I started this day last year at 2:00am by calling 911 when I realized that Brian was having a stroke. Every day since has been a struggle. Fighting for hope, pushing away fear, finding the patience to re-learn and the strength to keep showing up. This milestone feels big. We are grateful. The recovery Brian … Continue reading Forward
Family
Wednesday
Today marks 6 months since we went to our annual Christmas party, came back to my dad's house to sleep and ended up in the ER with the trial of our lives. I was just reading some of my old posts about how I was sure that we were headed for greener pastures. How for … Continue reading Wednesday
Tenderness
When we were in pre-marital counseling (with our dear ones at betweentwotrees.org) it surfaced that I was not very sweet to Brian when he was sick. Apparently I acted sort of annoyed and put out rather than kind and concerned. So lovely of me. We were working through an exercise about "unwritten rules" in your … Continue reading Tenderness
9th Floor Christmas
It's the 24th of December and it's also day 24 of us being in the hospital. For those of you who don't know, my 42-year-old husband had a massive stroke the night of Dec 1st while we were on a weekend trip to CA. And almost a month later, we are still here. I spent Christmas … Continue reading 9th Floor Christmas
Start There
My kids got into an argument and I'm still not really sure what about. Maybe he was the one being mean, maybe it was her, who knows. Regardless, they weren't treating each other well and it led to some yelling and crying and making a small problem into a big problem. Brian, who was fed … Continue reading Start There
Your Turn
I made a couple of meals for other families this week. One with a new baby and one that just had surgery. Although super awesome and helpful, this is not groundbreaking. People (especially in the church) do this often- bring meals to bless people who are in a challenging season. And I have done it countless … Continue reading Your Turn
Home
We are traveling back to Southern California soon for a visit and I keep catching myself saying, "when we're home we can..." But last week we put Arizona plates on our cars and we are daily running into people we "know" at the store. Today I am chasing down three packages that got accidentally sent to the … Continue reading Home
Stan Spiderman Day
Our hamster died last night. And while we didn't necessarily want a hamster (we got him in a white elephant gift exchange at a Christmas party) he was a sweet little part of our family. He came with all the fixins- a cage, food, bedding and a name. Stan. In honor of our beloved leader … Continue reading Stan Spiderman Day
Courage Street
Just over two years ago, we moved to the house on Courage Street. It seemed fitting- like a banner proclaiming the courage we had mustered in the hard years leading up to that move. Little did I know the courage it would take to move in here, welcome our third baby a month later, help … Continue reading Courage Street
Take Care
There's nothing like a few hard years to take some glimmer out of your eyes. I'm at the "catch myself in a mirror and not recognize me" stage and I'm ready to recover a bit of what I left behind. I have been waiting for some emotional energy to put toward it and I am … Continue reading Take Care
