Rough Week

My blog posts are looking fewer and farther between and it bothers me.  I don’t like going a week between posts.  But, I am trying to go easy on myself as summer break is always a busy time having all 3 kids are home all.day.long.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the kids being home, I just get busy and distracted, so the blog end up taking the back seat to life.

Let me just say that our vacation is going well.  We joined the summer reading program at the library and all 3 kids are on the 3rd sheet already.  I have committed to doing one fun outing a week and have even managed 2 this week!  (Supermom!)  Josh and Hannah are a HUGE help by playing with and entertaining Bethany.  Hannah even bathes and dresses Bethany most days (voluntarily!).  When I ask them to do any kind of chore most of the time both of them say OK and then do it!  This is a giant milestone for a certain boy that we all know and love.  Shad and I have committed to an evening run (Bethany in the stroller and the bigs on their bikes) at least 4 times a week and we are actually achieving this.  He is trying to get in shape for hunting season in the fall and I am still trying to lose the last 8 pounds of, ahem, “baby” weight from being pregnant with Bethany.  The weather has been awesome, warm and mild.  We love our new house and yard and are so thankful to God for providing it for us.  And after a disappointment with our adoption plans, we have made a decision there, too.  (I promise to do a post about that very soon.)

But, this week my heart is very heavy.  The last couple of years have been rough as far as people we know getting seriously sick goes.  I thought it was hard when I had to deal with lymphoma and radiation treatment (because it TOTALLY was!) but it is almost worse to watch loved ones go through it.  My sister-in-law, Michelle, still has 2 more chemo treatments and IV infusions every 3 weeks for the next year.  She is taking all of this very well and God has blessed her with relatively minimal side effects from the chemo.  I would say she is definitely a woman of valor when it comes to her attitude and how she is handling being a 34 year old dealing with breast cancer.

And now it gets hard, again.  Our dear friend and former babysitter, Karen, has a diagnosis.  This comes a little over a year after her husband, Larry, had a huge brain tumor removed and now has to live in an adult foster home with 24 hour care.  Karen has breast cancer.  And while Larry is not able to be home with her to take care of her, she has so many friends and her sisters coming by her side to love on her and take care of her.  Her best friend, Cindy, basically moved in with her to care for her and her dogs.  It has been so difficult for us to watch her go through a double mastectomy last Wednesday and now be readmitted to the hospital for dehydration due to severe nausea yesterday.  It’s not easy to watch someone you love go from perfectly normal a month ago to being pale and sick lying in a hospital bed.  Ugh.  We are still waiting to hear the pathology results from the surgery and what the treatment plan will be.  I know that Karen is not excited to hear any news.  Like I said, it’s not easy to deal with any of this.

So I guess the point of this post is not to talk about our summer plans, but to ask for your help.  We need your prayers!  Karen needs your prayers!  She needs healing, peace and hope right now.  If you could join us in praying for her, it would be greatly appreciated!  And in the meantime, I will do what Cindy told me to do.  I will enjoy my kids and spend time with them with the best attitude possible.  Thank you for you prayers.