Joel's Journey: hello school!!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

hello school!!

We have begun our twentieth year of homeschooling. It's hard to believe!! I can't say I'm very motivated. I'm tired and weary of it all. Somedays I wish I could rewind and do things different. But I will keep putting one foot in front of another. They really do their work so effortlessly and get it done quite early. Mercy is a bit behind of where she should be but hopefuly this year she will take big strides.

I haven't written a lot here lately. I guess the blog world has taken second seat to other media avenues. I don't think I could ever delete the blog, it's my life with Joel. Who is still missed and thought of daily! Sometimes it seems harder than a few years ago. I still have no idea the whys of it all. It seemed so useless. I have to keep trusting that here are hidden purposes for now and one day I'll know!

Life has changed drastically. It's all good though! There is rarely times when we are all together, say for a meal. Busy busy!! Me and the littles are usually the ones at home every night. Terry has meetings and the older ones go hither and thither!! We enjoy our coffee+movie evenings or for now a series on netflix!

The pool is done with for this year! I can't wait for June July of next year!! Josh, 16, has the front yard looking like the greens at a golf club lawn! He's very dedicated and picky!! We can't walk on it!! Ha!! Glad he's proud and glad he's doing it!!

Hosie has been making some great desserts!! The key lime pie last night was amazing!! I don't know when or how her dream will come true, but a bakery would do her good!!

3 comments:

Daniel and Jaynee Lockwood and Family said...: Just stopping by to say hi :) Think about you often and miss you.; August 22, 2014 at 1:57 AM
Unknown said...: Love your family!Do Caleb and Kristen have their own blog?; August 25, 2014 at 4:06 PM
Unknown said...: Which curriculum are you using?; September 18, 2014 at 8:10 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.