God's Faithfulness in the Midst of Hardship...part 3

 

 Having a child with a broken leg is not easy. Especially when the pain is intense, his leg has to be constantly propped up to prevent swelling, and you're trying to move. He was also trying to learn how to use crutches because he was too heavy for me to carry. It was slow going, and for an active child, it was almost torture (for his momma, too). We pressed on. Packing up twelve years of life and saying goodbye to a home that held so many memories was an emotional time for me. Many tears were shed. I really couldn't imagine our kids not playing in that yard with our neighbors or walking through our neighborhood like we'd done hundreds of times over the years. Those roads represented years of memories in themselves. Going to church after we announced that we were leaving was hard, too. We were leaving on a good note, with love in our hearts for our time there and the many friends that we had. I think I cried every time we went in because I knew that while I was excited about what was ahead, I dearly appreciated what we were leaving behind. We had shared life with so many families...through love, marriages, births, and deaths...and being the sentimental person I am, I was a mess. Towards the end of June, my mom also began

Empty old house...

having a sharp pain in her right arm. She had a lump there but it was similar to a lump she'd had in that arm before, so she didn't think much about it. Then when she was home after her vacation, she hit her arm on the refrigerator handle at her house. After that it began to hurt even worse and the lump was getting bigger. The doctor thought it might be a ruptured muscle, so she was referred to an orthopedic doctor and we all didn't think much about it. Her doctors assured her it was probably something that could be resolved soon. Life went on.
  Our moving day was July 1st. Joe worked right up until June 30th, and then started his new job, preaching his first day, on July 3rd. It was a crazy time. With the situation as it was, we were not able to even think about trying to sell our old house at the moment, but my plan after we moved out was to clean it and prepare to sell it on our own. We just didn't have the capacity to figure out how to rent it. Our old church generously gifted us financially after we left, and we saw that as a gift from the Lord to help provide for us as we transitioned and waited for our house to sell.
    After moving, I spent the next couple of weeks trying to unpack all the boxes and get the house set up. Our new church members were wonderful. They helped me unpack so much stuff, hang pictures and curtains, and brought us meal after meal. The tangible ways that they ministered to us were a huge blessing, but the love I felt in this new place, and the love that was shown to our family as a

Double rainbow right beside our house

whole, ministered to me the most. Joe and I also felt that with the location we were in, our children needed to be enrolled in school. We felt strongly about our children continuing with a faith based education, so we looked at some different Christian schools in the area. We were very impressed with the options, but had no idea how we would afford the tuition costs. Our thought was that I would work in a school in some capacity, preferably wherever our kids went. I was actually excited about the idea, as I felt it would give me something to do, help provide, and connect me with the community. After visiting one school, Joe and I felt we had found the place. The school was right down the street from us, which would give Joe the ability to visit the kids some and if they needed us for any reason we would be available. After visiting, I noticed the name of the headmaster was the same last name as a friend of mine who taught at a Christian school I was familiar with in Macon, so I asked her if there was a connection. My friend taught at the school my parents had both taught and substituted at in previous years and I had actually substituted there as well. Through our communication, she mentioned that she thought that our kids could get financial aide at their school (in Macon) since Joe was now a senior pastor. We made an appointment despite the fact that the school was quite a distance away and not one we had considered. After an encouraging meeting with the headmaster, we were able to enroll our two oldest children into the school. Our youngest son's class was already full, so I wasn't sure if it was God's way of saying that I should keep him home with me another year or find another school. I mentioned my dilemma to a friend, and she encouraged me that after all that we had been through over the years and our recent time of stress with the move, it would be good to have even a half day break while my youngest went to preschool. That conversation caused me to call a preschool at a church close to my older kids' school and inquire. They had a slot left and I was able to go and sign him up the Friday before school started. God's hand was guiding and directing us so clearly, but at the time I didn't know how much He was preparing for us. During all of this, my mom's condition seemed to get worse. Her level of pain was very high, and she was enduring a series of tests, biopsies, and other things to try to reveal what was actually happening in her arm. We were hopeful but very concerned.
   

Beautiful cotton fields by our house

After a little over a month in our new home, I had everything unpacked and in a place. I was able to get a few new things to spruce up our old furniture and our house felt like a home. It also felt like a place of peace and a refuge, which is exactly what we needed. The first day of school was August 8th, and I had spent a lot of time getting everything ready. This was our kids' first time to go to school away from home and I was a little nervous. I wanted this to be good for them and our family and prayed the transition would go smoothly. I dropped the kids off that first day with tears in my

On the way to our first day of school

eyes. This was also the day my mom had a doctor's appointment in Atlanta.
    Mom was getting the results of some tests she'd had recently. As I was picking the kids up and taking my son to the doctor, I got word that my mom's result was a fast growing cancer and she would need radiation treatments and surgery to remove it. As my dad was getting out of the car after the appointment, he fell and my brother had to call an ambulance to come get him. We thought he was just having some dizziness initially, but tests revealed that my dad had a stroke. That week and the weeks that followed were a time of stress and anxiety unlike any I'd faced.
   My mom couldn't drive because of her intense pain. She felt miserable, and had just had a painful biopsy that was causing her pain levels to reach new heights. She asked if the kids and I could stay with her at her house that first week of school while my dad was in the hospital. We stayed and I tried to do all I could to help her. I was calling her doctors, calling my dad's doctor, trying to figure out how to help my mom with her pain management and help my dad post-stroke. He and my mom had the same primary care doctor, who is fantastic. He called me personally and offered to help in any way he could. My dad was released from the hospital because he wanted to get home, not realizing he needed therapy to overcome his new disabilities as a result of the stroke. We realized that he could not go up and down the stairs at their home, the home we'd lived in most of our lives. My brother, sister, and I were doing all we could to navigate what was going on and help my parents. It was very overwhelming. My sister was trying to help us with getting my dad into a rehab facility, but it was not easy. In the meantime, my mom was completely overwhelmed with her diagnosis, her pain, and inability to give my dad 24-7 care.
    My daughter was having a really hard time emotionally with the work load and transition to school that week as well. I'm so very thankful for the teachers and staff at their new school who prayed for her and patiently helped her. My son was also still in a cast that first day of school. He had it taken off the first day and was put into a walking boot, which we were happy about but he was very hesitant to put pressure on it. This was a challenge as well. We had to schedule 6 weeks of physical

Words that spoke to my heart during this time (Ann Voskamp)

therapy to give him the confidence and physical strength to walk again. While this time was extremely stressful and overwhelming, I could see how God was preparing us for this. He set it up for our kids to be at that school so that I would be close to my parents...less than 10 minutes away. With my son in preschool, I had mornings free to help my parents, take them to appointments, etc. There was really no way I would've had the time or capacity to homeschool my children. I loved our years homeschooling, so had we not moved to this new location with my husband's job, we probably wouldn't have changed what we were doing, or been close enough to send our children to the school they were at. God kept sending financial provisions our way so that I wouldn't have to work at this time, either, which I would have had to do if our kids went to another school. With my husband's new position as senior pastor, we qualified for financial aide at our older kids' school that we wouldn't have gotten before. Over and over again, we could see all the details God had put together. It all began to be set in motion several months before. This was just August, though. More opportunities to trust God through the hardships were coming.