Today is our two-year bone marrow transplant anniversary. Or, as we used to call it, the 2-year anniversary of "New Life Day." Since we went out for dinner yesterday on Mother's Day, we celebrated with a simple meal here at home...and homework...and an ongoing science fair project...and a Paul Revere project...you know, the usual fare. But all day yesterday I kept thinking, "Life is not usually this usual," and in fact, for so many moms this week, it's anything but. Yesterday during our house church we remembered my friend Kori in prayer, whose son Eddie is still recovering from his bone marrow transplant, though it was only days after Orilus'. And a colleague, who lost her daughter this year in a car accident. And another transplant family, whose precious little girl lost her fight before the holidays. On Saturday we spent the day with friends who are home now after a scary heart surgery for their infant son. We talked about a "theology of remembering," about living off paper plates and donated frozen food, about an inability to carry conversation, and medicines, and forgetting our children's birthdays while standing in a stupor at a pharmacy, about sleeplessness. I could relate to all these things, because I now belong to what I fondly refer to as the "club of the suffering." And I assured these parents that someday, they, too, would be thankful to belong. "The rain falls on the just and unjust," the Scriptures remark, and so we are not surprised by suffering...rather, it is the healing and the miracles that are surprises to us, and great gifts that interupt the usual patterns of heartache, grief, and loss. I am thankful for these gifts, and for a faith that teaches me that my God is (as we read in house church on Sunday), the God Who Sees. I took great comfort yesterday in knowing that He could see my suffering mom-friends. And I found great joy in the pleasure He must enjoy when He sees our family--healed, and still healing, and going about the mundane. So on our anniversary today, I pray, and I thank God for SEEING us.
I'm also thankful today that God is a God Who Protects. Friday there was a shooting outside of our high school and Jason was nearby when it occurred. I can't write many details here as there is an ongoing investigation, but Jason in his courage and his readiness to respond came very, very close to an armed gangster, and all I can say about this encounter is that I am so very, very grateful that God saw fit to protect him. Every morning we pray together as a family on the way to the school bus stop to drop off Orilus and Jackson, and on Friday, I realized after we had each prayed that we hadn't prayed for protection (usually I ask the Lord to bring us all home together at the end of each day, and I always mean it so seriously, because I know how quickly life can change, and how tenuous our existence and health can be). So I prayed again and asked. Sometimes God answers these requests, and sometimes He does not, and I am just glad that on Friday, He had mercy and grace on our family, and kept Jason (and all at the scene) from harm. What is most disturbing about Friday's incident is that it comes after a month or so of great unrest here in our city. All weekend I remembered this verse from the Scriptures: "Pray for the peace of the city. For if it prospers, you too shall prosper." I hope you will join me in praying for the peace of Lynn. We need shalom (healing, wholeness, restoration) here.
And finally, while I am giving thanks...I am thankful that late last week, I received (finally) word from UMass Boston that I am finalist for the doctoral program to which I applied there. On Wednesday of this week, at 3:15, I will be interviewing for a place in the EdD Leadership in Urban Education cohort. If God is a God Who Hears (and I know He is), then this is what I ask--for peace, and not panic, as I anticipate the interview.
On New Life Day, we are celebrating New Life in a variety of ways...for Orilus' health, for Jason's protection, and for the anticipation of new venues of service in Lynn. Happy New Life Day to us!
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