Days of Grace

With the news that we received regarding Amanda's latest scans, we faced once again a time of waiting and trusting that God's timing and God's plans for Amanda's future would be perfect in her life (I must admit that this news and this time of waiting was not what I would have chosen!).

And so, as we faced these "days of grace" that Larry spoke of, we realized that they were given to us as a gift that came over the very same days as our children's spring break from school. So, how to spend this gift.....

IOWA!

The girls and I packed and were in the car just one day after receiving the news. We walked to the driveway with Haley (unfortunately her spring break was just ending and so she had to head back to SBU), there we said our goodbyes to her as well as to Larry and Caleb. (Larry is teaching a night course at a local college and so Caleb stayed to have some 'guy time' with dad and his good friend, Robert.)

Iowa. What a blast. One of our favorite places to go, we were surrounded with loving family, friends and new adventures. I had the privilege of spending 4 wonderful days with 3 of my children laughing, hiking, laughing, exploring the solar system (it's a Mt. Vernon thing!), ice cream, laughing, visiting with family, finding the Little Brown Church in the vale, and a few other things that would be best left off the Internet. :-)

What a gift. What a time for us to have to share together. Days of Grace. Oh yeah. Days of love, laughter, memories, and fun. Absolutely.

Days of praying, hoping, trusting, carrying cell phones everywhere...yeah, while my precious daughter battles cancer this is my reality also.

But days of grace....just look at the smiles on the faces of Amanda, her cousin, Tara, and sister, Abby...oh yeah, now that's grace.