would be entering a communist state starting at midnight of the 18th wherein I had no freedom to do or say anything that wasn't prescribed or permitted by the "government." I called her Chairman Chris for the duration of the day and, boy, what a government she ran! After being told I could not even set my alarm the night before, I woke to find that there was a breakfast of a thousand delights being cooked downstairs. Since everyone knows that breakfast is the best meal of the day (and that all meals should in fact be populated with breakfast foods) one will find it easy to understand that the quickest way to my heart is through a blueberry, buttermilk pancake and egg and hashbrown-filled stomach. Initially I was convinced that this kind of communism was the way to go. It seemed I had been wrong all along about the glories of capitalism and free-enterprise. (That is until we reflected that most communist regimes are not run by benevolent, compassionate wives and mothers and, additionally, we realized that all the money that made our brand of communism work came through good, old honest toil in a relatively free country that still allowed those willing to be creative and industrious the opportunity to make a living.) The new government also had planned out a picnic up near the local Ski Hill complete with all of the picnic foods we had enjoyed on the first day of our marriage many years ago. To complete the day my wife had planned a great dinner for us at the Dragonfly, a new Asian cuisine restaurant in town. We praise God for granting us to be married.
Another memorable event occurred just over a week ago on the 10th when Christie completed her final cancer treatment! Marking that day was a reminder of Psalm 103:
Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities; Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit; Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion. (vv.1-4)
It was a grand day that included lots of flowers for Christie and the nurses and Dr. Smith as well as singing and dancing at the chemo room provided by the Turnbull kids. Here are some pictures.
It seems to us that we could not have made it, nor made it so well through this year-and-a-half without so many of you praying so often for us. Thank you for trusting God on our behalf. On the 31st of this month Dr. Smith has ordered a full-body CT scan for my wife. We have not had one of those for over six months and it is the next step in determining that Christie's cancer is--as we trust in God's mercy--completely gone. Thank you for continuing to pray for her especially as she continues physical therapy with Tamara.