How can I begin to write about this topic which currently fills my soul with such joy? My hearts seems ready to burst with gratitude and I want to share this with everyone, yet it seems almost unsharable. I already know that I will write but I will not be able to convey my true sentiments, so please try to add a sprinkling of joy to everything that I will say this morning.

First of all look at the photo. These adorable little plush animals came to us quite unexpectedly last week from some of our oldest and dearest friends. We can heat them in the microwave when we need a warm snuggle and we will always think of our friends and feel that they are here giving us a hug. I absolutely love that they sent Mark a sloth because when I was so sick my sister sent me a stuffed sloth. I kept it on my dresser as a reminder that is was alright to slow down sometimes.

An overwhelming tender mercy is friendship. Moving is always difficult – leaving a place you love for a new, unexplored territory. Yet from this difficulty has emerged so very many priceless friendships. Ranging from acquaintances to close friends to those very dear people without whom you cannot imagine your life. And we love them all. Thinking of how complete strangers become so precious to me – it kind of blows my mind. And yet there it is. We have shared experiences and grow closer and suddenly we care deeply about what is happening in one another’s lives. Friends are such a blessing and one blessing of cancer is making fresh connections with people we have not seen or talked to in years. Relationships are so important! The faith of our friends and their resultant prayers are a source of strength to us.

The story of the past weekend in my last post is absolutely full of tender mercies. The plan to wake up David to take Mark home and then redirect them to the hospital was all inspired. I was grateful all day for what I feel was instruction from the Lord. Less obvious but very powerful to me was our experience with taking family photos.

I reached out to a photographer in Moab shortly after making our cabin reservation. She was going to be gone for Thanksgiving but her plans changed. I told her that Mark would be bald and weak, but then chemotherapy was postponed so that he was only short of breath. The weather had been unseasonably warm until a few days before we came, so we were very cold. All around us were tourists in the puffer jackets and beanies and here we were in our picture outfits (with jackets on and off). We are smiling but it is through gritted teeth as we bear the cold wind. Nevertheless I felt the Lord’s hand. I had prayed for decent weather but there was rain and wind. We had a morning and an afternoon session. The rain stopped in the morning and occasionally we found shelter from the wind. My hopes for beautiful sunset lighting were dashed as the clouds grew darker and the rain grew heavier. Mark was watching his weather app and assured me that it would be pouring rain the entire afternoon. So we ran and bought some umbrellas and assumed we would be either standing under umbrellas or all just be soaking wet which we came to terms with knowing it would create a unique memory after all. However, though it rained as we drove, when we reached the photo location we remained completely dry. The ground was muddy and all around the clouds were dark with rain, but not for us. We were very cold, but we were dry.

There is a particular feeling that you can sometimes experience when you know that Heaven is involved and I felt it that day. Family photos may not be important to everyone, but I do love photos and our family is scattered about the country and we really wanted Mark to be in them. This was important to us and I had been praying it would work out. My heart swelled with gratitude which completely overflowed when everything went south the very next day. Within hours he was pale, dizzy and weak. Our photographer had encouraged us to change our photos from Friday to Saturday for better weather. How grateful we are that we stayed with plan A. I felt that our family photo session was a gift from God and I am happy to share news that with everyone. How God loves us all! If something is important to us, it is important to Him.

Family photos were the culmination of a six week reprieve we both felt that we had received. Mark is particularly aware of this as he was given strength every day to get out of bed and put in a full day’s work. He had energy and a clear mind. When the work day was over the exhaustion would set in. The thing that really touches him is that during these six weeks their little start-up company grew and expanded. They were able to hire a Director of Operations as well as a VP of Sales and several sales reps. It seemed unprecedented but, just like that, it now allows him to slow down for a bit. Some people have wondered why he continues to work hard when he is so sick… well for one thing he wants to be successful for the sake of his wife, his co-founder and his employees. I love that is gives purpose to his day. We also believe that the Lord loves effort. If Mark was not putting in such an effort we would not be seeing and enjoying the miracle of energy-filled days. His cofounder actually flew in from Chicago yesterday for meetings which of course ended up being held in Mark’s hospital room. As I am typing I just told Mark that “tenacity” or “undaunted” both seem like good words to describe their company culture. I pray for their success daily – if it is important to us, it is important to Him.

I have more to say about these six weeks but I will save this for the next post. I have more to say about tender mercies beyond the six weeks. I hope that they will have and will continue to pop out of my writing. They are always in my heart. I have many quiet hospital hours to fill and blogging seems to be my primary pastime while I am here. This afternoon I have a break as I will accompany Jackie to her doctor visit here at Huntsman. I guess I can include those results in my next post as well – hoping they are routine. For all of the boredom, there is never a dull moment around here.