Life

There have been many developments in our lives since my last post. No doubt the handful of you that read this blog already know all about it.  Mark has Leukemia.  He was diagnosed April 10th of 2013.  We went from Cherry Blossoms to the emergency room with in a couple of days.  That first couple of months were hard, blurry, filled with pent up emotions and fear.  However, the feeling I had and still have at the end of every day is gratitude.  Mark's little friends made him cards, brought him gifts, had garage sales and lemonade stands on his behalf.  Church leaders, teachers and strangers wished us well, prayed for us and supported with hugs, meals, service and words of encouragement. Extended family members and friends made toys, blankets, pajamas, pillow cases and care packages that came for months.  All these people who stopped to help have burdens of their own to carry, yet they paused to do a little something for us when we didn't even know what was needed.  Every large and little gesture means the world to us.

It has been over a year now and chemotherapy is still going strong.  There are several more months to go, but now I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It's far away and very dim, but I see it. 

 

Then he was three years old, weak from long stays in the hospital, shaky from medication.  Now he will be five years old tomorrow.  He's strong, still shaky, sweet and growing up.  I'm thankful for the tantrums, the "outside voice" he uses inside, the jeans with the holes in the knee from playing, and the messes of trains he leaves behind him wherever he goes.  Because he's here.  He's fighting cancer and he's winning.