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