Wherever You Go

He goes with me everywhere—

even into the radiation room 

where I'm alone.

He goes with you everywhere.

You are never alone.

♥

Happy Homemaker Tuesday ~ January 23, 2018

As I write ...  A day late on Tuesday afternoon.

The weather.... Sunny and partly cloudy. Very chilly outside. 

Right now I am... just done eating lunch.  

Thinking... I'm thinking about my new knitting project. 

A quote to share... 

♥♥♥♥♥

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On my reading pile...   

• Shepherds Abiding... A Mitford book by Jan Karon
• The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse

Favorite blog posts last week...  

• How to Make Scented Soy Wax Candles
• Why Handmade and Works in Progress
• Handmade Christmas for 2018

Something fun to share... 

On the menu for this week...

• Monday...   Chinese Take-out 
• Tuesday...  Family gone, sandwiches or canned soup 
• Wednesday...  Homemade bean burritos 
• Thursday...   Not sure yet
• Friday...   Date night I hope

On my to do list... 

• Do some things on my bucket list.
• Radiation
• Mop kitchen floor
• Laundry
• Update school records

In the workbasket...  

• I've just finished another little brown hat with the remaining yarn.  I enjoy having a knitting project on the needles. 
• I'm going to start a new hat with a garnet yarn.

Looking forward to this week...

• Tuesday - Knitting group
• Wednesday - Church
• Thursday - 
• Friday - Homeschool co-op
• Saturday -  

Looking around the house...  My motto has become, "I can only do what I can do." Unfortunately, it shows!

From the camera... 
 

Penny didn't know what to think of the snow!

Devotional...   

• Burden Bearing... Don't Be a Donkey!
• How to Be a Smiling Wife

On my prayer list...

• Radiation will not harm my heart or lungs, and that I will be brave.
• Peace of Jerusalem and Israel
• Wisdom, health, and protection for President Trump, Vice-President Pence, and their families. 
• Healing for our country so that we may be ONE nation under God.
• Cancer will die the death in my body. My heart, brain, organs, spleen, and healthy cells will be protected. I will live and not die and declare the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Psalm 118:17

My prayer for you, my reader...

Jesus, I thank you that you hear our prayers. Father, I thank you for sending Jesus. Holy Spirit, I thank you for being our comforter and our teacher. Lord God, three in one, I thank you that you personally know each one of my readers. You know each one's needs, fears, hopes, problems, pains, and illnesses. I ask you God to speak directly to each one, to meet each person's needs, and heal each physical problem. Bless each spiritually, physically, socially, and financially. I ask it all by the power of the Blood of Jesus, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Thanks for dropping by!
Please say hello.
Laura
Trusting in God's timing, provision, and healing power

Joining with Sandra at Happy Homemaker Monday.
~~~~~
Share Your Cup

Finding my Peaceful Place

My daughters have blessed me with their piano and guitar
skills and with their worship.

  Finding my peaceful place in the middle of radiation for breast cancer has been on my mind this week. A dear friend, Laurie, has been encouraging me to find my peaceful spot.

  My peaceful spot has been praying and worshiping on my way to the next town for daily treatments. Friday, I sang in the waiting room. Each day this week, the LORD has put a song on my heart. Yesterday, it was the song that begins, "You unravel me, with a melody. You surround me with a song, of deliverance, from my enemies, until all my fears are gone. I'm no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God. I'm no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God."

  That's all I remembered while I was having treatment. I asked God to protect me, and I spoke the name of Jesus, then I just sang it in my head in worship to our LORD throughout the treatment and afterward. He is helping me through. No tears yesterday.

Listen: I Am a Child of God

God bless you all! Whatever you are facing, you can do it with Jesus. Holy Spirit is as close as you ask Him to be. He is your comforter and your teacher. Ask Him where your peaceful place is. He will answer you—probably in a still small voice.

Where is your peaceful place?

Sincerely,
Laura
Pushing Through with Holy Spirit as my Peace

Thank you all for writing to me. I read every comment. I truly appreciate the support you've all given me during my treatments. If you'd like a response to your comment, please make sure that I have your email. I'm not taking time right now to copy responses onto the blog. I am having trouble keeping up. Please understand. Thanks! Laura

Share Your Cup

A Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage #119

Welcome to another 

Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage!

Each week I share ways I've saved money, my thrifty and frugal projects, and my blessings from God. 

I am so glad you dropped in for a visit today—or tonight!

Please say hello! I'm always looking for new blog friends!

~~~~~

♥♥♥

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Hello!

  Another week has passed. Where did it go? I spent a fair bit of it going back and forth to radiation treatments. I'm settling into a routine that I will follow over the next six weeks. I'll be leaving the house a bit before 9:00 each morning. It seems like the whole process will take about an hour and a half to two hours to go and return home again. Ah well. Time invested with the hope of years of happy return.

  Well, enough for now—on to my blessings and a bit of our thrifty life.

~~~~~

♥♥♥

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"Commit your works to the LORD,
And your thoughts will be established."
Proverbs 16:3
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Here's my thrifty week!

Lots of Real Estate Investment this week!

• My husband bought tickets to see The Greatest Showman with our AAA membership. He saved $4 per ticket for five of us. $20 savings.  It was a terrific movie!

• I took a box of books to give away at the homeschool co-op. Half were taken.  

• Someone anonymously gave me $100! That's $500 of the $535 we paid for our washer. God is so amazing! I feel so blessed. The $100 will go into our emergency fund. Thank you anonymous! What a blessing!

• My son slid off the road on the first icy/snowy day Sunday morning. He had to be pulled out of the ditch. No harm to son or truck thank you LORD! Our AAA membership has really paid off!

• Real Estate Investment ~ My Lowell and I worked in our basement Monday night (trash carryout night) and filled two 30 gallon trash bags and a white 13 gallon trash bag with old papers and miscellaneous junk to toss. Praise God! Forward progress! That will have to keep me satisfied for awhile, because I'm going to be slowing down now that radiation is begun.

• We are heating primarily with our wood stove. My husband was able to purchase seasoned wood early in the Fall. Occasionally, I will turn the radiators up to 70 degrees for a half an hour to warm the house and take the chill off. The radiators keep radiating heat even after I turn the heat back down to 65. I'm just a bit of a wimp this year with the cold. I don't know if it's my treatments or what, but I am bothered more by it this year. I'm still too cheap to keep it truly warm in the house though!

• My daughter, Amy, asked me if I had any fabric I don't want. She's making a rag rug. We went through two small totes of fabric and some fabric squares I was given. We found several pieces for Amy, and two lengths of fabric that I've held onto for awhile, but have decided not to use. Amy decided that the yards should be given away since they were enough to make a dress or something big. I was energized by making these decisions to give, and so we continued on through the bottom of my hall closet and found other things to give away and a few things to toss. So, I took a small box of fabric, an organizer box, a book, and some embroidery floss to the homeschool co-op. Sure enough, other moms took it home. I now have some space in the bottom of the closet as my reward, and Amy has some fabric for projects, too. It helped so much having her there to help me let go of things. It's empowering to give things away!

♥♥♥♥
That's my thrifty week.

What are you doing in your home this week?

~~~~~

♥♥♥

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May you find peace and joy this week 
regardless of  your situation.

ღLauraღ

...doing what I can with what I've got

where I am on a short shoestring budget!

~~~~~

♥♥♥

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♥♥♥

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Share Your Cup

Friday at the Fire Station
Friday Feature

My First Radiation Treatment Report

I made it through my first radiation treatment Tuesday morning! I felt like I was in a Star Trek movie with the strange machine and sounds. It's definitely space age! I prayed and worshiped as I drove to the Radiology Oncology Center. 

When I lay down on the table, and they positioned me in the molded form, an old song came to mind. "Thou oh LORD art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter of my head." I've been praying He would be my shield. I've prayed that He will shield my heart, my lungs, my good cells, my skin, my lymph nodes, and so on. I'm praying that only cancer cells and any meany cells will be destroyed.

CANCER DIE THE DEATH IN JESUS' NAME!

I PLEAD THE BLOOD OF JESUS OVER MY BODY FOR PROTECTION!

I just lay there in that mold being still for maybe 15 or 20 minutes while they got ready and did the treatment. I whispered "Jesus" a couple times, then sang the song in my head every time they told me to hold my breath while they zapped me. God got me through. 

I wonder if this will make me more radiant? I'm tired tonight from the emotion of it all, and sore from holding my arms over my head, but otherwise I am fine. 

I'll have treatments every weekday morning until March 2nd now. 

Thank you for praying! 

Laura

P.S. Yes, I will be going to bed earlier tomorrow night!









Friday at the Fire Station

Happy Homemaker Monday ~ January 15, 2018

As I write ...  late Sunday night

The weather.... snowy and cold! Hurrah! Y'all know I love snow. We haven't had a good snow in a few years.

Right now I am... eating orange sherbet ice cream. Yum!

Thinking... I'm thinking about my upcoming radiation therapy. I'll begin Tuesday afternoon. It will be five days a week for seven weeks. The treatments are short, but it's about thirty miles round trip. 

A quote to share... 

♥♥♥♥♥

"Hope is a strange invention—
A Patent of the Heart—
In unremitting action
Yet never wearing out."

Emily Dickinson 

♥♥♥♥♥ 

On my reading pile...   

• Shepherds Abiding... A Mitford book by Jan Karon
• The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse

Favorite blog posts last week...  

• The Care of Lilacs
• At Rivercrest Cottage's post on painting with Fusion Paint
• Don't miss My Winter Bucket List.

Something fun to share... 

On the menu for this week...

• Monday...   Taco Soup
• Tuesday...   Pizza or leftover soup
• Wednesday...  Baked Chicken
• Thursday...   Chicken and Dumplings with mashed potatoes
• Friday...   Date night I hope

On my to do list... 

• Help my girls practice hospitality.
• Buy some bag balm.
• Do some things on my bucket list.
• Radiation
• Crafty afternoon with friends on Thursday

In the workbasket...  

• I'm nearing the end of a little brown hat that I'm knitting.  I love having a knitting project on the needles.
• I usually keep a dishcloth on my crochet hook. I like knitted cloths, too, but they take much longer to knit. I use dishcloths for small gifts. I don't have one going right now.
• The little bereavement blanket top is pieced. I need to get some soft flannel for the backing.

Looking forward to this week...

•  Monday - Princess movie marathon with Emily and her friends
• Tuesday - my first radiation treatment. Maybe I'll go knit, too.
• Wednesday - radiation, and maybe visiting a church in town
• Thursday - radiation and a crafting day with friends
• Friday - I hope to have a date night with my husband.
• Saturday - I'm still thinking about this. I'd like to plan something fun.

Looking around the house...  I see so much that I want done before radiation, but I'll just have to accept that I haven't regained my strength, stamina, and energy yet. My motto has become, "I can only do what I can do." 

From the camera... 

Last spring before I found the lump.

Devotional...   

• Frightened of God
• Blessed Among Women in My Own Generation

On my prayer list...

• Radiation will not harm my heart or lungs, and that I will be brave.
• Peace of Jerusalem and Israel
• Wisdom, health, and protection for President Trump, Vice-President Pence, and their families. 
• Healing for our country so that we may be ONE nation under God.
• Cancer will die the death in my body. My heart, brain, organs, spleen, and healthy cells will be protected. I will live and not die and declare the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Psalm 118:17

My prayer for you, my reader...

Jesus, I thank you that you hear our prayers. Father, I thank you for sending Jesus. Holy Spirit, I thank you for being our comforter and our teacher. Lord God, three in one, I thank you that you personally know each one of my readers. You know each one's needs, fears, hopes, problems, pains, and illnesses. I ask you God to speak directly to each one, to meet each person's needs, and heal each physical problem. Bless each spiritually, physically, socially, and financially. I ask it all by the power of the Blood of Jesus, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Thanks for dropping by!
Please say hello.
Laura
Trusting in God's timing, provision, and healing power

Joining with Sandra at Happy Homemaker Monday.
~~~~~

A Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage #118

Welcome to another 

Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage!

Each week I share ways I've saved money, my thrifty and frugal projects, and my blessings from God. 

I am so glad you dropped in for a visit today—or tonight!

Please say hello! I'm always looking for new blog friends!

~~~~~

♥♥♥

~~~~~

Happy New Year everyone!

  Yes, I know my greeting is late; but hey, it's still a new year, is it not? It's been quite a new year for us. We've visited family in Kansas City. We've already had to replace our washer, and we've already taken a trip. I've had a CT scan, and have been set up for radiation which begins next week on the 16th. I've had a nurse practitioner visit, blood work, an afternoon at the hospital for a test, and a round of mini-chemo (one drug) this week. I've also taken my son to get books for his first semester as a dual enrolled student with a nearby junior college. Life doesn't slow down, does it? Well, maybe a little, the surgeon cancelled my appointment this morning because of weather conditions. I'm glad to get a couple days without medical treatments/appointments before radiation starts its relentless schedule. ~smile~

  Well, enough for now—on to my blessings and a bit of our thrifty life.

Remembering a snowier winter

~~~~~

♥♥♥

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"He maketh the barren woman to keep house, 
and to be a joyful mother of children. 
Praise ye the LORD."
Psalm 113:9

I was a barren woman.
Read more.
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♥♥♥

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Here's my thrifty list!

• My daughters and I cleared about six cubic feet of real estate.

• We ate things we had on hand this week.

• We saved money by reusing our Christmas tree this year again. Original purchase price $25 sight unseen from a friend moving to Michigan. It was big and beautiful. I love our tree!

• We kept gifts simple this year. We gave family photos to our family. 

• My friend, Sarah of Classical Homemaking, invited me to a sew-in at a quilt shop in a small town between us. I didn't have a project going, so I took some fabric squares that Cheryl of Homespun Devotions sent to me last year. I prayed as I sorted the squares and found myself drawn to the camo and orange squares. I ended up using them together to make a small pieced top for a bereavement quilt. There's a man in our church who runs a cemetery. Sometimes parents don't have anything to wrap their babies in. It's a small way to show the love of Jesus to those who are mourning. 

I'm using a free photo from Pixabay for my desktop.

• My chemo port hasn't been working for blood draws well.  My favorite chemo nurse, also Laura, questioned the order for port replacement surgery. I had a test done first, now it looks like I will avoid the surgery. That saved untold thousands of dollars!

♥♥♥♥

That's my thrifty update. 

What are you doing in your home this week?

~~~~~

♥♥♥

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I hope your weekend and week are thrifty and frugal!

ღLauraღ

...doing what I can with what I've got

where I am on a short shoestring budget!

~~~~~

♥♥♥

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♥♥♥

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