So, we're baaa-aaccckk!  Sorry, it's tough to do a good movie impersonation in a blog, and I'm sure Heather O'Rourke would be disappointed in my Poltergeist effort there.  (Confess: who knew Heather O'Rourke?  NO ONE!)

I'm back because one week from today Dee Dee and I take to the skies to head to lovely Rochester, Minnesota.  Okay, lovely is a stretch.  Needful.  Utilitarian.  Necessary.  It's been two years since our last trip to the great frigid north, and the time has come to go again.

Quick recap: Dee Dee still feels fantastic.  Looks...spectacular.  Healthiest person that I know.  However, until proven otherwise, she still houses 22-24 small carcinoid pseudo-cancer tumors in her stomach, and those wannabes simply love to invite other, meaner cancers to the party.  So, she has to get checked every year for things much nastier.  Some years, we can do the tests in NC; every other year we go to the gurus at Mayo Clinic.  This year is one of those years.

I think this is our seventh trip to Mayo.  Every time we go, the lead-up is a stressful time for us both.  It has been smoother and less tense this year, and for that we are thankful.  Please pray that this week would be no different.

Also, if you could begin praying now for all the normal things: cure; if not cured, at least perfectly stable, with no spread to other organs (would be terminal) and no appearance of other party-crashers (think Heath Ledger as Joker in The Dark Knight Rises, when the Joker crashes Bruce Wayne's party). Pray that our time together would be sweet, and that the gross circumstances would simply be the tools God uses to bring us closer together.  Pray that I husband well.  Pray that our kids, both away at college and at home, rest secure in the knowledge that the God of the universe has promised them that He will only ever do good for them, and for us; and that His promises are true and trustworthy.

In church today we sang my favorite hymn: "Whate'er My God Ordains Is Right."  I have quoted it many times in prior blog entries.  Pray that Dee Dee and I are both able, as we go through the minutes and hours of testing, waiting, testing, etc., to "take content, what God has sent...."  Pray for her, that as she undergoes tests with horrible concoctions to drink and nuclear medicines injected that make her feel pretty awful, she can find moments of humor, moments of introspective reflection, moments of grace, moments of joy.

Thanks for following, and for joining us as we head back north!  More thoughts and ramblings will follow as we near departure, and as we go through the belly of the beast!

Tony