Happy Birthday, Ruthie!

Don took this picture this evening as we were getting ready to go to our chuck-wagon dinner. I love the flowers around here. This was a potted hibiscus near one of the entrances to the convention center.

The chuck-wagon dinner was perfect! The food was good and the weather was perfect for it! We had such a good time sitting around talking to each other. This retreat has been so wonderful. I think it has been good for Don and I know it’s been good for me. I see other cancer survivors from time to time, but it’s been so nice to visit time and again with people who ‘get it.’ That’s kind of how we’ve put it since we’ve been here. People who don’t have cancer have been very supportive, but they have no way of really understanding. Once you have cancer you are always on the lookout for it to appear again. It’s very common that it will, too. Whatever makes our bodies a comfort zone for it in the first place, we have to face that it’s still a comfort zone. Then common side effects of chemo and radiation are CANCER!

I don’t do caffeine or sugar and I avoid processed foods and white flour; I do all that to make my body less inviting to cancer. I exercise like a nut to build up my immunity and bone density, plus I take 5 cancer fighting supplements and others to build my immunity. Plus, I do my best to avoid stress. A thing I’ve concluded is that type A personalities naturally attract cancer. Ugh. I can’t change into a B personality, so I just have to do my best. My family has been so good to help me de-stress. My friends do their best to help me, too. They all do it out of love. This group of people didn’t know me, let alone love me, but we can all sure talk! It’s been so nice to not have to prepare or clean up after meals! The woods have been so beautiful! The surroundings are just awesome. The staff has been so much fun, too. WOW; I’ve learned so much. I surely thank God for the opportunity to attend this retreat.

I am doing the devotional for our ladies salad supper at church next Tuesday night. I had a million things I wanted to say, but I got my devotional from a session we had this morning. I can hardly wait for Tuesday night to share what I’ve learned! I’ll share more with you after Tuesday, too; I don’t want to give away my lesson before then.

I thank God for my big sister, Ruthie! I would have never lived to have cancer if it had not been for Ruthie pulling me out of many snares and teaching me so much. Besides that she gave me a wonderful brother-in-law and niece and nephew and their great families! Ruthie, here is your birthday present. This is a joke the chaplain told today. This couple were blessed to die at the same time and they showed up at the pearly gates. St. Peter asked them if they’d sinned and they began to confess what they considered to be their sins. St. Peter kept saying, "Oh, that’s not a sin; finally He said, good grief, you must have worried yourselves to death!"