Just a Mom of Big Kids

 Y'all. The power of prayer is more powerful than I can put into words. I know that's not news to you. I know we believe it, but whoooaaaa....has God shown up in GIANT ways these past two weeks. Psalm 6:9 says, "The Lord has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord accepts my prayer." We are HUMBLED beyond words at all the people lifting Mike's name to the Throne. We receive texts all day that say "Praying for you...." "Thinking of you...." "Praying for your family..." and there is nothing that could mean more than that these days. So please, keep sending them! And please, keep praying!  Because God is showing up. He has shown up in.... *no physical sickness from chemo *no loss of appetite (most likely because we have amazing people dropping off amazing meals and filling our hearts and bellies!...In fact, Mike actually has gained a pound since we started this!! I probably did too!) *physical strength as he is running again and feeling good. *...

Ephesians 5: 25  "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." Oh man. That's a tall order. And love me everyday? Even on the days when I am just pretty unlovable? An even a taller order.  I absolutely take it for granted. The little things that Mike does to make my life easier. He fills and sets my coffee maker every night, even though he has never ever poured a cup for himself. He grocery shops. He takes out what we are going to eat for dinner in the morning, so it was defrosted by the time I got home from work. More often than not, you will find him cooking dinner.... I will do the dishes, if he doesn't load the dishwasher before I can get to it. He does laundry, pumps gas, drives me to school most days, and shows up with flowers at pretty regular intervals.  He is living out the role that God designed him to have.  He's the ultimate protector. Any noise? He checks it out. I swear, that guy sleeps with one eye literal...

I write so I will remember the good things. We all can remember the yuck, but inside those yucky moments, there are lots of good things.  Chemo Day 1 Today started like any other day.... but in my mind, I knew it wasn't any other day. Driving Mike to work, we chatted with Rae on her way to work ( a good thing). I dropped him off then headed to my classroom to prep for the week ahead. With no one in the building, it was a great time to get lots done (good thing). The library opened at 10, and I was there, waiting with the list of books Mike wants to read. They actually had them (good thing). I went home and that's when I realized, he's coming home today different than he left.  Picking him up at 12:30, we drove together to the cancer center. Not many words were spoken; we held hands.... a language that conveyed the words that he nor I could say out loud.  Romans 8:26 ran through my brain, over and over... "I n the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not...

"We have had an easy 28 years. We can handle one year of a fight." Standing outside the cancer center in Boca Raton, Mike looked at me and spoke these words. We had just finished meeting with an oncologist who told Mike that yes, indeed he had cancer, but yes, indeed it was curable.  But not without a little bit of a fight. Let me back up.... 2 week prior, Mike sat across from me a dinner, pulled the neck of his t-shirt down to reveal a lump right above his collar bone. "Does this look weird to you?"  UMMM YES! What is THAT!!  A quick trip to the doctor landed him in the ER, which led to a whole lot of tests, but not a lot of answers.  *Lymph nodes look inflamed. *Let's do a CAT scan. *Send him home with a follow up. At the follow up, there were still no answers, so a PET scan was scheduled. Another week passed with no news. I know I have friends who have walked this path. And I feel that they would agree...the WAITING is the worst. SO MANY TEARS about what ifs....