another update...

copied from Emily's blog...

Biopsy results will not be available until tomorrow. Her CT scan showed a spot of something on her liver, but the doctor did not know what it was. She will have to have an MRI to determine exactly what it is. She and Vic are headed home for now, and the doctor should call tomorrow with lymph node and tissue biopsy results. The most important thing for now seems to be that the tissue and especially the lymph node is clear of cancer. Please continue to pray that way. She will have an MRI in Midland sometime this week to get a closer look at her liver and determine what that spot could be. Thank you for continuing to pray!

Again, thank you Emily for keeping us posted.

Please keep the prayers coming!!!

Love.

more great news!

Meredith's surgery was a success yesterday, and the doctors didn't see anything that really alarmed them. Meredith called this morning, and she sound great, although she said she was still in a good bit of pain. Her optimism and strong faith have absolutely amazed me during this entire ordeal. She's a true example of someone who lives their life by complete FAITH in God. I admire her strength so much.

Anyway, she and Vic are still in L.A., and are planning to meet with the doctor first thing Monday morning. They will then get the final results of the surgery; and if all goes well, they'll head back to TX shortly after (she's dying to get back to that sweet baby of hers!). There has been nothing but good news thus far, so please pray that she receives even more good news on Monday!

Meredith told me that she's absolutely blown away by the number of people who have prayed for her, emailed her, called her, sent cards to her, etc., and that she wishes there was some way she could thank everyone. But trust me, your kindness has not been ignored!

For more specific details and updates, please read Meredith's sister's blog.

Again...thank you for loyally praying for this dear best friend of mine.

Thank you God!!!

All praise to HIM!

Meredith's surgery is still scheduled for 8:30 am tomorrow, and we're praying for even more good news!

Will you please join me in praying?

message...

Click here to read a message from Meredith...

Thanks for keep us all informed, Emily!

address

Several of you have inquired about Meredith's address. If you're interested in sending her a card and need her address, please email me at LTmsstate@gmail.com and I'll be happy to give it to you.

Thanks so much for keeping this beautiful girl in your prayers! She's overwhelmed by all of the love and kindness she's receiving!

more on Meredith...

Meredith's sweet sister Emily just informed me that she's going to be posting updates about Meredith on her blog regularly. Please click here to see Emily's blog (and when you have extra time, you MUST read some of her past posts--Emily's absolutely one of the funniest people I know!).

Anyway, I will probably be posting updates myself, but please add Em's blog to your list to check regularly for more extensive and regular updates.

Thank you for praying for my Meredith!!

I'm still here. I promise I am.

Goodness gracious. I feel like it's been forever since I blogged! I don't really think I have an excuse for my absence, but I promise you that I'm still here and will be back to my regular and sometimes pointless blog posts soon!

I do have an important reason for blogging tonight. I need you to pray for my dear friend Meredith. She's no stranger to my blog. In fact, you may recall that a little over a month ago, I flew to TX to visit her.

Anyway, I'm copying and pasting an email I just sent to a few friends and family members. Please keep Meredith and her family in your upcoming prayers.

Here's the email I sent:

Hey friends!

I'm asking for prayers again!

Most of you probably know Meredith (Murphy) Horn, who is one of my very best friends in all of this world. Anyway... sweet Meredith was recently diagnosed with malignant melanoma. The plan right now is for her and her husband Vic to fly to Los Angeles tomorrow to see a melanoma specialist there and to undergo surgery sometime in the next week. As you can imagine, Meredith is very scared and nervous right now, but she is remaining very optimistic about the whole situation. Her parents (who live here in Starkville) flew to TX to be with her, Vic, and sweet baby Madeleine today, and I know she's so very glad to have them there with her. They will probably stay with Madeleine (5 months old) while Meredith and Vic travel.

She asked me to spread the word about her situation because she absolutely believes in the power of prayer! So, I ask YOU to not only pray for this precious person, but also to forward this information to anyone who you believe will loyally pray for Meredith too. Pray specifically for Meredith and Vic to have a peace of mind, and above all, please pray that the cancer has not spread to any other spot in her body. Our God is an awesome God and He is good ALL of the time!

Please pray for my sweet Meredith. I will send another mass email as soon as I hear the results of her upcoming surgery.

She appreciates all of your prayers (and well....I do too!!!)!

LT

It just makes me smile.

I have watched this at least a dozen times in the past few days. I'm so grateful that Trey had his video camera handy on this particular day about 6 months ago.

Thanks for posting this one, Heather!

Man...I sure do miss that sweet sweet Nana of mine.

SNOW!

It's snowing!

We're experiencing a winter storm down here in the good 'ol south right now, which means...

no school for me tomorrow! :)

A very special tribute to a very special person.

Jennie Ladell (also my middle name) McMinn Tomlinson

December 13, 1926- January 1, 2011

Nana's funeral celebration of life was yesterday. What a tough day it was. I was in absolute awe of the number of people who flooded the sanctuary at my home church, where Nana was a member for almost 60 years.

Before you go any further, you absolutely must read this special tribute written by Kristen's dear friend Jessi. This was so special to my family-particularly my dad- so Jessi was asked to read her tribute at the funeral. She graciously agreed. It was beautiful.

My sisters, cousin, and I all wanted to share something special about our Nana too. While I wasn't sure how I could emotionally handle speaking at her funeral, I agreed to do speak on behalf of the 4 of us. We (Kristen, Heather, Jake, and I) walked to the microphone together, and here's what I read (written by Heather, who has a great gift of writing herself!):

How do you put into words all that Nana was? There are no words big enough to fit her. Nana is more than words – Nana is an attitude. A state of mind. A lifestyle.

While it is impossible to summarize Nana’s life in words, there are a few words that come to mind when we reflect on her greatest loves in this life: Faith, Family, Friends, Fellowship, and, of course, Fun and Fashion.

To know Nana is to know life. She knew what it meant to live life, and to live it large. No detail in our lives was too small to her. She savored every seemingly miniscule aspect of our lives. She celebrated every moment with us and for us – she was our biggest fan. She celebrated life.

So today we celebrate, as Nana would want. We celebrate the life of an amazing woman - our Nana -whose beauty, dedication, spirit, and smile will stay with us forever. We celebrate Nana today by her granddaughters wearing her pins and jewels, just as she would have wanted. We celebrate by remembering her spunk, her love, her passion for life by living our lives with her attitude and with peace in our hearts knowing that a life lived for the Lord will always have a happy ending.

Again, I was in tears during most of the service, so I'm not exactly sure how I was able to pull myself together long enough to read this; but by the Grace of God, I did. And I was so glad I did. I think it's just what Nana would've wanted.

During visitation, there was a slideshow of pictures chosen by my family. While there were over 100 pictures flashing over and over, I'm only going to share some of my very favorites of this beautiful woman:

Here are a few of Nana by herself:

...and here are some of her with her handsome husband of 59 years, my Dada! (Who, you may remember, passed away in 2006 at the age of 89).
...of course I couldn't go without posting a picture of Nana with her first pride and joy, my daddy (aka "Tommy Mack").
Yes...she was beautiful even just AFTER giving birth!

Here's one of my favorite pictures of Nana with her 4 grandchildren (maybe around 1988?):
And finally, here's a picture taken just this past spring at one of Heather's baby showers. It's one of my favorites.

Those of you who knew her would agree that she not only was beautiful on the outside her entire life (as clearly seen here!), but she was also beautiful on the inside. She was no doubt one of the most wonderful people I've ever known, and I will spend my life striving to be just like her.

Happy (late) Birthday!!

I'm a couple of days late with this, but Kristen celebrated her birthday Monday! We've been unable to really celebrate it yet because of what's been going on with our family these past few days, but Nana was the QUEEN of birthday celebrations, so she would be anxious for us to get the party started :)

I love my big sister and I LOVE living in the same town as her now!

Happy Birthday Kris!

a wonderful life.

I have received an overwhelmingly large number of calls, emails, texts, facebook messages, etc. from precious people who have been praying for my sweet Nana over the past several weeks. My family has felt all of your prayers. Nana passed away very peacefully this morning and is now rejoicing in heaven with my Dada, who passed away a little over 4 years ago.

Nana was one of those people who I thought would live to be 120 years old. She was lively, happy, stylish, and LOVED everything about her life. A month ago (even a week ago), I never in a million years would've guessed that I was about to attend her funeral. She was 84 years old, but had the mind and body of someone who was about 40. Just a month ago she was shopping, driving, laughing, going to lunch, going to church, etc.

I think I'm still experiencing a very surreal, numb stage--not really believing that she really is gone.

Nana was a part of everything in my life and words can not express how much I will already miss her. There was such a perfect place in heaven for this sweet angel when she got there this morning.

Nana's life will be celebrated at visitation on Tuesday from 9:30-11; and the funeral will be immediately after. Both will take place at First Baptist Church here in Starkville.

I would love for you to say a prayer for my family that day.

Also, if you were fortunate enough to have met this wonderful woman, I want to encourage you to click here and share a memory. Each comment will be valued, but I know it's nearly impossible to truly find out how many lives were touched by Nana.

Thank you God, for my Nana and the amazing life she lived.