Joel's Journey: this week!!

Monday, April 18, 2011

this week!!

No pictures.....Anna is still gone!!!!

Weekend came and went all toooooooo fast!!! Guys were here, great to be together!!! I feel so blessed not because of anything that has to do with me, it has ALL to do with the Lord, His goodness in allowing me to have a wonderful husband, and incredible children!!! Probably because we are in this phase but I think the phase of life we are in now is the most exciting, happy and fun season of our family. Having older children yet still having a little girl is so special!! I am just so thankful!!

Anna is having a grand time!! I'm getting lots of txts and pictures of all the places they are exploring!! Can't wait to share some pictures when she gets back!!! Yesterday they were around the Shenandoah Valley in West Virginia seeing Civil War sites! Hard to believe one can stand at locations where faithful heros fought for what we get to experiences now.....freedoms!! I think she said also she was learning so much.....which is a good thing, thats why she went!! haha!!!

This is my favorite week of the year! Passion week. I don't think I ever really thought like I do now of what all this week means. To me this week means that I WILL see Joel again!!!!!!! This week means Joel will one day have a resurrected body that I can touch, hold, and feel again!! This week means that I can live with a "lively" hope of what is yet to come! This week means that I have been changed and clothed with His righteousness. This week means that I am forgiven because of His blood. This week means to me that one day this mortal body will take on immortality and I will never die. This week means that all my sorrow and death that came to a little 3 yr olds body is swallowed up in victory!! I love this week. I love the Resurrected Lord!!!
May you find things this week that remind you of Christ! This morning I went to town and when I came out of one of the stores, church bells were ringing! It reminded me of Him, how He died for His church, His people, and then the gladsome hope of living today and trusting Him for all the simple daily tasks, trials, desires, prayers, yearnings that we face each day! It was such a joyous sound to my heart! I am thankful today!!!

Hope you have a great Monday!!!!

3 comments:

Teena said...: I love this time of year too... it is my favorite.

Glad to hear about Anna.

My heart is sad today as this weekend we found out that Dimmy the nephew of Maureen (the girl Mandi stayed with in Kenya) passed away. He was 8. He had TB. It is so sad to me. We wrote him letters and sent him pkgs. He is with Jesus now and is completely healed. My heart is still broken for Maureen.

Hugs,
Teena; April 18, 2011 at 4:46 PM
Rachel said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; April 19, 2011 at 7:56 AM
Rachel said...: Your faith and joy are so encouraging to me!!; April 19, 2011 at 7:57 AM

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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.