So Blessed

Good News! Jordan has gained 10 pounds since he was last weighed at the hospital. Sad News...we're back at the hospital. Jordan and I flew and Kim made the 4 hour drive through the mountains. The weather was great so that made for an enjoyable ride. Our flight was turbulent and triggered Jordan's nausea so Jordan had me praying him through it out loud on the plane. So glad it's just a 45 minute flight. When I asked him how he was doing with the thought of leaving home again, he answered that he's not found it helpful to anticipate negative things...sheesh. Jordan is taking it all better than we are. His common remark is "I'm so blessed". And then he proceeds to recount the blessings that have popped into his mind. Again reminded of all the wonderful family and friends (new and old) who are praying. We are so rich. Thank you.

What a sound!

The sound of teenage boys laughing, cheering, being silly and being so creative with playing games is filling our home, and at points, our lawn with the best sounds you can imagine.  I ended up recording the sound for later joy.  So grateful - so thankful - so blessed for Jordan to have such great friends.  Most of them have been friends since we moved to Kelowna 11 years ago.  Jordan woke this morning to declare he was feeling good enough to host a board game party this afternoon.  Well, he's still feeling great into the evening so I've put some pizzas into the oven and it's feeling to me like old times.  Thank you Jesus.

AND a friend stopped by with a gift accompanying some wonderful news.  Her niece's infant has been on the same floor as Jordan this past month with cancerous tumours.  We and others commanded cancer and tumors to leave.  And the latest report from the doctors is that "They've never seen anything like it"  The tumours have shrunk so dramatically that they're retesting.
May that be true of the entire floor of children - including Jordan - that the physicians declare "They've never seen anything like it!"  

Kindness Everywhere

What an incredible thing to experience the kindness we have as a family.  The financial gifts are a constant reminder of the provision of God when we're in such a vulnerable position.  I am reminded of the conversation I had with God at the very beginning of this journey.  Late at night in bed, I asked Him how we would be able to make it with all the additional expenses and the need to take a break from work to support Jordan and each other.  So quickly the words came, "You're thinking like an orphan."  And I was.
When will my first thoughts be to expect the very best?  To know - as in the "experiential knowledge" that God has good things planned for us - for Jordan.  Fears are so close.  Jesus is closer. Jordan is living in the moment.
I awoke from a nap this afternoon with the verses "Be anxious for NOTHING ringing in my mind"...and "Don't worry about tomorrow".  So even though it feels irresponsible, I am choosing not to even think about what is next.  And what could be. It takes running after my thoughts sometimes and bringing them back to this moment.  Jordan sitting between Kim and I in front of the fireplace, worship playing "when my world is shaking, when my heart is breaking, I never leave Your hands, the hands that made the world, are holding me, holding me still".  He is so good.

In This Corner....

Weighing in at OVER 100 pounds - 100.8 to be precise - Jordaaaaan Unrauuuuuuuu!!!!  Cheering crowds.

Quiet Days are highly underrated

Beautiful day!

Jordan awoke early and made his way downstairs without help.  Ate 2 bowls of cereal and yogurt.  Recreated his lego machines on the floor in his sunny bedroom with Tucker at his feet and listening to the audio books of Sherlock Holmes.  He emerged from his room dressed in jeans and a button down dress shirt "just because I have had cancer, doesn't mean I have to live in pjs".  Jordan`s friend, Matt Keery came over and walked him through math homework and it all became ever so much clearer - Yahoo!  No mention of nausea - did I say Yahoo. All the while snacking and eating and thanking God for a good day.

Joel just serves and anticipates the needs of Jordan.  He finds hilarious stuff to watch and has ways of sliding food to Jordan in a way that doesn't resemble my pushy mom way. We'll miss him when he leaves Thursday.  So good to be able to just pop out with Kim for a few minutes.

My mind requires focus on the now and the anticipated goodness of God.  Being a planner, I lean towards the future but the pain and sorrow in planning to return to the hospital or deal with further chemo treatments or surgery is overwhelming.  And yet when I anticipate the worst, I'm not enjoying and trusting the grace that is provided each day.....specifically today.  I scramble to stand on truth and rehearse the miracles God has performed in the life of our family and friends.  I need to live in faith.  I was created to live by faith - to be a participant in miracles - as earth as it is in heaven.

Kim, as his habit, is immersing himself in Scripture and loving the expanded translation by Kenneth Wuest of the New Testament in the Greek.  Wow!  Jesus was serious about us as believers praying for the sick, freeing the oppressed and living miraculously.  Our world is aching for the miraculous.  We see the hunger in all the books, tv shows and movies around us.

So God, thank you for being soo much bigger and inviting us to take our place as children and ambassadors.

Reprieve

It's as if in the middle of a sustained battle we have a reprieve.  Jordan has had a few close calls with nose bleeds which wouldn't stop - we'd have to go to the hospital for a transfusion.  It stopped when commanded to in Jesus' Name.  What a name!
Jordan right leg above the knee is still 10 cm larger than the left. It has decreased from weeks ago. As of yesterday it was down by 5 cm. Some of the lessening has been post biopsy swelling and chemo/prayer. We are not sure how much for each.  We're praying for complete restoration of the bone that was distorted along with the dissolving of tumours.
We have a PET scan date of March 21st.  PET scans provide the imaging of the tumours - or of in Jordan's case - the lack of.  It would provide the doctors with a map of if, where and how many surgeries would need to take place.
When Jordan went into the hospital he was 118 lbs at 5'11".  A lean growing machine. Yesterday morning he was 97 lbs.  So our goal is a pound a day :-).  And this morning he is 97.8.  Pretty good, huh? He is pushing through the nausea and lack of appetite to scan for what he could possibly eat throughout the day.  The way we jump to make it happen quickly reminds Kim of satisfying his pregnant wife with random and "urgent" food requests. On many an occasion, by the time we had the food available, he was unable to eat it....crazy.
Yesterday we celebrated by going as a family, with extended family and many of Jordan's friends to the Dr. Seuss movie "The Lorax".  Intense movies just don't work as well for Jordan right now.  It was fun to just be together.
We are so grateful for your agreement and support.
Here is a video:

Delayed

Yesterday I walked about for the first half of the day somewhat traumatized.  It was if I was coming off the adrenaline high of the last few days/weeks.  And I couldn't get some of the images of Jordan in agony out of my mind/heart.  I was a beaten woman.  And then, the loving of my mom, the sensitivity of my husband and eldest son and the request of Jordan to go to Jesus to find peace (since apparently I wasn't hiding my pain very well) was like salve on my wounds.
And last night, just going over Scripture with Matt and Kim on healing and the power of God.  I am restored.   Joel was scheduled to fly in last night at 10pm from college so we could all be together for two full days before Matt returns to school.  His flight was delayed on the ground in Regina so he missed his flight in Calgary.  They put him up in a hotel and was rescheduled to fly in this morning at 8:15, then 9:20, then 10, then 11:00, then 11:16.  Frustrating for him...and yet somehow, it made Kim and I both think at the same time last night that these delays in the natural seem to mirror the delays we are experiencing in the supernatural with Jordan's healing.  The delays are real and frustrating.  In Jordan's case - excruciating!  But healing is ours and as sure as Joel has landed just now - Jordan's healing is sure. Because God's Word is true.