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"Feathers & Ink" - 5 new articles

1. UPDATE on my Daddy dear & More Prayer Requests
2. Update on my Father
3. Poor Daddy dear is still sick....
4. Honeysuckles Dance in June... a summertime poem... by me ;o)
5. Update on Shane's swine flu! ....and thank you...
6. More Recent Articles
7. Search Feathers & Ink

UPDATE on my Daddy dear & More Prayer Requests

Dad had lost his voice over the last few months. After going to the doctors they discovered a new tumor pressing on a nerve, causing him pain and difficulty while speaking. They are treating it with radiation and that is now over, and the next steps are the chemo. The chemo is new and goes quicker with less hair loss and best of all less nausea. He finds he is still extremely lethargic so I pray that his energy would rise up and let him be more of his old self once again.
I thank all of you who continue to pray and lift up my father.

PRAYER REQUESTS
I please ask you to also pray for my very dear friends who are all three battling breast cancers (in various stages and forms) Cheryl Weber, Sammie Murphy (Sammie's hubby Paul is also suffering from lung & bone cancer) & Missy Brownfield (our pastor's wife). All 3 women are undergoing treatments right now for breast cancer. Having been down this road with Shelly, I am of course extremely fearful for them... but have faith that the outcomes will be different than what happened with Shelly. We must remain faithful and be in continual talking with God. It's all that will get us through.
I love all 3 of these women dearly. I have known Sammie, since I was about 12 years old. She is a longtime friend of my Mom and her and I have also been close friends as I grew into my adulthood...my having a very close relationship with her daughter Jamie from birth. Sammie lives in Florida, so I will need to support her from afar in any way I can. I recently helped her with a letter trying to get her proper health care that she is fighting for under the CHAMPSVA, her husband has. I hope she gets what she is entitled to.

Cheryl Weber is my darling friend who brought me to Christ by inviting me to North Way Christian Community when I was grieving the loss of my third son Tanner. Cheryl has been there for me through his loss, as well as my speech at TCF to speak about his loss, along with bringing me meals when I had my surgery. We have grown together in the Lord and I was always happy to help her paint scenery for Vacation Bible School when her family decorated NWCC in the summers. Her family is very dear to me as well. She is such a loving, sweet person and I will be there for her in whatever way she needs me to.

And last, but certainly not least is the Pastor's wife Missy Brownfield. She is one of the kindest people you would ever meet. The way they welcomed us to Dorseyville Alliance Church as the family of the Pastor was so warm. I have never had a welcome like that! They even invited us to their home for a lovely luncheon to talk and get to know them better. We were sold on the friendliness of this great church and have been there ever since. Missy is sure to find you if you attend, and offer up a huge smile and a big hug every Sunday! Her joyous spirit is surely something that will come in handy during this battle. The good news for Missy is they got everything out with her surgery, there was no expansion into the lymph nodes and after radiation we are aiming for complete recovery!

TOBAC FAMILY SUMMER
I personally have been so busy WRITING, WRITING, WRITING... with the busiest season ever for my calligraphy. While it's great for the money, it's hard on my RSD and my carpal tunnel syndrome. I am grateful for the many orders from wonderful brides. It's been hard getting used to working at this level with RSD. I sometimes cry and wish I didn't have a business...but when I am feeling better, I start advertising on sites like Wedding Bee and such looking for more work. I have had orders from brides all over the country! I am grateful and honored to be a part of these many weddings. It is an honor to be trusted with such important work. It's become a full time job for me though, and I am not sure if I can handle it at times. Some mistakes were made, some unhappy brides, but anyone who operates a business can't operate at 100% perfection. NO one could... even someone who is healthy. So I had to try my best to make up for it by offering gifts to the unhappy brides and also to forgive myself. I hate when things like that happen and I truly hate when folks are mad at me. It is frustrating to work like this. My husband put it to me this way, this week... and he's absolutely right. He said, "You have a few days where you feel good and you think you are normal and you take on the world and try to do everything for everyone. Then the RSD kicks in and you remember that you can't do it." It's true and I need to remember that I have RSD and learn to ask for more time from clients, as well as not take on so many jobs, that I am unable to do them. Lessons learned the hard way eh?


As for our family... we have been camping in our new camper, a 2009 Grey Wolf. WE LOVE IT!!! We are so excited about camping and having fun in that thing. We try to go as much as possible, aiming for every other weekend as Brian works a lot in the summer and with my being busy as well, it's all we could fit in. Things have worked out for us to keep our home (HOORAY!) and we were even able to manage to purchase a new camper! I have been so extremely busy with calligraphy that I was able to help Brian come up with a down payment. Plus they give you 12 years to pay them off so the payment is extremely low (1/2 price of my car payment!). My car payments on my van "Myrna" (we call the minivan Myrna, after all she can't have a cool name, being a Dodge Grand Caravan and all ....LOL... the Queen of all minivans!) are soon over, so we can do this for sure. We are excited to take the boys camping, where they happily play and pick up girls. LOL They can now bring friends since it's way bigger than the old one! The old one was 16ft. and this one is 29 ft.! So I am grateful for my business taking off that it brought us our new fun camper!

Here is a picture of it... it's amazing and we are so thankful that things have worked out so that we are able to keep our home and were even able to purchase this! God is great and works things out if we wait patiently. I know, I know, I wasn't very patient! But He knows I am still ever thankful for all that we have.







This is the bedroom for me and Bri and the TV swivels into our side. Very cool! Came with a 20" flat screen.






The boys have a bunkhouse room at the other end, so they can bring friends.

















And here is just the bumpout side where we eat and sit.

















We are going to love this for years to come! Maybe we will see you at a campground! I am hoping to do a camping retreat for our bible study girls one weekend using my camper and some of the other girls' campers. It would be SO FUN!

Update on my Father

As I suspected in my previous post, it is my father's cancer that is causing his loss of speech. There is a new tumor pressing on a nerve that has to do with speech. It actually hurts him to try to talk, so it's very difficult for him. The good news is he will be having surgery on the 8th that will hopefully correct this and give him back his speech! Let's pray that it works, so he can get about the business of going back to chemo for healing the rest of that cancer! We must address this problem first as it certainly affects his every day! Thanks again for praying and keep them coming! I love you all.
Tammy

Poor Daddy dear is still sick....

I just felt the need to update you all on my Dad and his condition. Though he was administered antibiotics for his lack of voice, he still continues to be unable to speak and mentioned that it actually hurts to talk. He still feels very lethargic and is just plain tired of being sick. He has an appointment on Thursday to follow up, but I wish he had called earlier as it has been over 2 weeks without being able to speak. I surely hope it's not the cancer, and just the flu. Though with the horrible types of flu that have been going around, they certainly aren't easy to overcome either, because poor Shane was never so sick in his life. He is perfectly fine now and back to normal! Praise God and you for your kind prayers!
I just wish to ask you to pray a bit more for my father and for a bit longer and I will be ever so grateful. And while you are whispering in the ear of our God, could you say another couple of prayers for my dear friend Jeff Hoover who has been waiting forever for a kidney transplant! This boy has been through so much, I can't even begin to tell you. Just lift him in both spirit and health. And even more that the kidney he has waited for, for almost 2 years, will finally come through.
My bible study friend Robin's father recently passed away, and I attended the funeral last Friday. He sounded like a lovely wonderful man who touched many lives! Pray a blessing of peace and comfort over their family. Her Mom had to endure surgery this week for a cancer removal! This poor family is enduring so much right now. Please lift them all up as well.

We know there is power in prayers! So I come to you now once again for those wonderful prayers. And I thank you and remind you that should you need me ever to be there for you and kneel before the throne on your behalf, I am there!
love,
Tammy

Honeysuckles Dance in June... a summertime poem... by me ;o)

As I have no time for cards with the busy wedding season upon me, I have decided to take a moment and share some poetry! I love to write poetry and you probably noticed from the poems I have written for Shelly, Ryan & Jimmy.
Since this blog has often been a memorial tribute space, I thought it was time to spruce it up with a few poems about fun things! Time to bring a smile (I hope) to anyone's face who cares to read it. LOL





The painting at left is called Picking Honeysuckle by artist Sophie Anderson. Click on the picture to go to a page to learn more about her and see more of her work.

Update on Shane's swine flu! ....and thank you...

Thanks so much for praying for the guys in my life, my son, my stepfather and my Daddy dear. What a rough week!
After hearing on the news that many local area children had been diagnosed with swine flu, I decided to take Shane to our pediatrician! And lo and behold, she said he had had swine flu! Oh mercy me! No wonder my poor boy was so sick. By the time he was at the doctor's, however, his fever had broken and he was no longer contagious, nor was he needing any further testing or anything. She said he would just be tired for a few more days and that he would recover fine. I think I may be better off finding that out at the end, as I don't believe I could have slept knowing my baby was suffering with swine flu! I do know that I had never seen him that sick before. Now crossing our fingers and saying a prayer that no one else in our family comes down with it! Whew! I got a speeding ticket on the way to the pediatrician's on the phone worrying about my stepfather! What a week last week was... unbelievable. But grateful for the good outcomes.
My Daddy dear (that's what I call him face to face LOL)-Tom, is still having struggles with his flu, though given antibiotics. I think it's just harder for someone with cancer to fight off everything that comes their way. He can barely speak, so please kindly continue to pray for him! I will let you know when he's back to "normal". He will likely need to start chemo up again fairly soon, after his respite of 3 months. I will be sure to let folks know as things change.
My stepfather, Marty, had his heart cath on Friday and everything looks good with him! Hooray! They believe he suffered some sort of attack that may only require an adjustment in his medications. So we area all grateful for that! No heart attack occurred and he didn't need any further stents or anything...the one in place is still looking good.
So I praise God for the good things and ask him to continue to work on healing my Daddy dear of both his flu and his lung cancer. There is power in your prayers and I am grateful to each of you for sharing that power with me. I am honored to pray for you as well, so please let me know anytime I can return the favor.
Love,
Tammy

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