Month: January 2016

Order.  I need it.  I  just read an article that describes a way of having better order in my home and my heart is leaning hard into her plan.  “Only keep that which brings you joy.” Hmm, she has me thinking and wondering if I can make this work!

The Lord also gives us  directives to have order in our lives and it comes through (brace yourself) submission.  Why do we squirm under that term?  If we obey it, it will bring even more calm and blessing than perfectly ordered dresser drawers! Through submission a nation is honored, a home is at rest, and a church is guided.  Consider what Peter 5 tells us:

 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

² Feed the flock of…

Rest
Today was a day of restlessness for Ellie. Her struggle was between sleep and food. She would lie down for 5 minutes and sleep, then wake up with a definite urgency for food. This happened all morning long, and finally, at 2:45 p.m., I decided that she was going to sleep better cuddling with mama. So that’s what we did for an hour.

There are multiple verses that come to my mind when I think about the idea of rest.

I think about peace.

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8

I think about trust.

Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy…

Alone
We aren’t alone in this journey, and that’s something we’re very thankful for. We have been contacted by various support networks for families dealing with cancer. We have been reached out to by friends, acquaintances, or people who have just seen our story and wanted to share their journey with us. We have been told of stories with all kinds of varied outcomes. We also realize we aren’t the first people to have a child with leukemia. We are benefiting from others who have already walked this road. In the end, we are coming to terms with the fact that we are a cancer family, and that we’re part of a whole new community now.

Even if none of these people had reached out to us, we know that we still would not be alone. Even the nights that Jon and I rotate at the hospital don’t seem very…

Burdens
Today has been hard for me. Jon isn’t feeling well today, and it has been the busiest day for Ellie since her surgery last week. We had a lumbar puncture and two different chemos on the chart for today. (Some people consider her steroids chemo and others don’t. She will receive the steroids twice a day for the first 27 days [we are on day 8 of treatment]. The chemo I’m talking about is on top of those steroids). Ellie is starting to get the sick “red-eye” look of someone battling something serious. I have chosen to be thankful for every moment with her, but I do know that this is going to start getting hard soon as we see the chemo begin to take it’s toll on her little body. God formed Ellie in my womb and He formed her knowing exactly what she was going to face. My heart…