Paving the Way

Pheewf...It has been a busy week!:) Last time I wrote, Derek had come down with a horrible cold and was going in to have his medi-port placed in his chest for chemotherapy purposes. Miraculously, after having his port procedure, his congestion and flu-like symptoms were completely gone! Thank you for those who continue to pray for him and for whatever may have been done medically to assist in that blessing (?)... he has felt well and healthy ever since! The area where the port was placed has been a bit uncomfortable for Derek, as would be expected, but the procedure was considered successful and he says it feels better each day. He came home after and finished some touch up paint in our house and also cleaned and waxed the wood floors. Not because I thought it was a good idea... it just needed to be done so the house could go up for sale and I was busy helping in other ways:) We continue to have friends stop in to help, which we appreciate so much!!

 Wednesday our house was officially listed. I will admit to feeling a bit sad when it popped up on realtor.com, but it is a relief to finally have it ready to be sold. Hopefully it will sell in a timely manner and for buckets full of money (ha, ha... you've got to love trying to sell a home when it isn't possible to recover your full investment!). Thursday morning we farmed out all the kids to stay with friends and we left for Utah. We arrived in time to meet with our future employer and sign a contract, get set up with IT stuff, talk about health insurance, etc. Everyone was very nice and welcoming... it was exciting to have the job become more of a reality:) We were happy to find that the oncologists at the Huntsman Cancer Center extension in the neighboring city of American Fork were covered by the new insurance company and that his benefits will start on Day 1 of his employment... more miracles, in our opinion!

 We met with school counselors at the Junior High and High School and felt good about enrolling our kids there. It is a horrible time, in many ways, to try to transition them, but we can see many benefits to it and it looks like the logistics of transferring schools will work out fairly smoothly. I think the kids will be surprised at how much they like their new schools... even if their new school color is purple!:)  We spent two days looking at houses that didn't seem to be a good fit for our family. It is hard to leave a house that has been so ideal, but we did find one that we like. We'll just have to work out the details of the timing and financing and pray that everything falls into place perfectly... is that too much to ask?:) We'll be back in Colorado soon and are excited to see our kids. 

Derek will receive his first chemotherapy treatment on Thursday. We're hopeful that all will go well with that and that Derek will still have the energy required to move forward with all that is coming. It has been wonderful to visit with our Utah family and we have felt so loved and cared for by friends and family everywhere. Thanks for praying us through this! We feel so certain that Heavenly Father has it all figured out, can see what we cannot, and will help all the pieces to fit together as they should. We know we're not the only people trying to get through hard things and we pray for each of you and whatever struggles you are also facing.