What friend is there for you? Who are you there for?

This is an unpolished/honest post about our feelings.

Ok, here you go… We struggle telling people about Kennady’s condition.  We don’t want to burden them with difficult news. We don’t want to sound weak.
There is a problem with both of those statements.

People ask us, “How is Kennady doing?”  We are so thankful that people care!  We are so thankful that they ask!

When we haven’t seen people in years, they ask wondering if she has progressed in ability.  Can she walk now?  Can she talk now?  Is she more developed?  Just the other day, a lady asked how Kennady was doing.  We said, “She is doing good.  She is healthy and strong.”  The lady then asked, “Can she say anything?”  We replied, “Nah, she really can’t say anything.”  Then the lady added, “She can’t even say hello or hi?”  We said, “No, she can’t even say hello.”  TRUE STORY. That happened about 2 months ago.

When Kennady has medical procedures, people want to know how they are going.  The difficulty is when things don’t go well.  The procedure didn’t work. The surgery has to be redone.  People of faith want answers that are positive.  We believe that God is able and we eagerly wait for the answer to be positive after prayer.

What we continue to find in our journey with Kennady is that the answer is RARELY what we think it will be.  It is a good answer.  Because God is good.  It is just different than we expected and it has some difficulty attached to it.

Here we are with another major surgery coming on Thursday.

Before, I (Robin), post something on the blog or Facebook about another challenge or surgery, I wonder: Do people really want to hear this again? Are they tired of hearing our problems?  At some point, will people check out because they are tired? How many people are in for the long haul?

I guess we have to discover these answers through the process.  Who is in? Who is all in? Who are the friends?

Isn’t that true for anyone or any circumstance? Some people are out and some people are in.  Our true friends rise to the occasion. They are not conditional. Their relationship is not based on what they get out of it, but what they can give.

Then, all of the sudden our thinking gets turned on its proverbial ear.  Who have I abandoned because their situation didn’t line up with my liking?  Their path was not beneficial to me. Their pace was wearing me out.  #conviction

I pray that I can be a friend in the thick and thin.  I pray God surrounds us with just enough friends to carry us in the difficult times.  We trust that he will.