Joel's Journey: Mother's Day 2009

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mother's Day 2009

Happy Mother's Day!!

I am thankful to be a mother of 13 blessings!!

Caleb, Daniel, Bethany, Elijah, Anna, Micah
Andrew, Joshua, Jeremiah, Hosanna, Joel, Josiah and Mercy

9 comments:

-stephanie- said...: You are blessed. Happy Mother's Day!; May 10, 2009 at 5:33 PM
LJR said...: Have a blessed Mother's day!; May 10, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Laura said...: Happy Mother's Day! I love the pictures. You look radiant and you are so blessed!; May 10, 2009 at 7:45 PM
LJR said...: I did beat you again didn't I? Well that is easier for me to do, I only have 3 kids to keep up with, I have more free time. :-)

You of course have lots more hugs on Mother's day than I do because your family has more arms. LOL; May 10, 2009 at 8:43 PM
Teena said...: Happy Mother's Day! I love the pics. YOU are blessed.... I am thinking and praying for you.

HUGS~; May 10, 2009 at 8:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Happy Mother's Day Mrs. Morris! I really like all the pictures on your blog . . . very cute. :); May 10, 2009 at 9:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Wasn't sure how I could email you privately - but wanted to let you know that there's a national "Bible Bee" that your children may be interested in check out. The deadline is May 15th and there's tons of local competitions across the U.S. that will take place in September. The top 100 in each age group will have the opportunity to go to Washington D.C. to compete on the national level. It's a huge deal with VERY big monetary rewards but more importantly, the spiritual rewards will be PRICELESS as children hide God's Word in their hearts. The website is www.biblebee.com for more info. God Bless!
-Janice; May 10, 2009 at 11:07 PM
the Mrs. said...: What beautiful photos. I love the one with you and your girls.; May 11, 2009 at 7:53 AM
The Lockwood Family ♥ said...: Happy Mother's Day Cindy...yes, you are so blessed! You look so radiant and beautiful. I love both pictures...the one with your daughters is so sweet.; May 12, 2009 at 10:13 AM

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.