Today is a day that reminds me of how much I have and how there's really no understandable reason for it. A seminary colleague's 3-year-old daughter starts chemo today for stage 4 cancer. My children, on the other hand, got a clean bill of health from the pediatric cardiologist, where they were checked for the same heart abnormality that I have (written about here). Now why are my kids healthy and little M is not? I don't know. I just don't know. But I will hope and pray that God's love will be felt through it all. And so today I will take a little time to pay special attention to some brightness around me:
1. Obviously, a good report from the cardiologist. But also, both kids were such amazing troopers! The Boy wasn't happy with it, but he was calm and let the doctor and technician do what they needed to do. I was afraid he was still too small for all this, but the pediatrician was right - he did just fine. And My Girl - Oh My! It's hard to believe that just a couple years ago (definitely when she was the Boy's age), she would've been screaming and thrashing the whole time. She was amazing - polite and happy and following directions perfectly. Too bad I can't seem to elicit that at home :).
2. A lovely 8th anniversary with My Man. Some friends offered to keep the kids so we were able to go have a calm, adult dinner by ourselves. It was so nice, and a too rare occurrence. I am very thankful to have such a partner to share my life with.
3. Some good conversation with friends new and old, as well as plans to connect with some out-of-town friends. Always a blessing. I read recently that "studies show that extroverts and introverts alike get a mood boost from connecting with other people" (from Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project blog). As a relatively extreme introvert, I would say that this is basically true, though it depends on the circumstances of the connecting. For me, connecting with a couple people in an intmate setting is absolutely uplifting. Attempting to connect in a larger group, not so much. But maybe "attempting" is the key word there. It's very hard for me to connect in large groups, though there are sometimes moments of it.
4. A mostly successful attempt at Step One of creating Pixie Hollow (first mentioned here). I say "mostly" because it'll take a week or so to see how well it dries. But I'm hopeful that this might actually work!
5. The opportunity to help a man find some money to pay his rent for the week until he gets his paycheck. Otherwise, he would've been homeless, and he was obviously scared. I know there are many great people helping in this way all the time, but in my position, I am too often having to turn people away because they don't meet the criteria that my office requires. It was nice to genuinely help someone this time. And thanks to My Man for being the referral I used to get him the help :).
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