Hey and thanks to all of you who've been praying faithfully for my family and especially my grandparents.

My mom took Mimi and PaPa to Rex Hospital yesterday(Monday) morning at 6am to prep for his surgery which started at 9am.  The surgery went well, lasting about 2.5 hours, and according to the surgeon, Dr. Chiulli, they found just what they expected and were able to remove the tumor from his small intestine.  There was very little blood loss, and according to the surgical standpoint, this step was a success.  Praise God! 

The tumor was nearly completely blocking the exit of the small intestine into the large intestine, so they removed that segment and about a foot to a foot and a half on either side of the tumor.  Dr. Chiulli then sewed the remaining two ends back together.  (People have about 40 feet of intestine, total, so it's really not that much to lose).  He did not come out with a bag or anything of that sort, just a relatively small incision since he is such a tall, thin man. 

The doctor also said the white spots which had been originally biopsied were indeed present on the lining of his abdomen and surrounding tissues.  The spots are small, more like tumor "buds" than masses at this point.  He said it's as if someone opened him up and shook a salt shaker around on the inside.  Therefore, it would be nearly impossible to be sure you've got all the white spots surgically without taking out all the contents of his abdomen.  Within a couple of days, we should get a pathology report to specifically define what kind of tumor cells are present.  Then the oncologist will play a huge role in deciding about chemo and such.  That appointment will come as PaPa gets stronger and is ready to deal with the next step.  It may be that he gets consulted in the hospital, if things go well and PaPa is feeling up to it. If not, he'll go home, begin eating real food again, and then go in for a follow-up appt. within a couple of weeks.

Currently, PaPa's pain is under control; he has an epidural to constantly deliver the best pain drugs ,which makes him extremely talkative, and a tube to keep his stomach cleaned out while his intestine is healing.  It'll be several days before he can eat anything, but he has an IV giving him good amounts of fluid, sugar, and other necessities til he can eat again. He is in the best of spirits, laughing and joking with everyone who comes in, but he's totally lucid, too.  He is well aware of the blessings he's been afforded and constantly mentions how thankful he is for all the family and friends praying for him.  He says that in every step of the way, he's been constantly reminded of God's presence and provision for him and our family. 

Please continue to pray over the next few days as this is a crucial time of healing and re-strengthening in preparation for whatever may lie ahead.   We are all basically exhausted after a week and a half of such activity(My family also moved back into our renovated house this weekend before the surgery), but we have to continue on with "everyday, 'real' life" too-- like jobs and all. 

God's grace and strength is sufficient to make his power perfect in our weakness, and he promises that those who are weary and heavy-laden can come to him for rest.  I am so grateful for those promises and look forward to seeing them worked out in our lives.

Thanks for reading so far, and keep in touch for updates as they come

Love is indefinite to most of us, we do not know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the sovereign preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that that preference be for Himself (cf. Luke 14:26). When the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ is easily first; then we must practise the working out of these things mentioned by Peter.

The first thing God does is to knock pretence and the pious pose right out of me. The Holy Spirit reveals that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now, He says to me, show the same love to others - "Love as I have loved you." "I will bring any number of people about you whom you can not respect, and you must exhibit My love to them as I have exhibited it to you." You won't reach it on tiptoe. Some of us have tried to, but we were soon tired.

"The Lord suffereth long. . . ." Let me look within and see His dealings with me. The knowledge that God has loved me to the uttermost, to the end of all my sin and meanness and selfishness and wrong, will send me forth into the world to love in the same way. God's love to me is inexhaustible, and I must love others from the bedrock of God's love to me. Growth in grace stops the moment I get huffed. I get huffed because I have a peculiar person to live with. Just think how disagreeable I have been to God! Am I prepared to be so identified with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness are being poured out all the time? Neither natural love nor Divine love will remain unless it is cultivated. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained by discipline.

I have been reading a lot the last week and learning so much about the purposes of God in having us to love difficult people.  Instead of giving us relationships and people in our lives for our ease and comfort (although sometimes he does this too, and we call them "angels"), we are often called ourselves to be saints-- suffering and sacrificing, making less of ourselves and our own expectations in order to love others as Jesus did:  Boldly in truth, yet mercifully in grace.  The goal is not to be awarded any title of "saint", but to strive to be more like Christ himself.  If I am pushing and trying to get other people to meet my standards and expectations, I end up only frustrating both of us.  I become critical and nagging instead of encouraging and thankful.  When I find contempt in my heart for others because they fail to meet my expectations for them, I find also that I lack respect for them.  "Contempt is conceived with expectation.  Respect is conceived with expressions of gratitude.  We can choose which one we will obsess over--expectations, or thanksgivings.  That choice will result in a birth--and the child will be named either contempt, or respect." (Gary Thomas)

I currently have contact with several people that I find difficult to respect sometimes.  Until a few days ago, I saw this as a major source of frustration and strife, but I am coming to understand that God may be allowing these very situations in order to teach me 1)more about HIS love and perspective 2) how to practically (though not easily!) be more like Him and 3) how to allow him to make me thus more holy instead of more "happy", as happiness is not the end-goal of life; holiness is. 

Some might say holiness is derived from strict asceticism; I say it takes more to get down in the dirt with someone and be totally frustrated by them and learn to love them as Jesus does in spite of it.  It's much easier, in my opinion, to be alone and untouched, loving only a God who will never hurt me than rubbed-out and hurt at times by people's behavior and my own expectations of them.  Choosing to love anyway is a bold and vulnerable commitment at the same time.  It takes a lot of courage as well as humility to be willing to possibly be hurt tremendously by flawed humanity (of both others and my own self.)