Immeasurably More! (Guest Post by Meredith)

All praises be to the King of Kings, for the Lord our God, HE IS WONDERFUL!

This is Meredith, Jill's oldest daughter...

I have maintained for years and years that my mother is an incredible woman that truly is a cut above the rest. She's physically beautiful, she's outwardly one of the most vivacious, engaging, adorable people you could ever wish to meet... she is full of joy, full of love, full of encouragement. She has a servant's heart, an unshakable faith, and as of yesterday... A CANCER FREE BODY.

Our day at MD Anderson started bright and early. My parent's, along with my mom's sister Teri, arrived shortly before six o'clock in the morning. My sister's and I arrived about 7 o'clock... all prepared for her surgery to begin around 8am. Her surgeon decided when she arrived that morning to re-administer the radioactive dye that she'd had injected Friday morning-- the dye has to "permeate," spread around, do its thing for at least an hour... so she was told they'd call her back around 10:30am to get things started. At 11am, they finally called her back again, and we were told that the surgery officially began at 12:41pm. We expected the surgery to last a minimum of 2.5 hours-- so we headed to grab lunch in the building, then came back to wait... at 2:45pm, her surgeon came over to our family in the waiting room, "Greer?" We all about leapt from our chairs... she went on to tell us that my mom had come out of the surgery beautifully, that she'd gotten clear margins and was able to remove the tumor entirely, as well as a portion of the muscle near the tumor just to be thorough... and then came the news we were all waiting for, she said that the lymph nodes LOOKED CLEAR, CANCER FREE!! The official pathology report will tell the exact findings, and we'll have that a week from today... but her precious surgeon seemed very confident that the lymph nodes were clear and cancer free. WHAT A MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE!!! A short while later, we were allowed to visit my mom, one at a time... she looked amazing! She was so precious, so grateful for the news... so relieved that the cancer had been taken out of her body... it was a long, long day but by quarter til five, we were wheeling her down to the car, ready to go home!

This morning, I called her to check in and my goodness, she sounded incredible! She's such a fighter, such a trooper! She's filled with relief and thanksgiving that the surgery is behind her and was a success. She's resting at home, but is doing remarkably well. My sisters and I are taking turns "babysitting" so my dad can go back to work.

A huge thank you to those of you that stopped by the hospital yesterday to encourage our family. It was a precious blessing. We'll never forget your faces in that waiting room. Thank you as well to those of you that are bringing meals to my parents this week-- another huge service that they appreciate so much. And, on behalf of my mom, thank you for the cards, the texts/emails/calls, the gifts, the flowers, the outpouring of generosity and love you've showered over her. Most of all, THANK YOU for answering the call to be prayer warriors on her behalf. God has heard and we are so thankful for what He has done and what He continues to do. You have all been the hands and the feet of Jesus for my mom, for our family... and it truly is immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine.

We all love and thank you!

Richard, Meredith, Megan & Makenzie