Many of you left comments.  Many of you sent emails.  Many of you called.  An unreal number of you left cheers of support on Facebook.  The outpouring of love since my announcement earlier this week has been overwhelming. Maybe you started praying that I would stop writing about bodily functions.  Maybe you were wondering what on earth I am feeding this family.  I’m hoping some of you bought sunscreen.  I only know that I could sense the prayers rising to heaven, and in a tender motion of mercy from Jesus….Sara’s daytime incontinence has stopped. 8 months, countless trips to the doctor, still awaiting one trip to the specialist, and it just…stopped. The other night as I got the girls ready for baths, Sara asked, “If I wore one pair of panties all day, and they are still dry, do they go into the laundry basket?” I turned around and looked at her in complete shock.  Greg came running into her bedroom, in disbelief that such a day could occur at our house.  She looked at both of us like we were crazy. Were they bladder spasms?  Will it return?  Did cutting out dairy make a difference?  Does it have something to do with her anxiety (the peeing has been replaced with her old nervous habit of chewing her hair…which I’ll take any day over incontinence)?  With Greg’s new reward chart for the girls, were we able to finally retrain her bladder to stop leaking?

Sara gets stickers for taking care of her incontinence on her own (just to clarify, that only constitutes changing her underwear…she is never incontinent at night), and for taking bathroom breaks without arguing (we do timed voiding to lessen the leaking problem).  After earning 40 well-deserved stickers, she was allowed to pick any Calico Critters set at Mass Ave Toys.  With literally a world of toys from which to choose, what do you think she picked?  The Master Bathroom Furniture set.  She has played “bathroom” non-stop for the past 24 hours.  Life is funny.  Here she is hugging her new toy all the way home, and after working so hard to earn it, she fell asleep in the car.

As always, I have no answers to the conundrum we call Sara.  But I have had the most blessed few days of peace.  I wish I could describe this feeling of rest.  To hear the birds as I work in my quiet kitchen, as opposed to the constant churning of the washing machine.  To not look around the house, wondering if I would ever have time to do anything other than laundry.  To not have the all day nagging worry that something is very wrong, and wonder if a long journey was awaiting us.

It was just a sidenote that it took 12 phone calls between the insurance, the pharmacy, and my doctor to fill my medication.  So far, so good.  My chest is lighting up like a Christmas tree today, indicating I had several areas of basal cell carcinoma waiting to present themselves.  I’m in no pain on Day 2, and only 6 weeks to go!  Ha Ha!  It’s funny, after children enter your life, your own concerns about your health just become a simple check of list.  I’m still alive?  Check.  What?  My arm fell off?  Well let me pick it up and stick it in my purse.  I’ll sew it back on this evening if I can find a few minutes after baths and teeth and bedtime stories.  Wait…I forgot…year end teacher gifts are due tomorrow.  I’m going to have to sew that arm back on this weekend.  Wait….it’s the annual neighborhood garage sale Saturday.  When the Physician’s Assistant gave me the prescription last Friday, she said, “This will ulcerate your skin, and some people can’t finish the treatment.  If you can’t tolerate it, just call us, and we’ll excise the cancer as a second option.”  I kind of laughed and said, “After you’ve been through 21 hours of labor, this qualifies as ‘just one more thing’.  Give me your chemo cream, and I’ll see you in 8 weeks.”

Poor Mr. Gopher is never getting off this potty if Sara has her way.  “Do you need to take a potty break?  You do?  OH GOOD.  Here’s your potty!  Let me know if you need help!”

So while I had prayed.  And prayed.  And then prayed squeezing my eyes REALLY hard (for my religious friends, does that ever work?), I needed your prayers the most.  My God is a warm, wonderful, loving God.  Even in my darkest of hours, I sense that he has never left my side. And to those of you who sent the “good feelings”, those were needed as well.  Thank you for sharing this journey with me.  It has made all the difference.

Sara took this picture of me laughing at Kelly last night at dinner.  I think my expression says it all.