And Yet…(Post #2)

Life flies by. It seems like we were just celebrating Christmas and the New Year, and now we are past Saint Patrick’s Day, Easter, and all of the other spring holidays and not all that far off from Memorial Day. I keep meaning to do another blog post, and things have been so busy, I haven’t gotten around to it. Hopefully as summer gets closer, I’ll be able to blog a little more.

A few highlights since the last post in February:

• We got to see the Northern Lights! It was brief, and I wasn’t able to get any great photos, but Ben and I enjoyed an evening together.

• We’ve enjoyed many outdoor adventures and time in our own backyard!

• We’ve enjoyed a lot of spring blossoms and birds!

• Farmer’s Markets have started back up, and we got part of our garden started! The rhubarb is from a local farmer’s market, and the strawberries were store bought, since Michigan strawberries aren’t quite ready yet.

Health Updates:

Wesley:

I will start with the dogs because our 12 year old Catahoula has not been doing well lately. He tore a ligament earlier this month. The surgery to fix it is very expensive and because of his age and health, he likely would not survive that surgery. For now, we are monitoring him closely. The vet gave us pain meds to keep him comfortable, and we are waiting to see how his leg heals up. He’s been struggling a lot. But he’s lived a long life for a dog his size, and we are so thankful for the time we’ve had with him, and any time we have left with him is a blessing.

Cindy:

I am doing pretty well overall. I’ve had some discomfort and pain with storms coming in, and have to be careful not to overdo it with lifting anything heavy or my body lets me know its had enough. Mornings are often the hardest for me. Overall, I can do most things I could before the accident. My wrist has never regained full function, but most people would never know this by the way I’ve accommodated for it in other ways. One side of my body is weaker than the other, but I’ve slowly regained strength and hope that eventually there really won’t be much of a difference.

I have good days and bad days. Most of the time the good days probably out number the bad, but I tend to go through spurts where I have more bad days than good and the pain makes it hard to move around a lot. Sometimes I have to remind myself my body just isn’t the same as it was before, and even when I think I can do everything I did before the accident, I may have to adjust at least a little.

Ben:

We mentioned this briefly in the February Post too, but Ben entered a partial hospitalization program after the Holidays. Winters are often tougher for him, and as his health gets worse, they are even more difficult.

Ben worked with a support group and a team of doctors to help him learn strategies to deal with everything, but he will continue to need supports as his condition worsens. We are working on getting him into a pain specialist to help deal with the level of pain he faces on a daily basis, and working with other doctors to help balance the medications he is taking with strategies to help him better cope.

There is no cure for what he has, at least not without knowing the cause. His symptoms first started in 2013, and he started seeing a doctor 2 years later. 9 years later, we are no closer to a cure, or to even knowing what is wrong. Numerous tests, doctors, and treatments have not led us any closer to knowing what is causing the problems or how to treat them.

The reality isn’t easy. Ben has slowly lost feeling in his feet, and has now started losing his balance when he walks. It has spread to his hands and he’s losing the feeling in them as well, and along with that, the ability to do some basic fine motor tasks that we all too often take for granted. Some days, it’s easy to feel discouraged. We’ve been through so much!

And yet.

1 Corinthians 13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

“And yet.” I feel like those two words stand out a lot. Even on the darkest of days, those two words are always there. “And yet.” And yet, we may one day find answers. And yet, on the other side of all of this is an eternity far greater than anything we could ever imagine here. And yet, we have each other. And yet, our faith is stronger than ever. And yet, these three things remain: Faith, hope and love.

Our faith carries us through these hard times. Even on the darkest of days, even in the roughest of moments, we have hope that one day we will have answers, that one day, it will get better. We have each other to lean on, and the love of family, friends, and the God of the universe.

“And yet” is a powerful phrase. Two simple little words that change everything. We can face all of the things we’ve faced, and will face knowing that this isn’t the end. At the end of the day, there is still the “And yet…” I wrote another post a few years ago about the phrase “and yet,” but it’s such a powerful phrase!

It would be so easy to fall into despair, and we do have tough days, sometimes even weeks. And yet, faith and hope always seem to find us again, guiding us along the way and reminding us just how much we are loved by the Creator.

Life can be tough sometimes. And yet….

Until next time,

Cindy