Hello, dear friends! It is hard to believe that a year has passed since my treatment began for breast cancer!  I have been meaning to post an update as each "anniversary" has passed...July 22nd: diagnosis date, Sept 3rd: beginning of treatment (lumpectomy), Sept 24th: mastectomy...but I have been so busy that it just happened.  However, after my visit to UNC hospitals yesterday, for my mammogram and 1 yr check-up with my surgical oncologist, I knew I needed to post an update!

I am thrilled to share that my mammogram was ALL CLEAR and my surgeon said that everything looks great! Praise God!! I am also tolerating the tamoxifen well, my main side-effect being hot flashes in the middle of the night.  He did confirm what my medical oncologist told me, which is that most likely I will be taking it for 10 years.  It appears to be doing it's job keeping the cancer away, so that's fine with me!

Since my last post in May, I met with a plastic surgeon to discuss reconstruction options.  After learning how involved the procedure would be and the length of recovery (6-8 weeks!!), I chose not to do anything at this time. I am happy to be feeling good and grateful that I can be present and involved during Avery's senior year of high school!!

During the later part of the summer, our family was able to take a few trips, which was such a blessing!  We were in California with my family and some dear family friends and then had the opportunity to go to England and Scotland for Brent's brother's wedding! I am attaching a few pictures from these trips to this post.  

When we returned from our travels, we hit the ground running with school staring for the boys and gearing up for all of our fall ministry activity at church/work. Some friends and I also hosted a baby shower for a dear friend several weeks ago, so it has been "go, go, go" for me for several months now. (I've attached a picture from the shower as well.) All that to say, I am so thankful that I have felt so good and have been able to do all of these things!!  

I can not thank you all enough for the amazing support you have shown to our family over the past year. The prayers, cards, texts, emails, calls, gifts, meals, etc. have meant so much to us and we will be forever grateful!

Through it all, our Lord has been ever-faithful and I am so thankful for the amazing blessings of peace and joy that He provided through the assurance of His Word and by answering the many prayers lifted up on our behalf. He proved Himself to be exactly who He says He is over these past 14 months, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to go deeper with Him through this experience. 

I'd like to share a few verses with you that I shared with some of our pastors' wives earlier this week and hope they will be an encouragement to you.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith-- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
1 Peter 1:3-7

I also shared with the ladies some words from a friend's blog... "It's time to get a little serious. We will be afflicted. We will be persecuted. We will face troubles. This side of Jesus coming back, it will happen. But it isn't hopeless. With God's Word filling us, His Spirit empowering us, and other believers standing courageously with us, we can overcome. Jesus has overcome."

My prayer for each one of you, regardless of what you are facing today..."May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Romans 15:13

Love and blessings,

Wilson :)