It has been six months without our precious Bob.  I know he is with our wonderful  Lord and in a beautiful place filled with praise and glory .  It is hard to imagine life without him, but  I have tried to look back at the wonderful years we had together,  over 41 years.

He was a man who loved his Lord and loved  to learn about Him and from Him and teach what he learned to others to challenge them.    His desire was to see others grow to love our Lord!  A dear friend said “What you are is an overwhelming and amazing encouragement to everyone that knows you.”          One of the last things he talked about was that he felt as leaders we  need to teach people to fall in love with our Lord Jesus.   Bob was a reader and could find  tidbits in books that I would never see.  He also saw from the Word challenges that would never be forgotten.  I loved to discuss the love of the Lord and the faithfulness of our Lord with him.

He was a wonderful  husband  that always put me first.  He loved me with a love unlike any I had ever experienced.  He cared about my needs,  he listened to my thoughts and felt that listening was  a  tremendous gift that we should all strive for.  He tried to teach others, especially our children, to listen and by listening you would learn.    He felt my hurts and had a heart of mercy and tenderness.  He was my  “gentle lion”.  He was tough when needed and  gentle even through the toughness.  He was very intelligent and felt as if he had so much to learn.  Never thinking highly of himself.  He always looked to others’ good.   The happiest times of my memories were when we would travel and could just spend time talking and listening to each other’s hearts.  His big strong arms were always there for me and our special children.  He held us tight and gentle and protected us.

His dry humor was always ready.  Just thinking of some of his comments makes me smile.  You knew he cared about you when he shared his humor with you.  He was a friend’s friend.  If you were a friend you were truly cared for.  He prayed for you,  encouraged you and  did whatever you needed .

He was tremendously proud of our  children.  As they grew he always had time for them, even though he traveled  considerably.  He loved being involved in their lives.    As the children were growing up he guided them with tenderness and love.  Jerry Hubbard once said “Train up a child in the way he SHOULD go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”  He seemed to know the way they should go and tried to guide and direct them.   He loved them  tremendously.  Wanted  them to be happy and to love the Lord and raise up their families in a way that honored our  Lord. When the grandgirls came along, he was amazed at how much you could love them.  He couldn’t wait to see them and wanted to see them often.  Sometimes he would say “it seems like forever since I have seen my girls.”  It may have only been 2 or 3 days.  The picture we will remember is all of them piled on his big leather chair.  He loved them dearly.

Bob could handle disputes with gentleness even though he would stand firm when he felt he was right.  He didn’t escape  difficulties in his life as he was in leadership at Calvary Church as an elder for 27 years and at Charlotte Christian School as vice chairman and chairman of the board.  He enjoyed serving and hated   disputes.  His desire was to serve  as the Lord would, with humility .

He was an engineer with an artist bend, graduating from Clemson University with his BS and MS in electrical engineering.  He loved some of his first projects with Duke Power when they did research for nuclear plants in France and Amsterdam.  He even took pictures (that we framed) of the fire tests.  I loved his craziness.  He defended the nuclear plants before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.   After 10 years at Duke  he decided he could do more design with  a small firm that designed but were sales representatives , Jake Rudisill Assoc.  The challenge and engagement with other  engineers and companies was  good.  He was admired by  the companies they represented.   He was fortunate to travel to many beautiful places and often took me along.  What a joy to experience him in his work environment and the confidence he had, the respect he received from  his peers.  How he cared and took care of the people that worked for him.  Again you saw that he considered others better  than himself,  just as our Lord instructed us.

Bob loved to write.  He completed a book, a little long and heavy, but a labor of love. The lessons he had learned were  finally on paper.  He dreamed of a day he could be in ministry and write for the rest of his life.  He wanted to inspire and encourage others.  We worked hard to see that day come and now he is with our Lord.  He is in full time ministry with our God and king.  How many times  we both said “He is faithful”!   He is faithful!!

I thank our Lord for the 41 years of marriage and friendship and love and companionship and sharing a wonderful life together.  This love was definitely  a wonderful gift!

What an encouragement each of you have been to my family.  Your cards, your comments even the fact that so many of you stayed in touch and abreast of what was going on thru this blog.  The last several of days have been very hectic as you can imagine.  Many of you have been thru the challenges that we are facing.  It has been amazing to see the lives that Bob touched.  So thank you for sharing.

We didn’t realize the amount of people that were following this blog.  To be exact there have been 17,202 visits in the last 5 months.  Over 1200 on Feb, 4th.  Because of this activity we are going to try and post the memorial service that was held on Monday, Feb. 8th.  I heard of one Sunday School class that has been following it, and they are in Atlanta.

Again thank you for your prayers and encouragement as we make the adjustment or as dad said, “the shift.”

The family will gather on Sunday, February 7^th, at Transformation Church, 9030 N. Field Drive, Ft. Mill, SC 29707 (on 521 South, across from City of Light), from 2:00pm till 5:00pm to greet friends.

A celebration of Bob’s life will be held on Monday, February 8^th, also at the church, at 2:00pm.

In lieu of flowers, please send your donation to Transformation Church.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9030+Northfield+Dr+Suite+A-B,+Fort+Mill,+SC+29707&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=39.916234,93.076172&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=9030+Northfield+Dr,+Fort+Mill,+Lancaster,+South+Carolina+29707&z=16

May 16, 1947 – February 4, 2010

Early this morning Bob went to be his Lord.  In one way the journey is completed in another way the journey has just begun.  As we were talking the other morning, he was reflecting on his life and he said, “The Lord has ALWAYS been faithful.”  He lived by this.   The Lord has been the center point of his life.  He was dedicated to Him.  I know he got to hear those words, “Well done thy good and faithful servant.”  We are very thankful and blessed to be able to be around such a Godly man, much less be able to call him husband, father or friend. 

The outpouring of love from friends has been overwhelming.

We are working on finalizing the arrangements and will post those once all the details have been scheduled.

God’s peace is surrounding us.  We have had friends pray that ministering angels would care for Bob and the family and we have witnessed this become reality.  We are grateful for Hospice and their care.   One of the nurses was with us during the night to help him rest more comfortably.  He is spending more and more time resting.

We are blessed to know that Bob is confident that he will be with our loving Lord Jesus for eternity.  Yesterday, one of his dear friends came by to visit.  He said, “friend I will be back soon.”  Bob responded, “I will see you in glory.”

Just a quick update to share with everyone. Bob has had a rough week and is much weaker. Hospice is going to help us with his care and regaining some strength. He is still struggling with appetite and even fluids. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement. The Lord continues to be faithful.

I am not the writer that my dad and brother are, but I wanted to take a minute to give everyone an update on Dad.  As of today, our prayers have been answered for relief of pain, he is pain free right now which is a blessing. But the prayer that is still needed is for strength, appetite, and for the nausea to go away. He is still struggling daily with each of these things.

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support you have given my mom and dad, and the whole family. This blog has been a blessing to our family more than anyone will ever know. Reading all of the comments, and encouragement, and prayers is so refreshing.

Our God is good, and we know he is guiding us each step of the way. God continues to show Himself and has given us great comfort.

Just a quick update to let you know how Bob is doing….As I write this I try to find some encouraging spots or highlights, if you will, but right now each day is progressively getting more difficult.  He is getting very weak and is trying to fight off infections with in the body.  We met with Dr. Amin yesterday and he stated that we couldn’t move forward with chemotherphy at this point because he is just too weak.  We are praying for strength.  Bob is in a lot of pain right now.  Tomorrow we are meeting with the palliative care doctor.  He is actually looking forward to getting some relief. 

Dad has used the analogy of “The Forest” and experiencing the interior. Well if you get deep enough you can’t see too far ahead (we are pretty deep).  This can cause several different emotions….frustration, fear, uncertainity or perhaps you just have to trust that your next step is the right step. We have talked about the frustration or why me? and how that hasn’t been a topic in our family (and that’s still the case). There is fear and it is evil! I have really been tackling this personally in so many areas but this is a spirit that is not of God and we as Christ followers have power over it. This is one area that many people can not move to what God really has for them because they are bound by fear. Fear of failing, fear of “what if,” fear of rejection etc. The scripture talks about this often. “I have not given you a spirit of fear but power, love and of sound mind”, II Timothy 1:7. So we are in a place where we have to just trust that our next step is the right step. It involves so much trust which is sometimes hard, but when I reflect on the path that I have walked and realize that my Father was right there to guide me (or us),  it becomes reassurring and encouraging…doesn’t mean it’s easier.  So we walk forward and trust you Lord.

Today was very long. Krista’s daughter (Bob’s granddaughter) had a urinary scan at 10:00 that turned out good.
Bob had his MRI at 12:15. We met with the oncologist later.
The MRI shows that there is no additional malignant growth in the brain. There is a small reduction. Dr. Amin was encouraged with the results. This is a huge answer to prayer because Dr. Amin would not have advised that we proceed with any other treatment if there had not been a reduction.  Thank you Lord!!! Thank you Lord!!!

The CT scans showed that there is some reduction in the growth in the lungs and the pelvic area.  The concerning masses are in the liver and a couple others that have increased in size.

The fatigue is a problem at this point. They will be attempting to increase his energy level and then probably do another round of temodar chemo therapy. This is the only chemo available for metastatic melanoma. There is a new chemo for melanoma that was used in clinical trials, waiting the FDA approval that will probably be released in the Spring. Hopefully the temodar will control the growth until the release.

We know our Father knows all this and knows our desires. He will walk with us and guide us in the right direction. His love is more than we can comprehend. We pray our precious Father will use this for His glory and His alone. Our passion for Him continues.
Pray with us for a strengthening in Bob’s body. We continue to pray for complete healing as we know He is capable of.

As previously noted, surgery was performed yesterday to install stints in my left and right kidneys. The surgeon decided to install in third stint in the right kidney since it was not draining well into the bladder. Went in at 9am and was home by noon along with my new catheter friend. Slept for three hours yesterday afternoon which is the longest I have slept since August.

Went back to the Dr. this am to have the catheter removed (after they filled the bladder and made sure it was working) . Have to go back tomorrow and give them a urine sample to verify again that the stuff is working.

Positive results from the surgery:

All pain from the kidneys is gone. What a relief.

Energy level has improved although I am still pretty weak.

There is no cancer in the left kidney and the bladder. The Dr. installed two stints in the right kidney to get around the cancer area.

Next major test is the MRI on Jan 5. The oncologist will determine a protocol after the test results are in on Jan 5.

Challenges still out there…appetite and desire for food is not there (I do not recommend the cancer route for a weight loss program)… will address the kidney cancer with the oncologist.

Our family continues to appreciate your prayers and encouragement.