Seven beautiful people were tragically killed in a plane crash on Friday afternoon: Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband, Jason, and daughter and son-in-law, Amber Nelon Kister and Nathan Kistler, Assistant Melodie Hodges, pilot Larry Haylie and his wife, Melissa. They were traveling to join the Gaither’s Alaskan Cruise.
Surviving daughter, Autumn Nelon Streetman, and husband, Jamie thank people for their prayers and support for them, their soon-to-be-born baby boy, and Jason’s parents.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna163931
May we all honor and remember their beautiful music (I’ve listened to them for many years).
In honoring this gifted family, we can pay tribute to those in our lives that have journeyed home~and those that remain in our immediate midst.
The brevity of life braces us for the brutal, breathless, breathtaking, and brilliant.
“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.”
Psalms 73:26
“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
John 13:35
“Three things will last forever-faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13
“If we were perfect, we wouldn’t need a Savior. It’s not about perfection-it’s pressing for progression and surrendering to self. When the world can’t satisfy, our Savior can saturate—filling voids and bringing value to the valleys and peace at the peak.”
K.L. Hale
“The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes, and surely it is in the everyday things around us that the beauty of life lies.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder
“One touch of nature makes all the world kin.”
John Muir
“Peace begins with a smile.”
Mother Teresa
“The wound is a place where the Light enters you.”
Rumi
“There. I’ve done my best. If that won’t do, I shall have to wait till I can do better.”
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
C.S. Lewis
“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”
C.S. Lewis
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched-they must be felt with the heart.”
Helen Keller
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
Oscar Wilde
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
Abraham Lincoln
“Life is a succession of lesson which must be lived to be understood.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”
Robert Frost
“Everything you can imagine is real.”
Pablo Picasso
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou
“Courage is grace under pressure.”
Ernest Hemingway
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
Confucius
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, dream, discover.”
Mark Twain
“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work form beginning to end.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11
May 2024 bring joy, good health, laughter, and love lessons. Undoubtedly, it will bring the unexpected, too. What gives you hope in the haphazard? Joy in the juggles? Persistence in pain? Faith in the fuzzy? May love light your way.
You are all treasures to me. Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. I look forward to my future with faith, family, friends, flannel, and faith!
My mind and body tried to adjust. My heart, full of joy, kept a perfect beat. The 8-hour car ride (time with my son and friends) was the perfect medicine. New sights. New roads. All led to family. Growing little bodies, small busy hands, and the cutest voices still echo. Reading, the zoo, nap times, and just being together were the cures I desired. In ways, time halted. In other ways, it went too fast. Memories for a lifetime were made. “Grammy K, can I go to Missouri with you?” “Of course!” I thought. Tee hee! We’ll nab little sis, pick up your cousin in Warrensburg, and have a grand ol’ time! Oh, for wishful thinking! Fast forward to spring. I’m already spent.😁
A Dollar A Day
Adjusting from a trip is harder now. Yikes, more adjustments! I reckon that’s what keeps me on my toes! My toes work but they, along with my feet and calves, are a bit swollen. There’s a glitch in my hitch (ugh) and my blood counts are low. I’m spent and spring just started! A sweet Momma from a school I just visited shared about another fellow “sufferer” that “spends” her money quickly. I’m a spender, too. Here’s my energy budget for the day:
*My morning time is priceless. Time with my Heavenly Father, coffee, meditation, and stretching keeps me well within my “bodily budget” *
$.05-getting ready
$.05-taking medication and eating
$.35-answering texts, checking emails, responding to others, reading, and paperwork
$.20-household tasks, Finley (she’s low maintenance but deserves attention 😊), resting, unexpected tasks, or shopping
$.10-eat, clean, text family, end my day
Broke by bedtime
Total-$1.00 (feel free to add zeros-100’s, 1000s, or however many you desire 😉
As you can see, the least spent is getting ready, eating, and taking medicine. 75% of my energy is consumed by the end of lunchtime! That last dime is gone by 7 pm. One year ago, I had double this money in energy. Triple this two years ago! I was canny with currency and outdoor activities! Indeed I can create currency by counting my blessings.
Many days I’m “broke” before I can visit you. Thank you for hanging in here with me. Some of you reading have sent emails, cards, and well wishes. Do you know how that has beefed up my budget? Do you know how thankful I am for each of you? I’ve missed you, my friends! May your currency stay consistent, your hope high, and your faith firm. You are so loved.💚
Have you heard of NET, yet? 🦓
Seeing the zebra hit my heart differently this time. 💕🦓
This Tuesday’s treatment has been canceled. I was bummed hearing this today. My platelets need to rise! Prayers for platelets 😊!My legs and feet are swollen, my back is out, my joints hurt, and I’m weak. The good news? By golly, NOTHING is going to take my joy. Did I tell you how much fun I had visiting family? My goal is to see my other son and family soon. I’ll never stop dreaming! Will you join me in staying positive, hopeful, and optimistic?
Thankful Thursday Shout-Outs 📣
First and foremost, my family. 💕This journey, although unique to me, is not mine alone. It has impacted everyone. Where would I be without you? To my parents: your unwavering love and support carry me. Thank you to my sons and daughters-in-law (Jarrod, Brooke, Jay, and Cierra) for loving me at my worst and best. Your sacrifices and families are the legacies of your commitments. I honor that and love you to infinity and beyond. The grands, soon to be ages 2,3, and 4, light up my life! My twin lives knowing that a possible gene mutation is shared. She “shares” this cancer with me. She and my older sister “carry” this with them. I love them so much. My nephew and niece provide smiles and love-I offer it back always. My cousins (Steph, your morning calls), aunts, and uncles-your prayers and love mean everything.
I want to give a special shout-out to my friends, Charles, Kim, Trish, and Stacy for loading me up and meeting Jarrod 1/2 way on the trip to Texas. This tribe has my “back” always (and Mary, too!). My “sister” Kim (thank you for volunteering to go to treatment; we’ll try again soon), who God put in my life at the ripest time (and we share so much in Spirit). And, of course, our 3rd treasured trio member, Rhonda. The memories and laughs make me grin. Rita, Judy, and Judy-you’re my family. Forever and Always. Judy, the trips to Springfield and memories at CHANCES thank you. Rita, I cherish my unopened gifts and years of laughs! Rhonda swirled in with the spirit from years ago; she just knew! Sonia, you and your precious son’s cards, gifts, and texts. Vicki, Cindy, and Joy-your cards lift my spirits. Martha (you teach me so much-you “3” are in my mind’s Refuge and heart), Mama K, Julie (another sister who keeps me listening to the Spirit), Kate, Dwight, Cheryl (C), Cindy (C), Lisa, Dawn, Kelley, Pam and Pam, Eddie, Jennie, Mark, Gary, Matt, Mitch, Kate, Russell, Brad, John, R.V. John, Hamish, Bill, Tangie, Cindy, Laura, Beth, Mama Lava, and many others: when I see your names in “reader” I know you’re well. This gives me comfort! Tim, your unwavering walk with Christ (and my yummy coffee) inspires me! Keith and Melinda, God brought you as neighbors right at my diagnosis. Your walk with Christ impacted mine. Our foundations have literally shifted and grown stronger. Because of you, “Karla’s Cottage” exists. Do you know how humbling this is? God has given me more than I have ever deserved! HE does that for all of us if we so choose! Larry & Phyllis, thank you for the truck prayers, giggles, and a life full of laughs. Thank you to all who I may have missed. Without all of you, I’d genuinely be bankrupt with bitterness. Let’s keep on keeping on!
Medicine Park, OKThank you sons and daughters-in-law for your service! Super cool! We see the same sky! A boy and a dogSuper girl! A fun festival!
Written by a beautiful poet, Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), this piece is evidence of a heart devoted to what truly mattered the most. At a young age, health became an issue for Christina. Educated by her parents, and with artist siblings, Christina allowed her words to speak the deepest parts of her. In her later decades, Rossetti suffered from a type of Grave’s disease diagnosed in 1872, suffering a near-fatal attack in the early 1870s. In 1893, she developed breast cancer. The tumour was removed, but there was a recurrence in September 1894. She died on December 29th, 1894 and was buried on New Year’s Day, 1895 in the family grave. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Rossetti)
When it’s all up in the air ~health, wealth, attitudes, belongings, uncertainties, misunderstandings, doubts, worries, and unknowns ~love comes down. It’s the true Spirit of the season that gives all year. 💚
Finley and I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a happy new year from our home to yours! 🎄💚
Humor, Holidays, & Health
A missing mailbox (only to be discovered “stuck” on an Amazon driver’s lift gate), wrong pronunciation at a procedure, a tasty and interesting side sauce only to be called, “gravy”…perhaps I need to get out more? Holiday seasons, health, mishaps, and circumstances might drain the spirit, wallet, and humor. I’m so thankful for laughter and reasons to smile. Being human is the easiest thing to do. Doing the hard things~loving and laughing in the worst of it~requires a much greater power than me.
An update to my newsletter ~Last week I had the opportunity to meet a fellow NET patient by phone. For the first time I talked with someone who speaks the same “language” and had a similar health path. She was diagnosed at 54, 6 years ago. She was shocked at how many tumors I have and where they are (distant metastasis). She was fortunate to have surgery for removal of the tumor, but sadly, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She has many battles. Unfortunately she could only complete one radiation like the one I’m receiving (many blood transfusions were required and she was sick from February to summer). Will you pray for my new friend, Ingrid? Thank you, Jane, for introducing us.
