He loves me, and we're getting married!!!

December 15, 2008, Jonathan Wade asked me to marry him!! I am so proud to say that he is my fiance and I'm even more excited about becoming his wife. Marriage is such a huge blessing and challenge from God. I've overwhelmed and over joyed :) I'm excited about starting fresh, beginning a new family, creating traditions, and growing tremendously! What a beautiful thing and what a blessing.

I would have never guessed that my 2008 would have ended with people congratulating me on my engagement. God's timing is so much greater than my expectations!

I love you Jonathan and can't wait to marry you!!

Happy Camper...

I recently went on my first ever camping trip. Yes... in the woods, in a tent, in the cold/rain, and all the camper-ish things that go along with being outdoorsy like fishing, hiking, and roasting mallows. Despite my camping anxieties, I had a great time! Jonathan and I went to Daingerfield, TX, with our friends Moises & Cheyenne, and Brian & Laura. Here are a few pics from the trip...

Coldplay!!

I saw Coldplay in concert this week and it was amazing :) Thanks Jonathan for getting us such great seats!!!

Bishop Lynch Volleyball wins State!

I need to brag a little… My sister, Tricia Roos, is in her second year of being head volleyball coach at Bishop Lynch High School (a.k.a. BL) in Dallas, which is a 5A TAPPS (private) school. This past weekend they won the STATE TITLE after defeating San Antonio Incarnate Word in 5 matches. This is BL’s 2nd State title and Tricia’s first state ring (she’s 26 by the way). http://www.hsgametime.com/dfw/sharedcontent/dws/spt/highschools/volleyball/stories/110908dnspovolleyrup.3ed09d9.html

The Lady Friars are incredible! I got to help coach these girls in the 2007 season and was lucky enough to become part of their fan section throughout the ’08 season. With 10 returning players, the girls showed tremendous maturity and talent growth in their second season together. It has been so much fun to watch them grow as players and individuals. http://www.bishoplynch.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=864

I got to fly to Houston Friday morning and watch the BL team sweep their opponent in a 3 game win to advance to the finals. The final game was unnecessarily close. Lynch was obviously the better team, but IWHS definitely brought their A game. The championship game was their 27th consecutive win! It was a great match! I brought along Jonathan’s sweet Rebel camera and took some great shots of the team.

CONGRATULATIONS Tricia and to the BL ladies!!

The Fall is Fun :)

After another blog drought, it’s time for an update!

This past week I had my 6 month scans and doctor follow up appointments. PRAISE JESUS, I have no new tumors! In June Dr. Casas had noted 2-3 spots in question on my lungs, but those spots have shrunken or disappeared (he thinks the spots were due to having mono when the scans were last taken). I have no more doctor visits for the rest of ’08! Every 3 months I repeat my MRIs & CT scans on my leg and lungs. I’m happy to be taking a break from this for a while.

It’s FALL! Jonathan and I have made several trips to our favorite place, the Dallas Arboretum, to see all the pumpkins and enjoy and perfect weather. He lives close to the arboretum, so we can ride our bikes there and take the long route home on the White Rock Lake path. It is so peaceful. There have been lots of butterflies this season and the promising sweet smell of flowers is never disappointing.

A week ago, Jonathan and I along with our friends Moises and Cheyenne went to see the Disney concert series at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. It was so much fun to sing along to familiar melodies. I’ve decided that Disney is timeless (surely someone has already come to this conclusion). The music never gets old. It helps that they never incorporated a synthesizer or Paula Abdul -or did they include Paula? Due to their timeless quality, I’ve begun investing in Disney DVDs. In the past I’ve regretfully bought many crappy movies (btw- this does NOT include my Harry Potter collection); however, I believe that I’ll never feel regret over purchasing Mary Poppins or Beauty and the Beast. This investment is one of my wiser financial decisions. In a few years when we all have kids you guys will be begging me to borrow these treasures.


Life has been wonderful and challenging. God has really been working on my heart to look more and more like Jesus – to have his heart, his perspective, and his hands. This past week I regretfully had to celebrate the well lived life of a friend’s mother who had pasted away from cancer. She had a 12 year battle, but her love and service to others was astonishing. Her memorial service was worshipful and packed with souls in which she had impacted in some way. You could sense Jesus just through words spoken about her. What a great example of a woman who fought bravely and loved the Lord even through the deepest valleys. What a hope she gives. What a hope our Jesus gives through trials and suffering….


2 Cor. 4:16-18: "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Still Healing...

Last Friday I had a follow-up CT scan on my lungs and everything came back normal. Two weeks ago was my last MRI and it came back clear and everything is healing well.
Praise the LORD for healing! Even when I feel like my life is moving on, God is still continuing to heal and protect my body.

Is it August?

Is it seriously already the hottest month in Texas that we inaccurately call “fall.” Once again, my favorite season of summer has gone by in a hurry. It’s been a busy couple of months, but I apologize for not updating this site. In my defense I’ll give 3 good reasons for my blog drought: 1) there have been no traumatic health issues to update you on, which is a good thing. 2) I’ve been busy falling head over heels in love. 3) So much has happened that I don’t know where to start! Hopefully that’s legit… I don’t know.

(I really like these bullet points, so I’ll stick with that format)

1) My health: Since surgery #2 on May 1st, all things on the cancer front have been really good. All tissue removed in surgery #2 was completely cancer free which has blessed me with a radiation and chemo free recovery. All MRIs of my leg post-surgery have been clear of any tumor recurrences and everything inside looks like its healing well. PRAISE THE LORD for His healing! It’s been a long recovery process. The swelling has gone down so that I can see what my leg will look like from now on. It’s about a 7.5” straight scar and where your biggest quad muscle usually bulges out – mine now craves in. I brought this cosmetic issue up to Dr. Casas and he openly said, “my bad.” This made me laugh! I mean, the man saved my life from a rare form of cancer. If he leaves a dent behind, than I can live with a dent.

2) Europe: In June, I had planned a 2 week trip to Europe with my best friend, Stephanie, and 3 days before the trip I was diagnosed with mono. This caused our trip to be cancelled and me to be in bed and out of work for another 2 weeks. Stephanie still made it to Barcelona, but I unfortunately didn’t get a replacement trip for the summer. However, this fall I have a weekend-getaway to Eureka Springs, AR, and a trip to Las Vegas!

3) My pursuer: Just before my first surgery I reunited with an acquaintance from college, Jonathan Wade. At this point I was completely buckled down as a single gal, ready to take on cancer for the next couple seasons of life. I felt as though I had a curse (cancer) in front of me and God wanted me to learn perseverance through trials. I never expected such tremendous blessing to fall on my life in such strange (but perfect) timing. Jonathan began persistently pursuing my heart and needless to say, he has captured it. It’s been an abnormal, but extraordinary dating experience and our love story is one I wouldn’t change for the world. Through sickness and health, deep roots of appreciation and commitment were planted in a short amount of time. I’ve never seen a man actively pursue Jesus Christ and encourage and challenge my walk with Christ like Jonathan does. He is selfless in caring for me and making me feel like a princess. We are currently praying and seeking the Lord about an engagement and (God willing) Jonathan will be my husband in 2009!

Big lesson learned is that God is good through all circumstances. His plan is sovereign and way greater than my own happiness, but He is also my loving Father that delights in seeing me smile. How great is He that while shaping the Universe, He looks so deeply into the detail of my own life.

Jonathan has the following verse reference tattooed on his wrist that fittingly says: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11.

Blessed are His people!

It's a New Day...

Dah-dah-ding! I woke up this morning to the sound of my phone letting me know that I had been text messaged. A good morning message and a reminder that someone was eager to see me today put a sleepy smile on my face. While I rested in bed, my eyes wandered from a beautiful rose given to me the night before to a soft glow coming from the morning light shining through my window. There were no rough seas this morning, no crashing of waves. Instead there was a calm, peaceful silence in which the Lord’s sweet voice welcomed me into the day. Good morning, my daughter and my joy, the winter is over and today is your spring. A joy filled my heart like warm sunlight after a hard winter. A new day has finally come.

The flood gates opened and happy tears finally fell. God used this morning – the text, the rose, the sunshine – to tell me, I’m eager to meet with you April, you are special to me, and this day has been created by me for you to enjoy. What a sweet, sweet song He sang over me this morning. "Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety." (Hosea 2:18) How merciful that He has fought my battle while I have been so helpless and today I am able to rest. "I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD." (v.20) Praise His name, how amazingly faithful and good he is to those who acknowledge Him as Lord.

Somewhere in the middle of April I lost some of my original fervor I had when I first found out I'd be facing a deep valley of trials. I guess my weakness kicked in and to consider it all pure joy - including the needles, the pain, and the scarring - became harder and harder to delight in. But this morning brings things back to perspective. Today I am saying – you are not my master, Lord, but my husband (Hos 2:16). He does not delight in my suffering, but he allows it to happen so that He and I can delight in mornings like this when I am completely humbled, face down, and grateful to my sovereign Lord.

What an amazing fresh start I get today. Anxiety has been removed and in its place is the fullness of life through His faithfulness. How tremendously blessed we are, even if the day turns out to be just average – we get to live today. I get to feel the muscle and tissues that God created in me, miraculously heal and recovery. Relationships will blossom through the shared blood of Christ. He will be worshipped and glorified around this world today, if not by His precious children than by the flowers of the field and the rain which falls only at his command.

He is great, powerful, and mighty, worthy of each word that flows from our lips. Lovingly fear Him today and seek more and more of His goodness.

I am a cancer survivor…

Praise the LORD. He is way too gracious and merciful. I’m a cancer survivor now. My pathology report from my last surgery came back completely negative for any remaining cancer cells. You can imagine the huge relief that feel over my parents and me as Dr. Casas told us this news today.

There is a happy cry that wants to come out of me along with a cry of exhaustion. For the past couple of days, I’ve had a continuing fever and very swollen throat. My doctor thinks I might have strep throat. So this adds on yet another medication to my already impressive stack of drugs. It is hard to be sick on top of trying to heal my leg, but the good news prevails. I HAD cancer. It’s in the past and I can happy cry after all.

My parents had another session of 20 questions with Dr. Casas today. We found out that between Dr. Casas and his partner Dr. Maale, I am the first case of my specific type of cancer in the last 4 years to have been low-grade. Every other case as been very aggressive and has required radiation and chemotherapy. They receive about 9 myxoid liposarcoma patients per year. What amazing mercy the Lord has shown me.

How BIG is our God? “For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you? You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” (Psalm 89:6-9)

On February 27th, I told one of the nurses that my God is bigger than tumors – a statement that I thought, but now one that I know. What a blessing that at only 22 I’ve learned the healing power of prayer, the sovereignty of God, and the inferiority of myself. I’m thankful that I am no longer foolish in my youth to think that I am invincible. In my weakness, He is made greater. In my humility, I can only boast of One name. Jesus.

I can rest now. The anxieties are gone and life will soon be back to normal. In a few days I’ll be out of the house. In a few weeks I’ll be walking again. In 40 days I’ll be flying to Europe. In a few months I’ll be playing volleyball. And for the rest of my life I get to look down at my super hot 7” scar and remember that the Lord is Faithful, He is merciful, and He is good.

So PRAISE His name today. If you have been reading this blog and have been praying for the past 3 months, Praise His name today. Tell others of his wondrous deeds and bless His name. He has been faithful to answer our prayers.

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” (Psalm 30:11-12)

Post Surgery #2

Arggg… feeling like a train wreck right now. Surgery #2 was definitely worse than the first. Here’s how things went down…

5:30am, Thursday morning check-in. Surgery started around 8am. My anesthesiologist was much better this time. He didn’t use the tube that goes down your throat so I was able to wake up a lot quicker after surgery. I got out of surgery around 9:30am and was in recovery for almost 3 hours. That was horrible. I was awake for most of it and people all around me were snoring, moaning, and complaining. It was gross – I just wanted to be out of there. I got back to my room at 12:30pm.

This time they had a drainage tube coming out of my leg and a pain medicine button that I could push every 10 minutes. During surgery, Dr. Casas cleared out the old scar, scar tissue, and swelling, and took out about ¾” extra muscle. It was much more invasive than the last and much more painful.

I was nauseous all day and around 4pm they gave me an anti-nausea shot that knocked me out for the rest of the evening. They kept me over night and I slept pretty well.

In the morning, they pulled out the drainage tube (that really sucked) and took me off the pain pump and switched me over to pills. I left the hospital around 1:30pm.

So, praise the Lord that the surgery is over! It was horrible, but it’s behind me now. I’m hopefully 100% cancer-free (we’ll find that out in about 7-10 days) and this will be the last time to have surgery.

Thank you so much for the prayers - surgery went well and I’m on the road to recovery!

Please continue to pray for protection from infection and a fast recovery for my muscles.