Our Visit to Texas

We had a wonderful time last night at a Cancer Ministry Support group meeting in Allen, Texas. We began the evening by having dinner with the founders of the group. Tom has been living with kidney cancer (in various manifestations) for eight years, and he and his wife are a wonderful example of trusting God's goodness in the midst of difficult circumstances. Then we went to the church where the meeting took place.

There were three women there who were long-time cancer survivors (one had ovarian cancer, another had lung cancer, and another had rectal cancer followed by breast cancer). They were there both to give and receive support. There was a man there who had lost his wife to glioblastoma (the same kind of cancer Hannah had); he has since remarried, but still attends the group to both give and receive support. There was a lady there for the first time...her husband has been battling melanoma, and it has recently spread throughout his body. There was another lady there who will be having scans today...she has battled cancer in the past, and they have found some suspicious spots on her lungs. It was amazing to see how the group surrounded these two women with love and support. Cancer patients and their caregivers can learn so much just from talking to each other! A nurse and a marriage & family counselor were also there to help offer support and practical assistance. This support group basically provided the members with a safe place to discuss their experiences, emotions, struggles, fears, and victories.

The group leaders graciously stayed and visited with us for a long time afterward, answering our questions, telling us how their group got started, etc. We spent some time in prayer, giving the possibility of starting a similar ministry in our church to the Lord. Please join us in praying that God will guide and direct as we pursue this possibility.

We've also had the opportunity to visit Brad's sister, her husband and baby daughter, Faith. Faith was born on December 23rd, right about the time that Hannah was really getting sick, and, although we saw her in January and again in February when they came for Hannah's celebration service, we really weren't able to focus on her. It was nice to be able to visit with them and finally get to know sweet Faith a little bit! Here are some pictures from our visit:

Bethany & Faith

Bethany, Faith, & Brad's sister, Sarah

Tonight, we are hoping to go to a Texas Rangers baseball game, and then tomorrow we'll be leaving Texas and heading to Brad's mom and dad's house in Van Buren. We will be speaking at a church there on Sunday, and we are looking forward to once again sharing God's goodness through Hannah's story. Again, thanks for your prayers!