The Night Watches

A little over due, as usual.... We had the privilege to travel to the Bahamas with a couple from our church back in January. Jordan and I had been meeting with them, doing their pre-marital counseling, and when they asked if Jordan would marry them, we had no idea we would be going on a destination wedding with them. We were thrilled to be able to go, and the Lord brought some work my way, that helped us be able to afford this trip. He is so kind. We were so excited to have some time away without the kiddos. Even though the travel took forever, we were just so relaxed and happy to be there. I took loads of pictures, but if I waited until I got them all just the way I wanted, they would stay in my folders on my computer forever. Here are a few from the island... Oh, yes, and the real reason we were there... Joel and Shana got married!! It was so beautiful and so much fun. ah, but preparing for the trip was a lot more work than I had planned. Jack was on steroids while we were gone. My...

One year ago, while the east coast was buried under 30"+ of snow, Jordan and I found ourselves at Children's National Medical Center, trying to wrap our minds around the news we have been given a few hours prior. Our son had cancer. We sat in our room, trying to figure out how to tell our families, who to call first, what the next steps where, and how to be strong for our scared little boy. It was a blur of emotions and many many conversations with staff, in information overload, emotional overdrive. The way all of this unfolded was just a whirlwind. As I said in the previous post, we had just been snowed in with some friends, during the biggest snow storm we had ever had. Our pediatrician is just amazing. And he knew a second storm was heading our way, and as soon as he could get to his office, he called me to see if we could come in before the second storm hit, just to see how the second antibiotics were affecting Jack. When we got there, what the Dr. saw concerned ...

Today is yet another treatment day at the clinic! We go in once a month for IV Chemo and blood counts. Today is also the start of Jack's monthly 5 days of steroids. The past 3 months, these visits have been harder for Jack than before, because of his new port. He has grown in fear of these visits, each time I tell him we are going to the Dr. he cries. We love the port, as daily life is so much better than when he had his tubie, but the times when it has to be accessed is really scary for him. We put numbing cream on it, so I do not think he is feeling much pain when they put the needle in it. I just think he is scared. Who wouldn't be, when your mommy has to restrain your arms legs, and head and a nurse is coming at you with a giant needle? As soon as the process begins, he starts crying, begging me to stop holding his hands and let go of him. So, as you can imagine, I really do not like these times. So please pray for my little buddy today. We go in at 11 am and hopefully he ...

I have recently been looking back through all my old emails (hundreds), journal entries (which are few) and blog posts (even fewer) of what was happening in our lives 1 year ago. If you didn't know, the one year mark of Jack getting diagnosed with Leukemia is coming in just 7 days. I simply cannot believe it. I think to my self, "How can it possibly be a year...Already." Yet at the same moment, the conflicting thought is "That's all it has been, is only one year??" I have been trying to remember the order of when Jack became sick, and what we were thinking during that time... I found several gchat conversations between Jordan and I, after yet another sleepless night, and crying sick children. It seems at times, as I read those, that I was barely holding on to faith. But now, I can clearly see, that it was the Lord who had a firm grip on me, and my roots were being forced deeper into the soil as trials kept coming to us. The timeline is just crazy to me to l...