Month: March 2017

 

This past week has been a busy one of ongoing transitions and challenges yet sweet scents of blessings along the way. After we got back from our last visit to Portland, Katelynn arrived from Arizona!! We are so glad to have her be a part of our family for this season. It has been helpful for her to have some time to accumulate with the kids before Josh is hospitalized. Thank you Rob for bringing her out to us! Thank you, Katelynn, for blessing our family!

The next day after Katelynn’s arrival, Josh’s parents came into town for a brief weekend visit.  We enjoyed spending time with them.  They came with gifts for the entire family passed on to them from the dry sunny land of Cali! We each got something to help lighten the load while Josh is in the hospital. Thank you, Aunt Cheryl & Uncle Tim! Thank you, Karen & Gary Simpson! Noah got to go to a baseball game as an early birthday celebration with Papa and Daddy.  Papa and grandma also came with with us to church on Josh’s last Sunday before transplant. Thank you for being there for us mom & dad!

It was such an encouragement to not only be with blood family but also to be with our beloved church family in the bond of being washed or transfused with the blood of Christ.  It was inspiring to hear Josh exhort us with the Word and challenge us to not be so close to the kingdom of God, and yet so far away from the King himself (John 12:1-7,Mt 7:21-23, Luke 10:38-42, 2Pe 1:5,10-11) Josh has been making it a point to use his disease to point others to the Savior of the world! He made gospel cards of encouragement to pass on while he’s at the hospital.

Our church family really has wrapped their arms around us and lovingly said goodbye with a prayer for our family.  It was hard to say goodbye, yet we have Hope that this time with pass quickly and we will be reunited soon.  Thank you Merlin Church for your faithfulness, generosity, and fierce prayers–please continue to keep us in your prayers and stay strong.  You will be in our thoughts and prayers too!

Tuesday, we packed our things and were off to Portland for 4-6 months. Thank you all for praying for travel mercies. We made it to our new home safely at about 8 PM. It was a long and tiring day! Thank you, Linda, Joe, and Matt for coming over to help us on moving day!

Noah and Nathan love Katelynn! She has a God-given gift with children and an ability to love and sympathize with them even when it’s difficult.  The kids struggled with discontentment and just plain old ‘fussiness’ the day of the move. It was a long drive on a rainy afternoon and that seemed to quickly take us into the evening. This is all been a unique challenge for them. The boys could definitely use prayer, as can the rest of us.

Today Josh and I did a trip to OHSU where we got to talk to Josh’s doctor and she had him sign some consent forms. She also informed us that our donor is a big man which means he has more bone marrow to give to Josh–PTL! (Praise the Lord!) Also, she got his latest biopsy results and the MDS has not progressed yet which is a great sign of God’s faithfulness and grace to us! Another HUGE answer to prayer is that Josh’s cold seems to have gone went away!!! Prayers for his continued optimal health going into transplant are appreciated.

Josh is scheduled to go in at 7:30 AM  tomorrow for another blood transfusion.  Then, the next day on Friday he will be admitted into the hospital for hydration and chemo following that.  On March 17th he will have his transplant as soon as they ship via priority airmail his donated bone marrow from the brave young man who in a small way like Jesus, sacrificially and painfully gave of his blood, in hopes to save Josh’s.  Jesus gave up his human body being deity to save not only our early bodies but our souls for eternity.  Thank you God for freely giving your son and not withholding any good thing from us.  Thank you, donor, for your sacrifice. We ask for this man’s own health and recovery too!

 

Our little family set out to sail along the interstate 5 north Tuesday afternoon for an early appointment in Portland the next day. Our voyage was a bit turbulent as the kids fussed and made strange noises from the back seat. Lol. Then, about halfway through our journey I checked my email on our lodging accommodations from our social worker and realized we didn’t have a room booked for that day but the following week! So the kids were a bit restless yet eagerly anticipating a nice dip in the heated pool at this hotel, and we actually didn’t even have a place to stay as we were driving to our now unknown destination! The first thing I did was pray and then tried to think of possible solutions before breaking the news to Josh and the kids… I made some calls to no avail. I thought about contacting our wonderful host Juliet; thank you, Juliet! She had already been kindly trying to figure out how she was going to host us and her daughter plus 8 of her friends in March. So I didn’t want to add to the burden. Then, I remembered a call I got from a sweet saint named Bonnie who had found a duplex at an affordable rate owned by a local church that was available for us to stay. I called Pastor Ken there and was embarrassed to ask if we could not only look at the place but also stay for the night, and he gladly said yes and didn’t charge us for the night! Thanks, Pastor Ken and Bonnie!

Noah was disappointed at first but later realized it was probably the best thing since half our family was struggling with fighting a cold. Please pray for these cold germs to be defeated prior to Josh’s transplant. If not,  Josh will need antibiotics soon. I’m not sure what would happen if that didn’t work but it’s imperative for this BMT to happen as soon as possible! We are keeping a close watch on him and he has to wear a mask now in public. No matter what though, we must trust God with it.

We really liked the duplex where we stayed a night! It has no stairs and three bedrooms and a small fenced yard and is literally right next to the church building! The neighbor is the youth pastor and his family! We decided to stay for the first month while Josh is in the hospital since Juliet will have a full house.

Wednesday Josh had his final bone marrow aspiration before transplant! All prayers were felt as Josh had the least amount of pain ever thru this kind of procedure where they drill a piece of his hip bone out! We were thinking Josh may need another blood transfusion since his plates had been steadily decreasing, but they actually have increased! Praise God! Josh is feeling more at ease with the upcoming treatment. We all got to ride the tram again except this time we had clear skies and a beautiful view of downtown Portland! They also set a date for admission for next week and transplant for March 17th! Noah was sad to hear Josh’s transplant would be on his birthday, but quickly cheered up by our wonderful nurse coordinator Lisa who exclaimed that they would now share birthdays together! March 17th will be Josh’s new birth in transplant terms! It reminds us of how we all must be born again in Christ, in order to live eternally.

Katelynn is on her way over from Kingman, Arizona! We are so thankful for this beautiful young woman! Thank you, Katelynn and Rob & Traca! Katelynn will be a missionary to our children and is going to be such a blessing to our family! The kids are excited to see her after about 8months. Prayers for their safe travels and for Katelynn to be received well by the kids. We hope she is also blessed in the process of her service to us!