Hi friends!

It's an absolutely beautiful day here in Kansas and I am thankful for the warm weather and the beauty of all the blossoming trees and flowers.  I have even spent some time in the yard the past couple of days.   I know gardening has a lot of life lessons in it and I was sure reminded of how many parallels there are to that and my life experience this past year, but first, the medical update.  

Two weeks ago I met with a radiologist oncologist and she confirmed there is NO need for any radiation.  Praise God!!  However, I still need to do 9 more Keytruda treatments, one every three weeks.  I received #1 last Wednesday and my body seems to have done just fine.  It appears that I'll have my ovary surgery sometime in late June or July. My body has done well in healing from my mastectomy and my menopausal inducing hormone drug is definitely living up to its name.  :-)

I'm so thankful to have been able to keep up with my April schedule.  For me, April is "crazy" month in my job.  Handing out contracts, getting ready to lead school tours, high school musical, employee interviews, etc.  So far, so good.  God has continued to give me the strength that I have needed to keep all the plates spinning.  We opened the high school musical this last weekend and I was happy to have had the energy to once again paint sets, costume kids and work stage crew.  (Rest assured, I let the young pups move the big stuff!)  Next week this time we'll be heading to CO with the freshman class on their school tour.  Looking forward to smelling some mountain air!

Now for my "not so profound" thoughts of life lessons relearned while gardening.  I'm always amazed that underneath all the dead leaves and foliage from last fall, there is new growth, peeking its head up from the hard ground.  Every winter when I look out at my landscaping, buried underneath six inches of snow, I can never really grasp the fact that in a few short months, everything will be fresh and green once again.  I'm also shocked to see that the plants that I put in the ground last fall, actually made it through the winter.  (For those of you who know me best, anything that comes back after I plant it, is always a miracle!)Then there are those bushes that were pruned back to the ground that most certainly looked dead, but are already sprouting new life and I'm certain will come back stronger, fuller and even more beautiful.  

When I was a freshman at North Texas State University, John 15 became one of my favorite passages.  Its such a familiar set of verses but I need to be reminded of its truth every year and spring does just that.  "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing!  This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." 

I can honestly say that I've gone through a bit of pruning this past year, literally and figurately.  There were times this winter where it felt as though my body would never show new life again, that it was readying itself to die.  Yet, here it is spring.  The dying parts of my body have literally been pruned off (someone however forgot I asked to have a bit more taken off around my waistline :-)) New life, which includes new hair (slowly but surely) have come.  Figuratively, the snow has melted and I am grateful for the warmth of the sunshine, the warm rain and the chance to grow again. You were the ones that constantly reminded me through cards, texts, calls and meals, that the spring would come again and it has.  Now it's time to fertilize (take those vitamins, drink that tea, take those walks, lift those weights) and pray that God allows me to bear more fruit.  Apart from HIM I can do nothing!  This last year has proved that over and over again.  I pray that the fruit I bear now will truly bring the Father, glory!

Happy Spring, my friends.  I love you dearly.