A Little Randomness ~ 2017

 

January 2017

Wow! What to say about 2017?

It started out like pretty much any other year.

In April, everything went sideways when I found the lump.

In May, we celebrated our thirty-first anniversary in the chemo room as I received my first round of chemo.

In September, I finished chemo. I would follow up with another chemo drug every three months for months.

In October, I had a bilateral mastectomy with implants.

Radiation would start the next year.

Much of my year was dominated by my breast cancer and its treatment. I think that I'll write about that one day. You'll find much written about it already in my blog starting in May of 2017 if you're interested.

Many decisions had to be made early on. Although many things lost their importance to me. I chose to trust God. Jesus healed everyone who came to him. I chose to believe good of God and that He is my healer, live or die. 

God was gracious to remind me early that it rains on the just and the unjust. Therefore, I didn't go through the questioning, the whys. I knew God would take me through it. 

I don't really want to write anything more about it right now. Someday....

If you're in your breast cancer fight, and you want to "talk" or you want prayer, use my contact form at the side. In fact, if anyone wants prayer, please contact me. I believe one of the reasons that I recovered and made it through so well was the love and prayer that was extended to and for me.

Laura

Burden Bearing... Don't Be a Donkey!

Burden bearing. I think we've all done it. Someone shares a prayer request, or you become aware of a need that you cannot meet, and you feel such a heaviness over it. It just tugs at your heart and makes you melancholy. You might be anxious or fearful. It can take many forms. The need may be your own, your family's, a friend's, or even a stranger's, and you carry it on your back even though you cannot meet the need yourself. So you pray. Then you pick that burden back up and carry it some more....

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Let all your requests be made known to God. You need to be like Teflon and let the prayer requests slide through the pan of your prayers and onto Father, Son, and Holy Spirit's plate to make things right and bring healing physically, spiritually, socially, and financially.  

Now, I must insert here that feeling a burden to pray for someone long-term is not the same as carrying the burden of that prayer being fulfilled. Keep praying, but don't carry the anxiety of the prayer being answered. 

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

I really need to remember this right now. My own burden of physical pain, our finances, our health,  and the burdens of my children have been heavy on me lately. 

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  

Matthew 6:34  

It's time for me to take it to heart, to really quit worrying about what may happen to me and my husband, to my children, to my family. I need to just take it to Jesus, and leave it all. I cannot control it all by worrying about it.

What about you?

Are you burden bearing instead of making your requests known to God? 

I know I need the second half of that verse. "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Let's seek him on a deeper level, and trust him more.

Laura 

Struggling Under The Burdens

Trying to Release Them to Jesus

~~~~~
Related Posts:

• November is for Thanks Living
• Thankful for a War Song to Fight This Battle!
• Out of Control
• Sometimes Life Isn't Very Happy

~~~~~

Photo Credit Pixabay.


Thank you all for writing to me. I read every comment. I truly appreciate the support you've all given me through the years. If you'd like a response to your comment, please make sure that I have your email.

Thanks! Laura

Contentment, Thankfulness, Happily Ever After

Contentment...
It's definitely an out of style commodity these days.
You cannot find it in the stores on Black Friday.
It's not available online on Cyber Monday.

It is only available in one place—from one person.
Within yourself—from God.
It's available here and now.
It begins with being thankful.

Live today as though now is your happily ever after.
It is.

Happy Thanksgiving
from Harvest Lane Cottage,

Laura
Thankful to be alive
for my sixth Thanksgiving
since CHRIST conquered cancer in my body

Laura Lately ~ Checking In After Quite a Week

  It's been a challenging week. I missed an important deadline, because I just found the notice in my inbox. As I was explaining my week and apologizing, I thought I'd share it with you, too. 

God is so good. I've really appreciated feeling him with me during all this. 

 This week:

• I attended my step-mom's funeral, began a long-term substitute special education teaching position, 
• my daughter announced that she's getting married September 24th (to a fine Christian young man), 
• my friend's husband was found dead in his camper, 
• other friends lost their baby at 36 weeks, 
• and I received the results from my MRI and bone scan that showed that I do not have cancer (Thank you Jesus), but I do have arthritis in several areas and a couple bulging discs in my neck.  There was nothing conclusive about the bone pain in my leg or the headaches that lead to the MRI. So, back to square one, but without cancer hanging over my head! Very thankful to Jesus for that! I am going to keep praying for healing.

 All this to say, I've not checked my email or blog comments for a few days. What a week!

 Have a wonderful week, and know that God is sustaining me through all the craziness well. 

Your faraway friend,

Laura Lane

Every Circumstance Requires a Choice!

Circumstances....

we can be above them or below them.

We can look on the dark side or the bright side.

Every circumstance requires a choice.

Unemployed?

It's either hopeless or a chance to watch God perform miraculous provision.

Cancer?

It's either a death sentence or a chance to see God's miraculous healing.

Lonely?

It's either a reason to despair or a reason to reach out to someone else who may be lonely, too. 

Afraid?

It's either a reason to give in to anxiety or to take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ.

I choose hope. 

I choose faith.

I choose to reach out.

I choose miraculous healing.

I choose miraculous provision. 

I choose to take those thoughts captive.

I choose JESUS.

I choose to

keep on the sunny side of life!

Now... when I need it, please remind me friends!

What do you choose?

This old song by the Carter Family 

ministered to my heart today.

It's an old recording.

It makes me think of a country family

sitting out on their porch 

singing after supper.

It inspired me today.

Keep on the Sunny Side

by the Johnny Cash and The Carter Family

God bless each one of you dear readers!

Thanks so much for your prayers, cards and notes!

For those who have asked, I am happy to give my address, but I would rather not post it on the blog. Just send me an email. My address is in the sidebar.

Enjoy and keep on the sunny side!

Laura

Happy at Home

Counting on Jesus

Thank you for praying!

Thank you for praying for me. I am home resting and recovering. The surgery went well. Now my body must heal. I will never be able to express my gratitude to all of you who have prayed me through cancer and all the subsequent tests, surgeries and treatments. I have high hopes that this surgery will be the last. 

Next up... OCTOBER! One of my favorite months of the year! The leaves are just beginning to turn here in southern Missouri. 

Well, enough for now. I hope to write again soon when I feel a bit better.

Blessed beyond,

Laura

Apron Strings and Little Things

Hello everyone.

 I have been sewing this week. It's part of the 52 Week Sewing Challenge that I joined last week. We were challenged to finish at least one work in progress. This apron laid dormant for a long time. A few weeks before I found the lump which turned out to be breast cancer, I began preparing one of my old worn out aprons to be used as a pattern for a new one with this garden print. I finished it Sunday evening. I used single fold bias tape to trim it with. I've never used single fold before, but I thought why not? There were 4 yards in the package instead of just 3 for double fold. I didn't realize that meant that I would have to iron all four yards in half to make it work. ~smile~ Oh well, it was easy enough, and it saved me $1 because I had to go back and purchase a second package. There wasn't quite enough to finish the neckline. Who would guess an apron would take that much? I've got some left over for another project now. I have leftover fabric, too. Any suggestions for what I should do with it?

 I've also been watching some videos about wigs. My hair just isn't growing back well after the chemotherapy. It's very thin, and it's truly bothering me. I find that I don't look like myself when I look in the mirror. I forget about it when I am talking to others, but I may need to do something to add to my self-confidence. Have any of you had experience with wigs or any advice?

 My big change this past week was that my husband and I decided to graduate our youngest daughter, Amy, from homeschooling a semester early. This allows her to go to the junior college full time this semester. After we made the decision, I cried for awhile. I started this mothering thing thirty years ago this summer. I never dreamed we'd homeschool, but I've been doing it for a quarter of a century. Crazy, huh? So, now, it's on to redefining Laura. I need to listen to the LORD and determine what my next steps are. Want to go along for the journey? I'm sure I'll write about it here.  Have you finished homeschooling or retired? How did you determine what you wanted to do next? Do you have any ideas for me?

 Well, do think about writing to me and telling me of your thoughts, ideas, and what you've been up to lately. I love it when you all write to me.

 Blessings to you all!

 Laura

Shared at I Made It Monday.

Post-Mastectomy Surgery Recovery Update

My Lowell made me some soothing chicken soup this week.
Recipe

Hello everyone.

 Thank you so much for praying for me this week. My surgery went well Monday according to my surgeon. I've spent this week relaxing with my feet up and enjoying quiet moments with my knitting, my little dog, and my big cat. They have been my near constant companions this week. I wonder if that has anything to do with my heated blanket?

 My incision looks good to me. I've been dabbing at it with colloidal silver on a napkin a few times each day. There doesn't seem to be any indication of infection or discharge. That's a major improvement over the last two surgeries. Thank you Jesus. I'll go in to see the surgeon again next Thursday to get his opinion on it. I am taking minimal pain medicine—just one tablet every four hours. I have pain, but it is tolerable. Sometimes I take two at night to help me sleep. I cannot lie down flat yet, so I sleep propped up in bed or on the sofa.

 Friends have brought me magazines and cookbooks to look at, a pot of potato soup, and flowers. I do appreciate having good friends to check in on me. Another friend's husband got ill, so she is going to visit me next week.

 Today I completed a  knitted hat for my brother-in-love and earlier this week I mended a pair of pants for my daughter. Sometimes we just need time to sit and stitch!

 Thank you all for your prayers for me. I truly appreciate it. God cannot get me off His mind with y'all praying like you do! Well, I'm going to say good-bye. The pain medicine is kicking in and making me drowsy. I don't want to leave you with anything TOO funny. Wink.

 Bye y'all,
 Thanks for checking on me and praying,
 Laura

Prayer Request: This Was NOT on My Fall Bucket List!

Hi Y'all!

 Some of you are familiar with my bucket lists that I write each season. I even wrote one during the summer that I was taking chemotherapy for breast cancer and radiation therapy the following winter. The lists are never completed, but they give me some tangible reminders to enjoy the season. Let me tell you, this was NOT on my Fall Bucket List

 For the last two years, I've had surgery in October. Two years ago it was a bilateral mastectomy. That means both sides. Last year, there was surgery for revision on my right side. The cancer had been on the left. Surprise surprise, I am having surgery again.
 Tomorrow morning, at 5:30 a.m. central time, I go to the hospital. Surgery is scheduled for 7:30 a.m.
The surgeon is going to replace the implant in my right breast. It needs to be done, but boy is this close to the holidays! ~smile~

 I'm writing to you with prayer requests.

• I am praying for my surgeon, Dr. H., that he will feel well, be skillful, and at his best tomorrow morning as he and his staff perform surgery. 
• I am praying for salvation and blessing for everyone involved. 
• I am also praying that there will be no germs or anything that will cause me to get an infection.
• Obviously, I'm also praying that I will heal quickly and completely with minimal pain.

 I plan to ask the surgeon if I can pray for him before surgery, and I plan to splash the love of Jesus over everyone that I can. ~smile~

 Many of you have been with me since before my cancer diagnosis. I thank you so very much for staying with me through all of this. As you might guess, I will not be on the computer for a few days or maybe even a few weeks. All depends on how I feel and how soon I am off the pain medicines. ~smile~ 

 So, thank you all for your continued prayers. You all have been a rock of support to me in this cancer and post-cancer path. I thank God for you all and for each day I wake and live.

God bless you all!

Watch my Harvest Lane Cottage Facebook page. I'll probably post there before I post here, because it's quicker. I invite you to like my page.

Hugs,

Laura Lane

Trusting My Jesus 

Through It All

P.S. I've had requests for my address. I am happy to send it to you directly if you email me. I don't feel comfortable putting it directly on the blog. Thanks for understanding.
laura@harvestlanecottage.com 

P.P.S. If you wish to donate, you can donate with PayPal using lauraofharvestlane@gmail.com.

https://www.facebook.com/HarvestLaneCottage

A Chatty Little Hello From the Cottage ~ October 25, 2019

Hi everyone! Just popping in to say hello.

If you read my last post, you know that my husband found a computer for me. It's a Dell Optiplex 3020. That doesn't mean anything to me either. ~smile~ What I do know is that it's much smaller than my last desktop. It seems to be working great, too. I want to thank Penny Holland, Mr. and Mrs. David Entinger Helen Threlfo for their donations. Your generosity helped me purchase a very nice reconditioned computer. That fits my thrifty lifestyle. 

Lately, I've been cozying up the cottage for the cold weather that will soon be here. It's been raining all day, and it's been in the forties. Next week there's a chance of snow! Just imagine. That's really early for Southern Missouri. That means I need to stock up on cocoa and soup fixin's!

I've made chili and a beef and cabbage soup this week. My husband has requested garlic cheese potato soup for tomorrow night. We've got good friends coming for a soup supper. My friend, Joyce, from Morris Patch of Heaven Homestead and her family are coming. Joyce is bringing minestrone. I invite you to go see her latest video, and tell her I sent you.

Well, I hope you're enjoying your Fall. I'm trying to do as many things on my Fall Bucket List as possible over the next couple of weeks. Why the rush? I found out this week that I'm going to have surgery again. I need to have my implant replaced. November 11th is the date.  I'm not sure what recovery will be like this time. So, that means I need to pack in all the fall fun and Thanksgiving planning that I can between now and then.

Well enough for now. I hope you have a terrific weekend.
Laura

Maple Leaf Festival 2018 and an Update

Hi Y'all!

  I ventured on my biggest outing since surgery with my husband and daughters. We went to the Maple Leaf Parade yesterday morning. Afterward, we grabbed a sandwich at Sonic and headed to the square. Both of my daughters performed their music on stage during the afternoon. We were out from early morning until around 5:00. Then we quickly heated our covered dish and headed over to our friends' house for dinner and a bonfire. It was nice to enjoy a harvest party and to mark bonfire off my bucket list. I'm wearing my Fiddly Bits scarf and hat. I made them both myself. The scarf is knit in a tube with the ends grafted together. I just made a simple hat without a pattern. The pattern for the scarf is available on Ravelry. I still have leftover yarn. I may make some fingerless mitts. Not sure on that one yet. Believe me, it made for a very long and tiring day. Hitting the pillow—yay!

  I saw the surgeon this week and he said that I'm healing well. Yesterday, I took my last pain pill, and although I've still got some pain, it's no worse than on the other side. The radiation caused damage, and I still have pain there. I'm still believing God for healing on both sides.

  I probably won't be writing this week, but maybe next week I can start getting back to writing. After all, Fall is my extra most favoritest time of the year. Giggle. I feel so naughty when I write words like that. I have an English degree from the last century, and one of my best friends is a college English professor. Hi Deb! Forgive me?

  Anyhow, I'll think up something good and write in another week or so. God bless you all, and enjoy this wonderful time of the year. In the meantime, check out some of the posts on my Falling for Autumn tab.

~ Laura

Thank You! Surgery/Recovery Update

My husband, my hero

Thank you all so much for your prayers. I feel like I am recovering well from this latest surgery.  God is so good to me! My husband and girls are taking good care of me. That helps so much. I hope to be back to regular writing and responding in another week or two. Don't give up... I'll be back. Enjoy this most wonderful time of the year. I'm still going to try to do a few things on my Fall Bucket List 2018!

Over the Moon

Surgery Day ~ October 10, 2018 ~ Breast Cancer Awareness

I'm having surgery at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. This is my third surgery since finding out I had breast cancer back in May 2017. This one is outpatient.

I will not be writing or responding to comments for a few days. I appreciate your prayers.

PLEASE check yourself regularly. 

I found the lump quite by accident. I hadn't been careful about checking monthly. By the time I found the lump, I was already stage 3. But God! Thank you Jesus for destroying the cancer in my body.

I read something on a bumper sticker. Please forgive the vulgarity, but it gets the point across.

"Check your boobies! Mine tried to kill me!"

God bless you all!

Laura

Looking Forward

Breast cancer treatment has dominated my life since I found the lump April 22, 2017.  I completed my first round of chemo in September last year. Chemotherapy was one of the hardest things I’ve lived through.

I had a bilateral mastectomy with lymph node removal and reconstruction in October 2017.  I didn’t heal well from the surgery, but they did get all the cancer.  “No cancer in the lymph nodes and in the margins” is how they put it. They won’t declare me cancer free, but I am in remission.  The incisions finally healed just in time for radiation.

Radiation was quite an ordeal. I had to be treated every day. I left the house every day regardless of the weather at 8:45 to drive about twenty minutes for a treatment that lasted about five minutes. I did this alone for seven weeks. I cannot explain how it felt to lie beneath a machine that looks like a Kitchenaid mixer that has the power to heal or to destroy. One morning, my treatment was delayed because of a malfunction. Wasn’t that a nerve wracking morning! I prayed and sang (as best one can on one’s back) praises and worship to God “Thou of LORD art a shield to me—my glory and the lifter of my head.”  God was my only companion in that radioactive room. God was my heart and lungs’ only shield.

I completed my last chemo—Herceptin—last month.  I’d been going for treatments for over a year for that. It didn’t make me sick like the first round of chemo, but it did make me feel exhausted, thick headed at times, and weaker.

So here I am, August 20, 2018. Sixteen months after I found the lump that changed my life forever. I have pain. I still have stiffness and discomfort when I try to move my arm sometimes. I have scars from surgery and scars from the radiation burns. But I have life. I have something else, too.

I have a new boldness to speak to others. I have a new boldness to share my faith in Jesus Christ. I have a new burden to pray for others—right in the moment—right with them if possible. I have a new trust in my Jesus. I feel closer to him than ever before, and my faith has been built by reading His word and hearing His word come out of my own mouth in faith. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

“I will live and not die and declare the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”

I’ve learned that symptoms and tests are facts. The word of God is truth.

I will trust the LORD in all things.

Just a little of why I’ve not been here. 

God bless you all!

Laura Lane





Wonderful Wednesday
Thursday Favorite Things

Just a Little Update on Me...

  Just a little update on how I'm doing.  I feel better than while I was in radiation and Herceptin treatments, but this whole process has left me feeling pretty run down. I knit on Tuesday nights with one of my chemo nurses. I asked her about it and a couple other things. She thinks that one of the meds I'm on contributes to the general "not feeling good" feeling, aches and tiredness. Unfortunately, I'll be taking this med for at least 4 1/2 more years.  I'll have to try to figure out how to rebuild my health so that I can feel as good as possible. I just feel so tired, I don't know how I'll find the energy. ~grin~  Since I'm done with my last chemo treatment, I do expect I'll continue to improve. With God, nothing is impossible. I will just keep on keeping on and keep on praying and trusting Jesus.

  Thanks to all who pray for me!
Laura

Getting Closer to the Finish Line With Herceptin Breast Cancer Treatment

Update on me:

It's medical week. That means limited productivity. But I'm getting closer to the finish line for the final chemo treatments.

I see the doctor or nurse practitioner on Monday or Tuesday then have a Herceptin treatment by IV on Wednesday every 3 weeks. It takes all morning. I then go home and go to bed for the rest of the day. I feel pretty fatigued for a few days, then I improve.

I will finish my year of Herceptin treatments on July 18th if all goes according to plan.

I'll keep seeing my cancer doctor and having tests but less often as time goes by.  I'll have another surgery this fall. I also have a 💊 pill I must take for 5 years to help prevent recurrence.

It's my understanding that the difference between remission and cancer-free is five years. I say in Jesus' name I am cancer-free now!

I will never be able to thank you all enough for going through this with me. Your comments, emails, cards, letters, and gifts have encouraged me enormously.

I've still got a long way to go, but the worst of it all is behind me. God has been so very good to me. Y'all have been part of the good. All good gifts come from the father of lights in whom there is no shadow of turning.

Blessings,
Laura
Breast Cancer Survivor
Continuing the Battle

Honor and Happily Ever After

This is our happily ever after. 

We didn't expect it to include cancer, 

but we didn't expect four children either! 

~smile~

We've been married since 1986. 

Lowell has been faithful to me

in the

good times and the bad times.

He has taken care of me

through the years 

and 

through this past year.

Lowell Lane

I love you,

and

I honor you 

for 

honoring your

marriage vows to me.

I hope we will have

many more years

together...

forever...

no matter what.

LUMP DAY 2018!

God has been so close and so faithful through this cancer battle. He has truly shown Himself to be Jehovah Sabaoth—Lord of Hosts. He has fought this battle for me. I've clung to Him in a way I never did before. I've prayed for others and for myself in a way I never did before. 

I am changed.

Thank you for praying. 

I am doing well with my treatments. This coming week is my medical week. I have treatments every three weeks. Doctor Monday. Knit night Tuesday. Chemo Wednesday. Recovery Thursday and Friday.

Just five more Herceptin chemo treatments! Surgery in the fall. Then I get to recover from that and be more "normal" whatever that means anymore. I can hardly believe that April 22nd is a year since I found the lump. Last spring I didn't know if I'd see this spring. 

Thank you Jesus I am still here!

You're all a part of that. Your faithful prayers, cards, letters, notes, gifts and encouragement have helped carry me through this year. 

My gratitude 

is from my heart.

I wish I could hug 

every one of you!

God bless you all!

Laura

Thankful to be alive

P.S. I just found out my last Herceptin treatment should be July 18th.

Why a Bucket List?

Why a bucket list? 

Because it can change boring and rusty 

to beautiful and fun!

MY SPRING BUCKET LIST 2018

  Last summer, after my diagnosis, I made a summer bucket list to give myself some things to look forward to so that it wouldn't just be the summer of chemo. It was a short list. It was still the summer of chemo, but I did some fun things, too.

  I then made one for fall so that it wouldn't just be the fall of mastectomy surgery. I was able to do some fun things, then, too. Same with Christmas and the winter of radiation. It was all to give myself something to look forward to and to keep my mind off my treatments.

  Nearly everything on each list was for enjoyment. My lists helped me make it through a very tough year. I can hardly believe that it's been almost a year since I found the lump. Believe me, I'll never forget the moment nor the date—April 22nd, 2017. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. I knew I would never be the same. But God was there for me even in the moment and in all the moments that followed.

  God has been so good to me. I've still got months of treatments to go—IV Herceptin chemo treatments, lots of tests, at least two more surgeries, and long-term pills. But God will be with me every moment. My bucket lists will help me enjoy life along the way.

  Thank you all for being part of my prayer and encouragement team. God bless you richly!

 Hugs,

 Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage

NOW GO MAKE YOUR SPRING BUCKET LIST!

Who cares whether you can finish it. You're sure to have fun! Don't forget to put blowing bubbles in your list!

Share Your Cup

Why You've Not Heard From Me

My Amy and Me

Hi everyone,
 I wanted to tell you why I've not been writing. As you may know, I finished radiation on March 2nd. What I did not expect is that my skin would continue to burn and get worse for a week or more, and I would be hit with fatigue.
 I'm now two weeks past radiation, and I am now feeling a bit better each day. The intensity of pain and burning has lessened a lot. I thank you all who have been praying for me.
 I hope to get back to writing in another week or so. I just haven't had the energy to write. I've rested a lot between the must dos of life.
 God bless you all! Don't give up on my blog. I'll be back!
Laura
Resting and Recovering