Summer seems to be winding down these last few days, and I’m OK with that. I’ve had a very nice break from active treatment again for the month of August and I’m scheduled to begin round 4 this week. My white blood cells were “trending downward” again so they delayed me a few days again. I go in tomorrow morning to check my levels and if all is good, then they will send me home with my next round of medication.
I forgot to mention in my last post, that we are praising God for bringing someone to rent our house in La Crete. And not only just someone to provide rent money, but someone coming to La Crete to help further Gods Kingdom there. They are planning to stay one year, starting August 1. So that means we will be in Edmonton a bit longer as my treatment should be finishing in January/February, and we had thought to wait until spring and then move back. But we are confident that the Lord knows best and are thankful that He is providing for us by bringing messengers of the gospel to La Crete. So please praise the Lord with us!
So we were blessed enough to be able to do a bit of a family vacation this summer. One of our cousins got married in Austin, MB and since we had never been there and since, right now, we happen to live a whole day of driving closer, we decided to go. Congrats to Curt and Samantha. We wish you God’s richest blessing in your married life.
I’ve finished my third cycle of Chemotherapy since my last update. It feels good to be half done that process. This last round was a bit harder on my body I think.
We are gearing up to give this homeschool thing a really good effort this next school year. My wonderful wife has poured herself into the preparations with researching every possible curriculum combination. We joke that she be a fully qualified consultant in the not so distant future.
We’ve still been experiencing much of Gods blessing in our lives. From wonderful visits with family to nice days on the river right here in the city, to the kind generosity of many of you in various ways.
It had been a fair bit of time since I last posted on here, but lately several of you have asked when the next update is coming. It’s good to know there’s still some people reading.
We do a family prayer calendar and it’s been our privilege to pray for many of you. God Bless you all until next time.
So last Thursday, I had my first MRI since starting treatment. Today, I met with the Doctor in charge of my treatment at the CCI. She says overall it looks better, but that it’s difficult to pinpoint if it’s just still swelling going down or actual eradication of tumor cells, but either way, it’s a positive thing.
Some things we’ve done recently:
Some friends took us out on the river today in their boat. Hard to believe this is right in the middle of the city. The one on the left shows Whitemud Drive from a different angle if you zoom in a bit.
So on this day, 14 years ago, I married the girl who would become my best friend! Often we hear or see on the wedding day about people marrying their best friend, but I think most who are married for this long would agree, it only gets better with time. There’s one caveat to that, we’ve both grown closer to the Lord over that time, too. So to those recently married or getting married, here some free advice. Grow closer to the Lord Jesus together with your spouse and your marriage will succeed. I’ve been truly blessed to have my beloved stand beside me through good times and hard, through better or worse, in sickness and in health. She has been there for me, and with me, and I’m so thankful. I Love You, Lenora!!
By the way, for those of you who don’t know, Lenora also does a blog, although mostly as a journal for herself. I got her permission to link to her most recent post as I thought it was really nice. I encourage you to read it here.
Here are a few more pictures to update you on our goings on.
For any of the guys I’ve hunted geese with, do you think maybe this guy is a little lost? If you can’t see him right away, look on the roof in the distance. I theorize that this is a male and he is waiting for his mate who is shopping.
Carson was sure thinking of his buddy Troy when they did this.
Both Owen and Emery got this arch built at the Telus World of Science. We spent the entire afternoon there and barely scratched the surface of what we could all do there.
Tucker really enjoyed pretend flying this humongous jet, and Carson enjoyed this spinning climbing wall and Owen posed in his space suit for a quick picture before flying out to space.
So this weekend, we once again saw that God doesn’t live only in La Crete. He is here too. 😃
Not that there was ever any real doubt. Yesterday, we went to a peaceful protest at the Alberta Legislature regarding Bill 10. There were approximately 2,300 people there. They had a total of 9 speakers, some of which were pastors. Most of them spoke of the faith we have and how we should be able to raise our kids with our faith values, many quoted scripture passages such as:
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
One speaker even spoke a beautifully worded prayer, in Jesus’ name. We felt very blessed to attend such a Godly event in the heart of the city.
No surprise, the media did not do the event any justice. There was a small pro-bill 10 rally before this main one but only had about 150 people there. I will include two links for you to read. The Edmonton Journal did a much better job of actually saying what happened:
Hilariously, they served good old roasted zoat for dessert. I guess it’s a Chinese tradition as well. Instead of salted, theirs was coconut flavoured, we might have to alert “Spitz” to that hidden little gem.
So I’m still feeling mostly okay, but a little under the weather. Mostly I’m noticing that I’m very tired today. You’d think I might be mostly used to that, but today I’m extra sleepy. Who knows maybe I’m still recovering from our time in La Crete.
Several people have asked me how these cycles work so I thought I’d give a little update on here:
In doing this update, I realized I forgotten to post an interesting picture from our trip on Owen’s birthday so I’ll do that here:
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
And whose trust is the Lord.
8″For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NASB
So tonight begins Round 2 of my chemotherapy. Please pray that it will go as good or better than last round.
We are also heading North again on Thursday for Eug and Leona’s wedding. Other than church on Sunday, I don’t think there will be much extra time for visiting.
God continues to provide and care for us and we are so grateful for the blessing He is being through many of you.
So we’ve had a good, and sometimes rough, couple of weeks,but God continues to carry us through and encourage us in different ways. Here’s a summary of the last few weeks in pictures:
Tim and Chrissy came to visit with Paige on April 3 and took us for supper at Red Robin. Thanks for the supper guys. It was great.
On Wednesday, April 6, We went as a family downtown to an Oilers celebration of their last game at Rexall Place that evening A bunch of old Oilers were there to celebrate. Here is Carson with two of them in the background. They got a few signatures out of the deal. That evening we went to my brothers house in Stony Plain to watch the game, since we don’t have TV.
On the way home from the celebration, we decided to take public transit for the first time. That was kind of fun.
Here’s one of me and the boys at the park. Tucker is so short, I had to take the “selfie” from high up like this to get him in there.
We saw The Collingsworth Family on the evening of April 8. What a treat that was. If you’ve never heard them, I highly recommend checking out this YouTube video of Kim Collingsworth playing the piano. Wow!! Lenora, being the piano player of the family, thoroughly enjoyed that.
This footbridge is near our house and we walked there one day. The boys got many waves and honks from passing cars underneath. I didn’t think there were that many friendly people in a city the size of Edmonton.
So as you can see, we are still keeping quite busy, but still enjoying life for the most part. Lenora and I sometimes talk about how the Lord is allowing us to experience so many wonderful amd enjoyable things during our time here in Edmonton, despite otherwise tough circumstances.
Our devotion today was on Ephesians 4:32, so I thought I would include that and also the next couple of verses:
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
-Ephesians 4:32-5:2
We had a great (and tiring) week back in La Crete over Easter. We would’ve loved to visit more friends while there but our time quickly ran out. Maybe next time. Thankfully, coming back to Edmonton already felt like coming home.
We were also blessed by the season, hearing about what Jesus did for each one of us, die on the cross for our sins. Then, of course, the joyous victory of His resurrection Easter morning. Thank you, Lord.
Braun Family Journey 