Kicking off February!

A brief update on Josiah:  Last Tuesday his ANC was something-teen, on Friday it was 18.  (This just means his body has a very low ability to fight infection.).  Friday he received some red blood cells in hopes of getting him ready for a new phase of treatment starting today.  Well, today his ANC was only up to 396 and it has to be 750 for chemo so they have delayed treatment for a week of recovery.

Here are a few things I'm thankful for this week:

• Thank you to everyone who donates blood and platelets regularly!
• Thank God we live 30 minutes from an excellent cancer treatment center.
• Our washer is being fixed as I type this.  Unfortunately, the dryer didn't survive loads of clothes that didn't have the water spun out as well as the wash machine does.
• Mary finally lost her first tooth (thank you Stella for sitting on her head) and pulled her second one out on her own a few days later.  
• People who pray for us every day.  Your faithfulness means so much to me.

I will leave you with an encouraging story I read this morning.  A regular guy was asked to do a very big task.  A job that would seem overwhelming to many.  Build a HUGE boat and collect 7 or 2 of every type of animal in the world.  God provided what he needed and Noah provided the elbow grease.  After working his tail off to build a huge boat, God "Shuts him in" with his family and the most diverse collection of animals in the world for 150 days.  Now I love my family, but 150 days????  I'm just saying…. And I enjoy going to the zoo, but 150 days locked in a zoo boat????  What might sound like punishment was actually God's grace.  Divine provision and protection for him, his family, and those animals.  This was a very encouraging perspective for me to look for God's grace in overwhelming tasks and difficult circumstances.  Oh, and at the end of the story he gets to leave the boat, eat meat and see the first rainbow!  Check it out for yourself in Genesis Chapters 6-9.