Merry & Bright

Let’s get right to it. There are no medical updates on Jennings, a pattern we hope to establish and keep in place until April 2024. His little sister, however, was just tested and diagnosed with strep and his big sis is showing symptoms, so it’s only a matter of time before he gets that. He’s like a human sponge for viruses and bacteria. Well, no more so than any other eight year old boy, but his immune system just can’t do the thing like theirs. But we will take that all day, every day.

Now, having crossed all the markers and milestones over the last couple of months, we find ourselves with seemingly with nothing to worry about. Since the last post, we marked his original diagnosis day on 12/4…it’s been six years. In another hard-to-believe moment, he crossed over Day +1,000 since his second transplant. I started jotting those down way back just hoping to get to three digits. We got there, then I hoped to write +365. Never thought about having to put a comma in it.

We have been in such a good spot this Christmas season. It’s really the first one we’ve been able to experience without being in the thick of it or having the thought of being in the thick of it looming large. It really has been merry and bright, for L especially. It has brought me so much joy to see her get excited about the season - decorating the house, planning outings, doing the traditions. We’ve always done the things, but it has lacked, for Lauren & I, the childlike excitement and happiness. That has returned some this year and it is such a mercy and kindness of the Lord.

With that lifting of weight, we have started to get serious about several “big” decisions we need to focus on. That sounds overly dramatic, but it shouldn’t. School (middle coming up for C), home, and church are all in need of some focused prayer and guidance with several options for each being on the table…and they’re all a bit interconnected. They have all been back of mind for us for a while and have very comfortably stayed back of mind. I think getting the results from Memphis last month and getting through all the markers and remembrances of this season did lift a weight and free us to intentionally think about those things. But we don’t do it with blind ignorance. We just do it with open hands, knowing that if we’re in the middle of one of those and Jennings relapses, God’s got us. We are asking God for wisdom and clarity while enjoying, no, savoring, this advent season and looking forward to the fresh start of a new year to really figure some things out.

Picture break! Clockwise from top left: the crew on Thanksgiving, Henry got his first karate belt (and I love that shirt…the first time he wore it, he had no idea but it was actually a Monday and I could not stop laughing), the twins are 6!!, family time at OMB’s Christmas market.

I was struck earlier this week by a sermon I was listening to that really resonated with me and what we are thinking through. The point was how almost conditioned we (as evangelical Christians) have become to not ask God for what we want. We are afraid we will be seen as selfish or not recognizing the will of God or not content or that we need to fix ourselves up a bit first. Asking God for something that we want, though, is not inherently bad. He’s not a “genie in a bottle” and is not to be treated as such and we should always do it with open hands, but as the pastor made the point - He knows our hearts, so He already knows the want is there. We are called to pray like little children and we have all experienced firsthand the unashamedly unreasonable requests that come out of kids. And if our desires are for something sinful or against God’s will, we should pray for new desires. But either way, we should pray for our desires.

I hope this season finds you with a heart of joy and in a place where you can lay your desires before God with open hands. Only then will true satisfaction be possible, either in the fulfillment of them or the withholding of them in His goodness and sovereignty.

In the past week, this verse has been put in front of me no less than three times. So, I thought I should share it here. Once was in my own bible reading, once in the sermon I mentioned, and then once at a dear friend’s father’s memorial service. It is Job 19:25 “For I know that my Redeemer lives.” Through remembering God’s faithfulness we can stand with Job in that no matter our circumstances. And we can pray for our desires with open hands. His will will be done and it will be for our good.

Clockwise from top left: the 6th(!!!) annual Novant Hemby Children’s Hospital toy drive coordinated by Lauren and @kristenmontgomeryphotography - it is enough toys to supply Child Life for the entire year at that children’s hospital; McAdenville - we have taken that picture in that spot for many years; Santa!…and no one is crying, a Christmas miracle; the toy drive ladies bringing Santa and Christmas cheer to Hemby.

Merry Christmas!

#allinforjennings