NOVEMBER 11

Gary really enjoyed having Lance and Jason visit, but was pretty worn out today as we had a full day of doctor visits. We started the day with blood draws, then visited with a Nephrologist to discuss his kidneys, then on to his Oncologist. The good news is that his creatinine level was down to .09 so this showed that whatever damage his kidneys received during the last treatment.... they have recovered. Gary's Oncologist came in smiling once again and mentioned how pleased he was to see that his kidneys were doing well. He told us that the other doctor looking at the results with him, is also a Catholic and he turned to her to say, "I guess God loves Baptist too!" This is the second time he has been surprised at Gary's progress and made a remark about God. We know it is not a coincidence, but the fact that so many are praying for Gary. How wonderful a testimony this is to his doctor and others that are following his progress. Gary will start testing for the screening process on the 20th and then, if found to be medically safe to go through the transplant process, and if approved by our insurance, they will start harvesting his blood cells shortly after Thanksgiving. We have made plans to return to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving since they will not be able to do much during that time anyway. It has been several years since we were in the States and able to spend Thanksgiving with our family and we will miss being with them during Christmas due to the transplant process, so this will be a special time for us. I will say, that we will miss dearly our fellow missionaries in the Philippines during this time. We always have such a wonderful day, celebrating our thanks for our country and for what the Lord has done for us. Words just can't express our gratitude for all our friends and family that pray daily for Gary. We love you and thank you for it!