Cade The Warrior

Last week was AMAZING. By the generosity of some friends, we spent a few days near Bloomington at a lake where we boated, played, and all three littles shared the same bunk room and LOVED it. It is hard to express how much that trip meant to us. To me. It felt like a direct gift from the goodness of the Father, played out in the lives of people around us whose generosity and compassion are remarkable. We are so thankful. I feel like I keep saying the same three things: God has been way kinder than I ever guessed, we are so thankful, and we are expectant. I guess its because those things are always very true. I spent last year obsessing over how old 30 was, and a million other stupid, vapid thoughts probably crossed my mind during that birthday. This week I turned 31, and I keep finding myself looking back at this year seeing the wisdom of God. At the very beginning of this journey I felt like I had a visual of God taking back the chessboard of our lives, and studying it with...

Making it through last week in itself is a big big relief. Cade wasn’t eating, and was unable to stop vomiting until mid-Wednesday. In striking contrast, he now can’t stop eating and is jumping around like a wild man. We are on VACATION! WHAT A GIFT! We are staying at a beautiful lake house, and are so thankful for the reprieve and change of location. Next Monday we begin one of the three last major treatments in Cade’s protocol. Thank you all for tracking with us for so long. Please pray Cade’s body is prepared for Monday, and his echo this Friday shows a strong and healthy heart that is ready to receive whatever chemo his body will get. And please pray that he has strength to endure and the blessing of peace over his stomach, his GI tract, and his whole body. These chemos cause a number of side effects, but we are still fervently praying Cade “skates on through”. Thank you for praying with us!

We conquered week 25 and yesterday we had a quick chemo for week 26, but the effects are still lingering for Cade. We are thankful for new mercies every morning! Between the time we made our weekly update video and this morning, Cade has had a return of vomiting and sick stomach. We are praying for breakthrough for him, and for his ability to eat and have a calm stomach. He hasn't eaten since Saturday and he needs strength, please pray with us for a return of his appetite and for a stomach that can handle food. We are thankful for all of the people praying with us, for our team of medical staff, and for family nearby who has helped out so much. This thing takes an entire village, and I am incredibly thankful for ours. Hearing people I've never met talk about praying for my son daily is so humbling, and incredibly encouraging on days like today. Thank you so much. Here are some of the prayer points we have for this week and next: 1. Please pray for immediate relief for C...

The past two weeks have honestly felt like vacation. We got to almost go through re-entry to life. We hung out with friends, hosted a few meals, swam, saw fireworks, did a bunch of things that we hadn't been able to do since last November. It's amazing how much of normal life we took for granted before. We felt so thankful for every single day. Cade has been doing great and has been playing and running around- I went back and looked at a list of prayer requests on my phone I had made at the start of this last 18 weeks and chief among them was that Cade would be a little boy again. That has certainly been the case. He has been back at waking up the earliest, staying up the latest, sneaking food, using our house as his own personal obstacle course. Thank you for praying that with us! We started Cade's 5 day yesterday- its not an intensive one, and only the second time we have recieved this chemo. One of the only side effect is pretty serious diarrhea, so we are praying th...

We are so thankful to be in the middle of 2 weeks of normal family life. This week is a surprise week off, since Cade didn't make counts on Friday to do the five day chemo he was scheduled to do this week. With that delay also comes some more dose reductions for the next large chemo group. It is amazing how much we appreciate our oncologist. She is thoughtful and careful, and I love her approach to treatment. We hope today is a day full of breakthrough for all of us, even if the breakthrough is just clear eyes and lungs to see and breathe in all God is doing around us. I love the rhythm of fasting because it helps me stay awake to my need. The physical signs of hunger are so loud, I only wish my body was equally as vocal about hungering for God. May we all develop spirits that are aware of our hunger. Here is the video devo for this week, and also some prayer points for the next week: 1. Please pray that Cade's body receives the EXACT amount of chemo he needs and not one ...