Day 59

     We love to see Katie smile and laugh! Katie is doing a little better every day.  She is wanting to do more every day.   She is getting stronger every day.  That is why I wake up every day, dreading January 12th, more and more. Katie goes back on Thursday (the 12th) to start her next "phase" of treatments. She will get sick again and loose her ability to walk - again. That breaks my heart! She has been so proud of herself these past two weeks and has loved regaining some of her independence. So, this next phase is going to be hard on multiple levels. 
     Although I wake up each morning dreading what is coming, I am still trying to enjoy how good she is feeling and doing now.  I have also tried to remind myself the most important thing is that Katie is responding to the treatments.  It will be a long and difficult two years, but as long as she continues to respond, then at the end of all this, she will be alive.
     James E. Talmage wrote, "The Parable of the Owl Express".  In it, he tells of being stranded at a train station during a bad storm. The train arrived late, long after midnight, because it had been delayed by the storm.  Brother Talmage was concerned about all the worrisome possibilities - even probabilities - of troubles on the ride ahead.  So, he asked the Engineer of the train if he was concerned.  "In effect the engineer responded: Look at the engine head-light.  Doesn't that light up the track for a hundred yards or more?  Well, all I try to do is to cover that hundred yards of lighted track.  That I can see, and for that distance I know the road-bed is open and safe...The light of the engine is always ahead of me!"
     Brother Talmage compared that to our lives.  "We may not know what lies ahead of us in the future years, nor even in the days or hours immediately beyond.  But for a few yards, or possibly only a few feet, the track is clear, our duty is plain, our course is illuminated.  For that short distance, for the next step, lighted by the inspiration of God, go on!"  So, go on we will, thankful for the light (of Christ) ahead...
     Today we were glad to spend a "feel good day" together (in between Katie's tummy aches and diarrhea).  Scott and I are still tired/exhausted and stressed, so the "feel good" feeling kind of ebbs and flows that way too.  However, we are trying to focus on the positive and tomorrow is another day.