Our news

Hello family and friends,

For those of you who have not heard our news, we just received news that Brittany was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  This came as quite a surprise to us and turned our world upside down again.  What we have learned so far is that thyroid cancer is actually pretty rare. Treatment success is good if caught early (90% survival past 5 years I think). We do not know yet if it has spread beyond the thyroid. First step will be to remove the thyroid (no date yet) and then I suppose depending on what they find will decided on a course of treatment. Right now Brittany is still planning on sticking with PA school at Wayne but will get treatments in Kzoo.  We have a consult appointment scheduled for 4pm on Monday the 19th.

In the midst of this whirl wind, we made a conscience decision to trust God through this trial in our lives.  It seems that the first question that always comes to mind when bad news is delivered is, "Why is this happening to us?"  Although we can't be positive about exactly why this is happening, we can be positive that God is sovereign over everything, including this cancer. We aren't sure what is going to happen, we aren't sure how deeply this will effect the rest of our lives, and we aren't sure about the timeline concerning the cancer and treatment, but we are sure about placing our lives completely in the hands of God.  When I think about it, it's a balance of Brittany and my favorite Bible verses.  Brittany's favorite verse is Psalm 55:22, "Cast your cares on the Lord, and he will sustain you.  He will never let the righteous fall."  And my favorite is 1 Corinthians 10:31, "So whether you eat or drink or what ever you do, do all to the glory of God."  We trust God and want to glorify Him through this situation. 

Here are some of our prayer requests:
          1.  That the Cancer is just in the thyroid
          2.  For doctors to be wise and skillful in all their decisions and procedures
          3.  For our insurance not to be a hassle
          4.  That we are able to glorify God through this trial



On some lighter notes, here is Brittany with some flowers her husband got her. 

Just in case you were wondering, this is what I look like when I run off to an interview.  Most recently, I interviewed with Big Beaver UMC for a part-time Youth Director position.  The church is about 7 miles from our place, which is pretty close.  And guess what???  I was just offered the position!  We are working out the details of a start date right now, so I will keep you posted on the the happenings!

Here is what Brittany looks like when she is running off to a site visit for school!  Part of her school programming has her going to area hospitals and taking complete histories and physicals of patients!  She always turns into a Nervous Nelly before each one, but comes back loving the experience and her interactions.  However, the honey moon is short, because she has to hand write a million page paper afterward.

This is me being patient.  That is no typo.  (I'm Brittany's practice patient)

I'm learning to cook more and more.  I'm getting the hang of some things, others not as much.  A couple of weeks ago I attempted to make chicken tacos.  Largely, I succeeded.  That however, was also the problem.  That I succeeded soooo largely!  I accidentally made enough for a small army!  We ended up freezing a lot of it ;)  (notice the coffee pot in the background as an indicator of the size of the batch)

Ok, this one is going to sound a little weird at first, but I promise it's awesome!  Recently, I have been obsessed with making my own yogurt!  It's pretty easy, and saves a lot of money.  Which is good, because Brittany and I consider ourselves to be quite the frugglistas!  Each batch makes about half a gallon of plain yogurt.  It's a little soupy, but once you get used to that, it's awesome!  It's perfect for making smoothies or mixing fruit in it. 

Thank you all for your prayers and concerns and for letting us share our lives with you!