Pain of this Life

You know when you receive the phone call that makes your world stop. The phone call you wish you could erase. The news you never thought was possible to happen to your family. 


2 weeks ago Joel's mom called me in tears. She said Joel's dad had been experiencing headaches the last few weeks and had visited his doctor earlier that day. The doctor quickly admitted Joel's dad to the hospital because of a tumor that was found on his brain. 


48 hours later he was undergoing serious brain surgery. 


Any news we have received the last couple of weeks is never the news we want to hear. Large tumor. Aggressive. Stage 4. Glioblastoma multiforme.


Sleepless nights. Baffled by the news. Wishing it was only a bad dream. Wishing the doctors were wrong. It cannot be. He is young, extremely healthy, active, with decades of grand parenting left. Why does this news hurt so much? Why is it him? Why so early?

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you will know that Joel's parent's are extremely special to us. They are the ones we eagerly join on vacation. They are the people we wish could stay a few extra days after every visit at our home. They are the ones we are always asking to come move closer to us. 

4 precious grandchildren live in Wyoming who need more Papa time. We have a future home we need Joel's dad's help to redo. We have plans of adding a few more children to our family and they need to have decades of Papa in their life. We have many more years of beach vacations to take and many years of celebrating life on this earth with him.

We know God works miracles and we're praying hard for a miracle to take place.

Radiation and chemo treatments start next week. We're begging all of you to pray with us. Pray for the doctors. Pray for strength for Joel's dad. Pray for optimism for everyone. We are all still in a state of shock. Please, pray for a miracle. Pray that God would take away this tumor and none of these treatments would have to take place. 


We're clinging to positive stories we have heard of patients who have had the same tumor and lived many, many years. We're clinging to a great God who is in control of all things, even big things like tumors that we do not understand.