Tuesday

Ecclesiastes 3:11 starts off with “He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time.” We have to continually keep our “timing wants” in perspective with God’s “timing will”. His timing is perfect and based on eternity, while ours is self-centered and based on the “here and now”. Even though we are subject to God’s timing (when it doesn’t fit ours), the Psalmist says in Psalms 103:8 “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.”

From an earthly perspective, there is never a good time for leukemia and/or lymphoma. We can look back and dwell on various events missed: a graduation & open house, an 18th birthday, a memorial service for a stepfather and a vacation. Having faith that God has a greater purpose for our unusual sequence of events helps us to come back to the proper focus and perspective of trusting God and His perfect timing. Yet in the midst of submitting to God’s timing that isn’t ours, He is “compassionate and gracious…..abounding in lovingkindness.”

Before updating you on our physical status, we wanted to share with you a snippet of God’s perfect timing that we were able to experience and grateful for His outpouring of compassion. If you have been following this blog, you most likely know that for the past month Bonnie has been feeling better and getting stronger while I (Steve) have been the one experiencing the physical side effects of the chemotherapy. As a result, we have not been able to travel any significant distances since prior to May 12th when Bonnie was admitted to Sparrow Hospital and now with her back in Sparrow for another week of chemo combined with my third cycle of chemo this Thursday, we had a very small window of opportunity to travel to Northern Michigan this weekend to visit Bonnie’s terminally ill father and also visit a few cousins from out of town. This past Friday, we visited Bonnie’s father and Saturday morning he passed away. Bonnie was able to tell him she loved him and he in turn expressed the same to her, so God allowed her to have that closure. There was no other time we could have traveled the 3+ hours North to see him. We also were able to spend some time with cousins at the lake and enjoy a beautiful day….one of the few they have had up north all summer. God is so good and His handiwork so present.

As far as the update on our status…..Bonnie was admitted yesterday for 5 days of chemo. They will be wiping out her white blood cells again as a precautionary measure to ensure she remains in remission. If everything goes as planned, she will be discharged on Saturday, most likely in a neutropenic state, meaning she will have no immune system to fight infections and viruses. She will then receive injections to stimulate her bone marrow to produce new WBC. As of tonight she is doing well and we are praying that she has minimal side effects in the days following the completion of the chemo. I (Steve) have been feeling better the past couple of days with the exception of the cold virus I contracted over four weeks ago that wants to hang on as my system is also taxed from the chemo. As mentioned up above, I have my third (and hopefully last) round of chemo on Thursday. I have a Pet Scan scheduled for September 1st to determine the effectiveness of the chemo which then will be followed by three more weeks of radiation.

In summary, please pray that as we head into this weekend that our side effects are minimal in order that we can minister to each other and our kids don’t have to witness two very sick parents at the same time. We are still awaiting word on whether or not any of the six possible matches for a bone marrow donor are willing to move forward with us. Please continue to pray that someone in this group is indeed a perfect match and willing to be a donor.

Thank you again for your prayers. We are so grateful for you all.

Steve and Bonnie