Sunday, July 26, 2009

Sunday

We know we sound like a broken record, but we cannot thank you enough for your outpouring of love through prayer, notes, meals and other forms of serving us. Because of your faithfulness in praying, we wanted to share with you a new prayer request, in addition the ongoing list of you already have.

We have a nasty head cold/sore throat bug going around our house. Thus far, Callie and I (Steve) are the two to be enduring it at this time. Please pray that God will put a shield of protection around Bonnie that she will not fall prey to the bug, as her immune system, although functioning, is fragile. If she does end up catching the bug, please pray in advance that God will use those new white blood cells to fight it off quickly.

She continues to gain strength as we wait word from Karmanos Cancer Center on the HLA typing of her siblings. It will be another 8 to 10 days before we hear anything on potential sibling matches.

Thank you for the prayers on my (Steve) abdominal cramping/ulcer sensation. This past Friday night was the first relief I've had in 10 days. Several of you have asked about the pain in my tailbone from the lymphoma. I'm happy to share that on a scale of 0 to 10, I'm at a 1, without pain medication for the past 6 days. My next chemo treatment is this coming Thursday, July 30th. Bonnie's birthday is the next day, Friday, July 31st. Please pray that I will feel well enough to help coordinate and celebrate Bonnie's birthday with family. Bonnie is willing to skip her birthday, but between the two moms, that isn't likely to happen.

We started this update off thanking you once again for all your support and we will end this update the same way. In some ways, the journey we are on is like the Tour de France. Similar to the start of the race where there is a lot of congestion and crowding causing what appears as mass confusion, such was the case with the commencement of our journey. There was a lot of confusion and unknown ahead of us. As the race wears on, the crowd of those competing thins out and things begin to fall into some sense of order. There are days that travel is flat and the going is a little easier and there are other days where you're climbing the mountains. That is our journey. The other similarity, and really the point we want to make with this correlation, is the cheering spectators offering encouragement to the participants. It doesn't matter the stage of the race, the spectators feel a part of or an association with the race by standing and cheering, passing out water or jumping out to help someone in need.

You are the "cheering" spectators of our race and we are grateful that you continue to line the edge of our road as we continue to engage in the challenges before us. The body of Christ is made up of many parts or members, yet each member shares an association with all the other members of the Body, including those who are going through difficult and challenging times. As much as we have been overwhelmed by our circumstances, we have been equally overwhelmed by the outpouring of support you have shown us. You all have demonstrated Phillipians 2:3-5 to our family:

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus

Thank you for showing us how to love and for lifting us up in this race we must endure! Your prayers, notes, words of encouragement, emails, phone calls, meals, gift cards, offers for help, and the list goes on, have demonstrated to us exactly what the apostle Paul encouraged the Phillipians to do for each other.

Love,

Steve and Bonnie

1 comment:

  1. hi Steve and bonnie -

    You continue to deal with setbacks and small encouragements in such a graceful manner. so sorry steve's had the cramping. It sounds awful!
    Have they stopped for good now? And flu. You guys are made of some stern stuff. God knows what you can handle. I sure hope I can't handle all of that! We are praying. Thanks for your up-date.
    gwen

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