The roller-coaster ride we are on is scary and not a fun one.  It’s more like one of those rides you wonder why you ever got on, and wish there was some way to get off–only it’s too late or else you plunge yourself out of your safety seat and onto your immediate death.  I think this would be a way to describe how Josh feels right about now. The only difference is that Josh did not really have much of choice… He didn’t sign up for this because he thought he may get a thrill out of it. He only did this because to do otherwise would mean his bone marrow would quickly deteriorate beyond repair, and he would have surely died of this disease shortly.

As much as we love OHSU and the friendly staff, hospitals are no place to take a vacation. Poor Josh has been in the hospital for a whole week and has about three more weeks to go. The few times I’ve been in hospitals for the birth of my children it has merely been for one night I was ready to go home.  I can only imagine how hard it is for Josh who has never even been in the hospital overnight before. Prayers for endurance and for him to get on a good sleeping schedule are much appreciated!  Josh’s room in next to a lady who wails and screams all night and it is disturbing his sleep. He has prayed for her, which may be the reason shes next-door, but at the same time, Josh needs rest to be able to recover and be strong again.

Thankful at least the boys had a fun day today at a children’s science museum in Portland called OMSI.  Our sweet friends–the Metcalf’s who drove our from AZ to see us took them out with their lovely family of eight. They have a 12 passenger van and picked them all up and even paid their admission.  It was such a relief to know they were in good hands and Josh really needed me there with him almost all day today.  I got there at 9 a.m. for his full body irradiation and left the hospital at about 6 p.m. Plus, the kids just really needed to get out of the house with other children. Thank you, Jason, Becky, Asher, Micah, Sarah, Lydia, Caleb, and Josiah!!! We love you guys and appreciate your friendship.

Josh will be receiving his bone marrow transplant tomorrow March 17th at noon.  This will be a day that will be marked on our calendars for the rest of our lives– a day where we hope to look back and proclaim God’s faithfulness every year.  We hope it will be a sort of new birth with a new bone marrow and new life as a result.  It really pales in comparison to the new birth that God offers us in his Spirit through faith in Christ. This past Sunday the pastor here at our respite church in Clackamas preached on John 3 and the new birth… I don’t think it’s a coincidence!  God has a much bigger purpose for allowing all of this to happen in our lives and it goes beyond just Josh or our little family.

“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”

⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c] must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[d]

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.^{[e] 14} Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^{[f] 15} that everyone who believesmay have eternal life in him.”^[g]

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned,but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

John 3:1-21