"The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble...for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you." --Psalm 9:9-10

Once again, hello from Wheaton! I wanted to quickly update about a couple things. First of all, PTL that the weather is warmer. And by warmer, I mean that it's now in the positives--and hey! it looks like tomorrow's high is actually ABOVE FREEZING! I don't really know what to do with myself right now because I'm (sadly) so thrilled!

Secondly, I know so many have been praying, so I thought I should let you know that, if you've read the other posts, I am now officially "soaring on the wings of Jesus," in the words of Madelyn as she tried to comfort me about the prospects of losing my hair. Actually, though, I was reading in Psalms last night and was at Psalm 17:8b which reads, "hide me in the shadow of your wings," which is also a line from one of my favorite worship songs we sing at Wheaton called "Still." SO, it turns out Madelyn's theology wasn't TOO far off; however, I'm pretty sure that Psalm 17:8b is David appealing for GOD to hide him in the shadow of His metaphorical wings rather than Madelyn's encouragement that I could soar on the wings of Jesus, but she tried at least.

So anyway, back to my second point in this update: Sunday night, all (but one who was on a retreat) of my teammates and I headed over to the house of one of our freshmen, Kaitlyn Graham. We had dinner and some fun, and then her mom, Robin, shaved my head. Actually, before that, each of my teammates cut off some hair, which took a lot of trust on my part that they wouldn't accidentally stab me. :) Just kidding...but seriously...So Mrs. Graham was so sweet and made the whole thing so incredibly easy, praying for us before the event began and just being so helpful and encouraging. At the end, my teammates and Mrs. Graham prayed for me, and that was the only time that I cried, and it was honestly because I was so touched by their incredible support, love, and encouragement. God is so good in bringing peace. I think I've mentioned this, but over the events of the past year and a half, I've prayed a number of really specific times for God to give the "peace that passes all understanding," leaning hard on Philippians 4:6-7, and He really is so faithful in giving that incredible peace! I had prayed that before the cutting/shaving began, and I know so many of you have been praying for that and for me, so once again, it's such a testimony to God's faithfulness and following through on the things He promises. He truly does mercifully give a peace that makes you think, "how in the WORLD am I so calm right now??" and you know it's ONLY because the LORD is at work.

My third update for the night is about my chemo schedule: tomorrow is my 4th treatment at 2:30pm (CST), and then I have one more on a Thursday: February 5th, also at 2:30pm. All the ones after that are currently scheduled for Wednesdays now instead of the initial Thursdays I had posted because this way we are hoping to avoid having Days 5 and 6 collide with my Christian Thought class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, apparently any time I go in for chemo, after they take my blood counts, if they are absolutely TOO low, then they could tell me to come back the next day for treatment. So, there are no guarantees that just because it's on the schedule treatment will actually occur on the appointed date. That said, I'm a little skeptical that my counts would qualify as TOO low--what does that even MEAN??, since last time they were at 150/3000, and if THAT wasn't too low, I can't imagine being turned away because they were any lower. However, we will definitely be praying that treatment can happen on the appointed dates and would love your prayers for that, too! Also, I had mentioned that I wanted to move them to Wednesdays, but the reason that the next 2 are on Thursdays still is because each treatment is ideally supposed to be 14 days apart, give or take a day. So, I can go in and do treatment tomorrow because the last one that I did was on a Friday, 13 days ago, but they don't want me jumping from a Friday to a Wednesday (12 days) immediately; I have to stagger the jump, if you will, thus the next two Thursday treatments.

Here's a huge praise--I know many have been praying against illness or infection in this process, and I know that they prayed for me for health today in chapel as well. My roommate Rachel got the stomach flu this weekend, and one night she and I were the only 2 home, and I felt terrible because I couldn't go upstairs and help her or take her anything because she had a fever and was throwing up. At one point, I threw the thermometer up the stairs for her and offered her one of my Sprites (which she had to actually get), so it was just bad--for her especially because she felt awful all weekend and has had to switch some stuff for her schedule now. Praise the Lord that amidst all of that, I didn't get sick and that Rachel is now better! Seriously, that's huge--apparently if I get a fever, I have to go to the hospital and stay for a few days. Lame. So, thank you for your "preventative" prayers against infection or sickness!

I think that is all for now. For prayer, that my counts would be good to go for treatment tomorrow and for my parents especially since it's the first one at which neither will be present. Also, Madelyn has pink eye, and I think she's mostly over it, but I just figure, WHILE you're already praying...(that pretty much sounds like when I tell my mom, "I mean, WHILE you're at the grocery store, would you mind picking up some bread?") :)

For a progress report and continued prayer for overall healing in this process, I will say also that, as this treatment wraps up the 2nd round tomorrow (WOW time flies!), I should have another PET scan (the sugar one where I "CAN'T" do anything active for a while...my favorite!) next week. This will be the first PET scan since before we started chemo and were staging my lymphoma, so our prayer is that the scan will come back absolutely clear! Kirsten Friedl (who just found out yesterday that her final PET scan was all clear and she is officially done and in remission, PTL!) said that after the 2nd round hers was all clear, but they went ahead and did 4 more rounds of chemo to really get it all. So, that's our prayer and first huge step to healing: that this chemo would be effective, God would completely heal me, and that this upcoming scan will be all clear. I'll let you know when I actually get that scheduled in case you want to pray at more specific times or something.

Once again, thank you. I am so touched. And I'm becoming SO much less cynical and fiercely self-reliant as I trust others and allow people to help me. Your encouragement continues to floor me again and again, and know that you are being faithful to God's call to carry one another's burdens and encourage and exhort one another in love. You have blessed me so much!

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,

Hannah