Storms Bring Rainbows

Autumn Beauty

Autumn is such a beautiful time of year here in north-west lower Michigan, but it’s also a busy season. I’ve managed to squeeze in a few hikes here and there and get some photos. I’ve shared a few above. Sometimes I feel like photos can say more than words in some circumstances. Some of these photos are older than others, and there is less green the further we get into October. We are almost at peak fall color, and I hope to get more photos in the next week or two. We’ve enjoyed some beautiful early mornings, a fall full moon right around my birthday in September, and blooms from our native aster flowers.

Mushrooms!

The fall season has brought out a lot of Mushrooms! I am still learning to identify them, so we haven’t eaten any, as we don’t want to eat the wrong thing. They are beautiful to look at though!

Ben’s Update:

The idiopathic peripheral neuropathy Ben has had for about 11 years now continues to progress. He has now began to have an increasing amount of phantom itching in his hands that cannot be eased, and severe nerve pain in his hands as well. With the neuropathy being idiopathic, there really isn’t much the doctors can do, as they don’t know the cause, or how to treat it.

Ben takes a few medications to help reduce the pain, and is largely homebound now. At his last University of Michigan doctor’s appointment, the doctor let us know he has both large and small fiber idiopathic neuropathy, which explains some of the loss of balance he has had recently. The doctor recommend he walk with a cane now to reduce his chances of falling when he’s walking very far, so if you see him out and about, he may have a cane for balance.

We are preparing ourselves for the reality of what the two types of neuropathy mean, but also trying to enjoy whatever time we have with Ben being able to use his hands for as long as possible. We are also finding ways to adjust to make it possible for Ben to still do some things, such as using the cane, or having grippers for opening things.

Cindy’s Update:

I am doing well overall. I’ve come a long way since the auto accident, and although I still have some weakness on one side, most people would never know by looking at me. I’ve been busy with school starting and all of the beginning of the year craziness and excitement that comes with it.

I’ve always been a writer since I could first form letters into words, but since the accident, I’ve worked to make that even more of a priority. Traumatic events change you. Not always for the better, but sometimes. Sometimes they remind you of what truly matters the most, and what must become a priority.

Slowly, I’ve built up stronger writing habits and worked hard to make progress in a book series I’ve been writing for a few years now. I started doing a Podcast earlier this year too, about my writing, and really tried to increase how much I’m posting on the writing blog at www.myamuseinglife.com. Some days, I still have lasting effects to my wrists from the accident, and writing is hard and painful, but I’ve tried to push forward and make it a habit anyways. Speech to text is a great feature on those days as well! I may not be a published author yet, but I often go back to the quote “One day I will write a book,” and remind myself that I’m writing books every day, they just aren’t done yet and if I keep going, one day they will be. A series is a long process.

I’m also working on a book about the accident. Ben is going to help write it. I don’t know when it will be published, as we are really only a small portion of the way completed with writing it, but we plan to publish it whether the traditional way or self-publishing. Before the accident, I’d started chasing my writing dreams a little more. Since the accident, I’ve not only started chasing them more, I’ve prioritized writing in a way it wasn’t before. It’s become just what I do every day, after time with Jesus and breakfast.

Maybe I’ll never be published in the traditional way, but I’m doing something so many people rarely seem to do. I’m going after a dream that for too long got put on the sidelines, a dream written down deep in my heart from the time I was very young. It’s not easy. Some days it’s very painful and so awfully hard, but I know in the end it will be worth.

Create

Ben and I have been able to be a part of an M3 group at our church this semester, called Create. We are working on various art projects all semester long. I included a photo of a couple of paintings we did. The horizons almost line up, but we did not plan it that way. Neither of us have a lot of art experience, but it has been fun to just take time to Create! It’s also been great being able to get out and actually do something as a couple, as Ben is largely homebound these days.

We don’t know what tomorrow holds. We don’t know how much Ben will be able to hold a paintbrush, or do outings like this. But the truth is, no one ever does. None of us are every promised tomorrow. We’re not promised the use of our limbs, happiness, or an easy life. We are promised that we don’t have to go through things alone, that there is a better place for us that we can choose to go after this life.

We will treasure these moments, but in the end, these moments are truly just a blink in time. Anything that we go through now is just a small moment compared to what is coming. I clung to that thought when I was in the hospital, and we hold on to that hope now with so much uncertainty around us. No matter what happens next, no matter what turn the road takes, we can rest, knowing that the God of the Universe, the very One who created us, is still in control and has a plan and purpose even in the tough seasons we face.

These paintings show the story of the Great Flood, spoken of in the book of Gensis, Chapters 6-9 in the Bible. If you aren’t familiar with the story, I encourage you to look it up and read it for yourself.

Until next time,

Cindy