CELEBRATION OR CONTEMPLATION?

Five years ago today I had my surgery for breast cancer.  That means I am now 5 years out from my cancer diagnosis.  In the cancer world, this is a big milestone, and one that fellow survivors encourage you to celebrate.

To be honest, this day actually scares me a bit.  There's that old superstitious fear that I will "jinx" things if I get too excited about it.  But there also some reasons why I don't feel like celebrating today:

1. Cancer was a bad thing that happened to me and my family.  Physically and emotionally it was one of the hardest things I ever faced. 
2. Cancer has made me feel the ugliest I have ever felt in my life because of the surgery required and the long term effects of chemo.
3. Cancer sometimes makes me feel scared and nervous about my future instead of excited and hopeful.  There is nothing magical that happens at the 5 year mark that makes it "for sure" the cancer will not come back.  There is always the struggle between making life plans like it never happened or making life plans differently because it did happen.

But there are things I do feel like celebrating because of my cancer journey:

1. I'm alive!  I could have had a much worse diagnosis than Stage 1 and could have been given a much worse prognosis.  
2. Cancer made me realize not to sweat the small stuff in life and not to worry so much about what others think of me. 
3. Cancer made me feel so loved by so many people.  My family and friends were amazing in how they pitched in and helped. 
3. Spiritually, my cancer journey made my faith in Christ grow by leaps and bounds!  It was an incredible faith experience.  I know the Lord is the ONLY thing I can be sure of in this life.

Through the Lord's help, I try every day to not let the first list become more of a focus than this second list.  Every once in a while, I have to take some time to be down about how this cancer journey has changed my life in hard ways.  But every day, I try to ask the Lord for strength to appreciate how cancer has changed my life in good ways.

So today is a day of celebration and contemplation.  I am happy to be at this point of 5 years out- when I was in the middle of treatment, this day seemed like it would never happen.  But WE made it- I couldn't have done it without my wonderful family and friends and my wonderful doctor and nurses, and of course my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So in the end, I am ending up where I should have probably started in the first place- with a spirit of thankfulness.   Thankful for making it through the difficult things, and thankful for the good that came out of it.

ANOTHER THANK YOU!

On 2-16-16, a donation came into our FSP in the amount of $485!  That brings our FSP up to almost $1500.  

Thank you to the wonderful person who so generously gave this amount.  

We hopefully will be making travel plans for early summer.  We are praying Ryan's country matches us once they receive the letter from my doctor in the next 2 weeks.

ALMOST DONE WAITING!!!!

On February 25th, we can have my oncologist sign and date a letter stating I am 5 years out from my cancer diagnosis.

Back in September 2015, the government agency in Ryan's country put our application on hold because I was not yet 5 years out from my diagnosis.

At the time, waiting a little over 4 months felt like an eternity.  However, through God's grace and infinite wisdom, the waiting period actually flew by.  God blessed us with a very long foster baby placement- 13 weeks.  Having Baby Zeb here made our days so busy and fun, before I knew it, we were at the end of January.  And since Zeb left at the end of January, I have been playing catch up around the house since I didn't get many chores done with a baby in the house.

So now just two more weeks and then we can get things moving again.  We still don't know if they will approve our application, but at least we are getting ever closer to knowing...

Another way God blessed us over this waiting period was being able to get 2 updates on Ryan: one from the family that traveled in January and now just this week, the facilitator for our adoption agency sent some photos of Ryan at a Mardi Gras party at the orphanage.  He is dressed like a pirate- soooo cute!

We are excited because another RR family will be traveling soon to the same orphanage so that might mean another update!

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END...

Our foster baby Zeb, who was with us since 10-27-15, just left with his new family.  We are very happy for him and the new family, but we are sad to say good bye to our little friend.  

It was an incredible experience to care for him so long and watch him and grow and change right before our very eyes.  It was an honor and privilege to be his first family and to help prepare him for his forever family.

As someone wise once said, "Don't cry because it is over, be happy because it happened."  I will try to remember that in the next few days as I miss holding and playing with adorable Zebbie.

This is what foster care means- you open your heart and home in a way that sticks with you forever even if the child only stays with you temporarily.  

It does make me think about those who are caring for Ryan at the orphanage.  Even though they are probably thrilled to know he has a family trying to get to him, I am sure it will be hard to say good bye when the time comes.  I am grateful for the care and love they have given that little boy over his first 5 years of life.

IN COUNTRY FAMILY VISITS WITH RYAN!!!!

Saturday we were blessed with an update about Ryan along with photos!

Another Reece's Rainbow family is in country for the adoption of their little girl who is in the same orphanage as Ryan.  This family was able to spend time with Ryan on Saturday.  They sent us some beautiful photos and also told us what a delightful little boy Ryan is.  

We are so happy and thrilled to get an update on our little guy.  He is so cute and has an adorable smile.  We so wish we could share the photos with you...hopefully soon.

BELATED CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM JONAH

Did you know Jonah arranges bus tours to the Holy Land almost everyday? Look close- baby Jesus is in the middle of the crowd! This was just too cute not to post, but I think it also displays a great message for all of us:  

Remember to keep Jesus at the center of your Christmas and also each and every day!

BELATED MERRY CHRISTMAS and 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 

from the LAVEYS!

😊

MORE ANGELS ON EARTH- THANK YOU!

Our FSP account through Reece's Rainbow is now up to almost $1000!

This is in addition to the $6200 that was raised before we entered into the picture  (Note: For the story of the $6200, see our 10-13-15 post- another miracle!)

What a testament to the Lord's care and provision!  We feel so blessed!

We just wanted to thank the 4 individuals who contributed towards our FSP account.  Two of the four donations in the account were $400-$500 each!

You are angels on earth by helping precious Ryan get to his forever family.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!