Exciting news!

I've talked a lot lately about surrendering and letting God open doors that will allow me to share our journey, to share Amanda's story -  to share His story.  For me, that means letting go of trying to control and make things happen and more of seeing how God continues to move and use our lives for His glory.

I am thrilled that God is opening doors and excited to share that I will be the guest speaker at Hill Country Bible's Women's Breakfast in April.  While Tom and I have spoken at a church together, this will be the first time to speak on my own and share my perspective of what the last two years have been like.  I am incredibly excited for this opportunity to share our story.

I want to point out - while it says to bring a breakfast dish - please don't let the request for a dish keep you from coming!  Bring a friend, even if you don't bring a dish.  One of my favorite ideas when I don't have time to cook is to bring flavored coffee creamer or orange juice. Some fresh grapes are always a great addition to any breakfast. ;)

 I can't wait to see what God has in store for this event!

As I find myself looking back to where we were two years ago, we had just brought Amanda home from the hospital nine days after walking in to the ER with no clue what was to come.  Some of my favorite memories are from those very early days.  I think the combination of shock and reality made things very vivid for me. 

Some pictures from those early days at home:

Ready to leave the hospital.

One happy girl to be going home!

Our phenomenal Grace Academy family had the yard decorated when we arrived home.  She LOVED the cows!

The Killeen Watsons came by and while Stephen helped Tom rearrange Amanda's room for safety concerns, Amanda got plenty of cousin time in!

A great sight to see while going to sleep....

Our first visit to the radiation oncologist - this was before we had our meeting with our team at Dell for her diagnosis.  Surreal.

The next day, we picked up Ginger.

From CaringBridge, March 14, 2013:
Psalm 94:18-19
When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love,
Lord, supported me.  When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought
me joy.

This morning we met with the Radiology Oncologist. Thank you
for all the prayers. This whole process has felt very backward, but walking
into the Cancer Center was a huge shock to my system. The reality of it hit
home harder than anything else to this point - strange, huh? Even saying my
daughter had brain surgery is still a shock, but walking into the radiology
clinic and realizing this is our new reality took it to a whole new level. We
will begin treatment within the next two weeks here in Georgetown and it can't
start soon enough for me. I am ready to start this battle! We will go five days
a week for 6 weeks and then re-evaluate.

Ladies and gentleman, we a have a fight on our hands, but we
serve a big God.

Amen!