Blessings and Trials

Friday and Saturday have been filled with many blessings. One blessing that we have experienced is that our family has been able to spend some quality time together. We've been spending time playing board games, snuggling on the couch watching Veggie Tales, laughing and just talking. One funny thing that was said by our oldest when we were playing Aggravation was, "If you didn't have a brain tumor, I'd punch you for knocking my marble home." It has been good for everyone to have us home, but it has been especially good for the youngest two. They seem to be impacted the most by our absence. Although they are used to Wayne being gone because he goes to work, I am usually home with them all the time. We are just trying to enjoy every moment we can as a family.

With the blessings, there have also been some trials. Wayne has experienced a few minor seizures in the last 24 hours. At least now Wayne can tell when one is coming and he is prepared for it. We spoke with his neurologist today and they upped one of his medicines to hopefully help stop the seizures. Another difficulty we faced was removing his bandage. It was hard not to hurt Wayne and pull hair as I removed the tape from his hair. I chose studying business/accounting in college for a reason. So far God has given me the ability to stomach dealing with medical things, but it is not something I would want to do all the time. Here is a picture of Wayne's head after we removed the bandage. He says that he looks like Frankenstein (again showing that his sense of humor hasn't disappeared). He is excited about washing his hair tomorrow so that he can get all the glue and chemicals out!

A dear friend of ours that is a missionary in Brazil sent me this song written by Laura Story. It was such an encouragement in light of the "unknown" that we are facing. Laura Story's husband was diagnosed with brain tumor after two years of marriage. He has been battling this benign tumor for over five years. She wrote this song from their experiences. The song hit home this morning as we listened to it. The road God asked the Story family to walk is different then the one they wanted to walk. We are trusting God with everything, but we realize that His path may be different then what we may want. Trusting and believing in the unknown is difficult, but we must walk by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7-9 says, "for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him." Regardless of the path that God has for us, we will give Him the glory and aim to please Him with our responses.