After a very brief hospital stay (3 days and 4 nights), we are back at home. And we are still very much processing the fact that WE HAVE FINISHED THIS CHEMO PROTOCOL. We explain it more in the video but basically Cade's kidney health is important, and chemo plus the antibiotic we are giving him for the bacteria that showed up on cultures last week is a bad combination. Our oncologist suggested being done with chemo, and moving forward with scans next week.
It is stunning to me how graciously God has carried us so far. When we first heard about how long chemo would be, we were pretty much paralyzed. I couldn't even look at the sheet with the dates listed. Literally. Chad was the one who kept on top of it and would tell me what was ahead, but I basically had to live week to week. I am so thankful Chad and I are gifted differently, or else we both would have been clueless.
But chunk by chunk, week by week, day by day, we made it through. And so many of you have been there with us, showing up faithfully here or in person, choosing to do this with us. I don't think we can ever convey how much that has encouraged and strengthened us. Thank you.
We are celebrating the end of chemo this Sunday from 6-7:15 Antioch Community Church in Castleton (across from Costco) with a night of worship and prayer. We would love to see you there and be happy WITH y'all.
We have scans ahead, and after that no one can tell us definitively. There are many unknowns, but we are praying that the scans show no evidence of disease. If the places remain and surgery is necessary to remove them, we are praying that each place has dead cells and no active Wilm's.
But despite the unknowns of the next few weeks, we want to pause and celebrate. It would be so sad to move from "worry to worry", or to just glaze past the fact that what was impossible has been made possible because of God's grace showing up every day, often in the form of living breathing humans like you. We want to take an hour of our lives and worship Jesus, to tell Him how faithful He is, and we would love to have you with us. After that conversation with our oncologist as I was driving home, I got a picture of everyone I loved packed into our church sanctuary taking time to just say thank you to Jesus.
Throughout this whole time, worship has been the game-changer. It has shifted my heart and perspective over and over again. It has robbed fear of its power and removed the despair from our hearts time after time. Heaven is not worried about Cade. God is not wringing His hands; as Chad says, He is able and He is willing. He is more zealous for Cade than I could ever be, and He loves Cade so much. Please come and join us if you are able. We would love to see you.
Specifically, we are praying:
I have been trying to read and re-read Psalm 18 this week. On December 18, 2012, I read that Psalm the morning of Cade's due date. It was one of the first passages I revisited when we received his diagnosis. It is a lengthy psalm and full of so many relevant promises for what we are now facing, I have no doubt it was hand-delivered that morning from the Throne of Grace for this specific time. No matter how many times I've read it, (which is A LOT), new parts seem highlighted every single time.
This week it was this portion in the Passion Translation:
It is stunning to me how graciously God has carried us so far. When we first heard about how long chemo would be, we were pretty much paralyzed. I couldn't even look at the sheet with the dates listed. Literally. Chad was the one who kept on top of it and would tell me what was ahead, but I basically had to live week to week. I am so thankful Chad and I are gifted differently, or else we both would have been clueless.
But chunk by chunk, week by week, day by day, we made it through. And so many of you have been there with us, showing up faithfully here or in person, choosing to do this with us. I don't think we can ever convey how much that has encouraged and strengthened us. Thank you.
We are celebrating the end of chemo this Sunday from 6-7:15 Antioch Community Church in Castleton (across from Costco) with a night of worship and prayer. We would love to see you there and be happy WITH y'all.
We have scans ahead, and after that no one can tell us definitively. There are many unknowns, but we are praying that the scans show no evidence of disease. If the places remain and surgery is necessary to remove them, we are praying that each place has dead cells and no active Wilm's.
But despite the unknowns of the next few weeks, we want to pause and celebrate. It would be so sad to move from "worry to worry", or to just glaze past the fact that what was impossible has been made possible because of God's grace showing up every day, often in the form of living breathing humans like you. We want to take an hour of our lives and worship Jesus, to tell Him how faithful He is, and we would love to have you with us. After that conversation with our oncologist as I was driving home, I got a picture of everyone I loved packed into our church sanctuary taking time to just say thank you to Jesus.
Throughout this whole time, worship has been the game-changer. It has shifted my heart and perspective over and over again. It has robbed fear of its power and removed the despair from our hearts time after time. Heaven is not worried about Cade. God is not wringing His hands; as Chad says, He is able and He is willing. He is more zealous for Cade than I could ever be, and He loves Cade so much. Please come and join us if you are able. We would love to see you.
Specifically, we are praying:
1. For clean scans next week in Cade's lungs. Wouldn't it be amazing if every single new spot was completely gone, and every bit of scar tissue was disintegrated/ing?
2. If surgery is needed and God chooses not to give us clean scans, we are praying that the surgery is successful. We are praying that Cade bounces back quickly, and that each spot that is removed and put under a microscope show nothing but dead cells.
I have been trying to read and re-read Psalm 18 this week. On December 18, 2012, I read that Psalm the morning of Cade's due date. It was one of the first passages I revisited when we received his diagnosis. It is a lengthy psalm and full of so many relevant promises for what we are now facing, I have no doubt it was hand-delivered that morning from the Throne of Grace for this specific time. No matter how many times I've read it, (which is A LOT), new parts seem highlighted every single time.
This week it was this portion in the Passion Translation:
Through you I ascend to the highest peaks of your glory
to stand in the heavenly places, strong and secure in you.
You’ve trained me with the weapons of warfare-worship;
now I’ll descend into battle with power
to chase and conquer my foes.
You empower me for victory with your wrap-around presence.
Your power within makes me strong to subdue,
and by stooping down in gentleness
you strengthened me and made me great!
We are not the first humans to discover how powerfully worship changes our position in battle- King David got the idea thousands of years ago. No wonder this passage resonates so loudly in me.
Thank you for praying with and for us!
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