Curve-ball

Recently a friend said to me, "You guys just can't catch a break!"  
And for a few moments I pondered on that, wondering what she could possibly be referring to.
I was genuinely confused at that statement... almost to the point of being offended...
We can't catch a break?  What does that mean?  Does our life really look that dreadful?
But the more I thought about it, the more I started to see what she was probably talking about...

Maybe she was referring to Maria getting very, very sick and the days spent in the hospital with her hooked up to IVs.

Or perhaps the struggles both boys have been experiencing at school...
Or how we have all been passing strep throat back and forth to each other...
... and all of the doctor appointments.
Or my own mother's breast cancer diagnosis 2 days before Christmas...
Or I suppose she could be referring to how a few weeks later the bigger diagnosis showing that it is stage 4.

Or...

Maybe she's referring to when the big guy slipped on ice at work 3 weeks ago, hurting his ankle.
Or could it be the weekly doctor occupational therapy appointments and physical therapy I have to take him to every couple of days?
Or the fact that he can't work?
Or that his epiglottis started misbehaving again, and he is having to take steroids so that part of his body doesn't choke him to death?
Or maybe that his ankle was just not getting better...

Or...

Maybe she's talking about how I got hit with pink eye last week...
Or the meeting we had to have with the principal last week?
Or maybe she's referring to the MRI that the big guy had last week which showed his ankle is broken...
... and that his tendons are destroyed?
... and that I take him in for surgery in the morning?
... and that his job hangs in the balance?
... and that we have no idea what his/our future holds?

After looking back at that all has happened in the last 2-3  months, I can now see what my friend was referring to... but it's rather amazing how we have taken all of it in stride.  It hasn't broken us, we haven't fallen apart in desperation or panic attacks, neither of us has allowed it to get the best of us and gotten angry at the world, or fallen into a depression ... we just keep on taking what He throws at us and DEALING with it.  And we have finally learned to lean on each other.

Of course the biggest blow was the cancer news. 
And very soon after was the big guy's fall and injury.

I'm not saying that we have gone through each day with a big bright smile on our faces - oh no...
There have been tears.
There has been worry.
There has been frustration.
But those feelings have all been very short lived.
We go through the emotion, deal with it, and move on.
Buck up and do what needs to be done.

The big guy and I sat and talked about my friend's comment of "You guys just can't catch a break".  We took a step back and really realized all that we've been faced with recently.  He shared a thought with me that I thought was fairly profound... that being, "God threw us a curve-ball.  He knows the pain and stress and worry that cancer causes."  After all, we all know, a person doesn't get cancer, a family does.  So perhaps God wanted to redirect our thoughts and worry.  He referred to the ankle injury as a simple decoy.

No matter what negativity life brings,
No matter what curve-balls God throws our way,
there is a reason for it.

And LIFE is still beautiful.