The Kindness of Others

Look up. That's right, there at that countdown clock. Do you see the number "5" in the month column? Yay! We have less than 6 months left in this thing. CAN. NOT. WAIT.  :)

This journey has been long. There have been times I have felt alone. Left out. Sad. Down. Depressed.

Times when I thought  no one understood what I was going through. Angry that everyone didn't have to go through my struggles, and angry that they got to go on with their lives while mine was at a terrible standstill.

During these times something usually bopped me over the head (God, I presume) and reminded me to count my blessings. Okay, I should use present tense here. WHEN these times come, because they still do.

When I stop to count my blessings I'm always awed by the kindness of people. We have been richly blessed by our friends, family, and church family, and I want to make sure they all know it! Big thanks to each and every one of you who has prayed for us, offered us words of encouragement, sent gifts to us or our girls, or done a world of other good.

Recently a wonderful lady we go to church with brought us a gift (pic below). It came out of the blue, and reminded me of the kindness of others. Once again, it made me want to do more to help people who are hurting.

What about you? I encourage you to do something nice for someone today :)

As an aside, we've signed up once again for St. Jude's Give thanks. Walk. If you would like to help sponsor our walk you can click the link at the top of the page!

Walking In Walmart

The first time I came home after Emma was diagnosed in May 2010 was at the beginning of that August.  We spent the entire summer in Memphis.  While we were away, our local Walmart was remodeled.  Imagine my confusion the first time I went grocery shopping!

I remeber walking through Walmart wondering if anyone recognized me.  Did they know about Emma's story (it had gotten a lot of recognition because of how she was diagnosed)?  Did they know that my child had cancer?

But no, nobody paid a bit of mind to me or my shopping cart full of groceries.  Much, much later, I read a similar thought on another cancer mom's website.  Later than that, I read the same thought on someone else's site.  This lady had lost her mother, and she stated she'd walked through Walmart wondering how everyone could be so happy.  Didn't they know her mother had just passed away?!

That got me to thinking about that first trip to Walmart when I arrived home.  No wonder no one paid attention to me.  They were all wondering why I wasn't paying attention to them!

That lesson did me a world of good.  We all have troubles, and whatever yours is feels huge to you.  Be a little kinder to those you meet this week. You never know what they're going through!