Update 6/15/23: Changes

Ecclesiastes 3:1 "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens." 

Yesterday, Wayne finished his last radiation treatment! He was able to ring a gong to show he was done. This was a little cooler than just ringing a bell. I continue to hound him like a paparazzi. After we were done at Northwestern, we took the drive back to Beverly where we have been staying for the last two months. 

The mask that Wayne wore each time for radiation. It would snap his head to the table so he couldn't move. It is so accurate that he couldn't shave or cut his hair because the mask might become loose.

Last view home of the preparation for the Nascar street race (for my father'n'law who loves Nascar)

Goodbyes are so hard!! The Kreider family may not be related to us by blood, but there are our family. If you don't have a church in Chicago, I highly recommend checking out St. Paul's Bible Church in Beverly. You get the real deal there. From the solid, biblical preaching to the love you will experience from the congregation...you will experience Jesus. Jason and Sue live out the gospel in every area of their lives. They have blessed our family in unimaginable ways the last two months. Jason and Sue, we cannot begin to thank you for the love and support you have shown us not only the last two months, but over the years. We love you!!!

Today my kids are going through withdraws from seeing and being with their best friends non-stop for the last two months. I am going through a transition as well. Why is change always so hard?

On our way home, we made our traditional stop at Albanese to get candy for the drive home. 

Most of today was spent catching up around the house. I started by day by weeding a million weeds, which apparently teenagers don't "see", and cleaning the pool. We spent some time unpacking, making the house easier for Wayne to get around (he needs a little more space and clear walking paths), grocery shopping, and visiting with my parents. My dog hasn't left my side. I think he is glad to have me home and I'm glad to be back with him.

Speaking of change, Wayne has been experiencing a little of that. The damage from radiation was making his hair in one section fall out in handfuls yesterday. So, we took the clippers today and said farewell to all of his hair. He really is a trooper with all of this.

Transitioning from playing with their friends to each other.

My garden and flower seeds all grew significantly over the last month. I'm glad I made it home to enjoy the flowers!

An amazing lady from church blessed our family with a huge meal (it will probably feed us for at least four days). The body of Christ in Chicago and Winchester (plus all of you praying for us from everywhere else), has been unbelievable. You continue to love on us and pray for us. We appreciate each and every one of you!!

Prayer Requests:

- Pray for Wayne as we being to slowly taper his steroids. We are modifying the doctor's taper since this time they sped it up and normally they take it slower. We don't want to increase our chances of having Wayne react to the decrease, so we are taking it a little slower. We felt like they were setting us up for failure (jumping from 8mg to 4 mg at once). Instead, we are doing 7mg for 3 days, then 6, and so on. We will also be increasing his frankincense during this transition to help with any swelling. 

- We are going to be selling our property in Richmond that was set up to be used as a ministry to pastors. First of all, we have not experienced as much use from pastors as we had planned, so it has just been sitting many days not used. Secondly, it is a lot of work to keep up the 10 acres on top of everything else we have going on. A sweet friend has been helping us with mowing, but we have decided that it is just too much for us to maintain going forward. If you know someone who wants to build a house and needs a beautiful spot, let us know. There is a cute cottage on the property that can be lived in while a house is built. You can see pictures on our Airbnb listing.

- Pray for everyone as we transition to all these changes...regular chores (yes, mom is here to follow up), new routines, trying to figure out our new normal with Wayne, and so on. 

- Please also pray for Shan as his leg heals. He got a wound on his stub from his old prosthesis. I had them look at it when we got his new leg, but I found out last week that it still wasn't good and was getting worse. Thankfully, Abigail took him to the doctor for me. He had staff infection growing and they followed up with a wound doctor. Shan now has a plan to deal with the wound. His just really disappointed that he can't work for the next two weeks as he lets his leg heal.