Well, my hair is officially gone. Once it started falling out, it was only 5 days before we had to take clippers to my head. Thankfully, Jonathan is a clipper pro, and by the time we shaved it off on Sunday, I was in full acceptance. Losing your hair is a messy experience and when it starts to go you might as well aggressively release it. I made a couple of mad dashes for scarves and hats – thank goodness both are popular now, so there are lots of good styles to choose from. Now I have to boldly own this new look, and for someone who likes to sort of blend in, that’s a whole new part of my personality to embrace. Maybe it’s the perfect evolution of my goth motorcycle look. 🙂 Unfortunately, the Vanderbilt wig program is no more, so the wig search will take a little more effort and time, but eventually I’ll have that in the arsenal as well.

So, the girls had a successful debut at the school talent show. They performed well for their classmates on Monday and for the evening show last night.  They are still in those beautiful bold and self- confident years that are fun to witness. I just pray they can hold on to that as they enter the middle school years. We had a tremendous support for them by both family and friends – thank you to those who came out to see them!  We had friends FaceTime it so that I could watch from the hospital, friends who brought flowers, and family that drove from far and near to show their love. I love to see the goodness that God keeps displaying!

In the humor department, Jonathan never fails. We are back at VUMC this week for five nights, and so far so good on my treatment.  Jonathan always entertains the staff with his drawings around the room. Why not decorate the pain chart?  It really helps me to better define my pain on a scale of 1-10. Am I feeling more like a ‘0’ – you know, where I feel jolly and could enjoy smoking a pipe, or is today’s pain better described as a ’10’ where one would describe it as an arrow through the head?  The nurses love it – and have even taken pictures. They say they didn’t erase his similar drawings from our previous room for a long time. They were glad to see the artist in person on our return. 🙂 We just have to make the most of a super-crummy experience.

Once again, thank you for your prayers. I feel so peaceful and hopeful and that must be God’s protection. Also, thank you to Jonathan’s parents for holding down the fort this week – no easy task, and for Judith traveling with my niece and nephew from Atlanta to see the girls and visit me in the hospital. We feel completely loved and cared for!

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1