a prayer request

On the second Monday of every month, a group of mommies get together to have lunch and talk about their pregnancies and/or child(ren) and just enjoy each other as women. Sometimes our kids come along, and sometimes the mommies are just on a nice lunch break from work. We've been meeting once a month since November 2007 when we realized there was a whole PACKLOAD of us at our university who were all pregnant and due within a matter of months of each other. It's been an absolute blast to hang out with those fabulous women every month - I've made new friends and kept in touch with old ones. And it's just a great sense of support - everyone is in the same Mama-Boat.

Well... I opened up my email this morning to find a note from one of my mama-friends regarding another one of our mama-friends and her 3-year-old boy.

Monica's son Luke was diagnosed with cancer on Friday - rhabdomyosarcoma - there is a tumor, and the cancer has also spread to his lungs and lymph nodes. Now I don't know much, but I do know that finding cancer in more than one spot is NOT a good thing. I haven't heard anything else yet about his prognosis or other tests - but I can hardly think about Monica and Luke (and her husband Sean and baby boy Connor) without crying. Cancer stories are supposed to be things I read about - distantly reminded that life is precious, while my own little world goes relatively un-rocked - cancer stories are NOT supposed to be happening to the 3-year-old son of one of my friends. In the blink of an eye she went from being an ordinary mama with two beautiful boys - to being mama with two beautiful boys, one of whom has cancer. I. cannot. imagine.

So, if you could - ask God to cover them with peace and healing... and (if you're like me) remind yourself that we take MUCH for granted. Nothing is guaranteed, nothing is certain - and so, so many things are good and precious. Children, health, family, friendship, generosity.