Joel's Journey: Family Spring Pictures 2009

Monday, April 20, 2009

Family Spring Pictures 2009

I told our crew that tonight I wanted to do something I wanted to do!! For several nights they have wanted to play basketball and went for the evening but tonight was going to be my night to take Family Pictures!! We went downtown to Guthrie to the train station. A few trains came by and at first some of the little children were sooo scared!! It was fascinating to all of us!! It is a challenge to get everyone to look, smile and take a picture with so many but it went ok.

9 comments:

Janet said...: Your photographs are delightful! You have a beautiful family!; April 21, 2009 at 1:12 AM
-stephanie- said...: The pictures are beautiful. I love the setting you picked too.

My daughter has the same dress that Mercy has.; April 21, 2009 at 7:26 AM
Anonymous said...: What a gorgeous family. I especially love the picture of Bethany and Anna, and the one of you holding Mercy, and also the one of Terry and you standing.
But they are all wonderful.
Jodi; April 21, 2009 at 11:22 AM
A.J. said...: These pictures are so lovely. Wonderful Family!; April 21, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Luke's Mom said...: Beautiful family = Beautiful pictures!; April 21, 2009 at 7:01 PM
Jennifer said...: love that B&W one of the older boys! Wonderful family pictures!; April 22, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Dara Steward said...: Love, love, love them all! Anna, well done!; April 22, 2009 at 2:12 PM
Jen said...: I love the blue outfits with the blue train in the background! What a lovely family! Enjoy your blog!; April 23, 2009 at 5:56 AM
Mountain Mama said...: Such a lovely family!! You are so blessed. Great pics!!; April 24, 2009 at 4:39 PM

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.