It's never easy hearing news like we got last night. I've told people before that our lives can be changed at any moment...24/7. We are always one phone call away from another life altering event. That's just the way living with cancer is...and it happened again last night. It was a blow to us. Kristi was feeling so good. She said to me last weekend "I feel better now than I did before cancer". She looks great, feels great, and had been enjoying this time. I just told someone at work yesterday "we're really looking forward to 2 uneventful weeks before surgery". Then the phone rang last night about 6:00. Just as we sat down for dinner. We hadn't even scooped out dinner yet. We were just getting ready to pray and the phone rang. "Nice timing" I said to Kristi. As Kristi took the phone from me I knew it was bad news by the look on her face...and she went gray. We were crushed. Oh it was so painful.
The first few phone calls to our parents and friends were very difficult. The words were just so hard to say..."more cancer". We fell apart for the first few phone calls. It was bad. Very bad. I know people say we don't need to apologize, but we know how much people love us and we feel terrible that we ruin other peoples' nights too. And for that we are truly sorry.
BUT - we want everyone to know what transpired last night. Again, immediate prayers began. Kristi sent an e-mail to Norma and within minutes Norma had the e-mail sent out to the prayer warriors. I called our friend Janna (again, sorry Janna) and she called our entire small group. Then about 9:30 last night our small group began showing up at our house (they called first :) ). They just came to pray over us. But you don't know our small group! We ended up sitting in our living room until past 11:00 last night talking about the craziest things (sorry, I can't share the details...what's said in the small group stays in the small group!). At times we were laughing so hard that we were crying. My cheeks hurt. My stomach hurt. Their love for us is incredible. When one of the guys was falling asleep on the floor we realized how late it was. To finish, Kristi and I got in the middle of the group and they laid their hands on us and prayed. One by one they prayed for us. And prayed. I can't describe this feeling. Tears ran from our faces. It was so incredible. After they all left, we just sat in complete peace. "We have amazing friends" I said.
We just wanted everyone to know (especially our parents) that we are doing well. We both woke up this morning still feeling an amazing peace over us. Kristi said it best this morning..."this is nothing more than a faith tester". She said last night "I'm not going to let this ruin my next 2 weeks". I am so blessed to be married to this woman. She is amazing. A pillar of faith. Warm. Gentle. Loving. Helping. Comforting. Beautiful. Amazing, truly amazing.
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1
