Peaks and Valleys

My blog has taken a backseat to life here lately. I've either been too tired to post or just opted to spend more time with my family. All too often we take for granted just how PRECIOUS life is until it is too late. There are peaks and valleys that we go through in life and we are definitely in somewhat of a valley right now. We found out today that my father-in-law has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. I guess one might say that we are still in shock but on the other hand we know that God is in control and ultimately will not give us more than we can handle.

When I think back on our dating experience, I was touched immediately by the closeness of Matt's family. He and his dad especially. One of our first conversations about his dad had to do with the fact that Matt had never drank alcohol. I really just laughed and shook it off, thinking yeah right! But later I learned that really....he never has taken a drink. His dad asked him when he was 15 not to partake in the event and so he never did. I admire the fact that he looked up to his dad and respected him that much even at such an early age. Unfortunately for me I went through somewhat of a stubborn stage in which I thought my parent's didn't know much at all. Never until I became a parent myself did I TRULY appreciate all the sacrifices and love my parents gave. So that brings me back to Papaw. We are asking for prayers. Not necessarily for healing, but for God's will in this situation. May our faith grow through this journey and we learn to have child like faith. May we learn to value what is important and let the small things be just that. And MOST importantly may our children learn the invaluable lessons that we learned from our parents and be devout followers of Christ. That is my goal in all of this, I pray.

Playing on my cell phone.

My good friend Mary Catherine and her husband Clay came by to visit when they were in town. They are currently living in Chicago.

Matt and his dad working together.

Riding with Uncle Mark in the tractor.

Papaw with "Boom Boom" and "LuLu"

We decided that although this diagnosis doesn't mean anything bad is going to happen, it is a good time to go ahead and do family pictures. So this weekend we plan on doing them on the Tyler's land in Benton. They have about 40 acres with cows and such, and we are going to have them done there with the tractor in the background. I think it is important to capture the personality and essence of Matt's family.

In the midst of all this, we have just been going through the motions in our daily life as well. Jake and Landry Grace are having their 2 and 3 year pictures taken on Wednesday after school. Hoping they will cooperate for that. I have been trying to train for the half marathon in New Orleans at the end of next month. I am so thankful for my sweet running partner, Kennedy, who graciously agreed to train with me. She ran White Rock in December and is still on a "runner's high" after qualifying for Boston....she has made those COLD mornings more bearable knowing she will be there to meet me.

As for posting on this blog, I will try to keep you updated more frequently. All the subjects that I post on seem trivial now that we are faced with a battle such as cancer. But we are not going to let it defeat us and I am sure that we will have more good news to post in the future. There are several families that are on my heart and in my prayers as I type this. One with a baby in the PICU at LSU in Shreveport, one that has just lost a family member to suicide, a co-worker with a father in law who had a brain tumor operated on today and one who just lost their mom unexpectedly. Never are we promised tomorrow. Let us rejoice in today and be thankful.