Working on the house purchase brings a few roadblocks, but it’s a positive project for Nelson to work on while he endures cancer treatment—and waits to feel better.

                                                             >>>>>>>>>>

August 22, 2022

Hit the first snag with the house. I have to amend my tax returns. I should probably pray into that a little. Sometimes I wonder if these things are things I should push through or things that signify a “no” from God. Hard to tell sometimes.

Lord, I pray for wisdom and to know how to respond to that. I see my friend Josh and how he pushed through so much to get the loan for his house, and it worked out super well for him. I know these things aren’t easy, otherwise everyone would be doing them.

I want to be someone who is determined and “gets what he wants” in a sense, who is willing to fight for things that are valuable, but I don’t want to be stubborn.

Show me the way, Lord. I would love to do this, but I want to make sure it’s you, Lord. I just keep thinking about what Josh told me, that getting the financing for his house was like a part time job when he did it. So, I don’t expect it to come without a fight, in a way.

I think it would be great to get this house, so close to the Mayo Clinic. Now Annso even talks about working there as an OT [Occupational Therapist], which would be unexpected, but probably ok. She’d work 3, 12 hour shifts, and 1 weekend a month. That would be me as Mr. Mom, but it would get us full benefits and a solid income.

I just got a call from John Anderson saying he is praying for us, and if we need anything, just to call. Super nice of people to stand with us like that. I called him back, and he was telling me stories about how we rode motorcycles to Minnesota [from Chicago] back in the day, and ran out of gas here at Rochester.

I rode off and figured out how to siphon gas from one bike to the other and got us going. We drove all night and arrived at his college, St. Olaf, at 7 AM, freezing to death. John said that same determination will get me through this, and I’ll live to raise Will.

He said he’s never met anyone like me and that I have a resourcefulness and determination that will get us through. I thought that was super encouraging and probably true.

You don’t really know that stuff about yourself, because you don’t know what it’s like to live inside another person’s body and soul, but I suppose I do have a bit of grit.

I have never known another way, so to me it’s normal. I guess I need it to get through the house thing now, and have to extend it to another phase of life, taking risks with the family this time, instead of on a motorcycle. It’s easy for me though. Sort of comes second nature. Life is nothing without risk. It’s a boring slog that moves way too slow. I’m glad God gives us the freedom to take risks and live to tell about it.

                                              >>>>>>>>>>

“Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” (Ecclesiastes 11:1)

Nelson’s cancer is sapping all his strength, and he’s trying to adjust to that new and unwelcome reality. Nevertheless, he writes of how much he has to be thankful for and tries to dwell on the positive.

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August 22, 2022

Made the offer on the house yesterday. Lots of God-stories in this one—from the way we found it by just seeing the “For Sale By Owner” sign when we were looking for a different house, to not having to work with a realtor, to the closing date we are looking at in January, to the unit we want with the old man living in it now but wanting to leave anyway.

Again, back to my gratitude list. First at the top is always Annso. She left a little note on the table here for me and cleaned up everything last night after I went to sleep at 9:15 pm. I’ve been so tired lately and get up about 5 am anyway.

The nights are long, waking up every 2 hours or so and even with a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, I’m still wiped out by 8:30 pm. It will be nice once this is over. Life is so different now like this. Fatigue, aches and pains, medicine going down the hatch like it’s going out of style, and so many limits.

I can hardly do anything like I used to. It’s like I was an all star player and have been put in the penalty box at the sidelines.

I’m thankful for Annso’s servant heart. I had no idea she was capable of so much. Having Will and this sickness brought out so much in her. She’s a powerhouse. She does so much, and having a little one does give you incentive to work, because your hours to get stuff done are limited, so you use them.

I’m thankful for Will and his good health. He could have problems like so many others we see, but he’s healthy as a horse. I’m thankful it seems like we are headed toward being homeowners and even landlords.

I’m thankful for all the health improvements lately. I’m thankful for the reduced swelling, for medication to make it happen, for Ralph and Astrid to help out with Will and everything else we need, for the Mayo Clinic that saved my life more than once so far, and for these morning quiet times I didn’t have time for back in Kona. I’m thankful for help from friends Mike and Judy helping to get us out of Kona and then clearing our place out after we’d gone.

I pray for a solution to my motorcycle out there in Kona and what to do with it. I’m thankful for the years I had it. I’m thankful for God’s mercy in keeping me alive through a couple really gnarly infections that probably would have killed me in Kona or Michigan.

I’m thankful for the good medical help I have and the insurance to pay for it. Thank you for working that out Lord. You are kind to me, even though it’s hard to understand why this happened to me.

I look at all these people walking around healthy everywhere and marvel at what it would be like to be able to run or do things like that again and not be so tired out. We went to this little church yesterday because one of the docs at the Clinic had invited me when I was in the hospital a few weeks back. I think it will be our church home.

Annso digs in on stuff, like things that are helpful for me. I tend to think I wouldn’t even go to church without her to push me toward it. I’m thankful for her beyond words. There are so many reasons.

                             >>>>>>>>>>

 “Through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)

Nelson’s dream of owning a home is about to come true, despite it having seemed impossible at the start. This turn of events is a mood-lifter as he continues to battle the pain of his lung cancer.

                                                      >>>>>>>>>>

August 21, 2022

My neck is still pretty bad day after day. Some of these problems or mini-sicknesses as I call them, are hard to pin down as far as cause. I just grind them out, and if they cure on their own, great. If not, we try antibiotics or other things until the next one.

Good news is: We are closer than ever to owning property. The house purchase seems like it might actually work. The loan looks like it will happen if I get a couple more things in order.

We looked at the house again, and it seems somewhat doable. It’s a bit of a beast, needs lots of work, but we might be able to enlist friends to help with the heavy lifting, so I don’t have to.

It’s hard to believe it might actually happen. It needs lots of work, which we can do a little at a time, in my thinking. We could move the guy out and us into his place a month later, then fix it up slowly as we occupy the place, like we did in Hawaii.

To be a homeowner would be a dream come true for me and a big step forward in our life as a family. It’s really in God’s hands, because without lots of help from him, there’s no way we could do it—from the money, to me being well enough to do some of the work, there are lots of variables that need to come in line to have it become a reality.

Nonetheless, it seems to be lining up to happen. Today, I will make an offer and see what the owner says.

I’m thankful for Annso and her non-grudge-holding personality. I’m thankful that she is the way she is, and that she moves right on and keeps living, instead of harboring a grudge against me for something stupid I said or did, which there are many of those.

I’m thankful for the way the house seems to be coming along and how you, Lord, seem to be doing the impossible for us. More than all we ask or imagine. Thank you for the little church you led us to attend this morning, for the potluck, and for the doc that invited me in the first place, and that Annso likes it, and how we are going to meet people there and start living like we live here. Thank you for that, Lord.

You truly do the unthinkable. How could we have even made up this story. Not that I want to have life-threatening cancer, but considering I was not asked, it might turn out pretty well in the long run, as long as I can get through this first part ok.

Going to the ICU with Sepsis and almost dying about a month ago makes it seem a little touch and go, but we are being taken care of by the best in the country, and I’m thankful for that, even though it was the hardest experience of my life.

                                                       >>>>>>>>>>

Thanks for keeping me alive, Lord. I guess until you say it’s time, it’s not time.

“We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us…” (Romans 8:37)