Vines

I try not to think about Kudzu. I shudder at the mention of the word. I think "Gee what was that all about!?!?". I wake up each and every morning and am instantly reminded that we are healthy and blessed. My feet hit the floor and my praises hit the ceiling.

I am constantly overwhelmed with God's goodness and provision for our little family. I lose hours of the day thinking about how much we have to be thankful for. Spend 45 minutes every night in the bathtub praising God for His sovereignty and hand in our lives.

Cancer took a lot from us. I won't lie. But more importantly, it gave us more than we could have ever imagined.

We have learned how to be humble. How to drop to our knees in prayer. How to cling to each other and those that we love. How to savor every hour, every minute, every second of every day. How to locate obscure prescriptions in the middle of the night. How to count our blessings. Upside down and inside out. How to put on our big boy/girl panties and "just deal with it". How to care for a port. And a staph infection. And Red-Man syndrome. And chemo brain. How to embrace baldness. How to juggle pediatrician visits and oncology appointments. How to be brave. How to be helpless. How not to laugh ourselves silly when the home health nurse shows up in her "Shape Ups" driving her white PT Cruiser.

How to have faith as small as a mustard seed and watch mountains move.

Truly. It's been a year of lessons.

A mom of one of my little patients told me several years ago "You can choose to pray or you can choose to worry. You cannot choose to do both". I watched as she endured her precious little one's battle with a brain tumor. I stood in awe of her strength and grace. I clung to those words, and never knew why until several years later.

I say all this to say, well, we are still learning. By the grace of God, Chris beat that nasty Kudzu, but every now and then the lasting branches of it's crazy vines tickle our feathers. Just when I think I have mastered the art of not worrying, a little wrinkle rears its head on my brow. Chris has an oncology appointment tomorrow. Everything's fine--nothing at all to worry about. Coop's up for surgery tomorrow too. Tubes and a frenulectomy. As always, your fervent prayers are oh so greatly appreciated!