The streak continues! Another month with no medical updates to share. This puts us just past the halfway mark between annual visits to St. Jude. As I mentioned last time, we got to see Dr. Bolen at the ribbon-cutting event which prompted some discussion around getting him into see her for kind of an annual “local” check. It is not at all necessary, but I think it is an offer for some peace of mind, for both of us (her and us) to know that we are being vigilant, and just a way to stay connected. I won’t presume to know for sure, but I assume there is much inspiration and satisfaction for doctors and nurses when they get to see kids like Jennings. Kids they have seen on their worst days; families with whom they have had heart-wrenching conversations. We walk into their office, Jennings has hair and body fat, and we talk about school, activities, the other kids, everyday life. It’s restorative to us and I hope a blessing for them.

Here’s a few of from October 👇

L and I spent more time in Bank of America stadium over the past two weekends than we probably have in the past five years. And we saw no football being played….which is almost exclusively the case at BofA stadium these days. Top left is the Morgan Wallen concert where we were invited to a suite…bougie, I know. Post was not there, but Morgan did “I Had Some Help” and now I wake up almost every day with that song in my head. Bottom right was last weekend at the Concert for Carolina, which raised over $24M for Hurricane Helene victims - it was a pretty impressive show considering the timeframe in which they put it together. Top right is the elementary school’s “family dance,” which was a hot, sweaty, wild affair emceed by a retirement age DJ with more energy than most of the kids. I have no idea what they paid him, but there’s no way it was enough. That’s him in the foreground, and then I managed to get all three of ours in one picture. Bottom left is from our family pictures for this year, which turned out great thanks to L’s hard work on our ‘fits and (a big) thanks to @morgan.amanda.photography.

I mentioned the concert raising money for those affected by Helene. The last post probably hit your inbox the day after that storm rolled through. In Charlotte, it was worse than most of what we get - lots of rain, strong winds, trees down and debris everywhere, and lots of folks lost power for several days. West of here, though, in the mountains of NC, it was a totally different story. It took a couple of days for the magnitude to begin to come out, especially for a social media hermit like me. The devastation is hard to describe. I’ve been up there now three times to volunteer in recovery efforts with Samaritan’s Purse and I’ve personally witnessed the scenes that Lauren had showed me on instagram. Seeing it firsthand is almost overwhelming.

For someone who has realized (learned through trauma) that our circumstances are outside of our control, this event seemed to be shouting that from the rooftops. Those communities went to bed one night expecting a bad storm and before they went to bed the next night, they had lost their ability to communicate with the outside world, were trapped with washed out roads + bridges + downed trees, and in some cases, had lost family members, friends, all their possessions, their homes, and their livelihoods. If your faith, hope, and trust are in anything in this world, it can, in an instant, be taken. If you have Jesus, then you know how the story turns out. The pain is still there, the losses are real, and the sufferings are deep, yet there is a foundation that remains. It is upon this sure foundation where you can begin to clear the rubble, mud out, and begin to rebuild. I got to see lots of folks operating out of that strength.

It has been incredible to see how communities have responded. Whether it’s been the Concert for Carolina raising money, grassroots supply and food donation deliveries, Samaritans Purse volunteer sites being full, or just someone with a homemade “free wifi” sign on the side of a mountain road - people have sacrificed to show love to their brothers and sisters in need.

Our family experienced that on a much smaller scale when Jennings was diagnosed. We were provided for in every way possible when we were unable to provide for ourselves. It is a picture of the Father’s love for us and it is unique to times of suffering. We do not wish the suffering upon ourselves in order to experience it, but we find strength, steadfastness, and grace in it when trials do come. And when we look back as time passes and begins to heal, as only time (in God’s grace) can do, we will remember God’s faithfulness, presence, and provision through the love and support of His people. I pray that for those suffering from Helene now, that they can one day look back and remember the love and support that carried them through, not only in the days and weeks that followed, but in the months and years. What a beautiful gift out of the ashes of loss.

Clockwise from top left: L in action - in less than 24 hours, she used her network to raise just under $7k which we then used to buy recovery supplies that were delivered to the Lake Lure area. Next is me at the first home I worked at just outside of Boone. The first level had just been renovated and was completely submerged when the creek behind it became a raging river. That’s the contents we removed along with about 6” of mud. Below is one of the mud outs we did, near the end of the shift. Each one looks so devastatingly bad that you almost don’t want to even try at first, but pictures like this show the power of many hands. Last is a view from above the Cane River in Pensacola in Yancey County. You can see the flood debris in the foreground, a temporary mud road where a paved road should be, and the river itself in a new location - it used to flow around the far side of the far bank. NC Highway 197, which was this community’s link to US Hwy 19 and civilization itself, is gone in several sections. In others, it is reduced to a one-lane, gravel + mud strip, the mountain rising off of one side and a 15’ sheer bank created by the flooded river on the other.

Keep these communities in Western NC in your prayers. The road to recovery looks to be especially long and hard.

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, of danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39

#allinforjennings