Cancer

Nehemiah 9:6 "You are the LORD, You alone. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worship You."

This morning on the Classical Conversations Facebook page, I saw a post from a woman whose husband is battling cancer. In light of May being brain cancer awareness month, I thought that this was beautifully written. As a human, I have experienced a whole range of emotions after Wayne's diagnosis. It is hard to be given a "death" sentence (aka terminal diagnosis) and not know when that date may be. Of course, we all are terminal...we all will die and we do not know when that will be. I have learned, and continue to learn, how to surrenderer the future to God and trust His sovereign plan. Below is what this woman wrote:

"Cells. God designed human cells to follow an orderly path of growth, division and death. When cells begin to grow outside of that design -outside of His design - they grow uncontrollably and do not die. His design of programmed cell death is called apoptosis in the medical field. But cells, like humans, rebel against His design....and when they do, cancer is born.
I thought about this for several days....the intention-Gods design of a tiny cell: "to follow an orderly path of 1) growth, 2) division and 3) death." Isn't that a precise example of the Christian's life? To follow an orderly path which fosters growth in Christ, dividing and dispersing in order to make disciples and dying to self so that many may live? That's truly somethin'.
And "apoptosis"...His design of programmed cell death in order to sustain life here, on earth. The origins of the word "apoptosis" derived from the Greek words "apo" which means "from" and "ptosis" meaning "falling" or "to fall" defining the term "apoptosis" as "falling off." Cells are even commanded to follow an orderly path...when they rebel against that command, the design falls apart ushering in death.
I thought of how often we rebel against His design and plan for our lives...how our choices to travel the unintended path causes a falling away from Him. When apoptosis occurs in cells, it creates havoc and destruction inside our bodies...often leading to death. When we, as humans, fall away from His plan for our lives and while His love for us still remains unconditional, our fallen paths caused by our rebellion, creates apoptosis, leading to destruction. Isn't that somethin'?
I am so saddened when I hear someone is angry with God bc of a cancer diagnosis...as if He caused it. He's the designer and He commanded a specific order in which all things under the sun must follow...even our cells. However, we live in an "apoptosis" world, a fallen world...where even the cells rebel against Him.
Not all things come from God....but He uses all things for 2 purposes : His glory and for the benefit of His children. Our ways are not His ways...our understanding is not His understanding. We must rest in His promises...and rest we will."

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This weekend, DJ participated in the Special Olympic Area Games. He competed in the 100 meter dash and a softball throw. He came in 7th for running, but won silver for his softball throw. He had a great time!!

Abigail and Grace had a special event Saturday night. After a month of etiquette and dancing classes, their Classical Conversations group had a dinner at a local country club, followed by dancing (to practice what they learned in class). My babies are growing up too quickly!!!

Abigail and kids from her Challenge 1 class.

Grace and kids from her Challenge B class.

Naomi and Sophia made a piñata and cake for our class last week. They wanted to do something "fun" for class, and Cinco de Mayo gave them an excuse to make things that resulted in them consuming too much sugar!

On Friday, Wayne and I took Shan Chen to the surgeon, to make sure everything looked okay. We have a huge praise. The doctor thinks that his fatty tumor is stable right now, meaning, it hasn't grown at all!! We do not have to see her for another year. She also told us that their imaging before surgery stopped just below his knee, so there was no way for them to know Shan Chen had a screw floating around in his leg!! She was astounded by the story as much as we are. The flowers were beautiful downtown and a complete stranger gave Shan Chen a red nose, so we had fun playing around waiting for his doctor's appointment.

This week is teacher appreciation week. We are so thankful for the amazing teachers DJ has at school. So, we made sure that they knew how much we appreciated them. We made cute little gifts, like mints in a jar that said "you were MINT to be a teacher" and nuts that said "I am NUTS about my teacher". I got up early yesterday morning and also made homemade cinnamon rolls for the staff at the school. We are glad that God has blessed DJ with such an amazing team of teachers!!

Today Abigail and her CC class attended Macbeth play. She said it was a pretty intense play.

Continue to pray for us as we finish up school (only 4 weeks left!!!). Wayne's next MRI is in June. Pray that we just continue to trust God, not have scanxiety, and that he has another clear scan. We are so thankful for all of your prayers!!