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2nd Law of Thermodynamics

February 11, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

A couple of months before I went for my mammogram, the Lord began speaking to me about my appearance. Kinda gave me a pep talk encouraging me to work on it more.

I tend to fall into decay just like the earth under the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. One of the major reasons I believe it takes a whole lot more faith to believe in evolution than it does in a Creator.

In the winter months especially, there are all those holidays with all that wonderful food, and when it’s cold, I like nothing better than to bundle up in nice stretchy sweats and a hoodie. Most of my time is spent at home schooling the kids, so what’s the point of looking nice?

The point is our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we need to do our best to make sure it’s glorifying Him. It’s much easier for us to reach out and love those around us when are in the best physical shape that we can be in. Just being in the presence of someone who is physically, mentally and spiritually fit is a blessing.

I’ve known this for a very long time, but have a very hard time with followthrough. I am praying that as I repent that God will work in me the will and the act of His good purpose (Philippians 2:13). I have a lot to learn about physical fitness and nutrition. I don’t want my body to remain in the same condition that allowed the mutated cells to live in the first place.

I’ve made a little progress since Monday. I have an appointment with a radiologist in Birmingham on Tuesday morning. She is doing a trial study where instead of going for 5 days a week for 6 weeks of radiation, they are giving it twice a day for 5 days with good results. The more I read about my diagnosis and radiation the more I move away from the idea of doing any radiation.

My mom has been a great help to me. She and Mike are both studying and researching with me. I am so thankful for the Wisdom that they both walk in and their prayers and encouragement.

This is the verse that I keep coming back to. I am so happy that God is my God and I am His possession. He makes all things beautiful.

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Love,

Jenny

Monday’s Progress

February 8, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

This is what my day was like yesterday..

Wide awake at 4 AM.
Which was good because I needed to get some questions together for the allergists I was planing to see. God so totally helped me with them. Sunday I didn’t have the ability to think straight enough to even start.

6:30 AM .. Drive with James to work.
We are sharing a car right now. I made him a little late because I lost track of time.. but not too, too late.

7:30 AM..
Run home get ready really quick because I was already behind schedule.

8:00 AM
Run out the door to drop Zoë at the vet for her spay.

I hate being late.. God cleared the roads for me and the GPS got me to my first appointment only 5 minutes after their office opened and 25 minutes before my appointment.

8:30 AM See first allergist..
Actually, I never saw any allergist.. I handed an introductory letter to the receptionist who gave it to the doctor to read over first so I wouldn’t waste time and money if they couldn’t help me.

Both allergist suggested I go to UAB which has a cancer center where I would have a team of doctors including an allergist (I think) work together.

9 AM See breast cancer nurse for counseling at Breast Cancer Center.
She was wonderful, sweet, a Christian and has an interest in and some knowledge about holistic medicine.. which makes her just perfect for me. 🙂 She will be following me throughout my case.

She mentioned a couple of things that were really helpful.
One. The doctors can give me something like Benadryl before the surgery to help lessen any reactions I might have. I don’t like to take stuff, so I normally just suffer through.

Two. Although for the most part my allergy symptoms have only been uncomfortable, they can be prepared to help me if they escalate into anaphylactic shock during surgery. I should also read more about anaphylactic shock, so that if I do go into anaphylactic shock, it won’t be as scary.

Three. They caught my cancer so early that it’s actually considered pre-cancerous. I like that. 🙂

10:30 AM Second allergist suggested I go to UAB.

**Through all this I started thinking about how your body is designed to destroy it’s own cancer cells and how the stress that my corn allergy causes in my body is probably a big part of why it hasn’t. This is a HUGE thought that I am not sure what to do about yet.. something I am setting at Jesus’ feet.

11 AM Home for a lunch break..
And a bunch of phone calls to our insurance, to a doctor’s office at UAB, and to cancel appointments here. And I got a 30 min. nap in. 🙂

1:30 PM Run to Costco for black ink and pick up James for his doctors appointment.
I got to talk to Mike on the phone for a little bit here. He is starting a new office at work. They are having a hiring “pause,” which is making it difficult to build a team to do all the work that they want him to do. He is flying to DC today to work on setting up the people he has there so far and won’t be back until Thursday night. **He is really getting hit from all sides and needs lots of prayer.

3 PM See James’ doctor
Which is also my primary doctor.. who did a very good job with him. She talked to him about exercising so that his body could be in top shape and fight off the little cancer cells that develop in each of our bodies everyday. So now, we all have extra motivation to exercise.

4:30 Pick up Zoë

5:30 Eat and phone calls

6:30 Update Mike in person

7:30 Gymnastics with Judi

I am so glad life goes on. I wouldn’t want it to stop for me.. 🙂

Bed.. and I slept really good.. Mike said something about the kids accidently hurting Zoë and did I hear her screaming last night. I didn’t hear a thing. 🙂

So to sum things up.. I learned:
Stress is bad.
Allergies cause stress.
Exercise is good.

My next steps are to get in to see a radiologist at UAB so that I can decide if or not I want to totally rule that out, to learn more about seeing an allergist there, and to look over this huge notebook the breast cancer nurse gave me.

Have a great day,

Jenny

Blogging

February 8, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

Yesterday was so jam packed with doctor appointments (mine, our puppy, Zoë’s, and one for James, too), that when I woke up this morning it took me a while to realize that it was only Tuesday and not Saturday. ha ha

Blogging is going to be so much different now. Up until now I’ve only had my Mom, two sisters and one or two friends ever look at it. I didn’t have to worry much about what I said, but was still very careful to write exactly what I wanted to say and took time to re-read through everything and tried to check my grammar and everything.

The kids would complain from time to time that I spent too much time on my blog. I thought, “You should see how few post I’ve written.” And they didn’t know that when I wrote post about deep heart stuff, that sometimes I spent days praying about what I wanted to write before I even started.

Now I don’t want to let too many days go by with out updating my blog. One: because I know what it’s like to have a dear, young friend with breast cancer and to be praying fervently and to long for news.

Two: because although I really would rather just have this little journey done and over with quickly then soon forgotten, it’s probably better that I relish every day of it.. the same as I’ve learned to relish and enjoy each and every day of my life and write as much as I can, so I can remember God’s faithfulness to me.

Much of the time, the reason I write my blog has been to give a testimony of God’s goodness to my kids. They don’t read my blog. They think they know everything about me and that it would be super redundant, and they are probably right because through my years of homeschooling I discovered that sharing my love for Jesus and my life with them is what being a parent is about.. you know Deuteronomy 6 ..and being at home for school has enabled me to do a lot of that.

For example, Judi and I have been reading this wonderful book by Sarah Mally called “Before You Meet Prince Charming.” I have been soooo happy with it. If you know anyone with a daughter who is ages 12 or up, I suggest you get it for them or if you have a daughter that age, that you read it with them. It’s about purity and she has said everything I would like to say to Judi and more. Reading it with her has enabled me to share much of my heart about purity with her. One of the last things we read was about defrauding and how in dating it’s easy to lead someone on because you like the attention, how that is a form of defrauding and hurts the other person deeply.

Back to what I was leading up to.. I need to be more spontaneous now.. write and post and not worry to much about grammar, and if or not the “secret” I want share might be too personal, or what someone might think about it, or wither or not I am ready to be criticized for it, or if later I will look back and think, “That was so childish.”

So here’s my secret for today.. The last 7 or so years I have been so completely in love with Jesus and so long to see Him and to be with Him that I am so totally fine with leaving this earth that I have actually prayed more than once that I could be like Enoch who walked with God and then wasn’t. I am ready when He is..

BUT I know I STILL need my Mom and Dad and I still really, REALLY need my wonderful husband.. so even though my heart longs for Him to be ready to take me now.. I hope He isn’t so I can be here for my husband and kids and I intend to live a really long, wonderful life filled with many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, too.. AND I fully expect to be here when Jesus comes back in the clouds.

This is one thing my kids do know about me. I think about it a lot and it’s hard not to tell them because I really, REALLY love being with Jesus and I really, REALLY want to see Him coming in the clouds, and I really REALLY want to see my children happily married with lots of wonderful little blessings to call me Grams.

Time to run (not think or check my grammar),

Love,

Jenny

God is Good and on the Throne

February 6, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

I have had some difficult news this week, but God is good and on the Throne. He has everything under His control, and He works everything together for the good of those who love Him.

I have a secret. I am more radical lover of Jesus than any of you know, than even I can understand. I am sorry for keeping it a secret. I was afraid you wouldn’t understand. You can be, too, if you aren’t already. All you have to do is ask.

I used to see the commandments “Love God with all your heart, soul and mind. And love others as you love yourself.” as something I had to do. Then one day, I got sick of my own failure and dared to ask God to help me to love Him.

You see, our RIGHTEOUS is as filthy rags. All the love I could muster was filthy rags. But because of what Jesus did for us we ARE the RIGHTEOUSNESS of GOD in Christ Jesus. All we have to do is ASK and receive, tap into what Jesus has given us and walk in it.

God has given me so much through this revelation. I told him that I was tired of feeling luke warm; He gave me a deep burning hunger. I told him that I needed to love Him more; He gave me a love so deep that it scares me. And much more..

Several years ago, He started showing me my sin and the wrong thoughts that were leading me into it. I asked Him to forgive and change me and He did. I did NOTHING but ASK and receive. I was set free by the truth He was showing me. It’s been a wonderful, growing, freeing give (on His part) and take (on my part) relationship.

This week I went for my annual mammogram and some calcifications showed up on the films that they needed to biopsy. I had to wait for a couple of days for a report. I called a friend for prayer the week before and I have felt an overwhelming peace and joy ever since.

I normally am easily given to fear. I have a several verses that I speak over myself.. like “When I am afraid, I will trust in you,” “Let not your heart be troubled,” and “Perfect love drives out fear.” Somewhere in speaking those verses, I realized that fear is a choice just like happiness is a choice and God empowered me to choose not to be afraid. It was wonderful.

The report was not what I had hoped. I tested positive for DCIS which is an early stage of breast cancer that has a very high cure rate. You can read more about it http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dcis/DS00983

The decisions and road ahead of me are not easy, but I know that God loves me and will be with me every step of the way. I believe that I am the healed (past tense) of the beloved (Jesus, my betrothed) and I know my life is hidden in Him, and I trust Him wholeheartedly. Actually I am ASKING Him for the wholehearted part as I type. 🙂

Prayer request for now:

Total and complete healing.
WISDOM
An allergist, who can help me with going though surgery with a corn allergy (if not healed before then). If can read more about my struggle with corn here.
That I will know the right questions to ask the doctors and have WISDOM and PEACE about what I should do and whom I should let do it.
That my wonderful husband will have favor and be extremely successful in pulling together the new office he is sitting up in his job.
That my children will see what needs to be done around the house and have the grace and desire to do it.
That I will GLORIFY God through all of this.

Thank you for your prayers. I love you all very much. I will try to share all the wonderful secrets that I learn, keep you up to date with prayer request and all the wonderful things God is doing for, through and in me.

Love,

Jenny

Scrapbooking Up a Storm

January 5, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

I normally scrapbook 5 to 7 pages once a year starting in October

and send copies to my family in Texas as Christmas gifts.

Kinda narcissistic, I know, but I do it because I love to receive scrapbook

pages in return of their families. Does that make me even more narcissistic?

We don’t get to see each other often enough and I love to see pictures of my

nephews and niece and what they are doing in scrapbooks and on my sister’s blogs.

This year we met them in Arkansas in October, then my in-laws came

to visit in November.. so I didn’t start scrapbooking until December.

It’s January now and a record breaking 29 pages later

(we did a lot this year) I am still scrapbooking.

I only have 3 or 4 pages to go.. I will defiantly not be sending copies of them all.

Choosing which pages should go to who might be challenging.

I’ll try to pick the ones I think the kids will enjoy the most.

We had had snow Christmas day.. that added these 3 pages..

We had 4-6 inches of snow over Christmas weekend.. a new record for Huntsville.

Missed church because the roads were icy.

Josh got to help build the snowman this time.

He actually took the lead and insisted perfection out of Joel and Judi.

They spent over an hour on him.

James hid out in his room on the computer.

I should have made him come out for the last picture.

So happy to have so many pictures to scrapbook. 🙂

Love,

Growing Up

December 16, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

My second little duckling got his first job. Yay! He’ll be working full time in a technical department, helping people with their computers and programing. We are thankful for the opportunity and experience he’ll be gaining and for the friend from church who helped him get the job and who will be mentoring him.

Only thing is that now I have to go through the separation anxiety that most moms go through when their kids go to their first day of kindergarden. Homeschooling is great about postponing things like that. His first day of work I’ll be dropping him off at 7 am, I will probably cry, and I’ll praying that he’ll do well, be a light for Jesus, and be protected in the big bad world.

I think James is feeling it, too. He’s been giving me lots of hugs. I’d never tell any of my kids that I cried when I dropped them off.. or blogged about their new job at 3 am. They would probably laugh at me (and mostly I wouldn’t want them to worry).

I am so thankful for all the years of homeschooling that God has walked me through, for all the time I’ve had with my children, for the spiritual and personal growth homeschooling caused in me, and especially that I all four love the Lord (and me) despite all my faults and shortcomings.

Soon, I’ll be in new, uncharted territory (for me).. I won’t have any left in homeschool and they will all be living their own lives, but my job won’t be finished.. I will still be praying that they will continue to choose to live them for the Lord, that they will find Him their constant helper and guide, that they will choose and be blessed with full and happy lives, and that they will continue to grow and mature and be a well pleasing fragrance for the Lord.

And and for much more..

My Heart is Full Christmas Poem

December 15, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

I didn’t have much news for the Christmas card.. so I wrote a poem..

Christmas Cards 2010

December 13, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 3 Comments

I was hoping to take our annual family photo this weekend,

then chickened out when the weather turned even colder.

Our normal highs for this time of year are in the 50s.

Feels like we’ve been in the 20s and 30s for weeks.

It snowed ALL day yesterday, and it’s snowing still.

Tonight we are expecting a low of 12.

Not the best weather for picture taking or

housebreaking a puppy. Burr!

So, our Christmas cards are a little different this year.

If you’re thinking one or two of the pictures have been photoshopped..

you are right, but I’ll never tell which ones.

Hope you’re keeping warm.

Love,

Jenny

Nativities Around the House

December 11, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

Last December, we moved into the new house and spent the month unpacking,

so this is our first year to have our nativities up.

The nativity above sits here year round.. found it at Good Will for just a few dollars.

The tree and Journey to Bethlehem ornament are just for the season.

The manger with the piece of folded fabric lying under the tree are from

our very first Fontanini nativity which Mike’s mom gave us along with

the tree and gifts to take to Thailand.

Josh, then 10 months old, loved to throw things in the trash.

We didn’t notice that Baby Jesus was missing until it was too late.

We used this cloth Jesus for many years.. a happy young parenthood memory for me.

My mom got this soft nativity for my grandchildren to play with one day

when we went to visit Courtney’s family in Lubbock last.

It’s not puppy proof, so for now it sits on our hearth room mantle.

Our original Fontanini nativity with a new Baby Jesus sits on our living room mantle.

A new set sits on the piano.

And the rest on our entryway dresser..

I got two new pieces this year when we went to Pigeon Forge with Mike’s

Parents a couple of weeks ago. Nancy bought me a shoe maker..

and Mike got me the girl playing a harp like mine, “Chloe.”

Only problem with this location is that Georgia loves to jump on the dresser

and knock down things from there to play with..

When it was my shell, rock and acorn collection, I didn’t mind so much…

But now I am not so amused..

The swan sitting on the water disappeared the first day it was up..
We looked everywhere for it..

She thinks all the decorations and Christmas tree are one giant Christmas present to her..
and she loves to share with the puppy.. who ate a cross ornament today..

Hope you’re having a great weekend.

Love,

Calendars and Refrigerators

September 27, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

I think I finally made a Birthday/Anniversary calendar that will work for me.

The calendars in the computer and drawer just weren’t.

Out of sight; out of mind.

I made this one with photo shop to make it easy to go in and add a birthday when I need to.

I put “Lindsey Girl” on May 10. 😀 I am so excited about sending Judi to help.

I’ll be just as happy to have a nephew.. but I am praying for a niece.

See it on my fridge?

I printed them on card stock hoping they will last a long time.

I included family birthdays, anniversaries and a few of some close friends.
Now I can see their names and remember to pray for them all month..
and maybe even remember to send them a card. 🙂

Leslie gave me this magnetic, dry-erase calendar.

I started using it, so the kids can see what’s coming up.

They keep asking me how long it is until the family reunion.

I posted our “Departure Times” on the top portion. It’s a life saver.

I was having the hardest time remembering when what was.

Not a problem when you live in one place forever, but when you move it can be confusing.

At first, just knowing how long it took us to get places was confusing.

Now it’s all figured in and I don’t have to remember… just look up.

I wrote Josh’s school hours in purple, so I can know from semester

to semester when I can cook for him.

I especially like that with this calendar each week is separate.

When one week is over, I erase it and move it to the bottom..

It’s nicer than erasing and starting over with a whole month.

The front of my fridge is mostly for my shopping list.

I taped magnets around my pen, so it’s always handy.

I put this “left over” chart on the left side of the fridge.

Inside is a table that tells you how long you can keep each kind of food in a fridge.

I put the general rule of thumb in large print on the outside to help the kids

remember that they need to eat up stuff fast.

Below it is a magnetic 4×6 picture holder.

I started going though all my recipes and re-writing them

so they were easier to read, and print on to a 4×6 card.

The bulk of my recipes are now in a zip lock bag in my drawer.

I threw out tons of them.. and only kept the ones I make on a regular basis.

On shopping day I flip through them, and put aside the ones I am interested in making.

Then I make my grocery list from the recipes,

and put the recipes for that week in the sleeve on the fridge.

Each kid gets a star for each recipe.

If the recipe makes less than 3 stars

(meaning more than one kid didn’t like it), I am throwing it out.

One great thing is that I can easily make notes on the recipe for future reference.

Once I get them tweaked, I hope to pretty them up a bit and

print them for future daughter-in-loves.

When I am actually cooking, I stick the recipes on the microwave above my stove.

It’s next to the sink, frying pan, measuring cups etc.

I love that it’s at eye level, yet not in the way and not getting dirty.

I organized the INSIDE of my fridge last week and LABLED every shelf.

It made me so HAPPY. I used a plastic container to hold all our shredded cheese.

I have one shelf for left overs now.. instead of left overs hiding on every shelf.

I made a shelf for ketchup and BBQ sauce and a different one for salad dressing and mayo.

The kids are doing a pretty good job of putting things back and

I think more left overs are getting eaten. YAY!