Blessings to share

Hey, All!
Just wanted to update you on some things that are happening in the Brokering family. We have sold our home and bought a different one. We are in the process of moving and everyone is exhausted. We closed on the new home last Thursday and we had planned to get in that night to clean and unload at least one trailer full of packed boxes. When we got there we were met by about 12 or 15 people that had set aside their evening to help us get started right away. They all had their cleaning buckets, painting equipment and trucks to help get even more stuff moved than we had planned. This has continued for the past 7 days and all of the cleaning and painting is done and we have moved several loads of boxes in and unpacked them. They have also taken care of many minor repairs and made some changes that the lady of the house needed to have taken care of. UNBELIEVABLE! What they have done for us in the past few days would have taken us weeks or months. Thank the Lord for sending them to us to help when I'm down and unable to function.

I heard from the doc today and he tells me that my tumor marker has dropped 21 points from 55 to 34 since I started my new chemo on August 10th. This is a blessing. I have had 4 of the 12 treatments that he has prescribed for me. After my 6th treatment he plans to do a CT scan to check the progress of the treatments. The 6th treatment will be on October 19 and he will scan sometime after that. It's hard to tell exactly on what date the scan will be done. Things can change his mind depending on how well the treatments & tumor marker are doing.

I have overcome all of the symptoms of the growing cancer in my lungs except the shortness of breath. I can't climb a flight of stairs without breathing heavily and feeling a heaviness in my lungs and chest. The best that I can describe it is that it feels like someone is pushing on my chest while I'm trying to catch my breath. Other than that I have no pain, my appetite is back, I've gained 4 or 5 pounds back and the exhaustion is now caused by the chemo and not the cancer.

I tolerated the treatment last Friday much better than I did the last one. I will be doing much better when the move is over and there is a peaceful place to rest. The move is a big job, but with so many helpers my participation has been minimal. I get in trouble every time I try to contribute in the smallest ways. I'm learning the meaning of this verse: 2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. I've never gotten so much done as I have since I've had cancer. The weakest time of my life is filled with the ability to accomplish much. God just continually shows Himself strong in the midst of my weakness. AMAZING GRACE!

Thank you for all of your prayers and comments. You may never know on this side of glory how encouraging it is to know that you are praying and to hear from you regularly. Thanks.

I will be posting news on my progress as it comes, but until then pray, pray, pray.

God bless,
The Brokerings