43 and 20

This is an eventful week for our family as our youngest daughter had her 16th birthday, we celebrate Mother's Day, and my wife had her 43rd birthday. We make a big deal out of all of them as they each hold their own special value to our family. It's not always easy to keep celebrations from spilling over onto each day, but this year there is enough separation that it hasn't been an issue. This year is especially significant for my wife as we are also celebrating an "anniversary" as we mark 20 years of her being cancer free.

We were just a young, freshly-married couple when we discovered she had cancer. Neither one of us knew what to think, but we were both scared of what might happen and what our future was going to look like. Even her physicians were unsure of how effective their treatment plan was going to be. I remember holding her hand while walking one day and telling her, "I'm not ready to lose you." We didn't know then the difficulties she was going to endure or how we were going to make our way through them. We just knew we had to keep moving forward and hoping we would be given another day to share together.

My wife's trial of cancer is what makes the rest of her celebrations so sweet. It's because of her 20 year "cancerversary" that we are able to celebrate her 43rd birthday. Each year that passes is another gift together when we weren't sure there would be many more to share. Her disease and treatment changed both of us during the trial and continue to have an impact as we grow older together. It's a very powerful reminder of the value of each day we've been given.

Ebenezer: 3 Gifts

As a continuation of yesterday's blog, I admit that I am going to cheat a little and meld three events into one that is evidence of God's great help.

Due to my wife's breast cancer we probably shouldn't have any children. Her survival odds weren't fantastic (at least according to medical science) and the odds of getting pregnant were low as well. Needless to say, God came through in bigger ways than we could have anticipated. 

The first moment we saw each of our girls was a beautiful fulfillment of God's promise to heal. All three births increased the love that my wife & I share and remind us that God doesn't have to listen to medical science. These girls represent God's ability to deliver and a life that He was sharing with us that was (and is) filled with potential. Our lovelies are beautifully and wonderfully made and I am humbled that God would trust me to be their earthly father. It's a responsibility that frightens me when I think about the weight of influence, but gives me incredible joy as we live out our futures together. 

Events Collide

This week is momentous for my wife every year as it rolls three celebratory occasions into one. We honor her cancerversary, her birthday, and Mother's Day, and all three are forever intertwined. 

If you read my wife's blog or have followed me for some time, you will know that my wife is a cancer survivor. This is her 16th cancerversary meaning that she has now been cancer free for that period of time. It is why she celebrates her birthdays with such intensity and joy-each one is a gift and she recognizes how God has chosen to bless her with another year. I don't believe it is a coincidence that this all happens in the same week that we celebrate motherhood either. Our children are a daily reminder that medical science can be wrong about some things, and their beautiful faces and hearts serve as reinforcement of God's miracles to us.

My wife loves the celebration of these life events and I am eager to spoil her while we commemorate together. It's a week that keeps God's healing fresh in our minds and causes us to not take any year that passes for granted.