hope is knowing that the best is yet to come

I think this is most definitely the longest I have ever gone without an update. I have honestly just been in a pretty dark place, and if I am going to be real on this blog...I have to pull from feelings that I sometimes want to ignore. It has been a hard couple of months. A really hard few weeks. And an almost impossible few days. We were blessed to be honored at the Clays for Cara event earlier this month. It was a hard night, hard to be there in remembrance of Cara but also to see ourselves in the same category as other families who are suffering. I know that we are suffering and I know that we have had a hard few years....but the picture always looks different when you are in it. That night, I saw our family from the outside. And, I am going to be honest...it was sad. However, it was a great gift to be surrounded by family and friends who have rallied like its nobodies business for 3.5 years.
It came in perfect timing (as all things do of course). We have battled for 3.5 years and it has been a really hard fight. We have seen dozens and dozens of doctors, specialists, surgeons, and homeopathic doctors. We have gotten first, second, third and fourth opinions. We have stopped our lives for treatments and to talk to insurance on the phone and to wait in line at Walgreens.
But, most importantly we have PRAYED. We brought the sword out from day one. We have looked to God's word and we have sought his comfort and we have FELT his peace. We have declared healing, we have asked forgiveness, we have rebuked, we have surrendered, we have pleaded we have walked in circles and we have stood still. We believe that after all of that....we are right where we are supposed to be.
The world and ourselves HAVE RUN OUT OF ANSWERS. But, HE has not.
We prayerfully and cautiously decided to have hospice take over. This officially began on Tuesday. Let me tell you what happens when you say the word hospice in public. PEOPLE CRY. Yup. When you say "we have began hospice" you might as well kill a puppy right in front of a kindergarten class.
I mean, its sad. Just the word is SAD.
Hospice is sad of course, but really it is so beautiful. Hospice does NOT mean giving up. It does not mean we threw in the towel. It does not mean that Justin can't do anything or go anywhere. It does not mean that he is about to die.
What it DOES mean is that we are no longer going to seek aggressive treatments. It does mean that he will now be cared for in our home and he no longer has to trek across the city when he is miserable to just be told basically to just keep hanging in there. He doesn't have to argue with insurance or explain himself to pharmacists (God love you Kelly Newcom for being a pharmacist...that may be just the hardest job with the most irritated customers in all the world. You are one of a kind!) He won't have to take medicines that may actually be harming him JUST IN CASE they could prevent a flare up. Hospice is hope. And hope is knowing that the best is yet to come.
The facts are in our favor....a better quality of life is reachable, God is FOR us and will never forsake us...but it still hurts deeply. Please pray for us. Please pray for our kids. Pray that all 5 of us will feel the spirit of the WARRIOR that resides within us.
For those of you up on current events, let me tell you about "dying with dignity"...this is it. God is in charge. Now THAT is dignity.