This is the last email I received on December 14, 2012. 

"Hey ya'll,
God is good!!! Having a great day. Thankful for so little sickness and pain so far. I know God will give grace for his will.I love being saves and trusting in the one who loves me so much!!1 I had to miss visitation yesterday (sad face) I hope to go on Sat. I am so greatful for all those who didn't give up on me. When I think of how lost I was I am amazed that saints saw hope!!!!Thank you so much.
Because Christ Lives,
Sandy Henley"

My family has to wait until after Christmas to see if the radiation blasts had any effect. I am currently trying to get a last minute deal to fly out there for a quick visit before my family have to go back to Texas for treatments. Next step is to see if they can do the gamma knives or straight to chemo. Just playing the waiting game. Thanks for all your prayers for my family.  

Eight

I just got the new email and things are getting crazy. This is the email I received from Mom and Dad today;

"To friends and family

 

I will do my best ,but you remember that I have a hard enough time with all my faculties, so with brain cancer you will have to have patience and understanding (HAHA)

First of all had lots of tests MRI and pet scan. We have not learned what the pet scan says, but the MRI has found 8 tumors insted of 3. the Dr's are not sure if the surgery a couple of weeks ago have sent a cell into overdrive causing many more legions, or if these leigions have always been there and have been too small to see in the original MRI.

We also have another appointment at M.D. Anderson on tue. For a consultation and to see how to proceed. Whatever they decide is best, all that Dr's have agreed that treatment will have to be soon, down and dirty, and to the point. We like it like this so this is a good thing.

Don and I are both doing great along with the boys and are trusting God.

We are trusting and desperately wanting his will and glory. Thankful for salvation and what time left he has given to shout his glory (that he so very much deserves)

A way to pray.God's will, Gods glory, and God find us worthy to be used. Simple

Love ya'll bunches,

God is good!!!!!

Don and Sandy"

Thanks for all your prayers!

-Pip

Wait....what?!

Sorry I haven't been on here for awhile. School keeps me busy. It seems a lot of people I know are going through rough times. People dying and getting horrible diseases, etc. Well, my immediate family is not safe from these things either. I have recently got a hard phone call from my Dad. He informed me of my Step-Mom (Sandy) passed out while walking the dog. It turned out that she had three tumors. They were able to get one but the other two are a bit harder to get and would require chemo among other things. I would like to share the email Sandy sent out to friends and family.

Sandy writes;

"Hey Friends and Family,

 

This should be the first of many emails. We are making an attempt to send blanket emails to all friends and family to keep all informed, as things are moving so fast that it makes it impossible to inform everyone individually. It would be a great help if you could pass emails or ask to be on our list or email us your email address so we can send you info.

Last week we went to M.D. Anderson where we were excepted and recieved a treatment plan for Gamma Knives treatment. We met with a brilliant Doctor Susan Mcgovern who will be in charge of the procedure. We shared with her that we would be in prayer for her and her team, at which she responded that she was very greatful for all prayers. Please it is so important that our Drs. and caregivers be held up in prayers. They are responsible for so many and have alot of responsibility. They desperately need guidance.

The first step is a new MRI. The Dr. assumes that everything will be the same after surgery but a new MRI is required to make sure. That is scheduled for Wed. Nov14th 8:30 pm. The next step is an appt on the 16th. for a pet scan.

Dr. McGovern want's us to meet witha melanoma Dr. to find out why I keep getting Melanoma and how to address that problem.

The gamma Knive procedure will take 3 days. 1st day prep for surgery blood work, IV, a general exam. 2nd day hooked up to a halo that attatches on my head in 4 places, that halo is then attatched with me onto a chair that moves all together to preform the procedure.

Dr McGoverrn says she will be doing brain surgery on me from another room on a computer and will not see me that day or even touch me (pretty amazing Huh?)

She says I will not know anything that is happening I will be asleep. I should wake up and it is expected not much side affects.

I will then be released they want me to stay in town just in case there is an emergency, but it is not expected there will be any.

Then the Drs. will determine how the procedure went and if any further treatment is neccessary. So 3 days is expected that from beginning to end the gamma knife procedure should be complete. Hopefully it will go quick and all will be done in the next week or two.

Now to the good part.

God has been so faithful. No sickness very little pain, a little foggy and dizzy, slower and forgetful, but the Dr. says this is all very normal for what I am going thru and should continue to get better. God draws me closer to him by the minute, and has used us for so many incredible opportunities to witness.Drs., nurses, neighbors, strangers every one we meet we are able to share how powerful and loving God is. We are blessed beyond messure. If I breath my last breath praising God I will be complete.

Don, Rob,Lisa Tom, Phil and David are all doing great and trusting in God, We are closer as a family and he has been faithful to us all.Please continue to uphold my beautiful family as this is all much harder on them than me.

Your prayers are a treasure to me I want you too know I am praying for all of you as well. God is so good to give me hours in the middle of the night to think about and pray for you all. These are times most precious with a closeseness to God that I have never experienced and a chance to lift up the ones that I love so much.

I am most thankful that so many years ago he showed me that I was a sinner.Romans3: 10 thru 12 and Romans 23. Then He showed me that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Romans6:23. Next was Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.and finally Romans 10:9 and 10 That if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness: and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

So simple

If this is the first time you have heard the simple truth of the gospel I would love to talk more with you about it.

So simple that a child can understand!!!

Don't let another second go by without the amazing gift of salvation

You are in my prayers, and appreciated so much for all the prayers you offer for me.

Love ya bunches

Sandy"

So I would like to ask all my followers to keep my family in prayer. Thanks.

-Pip

Spring Term is done!! A rough term for sure. This be me grades. Not too hot.

Writing & The Literary Arts = C-

From Caves to Cathedrals ( Art History) = D

Digital Layout & Design = W

Color Theory = A-

Um, yeah. Now I'm trying to shrug this term off and move forward thinking positive for Summer Term. This is just a short update on my grades. I will try and update soon.
-Pip

I have got some amazing news!!! Since my last post in this blog I have received an amazing gift! A dear friend of mine saw my blog post and had exactly what I needed!
My friend had a CS.5 program un opened sitting in his closet. On top of that he had a Mac Book Pro that he was willing to let go of for a friend! I am truly blessed!! He threw in a USB (with mega space) to help with storage. I don't know what to think or feel. I'm so excited to see how this will help in my studies!
The Lord hooked me up once again. He always knows what I need and when.
On top of this I received a call from a relative and we had a much needed update session. Little did I know that it would result in a gift card to H&M for me to buy some new trousers! Mine are getting pretty awful. And the she also dropped some cash in my account.
I'm still a long way from where I want to be but these recent events are a huge help to me. I pray that these people are blessed and rewarded for their generosity to me!
As far as Portland, it's been hot the last week. Everyone loves it and I kinda love it. But hot means I have no summer wear and I have to sweat. (haha). And this also means the pollen and other allergy related junk in the air are effecting me. So far it hasn't been as bad as the Central Valley back home but nonetheless it's not fun.
I just ended my 7th week (out of 11 weeks) of the Spring Term. Almost done for this term. I still have a lot of memorizing, reading & projects to get a decent grade. I fear, already, that I am not getting that 3.0 again. I will try again this coming Summer Term!!

Hello all!! This is a quick update. A friend of mine from back home has offered me a CS5 program and some other helpful bits to boot. As far as I know a lot of the stuff he is giving me is Mac compatiable. So anyone wanting to hook me up with a Mac or a really good deal on a Mac, this is your chance.
Also here is the website to my schools store. If you want to browse through there to check out prices and so forth here it is; The Art Institute of Portland store. (It will ask to select a campus...make sure you select Portland.)
Okay, I got to get back to school junk. I have a Midterm today. Ugh.
Thanks, Pip

I have been crazy busy with school and this is why I have not updated this in almost a year. I'm entering the middle of Spring Term 2012 here at The Art Institute of Portland, Oregon (Aipd). I have finished a year here and this is the start of my sophomore year. I'm struggling along and am getting close to a 3.0 GPA. But there are a few things I need to help me.
First of all is my time management. I suck at it and am working on it every term. I also work part-time here at school as a work study. The thing about my school is that there are a lot of projects. I feel it's more of an effort than writing a paper but then again I suck at that too. So prayers for my ability to focus and manage my time well is much appreciated.
Second is that I lack the tools at home to succeed here. The school is fully stocked with equipment for me to do my projects. The trouble is I really need the software and hardware at home. The courses go over basic tools and techniques but the key to be a success is being REPETITIVE in these tools. I have a problem with that because I have no room for the programs on my home laptop and I live far enough away that it's very time consuming to go back and forth from school. I currently take public transit. (Yes, Thunder is at my moms in San Jose.-Thunder is my pick-up truck.) I actually need some stuff that cost me a pretty penny. I decided to list some of those items on here for those who like to help out people but rather know what they are paying for instead of just giving cash to the person. So in future posts I hope to list some of the items and prices along with links if possible.
Off the top of my head, I need a Word software (I bought my laptop for cheap from Best Buy. It was their floor model and I never had the password to access Microsoft Word.) This has hurt me greatly while being at school since I have had to do power point presentations and essays. In case you are unaware, I am going for my bachelors in fine arts so this means I have to take real academic course like Math and Writing classes and other random liberal arts courses.
I also need a desktop computer to work at home with and to continue my homework at home and to continue to go over the things I learn in class. I prefer a Mac since I have been using them a lot at school and find them easier to use than PC's. But both are used in the industry so in the big picture I suppose it don't matter. Haha. But until I can get a desktop I will need an external hard drive. I do not have enough memory on my laptop to hold the Adobe programs I need. I also need the Adobe programs in CS5. (Photoshop,Illustrator, InDesign, Bridge.) My school offers tons of resources at dirt cheap prices compared to the actual prices. I get student discounts that make programs that are usually in the thousand range down to less than $300.00.
I have been looking into refurbished computers and that seems to be the way to go to get good discounted prices on computers.
I need to have these programs and tools so I can continue to go over what I have learned in class. I have already started to forget a lot of stuff since I did them once or twice in a class and then that's it. But I need to start burning this stuff in my head so I can start doing quality work. I'm starting to leave behind the introductory courses and the instructors expect us to already know how to do basic abilities. And my courses are now going to play a part in my portfolio for graduation. This is what i will be showing to potential employers at a special portfolio show at graduation.       
Thanks for reading this and taking an interest in my life.

 Love, Pip