Warm Hearts

The weatherman says we should expect temps to reach 50 below zero this evening.  As long as I have lived here, this number still fills me with dread.  Ugh.  I am so over winter and all that comes with it.  I am ready for summer and sunshine, heat to warm my cold bones and permeate my soul.  We are heading that direction.  Yesterday as I was closing the shades at work at 3:55, I noticed that it was light and a flicker of hope took hold.  December 22 is the solstice and it is a much celebrated day in our household.  That is the day we turn the corner and start gaining seconds and then minutes to our day.  By June we will have 20+ hours of sun....ooh I long for those days.  For now I just have to content myself knowing that we are slowly creeping towards that.

Tonight on my way home from work, I will stop at the store to pick up the few groceries that we need and then we plan to hunker down for the weekend and relax, and get some much needed rest.  There is a plan in place for a late night snack for Seth so that his number will sustain him through the night so he can sleep in.  He has asked for this and our weary bodies agree...we need this.  We are going off the hospitals schedule {GASP} and doing what our family needs this weekend, recovering.  I am counting the hours until I get off work, I am on lunch now...3 more hours to go.

Yesterday when I returned to work, I had a package from someone who is becoming a dear friend to me.  It has been interesting to see who has pulled closer in this challenge.  Anyway, my friend {J} had sent me a care package at work.  I was so touched at her thoughtful gifts:  A cuddly teddy bear, a bag of hugs (cause everyone needs a hug) and 2 diabetic cookbooks to help us with meal planning.  One of the cookbooks is by Better Homes and Gardens and in ginormous bold print on the edge of each page is the carb count per serving...I LOVE THIS..  Seth was so excited when I brought it home last night.  He immediately picked out a few recipes to try this weekend.  The other cookbook is all deserts, so we also have a few cookie recipes to try out too.

I also want to shout out to another family that has been amazing...the {D} family.  Quite simply...I love this family.  Every.single.one.of.them.  {T} was the first person I called upon diagnosis, because she is amazing and a friend and because I knew her sister {T} has this condition and lives an incredible life.   AK {T} called and texted me every day in the hospital, she spoke with her sister in AZ who emailed me blog links and links to diabetes sites, that have been invaluable lifelines to me so far.  AZ {T} has offered support and assured me she is a phone call or an email away if I have any questions, she has reminded me of things I learned in the hospital but are in the recesses of my foggy mind.  And then there is AK {T's} husband also a {T} (all the T's get confusing, just know that every single one of them is a selfless example of love and service and  if they are in your life, you are richly blessed).  Anyway, right before Christmas, my beloved lime green laptop crashed.  I was devastated.  I had a senior photo session that I still needed to edit, and I don't watch a lot of TV, I edit my pictures, digital scrapbook and surf.  I was devastated.

After I got through the urgency of Seth's diagnoses, I emailed my friend {T} to ask her to have her husband {T} give me a quote for fixing my computer.  He said if I could get it to him that weekend he would take it to work with him that week and let me know what was up.  Turns out, my dead battery had blown my power cord (I was thinking it was my motherboard which would equal an expensive fix), but there were a few other issues and since he had it, he would just get everything running smoothly for me again and return it the following (today!) weekend.  So, I promptly ordered a new power cord and 9 cell battery and am waiting to pick up my baby.  How incredibly kind of him to get me up and running again.

I have been so touched by people (both friends and strangers) who have taken the time to comment or to email and let me know they are reading my blog and are touched by my story or off a kind word of support or solidarity in our fight against D.  There are warriors all around me, and it is wonderful to know I am not alone in this.

As I take the time to look around this cold frontier I live in, I am surrounded by people with the warmest of hearts.  People who act as the hands of god and serve their fellow man.  I feel so blessed to have these people in my life and know that soon, I will be in a position again to actively look for opportunities to serve outside of my house with a warm and willing heart.