I want to take this time to share my appreciation for Dan for his support and strength through this challenging journey. Jesus is my strong foundation and Dan is my rock. I love and need them both! Just for fun, I thought I would see what AI says it means when someone is your "rock." AI says:
When he doesn’t see things the way I see them or agree with my ideas he chooses to stay silent and educate himself. He doesn’t argue with me, he doesn’t tell me he’s scared or nervous about what I want to do, he educates himself and becomes my strongest advocate, my rock.
Here are 3 real life big examples:
Natural birth at home
When I brought it up that I wanted to deliver our children at home with a midwife he was uneasy about the idea, but I didn’t know it until years later. We set up interviews with a couple of midwives. Dan went in with questions and came out convinced that this was the way for us to go. When some of our family didn’t understand, he stood strong and we were united. All four of our children were birthed at home with a midwife and her team. We both agree that we wouldn’t change a thing.
Homeschooling
When I learned about homeschooling I knew this was the way I wanted to go. Both Dan and I had talked quite extensively about our public school experiences and neither one of us wanted that for our children. We both felt gypped out of a good education and, socially, we both had a lot we didn’t enjoy. What I didn’t know in the beginning was that he felt a reluctance about homeschooling our children. Dan was open though, and when a homeschool seminar came to our church he was all for going and educating himself. He saw the value and got on board. He was my biggest advocate and still advocates homeschooling today. Honestly, he would have thrived as a homeschooler, particularly he would have been a thriving Lifestyle of Learning homeschooler. We say this regularly, because of the way his mind works and how he thinks.
Holistic Approach to Healing Cancer
When it came to my cancer diagnosis, after 35+ years of marriage and knowing me, he has been very open and on board with my desire to pursue healing naturally as much as possible. It’s been an educational process for both of us. Both of us have considered all my options, both conventional and holistic. I have obviously dug deeper into my educational process with healing and he has walked out as much as possible with me in that education while he focuses on work. He has gone to every appointment with me, and asks really great questions. For me, the hardest medical appointments were with the conventional providers, because of how they think and approach things. Dan was right there, asking questions during the appointments and talking me through the processing afterwards. With the holistic providers, he was right there listening and learning what he could, and at a point said that it was all over his head, and was glad I understood what they were talking about. There has been such a steep learning curve the last several months for both of us.
This journey is a bit of a roller coaster, there have been moments of feeling strong and confident and moments of concern and wondering. He has “believed” for me when I needed that from him and he is ready to pray at the drop of a hat when I have expressed that I “need” some prayer to strengthen my resolve. I have been SO grateful for his support and couldn’t imagine how I would function without Dan’s support.
While I put a large part of my energy toward healing, he puts his efforts where he is needed and feels like he can contribute, and mostly works hard long days to increase our income flow to cover the costs of my care. Because we aren’t going conventional, very VERY little is being covered by insurance and we are going into debt at the tune of $6,000 per month. That adds a lot of stress to my healing process. At the recommendation of a good friend, we started a GoFundMe and between that and friends in different networking and other groups Dan regularly attends, people have been so generous to us. I feel like I can’t express enough how the generosity of friends, family, and people that Dan knows but that I don’t know makes me feel, I have often been brought to tears at the generosity I experience from others. I find it very difficult to continue to ask for money, so I have done a terrible job of promoting my GoFundMe page. We have been debt free since the year 2000 and going into debt is a surreal feeling, but I know who our Provider is and I know the Lord is making a way for us to not live with debt long term. In the meantime, Dan works pretty much from sun up to sun down and most weeks 7 days a week. Thankfully, he has some opportunity to increase our income through his financial business and has been studying on top of running his portion of both of his businesses. I don’t know how he does it. He is carrying the burden of my chronic disease along with the cost of it. I would love to get in touch with the likes of RFK and find out what his plans are, if he has them, to equalize holistic with conventional care as far as insurance goes. In the meantime, Dan is working hard and we are trusting the Lord to open the financial doors and floodgates.
All the while Dan is working so hard, and as I described in my previous post Life with God is not Immunity from Difficulties, I have been struggling with keeping up with “all the things” I need to do for my health. I was discussing this with Dan, telling him I know what I need to “kick up a notch or two” Dan didn’t hesitate to drop what he was doing. “We can go for a walk right now!” He didn’t really have time for it, but he fit it in to support and inspire me.
I just wanted to share with you all my hero and my rock, Dan. I am so grateful for him. You know, with 36+ years of marriage you experience A LOT together, you experience ups and downs, good times and rough times, and it’s times like this that it really highlights and reinforces who your partner is. My partner is just that, he IS my partner through thick and thin, he is there for me, he works hard for me. I thank the Lord for him often!
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