Photo Courtesy of Raub Photography After I was diagnosed with breast cancer, food started landing on my doorstep. Lots of food. Sometimes there was a person at the other end of the casserole and sometimes the meals just magically appeared in the big blue cooler outside the front door. My family appreciated it all. (Even if some of it pushed the boundaries of our boring Harms tastebuds.) One of the first meals we received came from a group of high school girls from our church. Just a week or so after my diagnosis, these lovely girls…
I’m talking about cancer and water and sinking and faith strengthened by a stormy sea at inspireafire.com today. You can start reading here and follow the link at the bottom to the rest of the story. When you pass through the waters I will be with you. Isaiah 43:2 The image of water was a big deal to me during my cancer year. The power. The tranquility. The danger. The beauty. Cancer was my water. Fear-inspiring, yet fused with the beautiful. So hard, yet covered by a peace I cannot explain. The water was rough, but Jesus was constant….
We live a construction life over here at the Harms house. I’ve been watching my man build amazing things for two decades. But I never imagined there would be a point in my life when a piece of me would have to be physically reconstructed. That at age 40 my chest would literally be taken apart and put back together. During that process of physical breast reconstruction, non-physical parts of my life were reconstructed as well. Pieces of my marriage were taken apart and reconstructed. Pieces of my thought life were taken apart and reconstructed. Pieces of my self-esteem were…
Just before my exchange surgery in July, I posted 6 things I planned to do with my post cancer-invasion self. So here I am to brag that I’ve accomplished all but one 🙂 (Backpacking requires some wilderness and a trail, both of which Central Iowa is a little short on, so that one’s gonna have to wait.) SLEEP I am a lover of sleep. I’m neither a night owl, nor an early bird. I’ve always been the girl who could happily go to bed at 10 and sleep until 9 given the opportunity. But things changed in January when that darn tumor freaked…
(I was asked to write my breast cancer story for our local paper as a part of Breast Cancer Awareness month. The following is just a little piece of 2016 in the Harms house. It’s a bit longer than my typical blog posts, but I am publishing it as it was printed in the paper.) The hardest part is telling your kids. Watching your child navigate heartache is painful. But when you are the one who causes the heartache, it is almost unbearable. We sat in front of the fireplace, Corey and I. It was January 21. Two days after…