Dependence...

Apart from being tired, not having tons of energy or feeling "gung-ho" to accomplish all we're doing each day I feel good, only minor side effects with the Tamoxifen.  I've had lots of follow up appointments and a few tests and everything's all clear each time.  Isaiah's very healthy, 10 months old and 20 lbs., crawling/climbing/pulling up, he IS very high energy, gung-ho, loves music and his adoring family.

Thank you for your prayers, life gets a little overwhelming sometimes, I get frustrated with feeling tired sometimes, I need His grace is so many ways, all the appointments between me and the kids...but at the same time, I am SO GRATEFUL to have this year behind me, to be with all 3 of my beautiful children, to get to stay home with them, I'm grateful for this dear man I get to walk through life with, I'm grateful for time, even though it speeds past too quickly at times...and He's been teaching me to be grateful for the things that "hold me back"--my energy level, my poor memory--I love watching Him provide for my every need after I've whined to Him about not being able to do some things...I keep forgetting the silliest things, nothing life-threatening so far(thank the Lord), and He reminds me or provides ahead of time...its pretty amazing to watch. I thanked Him for the humility of it, depending on Him in this way, since I've always had a great memory and seemed to have taken some pride in "my" abilities, judging by how frustrated I've been at the loss :) It really is a joy to all through the day ask Him if I've forgotten anything, or where I put something...maybe I sound crazy, you're probably thinking, "Laura... you REMEMBERED it??!!" but I'm just telling you I KNOW He reminds me, my synapses are on vacation, they're not firing like they used to :) its a complicated story but the other day, He actually led me to prepare all these things, and then after I got into the situation and remembered what I was supposed to do, I realized it didn't matter that I hadn't remembered, I had exactly what I needed...it was a beautiful and unexpected gift!

love you all and hope you are well, thanks for caring about our little family!!"

---from an email

upside down

from an email:

"I started radiation  on monday, its everyday at 4pm, only takes about 15 minutes...it  does end up rearranging our whole day but there's only 5 1/2 more weeks and some friends from church are going to start helping out a couple days a week...

Isaiah was up to 8lb7oz at his appointment the other day, he's doing really well other than he caught this nasty cold we've all got right now, he's sleeping 5-7 hours at night.

I met a girl last week at the surgeon's office who's having her surgery this week, she's only 28 and has breast cancer and 2 small children, we exchanged numbers and she called later, if you could pray for Samantha. I cried on the way home because I overheard her sister say to her, "You can do this, the Lord is going to help you through this...just look at that girl over there with her babies...you can make it too! You're going to be fine!"

Thanks so much for your prayers, we're all pretty short on sleep with everything and I've been snapping at the girls lately, we are really enjoying being a family of 5 in spite of all the craziness and nothing being normal right now..."