Catharsis

Saturday was both a really great day and a really hard day.  In the morning a bunch of the teachers went to Amana for breakfast and some shopping. It was really fun.  We are trying to spend more time together this year.  We have our regular staff meetings, and we've added a Wednesday morning prayer time for the whole staff where we focus just on praying for the teachers, students, school board and church staff.  The women are also trying to get together once a month for something fun.  We all work together everyday, but it is easy to be completely isolated and never talk to anyone but our students.  We're trying to build more solid relationships.  So we went to Amana.  It was a blast.  The breakfast at The Colony Inn is absolutely amazing.  The Lord was very good to me and I was able to taste and enjoy everything.  It was also fun to buy a few little stocking stuffers.

Saturday night we got to go to a magic show at CV that was SO MUCH FUN.  There was a bunny- what could be better than that?? :)  All the proceeds go toward our friends' adoption process.  There were tons of people there, so I hope they did really well.

Those were the great parts of Saturday.  The hard part was Saturday afternoon.  The boys were gone, and Darrin and I ended up on the couch just weeping together.  Being the caregiver is in many ways just as difficult as being the patient.  He's just been so worried about me and he has been feeling isolated and alone.  He loves to be around people, and that has been hard for us lately.  He did go out Monday night with a good friend, and I think that encouraged him a lot.  He is home by himself a lot, and it is easy to get sucked into fear and doubt and worry.  Please pray for him as much as you pray for me.  He is such a godly man and such an excellent caregiver.  This has been a much longer and rockier road than either of us anticipated.  It was good for us to sit and cry together and acknowledge how hard this is.  We prayed together and talked a lot and it was really good catharsis for both of us.  We are hoping to maybe get away together for a day or two sometime in the next month.  We think it would be really good to get away and forget about cancer for a few days and plan for the future.  It will be a different future than we thought, but that doesn't mean it can't be a really good, full, adventurous future.  And we know it will be the future God has planned for us, so how can it possibly be bad? :)

I'm really looking forward to this break for Thanksgiving.  We're hosting my parents on Thursday, so it will be pretty low key and low stress.  On Saturday, the Crow clan is coming over for soup and such, so another low key event, albeit with a lot more people! :)  It is a tremendous blessing to have awesome families on both sides.

As we enter this season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, remember the One to whom we owe all thanks.  Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father - even the gifts we think we want to return, like cancer.  There is something to learn and gain in every situation, good or bad.  We need to praise Him in the good times and in the bad times.  My prayer for all of you is that Thanksgiving will be a wonderful, blessed time with your families and friends. Enjoy every minute of it!