One of the greatest acts of courage I have ever personally witnessed happened on January 19, 2010. Exactly one week after Haiti\'s earthquake had turned their lives upside down, I watched a young man named Arnold climb onto a stone table in front of his classmates at Louverture Cleary School. He did the usual Gospel reading to start the day, and led his peers in singing the national anthem of their country, and their school song. Then he explained that on this day, we would have school again. On this day, we would all go back into the buildings that had shaken and swayed and cracked around us just a week before. On this day, we would put our fears aside and go back to doing what we were meant to do. And on that day ... they did. Some didn\'t make it past the threshold of the classrooms, but just stood in the hallway and listened through the windows. Some only lasted a few minutes in the classroom before the anxiety got the better of them. But each day it got a little better, and more kids spent more time in class, and our little school got back to a weird version of normal long before almost anyone else in the country. I can\'t imagine that I’ll ever do anything as courageous as what those terrified teenagers did in the aftermath of that earthquake - trusting in themselves and each other and in their faith to fight back the chaos and reclaim their lives and futures.

As I start on this journey with ovarian cancer, I’m inspired by those kids. Like them, I have to trust in my own positive outlook and resilience, on the wonderfully caring and capable people around me, and on my faith that there IS a greater purpose in life\'s challenges, and that we are all made more whole through them.

I\'m not a person who quotes a lot of Bible verses, but someone recently reminded me of this one and immediately the beautiful harmony of a favorite choral setting of this text came to mind. And it made me smile.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.\"

- Isaiah 55:8-9

Thank you in advance for your love and care and prayers and e-mails and text messages and visits and cards and companionship and ice cream runs and rides and random updates on your life and patience and... did I mention love and care? I\'m counting on it.

Betsy

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