Today is Irene’s 3 month BIRTHDAY!!!!

It was three months ago today that Irene had the stem cell transplant at UCSF, giving her hope for living!!  We recall the event as if it were yesterday.  (See the June 15, 2007 Update).  It is very sobering to realize that without the stem cell transplant, given the diagnosis and all that Irene has experienced, that she would probably already be in Heaven waiting for us to arrive.

We are also reminded that Irene was discharged from UCSF on Friday, July 20, 2007.  That was another day which will be remembered in our household forever ….

Thus, we celebrate LIFE on this earth, fully appreciating the truth that our permanent citizenship is in Heaven.

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
Philippians 3:20

As stewards sojourning the planet for a brief period of time, we live for one reason …. to glorify our God and Creator, Jesus Christ. HE gives us life and breath and purpose because we belong to Him.

Irene and JoAnna were shopping and running errands early this morning and then rested the afternoon.  Irene’s nausea was at a low rumble …. it’s been a good day.

As we celebrate Irene’s 3 months of life since the stem cell transplant, we pause and celebrate the ONE who gives us life …. and earnestly praise Him in Spirit and Truth for all that He has accomplished in and through this experience.  Our LOVE for God has increased exponentially, our TRUST has grown momentously, our FAITH has gone to unfathomable depths.  We are confident that He orders and directs our lives …. including every step of Irene’s journey as he heals her day by day.  He is with us; He will never forsake us.  We are eternally grateful that He first loved us that we may love him in return by intimately walking with him and serving him with all of our

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6.30 p.m. ….

Author Bob Buford makes the following “confessions” related to the CONTENT used in his “Musings” e-newsletter entitled, “Life as a State of Perpetual Disorder” (September 14, 2007)

Does it ever seem that life just won’t fall into place the way you planned? I keep calendars, I make appointments, I have daily plans, weekly plans, plans for my whole life …. But, much of the time, perhaps most of my time my life, and the lives of most of those I know, are much more spontaneous than our linear plans would describe.

…. I never plan for what comes next. Well, that’s not entirely true. I make all sorts of plans, but what I use just happens. Stuff happens and I react to it.

I’ve been working with an editor trying to make an orderly, linear book out of these musings. It’s very frustrating. Peter Drucker, the management guru of all time, once shocked me by saying, “….opportunity is unpredictable. Most of the time, opportunity comes in over the transom. And opportunity doesn’t stay long. If you don’t respond to an opportunity, it moves on.” The same is true for problems. If you don’t change plans and react, they just get worse. As Shakespeare said, “Readiness is all.” It’s readiness and reaction.

Bob continues ….

So the nature of these musings is spontaneous and reactive. They can’t really be put in order. I tried it and it didn’t work because my life — like yours I expect — just won’t conform to my plans. It is messy. It is disorderly. It is one surprise after another.

Bob goes on ….

My beautiful wife, Linda, has watched with bemused sympathy as I have twisted and turned in the breeze trying to solve this making-order-out-of-chaos issue. She came in this past weekend at the farm to tell me that she’s taking a course on the Psalms. She said, “Your musings don’t have any order. They are more like Psalms. They are reactions along the road of life. The Psalms are not theology. They are more how people relate to change.” Then she read me this (from the course

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