Ruth’s Story 5

For the first four installments, see here, here, here, and here.

AND THEN LEUKEMIA

I had enjoyed the health God had promised to me back when my work escalated at Richland Sales—going through some deep trials would have been very difficult without the energy that I had experienced by God’s intervention. The victories God had given me as a result of His involvement in my life became a fundamental in giving me a ministry to several people at Richland Sales in leading them into a walk with the Lord and in discipling them over the next three to four years, especially with Tena and Virginia. Our relationship often went into the social realm; baking was something we often did at my house in evenings or weekends. When Theresa took over the Payroll, she was open to my testimony about the Lord, but because of God’s conviction in her life concerning some areas, she began to verbally oppose me and little by little her hostility began to filter to others and the door which God had opened to me was being closed to talking about the Lord at work. Because of my good performance at work, my overall acceptance was good, but with so many new ones coming on board, the whole social structure was changing and I was losing the joy in my job that I had enjoyed over the years.

Richland Sales sold to Cargill and at this point my special status of three and one-half days a week with benefits was coming to an end. I chose not to go full-time—and interestingly enough my energy level was particularly slow this last summer. I decided to have a blood test taken in November 1992 just before leaving for Los Angeles for four to five days in which Don would be attending computer school. The test wasn’t back—and while staying in the motel I decided to have a special prayer seminar of my own to get God’s input for what God had in store for my future. It was a very special time in which God became very precious to me. I was just going to start a Prayer Bulletin at church and God gave me many good thoughts in how to generate this report.

We made a short jaunt up over a bridge for our breakfast one morning, and it made me very much aware that my energy level was dangerously low. We stopped several times for me to catch my breath and to be able to move on. It was Thanksgiving weekend when we got back. I became surprisingly tired and frustrated when I served a dinner to my family. When I went into the doctor’s office, a lot of this puzzle fell into place as the doctor read a report that clearly showed leukemia had totally brought my blood count out of line. Driving home that afternoon, I realized that I didn’t know any people who outlived leukemia, yet I felt the peace of God as a promise which was to take me throughout the coming weeks. Romans 8:38–39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The leukemia that affected my body was called Hairy Cell Leukemia. They had just finished testing a new treatment with a high curing percentage of 95%. I had to wait almost a week while we waited for the government to send the treatment—and in that week my body succumbed to a viral pneumonia that totally sapped my energy. Two days before Christmas I went into the hospital—but still the peace of God just seemed to be beside me in a way that totally overshadowed any fear I might have had, a very new, great feeling. The treatment was successful, but it so depleted my body of everything that it was three and one-half weeks before I was permitted to go home. And then it was another month before I was allowed to join the public in a social setting, because of the fear of infection with my low red blood count.

Don was sick with a viral pneumonia which he must have gotten from me, and our family was just totally dependent upon others. What a helpless feeling—but with the kids and Don spending Christmas lunch with me in the hospital (bringing the food I had already ordered from Manuella Islas for our meal) and the many friends who surrounded us at this time, we felt totally overwhelmed again with the love that God pours out through His children!

God so freely gives His love through His Body, the Church, so that any trial can become a stepping stone of praise when we allow Him to work His praise in us!
I attempted to go back to work part-time, but the stress of work was more than I felt willing to handle at this time. I quit after helping for several months in the accounting department to get their new method of bookkeeping into place. I knew God had something else in store for me—and He did!

I volunteered in July 1993 to help in the Love, INC office, and as I worked in the telephone volunteering position, it became evident that someone was needed in the office to coordinate the work. During the next three years, we would go through four different directors, and our work load was increasing all the time. It occurred to me that the organization skills developed at Richland Sales were what the Lord was using to prepare me for the Love, INC office. In the years that ensued, between Beverly Regensberg and myself we had the office operating pretty efficiently so that even when the Board of Directors was almost defunct we still kept the office running smoothly.

Tim Doyle joined our staff as Program Director in 1996. He added a dimension to Love, INC that completely refreshed the way we operated in the community. He took a tough love stance but with an eye to helping them to see that it was for their benefit. He taught each of us to look at it as a ministry in which God used our unique personalities to accomplish His work in the hurting community. He also took this message to the churches and supplied us with many volunteers so that we could offer many different services through the churches to those in crisis. It became a real challenge and accomplishment, as we talked about how we could best bring the client into touch with God’s saving grace whether by services or by a verbal testimony. We began to have a viable way to handle those we did not feel good about helping, but even more importantly, we began to have many stories which had wonderful endings to them.

AND THEN THERE WERE GRANDCHILDREN

Tim and Cindy decided to wait several years for children. Cindy finished school, worked at Gottschalks in the clothing and the Lancome make-up departments, plus a year or so at KRDU as the Office Manager, before they had their first baby. Ashley was born on July 8, 1986. This was such an exciting event—both sets of grandparents were so proud and happy to share this event with our children! How could we ever have imagined the joy and pride that relating to a small baby that was the offspring of our very own children could effect us! Ashley was a quiet and happy baby. Yoshie was visiting us when this event took place, and it was so special to do everything we planned together with her and a new baby!

Two years later, on September 13, 1988, Garrett Samuel joined his big sister as our miracle baby. Cindy had had some false labor early, and when I took Cindy to the doctor, we discovered he had turned himself around and was now in breech position. The doctor decided that cesarean birth was necessary, and how happy we were that that was the case, for the cord had wrapped around his neck as well as his little foot in the birthing canal was what had brought on the false labor while his other foot stuck straight up! His middle name, Samuel signifies a gift from God, and we will always be grateful for how the Lord directed in this life!

The other miracle of God which was more difficult to handle happened when Cindy discovered a problem with a mole on her leg shortly after becoming pregnant. It turned out to be melanoma cancer which had to be cut out without the help of anesthesia, only local freezing as the skin specialist cut it away. What a trooper Cindy was; this frightening experience will always remind us that God is there even though we do not always understand why He allows some circumstances in our life. This experience also made me keenly aware of my inability to know how to relate emotionally to my family’s feeling needs because of the way I had whipped myself into shape over the years.

Ashley became a visitor in our home many times during this time while Cindy was recuperating first from her leg surgery and then from her cesarean surgery. She was always such a joy to have that Grandpa and I considered it a privilege to care for her.

Two years and five days later, Courtney Alyss came on the scene. Even though Garrett came cesarean, it was decided to allow Courtney to come the conventional way. Everything went well, and so this family increased to a family of five on September 18, 1990. Courtney had problems with colic more than any of the others; whether this made her so unhappy we do not know, but we know that she knew her own mind more than either of the other two. This determination was a blessing less than a year later when she fell on top of a glass coke bottle which splintered and cut her wrist and the tendons by her hands very badly. We’ll never forget this traumatic time while the family stood by helplessly as she went through this surgery. They were in the process of building a new house, so they needed to cope with all of this in a small two-bedroom apartment where none of them had much space to call their own.

This trauma was further complicated by the adventurousness of this brave girl who decided to remove the bandages and small cast attached to her hand shortly thereafter—it was too soon for the harder cast that was to follow. What a concern as we wondered if any of the tendons and mending bones had been damaged. Later as she was healing, we saw her persistence in using that hand even when we could see it was hurting her and we knew that God had given her what it takes to beat the odds!

On February 25, 1992, little Cassandre Jennae came into this world. At her mother’s bedside was her father, her grandmother and doctors and nurses. This was my first time to be in the room while a birth was taking place and I shall never forget the fear, the awe, the marvel of how God sends these little ones into the world. It was a precious moment between mother and daughter!

And then when the babies were grown to young children, approximately five years later, little Mitchell Wayne made his presence known. This birth had its own challenges as Cindy found herself pregnant at Christmas time—and as the season neared, labor pains began to announce themselves. The doctor ordered her off her feet, and family and friends took over the chores as much as they could. The fact that Tim and Ashley had the flu complicated things—especially when Tim began to get very ill the second time around. His temperature shot up on Christmas day and before the day was over, the doctor had placed him in the hospital with pneumonia. Little Mitchell waited another 14 days before making his presence on January 8, 1997. What a day of rejoicing it was for all of us—especially the three children who could hardly wait to go to the hospital to celebrate his coming! Lord, you are so good.

All five children are special treasures from God, and we enjoy each of them in their own unique way. Some of the greatest pleasures that Don and I have experienced in our lives has come through our precious grandchildren and the joy of relating to our children as responsible adults. We had both come to the time in our lives when we realized that the greatest joys usually have a history of some of life’s greatest struggles! What a privilege to see these families grow in the Lord and in the precepts that God teaches through His Word!