Happy (late) 24th anniversary to the best parents in the world (Their anniversary was yesterday)! I don't know what I would do without them. They show us how to live for Christ every day and they've sacrificed so much the past 6 years that I've been sick-they never gave up when doctor after doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong, they took me across the country, looking for answers and did what they had to do, even when that meant going to a clinic that doesn't take insurance and is all the way across the country. That also meant that my family has had to spent a total of 6 months (spread out over 4 years) apart while my mom and I were in Nevada while I was getting treatment at the clinic where my Lyme doctor is. My dad and brother had to stay home so my dad could work and my brother could go to school, while they tried to maintain some normalcy since life has to go on, which I know wasn't easy when they know I'm sick enough to need treatment across the country and they can't be there to know how I'm doing. But my parents do what they have to do, and they've sacrificed so much. They've sat in the hospital with me too many times to count, feeling so helpless but never leaving my side, and comforting me as only parents can do, telling me it will be okay, even when they aren't sure if it will be. They've become close to being a nurse and doctor as they have to make big medical decisions on their own since my doctor is across the country and no one here knows about Lyme. My mom gives me shots, accesses my port for me to do IVs at home, and stays up way too late researching possible treatments all over the world, hoping for a cure for this disease that has invaded our family. This disease has changed our lives, brought many tears and fears, but the most important thing that my parents have done in our lives is made sure that we know that God hasn't changed and that we will praise Him always, even in this storm, because this life is temporary. Illness and trials like we are experiencing can break a family and cause them to be bitter toward each other and God, but because of my parents faithfulness to God and them teaching my brother and I, by example, how to live for God, these trials have only brought us closer together. We've learned that God does give you more than you can handle, BUT, He doesn't give you more than you can handle WITH Him. Because of that, we've learned to completely rely on God because He never changes, and we've learned to cry out to Him. My parents are incredible and I'm so thankful to God for them! "If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever" -2 Corinthians 4:7-12, 16-18 (MSG)
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