Ever Singing For Joy

So, this will be the second blog post I've written in less than 14 days.  I haven't done that in a while.  I wish I didn't have to do it now.  It usually means there is a lot happening or significant changes in Ash's health that need to be shared; unfortunately, this time is no different.  I'll pre-apologize for poor grammar and/or misspellings... I am likely not going to proof this before I post it since it's late and I want to push an update since it's been a few days.. Ashley had an MRI and a NeuroOnc appointment this past Friday.  It was such a long day for her.  We had an early morning start and wound up getting back home mid-afternoon.  For her, that's SUCH a long day; draining to the point where it took her well into Saturday to somewhat recover.  If you'll remember back to April, Ash had an MRI and there was a notable area of concern on her scan.  It wasn't quite pronounced enough for the radiologist to move off of calling her tumor s...

Trust in him at all times, O people pour out your heart before him God is a refuge for us. Psalm 62:8 It's been a minute since we've last posted a medical update on Ashley's.  Lately, the attention has been focused on When I Hold You  and its release. The unfolding of that blessing has been nothing short of an encouragement as of late.  We are truly thankful that the Lord opened so many doors along the way and continued to provide opportunities to speak to His nearness and gentleness. Like all good things though, we can't live in those moments indefinitely.  Reality has a funny way of knocking on the door.  The truth of the matter is, these past few months have been both incredibly rewarding, but also incredibly sobering.   Ashley has steadily declined in her general function.  Before you take that last sentence and get caught in a somber mood, let me walk you through what I mean.  A couple of months ago when Ash had her last set of scan...

It’s real.️ It has a cover. Pages. Words. Rhythms. Pictures. And a Title, When I Hold You. My heart flutters when I see it. The book may have my name on the front, but this is ALL the Lord!  A few days ago, I got really big box on my front porch. It was HEAVY… like whoa heavy! I definitely should have waited for David to move the box inside. But all is well, the girls and I managed to get it in. I didn't know what was in the box. The girls were having fun opening the box… then before I knew it, I had TEARS! The box was filled with copies of my book!! I was completely overwhelmed. I could feel God being so tender with my heart in those moments. All of those struggles with being able to write met with a crash of praising loudly for all he has done. Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is in your midst,     a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness;     he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singin...

There's some exciting news on the home front; a welcomed respite from the struggles of the recent months. If you'll remember a post or two ago, I mentioned that Ashley had been working on a side project. I called it a side project because we'd been working through a lot of the struggles that came along with her cancer, but in reality, this project consumed a lot of Ashley's time and energy.  It was not a side project. Over the course of the past 2+ years, maybe even longer than that, Ashley has been working on a book.  You read that correctly, a book.  A children's book, more specifically, entitled it When I Hold You.   I cannot think of a better name for this book. I could go on about the backstory (and probably will in the coming days), but I'll put some of Ashley's words below about why she wrote this and how it all came to pass: I wrote this out of obedience to Christ.  As I started my recovery from my initial surgery and treatments, I never set out wit...

  I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me God sends forth his love and his faithfulness... For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. Psalm 57 2-3;10-1 1 Sweet friends, we love you and are so grateful for the ways you have loved and cared for us.  It has been quite the blessing of friendship. In recent days, our house has certainly felt the familiar  feeling of "this is too much... again".  Earlier this month, I tested positive for COVID.  Cancer and COVID... it's been really, really hard.  The waves that are lapping against our boat are certainly growing stronger at times.  The seas are rocking harder and harder and if I'm honest, I'm ready for a break. Oh God, would you give us a lifeboat. My personal experience with COVID is unique to me and I'm ...

Two blog posts in almost as many days... That hasn't happened in a long while.  Let me take a few minutes to thank those who have reached out over the past few days.  Our family greatly appreciates you and your investment in our lives.  God has certainly surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses. I need to take a few minutes to offer some clarity on where we are now.  [When I write these posts, they are often a stream of consciousness.  It's to provide insight into our journey, but it's also ( almost more so ) for my own personal therapy .  It's somewhat of a mix of record-keeping and mental unloading.  I tend to write and unpack the moments that are significant ( to me)  and that I want to hold on to for the future ( but not necessarily in my head, rather "on paper") .] With that being said, based on a lot of the questions and messages I took in over the past week, I do think I need to provide an update on where we are actually sitting today....

The changing of the seasons is always a welcomed experience in Alabama.  To go from the exhaustive heat of Summer to the crisp (albeit brief) chill of the Autumn air to landing the plane in the cantankerous, somewhat unpredictable Winter... the narrative of the changing seasons parallels life so well.  As a family, we've enjoyed some really great, memory filled moments over the past 6 months; we've also had some really tough, also unforgettable moments during that time as well.  The main takeaway is that much like the seasons, changes in life are inevitable and with each of life's seasons there are ups and downs and, yet, everything keeps moving forward. Undoubtedly, it seems that some of my recent, relatively vague facebook posts have generated a little bit of curiosity so let's shoot back to a little over a month ago (right before Christmas) and recap what's been going on. This stands to be a fairly long post catching everyone up so if you really don't want to...