Day 11: Why?

First of all, I just have to say what a wonderful day I had today. I was a little rough around the edges when I woke up this morning but after eating a bean tostada with avocado that my husband so lovingly prepared for me I was on the road to feeling better. (Don't ask me why the tostada for breakfast. It just sounded good!)

We (and as we, I mean mostly Jason) prepared all 6 of us for the potluck we had today. It was something that God placed on my heart a week or so ago that we needed to do. Several people told me that it was okay if I didn't feel up to going but I really wanted to do this. I have no idea what the future will bring or how many "good" days I will have over the next 4-6 months. God was faithful and gave me the energy to go and boy did I have a good time! I seriously thought there would be 5 people there. Jason told me, "No, at least 7." It was just so great to see everyone and visit.

The food was amazing, you have to love potlucks. It is like taking the best of everyone's household and combining it for all to enjoy. The only request that I had going into the lunch was that my grandma make me potato soup and cornbread. I remember as a little girl that ALWAYS made me feel better and so when she brought it, I was thrilled. :-)

Anyway, it was just a great time of fellowship with friends and family. I missed all that couldn't come but please don't feel bad. I know you all have lives out there and I don't expect for you to stop everything just for me.

One of the great things today was the encouragement that I received for writing on this very blog. Thank you so much for even reading this thing. It is so humbling to me that God has chosen to use me in this way in the first place. There are several reasons why I have chosen to blog and I wanted to share those with you as it seems to be a consistent question posed to me lately.

1.) When I was in 2nd grade I felt the call to be a writer for the first time, which I ignored. I was what you called a "closet writer" for years where I wrote but no one knew about it. It wasn't until the last few years of my life that God has really made me step out of my box when it comes to my writing. This is not necessarily easy for me. I am an immensely private person (I know hard to believe by some) but this is truly me just being obedient to God. The rest is up to Him.

2.) When this all started I didn't have a clue what the future would hold and to be honest, I still don't. I feel a great deal of peace from God about the situation but only God truly knows. Each of our days are numbered. In the midst of this trial I looked at my children ages 11, 5, 3 and 8 months and it scared me greatly to think that they might not know how much their mother loved them or know me at all for that fact. I know Jason would do all that he could to keep my memory alive in them but I also wanted to contribute to that as much as I possibly could. I wanted them to know that even in the hardest of times I turned to God for my strength. I wanted them to know that in my weakest moments I fought as hard as I possibly could to stay here as long as could for them. I wanted them to hear in my own words what a wonderful husband and father their daddy is. Above all else, I wanted them to know how much I love God and how much I love them. If this blog could even play a small part in that then I was going to do it.

3.) God has faithfully put people in my life at every turn of the road to lift me up and help me through the tough times in my life. If God uses this blog to help even 1 person, then it is worth it to me.

Anyway, for those of you wondering why I am doing this, there you go. I hope you all continue to enjoy reading as long as I can continue to write!

Finally, I had a special request to continue the "Funny of the Day" that I was posting. I will give it my best shot. :-) Today there were several very funny things that happened. It is so hard to pick from them all because I just felt like I laughed and laughed. Here are a couple. You can decide for yourself if you think they are funny or not.

Our 5 year old is quite the "gamer". He can't read yet but he can master nearly any game you can put in front of him. As he is playing one of his many games on the way into town today, all the sudden we here him say, "Holy Dude!" Jason and I look at each other and I asked Jason, "Did his just say Holy Dude?" Jason: "Why yes, yes he did."

While visiting with some dear friends of ours we began to talk about my treatment. The man (I am not going to mention any names here for confidentiality purposes) asked me how soon they expected the mass in my neck to go away. I told him: "Oh, well it has already gone down quite a bit with just the first treatment, see here," and I pulled back my hair for him to see my neck.

"WOW!!! Look at that!!!!" he gasped. Evidently I had a third eye growing out of my neck previously and was totally unaware of it!

We all had a very good laugh. :-)

Okay all, I am off to bed. It is way past my new bedtime of 8:30pm. (I know, I am a lightweight anymore.)
Thanks to all who blessed me so much today with the fun and laughs.

Love you all!
Andrea