Joel's Journey: Iced In !!!!!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Iced In !!!!!

We are iced in!!!! Our electricity went out at noon today. We were hopeful it would come back on soon but there are ao many out, I guess they are working as hard as they can. I called around 4 pm and the company said be prepared for at least two days and then someone said it could be longer. We have lived out here almost 14 years and have not been without power more that 4-6 hours. So I guess that is a blessing isn't it? It was ok until it started getting dark and needing to take care of business in the restrooom, so Terry got the generator going outside and now we have water and a few lights via extension cords. When the lights came on after he hooked up the generator the children were jumping around saying "Oh, we have the internet and the Christmas tree lights" So that is what is important:)!!!!!! We have heat through our wood stove which is a huge blessing even when we have electricity. This morning I had started boiling a whole chicken and then the power went so I took it over and placed it on the stove and finished it!!!!! I cannot imagine living in the days of no power. I am thankful for the conveniences that we are so blessed with. So... tonight we are all snuggled in our warm home, we are together, and they are watching some Vision Forum DVD's. Hopefully we will get our power soon! May the Lord bless you with warmth and thankful hearts of just being together!!

Anna has taken some nice "winter" pictures. It is hard to keep up all my Creative albums with all of her wonderful pictures!!!!

Cindy

1 comment:

Christine said...: It sounds like you are all having some wonderful winter memories! Blessings to you!; December 10, 2007 at 7:12 PM

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Joel's Story

Joel, our 11th of 13 and a twin of Josiah, at age 3 was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, on December 6th, 2006. Joel had three perfect years of health and he and Josiah celebrated their 3rd birthday Sept. 13th, 2006. The first of Oct. Joel started having unexplained fevers for a few days and would return to active play. After the fourth round of fevers we took him to our family Dr. which they said his iron was low, so we treated that for a few weeks and took him back only to have his hemo. showing lower than before. We were referred to a hematologists and saw him a few weeks with blood checks twice a week. At a visit on Dec. 4th we showed the Dr. the bumps, (which were tumors but we did not know at the time) on Joel's head and he was very concerned and we were told we needed to admit him immediately and start extensive tests the following day. Joel went through rigorous testing and then the dreaded results were given. Joel was at a stage IV the most extensive stage, but we were hopeful that the Lord would use the means of Chemotherapy treatments to restore Joel's body. Joel endured 8 1/2 days in the hospital, came home for Christmas, and returned for his second round of chemo Jan. 3, 2007. Joel had a seizure that night after midnight and went into a coma due to a tumor bleeding in his head area and causing his brain to swell. After tests the following days, the Dr. declared Joel "brain dead" and took us to court to force us to take Joel off life support, as we did not agree with the medical field's definition of death. Our family sought to stand with the scripture, "life is in the blood,"and until Joel's heart quit beating naturally, he was living. We were making arrangements to bring him home and on January 23, 2007 his little heart stopped beating and he went to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven. Our lives are changed forever. God is faithful in the midst of this trial and we look with great hope to be with him someday.