Yesterday was a busy day! We drove from Grants Pass four hours north to OHSU in Portland and back for what was supposed to be only a two-hour bone marrow transplant class that had morphed into a full day with back to back appointments. We got more familiar with the campus as we had different places to go for almost every appointment. However, we experienced much grace and blessings out of it.
The first, Josh got to pray for a 29-year-old man in our transplant class with three kids (including a 9month baby!) They will likely be in the hospital together for the transplant.
Secondly, we did get a lunch break where Josh and I got to go on a ‘date’ to a local cafe close to where we will be staying in Portland.
Thirdly, we got to pray for a Christian couple expecting their second daughter. Their names are Eli and Shannon. They were waiting to find out what was wrong with their baby as they had found fluid in her head and problems with her heart. Please pray for them! We were heartbroken to see all the sick and suffering children in the children’s hospital. We are thankful not to be in that position of seeing our children sick like that!
Fourthly, the ‘breathing’ team wanted to have Josh get a transfusion due to very low hemoglobin count (which affect your oxygen), but he didn’t end up getting one! We are praying he won’t need one, and that he be as healthy possibly before transplant.
Lastly, we got to do all this without having to bring the kids! We had wonderful church family help care for them for the day! Thank you, Vicki, Dwight & Elaine!!!
There were many other little ways the Lord showed us kindness throughout the day! 😊 Thank you all for your faithfulness in praying for our little family!!💖
Now, we continue to plan for transplant. We drive back to OHSU almost every week till they finally admit him. We don’t have a transplants date yet. We are waiting til they narrow down the donor to be able to have an exact date. The doctor is confident with 15k potential matches that this won’t be an issue or cause for delay. 🙏 We pray for a perfect match so that Josh’s transplant goes as smoothly as possible!
Josh has two full days back-to-back of more pre-transplant routine appointments next week. We are going to need to spend a night or two in Portland. Our 4th anniversary is next week too! We are planning to go out for dinner to celebrate the sweet moments and the amazing work of sanctification God has done in the past few years already!
Plus, we just got a call from a social worker who found out we needed to spend two days up in Portland. She just ‘happen’ to have a room available (it’s usually only for patients’ families who have kids in the hospital) for two nights at a local hotel for us for free from a Ronald MacDonald funded leased part of the hotel! God continues to show us his loving provision every day!
As transplant nears, it’s been tempting to become anxious and fearful. Please continue to pray for us to have peace and rest in God’s care and lovingly wise hand over every aspect of our lives.
Psalm 139:1-18💜
‘O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.”
This Thorny Rose 
Hi Ericka and Josh. Thank you so much for the update. It really helps us to know how to pray. It has been exciting to see God working in your life and those around you. You are in our prayers and we are lifting you up. Sending lots of love and hugs. Gerry and Kathy Hawkins
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“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).
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You guys are such an example of strength thru faith in the Lord. Thank you for sharing with us the time of your “stewardship of suffering”, and how God so richly blesses those who are stayed on Him. Love you!
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God is good all the time, even when we don’t particularly emotionally feel like He is. But, we know that He loves us and has only good in our future..the future He has planned for us. Praying for God’s continued closeness and loving kindness to prevail in your lives. Love you all so much!!, Jan
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