Onward and Upward.

Okay, so I know that he is TOTALLY

not smiling, but we are UP, shaved,

washed up, and walking for brief

periods during the day! That's

my man . . . a great attitude raring

to go.

The biggest praise story of my entire

life goes something like this:

*As a doctoral student, I must attend

three residencies. I attended my first

residency in Jacksonville, Florida

at the beginning of my doctoral journey.

Mind you that 2,500 people attend

these residencies. The rooms are packed

with a bazillion people crazy enough to be

working on their doctorates.

*We were name tags at our residencies.

A woman that I had never met before

was calling my name across the

CROWDED room. She asked if I was

"The Jill" from the courses that we

had been taking. I quickly became

friends with Kris from MICHIGAN as

she had married her high school

sweetheart, had three children, and

is an amazing CHRISTian. We had tons

in common!

*Fast forward to two years later, I am

in the Mayo Clinic with my husband

who receives a very difficult diagnosis

from the doctors and oncologists at

the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona.

*Being proactive, after a day of trying

to come to grips with the difficult

news, I begin "gently" Googling

adrenal gland cancer treatment options.

(Adrenal gland cancer extremely

rare 1 in 1,000,000.) Therefore the

knowledge is VERY limited regarding

treatment options to effectively

beat adrenal gland cancer.

*As I Googled, God showed me

this information of THE doctor

who specializes in adrenal gland

cancer in the United States. His

name is Dr. Hammer and is located

at the University of MICHIGAN.

*I immediately text my friend Kris

primarily to ask her if she knows

about the University of Michigan.

She responds that not only does

she know about the University

of Michigan in Ann Arbor, but that

they live 25 minutes from it, have a

spare room for our family, and extra

car and would love for us to come

there and live with them in order

that Mike could receive the treatments

that he needs.

*Still uncertain if this was the

right treatment for Mike, I

reserved totally jumping over

the edge with excitement,

which is difficult for me, until

we spoke with our oncologist.

Our oncologist told us that she

would be available all weekend.

I turned around and she was in

Mike's room five minutes after

I arrived this morning. She

jumped on my computer to see

the information regarding Dr. Hammer

and was so excited!! She said that

this was Mike's best hope and we

need to be there!!! He can begin

treatment in FOUR weeks.

*How AMAZING is our God!! How

can we, for one minute, even

fathom that He has not orchestrated

every moment of our lives, that He

is concerned and knows our each

and every thought.

(I bet you already guessed that

Dr. Hammer will be receiving a

call from me at 7:59a.m. tomorrow

morning and that I will be

buying mittens for Michigan!!!)