"It's been a long December but there's reason to believe that maybe this year will be better than the last."

Dear friends,

The doctors took some scans today and found out that he has a small touch of pneumonia.  He's already been getting the treatment for what they would give him for pneumonia anyway, so there's not anything different as far as treatment goes.  In a way, it's nice to know that this could quite possibly be the reason he's on day seven of his fever.  His white blood cells went up from 0.03 to .1, so that's great.  We are waiting for his neutrophil cells to go up.  Please continue to pray for Coltrane as he's still in pain, has pneumonia, mouth sores, and still has that fever.  Pray for us to trust God and give our children completely to Him.  Here is Isaiah 40:31.  It's helping us very much.  

"but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint."

My bible says in the footnotes: wait for the Lord- Savoring God's promise by faith until the time of fulfillment.  This has a lot to do with patience.  The time of fulfillment is always under God's timing.  And this verse really helps us in trials.  And as we know from Romans12:12, we are to be patient while enduring them.  And "Savoring by faith" is just a great way to put it.  It really helps us realize what faith is.  It is a tool.  A very delicate tool that bends, grows, solidifies, and can uplift us all during tribulations of any kind.  It's hard to just wait. But if I put my faith in Him, His word promises to renew my strength (Renew- Find endless supplies of strength).  Right now in this weary time in our lives, it is easy to be frustrated, stressed, and not put our focus on God.  But everyday, my thoughts go to Him more and more.  I am having to rely on Him more than ever, and it's a really good thing.  My heart aches for my dear boy who is suffering, my family being attacked on so many levels.  But He is here, teaching us.  The Great Teacher.  I've learned something this year about Satan.  He is just mean.  He is the destroyer.  I could dismiss the things that seem to go wrong and blame it on Murphy's stupid law.  I won't.  I will call it like it is, and for what it is.  Satan's attack.  He attacks us at weak moments as he is a coward and knows that we are fragile beings.  It's easy for him to whisper in our ears "God isn't listening to you."  Or worse, "God is listening to you, but isn't doing anything."  Those thoughts are hard to deal with.  We have to stay strong in the Word, and remember who God is and how much He loves us.  And put our focus on trusting and being faithful to Him.  Thank you for praying for us.  We are so grateful to you.  

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jack,

and Coltrane

Urgent Prayers

Dear friends,

Coltrane has had a fever for five days now.  They are treating him with very large spectrum antibiotics.  He is now also being treated for a fungal infection.  He is in a very sorry state.  His mouth and face are swollen due most likely to the mouth sores he is dealing with, which are extremely painful.  Please pray for Coltrane's fever to go down immediately and that his pain will be over.  Please pray for strength for Sonja and I as it is wearing on us in a heavy way.  It's so hard to watch our son be in so much pain.  The doctors are saying that all of this was to be expected.  He is in the thick of it right now and his numbers are very slowly going up.  We are focusing on trusting God and not being afraid.  Thank you for your support.  We love you all very much.  God is great and He is the Great I Am.

Psalm 56:3-4

When I am afraid

I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?

"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior"

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jackson,

and Coltrane

Merry Christmas

Hello everybody,

Merry Christmas from the Smith's!  

Coltrane's stem cell transplant went really well.  It only took 15 minutes.  He got sick immediately after they started.  Coltrane's immune system is around 0.01, which is extremely low.  It is what we expected.  He is officially done with chemotherapy!  Thank God for that.  He is feeling very ill right now and is in a lot of pain.  He has a severe diaper rash, and he now has mouth sores.  The doctor is putting him on a morphine drip to manage the pain.  He also will be getting an acid blocker to help with Coltrane's acid reflux problem.  He will feel like this and possibly worse for the next ten days or so. 

Please pray for:

mouth sores to disappear

fever to go down

diaper rash to disappear

white blood count, platelets, and hemoblobin to go up

no unexpected complications to occur

We have been so blessed with charities it's crazy.  The kids had a huge Christmas morning.  Coltrane even got an electric car to drive!  There were so many organizations that gave them gifts.  It was so thoughtful and wonderful.  Thank you all for your support and Merry Christmas!

Love,

Justin

Sonja

Jack

and Coltrane the Brave

If you build it, they will come!

Field of dreams is an all time classic and the amount of faith he had to build the baseball field was admirable That is how I feel every time I put out a challenge to support the Smith Family. I am always unsure if we will meet the goal, but God ALWAYS reminds me that if you ask they will give.  Every time you have given above and beyond my goal. It is as if God says, here is you goal and now I am going to double it or even triple it.  I am always humbled by your generosity and appreciate your support for this amazing family.  Thank you for giving. I know many people have asked for a address of where they will be staying, so here it is.  

818 NE 8th Street

Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Merry Christmas,

Amber

I wanted to pass on a thank you from the Smith Family too.

Dear Generous Friends and Prayer Warriors,

Before we traveled to OKC, we received an amazing gift. There were so many people that worked together sending gift cards, toys for the boys, and a beautiful scrapbook full of pictures and words of encouragement. I just finished reading through the scrapbook and there were so many things in there that I needed to read at this time. I was so touched by everybody's words. I will cherish them always. I will reread them when I am feeling discouraged or alone. We had a huge outpouring of generosity through many types of gift cards for our family. We have already been putting them to use since we have been here. I knew that we were going to have to take a risk and trust in God when I quit my job and God has definitely used his people to provide generously and abundantly for us during this time. You all are an inspiration to us, your kindness will never be forgotten. Thank you everyone, for giving not only your time and money but also for praying. It feels so good to know there is an "army" of people praying. I also want to say a special thank you to some really awesome kids in the FCS (Fellowship of Christian Students) organization at Gravette. My boys loves their surprises and cards.

Love, 

The Smith Family

Awesomeness

Thank you for your prayers.  They have been answered with awesomeness.  :)  We met a PA who really connected with us on a deep level.  She really went out of her way to help us it seemed.  She made a meeting happen that was VERY helpful with Coltrane's surgery.  It would've gone very differently if this lady didn't have us meet the right people.  Coltrane's last intubation went very poorly.  Only 20 minutes after he was extubated, he had to be re-intubated.  This time, we were instructed to make sure we told EVERYONE we saw that intubation was a problem last time.  We told the PA this during our Pre-Op meeting with her.  She then made an appointment for us to see an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) doctor.  The doctor went into the O.R. as soon as Coltrane went to sleep.  He used a microscope and a camera to look and take pictures of Coltrane's throat.  We are so happy that he did.  The doctor came in and said it was very necessary, as Coltrane's throat had a lot of damage from the last intubation.  It would've gone terribly if the surgeons blindly intubated him.  So the ENT doc split the scarring with a balloon which opened up his airway.  This way, Coltrane didn't have to be intubated at all.  They just used an LMA, which is a lot less invasive and applied a anti-scarring agent to his throat.  Coltrane is breathing even better than before surgery!

Coltrane is now on day 2 of his 4 day high dose chemotherapy treatment.  He was feeling pretty crummy this morning, but started to feel better after the nurses gave him some more powerful anti-nausea medicine.  He is sore from his surgery and has a very severe diaper rash from his TPN and chemo.  

We call Coltrane, Coltrane the Bull.  He is fierce and he is one tough little man.  I look up to my little son so much.  He shows no fear during times of stress and the unknown.  However, he still lets the nurses know what he doesn't like, when he doesn't like it!  He is a good boy too.  

Jack is doing very well, except for his sniffles.  He loves to play at the Korral where we are staying.  Between the hospital and the Kid's Korral, we are very well taken care of.  There are volunteers around the city that make dinner for the residents here.  We have dinner here every night this week, for free.  It's a huge blessing.  

Please pray for:

Jackson and I to feel better and our family to not be sick.

Coltrane to not have any more diarrhea, soreness, or nausea.

Our spirits to focus on God and His plan

Our family to be one unit, even though we are distanced for a while.

Me to get the Xbox to work on this Tv.

Thanks so much for your prayers, help, and support. 

We love you so much.  Merry Christmas!  May God bless you.

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jackson,

and Coltrane the Bull

Oklahoma City for the next several weeks

Hello everyone,

We barely remembered but today Sonja and I share a birthday!  So now we're older.....by one year.  

We had a great Christmas celebration as a family.  It really felt like Christmas.  What a joy it was to give each other gifts and celebrate the birth of our Savior.  Jack and Coltrane loved their presents and will be taking some of them with them to OKC.

We are headed out this morning.  I will be back and forth here and there while Sonja will remain at the hospital with Coltrane.  Coltrane is scheduled for surgery tomorrow.  He will be getting a Broviac catheter to gain yet another access point for the doctors to work with.  He will then undergo four or five days of high dose chemotherapy.  the stem cell transplant will come after that which lasts a mere 30 minutes!  We will remain there until his counts recover.  They warned us that the first ten days will be awful and after that it will get better.  It was actually relieving when the doctors told us all this info.  It wasn't as ominous as it once seemed.  

What perfect timing for this transplant!  It's a time in our lives where we have to trust God completely and also a time that we can remember what great gifts children are, especially one that saved us from our sin.  So we are thankful for a God who became nothing to give us everything.  A God who loves us and who's word is powerful.  We hold on to the fact that God will never leave us nor forsake us, and that His plans are perfect.

We are so happy to get this started to get it over with.  

We have been truly blessed beyond comprehension.  So many people are praying for us.  So many people have been so very generous with their verbal support as well as their financial support.  God is working in ways that we can't ignore.  We received a gift today from a family that was unbelievable.  Sonja and I stood together holding each other, sobbing with each other.  They were sobs of great awe in our God and how He works in His people.  We saw this gift and knew that it was something you couldn't ignore.  You just think to yourself "You can't receive something like this and not be changed."  It really screwed us up in a beautiful way.  We saw with our own eyes, the selflessness of others.  The compassion was overwhelming.  We are so moved and destroyed.  God is so great, we are in complete awe of His might and power and kindness.  LOVE.

I hesitate to ask for prayer for this because I know what happens when you pray for patience , but please pray for:

Patience in this trial

Coltrane to not have negative side effects from the chemotherapy

God to protect our family from sickness (Coltrane will be extremely susceptible to any kind of illness

Us to bond together as a family even though we might be separated sometimes

Coltrane to be strong and not have anxiety

Jackson to understand and be confident about him and his family

Coltrane to not have any breathing problems after being intubated for his short procedure of inserting the Broviac

Oklahoma city, ready or not, here we come!

Hello everybody,

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.  It means so very much to us.  We are constantly being encouraged by how many people are praying for us.  Thank you.

Right now our family is home sweet home.  And we love it.  Warm, cozy house.  Ahhhh, the life.  We are getting geared up to make the trip to OKC for the stem cell transplant.  The Oncologists don't really want to do the transplant because Coltrane still has the drain in (he is still receiving TPN for his nutrition).  However, both sets of our Oncology teams in Tulsa and OKC believe the rewards outweigh the risks.  The risk being that the drain opening is yet one more area that could bring in an infection.  So we will be heading to OKC for as little as 21 days to six weeks or more of treatment.  We have a little blessing in disguise.  The doc in OKC said a lot of times the patients will have to stay a very long time during the transplant because they won't eat (no appetite, feeling horrible, mouth sores, etc.).  Due to Coltrane either being on TPN or being able to use his G-tube, we won't have to worry about that!  Yay for that!  The transplant will start on December 16th.  

We are both excited to get this over with, and anxious.  We are so happy that so many continue to pray for us.  That is really the most anyone could ever do for us.  We are unsure of how things are actually going to go when we get there, but we are trusting in the Lord our God for His supreme guidance and peace.  We are sad to see our little son going to have to go through all of this, but it's only temporary.  And so is this life.  It's full of terrible things that can be so daunting.  Life can be overwhelming.  And we are certainly overwhelmed.  We are pretty wiped, frankly.  But we can rest knowing that God supplies the strength we need each day.  We can trust Him and His plan for us.  I really latched on to what Pat said months and months ago in his sermon about trials and suffering.  He said to not focus on the "Why", but the "How".  "How" can God use us in this situation.  Each day we can ask this question.  And yes, it is a choice to ask it.  A lot of times I find myself flying by the seat of my pants and I'm not focused on that question.  Even if things are "normal" (what's that anyway?), we should be asking the "How".  It definitely becomes more clear as to how important it is to seek God's will and how we can serve Him every day in every situation, not just the "hard" ones.  

We are so thankful to all of you for your smiles, your attitudes, your gentleness, your kindness, your faithfulness, and your generosity.  We love you so much dear brothers and sisters.  

Please pray for:

Our faith to grow and grow

For us to not be discouraged

For us to be servants 

For Coltrane to be healed

For Jackson to deal with all of this in a healthy manner

For our marriage

For our parenting

For all the preliminary tests to go well before the stem cell transplant

Little or NO side effects from the high dose of chemo

For bone marrow to begin producing cells quickly and efficiently

For Coltrane's drain output to keep decreasing and that it will be able to be removed soon

For no complications or infections during the whole time.

In Christ's perfect love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jack,

and Coltrane the Courageous.  

P.S. Thank you to Justin and Sonja for always opening up their hearts and sharing this journey with us. I just want to remind everyone that we are collecting gift cards to send with the Smith family for their 4-6 week stay. If you are interested in donating a gift card, please e-mail me at hogwildamber@gmail.com. 

Thanks for your continuous support and prayers,

Amber Sisemore

This is a picture of Coltrane worshiping during the worship service a few Sundays ago. 

Another way to give this Holiday Season

Many of you know that the Smith family are home right now, and they are enjoying every minute of it. As soon as Coltrane is 100% better, they will be looking at heading to Oklahoma City for their next big treatment.  The stay will be anywhere from 6-8 weeks.  I am asking for anyone who is interested to send them off with a nice care package. Since the stay will be for so long, I thought gift cards would be the best. They take up little space and can be used anytime to meet their needs I have listed a few places below that are close to the Hospital (this information was taken from the Hospital's Website).
Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us (it's not close but would be fun),  Conoco, Subway, McDonalds, Starbucks, Abuelos, Taco Bell, and I-Hop.  However, I am sure that they will be able to find most fast food chains, and any gas cards would be helpful.  

Next, please email me or send me a Quote, Bible verse, prayer, or words of encouragement and I will use those to put together a small book to send with them. 

Finally, my goal is 25 gift cards. If you are interested in being one if the 25, then please email me at hogwildamber@gmail.com.   So far I have 3, just 22 to go.  There is no set amount that needs to be on the card. I know we all have different budgets and any amount will be helpful!

Thank you for all your support and prayers. 

Happy Holidays
Amber Sisemore

Back to the Hospital

Dear Friends,

Last Friday, we were so happy to be released from the hospital after 25 days. Justin and I were trained on how to care for Coltrane at home since he would be going home with a JP drain and on TPN 24 hours a day nutrition.  Coltrane is only allowed clear liquids.  Coltrane had a wonderful few days at home and we celebrated our cozy house and beds.  On Tuesday, Coltrane woke up feeling very warm and had a fever.  In situations such as Coltrane's, a fever pretty much means hospital admission, so here we are back at the hospital.  Since yesterday, Coltrane's fever is gone and he is already feeling better.  After all of the tests they run, they have found a bacteria growing in Coltrane's blood culture.  This can be treated with different antibiotics and we will be waiting for a negative blood culture before we will be able to go back home.  This felt like such a disappointment to come back to the hospital but we know that Coltrane is getting excellent care here.  We have been told to expect 3-4 more days here.  

Even though this feels like a setback, there is also good news to be told.  Coltrane's JP drain's is beginning to show a significant decrease in output.  This is moving in the right direction because we are waiting for the drain to show very little output.  This will mean that his leaks in his "ducts" are beginning to heal up and he may be able to eat again soon.  Once this happens, we will be able to move forward with Coltrane's treatment in OKC, stem cell transplant.  

Thank you for your diligent prayers for our family.  We continue to feel so much love from all of you, we cannot thank you enough for all your prayers, encouragement, and support.  You have truly inspired us to be more like you.  

Prayer requests:

Coltrane's bacterial infection will clear up quickly and we will get a negative blood culture result.

Coltrane's drain output will continue to decrease and will be completely healed on the inside.

Coltrane will be able to eat again soon without any problems.

We will be able to continue to the next step of treatment without much delay.

Love, 

Sonja, Justin, Jackson, and Coltrane the Zany

"God doesn't work on my clock"

Dear friends,

Our family is still in Tulsa.  I'm going back and forth for work and such.  Coltrane is slowly getting better and better.  The leak is still there but it seems the amount is getting lower each day.  It's supposed to be basically a powder before the drains can come out.  Coltrane must have wanted to expedite things because he pulled his own drain out himself.  We're not sure if he'll have to go back into surgery to put one in again or not.  Please pray that the remaining drain will take over for the one that was pulled (intentionally or not) out, and that he won't have to go into surgery again.

Coltrane is smiling a lot more and is working on sitting up, holding his head up, and standing.  He's doing remarkably well.

The past four days or so Sonja and I have been very depressed and down.  It's been very hard to be in the hospital for this long.  It's our new record, 19 days in a row.  Eating out is not a treat anymore, it's a hassle financially and isn't great for our health.  We're trying to balance things out in different ways.  We've been clouded by the fact that we don't know when we will be going home.  And if we do, it will only be for a very short time due to the fact that the stem cell transplant will be soon after his recovery.  Someone asked me how Coltrane was doing.  I told them that he had his big surgery and they got all the visible tumor out, his bone marrow is clean from any cancer, the pathology from the tumors came back most likely all necrosis (dead tumor).  And that the surgery went really well over the six plus hours it took.  I told them that even though they had to take a lot more organs and parts than we expected, that we asked God to give the surgeons wisdom so we were glad that they had that intuition and knowledge to do that.  I was saying all of this to lead up to the fact we weren't coming home for a long time and it might screw up the timing for the stem cell harvest and everything.  But before I could say that last bit I caught myself.  I realized after all of the good things I was saying, that this lady was saying "Praise God."  "Praise God."  "Oh, praise God."  It suddenly hit me that I was getting so down about this one little yet annoying problem that was really only a timing issue.  And God doesn't work on my clock or the doctor's clock.  I realized that everything had gone so well with the surgery and everything but I was being attacked over this leaky duct.  Satan is like a komodo dragon sometimes.  He takes a poisonous bite out of you and waits and waits until you get a little more weak.  Then he takes another little venomous bite, and waits again until you slump over so he can devour you due to your weakened, dying state.  Satan was using that little bite to ruin our joy and thankfulness to God for all the good that He's doing.  God is working in our lives in a wonderful way.  He is healing our son.  Coltrane is doing so good and Jack too.  Sonja and I are doing well also, although more date nights would be nice.  I'm not going to worry over this timing issue.  I will trust my God who is omniscient.  I will strive to be patient in this tribulation.  I will strive to seek joy everyday for "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."  James 4:14

Please continue to pray for us.

Pray for Coltrane's duct to heal very quickly, like today.  :)

For strength and endurance, patience too

For when we are down and depressed

For us to be great witnesses

For Coltrane to gain the desire to eat and drink his clear liquids

For Sonja and I to bond stronger and stronger throughout this time 

For us to be consistent and loving parents 

For God's will to be done

For God to give the doctors and nurses supreme wisdom and insight

For the timing to be perfect for the stem cell transplant

For occupational guidance.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jackson,

and Coltrane the Yearning (to get better and go home)

Two steps forward one step back.

Dearest friends,

We are so thankful that Coltrane is doing so much better.  Everyday he gets better and better.  We have had a setback today that downed our spirits quite a bit.  We saw evidence that he has a "chylothorax" and some of the proteins from the formula we've been giving him has been leaking into his drains instead of being absorbed into his body.  If it was worse or get worse we could spend up to weeks or even months in the hospital clearing it up.  So far, his drains have been improving greatly.  Please pray for Coltrane to heal up quickly and that we can go home soon.  And also be able to have our regular schedule for the stem cell transplant and such.  Thanks so much!

Today was a difficult day for us.  We were both pretty down from having yet more turbulence in the course of our path.  We spent time outside, got to see our son Jack, and we exercised to release tension.  What kept coming to my mind was "Trust me."  So I will.  It's hard to just do that and make it a verb your life.  But it is an action.  It must be done.  Sometimes I wonder if all this didn't happen with Coltrane, would I be so willing to trust as he expects us to?  In the end, it was a good day.  Bad start, good ending.  And tomorrow is a new day!  (very dramatic interpretation of Gone with the Wind.  P.S. I really despise overacting, but I make fun of it because I like hating it so much.)  Hee hee.  :)

Good news:  Coltrane has been weaned off the high flow cannula and is on a regular oxygen cannula.  His next step is to breathe normal air.  Yay!  And we've caught some great smiles from him.  He's enjoying grape popsicles and ice chips....immensely so.

Please keep praying for our son and our family.  Thanks with all our hearts!

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jack,

and Coltrane the Xboba (he is known to be an "old soul" seems to understand things beyond his years.   

Goodbye Vader-mask

Dear Friends,

Coltrane has had a wonderful night and day.  This morning, the doctors took off the vader-mask and let Coltrane try a CPAP nasal cannula.  He has been off the mask for 5 hours and is still holding strong.  We will continue to assess him and hopefully will be able to begin weaning him from that soon.  We are finally able to see Coltrane's beautiful face.

Besides the breathing issues, Coltrane's recovery is going very well.  He is needing pain medicine less often and his vitals have stayed good.  Once he gets the CPAP off, he has been given permission to eat again.  

Today, I got news from the oncologist that the pathology from the resected tumor was "impressive".  It is showing dead tissue.  The oncologist wants to take this information before a board of doctors and will give us more information about the radiation that is to come.  

As you can see, God is working in Coltrane.  Your prayers have held us up during these few days of ups and downs.  We so appreciate your intercession for us and we want to continue to ask you for your prayers.  Please pray for Coltrane to feel well physically and emotionally.  Please pray for the rest of our family as we are separated during our stay in ICU and pray for a successful wean from the CPAP.  We appreciate and love you all.

"The Lord  your God, who goes before you, will Himself fight for you...you will see how the Lord your God will carry you, as a man carries his child..." (Deut. 1:30-31)

Love, 

Sonja, Justin, Jackson, and Coltrane the Warrior

Prayers for Coltrane

We would like to ask for prayers for Coltrane.  The doctors are planning to try to remove his ventilator tube.  Please pray that he won't have any problems coming off of it.  And pray that his diaphragm will be working perfectly.  Pray for wisdom for doctors and nurses.  And pray for our family as we're dealing with a lot of stress.  Thank you so much for your support.  We need it very much.  Thank you for interceding for us. 

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jackson,

and Coltrane the Victor!

Slow and steady

Hello everyone,

Coltrane is doing very well.  His recovery is remarkable.  All the nurses and doctors are very astonished at how well he is doing.  His only kidney is taking up the slack easily.  One of his chest tubes was removed today and I think they will remove his ventilator so he can fully breathe on his own.  Coltrane is mostly sleeping but does wake once in a while.  Yesterday, he was having quite some pain so we had to manage that.  It's a big balancing act with his meds/weening and such.  Coltrane really loves to hear us sing to him and loves to reach for us.  It was pretty hard for us because we couldn't do anything.  I wanted to rescue him away but I was helpless.  There's not much worse than not being able to protect your child.  Especially using your own will to resist.  Sounds like what God had to do with his son.  I couldn't imagine watching and letting my son get tortured and mocked and spat on while resisting the strong urge to rescue my son and defeat his persecutors.  Of course, he was letting all that happen to his son for those exact people.  It's so amazing to realize God's character and think about his love and plan while you're going through these times of trials.  Faith, trust, and selflessness is key.  Selflessness because I have to really try hard not to focus on MY pain and trouble, and put my trust in God's hands and his plan.  I'm so happy to know that God isn't flighty.  He is true, strong, and never changes like shifting shadows.  What awesome imagery.  And the love and mercy he gives us is incredible.  I doubt I will ever know how exactly he is working with us, but I trust that it is awesome, because HE IS AWESOME.

Please pray for strength for our family,

for Coltrane's recovery (no more ventilator, drains out, pain managed)

for increase in our faith and trust in the Lord Almighty.

for no stress/anxiety about work 

And thanking God for 

Coltrane being so strong during the surgery/recovery

NO more visible cancer in his body

God giving the doctors wisdom to take even more organs/parts of organs than they thought

God's peace about what's going on in our lives

A flexible job for me

People praying for us all the time

People giving so generously of their time/finances to help us out

A wonderful church that supports their family

Me being able to be here for my family

for a great God who loves us unconditionally.

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jack,

and Coltrane the Uplifited

P.S. 

What great news we received today!  We just heard from our head Oncologist that there is NO cancer left in his bone marrow!  Praise God for this incredible news!  Yay!  I'm not surprised.  I'm surprised (based on Mark 9:24).  This is most encouraging.

Love,

Justin

Post Surgery

Dear friends,

Coltrane is out of surgery and in ICU. The surgeon spoke to us and informed us that he had to take out one of his kidneys, about 10% of his liver, some of his diaphragm, and his appendix (preemptive reasons), Coltrane lost quite a bit of blood (1000cc's), but was constantly being replenished with new blood. The surgeon removed ALL visible tumor. The only bits left would be microscopic. G-tube placement and bone marrow biopsy went well. The surgeon said Coltrane's vitals stayed constant and strong throughout the whole process! He is on a ventilator and is sleeping soundly.

We are overwhelmed with everything, but we are so happy for this report. We are confident in that we prayed for wisdom for the doctors and surgeons and they were led to take more than they thought. God knows best. We are thankful and we are so blessed to have all you praying for us.

Please pray for Coltrane's full recovery, our family, for Jack to be strong and not worry about his little brother and for us to trust the Lord with all of our soul, mind, body, and spirit.

Love,Justin,
Sonja,
Jack,
and Coltrane the Tenacious

Coltrane's Surgery

Hello everyone and all,

We are at St. Francis Children's Hospital (The Panda Bear Hospital).  Everyone is doing very well.  I couldn't ask for a more healthy boy to go into surgery.  What a blessing that is.  He is scheduled to have the surgery at 7:15am tomorrow, Wednesday.  The surgery will last around eight hours.  8 hours!  I'm glad they're taking their time.  ;)  The doctors will be trying to get as much tumor mass out of his body as possible.  This might involve removing his kidney as the tumor is wrapped up around it pretty good.  They plan to insert a G-Tube during this time.  They will also be taking some biopsies of his bone marrow to see the involvement of cancer there.  It will be a long day, but we are confident of our Lord's perfect will.  We will be trusting and praying for trust and faith in this waiting game.  

We had a great experience I feel led to share.  We asked the elders of the church to come and pray for our son and our family.  Some elders took off time in their evening to come over and pray for us and encourage us.  What an uplifting experience.  We are called and led to do this: " Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."  James 5 13-16.  

This was such a comforting experience and we want to thank the elders for being humble servants of the Lord and for praying for us in this time of many trials.  The Lord is with us.  And we want to encourage others to do the same.  It was so beneficial and we appreciate it very much.  

We have great support with us, and we have such a great supportive prayer team it is simply ridiculous.  Incredible!  We are excited for everything that's going on.  

Please pray for Sonja and I to bond even more as a married couple through this hardship

Pray for Coltrane's healing and that he will keep his kidneys and they will get every little bit of cancer that's in his body.  Pray for his speedy recovery.

Pray for Jackson to be in a healthy state and be comforted for the couple nights he will be away from us due to Coltrane being in ICU after surgery.  

Pray for the doctors and their minds/hands, and for their complete wisdom and choices they will have to make.  

Pray for all of those being affected by Coltrane's story.  

Most importantly, please pray that Coltrane's story will be used to completely glorify God and His goodness, mercy, and love toward us and that it will be used to lead people to a personal relationship with Jesus.  And how God can use every one of us through our trials and tribulations for His plan and glory.  

Pray for Sonja and I to have more faith and trust in God.  To help us focus on what His plan is and how we can be good stewards of this great opportunity.

Praise be to God our Father and Creator who blesses us and is our Redeemer and who sent His beautiful Son to die for our own Salvation.  I am humbled and happy to be a part of His great plan of Mastery and Genius.  

2 Timothy 1:7  "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Zechariah 4:6  "So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty."

Love,

Justin,

Sonja, 

Jackson,

and Coltrane the Strong

Upcoming Surgery

Dear friends,

An update on Coltrane.  First of all, he is doing so wonderfully.  You really can't tell at all that he has cancer except for his lack of hair.  :)  He is energetic and knows exactly what he wants and what he doesn't want.  He is very feisty which will be great for all of his treatment.  

Coltrane is scheduled for surgery (removing as much tumor as possible) on his abdomen on October 22 in Tulsa.  He will be put under of course.  The doctors will perform the surgery and place a "G-Tube" in his abdomen.  This will make it possible for us to feed him through the tube so he doesn't get too weak.  The surgery will take around eight hours or so.  They are warning us of possibly having to remove a kidney.  This depends on how much the cancer has wrapped around it.  

We have been home so long (3 weeks?) that it's just starting to hit me on how huge this surgery is.  It's hard not to worry.  I heard once that worrying is a mild form of atheism.  What a statement.  It's nice that I don't have to worry.  Worrying is a choice.  I am not choosing to worry.  I will remember that God has a plan, and the He loves my boy so much greater than I.  Hard to imagine, but not really thinking of what God has done for us through his own son.  I will trust in my Savior for He alone is my deliverer.

Please pray for Coltrane's surgery.  Please pray for no loss of kidney.  Pray that the doctors will perform with miraculous skill and that they will recognize and honor God alone for their performance.  Pray that Coltrane recovers so well.  And please pray for my family as this is so hard to deal with.  Thank you for your support and we love you all so very much!

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jackson,

and Coltrane the Remarkable and Rakish

We also have a great opportunity this month. Throughout the month of October we will be matching all donations given (up to $2,000).  

We have been so Blessed!

Dear friends,

We have been so blessed by God through the generosity of our congregation and community.  The benefit held last Saturday was such a big success.  The fundraising was incredible, the food to die for, and the fellowship meaningful and revitalizing.  

We are back in Tulsa hopefully coming home on Wednesday.  This is Coltrane's last scheduled chemo treatment here.  We are so excited about that.  He is doing very well and loving to play play play.  He's been eating a little more here and there, but please continue to pray for his appetite to grow. 

We have great news.  The latest scans (MRI, CT, Echo, etc.) are showing in the words of the doctor's reports "remarkable reduction in tumor size".  We can't express how good it feels to hear from the Docs that they are seeing such a great response from the chemotherapy.  We know this is a great blessing from the Lord.  I am so happy that God is healing Coltrane.  It's been hard and we still have a very long road ahead of us, but God is here and He is showing up everywhere.  Your prayers are so effective.  Thank you so much for praying.  

It looks like Coltrane will have to go through surgery pretty soon.  The tumor is more differentiated (harder) than it was, so that means it will be easier to take out.  They are warning us that because of the location, and how the tumor sticks to everything, that they might have to remove a kidney.  Please pray that God will make that not necessary.  Please pray that the surgeon will be able to remove all of the tumor, that Coltrane will recover well, and that his little body will be so strong for the surgery/transplant/possible radiation.  

Thank you so much for your prayers.  They are still needed.  We love you all and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  

Love,

Justin,

Sonja,

Jackson,

and Coltrane the Quarrelsome