FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT"

As a lot of you know, my passion has been working with children, young adults and adults with cancer. The majority of these individuals became like family to me and they stay in touch with me. After my Brain Stem Stroke, etc. a special Mom of one of my children, Stephanie, came to see me in the hospital and would visit me in Rehab. She brought me the most awesome gift and shared that a good friend had given it to her when Stephanie was fighting Leukemia. She wanted me to have it as she knew the battle I was fighting. I was 100% paralyzed and I had the loss of my perf vision and I was blind on the sides of my eyes. I said "We Walk By Faith, Not By Sight." I lived, breathed this thought. It became a reality as I did walk by faith and not by sight. I still say this daily. That meant so much to me .... I explained she should take it back as I knew how very special it was to her and she told me NO she wanted me to have it. You can't win when you are speaking with Kathy. I thanked her and shared how very special and thoughtful that was. It was a beautiful picture of a Sunrise with the saying on it and it was framed and I kept it next to me. Just for interest, Stephanie went to her first prom..... Her Senior Prom and she looked beautiful. She is doing wonderful in college and is working a job at Pet Smart. She looks wonderful and is enjoying her life. She is quite the Artist as well. She is making just such strides in her cancer free life. Life is good for her. What a Survivor she is. She's my inspiration.

This is a two part Blog tonight:

I am part Cherokee and I wanted to share this as it fits in with my first topic.

Cherokee Tradition

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage? His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is

required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he

could become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him. I wonder how many of us take off our blindfolds before dawn? I know today when I got the news about Jerry and his cancer returning, the news about my dear friend, Lindy, same thing, I let the stress of all of it get to me.... I need to remember: FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT"

II CORINTHIANS 5:7 God is always there for me and is beside me. I know this and I also know that like the Moral of this story is: Just because you can't see God, doesn't mean He is not there.

That is FAITH in it's greatest teaching.

Faith is caught, not taught.

'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' Such a simple sentence with a BIG TRUTH STATED.

I like to examine daily how my day went. I didn't like the fact that I allowed negative thinking in to my day. Each second is so precious as I fought so hard for the right to still be here. I needed to beat that beast, STROKE. I refuse to let it slip in again. I know each day isn't going to be perfect, there will be ups and downs as this is life we are talking about. But, I can choose to take on tough situations in a much better constructive way. Tough times hit anyone, The old me could take it on, but the 2009 model can't. It's ok, at least I can recognize it. My goal is to make strides in this area. I will keep you posted on my journey.

There is a bright spot of my day, Dana and Charlie are parents to their precious daughter, Alexis Theresa. She had a rough delivery. They induced her on Sunday, NADA, they redid the procedure on Monday, NADA, etc. Finally, Wednesday AM they had to do a C-Section. Important thing, Alexis, is here with us. She had to make her debut in the first major snow storm. I teased her parents and said I bet she is waiting to be the half time show on SuperBowl Sunday. I guess the old theory Babies will come when it is time. Well, I guess she is going to have a mind of her own. I can't wait to meet her and hold her in my arms. I love her already. Mom and Dad are doing well. Tired, but finally they have a baby. They had been wanting a child for so long, did invitro and were finally looking into adoption and then WOW they were PG. Well, this story did have a happy ending, a great beginning of Baby and Mom and Dad. So, after reflecting on my week, there is a positive. Is the cup half empty or half full?

Watching the snow is one of my special things I love to do. I see the white snow and think how pure it is, like God is taking all the dirty stuff away and washing us white as snow. We are brand new again. The ice storms we have had were awesome. The way the trees look and all. There were some baby birds on my fence and deck, I fed them as I love to watch them. I got the SOAR idea with my Believe In Miracles when I watched a nest with three little birds .... that was such a fantastic time in my recovery. I related to so many instances when I was trying to learn to walk again, sit up, talk, feed myself, etc. I was a lil baby stage. How I cried when the last baby bird took off. He wouldn't go, but the Momma bird was sitting on the roof of the house two doors down, She kept speaking to the lil baby bird, so I said: I believe you can fly, so, go Believe In Miracles and SOAR.... Just as I said SOAR, the lil bird took off. I told Wayne, can you believe that, she is SOARING and I cried and cried. It was a very emotional moment for me. What a beautiful thing to experience. I had Wayne take pics of the nest and babies. If I can figure how to get them in my gallery, I will add them. I would love to share them with you. Life is good, Tough times never last, but Tough People DO.... I choose to be one of the Tough People (with a loving heart).

OK, guess that is it for now.

If you are reading this and you have never started a Blog, I hope you do, or think about it, for me, it is very healing.

God Bless you, Love n Hugs, thanks for stopping by.

Jan

Believe in Miracles and SOAR :friends: