my continuous lesson...

on new year's eve, justin and i went to a party. at the end of the night, we were each given a small piece of a plant that the hostesses had found root bound in a pot. they divided it up and put each piece into a glass vase with water. it was to be a new beginning for the new year.

it stayed at my mom's house when we moved. i actually forgot about it. it didn't seem that it had grown at all, and even though my mom said that it was fine in water till it grew roots, i was the skeptic.

tuesday, justin drove down to my mom's to get our few remaining things there and brought back the plant, and it had actually sprouted roots AND a few more leaves. all that in just a bit of old water. we potted it into some soil and it looks rather nice.

justin had a dr's appointment to go to on friday. he didn't make it, it was so bad on sunday (pain progressed to the other side of his back and other leg) that he called in on monday and they got him right in. he called me at work and told me that i needed to come pick him up when the nurse called because they decided to do an epidural right then and there.

i picked him up and took him home, not fully understanding what had happened. or what was meant to happen. when i finally got home from work, he explained that the hope was that the epidural would help the pain enough for him to begin exercises and physical therapy. however, the injection might take days to work, and might not work at all. neither of us got our hopes up. we were, however, ecstatic that this doctor was taking his situation seriously.

the next day was no different from any other day. still pain, no relief. on wednesday, however, he called me and told me that he didn't want to get his hopes up, but he thought it might be working. we both had busy days and when it was time to go to bed that night, we layed in bed for hours and just talked. this was the justin i had dated, fallen in love with, married. i teared up several times when i thought about how much i had missed him and how great it was to have him back, if only for that night.

he's feeling better day by day. its not a fix, but it is pain management. he's able to take much less medicine now, and is going to see the doctor friday and hopes to talk about physical therapy.

if the God of creation can allow a plant whose nutrients are from the soil to grow in plain water, how much more can He allow me (and justin!) to survive this trial. its not over, but we've at least been given a break.

thanks so much to all of you for your prayers and support. please continue to pray and praise the Lord for what He has done, and all that He plans to do. i am so thankful that He cares so much that he continually shows me His boundless love.