Two Wins, A Goal, and a Whole New Perspective

What another beautiful spring day today. As some of you have mentioned to me, it is a great blessing to do cancer treatment in the spring and summer instead of the other times of the year. If it were fall it would mess with football season, and it would be too depressing in the winter. There are blessings to count EVERY day.
And of course one of Saturday's blessings is basketball! I was able to watch Hunter play 2 exciting games today, and his team was able to win both of them. So for the season his AAU team is 4-0 in AAU games this season. Hunter had a great second game and is leading his team in field goal percentage and near the top in free throw percentage and rebounding. He also plays great defense, but that doesn't always show up on stats.
With Hunter's basketball I wasn't able to take Kate to soccer today. Fortunately Greg's step dad, Ron, was able to take her for me, and would you believe it, I missed her first goal of the season. Go Kate! She did describe how she dribbled and dribbled and then shot really hard, so that was almost like being there.
The afternoon was just a blur of activity at our house. Rachel had friends over producing a video for school, Parker had friends over, Hunter had friends over--it was quite festive. I am glad that it's business as usual around here on the weekends. When my family is living life like they normally do that makes me feel more normal, and I feel the same whether friends are over or not so it's nice to have a houseful.
Greg and I left the bustle to attend a church meeting in the evening. The messages of that meeting made me count my blessings once again. My life has completely changed by having cancer, and other than the tiredness and upset stomach, the changes in my life have been for the better. I am so much more connected to friends and neighbors. I have walking partners, hat party throwers, cleaners, and check-inners. I'm more appreciative of the people I come in contact with each day and feel more love and compassion toward them. I have no ill feelings toward anyone. My children are more concerned and affectionate. Maybe the biggest change is this--I notice the pain and the challenges going on in the world around me now and I care and I want to help. Before my diagnosis I didn't notice much of anything except for people who were doing better than we were. I'm ashamed to admit that but it's true. My hope is that this change will not shrink as the cancer does, but that it is a true and permanent change, that my heart is forever full of compassion, and that I will truly seek opportunities for service every day for the rest of my life.
Thank you all so much for caring about me and praying for me.