Phillippians 4:6-7

There are people we meet in life who have a way of creeping into our hearts and becoming so embedded there, we cease to think of them as just friends, but as family. Tonight I'm thinking of just such a rowdy group who are so dear to me, that if I didn't have a family, I would beg them to adopt me.

I'm talking about the Jones family. Some of you may know Janet, Sport or Mo, but if you've been truly blessed, you've met the matriarch of this wonderful family, Peg. Peg is THE true renegade, from her orange nail polish (with matching lipstick,naturally!) to her unique sense of style ( and oh what style!). She and George would have been perfect candidates for a reality show (if there had been such a thing) when they were busy raising their raucous family. In fact...I don't know if a camera crew would have been able to keep up. I'm not kidding. Their station wagon stories alone would fill three books...all non-fiction 'cause this is the stuff legends are made of.

I met Mo and Janet at Canton long before Sweet Talk Sweet, Rubbish or HEAP was more than a glimmer in their eyes. Those two, along with Peg, were maxi-shoppers with a passion for the unique and an eye for anything deserving to be made into art. Shortly after meeting them, the girls got a booth behind me inside the Civic Center. I counted the days until Canton rolled around, waiting for the stories they would share with me about growing up in the 60's with Peg and George for parents. I sat enthralled while hearing them talk of their childhood peppered with tales of discipline, road trips, and a love of Christ. Their faith was evident without ever having to say a word.

Meeting Peg for the first time reaffirmed everything I had learned about them. She has instilled in them a love for God, family and country while at the same time teaching them that being a woman is anything but a liability and that an imagination (and hard work) could carry them to the moon and back. Even at 80 (hope telling that little tidbit doesn't get me in trouble), she still walks the walk and talks the talk every.single.day!

~I have become a marvel to many, for You are my strong refuge. Psalms 71:7~

I'm telling y'all this because today when I opened my mailbox, I saw an email with the word "mom" and the sender's name Janet. I felt myself stop breathing and for just a moment, I couldn't...didn't want to...open it. I won't share all the email except these four words. Peg has breast cancer. Tough words to type...harder words to say. Would be even harder if it were anyone but Peg. She fought and won the battle with cancer twenty years ago. She is what she is. An unashamedly, Godly, scrappy woman who is facing this without fear, knowing it is in God's mighty hands and that her faith will sustain her. She has complete trust in her doctor, but an even greater trust in her saviour.

~Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Psalms 84:5~

I'm not sure exactly how to word this, but I'm asking tonight that you join me in prayers for this magnificent family. As prayer warriors, let's send them our strength and love to lift them up during this difficult time. Her surgery is scheduled for Monday at 12:30 p.m. and prayers for wisdom and skill for the medical staff are asked for as well. (She still has the same doctor that performed her surgery twenty years ago!) Specifically pray that the lymph nodes are unaffected. Peg is a remarkable woman who is handling this with calm and grace while walking in God's calm and grace. Pray with her that He will be glorified!

~Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord JE-HO'VAH is everlasting strength. Isaiah 26:4~

In Janet's words, ".....what is perfect for her in His eyes is perfect for all of us."

~For He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. Psalms 91:11~

I ask only that you list your name in the comments section, letting the family know you will be keeping them in your prayers or click onto Janet's link to let her know personally. Thank you so much.

I love all you crazy Joneses more than you will ever know.