Sunday found me reading in the morning and talking to Natalie on the phone while Doug went to church. Jonathan, Alicia, Afton, Jack and Ivy came in afternoon. Had a relaxing time with the kids. They are so cute! Was a bit tired after they left, and to my chair I went. Sometimes when I look at myself I wonder, "How did I get in this place? Is this really happening to me?" I shake it off, because it IS happening, and I continue on. I must embrace this time in my life.

Monday found me working on a worship music project and a new page for my blog – stay tuned. Went to Zellers to try and get my work-out pants. Alas, I did not try them on and they were a bit snug. Steroids! So back tomorrow, I guess, to return them. Threw a chicken in the roaster and went for a walk, then back to clean the house in preparation for my houseguests from Grand Manan.

Just as I finished my 1923 housework, in stormed the Island Scrabble Queens (Q and Julie), armed with snack food, a travelling portable Scrabble game with wheels that looked like it was a suitcase ready for a trip to Hawaii, and an electric pedicure treatment unit. Right before they arrived, I looked down at my feet and thought, "Feet, you need some work," and in they come with a machine to work on them! Julie is my hairdresser in Grand Manan (I have personal hairdressers it seems, wherever I go. One summer on Campobello Island I had three work on me at one time). Julie couldn't work on my hairless head, so feet it was. After dinner, she sat at my feet and pampered them. The nail polish I selected was "Oh to Be 25 Again." It's very vibrant. Perhaps I should go in sandals for awhile. I chose it because of the name and my whole issue with growing old. Q sat and entertained me with her quips and good looks.

Then we played two very competitive games of Scrabble. I always say that Q is more competitive than I am, but this time, I was determined to beat her. (She says it's the other way around, but I don't agree). Alas, she won the first game by over 100 points (shame one me!), and I was ranting, as she put it. "I NEED to win! Let's play another one!" I was actually surprised at my attitude. I thought I didn't care whether I won or not. Jules was calm, as usual (smile). So another game it was, and I got serious (or maybe I just had better letters). We twirled that game around on its little wheels as if it were a lazy Susan on overdrive. I thought I was winning, and then Jules caught up and I started to panic. "NO! I have to win!" I ranted some more. Jules tried to play "feedy," which is apparently a word on Grand Manan about fish and bellies or something, but I challenged that strange word, and she couldn't play it! It is NOT in the Official Scrabble Dictionary. Perhaps the Islanders should write to Parker Brothers and petition for its inclusion.

I started to foil their plans, playing words like "ruin" to ruin the places they were going to play. I was desperate to win. It came down to the wire, and I played my last tile. Whew! Then I received their points. I won by the hair of my chinny chin chin. Who's afraid of the big bad wolf of Scrabble? Not me, although I was for that game, thinking that I was going to lose. Final score: Q – 129 Jules – 237 Deb – 241. Very close. (Q scored 233 the previous game, Jules 200, Deb 113). I woke up on Tuesday morning wondering why I was ranting on and on about winning. I realized that the game was something that perhaps I could win if I tried hard enough, and I needed to win something --- I didn't want to fail, and I made every effort to try to use my brain to win. Sorry, Q, for being so hard on you; thanks for giving me a run for my money on the first game and utterly humiliating me. Thanks, Jules, for your unruffled spirit as I inched by you on the second. What great therapy it was for me to play games with my friends, and to be the recipient of their acts of servanthood. You guys truly blessed me by traveling so far for such a short period of time. Thank you – love you….

We watched a DVD – "Everything is Spiritual" by Rob Bell, and went to bed near midnight. Tuesday morning we went to Cora's for breakfast. Thanks, girls, for a great few hours. They are on their way back to their beloved island. I went back to Zellers to exchange my work-out pants and buy jeans on sale. This afternoon I have to go the hospital to get my PICC line flushed out once again. Hope to go to Willie Wonka's to walk again. Perhaps I'll see the senior dancing queen couple again. I hope so.

I would ask you to remember to pray NOW for my white blood cell count to come back to normal, so that I can start chemotherapy on Monday, Feb. 23^rd. Four more to go, bless the Lord.

Death is not the enemy of life, but its friend, for it is the knowledge that our years are limited which makes them so precious. It is the truth that time is but lent to us which makes us, at our best, look upon our years as a trust handed into our temporary keeping. – Joshua Loth Liebman

….I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me, guarding, guiding all the way. Psalm 23:4 TLB