Wait, I don’t remember what I was saying. All I know is, a long time and 40,000 texts and emails saying “why don’t you blog anymore” later, here I am again. And a whole lot of life has happened in the intermission, my friends. I’m not even going to say I’m sorry ‘cause it’s really lame and y’all are tired of hearing it, so let’s just jump right into a quick recap, shall we?
Most of you probably know about my dad’s health issues of the last year or so…chronic, worsening neck and shoulder pain that eventually led to losing the use of his arms, all while trying to diagnose the root problem. An MRI finally showed a tumor at the base of his neck, which was quickly removed, tested, and proved malignant. The mass had eaten away at two of the vertebrae in his neck which explained the pain and strength loss (funny, I know. I mean, a broken neck, what’s the big deal? I kid.) In the middle of figuring out treatment options and recovering from surgery, we were and are so thankful for God’s timing and grace… the doctor who performed surgery said that had he waited 3 weeks longer, quadriplegia would have set in. God’s grace has been all over us through the past several months of radiation treatments (finished now!) and recovery…he’s regained the use of his arms and is steadily gaining back his overall strength. I don’t even know how to start saying thank you to all of you amazing people who let God bless us through your prayers, gifts, visits, encouraging words, and everything else….God bless each of you for your love and generosity! We are so thankful for each of you and feel privileged to call you friends. We continue to trust God for complete healing and thank him for his mercy thus far!
Around and through and between all of that….life happens! We’ve divided our time between home and travel this year…prison ministry in Alabama and South Carolina, random quick stops in Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, and Kentucky, homeschool conference in Texas, concerts and a friend’s wedding in Arkansas. Lord willing, we hit the road next month headed for the big beautiful state of Wyoming…I can’t wait to experience it for the first time! At home, in between work and church and local gigs and marrying off our cousin (whom I miss like crazy…love you Hannah!!!), we’ve been blessed with friends coming to visit from all over…Arkansas, Wisconsin, Texas, Tennessee, Florida, even Hawaii. So many fun memories…thanks to all of you for stopping by!
And now, the place where I ought to wrap up with a promise to blog faithfully from now on. Only, I’m kinda scared to do so ‘cause I might not do it and then it would be a lie and have you read the Ninth Commandment? So how about this instead: “I promise to attempt to try to succeed in getting blog posts published oftener than twice a year, considering the fact that I am the person who started this blog in the first place and that it’s really lame to tell people who ask, yeah, we have a blog…knowing that when they visit it they’ll be transported back in time to the hazy history of our family instead of reading current events like they do on normal other people’s blogs.” I try, people, I really try. Bless my heart! So that we don’t end on this pathetic note, I give you random photos from a recent just-before-a-concert sibling shoot…
