Laughter and Grace

The last few weeks have went by extremely quick, which in a sense has been a huge blessing because I continue to count down days until I was finished with treatment. I dreaded waking up every morning to take my chemo pills. Although I would never actually "just not take them," there were definitely days where I pretty much had to force myself.

I spent the weekend in Bend, Oregon with my staff on a retreat, and I don't think it could have come at a better time. 

I started off the retreat on a pretty low note because as we were pulling up to our destination, I got a call from my Aunt Jody to tell me that she just found out that she has breast cancer. This has definitely been a big distress to our family because of how much cancer is already affecting us. 

I didn't want this news to ruin my weekend though, and although it was hard to get my mind off of it, I am truly blessed to have a staff that is able to know how to laugh and have a good time.

The weekend was full of Would You Rather statements, intense board and card games, good food, just laying around, trust falls, hiking, so much laughter, and life story time.

That is the part that always gets to me. Life stories.

I hate being in a state of vulnerability, so when it comes to my sharing life story–most of which a lot people don't expect or can relate to– I get nervous and don't want to share. So when it came the time for sharing, I hesitantly agreed.

And once again, I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful staff who all genuinely want to know me.
They listened with open hearts, full of grace.

I am extremely grateful to be journeying with a staff that desires to be in deep relationship with one another.This weekend was full of fellowship and rejuvenation and because of that, my heart is so full.

When I got back to campus, I tore off the weekend's worth of links from my paper chain countdown and was pleasantly surprised at the length of it.

I only have a week left of oral chemo!!

I celebrated this excitement by... going to the doctors? Booo... I came back from retreat and slowly starting feeling sick and ended up with 100.8 temperature and slowly declining from there. I am currently at OHSU, with an IV in my arm pumping me full of fluid, hoping that this little bug goes away quickly. The doctors also did some blood work to see where my counts are at, so we're patiently waiting on that. Thank you all for your prayers and support!