Almost.

Merriam-Webster online defines the word almost as...

... Oh wait. I'm not the youth speaker and this isn't a high school graduation. I'll skip this attention-grabber and get straight to the guts.

We've had a lot of almosts going on in our life lately. First, for those of you who thought I already graduated...PSYCH! I still had one class to take in the Spring. I had originally signed up for it in Winter, but due to Eric's chemo appointments being on Thursdays I had to postpone it. It ended up being worth it considering the busy schedule of a cancer family, but taking the last class in the Spring was awful! I had almost graduated. The good news is I got through it, it ended last week, and now it's official. I'm done with school. Mom, I know those last few phone calls where I asked you to pray for me really made the difference. Thank you.

Second, I had almost got settled in to my new job a couple weeks ago when I was asked to interview for another one in the same company. Long story short I have a new job I am learning as I still fulfill the old one. It is exciting and scary at the same time. The work is good so far, but I'm feeling a little anxiety during the transition. They are both in HR, but also I am the executive assistant. It was to the C.O.O., now it is to the president and C.E.O.. So right now I'm trying to balance 3 executives. It's not easy but someone has got to do it. Oh, and they pay me, so. Eric is almost ready to go back to school, and in the mean time he's workin' it at The Mug this summer. The hotter it is, the more the customers flock to the stand. It's seriously radical and you must stop by.

We are settled into our summer apartment, and believe it or not, it's almost time to move again! We knew it was only a four month stay, but these months sure do pass quickly. Ideally we would move back to Orem, near our old branch so any branchers that read this, start looking for places for us!

This one is hard, but we have been watching the USA throughout the World Cup, and the team almost continued on! It has been really fun to watch and this US team has really helped bring soccer closer to the mainstream American population. I think it is awesome. But we sure would have liked to see them continue.

Eric's hair is almost to the length it was before he got sick! He says he isn't going to cut it ever again. And I almost believe him. ;) He looks like a million bucks. The weight is slowly coming back and he's definitely as funny as ever.

Now, the news we've all been waiting for (drum roll, please.):

ERIC ALMOST DOES NOT HAVE CANCER ANYMORE!!!

Yes, excellent news. But there is an almost. We had his scan on Thursday (switched to a week early for a few reasons) and there was one spot that showed up on the scan. It was in the back right side of his neck. The spot is so small, his doctor could not even feel it. As a matter of fact, it might not actually be cancer. It could be something else causing it to show. So we will wait a little longer. Our lives are almost completely back to normal anyway; it isn't as if we are the type to sit and wait and fret. But are we worried? A little. All we have to do for now is watch it. If it starts to grow (i.e. we start to actually feel something there) we will call the doctor. If not, we will go back in three months and get scanned again. Hopefully it will not be there next time.

It was incredible to look at the scan now to see where the spot was. The technology of this scan is bizarre. But then his doctor showed us his old one for a comparison. We were stunned. The cancer was everywhere. The scan shows all activity, not just the specific cancerous masses. In the second, there was a tiny pink area on his neck that we could hardly see. In the first, he glowed like a Christmas tree. It was pink on his neck, shoulders, all the way down his spine, his lungs, kidneys (those were the cysts from his polycystic kidneys), hips, groin. Everywhere. I wish I could have taken some screen shots to show you. You wouldn't believe it if you saw it. I know why they didn't show it to us in the beginning. I fear I almost lost him.

And that is the great thing about almost. It can be seen from both sides. You can use almost for your great escape. Almost- not exactly or entirely. He was not entirely gone yet, and we got to keep him. Almost- well nigh or very nearly. We are so close to many new and great things. It's almost gone. How great of God to bless us with such a useful adverb. I've needed it so much in this past year.

P.S. Because of our good health, we have been able to be the travellers again, so we are our own VotW, as we went to Colorado last weekend and Washington this one. Our families are perfect. And congratulations to Richie and Erin for putting together a heckofa Dance Festival. You seriously rock.