It was a busy spring - all I remember from March is work and men's volleyball at Lancaster Bible College (Drew helps coach) and in April I think Drew and I had at least one or two "big" work events each week. It was crazy, and in the midst of that everything defrosted outside and our new yard (which we had only seen in the snow) came to life - lots of grooming to be done and weekend projects to help us make it our own. All to say - the end of my first academic year at LBC was very smooth (and I'm cherishing the quietness of summer to cross some things off my to-do list at the office), Drew helped lead the event team at Hershey through a busy spring (and the marriage of his boss who then went to Ireland for two weeks amidst lots of events), and we were SO thankful for the impending arrival of SUMMER!
May was great - and stressful - and filled with some worry - it was a roller coaster. The highlight for sure was traveling down to SC in the first week to spend a long weekend with the Gilchrists. We got to meet our sweet and squirmy niece, Sadie Ann, for the first time, and did our best to keep up with her on-the-go brother and sister. We loved every second of our visit and it was the perfect spring getaway. We love the Gilchrists, that's all there is to it!
After our SC visit, Drew went on to a work conference in Atlanta for a few days and I returned to PA. To keep it simple, it was a tough few weeks. I had a few very intense migraine headaches with complete tingling/numbing on my left side. These would happen periodically (maybe once every 6 months) before I was ever diagnosed, so this wasn't something completely new. However, 4 or 5 of these in 3 weeks suddenly became concerning. Let's be honest, I was thinking the worst. We.were.terrified. However, my symptoms weren't consistent. So, I e-mailed my oncologist, he ordered a series of MRIs and so the last three weeks in May were...STRESSFUL. To be completely vulnerable with you, I let the devil get into my head, I had a complete meltdown, I was so scared. And then, it was like a switch flipped. I could feel the Lord just take my hand and say, "Sarah, we have been in the unknown together before. This we know. And I have NEVER failed you, I have ALWAYS protected you. I KNOW this is challenging you, but you need to RE-LEARN to lean on me."
So, that's what we did.
Labs, scans and MRIs came back fine. The "usual" tests were stable and the MRIs showed, nothing. They were clean. Praise Jesus. I'm now very aware of what can trigger a migraine and happy to report I haven't had one since. And the tingling/numbing...a pinched nerve of sorts. I also learned that getting incredibly stressed can have a very negative impact on our physical well being. Oi vey. What a fiasco! Bottom line, I let worry get the best of me.
I'll go back for labs in August and provided everything is good I don't have the full work-up again until October. Praising Jesus for that too.
I...we...learned a lot in May, and were reminded of His goodness, grace, provision, and protection over my life and our lives.
SO, amidst all of this - we had a pretty special day. May 25 we celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful day together - we worked in our yard and then went out for a delicious dinner to the place where we had our rehearsal dinner. We did eat our thawed cake - it was good for being a year old, that's my only feedback there - haha! We watched our wedding video and relished in the memories of our beautiful day. I'll wish now until eternity that I could be back there for just 5 minutes. It was the best. But, living life as Drew's wife is pretty incredible, so I'll take that every minute of every day for a lifetime!
So, now to a summary of our summer thus far, it's been pretty sweet...
We spent 4 days in Tennessee with my parents, my sister, and our best friends Brooke & Bobby Rhoads (the couple that introduced Drew and I) - it was wonderful - we played in the water for 4 days straight. What a blast.
The Gilchrists are finishing up a two week visit at our house right now. Time we wouldn't trade for anything. We have had a blast with our three favorite kiddos and their mom. Even better, we're headed to Fripp Island with them on Saturday (where their dad will meet up with us!) and Drew/Carly's cousin and her family for a full fledged family vaca. We're pretty excited!
And one more bit of big news - Drew accepted a new position (and promotion!) with Hershey. SO PROUD of him. He's in his first week of the new gig, so there will be more to update after we get back from vacation and he has a few weeks on the books. We're very excited and feel incredibly blessed for this wonderful opportunity.
I think I'll leave it at that! Many of you probably saw this picture floating around on Facebook, but for those that didn't, here's a highlight with our nieces and nephew from the July 4 picnic we hosted at our home.
Drew and I hope everyone is finding some time for R&R this summer - look forward to checking in again soon!
Hugs,
Sarah
