With trials, come many blessings!

I realize that it has been a good three months since my last post! Judging by my last few posts, I think it's evident that things in the "Jones' household" have been a little difficult. Harrison and I have been doing a lot of seeking lately, and some changes are underway. I will post about that later when things are a little more concrete but I can confidently say that God is moving. We are just trying to figure out in which direction so that we can follow Him! "Give careful thought to the paths for your feet." Proverbs 4:26 In the meantime, thank you to all of our family and friends for your prayers and wise council. To my P.A. and my Nurse Practitioner at the oncology center, I am so grateful for the wonderful friendship that has come from all of this mess. You may have been hit the worst with all of it so thank you for listening to me whine and run my new "theories" and "diagnoses" by you! ;)

 

To give a short update, there have been awesome things happening in the midst of our trials. I'm very excited about the worship team that we have started with our youth at Northside. We have seen the enemy try to knock us down, and we have seen God defeat. The Blue House Youth is prospering; I'm prospering. This has brought back very sweet memories from my time in Seattle on the worship team with our youth. My voice and skills were challenged and stretched during that time which prepared me for the kids at the Blue House. God strengthened my skill level to create and lead the new Blue House Praise Team! No, I don't take all of the credit for this. I can't take all of the credit for this. I have needed the support that my church family offers to continue this. Realizing that I am still very much in recovery from my treatments, it has taken all of us to make this successful. And as always, the glory goes to God. All of this is of and from Him and it's purpose is to make Him known!

 

Another wonderful thing that has happened over the past few months is the marriage of my beautiful friend Ashby to her very supportive husband Chris. On May 10th we watched God bring these two together. I waited until they returned from their honeymoon to tell Ashby that this time was such a blessing for me! I waited of course because that day; their special day was not about me!

 

After the rehearsal, we went to their family's cabin for the dinner. It was a joy to spend time and catch up with her side of the family and share stories from when we were younger. Harrison and I were so blessed to take their hands and pray over them and their soon-to-be marriage. He and I prayed for them on our own, yes, but it was a privilege to do this with the two of them just hours before the big day. The praying continued throughout the night. Ashby's family joined us while her dad prayed for his baby girl. The fathers came together to hold hands and bow their heads together with Chris. Somehow Harrison wiggled his way into that one too... In mid prayer! But hey, the spirit wad moving! What a beautiful and glorious time this was. Watching my best friend make the decision to put God first in her life and in her marriage was momentous. I left this occasion spiritually lifted. How could you not!

 

 

Ashby, you were beautiful on your wedding day. And if the look on Chris' face when he saw you for the first time is the only thing that you remember from that day... The look on his face, Ashby! Such a perfect moment. I am sorry that your mom did not have the privilege of meeting this wonderful man who loves you so much. I am grateful that we were able to honor her that day and, at the time, a little jealous that she was smiling up in heaven while we everyone else was so stressed out! ;) My friend, she would have been so proud!

 

I hate using the "cancer card," but I can certainly blame my health for the little things I missed out on leading up to this event. The nausea, fatigue, and this new found forgetfulness has been a kick in the pants, but the things I got to be apart of that day made up for all of it! I was able to give them the greatest thing I had to offer on their wedding day, that being my musical talents. "Taylor, please sing in our wedding. That song is perfect and you on the guitar was our thing when we were growing up. I want to make that apart of my wedding." The following Sunday, I shared this time with our church by playing and singing the same song that I sang for my best friend as she united her life with God and her husband. As you can tell from this post and previous posts, this person is very special to me. Ashby, thank you for allowing me to be apart of this time!

The last big thing that has happened was my sister's first father's day without her dad. Amy went to D.C. to spend the weekend with our grandpa and participate on a walk for prostate cancer in honor of her daddy. I am very proud of her! My plans for honoring the man that raised me didn't go as smoothly! Harrison and I spent Father's Day weekend with his family at Folly Beach. You have probably heard me share some of my favorite memories from Edisto Beach as a child. Amy and I spent every 4th of July their with our family and were there every other chance we got! Glen made sure to make being at that place a tradition for us. He loved the beach. So I found it special that I got to spend my father's day in a place that brought him so much joy and peace.

I wear my favorite hat and sunglasses all the time. So much, that I forget their sentiment. While at the beach, we were enjoying the feel of the ocean and playing in the waves. I probably shouldn't have been wearing that particular hat or those sunglasses while the water was so rough. I didn't realize that until a wave took me out and off went my two treasured sentiments. I began to panic. "The hat! I need that hat!" Somehow, and I mean by an act of God, we saved the hat. Sadly the sunglasses were gone.

 

The sunglasses were a gift from Glen and Patsy given to me on my 19th birthday, and the hat on my16th. I discovered my love for the south as my teenage years peaked. I remember telling him "anything Carolina!" when he asked me what I wanted that year. I got beach towels, a beach bag, and two custom made hats. Everything had palm trees on it with the famous crescent moon. "G.R.I.T.S" was monogrammed on the side to add a special touch. "Girls Raised In The South." The beach bag and the towels are now worn but I didn't get much use of the hats until my diagnosis. With my moon face, the white "G.R.I.T.S" hat was the only thing I was comfortable wearing. I tried on a million other hats, and none of them fit right. I wore that one everyday! I took the loss of my sunglasses surprisingly well. Probably because they are buried in his favorite place and I still have the item that gave me comfort during my fight with the disease that we both battled.

 

I had one more thing that I wanted to do on that day. I wanted some sort of a keepsake. Trying to figure out what the perfect purchase would be, I remembered a plant that my mother in law has in her house. The plant's name is "Rusty" after her sister in law's brother who passed away in a plane crash a few years ago. She gave me some Cali lilies and I went on a hunt for the perfect pot. Of course I found a garnet one! One day these lilies will become a garden as I collect more plants over the next several years on every Father's Day. We will name this garden "granddaddy" so that one day, as we water and tend to "granddaddy," our children have something tangible to help remind them and honor the man to who raised me and loved my sister unconditionally.

 

There were many people who tip toed around me during this time. Yes, it was difficult. I miss him very much and worry myself sick over Amy, but I am also so blessed to have my Father in law and my dad! No need to tip toe, I am blessed! With both of my parent's remarriages along with my own marriage, I have so much family! There is so much love and so much support. Thank you to Bing for treating me and making me feel like your own. And a huge thank you to my dad. You have always been everything I needed you to be. You know the extent of what that means ;)