The pathology report is good!

Psalm 148
Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
Praise him, sun and moon!
Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
Praise him, skies above!
Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
Let every created thing give praise to the Lord,
for he issued his command, and they came into being.
He set them in place forever and ever.
His decree will never be revoked.

Praise the Lord from the earth,
you creatures of the ocean depths,
fire and hail, snow and clouds,[a]
wind and weather that obey him,
mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
wild animals and all livestock,
small scurrying animals and birds,
kings of the earth and all people,
rulers and judges of the earth,
young men and young women,
old men and children.

Let them all praise the name of the Lord.
For his name is very great;
his glory towers over the earth and heaven!
He has made his people strong,
honoring his faithful ones—
the people of Israel who are close to him.

Praise the Lord!

We are so blessed by a God who loves us and hears our prayers. I am so grateful to all of you, who have prayed for me. It is very humbling. I am truly blessed to have so many caring and loving friends and family members.

We heard to day from the doctor's nurse. She said that the report came in and another doctor read the report. The tumor was contained to the kidney. They took several lymph nodes and some surrounding tissue. There was nothing in the nodes or surrounding tissue, so our prayer that all is contained has been answered.

I feel so fortunate to have been through this trial. Many good things have come from this trial. It has been a blessing to go through it step by step and see how God has answered prayers every step of the way. Not knowing his plan, but knowing that He lights the way. (Psalm 119:105-108)

Pleae take a moment to offer a prayer of thanksgiving.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." — Romans 8:28

With the love of Christ,
Blane & Chris

Thank You!

Thank you all for praying and continuing in prayer for us as we wait! Blane is doing very well. He had visitors all day yesterday which was great, and he was awake the entire time! He sometimes repeats himself, right Shari? And he talks very slow at times, all effects of the anesthesia and pain meds I think. But he really seems great. Saturday he slept almost all day so it was good, especially for our kids, to see him up and talking and, finally, eating solid food! I think things are going very well. Dr. Ney is an early bird so I have missed him everyday. He was there yesterday morning around 5:00am. I've always been an early riser but I can't get the kids out of bed at that time of day.

Well, seems as I am writing this Blane just called to say Dr. Ney left there at 6:00 am this morning. They had removed Blane's epidural last night and put him on oral meds, and since he's been moving around fairly well (he walked the halls about a dozen times yesterday), Dr. Ney is going to send him home a day early! So, he will be coming home late this afternoon, early evening! Praise God for Blane's quick healing! He will continue to recover here at home which is such a blessing. So if any of you want to see Blane in his hospital attire you need to do so before 3:00 today. Thank you all for your continued prayers while we wait for these lab results. I will let you know those results as soon as we get them.

I will leave you with this hymn which is loaded with promises from God's word. If you are like me, you'll want to read it slow since this isn't typical speech for 2008! I love the promises in this hymn!! It includes scripture from Isaiah 43:2; II Corinthians 12:9; Hebrews 13:5 and II Peter 1:4


How Firm A Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Never, no never, no never....if it still isn't clear, you can add as many no nevers as you need!!!

Much love, in Christ, Chris

Hi to all our friends and family,

I wanted to let everyone know Blane is out of surgery. It's a hard decision to come home tonite but I felt like the little ones needed me the most, Blane is resting anyway so he'll be fine.

His surgery went well, it took only 2 hours. I met with Dr. Ney after and he informed me that he took the kidney and tumor out surrounded by the "fatty capsule", whatever that meant, I was prideful (or maybe tired) and didn't question him, just nodded my head in understanding. But from what I can tell he said it all came out smoothly, they will send it to pathology, they will test the tumor and the fatty layer around it to see if he removed all the margins. He also removed a few lymph nodes although he says they looked fine and doesn't expect anything to show up. He said as long as he got the margins, and the nodes come out negative, there will be no chemo. It will be gone! I am going to enjoy this Christmas with my husband and family and we should hear about the pathology the Monday following Christmas. Please continue to pray for us. We have appreciated your prayers so much.

We are so grateful to all who came to the hospital today and tonite. Thank you so much, you have really bore our burdens and encouraged me especially. When the nurse was taking me back to recovery to see Blane for the first time, she commented "they warned me he had a big "family" here waiting." I also want to thank our neighbors for caring for Tommy & Julie, thanks Greg & Diane. Our neighbors, Larry & Peggy Houser came down after Larry's chemo to check on us. He is an amazing man, they are going through a tremendous trial themselves and both he and Peggy are always willing to help others.

I have truly seen the body of Christ in action and Blane and I were saying how humbled we are when we think about the care you all have shown. God is a true help in time of need. We have experienced this.

Blane will be in the hospital until Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. He is in room 7207, if you get a chance to visit. He wants visitors...so feel free to stop by.

Thank you for your prayers and all of your offers to help us.

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say rejoice! Let your patient spirit be known to all men, the Lord is near.

Our love to all, in Christ, Chris

Praising Jesus Christ!

Today we are singing praises. Last night the elders of our church came to pray with us, and we were all blessed. This morning three dear friends came over before the sun came up to pray with us. We have all served the Lord together on Costa Rica mission trips, and it was a wonderful time of prayer. While they were still here, Dr. Ney called to let us know that the CT Scan and the bone scan looked good. Everything is contained to the one kidney, which is the answer to the prayer we have been praying. Please take a moment to thank God for hearing the prayers that you have prayed for me. I have been thanking the Lord for all of your prayers.

Our next step is the surgery tomorrow. Please continue to pray. Start by thanking the Lord for all that you have and the gift of His son Jesus. If you don't know Jesus in a personal way, ask that He reveal Himself to you...and He will. Please pray for the surgeons. That they would be blessed with wisdom and skill. That the anestheiologist would be blessed with wisdom and skill. That all assisting durning and after the surgery are blessed. Please pray for my family that they would enjoy continued peace and joy through this storm. Please pray that my body would heal and be strong. Then be quite and still for a moment. Listen for His wisper and enjoy His presence.

Psalm 34

Taste and See That the LORD Is Good

I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The LORD redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

May God bless you today and hold you in the palm of His hand. I pray that you know home much you are loved, for we are all "fearfully and wonderfully made."

In Christ's Love,
Blane

I decided to use what I have shared in a recent email to friends as a stating point to share an update about my recent medical issue. This may be an esaier way to update everyone on what is happening.

On Tuesday of this week, while on a business trip to Philadelphia, I had an episode that sent me to the ER. Initially my symptoms presented as a kidney stone, so we worked to pass it. While I was there, they did a CT scan to better diagnose the problem. What was found is a large mass on my left kidney. (Or maybe better to say my left kidney is a large mass.) Either way, "good feelings gone". (Click and watch about a minute of this video clip and you'll get the humor of it.) I am very thankful to have had my boss, friend, and brother in Christ (in ascending order of importance) with me that day. While there, I passed a blood clot, which was the issue that I was having. We were able to get me discharged from the ER and still catch our flight home that evening, because that is all I wanted at that point! Then the prayers begin!

At this point we prayed for the strength of Jesus Christ to carry my family and me, because we don't have the strength in ourselves. "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." - Philippians 4:13

On Wednesday I was able to see my family doctor, who referred me to a urologist and prayed with us. (I love that quality in a doctor.) My CT Scan images were still in Philly and the hospital did not FedEx, unless I provided an account number. (Not a problem, I am familiar with this web stuff.) Initially I was scheduled to see him on Thursday the 18th. We called again yesterday to see if we could get in sooner. They managed to work an opening in the schedule in the afternoon, quite a blessing, and my CT Scan CDs arrived via FedEx, another blessing!

"How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!" - Psalm 147:5

We saw the doctor and reviewed the CT Scan images. We could see that the left Kidney was very large and the right was normal. Scanning through the images, he did not see anything of particular concern with the other organs. Since the scan was done without "contrast", we will more scans on Tuesday and a bone scan as well. Our prayer is that everything is confined to the one kidney and there are no other issues. We have decided to surgically remove the kidney next Friday the 19th. I will be in the hospital for 4 to 5 days, which should put me home for Christmas and recovery.

What can you do? ... Please pray, even if you don't think you know how to pray. Find a quite place, be humble before God, and just talk to Him.
Pray that the findings from the test results on Tuesday are good and that all is confined to the one kidney. If that is the case, then when the kidney is removed, the prognosis is very good.

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." - Matthew 6:31-34

May the love of Christ richly bless you and your families during this Christmas season!

Love,
Blane & Chris, Katie, Ross, Tommy and Julie