In between all of Mike’s chemo visits, we savored a very sweet summer, moving from one event on the calendar to the next – birthday parties, weddings, camping, swimming, Mike even hiked seventy-five miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, but sweetest of all was hanging out with our grandchildren, family and friends.

Then one day we turned the page of our calendar and the temperature dropped. We took our grandchildren back home to start school and came home to our cold empty house and a deepening silence as the leaves begin to fall and we wait for the news that will shape the rest of our story.

For months we’ve been praying that God would use all the chemo in Mike’s body to shrink his cancer enough to successfully remove it. By this time next week, we should have a good idea about how God has chosen to answer our prayer. As Mike always says, “He’ll either heal me here, or He’ll heal me there. Either way, I’ll be healed.”

Either way, God is good!

Either way, we will continue to praise Him!

Either way, His grace in exchange for our brokenness, is still the best deal on the planet!

On Friday morning Mike will check into the hospital and a skilled surgeon will attempt the Whipple Procedure (take two) also known as a resection surgery. “Take two” because this is the same surgery that was attempted in Rome six months ago, but it couldn’t be completed because they found the cancer had spread too far. With the pre-op and post-op this will be an all day event, then he’ll likely spend another ten days in the hospital and eight to ten weeks in recovery at home.

Please pray for Mike and his unwanted (but very grateful that it’s possible) upcoming surgery and for both of us as we learn to live, trust and praise through these unwanted pages of our story.

“If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.” ~ 1 Corinthians 15:19