Today marks a very special day in our lives - we have hit the one year mark in treatment. Such a mix of emotions that we are feeling - disbelief that we have been doing this for a year, so blessed that Evelyn has stayed overall healthy, strength in our faith and pure joy that we've hit the halfway mark. When we were told of Evelyn's diagnosis and treatment length we remember thinking how long those 2 years were going to be but somewhere near the beginning the hospital stays, countless finger pokes, port accesses and chemo treatments all became our new normal, our life settled into routine and here we are a year later.
We have definitely had (and still have) our moments, our days, our weeks when it was so overwhelming, when nothing made sense, when we felt the weight of the disease but knowing our strength comes from God and our comfort lies at the feet of our Saviour. God has a reason for every trial, often to bring us closer to Him, strengthening our faith. We may not know or ever find out the reasons for these trials but ultimately we know it is for the good of His Will and our eternal good.
As we look back on our yesterdays we will forever remember the many blessings and lessons we've learned along the way. No matter the situation we made the best of it and had as much fun as we could with whatever cards we were dealt (even if that meant pilfering roles of tape from the nurses to keep the two year old busy :). God allowed our difficult circumstances to take away our false hope in what we thought we needed to be happy. Our priorities suddenly shifted and we realized the things that were so 'important' quickly took a backseat. "It's the little things.." is a common phrase and one we now live by - this disease has the ability to take away what is so precious to us so we savour the little things - the challenges overcome, the small victories, the simple and every day mundane. This is not the childhood we envisioned for our girls but in this we've come to realize God had bigger and better plans for our girls. To let go of our expectations of what we thought was a 'better' plan and give Him the control. It was in that moment that we were able to be at peace - whatever the outcome, He will always be there and He was taking care of Evelyn.
As we look back we couldn't be more proud of our girls and how they have handled the roles they were given in this journey. Charlotte is an easygoing girl with a carefree spirit - this was such a blessing because she easily went with family or friends while we took care of Evelyn. The burden of worrying if she would be okay was lifted because she was always so eager to play with whoever was there. She is and has stayed naïve about the weight that cancer bears. The girls have developed a strong bond that we contribute to this journey - always there for each other, holding hands and reassuring each other to be brave. Evelyn has shown a strength we never knew a two-year old could have - often crying and yelling with each poke or prod but hardly ever putting up a fight with whatever needed to be done. Since the day she was born she was nicknamed Evie-bear and often referred to as our little lion - we think she has lived up to the characteristics - she's a fighter :). We've grown stronger as a family, as husband and wife, as children of God.
When Evelyn was first diagnosed we thought, just get through these next two years, don't get close to anyone and we will never speak of cancer again. Boy, were we wrong - cancer and it's side effects will forever loom over our heads as Evelyn grows up but more then that, it's a community filled with other children, moms, dads, nurses, doctors, organizations - helping you, supporting you, loving you and trying to make it as easy on you as possible. Last year we made the leap to step out of our comfort zone and attend our first support meeting - what a huge blessing it has turned out to be. Little did we know how much we needed the type of support of those moms and dads that have been there, done that. Once the dust settled we realized it's not what other people could do for us but how, through our experience we can help those going through the same things - even if it was just a listening ear or sharing a snipit of our faith.
We want to say a huge thank you to all our family, friends, church members and fellow cancer parents for all your support given. Thank you to all those who took the time to help out in any way or just send a quick message - nothing went unnoticed. And most of all thank you for continuing to help us along this journey - we couldn't have made it through without you all.
12 months down, 13 more months to go!! :)
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
