1. I lost my voice during the trip--completely lost my voice. I could only whisper. Ironically, that night IOH sends each couple on a date. Normally I would be super excited about that, but in this instance not so much. I'm getting ready thinking what the heck are we going to do tonight--Jon can't hear and I can only whisper. This should be a lot of fun. So we went off on our date and again, ironically, we were at a sports bar. TV's were blaring above us (Jon really can't hear when there is background noise). Needless to say we didn't talk much, Jon read lips a lot and we had a great time regardless! Both of us love to eat and the whole meal was taken care of--we could literally order whatever we wanted. The date was amazing!
2. The last day we were there we were set to go to Sea World. The plan was to head home straight from Sea World. Because we had 2 cars in Orlando (read my previous post), we didn't quite know what to do because we are very frugal and did not want to pay for 2 cars to park at Sea World. So Jon finds a Walgreens near the entrance and we park his car there. At the end of the day, we head back to Walgreens. His car is NOT there! Initally I thought it got towed, but Jon went and ask the manager and he said they do not tow cars. It hit us, the car had been STOLEN!! We sat there and wondered what in the world we were going to do. On a side note, I was worried about how we would recover this car that is probably worth $8k but not replaceable. Jon was only worried about our clothes that were in there and my new Nike shoes!! LOL. As we sat there, Jon said something just isn't right. Maybe we are at the WRONG Walgreens! YEP! We were! We found the car at the Walgreens 1 mile down the road! You can't make this stuff up!
Our last activity we looked forward to for months:
During high dose chemo in Indianapolis, we planned several things we would have to look forward to when it was all over. One was the IOH retreat. Check. One was the Duke game. Check. And the last was the Disney Live Tour featuring Sophia and Jake. Something for every child to enjoy. So this past Thursday we suprised the kids and took them to Charleston to watch the Disney Live on Stage Tour. Check. It was bitter sweet. Now we can move on with our lives.
The family sickness:
We are all getting better. Luke, Ryan and I are completely better. Emma Kate still has a bad cough but is acting fine. Jon on the other hand was getting worse last week. He was running a low grade fever at night, migraine headaches everyday, extreme fatigue, cough, congestion, and on Thursday pushed the stroller from the collesium to the car and was so out of breath I couldn't believe it. I put my foot down and made a doctor's appointment. By the way, he worked during this time of feeling awful. So we went on Friday afternoon and the doctor really believes that it is bronchitis. He put him on an antibiotic, but because of his history sent him for a chest x-ray and did some bloodwork. We have also been in touch with Jon's oncologist and he wasn't overly concerned but agreed additional testing needed to be done. We know this is in God's hand but it is during these times, we start having fear creep up. We feel confident that all it is is bronchitis because this antibiotic has kicked in and Jon is already starting to feel much better. Praise God. But we always get anxious finding out the results of the tests. Pray as we wait to get word of the results.
Some great teaching moments:
1. The kids got some candy for Valentine's Day. I am not a big candy/sugar person. We try to limit it. So when the kids get it, it's a treat. They each got a bag with some hershey kisses in it. They carried around their bags for days. I never thought a thing about it. One day I remember seeing Luke with something in his mouth but honestly things started happening and I forgot about it. The next day I saw him open the pantry, grab something and run to the bonus room. I decided to see how it would play out. When he came back down I asked him to open his mouth. He was thoroughly embarrassed that transitioned into bawling. He was caught. He not only had eaten all of the kisses from his bag but had moved to eating the kisses in the big leftover bag. Luke is our rule follower so for this to happen was unusual. But what a great teaching moment. He is very sensitive to the Lord and to what is right so he obviously felt bad. Jon had a good talk with him and all is good. By the way, Luke does a quiet time every night and he said the other day, "Momma I have been learning in my quiet time how to be sweet so when I wake up I'm really trying to be sweet." I'm telling you, God has some great plans for that boy. I feel so humbled and inadequate to be his mother! Just for fun, here is the evidence of the stolen candy. This is looking straight in the bag. See all the hershey kisses papers? And he also had eaten a small bag of M&M's.
2. I can't remember the next teaching moment. LOL. It was something with Emma Kate. It's 9pm and my brain shuts off.
One last Inheritance of Hope story:
On the retreat a 23 year old man attended with his girlfriend. He has been battling testicular cancer, had high dose chemo at the same time as Jon at IU Cancer Center, but unfortunately not a favorable outcome. They are trying a different chemo right now. I read on his Facebook he recently accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. And he ran off that day and marriend Montana. Congrats to this great couple. And this is affirmation once again that IOH is such a superb organization. I know for a fact that seeds were planted that week. IOH--you are such a blessing to so many!! Please continue to pray for Jaron and complete healing in his body!
The Strebe's remain:
GODSTRONG!
1 comment:
So great to hear your lives, sweet cousins! Prayers continue and much love always!! :)
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