New Years! + Back to "Normal"?!?

NEW YEARS
New years service in my home church, sitting among my church family, singing Great is Thy Faithfulness, tears running down my face and glad to be home!

Great is Thy faithfulness, oh God my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;

As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

I can't tell you (or maybe I have through this blog) how true this Hymm is for me and my family this year. He has been Faithful!

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Normal!?!
Being home is great! Let me be clear about that. We are thankful to be home, close to family and friends and feel amazingly blessed to live in the home we do with our happy, healthy children. The Lord has been good to us!

But are we back to "normal"? - No. Just like every step in the adventure, being home and transitioning has not been as easy as I thought it would be. When you are a optimist like me - and you are facing truly tough stuff - you are often surprised with how hard/difficult things can be when it is time to face them. I am getting used to taking a deep breath and pressing forward even if things don't meet my expectations. That is the definition of my "new Normal." I am learning to take what I get and be thankful. A friend reminded me tonight that the good days do out-number the difficult ones and that as the good continue to become more frequent the number of difficult have to decrease.

Mark is doing well. The transplant Dr.'s say he is right where he should be and doing fine. It is going to be a slow road back to good health. We have a schedule of care set up here with our oncologist and physical therapy. We're taking it one day at a time and looking for the positive whenever we can. I love him, and he loves me. We love our children and they are happy. We love our God and He loves us. For today, that is enough for me.

Posts may be farther and fewer between as things are changing so slowly now. Progress is measured in weeks rather than days. I am headed back to work tomorrow and will be much more busy - if that is even possible...

Please continue to pray. For strength and endurance. For patience and joy. Thank you.

Embrace the person the Lord has created you to be today and find joy.