Joel's Journey: July 2007

Monday, July 23, 2007

First Place for Josiah!!!!

Today is the 23rd, 6 months ago Joel went to be with the Lord. My eyes of faith are weak today, I miss him so much. The ache in my heart hurts. There are so many sweet memories, yet the memories of this day 6 months ago are ever so painful. Reliving the hours the moments that his earthly tabernacle would cease and his spirit would then abide forever with the Lord. The Lord gave me a scripture this morning and it has brought some comfort but my faith is so weak it seems. John 16:16 "A little while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father." A little while," not long and I can see Joel again. I read this scripture a few days ago, Luke 23:28 "But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." It seems the tears just keep coming. As so many many vivid memories of what we were all doing last year this time. This scripture encouraged me to weep for myself, that I would become more fit for God's kingdom, that I would be conformed to be like Christ, and to weep and pray for God's mercy of grace and repentance to be given to our younger children in salvation. Joel is complete and has already been made a sweet savor to the Lord. I'm still here and in need of sanctification, to become more pleasing to the Lord. I also read in Ps. 78:72 "So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands." I want my heart to trust and believe that the Lord has fed us with the very best. That he skillfully guided and provedentially worked all the circumstances for our good. I want to trust the integrity of his heart, it's hard! Pray for me to get there fully!

Bethany has wisdom teeth surgery on Wednesday the 25th at 8:45, so pray for her too. That all would be successful and she would recover quickly! She's somewhat nervous.

We have some fun farm news. Last week we had a junior goat show. This was Hosanna's idea! Bethany put it all together with numbers for the contestants, signs, and prizes. We had seven entries. Josiah won first place. His goat did so well! Good job to all the contestants for their training and working with their goats and giving them baths and grooming them!

The soap is ready to go. Email us if you haven't already and are interested! Bethany has it packaged all pretty. It would be a nice gift too!

The boys have finished the music for the DVD. The editor has a few final things to finish up and hopefully we will be shipping it out by the middle of August. This has been a labor of love for Caleb and Daniel. They did an outstanding job on the composing and performing of the music. There are tears shed everytime we watch it. May it go forth as a mustard seed, a little seed, a little life but with great glory to the Lord and may it grow great fruit for God's kingdom as Joel's story is shared with others. We also with great gratefulness want to thank John-Clay for his many hours of labor to bless our family with such a keepsake that we treasure!

Thank you for your prayers. I must say I covet your prayers as August, September and October come around. August holds so many memories, September is Joel and Josiah's birthday, and October was when all the fevers started. May the Lord give my heart grace and our family as we go through these very tender months of memories! You are loved!

"In a little while..."
~Cindy

You can see Joel's Journey trailer in the "links" column above right

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Goat Milk Soap Information

For everybody interested in the goat milk soap, it is underway but not quite ready for ordering. We have made several batches but is has to cure for about 4 weeks before it is ready to use. So that will make it available around the 24th of July. If you are interested or have any questions please send me an email to 13blessings@sbcglobal.net that way I will be able to let you know when you can order.

Thanks for your interest,

Bethany

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.