This page is made especially for Sterling, with lots of love from Ginny

I'm a survivor

I'm not gon' give up

I'm not gon' stop

I'm gon' work harder

I'm a survivor

I'm gonna make it

I will survive

Keep on surviving

---Destiny's Child- "Survivor"

It seems clear that being a survivor

is embracing the will to live.

And whether that embrace lasts for years

or months or days or even hours,

whoever embraces life is a survivor.

---By Mark Nepo

As the dawn of a new day

brings the morning sun to light the way

For every creature both high and low

to be a part of it's golden glow

To soar through the dissipating clouds

or feel the warming of the ground

Every heart with a quickened beat

to experience another day of life

so precious, so sweet

So too am I in gratitude

to have seen yet another passing

of a beautiful silver moon with you

Once more out of the darkness

together to arise, to freely soar

To leave another foot print in the sand

or again to explore the ocean floor

Indeed my heart pounds

on this dawn of a new day

For once more the morning sun

has come to light the way

Free to dream, to reach new heights

of that what is so precious, so sweet

is love, is life~~

---"Comes a New Day"

"Just for today, I will try to live through this day only, and not try to tackle my whole life problems at once."

Hour by hour, day by day

For some of us, life passes by too quickly

Not stopping to appreciate the small joys that each day can bring

For others, the next morning may seem like an eternity before it's final arrival.

As I sit and ponder about the value and meaning of my life

Each minute approaches slowly but surely

Then passes with the blink of an eye

I wait and wait each day as patience is no longer a virtue

But has become apart of my daily routine.

Time allows for thoughts, thoughts that would never have before occurred

It allows for the mind to open up all that is bottled deep down within

It has made me recognize the strength and character in me that I never realized was there.

I begin to reassure myself that better days are yet to come

I keep telling myself to continue believing in my dreams

And know that they will someday come true

To trust that my goals can someday be achieved

And that I should never doubt the obstacles that life puts me through.

It's possible that everyone has a destiny pre-determined at the moment of conception

That life's path may already be laid out for us by One far more Superior than we

And it may be that the toughest challenge in life are given to those who are strong enough to handle them

Perhaps this path of doubts and uncertainties that I've been chosen for is my challenge in life

That will help me to become the person of strength and courage that I someday hope to be.

Tears that once fell from my eyes, which saw the future filled with only hopelessness and despair

No longer fall, for now my eyes are dry and opened wide

They will see nothing but the happiness and joy that the future will bring

Positive are my thoughts, no longer filled with doubts

Weak and battered is my body but strong and determined is my mind

Precious and valued are those daily moments that once seemed overly abundant and unimportant

The closeness of family and friends is now treasured far more than ever before.

So with the slow passing of each and every day

I wait for my body to become strong again as it once was

But more importantly, I hope that my body will someday be as powerful as my mind has already become

And so I wait patiently, taking on all obstacles and challenges that cross my path

As I take each moment of my life one day at a time

Living it - hour by hour, day by day.

---By Vince Kha

Lord, I have just received the diagnosis of cancer.

Still my anxious heart as I seek to understand why.

Teach me to transform my suffering into growth,

my great fear of tomorrow into faith in your presence,

my tears into understanding,

my discouragement into courage,

my anger into forgiveness,

my bitterness into acceptance,

my experience with cancer into my testimony,

my crisis into a platform on which I can learn to help others.

God grant that one day I can embrace this time

as my friend, and not as my enemy.

---By Judy Kneece

Cancer is so limited . . .

It cannot cripple love.

It cannot shatter hope.

It cannot corrode faith.

It cannot eat away peace.

It cannot destroy confidence.

It cannot kill friendship.

It cannot shut out memories.

It cannot silence courage.

It cannot invade the soul.

It cannot reduce eternal life.

It cannot quench the Spirit.

It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

---"What Cancer Cannot Do"

Stay strong through the night,

to thine own self be true.

Never do change,

and always remain you.

For God made you special

and gave you something no one else

can take away.

He doesn't want you to hide that gift

it is to be used everyday.

So stay standing

when your legs feel weak

and when the world seems all wrong.

When people try to tear you down,

leap up and say

I will stay strong.

---By Johnny Murray

Look to this day,

For yesterday is but a dream,

And tomorrow is only a vision,

But today, well lived,

Makes every yesterday

a, Dream of happiness,

And every tomorrow

a, Vision of hope.

Look well,

Therefore to this day.