Starting January 12th this year has been a steady stream of painful, difficult, heartbreaking events. That Tuesday with the news of the earthquake we started a week of sleepless nights filled with worry and prayer. Our friend Katie was serving in Haiti as a missionary. We (my roommates & I) have been friends with Katie since our freshman year of college. We were all on the same wing together and have since all lived with each other at some point. She is one of our best friends. We have spent the time since Sept (when she went to Haiti) missing her and keeping in contact, thanks to this wonderful world of technology. However, that day we had no idea where Katie was or how much she was affected by the quake...let alone if she was still alive.
Along with earthquake issues, January 12th was also the day that I found out my cousins (the two that I am closest to, and spend a lot of time with...she sold me my house & they live only minutes away) were separating and filing for divorce. She informed me she was moving out that week. I don't know how that sits with you, but it was very hard for me to take. Along with that I wasn't supposed to talk to anyone about it, so I was trying to hold it in and deal with those feelings along with being scared for Katie.
We found out Wednesday that Katie was in fact alive but that she had been trapped under a collapsed building for over 3 hours and was in very serious condition. After several surgeries and a month in the hospital Katie is now home (in Arlington, WA) and doing well. She still has a lot of recovering to do but is making progress. We are going to visit her next weekend...very excited for that!
The weekend of January 15th brought some relief as I flew to Spokane to visit Kieth, Jackie & Holly! My family also came over and we had a great weekend! Holly is amazing...so much fun! She is 21 months and talks so much! Always wondering "Where daddy go?" "Where Fred go?" And her favorite phrase this weekend... "No Way!" :) It was so cute! We kept answering her "Yes Way Dude!" and by the end of the weekend she was saying No Way Dude! :) So much fun! It was Jackie's birthday that Sunday so we had fun celebrating that and also went to Kieth's basketball game Saturday night....lots of good times! The only bad thing is that I always come back exhausted.
Helping Kurt with his homework :) She pulled his textbook out, looked at me and said "Kurt book heavy!"
Uncle Fred loves Holly! And she is quite taken with him too! :)
The week I got back, we had an unexpected death at work. My boss, for the last 2 1/2 years that I've worked at Anderson & Wood passed away after an accident in his home. Spent Monday in shock and Wednesday at the funeral. Talk about adding emotions on top of emotions!
Although all of these things have been hard and horrible, the worst was yet to come. Kieth & Jackie are expecting in June and had their 5 month ultrasound the first week of February. Monday the 8th, at the ultrasound they were told there were some complications and they needed to go see a specialist in Spokane.
Tuesday the 9th, they saw a prenatal specialist and were told that the baby has a cystic hygroma and hydrops. (Large fluid filled pockets-cysts) around the neck and fluid around the heart and abdomen. The baby is not expected to live much longer, in fact the specialist was very surprised it had survived this long. As you can imagine that news is hard to hear! And then they had to make decisions on whether they wanted to induce labor and deliver the baby now or wait for nature to take its course.
After much prayer they have decided they will continue the pregnancy, and allow God to direct the path for this child. As Jackie says, if they hadn't seen the pictures they would have no indication that there was a problem. The baby is active and kicking and she feels great.
This baby is touching their lives everyday it lives. And we are all praying for a miracle!
It has become one of those times in life that I will probably look back and see how God was working and the plan intertwined between it all...but at this point its simply hard. It has definitely helped increase my prayer life and solidify my trust and faith that He is in control. But it does make me wonder...how much more does He think we can handle?!
