Six Years Ago

Six years ago today - it was a rough one. Mommy had gone in for a colonoscopy, after suffering for months with a lot of extreme pain that lasted for hours. CT Scans and X-rays picked up nothing much, other than the obvious inflammation. But what was causing the inflammation?

Keep in mind we had just sent our dossier off, the one that would lead us to Madison. We weren't ready for the answer: it was cancer.

Of course, we didn't get the answer right away. These things are so easy to lump together after the fact. What anyone who has been through all of this knows is that you have to wait, wait and wait.

Although our wait time was not that long for the emergency surgery that followed. You see, a tumor was growing inside of Mommy, and it was blocking some of her digestive path. It was dangerously close to completely blocking it altogether, in fact. So an emergency surgery was scheduled for the very next day.

Yet still: was it cancerous? We had to wait a while for that. I remember the wait time as they analyzed the tumor they removed. Unfortunately, the surgery couldn't get all of that evil tumor. And along the way, Mommy had to have an ileostomy - something she'd keep for a few years. Daddy and Mommy worked together with that for quite some time until February of 2008.

So the results came back, and Daddy remembers Mommy walking into the office to tell her it was cancer. We cried together, and cried for many months after that. But the place Daddy works at was very understanding, and very generous: we were able to spend every moment of chemotherapy together. Three days a week, in the middle of each day, Daddy would walk in with Mommy and we would make it through.

Together we walked in, and together we sat as Mommy went through the chemo. We brought along a small DVD player, and watched every Abbott & Costello movie back to back to back. The scripture was "A merry heart does like good medicine," so Daddy made sure we were always watching something funny.

The radiation treatments were quick and painless initially, though we've since come to understand they were ultimately the most damaging. But chemo takes time and money. Again, we were grateful that God had us working in a place with good insurance and even better understanding of the situation.

We made it through the next nine months, and we made it together. But it has to be said: one of the thoughts that kept Mommy's spirits up and positive was the thought of Madison. She knew that soon, when she made it through all of this, she'd be holding Madison in her arms.

Thank you, God. Thank you for Your faithfulness in all things, for Your grace and mercy. Thank you for Mommy, and thank You for Madison. I will forever be grateful, and filled with joy that we were led not just into trouble, but through it to the other side.

Morning by morning I wake up to find the power and comfort of God's hand in mine. Season by season I watch him amazed, in awe of the mystery of his perfect ways.

All I have need of his hand will provide. He's always been faithful to me.

I can't remember a trial or a pain he did not recycle to bring me gain. I can't remember one single regret in serving God only and trusting his hand.

All I have need of his hand will provide. He's always been faithful to me.

This is my anthem, this is my song, the theme of the stories I've heard for so long. God has been faithful, he will be again. His loving compassion, it knows no end.

All I have need of his hand will provide. He's always been faithful to me.

- Sarah Groves