{"id":147,"date":"2021-02-12T23:59:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T05:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joyandclay.blog\/2021\/02\/12\/thank-you-for-being-a-part-of-my-story\/"},"modified":"2021-02-12T23:59:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T05:59:00","slug":"thank-you-for-being-a-part-of-my-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/?p=147","title":{"rendered":"Thank You For Being a Part of My Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hey guys, it\u2019s Clay. I\u2019m up a little bit later than usual. Hospitals aren\u2019t the best for sleeping. I got up this morning feeling a little \u201cblah\u201d, so I ditched the hospital gown, and put on real clothes. Still just felt kind of \u201cblah\u201d but couldn\u2019t put my finger on it. My blood count numbers are starting to drop again, which the doctors tell me means that the chemo is working. They also told me again today to \u201cListen to your body. It\u2019s okay just to rest some days and do nothing.\u201d It\u2019s kind of tough to do when that doesn\u2019t usually correlate with my typical lifestyle. But I did sleep and nap and felt better in the afternoon. I\u2019d say maybe I slept a bit too much today, but it\u2019s probably not true, because I\u2019m still tired. I\u2019m always tired. I fall asleep as soon as I sit still. I fall asleep mid-text with random, meaningless letters scrolled across the screen. Now I\u2019m always cold, which is a new sensation for \u201cthe man who wishes he could always wear shorts.\u201d But I digress, the real reason I\u2019m up and typing, is that Joy challenged me to post about my day in my own words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/joyandclay.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/02\/img_3887.jpg\" data-id=\"144\" class=\"wp-image-144\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/joyandclay.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/02\/img_3891.jpg\" data-id=\"145\" class=\"wp-image-145\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption\">The girls are in Jacksonville for a dance competition this weekend. I can\u2019t see them in person, but I did get to watch tonight via FaceTime.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So as I sit here at midnight, tired and a little cold, alone in a hospital bed that is 4 hours from my home, (don\u2019t worry Joy is still in town, but Covid limits my one allowed daily hospital visitor from 8 am &#8211; 8 pm), I hope you realize how important I want this message to you to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, I want you to know that I am 100% sure that I would not be alive today if it wasn\u2019t for God listening to prayers, laying his hands on people I\u2019ve come in contact with in my life, and making things happen. I don\u2019t want to put all of the individual stories here, that add up to my whole life over the past couple months. Maybe when all of this is over, I\u2019ll write them all out in a blog that would impress Tarantino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/joyandclay.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/02\/img_3894.jpg?w=400\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/img_3894.jpg 400w, https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/img_3894-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/img_3894-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption>I\u2019ve been taking notes, and there are a lot of \u201ccoincidences\u201d that have happened over the past 2 months that are way to coincidental to be random occurrences.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This leads to my main point, thankfulness. Of course I\u2019m thankful for Joy in too many ways to list here. I also know without a doubt, that I wouldn\u2019t be alive if it wasn\u2019t for her persistence and unrelenting love for me. I\u2019m not even sure how to explain what an amazing person and spouse she is, or how I am amazed by her every single day. One thing I\u2019m definitely thankful for is her doing the blogging, so I can take naps while we keep our friends and family informed of what\u2019s going on with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/joyandclay.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/02\/img_8649.jpg?w=768\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-143\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I said all of that to say this.. If you are reading this blog since it started, or are reading it for the first time today, I wanted to say \u201cThank You\u201d. I can\u2019t look back on this unexpected, whirlwind of journey without seeing the interwoven effects of God\u2019s hands being in control, and the love shared to our family from all of you. I can\u2019t even begin to list names or all the actions of love. There are so many different people and families it has become overwhelming for me to sort out. Some people I have never even met in person. So many people have wanted to help, in any way they can, and mainly we\u2019ve needed prayer, in all expressive forms. But sometimes we are often so involved in trying to survive, that we haven\u2019t even known what we needed help with, but you just figured it out. We are well-beyond incredibly blessed to have so many friends, friends of friends, family members, friends of family members, coworkers, friends of coworkers, past coworkers, etc, which basically sums up an entire community that has reached out to us. People have opened their hearts, without us asking, and shown us an overwhelming amount of love through a servant\u2019s heart. You have prayed for me and our family. You have fed us so many delicious meals. You have fed our kids when we were out of town. You have given our kids rides. You have cared for our pets. You have picked up our Amazon packages. You fixed my Jeep, as we wait to be reunited. You\u2019ve given up sleeping in your own bed to sleep with and comfort our kids. You have shown compassion to our kids, who might not understand exactly what\u2019s going on but are struggling. You have personally prayed with our kids. You\u2019ve shown them the love of Christ through their church. You have understood that emotions are high, and sometimes staying home from school and crying is what a kid really needed most that day. You have gifted us all kinds of things that we don\u2019t need or deserve, but have really enjoyed, except that horrible Rubik\u2019s Cube. You have helped us with paperwork and insurance questions and homework and Zoom meetings. You have reworked our schedules, time and time again. You\u2019ve prayed with me on the phone. You\u2019ve prayed at home alone where no one has seen, and it has not gone unnoticed. You\u2019ve brought us food and supplies to the hospital. You\u2019ve sat with me at the hospital for 12 hours. You\u2019ve prayed with and consoled our parents. You signed up for a blog or a text thread that you can\u2019t figure out how to escape. I\u2019m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. Whether you realize it or not, you have made our lives easier in some significant way, either physically or spiritually, and we will never be able to repay you. As I sit here tired and a little bit cold, I just want to make sure that you know that WE LOVE YOU. You have made us feel loved beyond measure. I couldn\u2019t go through this without you. You are a part of my story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hey guys, it\u2019s Clay. I\u2019m up a little bit later than usual. Hospitals aren\u2019t the best for sleeping. I got up this morning feeling a little \u201cblah\u201d, so I ditched the hospital gown, and put on real clothes. Still just felt kind of \u201cblah\u201d but couldn\u2019t put my finger on it. My blood count numbers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4,5,6,8],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-burkitts-lymphoma","tag-cancer","tag-lymphoma","tag-non-hodgkins-lymphoma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy.grgs.dev\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}