This Week

Sharing with you a few special things that have taken place this week... 

First off, we sent our big kids off to Hume Lake this morning! So incredibly thankful for them to have this week away to play, to have fun with their friends, to learn more about the amazing God that loves them so much, and to give them time away in such a beautiful place. I'm praying that they listen with their hearts and minds to the truth of God and that it would resonate so profoundly within them that they understand HOPE to it's depths.

Secondly, the kindness and care that continues to be poured out for us is truly overwhelming. Friends at work found about my diagnosis this week and they are rallying together to take on my part of Welcome Week (kind of my baby... and a big deal for the college) to keep it going smoothly. Friends grabbed kids to help get them ready for Hume, take them to swim meets and basketball camps, and sent their kids here to help weed-eat our property to help keep fire hazard down. We were brought delicious meals, given thoughtful gifts, and have received prayer filled cards in the mail or messages every single day. You have no idea (well, maybe you do) how much this all means to me and brightens my spirits. I am finally feeling better (day 5) today, and if feels good to feel better (with a couple of cat naps in there). They say that days 7-12 are when my immunity is at it's lowest and I might feel crummy again, and I'll be super susceptible to illness because I will have no white blood cells to fight off any bad stuff... so please forgive me if I don't hug you (though it goes against my very nature!!!) or ask you to wash your hands when you come to my house. 💗

Lastly, we were told that it would take about 2 weeks for the chemo to start working on my hair. In calculating that out, it would be right near when the kids came back from Hume, and I didn't want them to leave with everything 'normal' and come back to a drastic change. Plus, I didn't want to deal with long hair mess when it started falling out... too traumatic and messy. In trying to find ways to make this easier on me and our family, I decided to let Emmy play hair dresser and help me with the transition cut. She couldn't believe it and set up a whole pamper event for me, including a foot rub, nail polish and of course, a new do. We pony-tailed off what we could to send to Children with Hair Loss, a company that provides free wigs to kids who have hair loss of any kind up until age 21. I think Emmy did a really good job with my mass of hair, but she quickly realized it is NOT as easy as it looks! After a few days, the boys and I all went for haircuts, as they needed them and I felt like I still had too much hair to lose. While I was sitting in the seat, I found out that Great Clips has a 'Clips of Kindness' program and my haircut was free--which was very touching as I was thinking how dumb I was being to waste money on a haircut. Everyone says that this is one of the hardest parts of chemo. I am choosing to make it part of the journey that will bring a couple bright memories. 

That said, I might be smiling in the pictures, but I really don't like the short hair on me... As my scalp is already sort of tender and itching (what they say proceeds the hair loss), I will choose to think on truth that if the hair is falling out, it's because the chemo is working!!!