Sending a Latte Love

Good morning!

As I sit at my desk with a hot cup of coffee (and finally in a summer outfit - we went from about 50 degrees to 90 in one week here in PA), I took a moment to read my post from March. Sometimes I'm thankful that (while inconsistent) The Mustard Seed has forced me to keep a log about life for the past three years. [Disclaimer: Started typing an update this AM, and just finished around 4pm --- welcome to the world of higher education and unpredictable interruptions! Now on my afternoon cup of coffee...]

I've been doing lots of writing lately, thanks to a summer filled with graduate work, so this will be shorter than the last update. Don't let the brevity fool you, we have oodles to be thankful for over these past months, and so I'm happy to share!

Quick health update --- I visited NYC in March and had a great report --- I was given SIX months until my next set of scans. In our world, that's record-setting. We are so thankful. I'll continue to have lab work done every two months --- my May report was great, so it's checked off the list until July. We are so thankful, incredibly humbled, and continuously blessed.

Drew and I are proud to share that we have officially survived a year...a year with Drew serving in the role as Banquet Captain. Let me just say...it has not been easy...and as hard as the schedule has been for me, it has been ten times more difficult for Drew. I am SO proud of his hard work with Hershey Entertainment & Resorts and we are confident in the Lord's plan for Drew's career. He has made some great relationships, had the opportunity to be a light to so many co-workers and those that he manages, and we just know that this time in his career has been so strategically situated by our Heavenly Father. THIS is what keeps us going when he's working 70-hour weeks, leaving the house at 3:30am, and I'm working a "normal" work-day and then tied-up with events at school well into the evening. We've had to get creative with time spent together, but thankfully I have a very gracious boss who is happy to grant me a "Saturday" in the middle of the week during the summer if Drew is home. THANKFULLY summer is upon us. Life at the Hershey Lodge slows down significantly, the students have left LBC's campus, and vacation is in sight. We have some great trips planned this summer with both of our families, including some quality time in Lancaster with our southern family. We're pretty excited and so thankful for the reprieve of these next few months.

That being said, as school ended for our students at LBC, I just kicked back into gear. On top of my "regular job" this summer I am completing a 120-hour internship in another department on our campus and taking an institutional assessment and effectiveness course. The higher education buff inside of me loves it --- the other part of me is swooning over the day in 2017 that Lord-willing I will finish this advanced degree.

Just last week we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary --- so crazy! I told Drew that I think we're inching out of that newlywed stage and now we're just officially "married people." Haha! It hit me when a co-worker of mine (who is getting married in July) came into my office and realized it was our wedding anniversary. She said, "How do you feel on this day?" "Why are you here?" "Two years ago this was the day you got married!!" My response? I feel...married! It's something we live-out each day and it's fun to remember the day we became husband and wife, but it's something to celebrate every day! Then I told her that we would celebrate by going out to dinner and pick out a Netflix movie we've been wanting to watch --- as you can tell, we're really tough to please! Actually, our gift to ourselves was some fresh mulch, a new laminate floor in our basement --- even splurged on pre-finished molding --- and my parents surprised us with a new sliding glass door. THESE are the things we get excited about in this chapter :)

To round out this update, I do have some sad news to share. This might sound strange, but I think it's impacted our family more than we could have anticipated. Not that this is anything easy, but I think it was my impression that we would be more prepared when this time eventually came. At the end of March we received some difficult news; my dear grandmother was diagnosed with an acute form of aggressive Leukemia --- four weeks later she went home to be with her Lord. I'll never forget the moment. We were packing our bags to head to my parents for my latest NYC appointment. I had just gotten off the phone with my Mom about an hour before, as I called regularly for updates. She told me that we were "turning a corner" and that she wouldn't be traveling to NYC with us that next day. As I loaded the car, Drew pulled in the driveway from work. My phone rang and the tears started rolling down my face. In just that short amount of time she had slipped away. I'm thankful for the visits we did have in those last weeks and comforted that she openly shared that she was ready to go home and be with her Lord. What a gift to know that with open arms she was in the presence of our Heavenly Father --- "Well done my good and faithful servant."

As we drove to my parents that night I remember exactly where we were on Route 30 when this song came on the radio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx1_7gfCy38. Such a joyous reminder of why we live this life and why we are called to live-out His will for us. It's humbling, in all circumstances.

I once was lost, but now I'm found,

So far away but I'm home now. I once was lost but now I'm found.

And now my life song sings.

I once was blind but now I see,

And now my life song sings,

Hallelujah, Hallelujah --- let my life song sing to You.

Wishing you all a wonderful summer --- I'm craving some "sand between the toes" time, and so I'll check-in after we've made plenty of that happen over these next weeks!

Love Sarah (& Drew too!)

I'm Still Here!

I've decided to not even do the math on how many days...weeks...months even, since I last posted in the Mustard Seed. Rather I'm going to send up praises that life has been THAT busy and THAT good that I haven't made the time to sit down and write. Our students are on spring break this week, so it's a good time to take a moment and write. Each of you who reads these updates are an integral part of our family's support network as you continue to pray and with us thank the Lord for his continued provision and blessing over our lives through the challenging times and good times.

So to give an update, we're going to go with bullet points. And I'm sure I'm missing something, because it's been that long, but I'll do my best to catch up...

• I believe the last time I posted, we were amidst a two week visit in Lancaster, Pa. with the Gilchrist family (Drew's sister, her husband, and their three precious kiddos). Following their PA tour, we all headed to Fripp Island, SC for a week at the beach and Drew/Carly's cousin Leah and her husband Travis and their (almost 2 year old!) son Ridgely joined. It was glorious and filled with lots of laughs - we've already booked our house for this year and I'm awaiting that "sand between the toes" feeling.

• Drew's "new" job (it will be a year this July) has provided a lot of growth opportunities for him - we are so blessed. He has truly expanded his skill sets and leadership within the industry and we're excited about future opportunities with Hershey. His schedule is challenging, for both of us, but so far our plan seems to be working well --- his long (and odd) hours have made time for me to go back to graduate school and work on finishing my Master's degree. Lord-willing I will finish May 2017, and already have 3 classes under my belt after beginning October 2015. It's been very enjoyable, but challenging to balance life, full-time work, and being a student again --- but I feel so blessed to have the opportunity!

• To celebrate our 1-year anniversary we made a special weekend out of our friend's wedding in Washington D.C. over Labor Day weekend. Two nights at the Ritz-Carlton and a weekend wardrobe from Rent the Runway gave us a glimpse of how the other half lives! It was a great weekend of celebration and truly fun to get away and splurge on one another. We did some great sight-seeing and wrapped up the weekend at Mount Vernon, President George Washington's estate - so beautiful! It was also during this weekend that we said goodbye to our forever furry family member, Abby. At 18-years old it was time for her to rest peacefully, and so mom and dad made the difficult decision and told Amanda and I at the end of that weekend. It has been a tough adjustment, especially for mom and dad, but she lived a great life and brought us so much joy!

• My job at Lancaster Bible College is truly more than I could have ever hoped for. We just closed out our men's and women's basketball seasons; our men saw an undefeated regular season and made it to the first round of the NCAA Div. III tournament - a first in school history. It has created great momentum for our Athletic Department and so to say we're excited about the future here would be an understatement. We're very blessed.

• December 24, 2015 was one-year in our home, and we've loved every minute of it. It was a fun way to commemorate a year as the Gilchrists visited for a week in December and we hosted Drew's family Christmas at our house. On a daily basis, Drew and I feel like it's too much "house" for us --- with 15 adults, 4 kiddos, and lots of presents we looked at each other throughout the day and thought --- I guess we need a bigger house. Haha! Not happening, but it was so joyful to have our home filled with such love and laughter this holiday season.
• December came with a dose of extra thankfulness as we had a bit of a scare at the beginning of that month. To sum it up in a very dry way...which I can now do, but at the time could barely mumble the words...the first week in December I had a breast biopsy. This was something we had known about since October, and my oncologist was sure that it was a benign, dense area in my breast or perhaps a "piece" of what I already have --- it seemed to be in the history of my scans, but because a radiologist had noted it in my fall appointment, my doctor said "We can't be too cautious, I just want to check it out." Fast forward to a week later when I walked into my office to answer my phone and was told, "Sarah, you have a completely different type of cancer in your breast. We're scheduling you to meet with a breast surgeon next week and they will review treatment options with you." My reaction? "What? Lord, really? Have we not faced enough? How can this be happening? Lord, you are so faithful to us and have blessed us so much, I know this in your perfect plan. But did this have to be the plan? Will I have to have a mastectomy? Will I have to have chemo? How can this be happening." Over the next 48-hours I made plans - to withdraw from my grad school classes (AGAIN), made arrangements at work should I need to be out for a while, told our entire staff - the whole campus was praying. I could be found in my office crying with co-workers, praying with co-workers, crying with my boss. It was so emotional for everyone...and I know all of you were in the loop via text message too. Fast forward to 48-hours after the proverbial bomb was dropped on our lives...and the breast doctor calls me back. I'll never forget the call, I was getting ready to take our Student Government officers to an end-of-year lunch and the doctor said, "We were wrong. It was a misdiagnosis. I am so sorry for what we put you through, Sarah. I am so, so, sorry." Insert more crying, running into my boss's office exclaiming, "They were wrong!" and then calling my husband and parents to tell them the news. Long story short --- it's what my primary specialist thought all along --- part of what I have, and it's been there for a bit. He said, "See you in March, as we planned." My scans and labs remain to be very stable, and this past January 25 marked three years since my diagnosis - praises!! So...did they, Memorial Sloan Kettering, make a mistake? Not sure, we'll never know the whole story (trust me, we had lengthy conversations following the "oops" phone call)...but we know that on Wednesday, I had breast cancer, and hundreds of people started praying...and on Friday, I did not have breast cancer. Prayers answered.

• In other news - I turned 26 last month - Drew and the family treated me to a day of retail therapy and dinner! Drew turns 27 next month. As a gift to ourselves we flew to GA for our nephew's third birthday over Valentine's Day weekend - it was a quick trip, but so good to be with family and love on those sweet kiddos. We're excited to get out in our yard this spring and have some home improvement projects planned for the spring. Drew is helping with men's volleyball again at LBC (as much as his schedule allows), and has joined a gym and racquetball league in Hershey - he loves it! I just finished up my third grad class and have a "break" until June, but we're coming up on several fundraising events and "end of year" at school, so it will no doubt be a busy and exciting time. My little sister (who is not so little anymore) moved to Lancaster after the holidays, and we're only 15 minutes from each other - so proud of her and how hard she works. She's in the thick of her OT Master's program and working for an out-patient therapy center in the area.

• Prayer requests? I go back to the doctor at the end of March -- March 31 to be exact. I feel great, and honestly if my lung hadn't collapsed three years ago I think we'd still be in the dark about what is going on inside my body. But God's timing is perfect, and we know he revealed this "adventure" to us for good reason and to be used for His glory. You should have seen the jaws drop when I shared with our staff the scare in December -- many of them had no idea, and I'm thankful to live life in that way. That being said, I always reach a certain level of anxiety when these appointments swing around.

• Also, if you could be praying for my parents and my grandmother (mom's mom), she is facing serious health concerns that started with pneumonia around Christmas. It seems we've turned a corner and God's perfect plan for her life is unfolding a little faster than we could have predicted --- but we know it's just that, His perfect plan and that all things will happen in His timing. Please pray for her heart (Grandma's) and that she can find peace in knowing that there is a place without suffering, sickness, and fatigue with our Heavenly Father whenever he may decide to call her home.

All in all, Drew and I are great and feel so blessed to be on this journey of life together and to know and love all of you. Some we see more than others, but no matter the distance, you're always in our hearts! Many of you sent photo cards for Christmas this year, and they completely cover one side of our refrigerator --- we've left them up so that we can think of you often and pray for you too! Thank you for your continued love, care, and prayer. We could not do this life without you.

Hugs,

Sarah