So many of my friends from all over the world have been praying for my dad and supporting me.  It seems easiest to just post an update here and let everyone read it when they can.

Daddy (Doug Paramore) had his appointment with the bone cancer specialist in Birmingham today.  Here is what we know so far: the malignant tumor has returned in his arm and is larger than the last one; the tumor has gone into some of the surrounding tissue; he does NOT have to have his arm amputated as we feared. 

The surgeon is going to perform the same procedure as last time, except that he will have to remove a larger portion of bone and the surrounding tissue, and the bone graft will be done with cadaver bone.  The surgery will be performed at UAB Hospital on August 7th.  Daddy will spend a couple of nights in the hospital and then come home.

This news is actually pretty good for us.  We knew the cancer was back; our fear was that he was going to lose his arm.  It is a relief to know that Daddy will be able to return to fishing, playing the fiddle, and all the other things he was afraid he wouldn't do again with only one arm. 

Surgery for my father is always scary and risky, though.  He has a history of significant heart disease and an internal defibrilator.  The defibrilator has to be turned off for the surgery, and anesthesia is a delicate procedure for someone with his difficulties.  UAB is one of the best in the world, though, and Daddy has better odds undergoing surgery there than anywhere else.

Incidentally, school starts back for my son on August 7th, so I am going miss his first two days of 6th grade.  I am making arrangements for him to stay with someone while I am gone to Birmingham because my husband will be working so much.  I'm hoping I can find out who his teacher is and talk to her by phone before the first day of school.  Sometimes there is just not enough of one person to go around, but I have to be there with my parents.  If anyone has a laptop you wouldn't mind "renting out" for a few days, I'm in the market.  :)  At least I could still work a little.  

Thank you to everyone for your support so far, and please continue to keep him, and us, in your prayers for the next stage of getting through the surgery.  I have people from Australia to the USA and all points in between who are sending out good thoughts and prayers.  It'll be kinda cool to have a Guardian Angel from Oz along for the ride (you know who you are!).

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Great music has the ability to touch hearts, lift spirits, and transport the listener to a realm of memories and dreams.  In an hour-and-a-half concert, the Annie Moses Band accomplished all that and so much more.

The First United Methodist Church of Enterprise, AL, hosted the AMB on Friday night.  The sold out concert was a rare treat for this small town that does not often see talents of such caliber.  Celtic-inspired instrumentation accompanied by the high pure voice of lead singer Annie Wolaver is, indeed, a joyful noise unto the Lord.

The musical team of huband and wife Bill and Robin Wolaver, their six talented children, and two additional musicians make up the Annie Moses Band.  In addition to travelling and performing, the AMB also holds Fine Arts Camps each summer.  Their latest project is a Christmas album due to be released in October 2008.  For more information, music, tour dates and newletters, visit anniemosesband.com. 

Praise ye Jehovah. Praise God in his sanctuary: Praise him in the firmament of his power.  Praise him for his mighty acts: Praise him according to his excellent greatness.  Praise him with trumpet sound: Praise him with psaltery and harp.  Praise him with timbrel and dance: Praise him with stringed instruments and pipe.  Praise him with loud cymbals: Praise him with high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise Jehovah. Praise ye Jehovah.  Psalm 150.

Give me a blanket under the night stars and the music of the Annie Moses Band, and I will show you the face of God the angels in Heaven have praised since time's beginning.

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The Christian Advice Site is seeking advice.  After posting the introduction for a series on the Holy Spirit, it was discovered that my father's bone cancer is back.  He had a malignant tumor removed from his arm in December 2006.  Over the last few months, he has been experiencing increasing pain, swelling and distortion of that bone.  The local doctor who has followed up with him after his surgery ordered a CT Scan and full-body bone scan; the results are not promising. 

The closest bone cancer specialist is 3 1/2 hours north of where we live at the University of Alabama Birmingham Medical School.  Daddy will be returning to the specialist on Monday, July 28 to find out if, in fact, the tumor is back as the local doctors suspect, and what can be done.  Surgery is always a big risk because my father also has significant heart problems and an internal defibrilator.  Chemo and radiation are ineffective on the type of tumor he had, so if it is back we don't know what the next step will be.

We do have a few things in our favor: UAB is considered one of the best hospitals in the world, and his doctor is considered one of the best in America in his field.  But however skilled he may be and however respected the hospital is, it does not take away the anxiety and worry of a cancer diagnosis.

So, while I am asking for prayers for my father and my family, I am also seeking advice from readers.  If you have faced the "big C" diagnosis before, or a similar health crisis in an aging parent, how did you cope with it?  What role did your faith play in helping you deal with the situation?  What advice can you offer for others who are facing similar circumstances? 

Advise the Christian Advice Site by leaving a comment at the bottom or e-mailing your story to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  In seeking spiritual help for myself, I also feel there must be many others in a similar situation.  Maybe we can all get through it together. 

Bear ye one another`s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.  Ga 6:2

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Many Americans have spent this week pondering the meaning of freedom as the United States celebrates Independence Day on July 4.  We celebrate the end of the Revolutionary War and independence from Great Britain, founding a nation with individual freedom at its very core.  Christian citizens also ponder the role that freedom of religion played in the establishment of our nation and how it continues to influence national policies and practices. 

As I watched the news this week and thought about the upcoming 4th of July, my musings kept changing with each new story.  The soldiers currently fighting overseas are, as always, at the forefront of any freedom celebration.  I thought about them being away from their loved ones and not knowing if they will come home alive, but risking everything to make the American notion of freedom a concept available to all peoples.  America's soldiers know better than the rest of us the full price that has been paid for the liberties we enjoy.

Then, miraculously, three American hostages were rescued from FARC imprisonment in Columbia.  I watched CNN Wednesday night, seeing the aircraft landing and bringing those three men back to US soil for the first time in over five years.  It brought tears to my eyes to see the helicopters take off, transporting them to a hospital to undergo medical checkups after their long jungle ordeal.  I felt an overwhelming pride in our servicemen at that moment for carrying out an impeccable operation of liberation without shedding a drop of blood.  I cannot begin to imagine what Independence Day will mean to those men and their families.  The public does not know all the details of what their years as hostages have been like, but we can well imagine it was not a luxury vacation. 

Then Thursday morning brought a different, sadder picture of freedom.  An old acquaintence took his own life Wednesday night, probably about the time I was cheering the rescue of the hostages.  He was a captive of a different sort, and the only freedom he could find was in death.  I remembered that, for all our celebrations of individual liberties and our work to help others gain those freedoms, many people only find them in death.  Whether through atrocities such as the Jews experienced during World War II, or through their own actions to escape inner demons, liberty for some is only gained when life itself is lost. 

Later in the day, I saw the news story of the teenagers who videotaped themselves abusing an eight-month-old baby and then put it on YouTube so everyone could watch it and see them laughing.  My first knee-jerk reaction was that if it were my son doing that, the cops had better put him in prison to keep me from killing him.  It was almost unbearable to watch on television; I can only imagine the rage the baby's parents must be feeling.  And so we come to yet another aspect of freedom: the removal of certain freedoms from individuals by society to protect the general public in their daily exercise of liberty. 

In the United States, one person's freedom ends where the next person's begins, and when those bounderies are crossed freedoms may be removed.  The ricidivism rate in America, though, tells me that for some unknown reason freedom is not as precious to some as it is to others.  Is it a blatant disregard for liberty?  A failure to understand liberty?  Would those repeat offenders continue doing so if they were involved in the judicial system of, say, North Korea, where "free" is a four-letter word?  With freedom comes responsibility and the requirement of recognizing that freedom as being open to everyone.

At the end of this seemingly disjointed ponderance of freedom, there lies one overarching truth.  True freedom in all its forms is found in God.  He paid the highest price of all when Jesus died on the cross to free us from our sins.  We have only to look to Noah, Moses, Paul and others to see that God has planned and flawlessly executed hostage rescue missions throughout history.  He sent a man's literal inner demons into a swine herd.  He removed the freedom of Heaven from Lucifer when the angel crossed the line.  Our Lord gave us the greatest gift in granting us free will.  We have the freedom to choose, but also the responsibility to choose the Truth and to take that Truth to all corners of the earth. 

America's Independence Day is a celebration of freedom, although precarious and at times elusive.  Our true Independence Day will be that moment when we leave this earthly home for the home our Father has prepared for us.  Only then will we know God's freedom as He intended it to be. 

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