We’re here…

Hi everyone,

  I know that Clay and I haven’t written in forever. Bless you if you are still actually logging on every now and then! I don’t have any excuse, except that our lives are pretty crazy right now. I am still commuting to Montgomery for work (although I will be finished with my clinical fellowship time in six weeks- yay!), and Clay has been really busy with end of the school year stuff with his job. He is also leading the missions team back to Yakama this year (and I am co-leading), so we have been doing a good bit of planning for that. We can’t wait to go back and spend some time on the reservation. We’ve come to love that place and the people a lot.

  We don’t really talk about cancer much anymore, which is a blessing, because I feel like that was ALL we talked about last summer. We have said a lot of, “I’m so glad this summer isn’t going to be like last summer” and “Wow, I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since you were diagnosed”. Yesterday I asked Clay if he would do it again. He said that he wouldn’t go through the experience again voluntarily, but now that he sees on the other side how this experience changed him, he is really glad that he went through it. I don’t know that I can say that I am GLAD that he/we went through it, but I do clearly see God’s purposes. That said, praise the Lord that it is over.

  Clay does have a return doctor’s appointment this Thursday, May 14th. We hope and expect that he will receive good news (I am not going with him this time, because of work), but we still covet your prayers. It would be wonderful if the mass has gotten even smaller, and of course please pray that there has not been any growth elsewhere in his body. Right now he goes every three months, but we are hoping that eventually the doctor will change him to six month checkups, and then he will go to once a year. It would be sweet to hear the word “remission”. I don’t know how long you have to be cancer-free before they tell you that. 

As always, we love you all. We’ll let you know that results when we find out. 

  Lauren and Clay