I am beyond proud of my little munchkins. They BOTH grew their hair and donated it to organizations that create wigs for those undergoing chemotherapy treatment. This is something that hit us close to home this year, as my mother-in-law has bravely fought the breast cancer battle since her diagnosis last January.
I haven’t written about it yet on this blog {for various reasons} ~ it was aggressive and advanced {Stage 4} cancer. Over the past 9 months, she was treated with chemotherapy, had a mastectomy, and just finished radiation…but I am SO happy to report that she had the last of her treatments, and she is doing SUPER!!!
The week before my mother-in-law shaved her head because she was losing so much hair from the chemo, coincidentally {but are there any coincidences really?!}, I was writing an article on being bold. When I went to search for an image of a “bold woman”, this is what appeared in the search engine ~ telling her of my findings a week later when we went to visit, brought tears to my eyes and hers. Yes, she is the epitome of a bold woman, but I already knew that because her life has been a testimony to strength, resilience, and boldness:
Her courage and positive attitude has been so incredible to me and our whole family. She took care of herself, encouraged other patients in the chemo and radiation centers, hardly missed a beat at work, and wouldn’t let this diagnosis bring her down! In October, we walked in her honor:
My nephew, Chris, couldn’t be there because he was in college in Tampa, but he was with us in spirit for sure:
The day before the walk, my Little Man cut his hair to donate it, and wrote this heartfelt letter:
In September, just before school began, my LuLu did the same {we wanted to do them together but the little man’s wasn’t quite long enough at that time}:
My hubby is very close to his mother, and so since we received the diagnosis {as you can imagine}, the year had many tears ~ tears of fear, and tears of hope, and tears of JOY. There were also many prayers, smiles, and gratitude for this gift of life. I love this picture of the two of them together:
Now, it’s after midnight and so the philosopher in me is kicking in, but I am in awe of the miracles and healings that happen every day. Sometimes the miracle is what comes from the pain ~ the revelations, the reconciliations, the change it brings {historically, and in our every day lives, great strife often leads to great gifts in thousands of examples, God’s light shines brightest through the cracks}.
Sometimes the miracle is the testimony of what He did to restore and protect the body {I was told as a baby, I had a very advanced pneumonia that would require an invasive procedure which could have taken my life, but miraculously the pneumonia just ‘went away’ without treatment yet as my parents prayed at my side overnight; my father was in Viet Nam in a foxhole when a mystery soldier pulled him out and disappeared when seconds later the foxhole blew up and the soldier was nowhere to be found; my sister-in-law’s father also had a miraculous restoration of his body when every doctor was giving him just a few months ~ that was over 11 years ago, and he is still very much alive & well! ; and this, as the doctors expressed deep concern about treating my mother-in-law’s aggressive cancer, and praise God, the cancer is gone! }.
Sometimes His plan for healing means releasing our physical bodies from the pain and bringing us home to Him, sometimes His plan means a physical healing giving us more time here on earth.
He promises to bestow on them “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” ~ Isaiah 61:3
I don’t know or understand why everything occurs and why the human being has to endure such a range of circumstances ~ although there is comfort in scripture and in connecting with other human beings who have walked the same paths…and I am so grateful to the good Lord for carrying my mother-in-law through this, and I can probably write a whole lot more about it, but I think my hubby’s Facebook post on December 31st really says it best:
