Hi friends and family, this is Peg.

Let me just tell you on the front end this will be hard to write, and probably long. Sorry. The weekend was very emotional for me, and today was emotional for Frank. God’s presence is very near to us both, but that doesn’t mean the road wasn’t rough…it means we will never walk it alone.

When God knows you’re hurting, it is so awesome how He always sends exactly what you need. He did that for me this weekend, and He did that for us both today. This is how the Lord comforted us today:

As you go through this day know that I am gently protecting you. I am as near to you as your very breath, as close to you as your heartbeat. I can see the fragile state of your emotions. I know how close to the surface your tender feelings are. I am aware that the wick of your spirit’s inner flame is flickering in the winds of your dilemma. But you are my child, and I am on your side today. I will not allow the flame of your spirit to be snuffed out. I will stand between you and the wind. I will hold you in my love until you are strong again. Do not be troubled or afraid. Do not strive in your own strength, but lean into my love. Be strengthened by my Spirit. Find comfort in my mercy. I am your Shield and Defender (from Postcards from God).

God knew all Frank’s feeling, and heard our conversation at breakfast. Those words were so comforting to him this morning.After a few appointments, we saw Dr. B. He looked exactly like his picture, dressed in blue jeans. A likeable guy! He made us laugh, which is always a plus.

We went over everything – mostly stuff we already knew, but some new stuff. The real meaty info came from his assistant. He works in research, and attends medical school. The neat thing is that he was raised in Greenville and graduated a year behind Neely in high school. He knew her and it was instant bonding for “the boys back home”.

We learned about the timing of the treatment, and when to expect the stem cell collections and the transplants. They went into detail about his lesions and other tests. It was in this meeting that all of our questions got answered and we felt very much at peace.He’ll start chemo on Wed. – either here or in Memphis. But he has to have another gene array on Wed. That was the very painful test he had last week. We pleaded and begged for some stronger medicine so he can be more comfortable, and I think we won!

The other news was that he is going to look closer at Neely’s blood work. He was under the impression she was a match, and will recheck her results.One other neat thing: We met 2 patients in the library today. One is an Internal medicine doctor in MO, and the other a police officer from FL. The FL one is in remission, and was very very encouraging to talk to. He’s done all Frank is about to do last year and he looked great and was very positive. The doctor just got diagnosed in Sept. He is here for his stem cell collection, and was also very encouraging. Being a physician he researched the best place to go, and said this is the best place. His sister was with him. We shared some of our faith, exchanged emails and are going to pray for each other. Very neat!

Our prayer requests are specific:
1. That Wednesday's test will be tolerable.
2. That Neely is a match.
3. That his myeloma DNA will not have a chromosome 13 abnormality (we won’t know for a week or two).
4. Chase has chicken pox, and for my mom as she cares for sick one.
5. Jim has 4th chemo tomorrow. We love you!

Frank is sore from his biopsy today, and is on meds. He says he’ll write tomorrow, and loves you all. And so do I.