Thursday Feb 26, 2009

One year ago we paced the hospital room watching Renee's heart monitor. Justin and Kyle sang for her.
Yesterday we were home. I started the day with breakfast with Ernie and Wayne. After lunch we had visitors including Ryan, Wayne and Essie, Myron, Joanne, and Gloria. Joanne played soothing music on our Fred Penner piano. Much appreciated! For supper we went to Renee's favorite restaurant Sukhothai and had her favorite dish - Pad Thai. After supper we watched "Alice in Wonderland" One of Renee's favorite movies. See her cities visited list on her facebook. See her movies list on her facebook. More Pictures

Tea Power

From the Reader's Digest 02/09
Drinking green tea may not only prevent cancer but it may also shrink tumours. U of Mississippi Medical Center researchers gave water mixed with green-tea antioxidant called "EGCG" to mice with breast cancer. After five weeks their tumours were 66% smaller and 68% lighter than were those in mice who drank water alone.

One year ago today Renée wanted mom to make cabbage soup

One year ago today Renée wanted her mom to make cabbage soup. Mom was donating her bone marrow and so could not make the soup. Well, she made the soup today. Alayna, Kara, Martha, and I will enjoy it even if it is mixed with tears.

More Florida pictures

Segway tour
Disney

The Cure for cancer

Everyone carries cancer cells in their bodies all the time. Most of the time the immune system recognizes the cells and eats them before you know anything happened. Once in a while, some cells manage to disguise themselves as "normal" when all they want is to reproduce themselves and take over.
The wisdom of the world says, zap them with chemicals that destroy fast growing cells and you will get rid of the problem cells. Sometimes that works. Hair fall out and bad cells get beat up. So do good cells. Lots of good immune cells get destroyed in that process. Immune response goes down, other bugs get in, and you are done for.
Turn this wisdom upside down. Boost the immune system. Then take some cancerous cells out of the body. Irradiate them or treat them somehow so that they get killed similar to immunizations. Inject them back into the host, and presto! the immune system sees those as bad cells and kills all the live cells of the same variety!
When I was a child, a man who had cancer went into an operation to remove the tumours. When they opened him up, they found so much cancer that they decided there was no hope. They threw some iodine on the cancerous tumour and sewed him up, thinking he had only a short while left. Lo and behold, he got better!
It appears that the iodine marked the bad cells so the immune system could take over to kill all similar cells.
When will this treatment become common knowledge? Or am I ---?

Feb 26 one year ago

How our hearts ache - Renee - we miss you so much!

This has been a horrible year for us. It started with my business partners kicking me out of the partnership (votes 2 against 1) and then suddenly Renee got sick and died.

What that does to the human spirit, body, soul, and mind, can?t be explained to someone who has not experienced it.

The brain goes into shock mode and self-confidence is down the drain. Decision making is almost impossible. We exist from day to day. When someone asks: "How are you?" my answer is usually: "Surviving."

What were we doing last week? Relaxing on the New Smyrna beach in Florida.

What are we doing this week? Kara is home from Halifax, and we will concentrate on family time as much as possible. Open house from Thursday to Sunday. Drop in any time between 3 pm to 9 pm to sit with us, sing for us, - whatever. Call us to confirm we are home.

On Thursday we plan to have a Thai supper and watch Renee's favourite movies including "Alice in Wonderland" at 8pm. Come join us for that if you can.

I do not plan to show up at my office until March 3 http://www.innovaat.com/

To read our journeys click on
http://www.reneedueck.com/
http://www.marthadueck.com/
http://www.raymonddueck.com/

Between us there are 600+ posts there is a lot of reading if you want to read it all!
Ray

Edgewater Alliance

Draw me Close - Kelly Carpenter
You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
Help me to know you are near

Faith and Argument rschafer@edgewateralliance.org

4 questions
Students thought of how they could invent an excuse why they where not there for the exams on Monday and said they had a flat tire. When they got the exam the 4th question worth 85 was- which tire?

Acts 17
Athens had all the philosophies they had more idols than people. 60,000
Paul was stirred in his spirit.
He went to the market place and he got invited to speak to the intelligencia
Paul started to talk about the unknown God

1. Where did I come from? Dad where did I come from? Oregon?
Ne have a God who made the world. God who creates. Made something from nothing.
How do you describe Nothing? Big difference between creating something from nothing or to say nothing created everything.
Bertrand Russel: how do you explain creation? he said: I don't know- it just is.
China killed 30 million.
Russia killed 30-60 million
Hitler killed 12-18 M
Cambodia
Ruwonda
Take God out and nothing matters.

2. Purpose
Why am I here?
2 RR track layers met the president. One used to work with the man who is now the president. Why? one worked for the railway the other one for $0.10 @ hour.
Ernest Hemmingway pulled the trigger on himself. "Life is a short day from nothingness to nothing."

Emily's husband died. Dr Paul Brandt, her son, told her to go home. She lived in an 8×8 hut for the rest of her life - 25 years. She did not own a mirror. She was obsessed with the calling God gave her.

3. Morality
How shall I live?
What is 2+2? What do you want it to be?
C.S. Lewis: Everyone has the moral imperative. When we take God out of the picture we can mutilate babies for entertainment.

Redemption Salvation Worship
God made the bridge. No other religion calls God father

4 . Destiny
What happens when you die?
Count down clocks? Comedian said: I want to live forever - so far so good. Death changes things.
At a funeral the daughter screamed hysterically, crawled into the casket.
For a Christian death is the beginning. I will never be more alive than at that moment. The same hand that died for me will reach out to me and welcome me.
Be convinced that God loves you.

What happens when you die?

A friend and I worked laying pipe. After a lot of abuse by the boss I prayed: "Dear Lord I will smack the foreman on the head." Before we could do that we got fired.

You don't have to believe anything. What I believe makes me happy. What if I'm right and you are wrong? Where will you be if you don't believe?
Some day God will ask- what did you do with my Son?

Are you willing to invite God?

Download this message at www.EdgewaterAlliance.org

TRAZODONE

I used to get 4-5 hrs of sleep, and was fast becoming a zombie. I started taking TRAZODONE on the advice of our counselor, and a prescription from my doctor, and now I'm gettting 7 - 9 hrs of sleep.

Yesterday's RBC reading was from Psalm 42

As the deer longs for streams of water,

so I long for you, O God.

Day and night I have only tears for food, - that's right!

while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,

“Where is this God of yours?”
My heart is breaking - into a thousand pieces every day

as I remember how it used to be:

I walked among the crowds of worshipers,

leading a great procession to the house of God,

singing for joy and giving thanks

amid the sound of a great celebration! - of the Brooklyn Tabernacle
Why am I discouraged?

Why is my heart so sad?

I will put my hope in God!

I will praise him again—

my Savior and 6 my God!
Now I am deeply discouraged,

but I will remember you— even from distant Mount

“O God my rock,” I cry,

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I wander around in grief,

oppressed by my enemies?”

Their taunts break my bones.

They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
Why am I discouraged?

Why is my heart so sad?

I will put my hope in God!

I will praise him again—

my Savior and my God! - I hope

More pictures

Florida

It is a delight to be in Florida for a week. Today it's nice and warm. Guys are shirtless on the beach. We have had a good day yesterday and we look forward to spending time with Carlin and Marcia today. See our pictures here.

Time to Pick a Memorial?

Here is what we are looking at. We need some advice.
Which style do you like?
Which colour of stone do you prefer?
What illustrations, what text, what picture should we put on the memorial? What would Renee have wanted? None of this!