Weary

We are all weary of this journey.  Jon is weary from enduring 2 months of his body completely being depleted of every good thing (AND BAD thing).  He is weary from fighting nausea for basically 2 months, he is weary from the mental battle.  I am weary of coming to the clinic everyday, rushing home to see my kids, going back and forth between apartments to take care of everything and everyone.  Emily is weary from MY KIDS!  LOL.  She is weary from hearing them cry and scream, "I WANT MY MOMMY." Weary from getting up every morning early and not stopping until night time. She is weary from being pulled in lots of different directions, being asked to do this and that.  This is a 7 day a week thing.  None of us stop for "breaks" during the week, or whatever.  It is constant and we need prayer for strength to make it through to the finish line.  We are longing to be back at home in our own beds, on our own furniture, in our spacious house God has provided for us, and with our friends and family.

I do have a really cool story.  So back when Jon first started this process I told you he was going to write a letter to Lance Armstrong.  Well, he did (way back when) and I NEVER mailed it until last week!!  I asked all of you to pray and we also prayed that Mr. Armstrong would actually see the letter and not his publicist or whoever runs his LIVESTRONG foundation, etc.  Well, prayers were answered!!  Mr. Armstrong hand wrote a letter back to Jon.  It was short and basically thanked Jon for writing and to keep fighting.  I just think it is way cool that this letter is in the hands of Lance Armstrong and hopefully he did not just toss it into the trash but pray that God would use the words Jon wrote to penetrate through his heart.  Here is an excerpt of the end of the letter that Jon wrote that we need to pray Mr. Armstrong's heart will be softened by:

Mr. Armstrong, I am writing to you on the eve of my first of two rounds of high dose chemo with stem cell transplant.  My family and I have moved from South Carolina to Indianapolis for the next 2-3 months.  I have to be honest with you that I very nervous about the outcome, as well as how the treatment is going to affect me over the course of the treatment protocol.  Reading your book, certainly painted a very real picture of what potentially is to come.  

I have to tell you that there is one difference between you and I, and it is our belief system.  Throughout this process, I have never asked, “ why me? “.  I have always said  “ Why not me? “  I firmly believe that what my family and I are going through is God’s will for our lives.  I  believe that God has led us to Indiana to be treated by the best doctor in the world.  I believe that God is going to work through Dr. Einhorn and his staff, the nurses, the technicians, and the medicine.  It is through these people, their knowledge, and wisdom that God will perform a miracle.  I am a firm believer in God the Father, who sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins.  Only to have him be raised from the dead three days later and defeat death.  Please understand that Jesus died on the cross for me, for you, and for all of mankind.  

I don’t know where you stand, faith wise, but I want you to know that as a current cancer patient, I am praying that God either continues to reveal Himself to you in a very real way, or that He introduces Himself to you.  I am praying that if you don’t know the God that I believe in that your heart will be softened to His leading.  Mr. Armstrong, I believe that whether God heals me or not, that His will is being accomplished even now as I write you.  You are truly an inspiration to all current cancer patients.  Your strength and determination are to be admired.  I plan to fight this cancer with same amount of courage and perseverance that are described in your book.  I know that the Lord my God will provide me with the mindset and strength necessary for my family to get through this process.  Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.  I greatly appreciate it!  I hope to someday have the opportunity to meet you face to face.  We can share our stories of survival!

God is good and we do not need to be Lance Armstrong's judge.  We need to pray for him!  He needs Jesus just like all of us do!  Thanks for joining in.  God has given Jon some awesome opportunities to share with people and it is so fun to see Jon using every one of them!

I need to share some great news before I sign off.  Jon has gotten his blood work back for the day and his white counts are coming up!!  They are hoping to discharge him next week.  Like TOTALLY discharge him from the BMT (Bone Marrow Transplant) Unit.  The docs and NP say he is doing fantastic and we should be able to come home!!!   HALLELUJAH!  Great news for all of us.  I did not know this news when I wrote the first paragraph of this blog.  I think we can make it to the finish line but this last week will be very busy packing and saying our good bye's.  Pray for strength and energy!

We will do it because we are...

GODSTRONG!