Abby's Journey Archive

Once again I am lamenting not having the time to send out Christmas cards. Last year, we were busy adjusting to a new baby and this year…well you all know where my time has gone. Anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and blessed holiday season. The pictures here are a few of the special memories we have enjoyed already this season. I pray that you all will enjoy wonderful times and treasured memories with your loved ones.


I’ve been spending time over the past few days trying to sift through baskets and bins filled with papers, cards and notes. It was such a touching and encouraging experience for me. I am completely amazed at how many precious prayer warriors have been interceding fervently on our behalf over the past 8 months. I was also a little saddened by the realization that we never even had the time to thank so many of you for your notes, flowers, help, support and encouragement following the death of C.R.’s mom in March (it was on my to-do list for summer break). So, please know that we are so very grateful for your help and encouragement.


Reflecting on the notes, cards and emails people have sent us has been a great reminder to me of how God has always been faithful to us throughout our journey with Abby’s cancer. We've heard people ask how we are able to deal with the challenge, pain and fear associated with having our child diagnosed with and treated for a life-threatening illness. Some have commented that we have "amazing faith". Well, we want to be sure that everyone knows that we don't have amazing faith. We serve an amazing God. There have been so many instances where God has clearly guided us and taken care of us. Not to say that we haven't had times of discouragement. But we have also felt confident that God is aware of everything that is happening. He has given us peace and encouragement more than we could have imagined.


One of the bible passages that has been special to me is Psalm 29:10-11.

"The Lord rules over the floodwaters. The Lord reigns as king forever.
The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace."


Our relationship with Christ has brought us through the past 8 months. It has also taught us the beginning of what God really means when he discusses Joy in His word. I can't even begin to do justice to the meat of that lesson from Him, but our pastors at our church have talked several times about this over the past few months, the most recent of which was on December 12th by Pastor Nathan (http://faithchurchaz.org/audio/2004-12-12.mp3). We may not know what is in store for us in the future, but we are confident that God will be with us through the joyful and the difficult times.


We will be thanking God for all of you this weekend and we pray that your celebrations will be memorable.


God bless you all!
Amy (for all of us)

Well, we pulled into our driveway at 9:30 this morning. Abby's stem cell infusion went well yesterday. Today we start neupogen and watch her counts go down and up for the next week. We'll keep you posted.

Our oncologist isn't concerned about her counts today, though her pattern has been that each day after her chemo her hemoglobin count drops a full point. This puts us in scary territory by Monday, our next oncologist appointment. If she needs blood on Saturday or Sunday the only option is a trip to the ER. We'd sure like to avoid that.