This past Saturday the boys and I ran the Race for the Cure for my Aunt Jan and my friend, Laura, who has been battling metastatic (probably spelled that wrong again) breast cancer for over 4 and a half years now. She has been fighting hard. She is amazing. She is strong, smart, courageous, full of faith, and full of the love of Christ. She is also a woman who believes in the power of prayer.
Here is where I take my little "aside"...on Thursday, I was feeling so discouraged regarding our adoption paperwork and not having Landon's foster brother's file yet. So, I sent out an email to a few friends/family who I knew would pray. Thursday night we had our pre-race party. When I saw that Laura and her family had arrived, I went out to say "Hi". The first thing she says to me? HUGE hug, and, "Hey, Nikki! I got your email...I am so sorry that you are discouraged!" No judgment (thanks for teaching me how to spell that Laura). Just love and compassion. Seriously? This girl has been fighting in every way for over four YEARS, and I am discouraged after 6 months...and, still, there was compassion. I felt like it came straight from the Lord. I felt like He was saying, "Nikki, I know you are discouraged. You know you need to trust Me, but I love you anyway...I have this under control, and I am sorry you are discouraged. Focus on Me. Not the circumstances."
So, thank you, Laura...for ,once again, being an inspiration. For reminding me to pray through the discouragement. Keep fighting. We are all praying for your complete healing.
Laura (in the middle), Marie (our team captain in the pink), and me
Luke and Drew ready to run (the crowd really stressed Luke out...all he wanted to do was run :-)
Emily...somewhat enjoying the velcro wall?
Laura's celebration tag...oh, and I didn't get a picture of her daughter Gracey's tag (she is 7)...it was precious...it said, "My mom is the best evin with canser."
Nikki, we are so excited for you guys. For whatever reason, you guys are having to wait what seems to me an unreasonable amount of time, but our Lord is so faithful. His ways do not always make sense to us, but we know His ways are best. So thankful you are keeping your eyes on Him!
ReplyDeleteBTW, Landon is absolutely gorgeous!
I found your blog through the New Day blog... when I saw that pic of Landon I thought "surely his family could not resist posting a comment on that precious pic" and then I saw your comment and connected to your blog and saw his beautiful picture in your sidebar.
ReplyDeleteWe actually looked at Landon's file and decided he was not a good fit for our family (we live in China and have some really significant limitations with respect to medical resources available to us) but his story captured my heart..... a few months ago I was thrilled to see a star beside his name and know he was matched.
Just wanted you to know that he was prayed for by us, maybe before you even saw his picture! Trusting God will do amazing things in your family and through his life!
We're still waiting on our i800a approval - and our receipt date was just a week after yours :( not matched yet, but anxious to see who God has for us. Praying Landon is home SOON!!!