In light of eternity
Well, here we are, another month into the year. I’m happy to report it’s been another one with zero cancer-related medical updates to share. In other more benign medical update news, we managed to, by and large, escape the flu that made its way through Charlotte with vengeance early this year. High-fives all around. Strep throat and the Norovirus, however, were a different story.
Both Jennings and I got sniped by the stomach bug over Super Bowl weekend, seemingly out of nowhere. I woke up that Saturday feeling fine, but by lunchtime was down for the count and spent the rest of the day either on the couch or in bed. By Sunday, I was feeling fine but had the energy of a 125-year-old. Jennings went down that day and followed a similar path, by Monday he was back. All in all, it wasn’t too terrible, although it made for a different Super Bowl watching experience. Rather than heading to the party with the girls that we planned to attend, the boys and I spent the night in our PJs on the couch, eating toast & plain pasta, and sipping on ginger ale.
Next the strep throat fairy came to pay us another visit. I think she realized that only two out of the four had gone down before, so she came back and tagged Charlotte next. It was the normal experience: Charlotte had a cough, sore throat, and fever; took her to the doctor to be cultured; positive for strep; prescribed antibiotic; feeling better after one dose. She’s back to normal now, so that leaves one to go…unless that pesky fairy decides it’s been too long in between and then decides to cycle back through all four. I swear, if I had supplies on hand to culture bacteria and a gallon jug of antibiotics, I could save about $1,000 every time a bug comes around. 🤔
All in all, small potatoes and minor inconveniences, so we are thankful for that. Here’s a few from our healthier times over the last month 👇
Left to right: Henry and Charlotte really wanted to dress up for the 100th day of school where they are supposed to be 100 years old. Lauren nailed the fits. Having twins is the best sometimes, especially when you happen to find them snuggling and reading together in bed. Most versions of Charlotte are glued to mommy, but sick Char is inseparable. Another episode of Friday Night Family Night, this time showing Hook (Jennings has been reading the real Peter Pan at school). Pants are a requirement for family nights. Shirts are optional.
Left to right again: Lauren is on the planning committee for this year’s St. Jude Celebrity Chef & Wine Dinner, which is their big Charlotte market fundraiser. She has been crushing it, selling tables and getting new, local companies involved. Jennings reading out loud to the twins on a random Saturday morning. I love stumbling upon those moments. I believe he was reading from esteemed author Dave Pilkey’s latest edition of the Dog Man series…some real classical, high-brow stuff. I was out of town for a work conference recently, so Lauren had a few extra snuggle buddies. Meet season continues. Caroline is loving it and seeing her hard work pay off. We are seeing large chunks of our weekends disappear as we drive back and forth to out of town meets where the rule of thumb is to spend twice as much time in the car as you do at the actual meet. That’s her at one in Knightdale, NC with the tween in her smirking, trying to ignore the fact that I’m taking her picture, and refusing to look.
As we prepare to enter Lent and a season of longing, looking forward towards Easter and beyond to the New Heaven and New Earth, we are staring at the opportunity to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Jennings’s 2nd transplant. That will be March 11th. I plan to mark the day as I usually do with fasting to solemnly remember all that we have walked through as a family and God’s goodness to us on that journey. We would love to have you join us in that and continue to join with us in prayer for his life-long cure.
Before we get to 3/11 however, we will crossover Day +1450 and soon after that, Day +1500! I write those numbers in my journal everyday, so they creep up one by one and often the significance of each individual number is lost in the monotony and smallness of each day. But when it comes to these large, round numbers, I often stop and think about exactly what they signify. It really is amazing to look back and think through all we have walked through. On Day 0, Jennings was a 5-year-old boy with no hair, skin and bones, desperately sick, and confined to a patient room in an isolated transplant unit fighting for his life. Over these last 1400+ days, we have gotten to see him turn 6, 7, 8, 9 and soon, Lord willing, 10. We have gotten to see his hair grow back and his weight come back on. We’ve seen his energy and activity levels return and the light in his eyes brighten. We’ve seen him learn to read, make friends at school and in the neighborhood, and learn responsibility in being able to ride his bike on his own in the neighborhood. We’ve gotten to see him play five seasons of baseball, starting his 6th now, and mixing in one of flag football. These are all the things we prayed for back in those early “plus” days and things that, if we’re honest, we weren’t so sure we would ever get to see.
I really hope we never take this for granted and that it never loses its impact. This is but a taste of the truer and fuller healing and restoration that God promises for all who believe in Him.
To that point, we have been going through a sermon series to start the year at church on heaven. I had read Randy Alcorn’s great book, Heaven, many years ago before the twins were around and before J was diagnosed. It was actually the summer before he was diagnosed, and I remember often wondering in those early days if I had been led to read that book in preparation for losing Jennings. I am thankful that was not God’s plan at the time, but the series has made me pull that book back off the shelf and dive back into it. It’s been so good to remember and spend time thinking on what God promises us. We (not you, I have a mouse in my pocket) spend so much time focused on trying to build our own little kingdoms here, in this broken world, sometimes idolizing comfort, control, wealth, happiness. It sounds so dumb when you say it out loud, but it is our natural bent.
It’s been good to remember that the ultimate promise of God is not for this life. We long for a world made right, justice, peace, and restoration - of bodies, relationships, minds, creation itself - and that is promised in the New Heaven and the New Earth. It can be easy to get up from that sermon or put down that book and turn right back to the next “to-do” without stopping to think how that promise should impact how we do that next “to-do.” It’s been a grounding series for me in that regard, and since I’m a slower reader with little time to read, I should be able to extend the book (and thus the grounded-ness) for most of the year.
One of the pastors kept coming back to this question: “Ok, so what do I do on Monday morning?” All of these promises are true, they are not our reality yet, we are still living in this broken world, God has us in this place for a purpose….so, how should those facts and His promise change how we live day-to-day? That’s been really convicting for me. And if I’m honest, I haven’t made any changes yet. But, the question is still rolling around in my head. I consider even that a small victory. The pace of our world and the culture we live in value overstuffed schedules that leave no time for thought. We (I did it again, my bad) I am so easily distracted and have so little margin in life, so to have something in my head that prompts me to think about how I am living today, in light of both the eternity I am promised and the eternity of others around me, is really helpful. It’s great at helping me look at how I am prioritizing what to do next and, maybe more importantly, how I will do what I prioritize to do next.
I’m wired as a do-er, so this call to reflect, think, and evaluate why before doing is a struggle. In my mind, I picture a cartoon character straining against a rubber band that is holding him back from running, desperately trying to break free and go. I desperately want to go do, so to make myself stop is hard. I feel a tension there. And tension is often a good thing; a sign that we are not lost, that God is pulling us against this world and against ourselves and towards Himself.
I hope that you will join us in celebrating on March 11th God’s goodness to Jennings and our family. We praise Him for that taste of healing and restoration that we will one day fully experience. Until then, we carry on, doing our best to stay malleable in the hands of our Father being shaped to be made ready for that day.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Rev 21:1-4
#allinforjennings