Updates, Prayer Requests, and Partnering

Hello Everyone!

I am now 10 days past my first chemo treatment. I underwent 5 consecutive days of chemo therapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center beginning the first of July and am entering the good part of my recovery. The last couple days of treatment and first few days out of the hospital were incredibly tough with nausea, uncontrollable shaking, and an inability to sleep more than a few hours at a time, so I'm not taking anything for granted anymore. For the past couple days I have been praising God for the ability to eat and taste most of my food, for the fact that I still have my hair for now (the dr. said to lose it between 10 and 28 days from my first treatment), for two consecutive nights of good, restful sleep, and most of all for the amazing care and support God has provided me through my family and friends.

First, I need to brag about my wife. She has obviously undergone a tremendous amount of stress lately dealing with my sickness on top of all of the added responsibilities that I used to handle. My first few days home were miserable health-wise, but she doted and cared for me with such thoroughness and thoughtfulness I couldn't thank God or her enough for all the TLC. At the same time, she found a place for us to stay each night (more on that in a bit), made sure our belongings got packed and ready, and took care of the boys. I really don't know how she did it except to say that she truly demonstrated faithful love and proved true Paul's statement in Philippians that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Of course, the Lord also blessed me with great medical care and tons of support from our family. My parents came down to Florida about 4 days ago and rescued us from being homeless vagabonds. They're providing us with free room and board at their home in Virginia for the summer so that we can focus on beating cancer instead of where we're going to sleep each night. We're praying and ask for your prayers for wisdom in knowing how to proceed with my treatments and in returning to Florida to tie up loose ends and say goodbye to our many adopted family members there. Please also pray that the Lord blesses my business during my absence and allows it to continue being a Christ-honoring enterprise in its ability to meet its obligations to its vendors and clients while allowing us to continue saving toward going to school in Scotland this fall.

Thanks to many many generous gifts we have been able to stay current on all of our bills and keep us all well-fed. Due to the nature of my treatment being on the harsh side and the number of surgeries and hospitalizations I've had, we haven't had stable income since May. Knowing that God is faithful to provide and that so many of you have come alongside us with financial help has given us unbelievable peace in the midst of all this. We have even made some real progress in our arrangements for this upcoming year. To all of who have given prayer and/or financial support, we cannot thank you enough. The creativity and selflessness that have been displayed are both humbling and a lifeline of emotional and practical encouragement. At this point we have raised roughly 10% of the funds needed to get us to Scotland or approximately 5% of the total we need to raise for the school year. This has occurred within only the last 2 weeks and does not include any money from the fund-raisers we and others are working on currently. Today we were able to purchase our plane tickets for our entire family. So one way or another we are going to Scotland on September 2nd and we don't have tickets to come back until May 29th. :-)

For those of you who still wish to contribute to our trust fund, the information to do so is contained in my previous post. In an addition to that post, the account was opened in Nevada by our trustee Lesleigh Sisson. Her information is also in the post for those of you who have questions or need assistance in using the Bank of America Trust. Of course, you can support us financially at no cost simply by clicking on the ads in this BLOG too. Any written correspondance should be sent to my parents' home at: 14831 Shorewood Court Midlothian, VA 23112. I know hundreds of you have been with us in your prayers as well and I can't emphasize enough their importance to us. Ultimately, we are tackling obstacles that God has allowed to be in our lives and it is He who will enable us to be "more than conquerors" and to see the day of victory over this cancer.

I will continue to update you all as my health and chemo brain allow. Please forgive me for not mentioning and thanking each person by name. We are blessed with so many dear family and friends that there are literally far too many of you to mention here. May God be with you and faithfully reward your loving support with an unmatched abundance that could only come from him.

We love you and God-willing we'll be in touch again soon.

Jeremy

Elizabeth, Gabriel, and Noah too ;-)