Captain Blood Count

Christmas has come and gone, and we are still at home. Not only that, but Joshua's blood counts have continued to go up. Just as a refresher if you are not up on your leukemia terminology, "blood counts" refers to Joshua's ability to fight infection. As you know, during chemotherapy, the reason why kids have to go back to the hospital many times has to do with the fact that the medicine kills their immune system, rendering them incapable of fighting disease. We are thankful to the Lord, and to you for praying that direction, that Joshua's counts have not dropped; in fact, they have gone up to be in the counts of a normal kid. This has caused us to believe (at least for these few weeks) that Joshua is, as many of you may have suspected, a super hero whose superpower is that he is impervious to the side effects of chemotherapy. We call him "Captain Blood Count."

So many things to be thankful for in the captain's journey right now - we have not been back to the hospital; the doctors are pleased with his progress, especially the way his body is handling the chemo; and that we have a few weeks off from going to the hospital. We are bracing for what will be the next phase of Joshua's treatment that should come near the end of February. Apparently, this next phase is dramatic enough that most kids have to check back into the hospital at that time. So we are trying to enjoy these weeks when he still feels like a superhero.

On the subject of our daughter (how strange does that feel) we feel like we have now the right life verse for her. Perhaps it's selfish for us to choose a life verse for her based on the circumstances of her birth, but we're doing it anyway.

Romans 15:13: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."