My sweet mother, with my sister Karen

Well, I haven’t posted on here in a while and I figured it was probably time to explain partly why, by giving an update on my family. So much of my time and emotional energy recently has been spent helping and serving them. I spent an entire month in the later part of the summer with my family in Texas. I had planned to stay just three weeks, but things changed rapidly after I arrived. My mother has been fighting cancer for seven years and has started a downhill slide over the last few months. Her situation has been changing weekly. I cannot accurately describe the difference I saw in her this summer from just six months ago when I was there at Christmas. She was much smaller and weaker. While I was there this summer, we had to go to the ER with her with severe pain in her left arm. They found a new tumor there. She has had several new tumors popping up recently, almost all in bones. On her latest visit to her oncologist, he said that the latest round of treatment is not working and recommended stopping all treatment. That decision was made and now we are doing what is necessary for hospice to come in and make her as comfortable as possible from here on out. The doctor says that she most likely has a few months left. I am now back in Croatia to renew my residence permit. After that is accomplished, I plan to return to Texas to spend an extended time with my family this fall. Both Mom and Dad need a significant amount of help around the house now, and I want to be able to serve them in that way. I will most likely spend about three months there with them. I am not intending to leave Croatia for good. In fact, I am moving ahead with plans to purchase land, build a house, and make my home here. I just feel that I need to spend the next few months with my family. The best word I have been coming up with to describe how I feel through this time is…surreal. I admit that I also feel just a little bit lost. Please pray for our family during this time. We know God, by His Spirit, is seeing us through.