Victory Through Prayer

We are so thankful. We've had a great day of rejoicing and praising the Lord. We are so thankful for the good news yesterday.

Every appointment with Dr. Diehl, he would always start out saying "The bad news is....".  Yesterday when he opened the door for the appointment, his first words were - "I have good news for you."

They were such wonderful words.  Jerry will probably resume his chemo this coming Monday at the hospital here in Greenville.

We know we have a ways to go yet, but we feel like we had a victory yesterday. We know that this victory was through prayer.

We love you and please KEEP ON PRAYING!

Answered Prayer

Psalm 40:1
I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

Praise the Lord!! We had a good doctor's report! The leukemia has not progressed and Jerry  can continue with the chemotherapy. The doctor said two or three more rounds of the chemo and if Jerry continues to progress at the rate he is now, he should be on course for the transplant.

We are so thankful. We believe in our hearts that it was the prayers of God's people.
Right now there are tears of joy and happiness.

We love you!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Thursday evening, we noticed some blisters on Jerry's stomach. I took him to the doctor Friday morning and he has shingles. They gave him a prescription, so hopefully they'll start clearing up in 5 or 7 days.

It is probably because of his immune system being down and sometimes stress can cause them.

Please be praying for them to clear up quickly. The worst part about having the shingles is that he can't be around his grand children. 

Also please continue praying for the doctor's appointment on Tuesday. We know we have a wonderful Savior who loves us and Who is already in our tomorrow.

Patience

Psalm 27:14

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

When we were raising our four sons, one of the things we tried to teach them was patience. One of our sons had a real problem with patience.  He was like most kids. He wanted everything right now. He had things to do, life to live. He didn't have time to wait. We would ask him, "Aaron, what is patience?" He would always reply - IT'S WAITING! This was our son, Aaron. He is raising four children of his own right now and I'm sure he has a lot of fun teaching his kids PATIENCE.

I think this week I'll need a lesson on patience. We will not know the outcome of the biopsy until next Tuesday when we will go back to Duke for an appointment. The doctor said there could be two outcomes to the biopsy.  The first is that the leukemia has progressed strongly. The second is because of myelodysplastic which will cause the blood cells to be abnormal.  If the leukemia has progressed strongly, the doctor said he will be very discouraged, but if it's myelodysplastic, they will be able to continue the chemo treatments. If they are able to continue with the chemo, it will take about 5 or 6 more chemo treatments, but hopefully it will get the leukemia knocked down enough the Jerry can be considered for a transplant.

Please be praying for a good biopsy report and also that we will have lots of PATIENCE!

We love you!!  And again we could never express how grateful we are for all the love, prayers, and support.

Continuing In Prayer

Romans 12:12

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

Please be praying for Jerry's doctor's appointment tomorrow at Duke. They will be doing a bone marrow biopsy to see how the leukemia has progressed. The results will tell them how to continue with the treatment. We probably will not know the results until next Tuesday when Jerry has another appointment.
This will be an anxious time for us and an exercise of our faith.
Prayer is our greatest weapon right now in this battle and we have a lot of friends and family all over this world praying.

We love you.

A Day of Blessings!!

What a wonderful and special day we had yesterday.
Jerry got to preach in the High School Chapel at Greenville Christian Academy.
He loves preaching so much.
And Greenville Christian Academy has a bunch of great students and teachers.  We love you all so much and appreciate all the love, prayers, and the wonderful gift we received.
God is so good!!!

Thank You

Here is a picture of four of our grand kids in Cincinnati. They walked Thursday, September 15, for Light The Night Walk in honor of their PawPaw Rice.
  We love you guys so much and appreciate your love for us.


Evan, Elena, Emma, and Ethan Rice



Light The Night Walk is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's annual fundraising walk to pay tribute and bring hope to people battling cancer. Hundreds of thousands of participants raise funds for lifesaving research and patient services.

One Baby Step

We like to play the game "Mother May I" with our grand kids. We'll say take one giant step forward or take two baby steps backward, hop on one leg. And if they forget to say "Mother May I?" they have to go all the way back to start.
Yesterday we got to take one baby step forward. We woke up yesterday and prayed the Lord would just give us a little hope yesterday, just something we could grab hold of. Jerry went to have his blood count checked and "Praise the Lord!" his platelets were up 4 points. They hadn't dropped. That doesn't seem like a lot, but it was that one baby step we needed to give us a little bit of hope. And a lot of baby steps add up to one giant step.
And also, God answered another big prayer for us yesterday.

IT WAS A GOOD DAY!!!!!


Our next step will be Wednesday, September 21. Jerry has an appointment at Duke to have a bone marrow biopsy. The biopsy will tell us for sure how the leukemia has progressed. We know God can do great things.


Thank you for all your prayers, love, and support. We love you!

In Sickness and In Health

Yes, that is us. Over 44 years ago. I know you ladies are envious of my Spiderman glasses.

I was so happy being Mrs. Jerry Rice. Lately the vows we repeated to one another have became very real.

A couple of weeks ago a lady from Duke Hospital called with a survey. She wanted to ask the caregiver, which is me, this whole list of questions. Really the questions upset me.

Examples of the questions:

"Do you feel like you have given up your life to take care of your husband?"

"Do you feel that everyone has pushed his care on to you?"

"Do you resent having to take care of your husband?"

"Are you emotionally prepared to take care of your husband?"

Finally I told her - My husband and I have been married for over 44 years. I take care of him because I love him. That's what husbands and wives do. No one makes me do it. I don't do it because no one else will or because I have to.  I haven't given up my life to take care of him. He is my life and it's my privilege to be able to care for him. 

When I was through, she was about to cry and said that we were very lucky to have one another.

It isn't luck, it's prayers, love, and the grace of God.

Genesis 2:24

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,

and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Seasons of My Life

It was three months ago yesterday since Jerry was first diagnosed with leukemia. It seems like it has been a lifetime. And there is still so much uncertainty about our future and what the Lord has planned for us. We know that this is one of the seasons of our life that we must go through and that God has a purpose for it.

To every thing there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:1

 

SEASONS OF MY LIFE

Young and innocent, fresh and new,

Life is beginning with so much to do.

It’s just the start, for I’m in my spring,

Oh, how exciting what life will bring.

Then comes my summer all bright and full.

The days are long and time’s never dull.

I’m as a flower in it’s full bloom,

But oh the days pass all too soon.

And then my autumn is here at last

So full of nostalgia for days long past.

If only it’s beauty could always stay,

But all too soon it slips away.

The days grow short and wither away

As winter is here and it seems so gray.

But I have no fear as my winter ends,

Because a new spring is going to begin.

An eternal spring waiting for me

For with my Savior I’ll always be.

- Patricia Rice

 

We ask that you pray that we'll be strong and have good courage and faith through this time.

We Keep Pressing On

He's already in your tomorrow, He's walking one step ahead.
Whether it's joy or sorrow, He'll do just what He said.
He'll never leave you lonely in the land of the great unknown
He's already in your tomorrow, Don't be afraid
Keep pressing on!

This afternoon I kept singing the words to this song over and over.

The news was not good at the oncologist today. Jerry's platelets have dropped some more. They didn't continue the chemo treatment for right now.  The oncologist doesn't think the chemo is holding back the leukemia, but we won't know for sure until they do a biopsy. It will probably be done at Duke. We're just waiting to hear from the doctors at this time as to their next step.

But we're going to keep pressing on!

We  love you and appreciate the love and prayers.

Ain't God Good

Jerry preaching at a Christian School in 1977.

In 1977, Jerry was the Bus Director and Children's Director at Madisonville Baptist Temple in Madisonville, Kentucky. He also had a Radio Program every Saturday evening for two hours called "Ain't God Good."

He loved it. People would call in and give their testimonies of what God had did for them - how God had saved them or healed them or blessed them with a special blessing. Then they could request a favorite gospel song for Jerry to play for them over the Christian radio station.

It was a very special time in our lives.

If we could call in today to that program we would testify that God is good. He has blessed us so much.

We have a God who meets all of our needs. We have family and friends who loves us and are always there for us. We have a great church family who loves us and prays for us. Best of all, we know we're saved and have a home in Heaven.

Psalm 34:8

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

"Ain't God Good"

Memories

My husband and  I do a lot of reminiscing lately. We realized we have so many wonderful memories. We decided we had no bad memories, we would only remember the good. And we've had so many wonderful times, places we've been,  and friends we've made  that we never want to forget.

Philippians 1:3

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

Memories

I stored some happy times,

I locked them far away;

Within this heart of mine

For them to always stay.

They were just some memories

Of some very special times.

The things that make us who we are

That mold and shape our lives.

It might have been a friend

Who was so very dear.

Or even a time of sadness,

When I had shed a tear.

There are even little things,

A laugh, a touch, a smile.

The smell of summer rain,

Or even a hug from your child.

So someday if I’m lonely

Or feeling a little low,

I can go within my memory

To all the things I know.

I can close my eyes

And remember another time.

A time when there was laughter

And happiness was mine.

Or I can be with loved ones

Or be laughing with a friend.

And remember all the special times,

I know will never end.

-by Patricia Rice

We love you and appreciate your prayers so much.

P.S.  Please be praying for the doctors to have wisdom when Jerry goes back to the oncologist here in Greenville, Wednesday.