Thanksgiving

So today is Thanksgiving, and I thought it would be good for us to let everyone know what we are thankful to God for this year.

1) God's work in all this - Even though this is a really difficult process we are thankful for His work in the lives of us and those around us. We see him working through the lives of His people and Church as He calls those to pray for us and draw closer to Him. We are growing as people and are learning what real adversity is like. Through it all we see that God is good and that He is doing this for His benefit. We are only are beginning to see a glimpse of what He has planned but we do know this - the final outcome will be good. Amazingly through all this we have been drawn closer to each other as a family. We know that often times people that have sickness or stress in their lives cause marital problems, but God has been using this to draw us closer together and to appreciate each other more. We both agree we wouldn't want to go through what we are going through with anyone else.


2) God's grace in the adversity - He has provided help when we need it, by family, friends and our Church. Countless meals, babysitting and lending of hands have made this process bearable. We even had the privilege of having some free time to relax in the midst of all the treatments. Joe's work has been so flexible letting him work from home as necessary so Joe can go to the treatments.

3) God's provision - In this crazy economic time, it's very nice to know that we have health care through Kaiser. We just saw the first part of our bill - almost $60k at full price. Our out of pocket has only been a few hundred. After traveling to Cambodia this summer, Joe has seen what it is like when you have no health care and there are no doctors around. We know that Cole wouldn't be alive if he didn't live in a country that provided health care. Gap Inc.'s charity match allowed some the kind people at Joe's work to raise over $750 for the Histio society.

4) God's healing - the most immediate thing we see is Cole's healing so far. His blood levels are nearly normal, his spots on his lungs are all clear and his skin is almost 100% clear. The only thing still remaining is the spots on his liver - they are getting better, but still more healing is needed ahead.

5) Your love - we are thankful that you care about us. Knowing that you read this blog and the comments really help us to make it through each day. Your thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement mean so much to us.

So that's what we are thankful for this year. We hope and pray that next year will be as good as this year.

-Joe/Holly/Ruby