Grace, Love, and Warm Cookies

Every once in a while, God throws us something special. It feels less like a divine moment and more like getting a full size candy bar while trick-or-treating or catching a free t-shirt that's been shot from a cannon at a college football game. He reveals to us exactly how and who he uses to answer our prayers. The prayer and the answer is between Him and me, but the message is universal. Our hope and our faith are justified in an instant when secret Santa stands up at the Christmas party and says, "It was me, I hope you like it...it had 'you' written all over it!"

It does confirm my faith in the Almighty, but that may not be God's only purpose. What God says to me here is that he loves me and he wants me to be happy. God is in no way proving himself to me. Instead, he is sending me a care package from heaven and the cookies are still warm. Like a father longing to embrace his son from far away, He just wanted to show me how much he cares for me.

So far this process has been uneventful and verging on boring...at least for me. "Boring," my nurse said, "is a good thing around here." I am tolerating the chemo well, although I am only two doses in and expecting my third this evening. It is amazing to me how such a little bag that takes only an hour to run can turn people upside down, physically and psychologically. So far, nothing has been as bad as I have anticipated. Whether that continues remains to be seen.

One of the positive turns in this process is that I may be released from inpatient to outpatient status much sooner than originally thought. That means I would live across the street in hospital outpatient housing and come in for daily treatments. Things need to continue to go as well as they have so far, but it is a possibility none the less.

"The Donor" is en route via road trip in a hippie hybrid car (just kidding Lach, I love that car) and should be in town Monday. According to the hospital staff, I'm being born again...again. They refer to transplant day as my new birthday. July 12 is easy for me, just another bag dripping from my IV pole but my sister has a rough go. She'll be under anesthesia, but recovery can be a little uncomfortable.

I can't sign off without thanking everyone for your prayers and support. Through all of you, God has revealed to me new measures of His love. I only hope each of you can experience the same Grace, Love, and warm cookies that God has shown me.