A Spring of Joy

My Brian is a rock star.

Have I mentioned that?

The past few days of life for us has been a blur…me trying to care for my husband, watching him fight discouragement as he waited for news on his finger, caring for children, work for both of us, dealing with chemo side effects, helping my Bear study and study and study some more for the five tests/quizzes he has this week, and emotional news from close friends that rocked our world on Monday. We were barely treading water.

Yesterday was Brian’s birthday.

And his gift was news of no surgery!

On Monday, Bri texted a friend who is a PA at the orthopedic center of our hospital and asked who he should see. Unfortunately, the hand specialist was out of town for a couple weeks, but Ryan took a look at Bri’s x-ray and told him it didn’t look displaced too badly and Bri set up an appointment with one of the ortho docs. Yesterday he had his appointment and I got this text from Bri:

“They’re going to numb my finger and twist it into place.”

My response? “I just passed out.”

“I’m in the exam room ‘relaxing’” he wrote. I had to laugh.

A little bit later, his finger was back in place and the x-ray showed it aligned perfectly! No surgery. Another x-ray next week. A splint for a few weeks and he should be good to go. He did say he’d be hearing the crack of his finger in his nightmares. *shudder*

Oh, y’all. Thank you for praying. We are relieved and thankful for this news.

I cried a lot on Monday. I had nothing for Bri’s birthday… no gift, no card, no cake. Nothing. I was going to spend Bri’s birthday night at the softball field with Bella and he was going to our church home group potluck. We wouldn’t even be together.

Y’all, I LOVE birthdays. I love making a big deal about the people I love and thanking God for their lives, and I hated how life was working out this week. Bri just smiled, kissed my cheek and said, “I have you. I don’t need anything else.”

Have I mentioned my husband is a rock star?

And so are our friends.

Last night, our church home group, rearranged the schedule for the night and got cake and balloons and changed the time so Bella and I could come after softball, and we all celebrated Brian together. We sat around and laughed and shared and just enjoyed a relaxing evening with friends. And I came home and cried, because the love, y’all… the love is real.

We are still treading water. Bri is still going to have his hand immobile for a while. I start chemo again tomorrow and the descent into side effects begins. I still ask every day how we are going to get through the day. But we always do. God gives us the grace and so many gifts along the way. It’s a constant dependence on His strength.

And the gift of your love for us is huge. So this is my thank you… for all of you who love us and pray for us and care for us.

We are thankful.

We are humbled.

We are blessed.