The papers are coming along as needed. I am almost done with the bigger one, and started today on the smaller one with three pages so far. I have the next couple of days to finish them, one by the 10th and one the 11th. After that I will just need to do my power point which is supposed to be on treatment plans written out in the paper.

I haven’t written about my aunt here yet. Earlier in the year she was diagnosed with stage III cancer which they think originated in the ovaries. When they went in for surgery and removed the cancer-filled omentum lining in her abdomen, they found a different type of cancer underneath that had not previously been visible on scans.

So she is on my heart tonight, along with the many other pains of the world. My grandmother many months ago moved back to New York upon my aunt’s diagnosis because she wasn’t going to be able to take care of her while undergoing chemo treatments. She is living with Tony and Darlene who are very much like family.

My grandpa used to say that God had blessed him with a son in his old age. Tony lived with my grandparents for several years when he was an immigrant from Brazil hoping to gain United States citizenship. After many years he did. While he lived with my grandparents he began going to church and came to faith in Christ as his Savior.

Life really is just hard sometimes, often much of the time, and sad, and depressing. It’s not just life, it’s me often too. But I do remain thankful for the hope God gives us in difficult times and the ways he still allows us to know joy and even exuberance. He didn’t have to do that for us but he did. Thanks be to God the true redeemer of all things.