Two Year Anniversary

This week marks my two year anniversary of being cancer-free!!!! This is considered one of the big hurdles to achieve post treatment, the next is hitting the five year mark. At times, I wondered if I would ever make it to the two year mark so I'm very excited. I have an appointment with Dr P next month and I plan on asking if my port can come out, not that it bothers me but having it out would be one less thing to deal with. I have to get it flushed with heparin every six weeks to keep it from clotting and now that we are foster parents, I already have too many things to keep track. I'm not sure what Dr P will say about getting my port out, either way I will accept it. Anyway, it's hard to believe that it's only been two years since treatment as it seems like a lifetime ago now. In hindsight, I'm SO thankful that I completed the full treatment and these last two years have been much better than I could have imagined. God's promises certainly are true and He is definitely good all the time!!

Answered Prayers

God has answered my prayer and taken a huge load off of our trial. Our finances have been tight since I became sick and they got even tighter once we became foster parents because I am working much less. I have felt called to be a mom and these kids go through so much turmoil and chaos that I felt strongly about not having them in daycare. Plus, I've always wanted to be a mother and I don't want to miss out on a single thing with these kids. Choosing to work one day on the weekend has been very hard financially and at times didn't make sense when looking at our bank accounts. However, I believe that for this season God has called me to pour myself into these kids and trust Him with the numbers. This decision means living simply and quite honestly, goes against our culture. It has been hard and has certainly added to the stress between Mark and I, but recently we experienced God's hand on our finances that enable us to continue on this path. It's been very humbling to rely on God for finances but it's been good for our relationship with Him. In trials, you truly see where your heart is at, where you place your focus, and what you place as your "idols." I'm sure our finances will be tight for many years to come and honestly, I'm okay with that because I know that God will always provide for our needs. It's important to recognize needs from wants otherwise it's easy to become disillusioned. Anyway, I'm SO thankful that God has given us some wiggle room so to speak. I was finally able to tell Mark "see, God took care of it."  This is the part of living uncomfortably that I have really come to somewhat enjoy. It sounds crazy to some but it's only when you lean on God with your full weight do you constantly see just how involved He is in your life. We have experienced some very lean times recently, but I found myself quite thankful through most of it as I continued to see God in very practical ways. If you are always living comfortably, then you aren't experiencing God to the fullest and I can say that with lots of experience.