He blesses me

This was a Christmas gift from my dear friend Stacey. It was also the first time I'd suggested to any living being that I had a Wish List on Amazon... cheeky me! I had linked this gorgeous icon from another site. Stacey listened with her heart and I was filled with delight!

The mystery spots have nearly all gone. The cold is a memory Thanks Be to God!, replaced by what I suspect are allergy sniffles and congestion. On a recent return to the gym, I told my darling private trainer Robert to "work me as best he would." The session before I'd been exceedingly particular about what I did and did not like. As the polished pro he is, he attended to my wishes and I had for the most part a milquetoast workout. Last week I said, "You know my issues - tell me to do whatever and I'll do it." Bless him, that man worked me! And what a wry joy to spend more time concerned about fleshy thighs and bottom than whether I'd live or die that day! This is a good thing. And how posh is this, to admit that I'm working with a personal trainer sometimes once a week?? Of course I shoot for workouts on my own 3-5 times weekly....

Spring is here, six full weeks before its official date. It should be in the early 70º's this weekend and it's only early February! I want to cheer and not gloat for my friends in other parts of the world shoveling snow and shivering. I'm timidly thrilled about our good weather fortune ... please don't disown me!

On the continued health-building front, I'm close to wrapping up a really really involved search for a new dentist. The kind gent with whom I've worked since 2004 is a fine dentist, but we've had a bit of a head-butting philosophically and it is time for me to move onwards. OK, since you're probably wondering.... my mouth is, to put it delicately, a train wreck. It was a piece of work before the AML hit and has backslidden even more with my focus on other things like blood counts and learning to hear God's voice in pursuing an array of alternative healing modalities. So when at my last visit, Dr. F touted some gum-healing products filled with fluoride, I balked. Actually I simply refused. And he got, shall we say, annoyed. Good sir, I need dental work in the five figures, even with my paltry excuse for dental insurance. We need to be on the same page. Cancer survivors don't DO fluoride! So on I've trekked, arranging in-person consultations (not exams but talks) with now four fine physicians. I have one more to meet and then it's time to begin sitting my butt in that dental chair and, assisted by prayer, headphones and a tiny smidge of nitrous (my 1st time in 28 years), go for it. Thank You God that I can afford this. And if the bill tally begins to soar, I know of someone who chaperones people to Tijuana for the same quality of dental work at one-quarter of the cost. Some people even fly to Singapore or Costa Rica in the name of dental tourism! How wild to be so blessed and yet live in a country that is essentially Third World (apologies for the un-PC term) in regards to quality medical care that all people can afford.

A hoped-for Holy Land Pilgrimage has been postponed until 2012. I am now beginning the work of researching travel to my beloved Scotland. I miss my friends there! It's also a royal investment of time to scour the web for options, so I shall weave it in between work (always a source of endless surprise), my worship communities, exercise and play. That's a life! How can I not praise God?

I can sin like that. The plague of spots got to me and I sat back in my chair scowling. I let the dark side get a few points on that, stabbing into my impatience, abandonment issues and sense of entitlement. This shouldn't be happening to ME! Well. Another day is then lost while I whine and act like a 3-year-old. Today if I find a new mystery splotch {...after all I've done, suffered, et cetera oh woe could be me... hey look, martyrdom!}, I will pray for patience and wisdom and not abandon the One who stands by me through all.

Psalm 118:24: "This is the day that LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."