On Thursday, 10/10/13, we finally got the call we had been waiting for - the test results from the CGH done in San Francisco were in. It has been confirmed that Gideon does have melanoma. Deep breath.
Let me back up and fill you in a bit from my last post when we THOUGHT that the Vancouver Clinic was running this test. They fumbled and called saying they couldn't do it. They asked Seattle to do it, they refused (because the doctor up there decided this was benign and wasn't willing to order the test.) It got bumped back to Vancouver Clinc who tried and failed to get it done. Three. Times. Then on September 12th, I picked up the phone on a long shot and called San Francisco myself. I spoke with Sherry. Sherry said if I wanted the test, she would make sure it got down. Right Away! And she did!! She even updated me about once a week while we were waiting.
Then, this week on Monday, she said they had the results, but couldn't share them. I asked her about it and she said that I'd want the doctor to go over them in person. I told her that of course I assumed the worst when she said that and could she just give me an idea. She said "You'll want to call your doctor." So I did. Every morning and afternoon on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Wednesday, I was told, they had received the fax, but the doctor hadn't read it yet and the medical assistant was "on it." On Thursday, they finally called me and asked me to come into the office. I forced the doctor to just tell me. Then I went into the office. Within 24 hours, St. Jude had a flight to bring us there and a room for us to stay. We leave Monday and were told to prepare to be there for at least 2 weeks for the initial visit.
Since then, it has been a complete whirlwind of activity. Packing, planning, organizing. Friends have stepped in to care for the kids, provide meals and even offer to relieve Scott while I'm gone with Gideon. We are as ready as we can be. Pray for wisdom as we make decisions regarding Gideon's care, school for the other kids, and are apart as a family. Pray for Scott to be able to do well with the business and have patience and not feel too far away from his little man. Pray that Gideon and I would get rest and have endurance for what is certain to be more of a marathon than a sprint.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Friday, August 2, 2013
An Update on Our Waiting
Because so many are asking, and we really appreciate everyone's prayers and concerns, I wanted to post a short update on Gideon. However, there isn't a lot of news yet. Because of the difficulty in diagnosis (which the article below does more to explain than I could) and the rarity of it, things have moved quite slowly.
After his surgery in Seattle, the doctors there wanted to ignore the pathology and assume that by removing the spot on his face, he would be okay. However, we were not comfortable with the "ignore the pathology" part - their reasoning was that it is rare for 3 year olds to get melanoma - so the odds were in our favor. But we are talking about OUR 3 year old. And we've been through enough with Elijah to understand that "very rare" doesn't mean "doesn't happen."
We also (Providentially) were able to talk with some very experienced moms who have walked this road before us (two are in the article) and based on their experience, it was definitely necessary to keep going to get a diagnosis we could be confident in. So we were referred to St. Judes Children's Cancer Research Hospital in Memphis.
Due to the long distance between us and them, they want to run as many tests as they can here first before bringing us there. So first they started asking why a CGH hadn't been done. This is a test they do on tissue they already took in both the originally shave biopsy and then the Wide Local Excision surgery. It should tell us exactly where the extra chromosome is - and knowing that will tell us how to proceed (kind of.) So in order to do this, they had to track down the slides, which have traveled from Vancouver to San Francisco to Seattle to Memphis and once found were sent back to Vancouver, where they are currently being tested.
They have also ordered a Sentinel Node Biopsy (which, really, why didn't we do this sooner) which will be done in Portland by the same surgeons who operated on Elijah last year - so thankful to be doing this close to home! That should be sometime in the next two weeks.
They've also ordered a full body scan since Gideon's lymph nodes in his neck continue to be quite enlarged (there are four that you can distinctively feel) and as of ten days ago, the ones in his groin are now also swollen.
Hopefully, all of these results together will give us a clear picture of what is necessary for treatment. I would love it if they all came back clear! But either way, we are thankful in a way that the process was slow, it has given us time to breathe and enjoy the summer and to be reminded that this didn't surprise our God and He chose this (whatever "this" is) for Gideon and for us at this time. And to be reminded that we were called to go on these upcoming missions trips, so we will still go, because we know that God called us and He will provide in EVERY way. So we don't have to fret. We can rest well in His promises.
THE ARTICLE I MENTIONED ABOVE:
http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=19774895&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com
After his surgery in Seattle, the doctors there wanted to ignore the pathology and assume that by removing the spot on his face, he would be okay. However, we were not comfortable with the "ignore the pathology" part - their reasoning was that it is rare for 3 year olds to get melanoma - so the odds were in our favor. But we are talking about OUR 3 year old. And we've been through enough with Elijah to understand that "very rare" doesn't mean "doesn't happen."
We also (Providentially) were able to talk with some very experienced moms who have walked this road before us (two are in the article) and based on their experience, it was definitely necessary to keep going to get a diagnosis we could be confident in. So we were referred to St. Judes Children's Cancer Research Hospital in Memphis.
Due to the long distance between us and them, they want to run as many tests as they can here first before bringing us there. So first they started asking why a CGH hadn't been done. This is a test they do on tissue they already took in both the originally shave biopsy and then the Wide Local Excision surgery. It should tell us exactly where the extra chromosome is - and knowing that will tell us how to proceed (kind of.) So in order to do this, they had to track down the slides, which have traveled from Vancouver to San Francisco to Seattle to Memphis and once found were sent back to Vancouver, where they are currently being tested.
They have also ordered a Sentinel Node Biopsy (which, really, why didn't we do this sooner) which will be done in Portland by the same surgeons who operated on Elijah last year - so thankful to be doing this close to home! That should be sometime in the next two weeks.
They've also ordered a full body scan since Gideon's lymph nodes in his neck continue to be quite enlarged (there are four that you can distinctively feel) and as of ten days ago, the ones in his groin are now also swollen.
Hopefully, all of these results together will give us a clear picture of what is necessary for treatment. I would love it if they all came back clear! But either way, we are thankful in a way that the process was slow, it has given us time to breathe and enjoy the summer and to be reminded that this didn't surprise our God and He chose this (whatever "this" is) for Gideon and for us at this time. And to be reminded that we were called to go on these upcoming missions trips, so we will still go, because we know that God called us and He will provide in EVERY way. So we don't have to fret. We can rest well in His promises.
THE ARTICLE I MENTIONED ABOVE:
http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=19774895&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com
Monday, June 3, 2013
More Questions Than Answers
Thank you all for praying. It was a busy, long and confusing day. First of all, we learned much more about his diagnosis - but most of what we learned just led to a lot of confusion. In summary, let me give you a little information to help you follow all of this. There is a special kind of mole called a Spitz Nevus. By definition, a Spitz Nevus (also called Spitzoid tumor or Spitz Melanoma) is benign. However, there is a subset called an Atypical Spitz Nevus that pathologically (when they do a biopsy and study it's features) looks just like melanoma. So much so, that there is ongoing debate in the medical world as to what to do when pathology comes back as an "Atypical Spitz Nevus". Which is exactly what Gideon's pathology came back us.
However, since melanoma can be so serious, many doctors call an Atypical Spitz Nevus a melanoma. They give this diagnosis and treat it as such. This is what the dermatologist that originally gave us the diagnosis told us - it was melanoma, which is usually very rare in children and quite fast growing. It was based on this, that the oncologist and others gave us the recommendations to do a Wide Local Excision and Sentinel Node Biopsy (SNB), which would be very drastic - especially on his face. But when your dealing with cancer, drasitc is okay. That doctor and many others are on the side that says "It looks like melanoma, it is melanoma, treat it like melanoma."
But the other side of the coin says, there is a possibility that it is completely benign and since it's on his face, maybe we should start with a smaller more complete excision that would leave him with a smaller scar. Then we will biopsy that tissue. If it still comes back inconclusive or conclusively melanoma, then we will move forward with the larger excision and SNB. If it comes back clearly benign, we saved him from a bigger surgery. Obviously, as parents, we want to do everything we can to prevent any unnecessary surgery and cutting, so it sounds like good news. But this is where it gets confusing.
First, the dermatologist, while recommending the smaller surgery first, did say that if this were anywhere else on his body, she wouldn't hesitate to call it melanoma and treat it as such with the exact same pathology. If he were older, again, she wouldn't hesitate. And ultimately, she kind of expects us to end up needing to do the bigger surgery. So are we simply delaying the inevitable? Maybe, but right now it seems worth the risk and have the possibility of a much smaller scar and a benign finding.
Bottom line. Does he have cancer? Depends on who you ask. Some would say yes, some would say maybe. Nobody can say no. At least not yet. Maybe this is the answer we asked for. It's too soon to know.
Surgery is re-scheduled for the 17th at this point. But before then, Seattle will be reviewing the slides for a third opinion on the pathology. All of the doctors will "pow-wow" and determine with us just what margins they need to take. In the meantime, the chest x-ray did not show any nodules, which was definitely good. His bloodwork wasn't too exciting, but did show that his reactive Lymphocytes were relatively high. So a few more pieces to fill in the puzzle.
Again, thank you for your prayers. This is all very confusing for us and it isn't reassuring when the experts you seek out don't give you clear answers, but rather leave you with a lot more questions.
However, since melanoma can be so serious, many doctors call an Atypical Spitz Nevus a melanoma. They give this diagnosis and treat it as such. This is what the dermatologist that originally gave us the diagnosis told us - it was melanoma, which is usually very rare in children and quite fast growing. It was based on this, that the oncologist and others gave us the recommendations to do a Wide Local Excision and Sentinel Node Biopsy (SNB), which would be very drastic - especially on his face. But when your dealing with cancer, drasitc is okay. That doctor and many others are on the side that says "It looks like melanoma, it is melanoma, treat it like melanoma."
But the other side of the coin says, there is a possibility that it is completely benign and since it's on his face, maybe we should start with a smaller more complete excision that would leave him with a smaller scar. Then we will biopsy that tissue. If it still comes back inconclusive or conclusively melanoma, then we will move forward with the larger excision and SNB. If it comes back clearly benign, we saved him from a bigger surgery. Obviously, as parents, we want to do everything we can to prevent any unnecessary surgery and cutting, so it sounds like good news. But this is where it gets confusing.
First, the dermatologist, while recommending the smaller surgery first, did say that if this were anywhere else on his body, she wouldn't hesitate to call it melanoma and treat it as such with the exact same pathology. If he were older, again, she wouldn't hesitate. And ultimately, she kind of expects us to end up needing to do the bigger surgery. So are we simply delaying the inevitable? Maybe, but right now it seems worth the risk and have the possibility of a much smaller scar and a benign finding.
Bottom line. Does he have cancer? Depends on who you ask. Some would say yes, some would say maybe. Nobody can say no. At least not yet. Maybe this is the answer we asked for. It's too soon to know.
Surgery is re-scheduled for the 17th at this point. But before then, Seattle will be reviewing the slides for a third opinion on the pathology. All of the doctors will "pow-wow" and determine with us just what margins they need to take. In the meantime, the chest x-ray did not show any nodules, which was definitely good. His bloodwork wasn't too exciting, but did show that his reactive Lymphocytes were relatively high. So a few more pieces to fill in the puzzle.
Again, thank you for your prayers. This is all very confusing for us and it isn't reassuring when the experts you seek out don't give you clear answers, but rather leave you with a lot more questions.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Surgery Scheduled
First off, we are keeping busy. Mainly, it keeps us from dwelling on questions we don't have answers to. Like how we are handling all this. In our heads, we know that God is in control and has all these answers. In reality, we are working hard at trying not to panic. God is good. He has a plan. He will provide everything that we need.
So far, we have chosen Seattle Children's Hospital to provide Gideon's care. They are working in conjunction with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and are one of the best places in the country to be treated. We are thankful to have found a solution so close to home.
We are also very blessed to have had the privilege of talking on the phone with two other families who have walked this road and are on the other side. It was a huge encouragement. When we were facing medical challenges with Elijah, we never had that. I can not tell you how great it was to know that we weren't alone and to know I can call these ladies anytime to ask questions. They also gave us wonderful advice to make sure that we got the sentinel node mapping and biopsy done at the time of the WLE surgery, which will make everything easier for Gideon.
Another blessing has been the doctors at Seattle Children's. They are on top of things. Dr. Ho, the oncologist, called us on Tuesday morning before 9 am. He had just read over the case and wanted to let us know what the plan was. We hadn't expected to hear from anyone until at least Wednesday, and then we thought it would just be a scheduler. But the doctor called and spent about 45 minutes explaining things and answering questions. Then, the scheduler called today. He scheduled us with one plastics surgeon and an ENT. About ten minutes later, Dr. Ho called us again, saying that he wanted a different doctor to do the surgery, and had called Dr. Hopper, the chief of pediatric plastic surgery - he will be doing the surgery himself!
Gideon is not sick right now. He does have a continuous low grade fever and is not healing from his recent fall on his chin (they glued it back together, but it isn't taking.) He has lost 3.8 lbs over the last 4 weeks. And he looks tired, but isn't really sleeping more than usual. All of that makes this whole thing seem even stranger.
So here's the plan as we know it: On Monday, the 10th, we have several (8, I believe) appointments at various places within Seattle Children's. Then, on Tuesday, the 11th, his surgery (wide local excision - WLE) is scheduled. We are prepared for them to remove a large section of his cheek (down to the muscle fascia), do a sentinel node mapping and biopsy. Then we will go from there.
Thank you all for your prayers. We are really thankful for a great support system and friends.
So far, we have chosen Seattle Children's Hospital to provide Gideon's care. They are working in conjunction with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and are one of the best places in the country to be treated. We are thankful to have found a solution so close to home.
We are also very blessed to have had the privilege of talking on the phone with two other families who have walked this road and are on the other side. It was a huge encouragement. When we were facing medical challenges with Elijah, we never had that. I can not tell you how great it was to know that we weren't alone and to know I can call these ladies anytime to ask questions. They also gave us wonderful advice to make sure that we got the sentinel node mapping and biopsy done at the time of the WLE surgery, which will make everything easier for Gideon.
Another blessing has been the doctors at Seattle Children's. They are on top of things. Dr. Ho, the oncologist, called us on Tuesday morning before 9 am. He had just read over the case and wanted to let us know what the plan was. We hadn't expected to hear from anyone until at least Wednesday, and then we thought it would just be a scheduler. But the doctor called and spent about 45 minutes explaining things and answering questions. Then, the scheduler called today. He scheduled us with one plastics surgeon and an ENT. About ten minutes later, Dr. Ho called us again, saying that he wanted a different doctor to do the surgery, and had called Dr. Hopper, the chief of pediatric plastic surgery - he will be doing the surgery himself!
Gideon is not sick right now. He does have a continuous low grade fever and is not healing from his recent fall on his chin (they glued it back together, but it isn't taking.) He has lost 3.8 lbs over the last 4 weeks. And he looks tired, but isn't really sleeping more than usual. All of that makes this whole thing seem even stranger.
So here's the plan as we know it: On Monday, the 10th, we have several (8, I believe) appointments at various places within Seattle Children's. Then, on Tuesday, the 11th, his surgery (wide local excision - WLE) is scheduled. We are prepared for them to remove a large section of his cheek (down to the muscle fascia), do a sentinel node mapping and biopsy. Then we will go from there.
Thank you all for your prayers. We are really thankful for a great support system and friends.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Blindsided
Today marks 6 full months since Elijah has been hospitalized for any reason. This is the first time in nearly 6 years we can say that. He is doing great and growing rapidly - we praise the Lord for such wonderful progress. We've had almost an expectation that something would go wrong and this streak of health would be halted. But it hasn't. At least not for Elijah,
Yet, today, we were blindsided with news about Gideon, our energetic 3 year old. In November of last year, we noticed a small wart on the very center of his left cheek. It slowly grew and late in the month, we made an appointment to have it frozen off. Instead of turning black and falling off, it turned red and grew to three times larger.
Our pediatrician referred us to a dermatologist. I put off making the appointment and the "wart" continued to grow. Finally, two weeks ago, we took him in. The dermatologist looked at it and said that he wanted to biopsy it; he felt that we were not dealing with wart, but a cancerous growth. Frankly, I was quite skeptical and expected the results to come back normal.
Today, on the six month anniversary celebrating one child's health, we were told that Gideon has cancer. It is a very rare, aggressive form of skin cancer. He will soon have surgery to remove the remainder of the growth. Out of every 100,000 moles that are biopsied, 1.5 are a type of tumor called Spitz Nevi. Of those 1.5, over 70% are benign.
This form typically spreads to the lymph nodes. He will be tested. There are symptoms that indicate reasons to be concerned about this. Please pray for us as we learn more, seek the right doctors and care for him. The main prayer right now is that it will not and has not spread.
We do know that we serve the Great Physician. He wasn't blindsided and knows how to cure this and has promised to carry us through whatever lies ahead. We know that He will provide all that we need and despite what seems to be difficult news, He is good.
Yet, today, we were blindsided with news about Gideon, our energetic 3 year old. In November of last year, we noticed a small wart on the very center of his left cheek. It slowly grew and late in the month, we made an appointment to have it frozen off. Instead of turning black and falling off, it turned red and grew to three times larger.
Our pediatrician referred us to a dermatologist. I put off making the appointment and the "wart" continued to grow. Finally, two weeks ago, we took him in. The dermatologist looked at it and said that he wanted to biopsy it; he felt that we were not dealing with wart, but a cancerous growth. Frankly, I was quite skeptical and expected the results to come back normal.
Today, on the six month anniversary celebrating one child's health, we were told that Gideon has cancer. It is a very rare, aggressive form of skin cancer. He will soon have surgery to remove the remainder of the growth. Out of every 100,000 moles that are biopsied, 1.5 are a type of tumor called Spitz Nevi. Of those 1.5, over 70% are benign.
This form typically spreads to the lymph nodes. He will be tested. There are symptoms that indicate reasons to be concerned about this. Please pray for us as we learn more, seek the right doctors and care for him. The main prayer right now is that it will not and has not spread.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Getting the Word Out...
What will the Janku family be doing this year? Well, I'm glad you asked! For the past two plus years, we have been talking to a recruiter with World Harvest Mission.
They needed someone with construction experience to go on short term trips to support their missionaries with special tasks that ultimately would enhance and grow their on-going missions work around the world. They have presented us with various opportunities over the last two years, but after prayer, none of them felt right, or the timing was not right for our family. This year, they have three opportunities that we felt led to say "yes" to!
UGANDA - August 30-September 14, 2013
On this trip, Scott will be traveling with four other highly skilled craftsmen to work with a single female missionary. Her house had burned when she was away on a furlough. Although she and her adopted children are living in the partially repaired home (it had masonry walls), it still needs a lot of work, including a kitchen and running hot water! The team plans to provide her with a kitchen and solar panels to give her these necessities! They are also hoping to pour a concrete play yard for the children at the school where her adopted daughters attend.
LONDON - October 25 - November 5, 2013
The entire family has been invited to help WHM missionary and church planter Chris Hatch run a VBS! We will also be working with some homeless ministries and getting to know the families in the area that is largely Muslim. We will be joined by Dana Dirksen and the Songs for Saplings team on this trip. (If you have children, you want to get to know their music!) The VBS materials we are using were written just for them, with a construction theme and we will be "practicing" by using the same materials for the kids from our home church, Living Water, this summer. There will also likely be another team member going along with us as well.
CHILE - January 2014
Scott will again be traveling with a group of skilled tradesmen. This time they will begin construction on a home for a local pastor. (It will be completed in two other planned trips.) The home will allow the pastor to focus full-time on his ministry. Many local pastors are required to work outside of their ministries in order to pay rents.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
I'm also glad you asked that question. First, we need prayer. As business owners, it's a little frightening to leave the business for these trips. It's also challenging to take our entire family on a trip. However, we feel confident that the Lord will be going with us and will provide for us every step of the way.
Secondly, we need financial support. For all three trips, we need a total of approximately $17,000. It's a lot, and we definitely can't do it alone. We know that God has a plan to bring in every penny of that and we are excited to see it happen.
URGENT NEED!
Our first expense is to purchase Scott's ticket to Uganda. We are using a travel agent and he was able to put on hold until THURSDAY a ticket for just $1365 - this is an incredible deal - but we don't have any of it set aside yet! Can you help us get there?
There are two ways to send financial help!
1. Mail a check to us at: 3624 NE Everett St. Camas, WA 98607. You can make the check payable to Living Water Community Church and put "Janku" on the memo.
2. Send us money via PayPal using the email address: nwhandymancan@gmail.com.
Thank you all for supporting us in these trips - we are excited to see God work on each of them! We truly do covet your prayers, encouragement and support!
They needed someone with construction experience to go on short term trips to support their missionaries with special tasks that ultimately would enhance and grow their on-going missions work around the world. They have presented us with various opportunities over the last two years, but after prayer, none of them felt right, or the timing was not right for our family. This year, they have three opportunities that we felt led to say "yes" to!
UGANDA - August 30-September 14, 2013
On this trip, Scott will be traveling with four other highly skilled craftsmen to work with a single female missionary. Her house had burned when she was away on a furlough. Although she and her adopted children are living in the partially repaired home (it had masonry walls), it still needs a lot of work, including a kitchen and running hot water! The team plans to provide her with a kitchen and solar panels to give her these necessities! They are also hoping to pour a concrete play yard for the children at the school where her adopted daughters attend.
LONDON - October 25 - November 5, 2013
The entire family has been invited to help WHM missionary and church planter Chris Hatch run a VBS! We will also be working with some homeless ministries and getting to know the families in the area that is largely Muslim. We will be joined by Dana Dirksen and the Songs for Saplings team on this trip. (If you have children, you want to get to know their music!) The VBS materials we are using were written just for them, with a construction theme and we will be "practicing" by using the same materials for the kids from our home church, Living Water, this summer. There will also likely be another team member going along with us as well.
CHILE - January 2014
Scott will again be traveling with a group of skilled tradesmen. This time they will begin construction on a home for a local pastor. (It will be completed in two other planned trips.) The home will allow the pastor to focus full-time on his ministry. Many local pastors are required to work outside of their ministries in order to pay rents.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
I'm also glad you asked that question. First, we need prayer. As business owners, it's a little frightening to leave the business for these trips. It's also challenging to take our entire family on a trip. However, we feel confident that the Lord will be going with us and will provide for us every step of the way.
Secondly, we need financial support. For all three trips, we need a total of approximately $17,000. It's a lot, and we definitely can't do it alone. We know that God has a plan to bring in every penny of that and we are excited to see it happen.
URGENT NEED!
Our first expense is to purchase Scott's ticket to Uganda. We are using a travel agent and he was able to put on hold until THURSDAY a ticket for just $1365 - this is an incredible deal - but we don't have any of it set aside yet! Can you help us get there?
There are two ways to send financial help!
1. Mail a check to us at: 3624 NE Everett St. Camas, WA 98607. You can make the check payable to Living Water Community Church and put "Janku" on the memo.
2. Send us money via PayPal using the email address: nwhandymancan@gmail.com.
Thank you all for supporting us in these trips - we are excited to see God work on each of them! We truly do covet your prayers, encouragement and support!
Monday, March 11, 2013
Not What We Had Planned.
Another post was written and waiting to be posted. It's been deleted.
A few weeks ago, on Facebook, I saw a post asking if anyone was willing to adopt or help a little girl from Ethiopia - just 2 months old, alone in the world, and desperately in need of surgery for spina bifida and hydrocephalus - the same diagnosis our son Elijah has. But her case was more severe and she was stuck a million miles away. And there were no doctors that could help her there. And to get her here, would take a miracle. And really, did we have room for a number six?
But somehow through all those questions, we clearly knew she was ours. We made a phone call. I half expected them to tell me that a dozen other families further along in the adoption process had already stepped forward. I didn't even have a passport and we didn't have the thousands of dollars it would take to get her here. Scott took one look and said "Bring her home."
And so we took the next step. And the next.
We learned that where she came from, a birth defect might as well be a death sentence. They believe that it is a curse and they must rid the village of it. So it was a miracle that she was taken to a hospital at just 8 hours old. Surely God had big plans for this tiny girl. So we kept taking steps to bring her home safely.
And we thought we finally had all the pieces, we had enough information to get her treatment, in Ethiopia. It would just take a few more phone calls.
But it was too late.
Over the weekend, little Mimi ran into the arms of Jesus. We never got to hold her, but we loved her.
A love that is real and is only possible because we were also orphans that have been rescued by a Savior that knew us before we were born. By a Savior that loves us more than we can imagine, despite the fact that we are broken and defective at birth.
She was loved. And so are we and because of that, we can continue to love "the least of these." Even if it means it hurts. It was worth it.
A few weeks ago, on Facebook, I saw a post asking if anyone was willing to adopt or help a little girl from Ethiopia - just 2 months old, alone in the world, and desperately in need of surgery for spina bifida and hydrocephalus - the same diagnosis our son Elijah has. But her case was more severe and she was stuck a million miles away. And there were no doctors that could help her there. And to get her here, would take a miracle. And really, did we have room for a number six?
And so we took the next step. And the next.
We learned that where she came from, a birth defect might as well be a death sentence. They believe that it is a curse and they must rid the village of it. So it was a miracle that she was taken to a hospital at just 8 hours old. Surely God had big plans for this tiny girl. So we kept taking steps to bring her home safely.
And we thought we finally had all the pieces, we had enough information to get her treatment, in Ethiopia. It would just take a few more phone calls.
But it was too late.
Over the weekend, little Mimi ran into the arms of Jesus. We never got to hold her, but we loved her.
A love that is real and is only possible because we were also orphans that have been rescued by a Savior that knew us before we were born. By a Savior that loves us more than we can imagine, despite the fact that we are broken and defective at birth.
She was loved. And so are we and because of that, we can continue to love "the least of these." Even if it means it hurts. It was worth it.
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