Will Easter ever come?

This sure has been a long Lent.

In fact, it feels like Lent has been going on for a couple of years now.

The latest:

1) A's father-in-law, S.A., has been here with his wife, Momma B., for a month now. A few days ago they took off to visit a cousin in Utah. Yesterday S.A. suffered a stroke out there. His speech is improving, but that is all we know. H., A's husband, is having a routine colonoscopy this morning. Then tomorrow he is going to fly to Utah.

2) A is having gall bladder trouble, and is scheduled to have it removed March 20. A scan also showed that her abdomen is filling with fluid, possibly a sign that the cancer is active again. She is in constant, incredible pain, but her doctor (in whom she has total faith) has made her go cold turkey off her oxycontin, on the grounds that "she is addicted." Dependent, yes, but how can anyone consider a terminally ill patient addicted? She and H. refuse to consider hospice care, believing (against all my efforts) that it is equivalent to dying. Her doctor is an oncological surgeon, who really has no interest in palliative care. A. refuses to consider any other medical advice but his.

3) The good news: our daughter Susan was named as one of two recipients of a scholarship that would pay $50,000 a year for two years so she could pursue doctoral studies in classics. It is contingent upon her acceptance into one of 23 "approved schools."

The bad news: Princeton and Cornell have declined her application, and the other schools she applied to (Univ. of Toronto, University of Washington) are not on the approved list. Oh, she was accepted to the second B.A. program at Downing College, Cambridge, but they don't offer financial aid to Americans; and the scholarship she won is good only for doctoral studies.

Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.