A Short, Good Month.

Praise is due to YOU, O God, in Zion, and to YOU shall vows be performed. O YOU who hear prayer, to YOU shall all flesh come.                                                                              

Psalm 65:1-2                                       

Thank you for your faithful prayers. February has come and gone. It has been busy. It has also been good.

The afternoon of January 31, we signed more papers than we will probably sign in three years put together. We closed on both, our old and our new houses, and two days later we moved. Through the whole process of staging, listing, packing, and moving, God was abundantly gracious and the help that many of you provided to us was invaluable. The transition to our new home has been smooth allowing Jonathan much better accessibility for every day life activities.

At the beginning of February Jonathan had an MRI following the completion of the radiation plus chemotherapies treatment. Our conversation with his neuro-oncologist over the images was very encouraging. The first piece of good news was that there is no more tumor growth at this point.  This is significant, because of the sudden and aggressive tumor behavior we saw back in November. In addition to this, the images also showed a reduction of the tumor, which indicates effectiveness of the treatment. The doctor felt that the purpose of the treatment was attained and his recommendation was to continue one of the chemotherapies (the infusion one) every other week and repeat scans at the beginning of April. The Lord has granted Jonathan to tolerate the chemo very well. His discomforts have been minimal, he has continued to work and to participate in as many family activities as possible.

Over the past two weeks we have had an added blessing! Jonathan has been recovering part of his strength and even sensitivity on the left side his body. Before we began to see improvement, his arm and leg were extremely weaken. Especially his arm, which Jonathan could no move almost at all. It is easy to take for granted the many things that involve both hands and how many adjustments are necessary when one of them refuses to cooperate. But even under these circumstances, Jonathan has been a good leader to our family. He has made the very hard choice to push through, to work tenaciously, and even to joke about this (I’ll spank you with my left hand!, he keeps threatening the kids). This has allowed our children to be part of this in  a special way and has given us all the freedom to celebrate together even the smallest of progress. We do dances and jumps every time daddy is able to do a new move that he wasn’t able to do the day before. Praise God for his beautiful gifts and undeserving grace.

Last time we asked you to please pray for:

Our house transition…

Jonathan’s left side strength…

Effectiveness of treatment…

God has graciously heard our prayers and has abundantly granted more that we knew to ask.  We keep praying for more improvement of Jonathan’s left side. For complete restoration of his health. We keep asking God that He will help us trust Him every step of the way and be grateful for what He chooses to give. I recently came across a quote by  Elizabeth Elliot that even though hard, I hope to be true for all of us who follow Christ.

“The love of God did not protect His own Son. The cross was the proof of His love(…). He will not necessarily protect us – not from anything it takes to make us like His Son.