The game of life

I originally started this blog back while in graduate school as an effort to share my story. That's where the farmers gal originated from. Experiences on the farm, trial and error in the lab, or new beef recipes shared with family, friends, and anyone willing to learn something new or have a good chuckle. A lot of things have changed in my life in the past five years. My bound thesis along with my diploma now sits on the shelf collecting dust. The engagement ring that adorned my finger now carries a wedding band every day. And our family of 2.5-yes Roxie is included-has now grown to 3.5 with the birth of our son Nolan this past August. It is hard to fathom that five years have gone by since my last post.

They say that pictures are worth a thousand words, but what about capturing your thoughts, doubts, fears, hopes, and dreams through writing. I could kick myself for not keeping up with the past-time of blogging. Looking back, I missed out on sharing the joys, laughter, and memories of the last half decade...a half decade?!?! (I still can't believe it). But as we know life doesn’t slow down, life shows no pity or remorse, and offers no redos. In the words of Tracy Lawrence, time marches on.

At this time of my life I am not even sure writing will help portray the thousands of thoughts fleeting through my brain, but I am going to try my best. It's been a little over a month since we learned Chasen was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Remember those 15 consecutive days of cloud cover in March?? Ya that's when we found out, talk about a sign from above. Those were definitely some dark days, but we know the sun will shine again. Since that time we have started Chasen's treatment plan but we continue to search for answers and hope for healing.

Cancer was a card we were certainly not prepared for at this time of our lives, the joker in the deck. But knowing that God holds the cards, we pray. We ask for strength, we ask for courage, we ask for patience, and we ask for humility. We give thanks for the days we are able to spend with each other and for the love and support from family, friends, and strangers. We ask for forgiveness. We ask for Gods mercy.

I have prayed for many things in my life - to pass an exam, get a new job offer, even to avoid a speeding ticket. Looking back some of my prayer requests were quite petty, and I know I am going to have to go all in on this one.

Tomorrow our friends, family, and community will rally to support Chasen and our fight against cancer. We pray that God will be with everyone as they travel and that we can lift up Chasen, sewing seeds of hope. We are far from folding, but realize it will be a rough road ahead. The way I see it, it will be just another chapter of our story.