life lessons in Captain Crunch

Last week was a crazy week. Not a lot of fun. Work was crazy hectic. Heard really bad news from my student loan people, that due to a mistaken address, I have to start paying a ton with really high interest rates.

During all of this I decided to go grocery shopping. Now I haven't done this often. Last semester, my schedule pretty much demanded that I eat fast food almost every day. So, I ate out for almost every meal. As I went from aisle to aisle, I came to the cereal aisle. I walked up and down the aisle looking for Captain Crunch's Crunch Berries about three times and couldn't find it. That cereal was a staple of my childhood, second only to my grandmother's oatmeal as my favorite breakfast. I am not going to lie...it was a personal crisis to me that there weren't any Crunch Berries. I assumed that they were no longer made and that I was never again going to have this cereal.

So I stood there in the aisle and accepted the fact that this part of my childhood was gone. In that realization, I also recognized that in the past few couple of weeks I had really been wishing my way through this semester. Just waiting for it to be over with. I decided then and there to live in this semester. To not look ahead wishing it away. It was crazy how quickly things began to change. I was able to see some fruit from my Younglife efforts (6 guys signed up to go to camp with me).

After my life lesson, I was at WalMart the next day and saw Crunch Berries. They aren't extinct. And I just finished the whole box in a couple of days.

class

Classes are underway. Very underway. Younglife is about to gear up and I am really excited for this semester. The tutoring business is off to a slow start, but surely will pick up.

Dad had to stay overnight in the hospital last night with kidney stones. He is in a great deal of pain, and might be for the next week.

I feel ok. Energy level is not amazing today...but I pretty much have tomorrow off.

weekend update with Torry Patton

Had a good week. (Except for a bad lab report from the doc today and being contacted by the student loan people saying I have to start paying more). Classes started up. I am teaching smaller classes this semester, which I really like. I have decided to pursue freshman guys at Webb and take them to Windy Gap in February. I am glad that God has finally given me some direction in my ministry there. And the best news all year...My sister Kaitlin broke up with her boyfriend, who I was not a fan of at all.

GOOD NEWS

I am looking forward to a time when my updates aren't totally health-related. But I went to the doctor today for labwork and my blood levels weren't just better, they were normal. This is great because they were still terrible just one week ago. I am having the tests done again twice next week (Monday in Houston and Friday in Knoxville)...so if they show that the levels haven't change, we can assume that this chemo is working. I have been on it less than three weeks, so this is much faster than any of us had expected.

no news is good news

Hello friends. Sorry for the lack of updates. I had a very busy break and got back to Knoxville late last week. There is not much to report, except for the fact that there's not much to report. The chemo has little side effects. I am having occasional nausea and headaches, but they have given me medicine for that and I take it as needed. I went for my weekly check up on Friday I was told that there was no response to the chemo yet. But we didn't expect anything that quick (Friday was only Day 13 on this new chemo). So for the most part, this has been easier than I had expected. I am now just waiting to see if it is going to work on the leukemia.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their families. I hope to see you all soon.