Our 8th Anniversary

It’s so hard to believe we’ve been married for 8 years today! It doesn’t seem like it has been that long! A lot has happened in that time as I suppose a lot happens in anyone’s life in 8 years. We’ve had some hard times like Wayne’s cancer a year and a half into our marriage, my sister’s brain tumor diagnosis several months later, and then Micah being diagnosed with TSC when he was almost 5 months old. We’ve also had enjoyable times such as the birth of our boys, Kelly graduating from seminary(Wayne had already graduated when we married), job promotions for Wayne, and living in the San Francisco bay area.

Though the hard times have been challenging, I’m thankful to God for healing in certain ways for each person. Wayne was healed completely. Kim is doing fairly well, though her quality of life is not the same and she has many health problems. I remember that it was our anniversary weekend in 2003 when I found out about her tumor. It was so hard to celebrate and I spent much of the weekend crying. I was so afraid of losing her. I’m so thankful that didn’t happen.

Micah only has occasional seizures now. Though there’s so much we hope and pray for in his life concerning his development, we try and live one day at a time. He can be hard to deal with sometimes, and so much fun a lot of the time.

I’m thankful that through God’s grace we have held together through all of these situations. I’ve heard that the divorce rate is really high for those who have kids with special needs. It can be quite stressful, but I’m thankful that Wayne is very helpful in caring for the boys and he is encouraging to me when I feel like things are overwhelming. He never makes me feel like I am overreacting to frustrating situations.

Now here we are in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I don’t think either of us would have ever guessed that 8 years ago. It’s where God has us, at least for a season, and we are trying to “bloom where we are planted.”