Selfless

1 Peter 4:9-10
"Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms."

Stop me if you've heard this before. Today--a day on which it would make total sense for her to enjoy being spoiled--Tammy has been ministering to others.

It's Mother's Day, and though she's not my mother, she is the mother of my kids. She was a spectacular mother. I try to honor her every day, but today, even Hallmark tells me I should.

It's also the day before she goes back into the hospital for her next bone-marrow transplant. We'll get her to the hospital at 8 a.m., and her "freedom" will be gone. Right now she can still go where she wants when she wants. Once she's admitted, she'll be tethered to the IV pole and restricted to the BMT unit for the next two-plus weeks.

When we got home from the clinic, where Tammy spent the morning getting the last of her outpatient treatments, we put together some food so we could go on a picnic. As we drove by an elderly neighbor, Tammy said, "Let's stop and tell her Happy Mother's Day." Apparently when we did, it distracted her, because she closed her car door and locked her keys in her car, with the engine running. We spent the next hour trying to reach people who had an extra house key before she remembered that she had subscribed to a tow service. We called them and got someone to help her get into her car.

The whole time the neighbor was at our house, Tammy just listened and smiled at her. She told us all about her life, including some highs but many more lows. Tammy has an uncanny gift of making the person she's talking to feel like they're the most important person in her life, because at that point, they are. It's that "more a person, less a person" thing again.

I am so proud of her. I consider being her husband the crowning achievement of my life. As my friend Keith says, "If you're going to over-achieve at one thing, it might as well be at picking a wife." (By the way, Keith did too.)

We did get some good news on Friday, when the last of the results from her bone-marrow biopsy came back. Her DNA is completely gone, which means that only her original donor's DNA is around. This will lessen the chances of rejection, especially since the chemo she's been receiving since Thursday should greatly reduce the amount of his DNA. Rejection comes when the new donor's bone-marrow cells don't recognize the host cells. The smaller the number of host cells, the smaller the chance of rejection.

This is a big week. The transplant will happen late Wednesday evening, then the long, slow rebound starts. We are very confident as she prepares to head back to the hospital tomorrow. We know her fighting spirit and her strength will help her in this process. With those attributes, and God's hand on her, we look forward to a successful transplant and recovery. Please keep praying that God will bless this time.