I can hardly believe it’s Monday again, and yet it is.

Our last Monday in Indiana.

It’s going to be an emotional week. I know this because I was already emotional all weekend. “This is our last Saturday here…” “This is our last Sunday here…” “This is our last time visiting this church…” “This is our last chance to fellowship with our new friends Karla and Gene, whom we have come to love like family…”

I can’t wait to just be in our own home, sleep in our own beds, run around in our own yard, even shop at our own Cub Foods (no offense, Kroger, you were swell), but man, we are really going to miss this place.

The Lord has been SO good. He has been so faithful. Not only has He raised up an army of prayer warriors from every state and around the world, but He has blown us away with the army of local saints, the people that make up the precious body of Christ, that came together to bless a family of uprooted strangers, for 8 weeks.

A local church’s small groups took turns blessing us with food each week, practically more than we could eat. We are a big family, that’s a lot of food. They also threw in some gift cards, some of them quite large, I was rather speechless. The food, the Walmart gift cards, the Kroger gift cards (which came in so handy for things like lots of milk and fresh fruits & veggies), the BP gift card for gas, have all helped us so much during this time when our budget is stretched so thin, making payments on two homes, and spending a small fortune on gas. I thank the Lord for the cheerful givers at Emmanual Baptist Church.

A local homeschooling mom stopped by several times and picked up the middle 6 children, taking them out for ice cream and over to her home to run and play outside and collect geodes in the creek, so I could take Ian to one of his many daily appointments with only the baby in tow. She was such an incredible blessing to me, and the children just adored her and her girls and couldn’t wait for another chance to visit with Miss Kristy. I thank the Lord for Kristy.

A sweet lady we met at the small start-up church we visited brought me a bread knife and a nice big cutting board, as there weren’t any here at the condo we have been renting. She also brought us the most incredible chicken avocado & black bean salad. I thank the Lord for Irene.

A blogging friend arranged for an amazing meal from the Olive Garden on one of the Saturdays when my husband was able to be down with us for the weekend. I thank the Lord for Megan.

And Cheryl, and Sherry, and Phil, and Nancy, and all of the other people whose names I don’t remember, many of whom I never even actually met. I thank the Lord for them.

We have been SO blessed. It’s humbling, it really, really is.

Would I do that much? For strangers? THAT much?

I hope so.

791. gifted homemade cookies

792. fall color

793. cool breezes

794. the kindness of strangers

795. when strangers become friends

796. an amazing doctor (who flew to Minnesota this weekend to speak to the group of surgeons my husband used to work for about the wonders of proton beam therapy! My husband is quite the networker!)

797. a generous gift of money that enabled us to get a badly needed new set of tires on the van before our multi-state road trip back home, Lord willing, on Friday. I feel much safer now, they were getting way too bald…

798. modern medicines, steroids, that saved the day, more than once, when Ian was having brain swelling issues

799. every baby step of improvement, physically, for Ian

800. thoughts of Minnesota

Related posts:

1. Another Monday
2. Overwhelming Support

Two Mondays ago, Ian was supposed to go over to Abbott to get set up for his radiation simulation. He had spiked a really high fever in the night and was still shaking and shuddering so badly that he couldn’t lay still enough for the MRI. They wheeled him back over, saying “Well, we’ll try again on a different day.”

Everything had been happening so fast, at least it sure felt fast to us. We were still reeling with the shock of it all- finding the tumor, removing the tumor, the devastating effects of the surgery, and then the devastating news of the pathology results, and they were thinking he could get started with radiation a few days less than 3 weeks after surgery!

I felt horrible that my son was so miserable with that fever, but part of me was relieved- relieved to have a pause, a day to stop and think, to research, to ask questions, to ask for second opinions.

Some would call it a coincidence,
but I truly believe that the Lord did that.

I asked about the radiation. Did he really need it? They got the entire tumor, wouldn’t the chemo do the work of taking care of any extra cells floating around intending to multiply? If he did need radiation, did he really need that much? Really? Why? No, really, I want to know, I want to know why, exactly why. Who decided this and how did they come to this conclusion?

The doc listened, and talked, and told me about another option, and, well, here we are…

More soon!

756. Finding the tumor when we did

757. An observant pediatrician

758. An incredible neurosurgeon

759. A successful surgery- entire tumor removal!

760. Ian finally coming out from under anesthesia

761. Medical advancements like Narcan (Ian required 2 doses of the anti-narcotic medication after a small dose of Morphine caused him to stop breathing)

762. An incredible PICU with its incredible nurses

763. After a week in the PICU (we were told to expect A night in PICU and a 7 night total stay), Ian graduating to the 7th floor

764. A clear spine MRI, with no signs of metastasizing tumors

765. No malignant cells in Ian’s cerebral-spinal fluid

766. Hope that the effects of the Posterior Fossa Syndrome will fade, and our big, strong, healthy & agile son will be big, strong, healthy & agile again!

768. Ian’s headache pain easing up some

769. Not needing a shunt!

770. Some very obvious signs of the Lord’s leading in taking care of Ian, and the rest of us, on this journey- the medulloblastoma journey- I’m looking forward to sharing so much more, when I’m not so tired!

How you can help-

I post these links for those who have asked, but please do not feel obligated. I want to stress that we covet your prayers more than anything!

Here is the link to the FundRazr app we have set up (through Paypal and facebook, though I don’t believe you actually need an account with either)

***eta- I finally added a widget to the left sidebar. For some reason, Paypal has 2 completely different kind of widgets for blogs and facebooks, so there are actually 2 different widgets, with 2 different running totals (both going to the same account!), which is kinda weird, but whatever. They’re just there because so many people have asked us how they can help, and it just makes it so easy for everyone.  

Also- we’d love it if you’d join in prayer at the Praying for Ian Williams facebook event page that Ian’s friend Alex started as soon as he heard the news. It’s been amazing to see the numbers grow, and to see so many states and countries represented!

If you’re new here, to this blog, to our story, to Ian’s story-

To learn about about me, about us, stop by the about page for a brief introduction.

To learn more about Ian’s story, the story of a healthy boy who just needed a sports physical so he could play his senior year soccer season, who ended up discovering that he had a brain tumor- to read the whole story, start here- Pediatricians, MRIs, and Neurologists, Oh My! Then scroll down past the comments on each page for the link to the next post.

Welcome, and thank you for your prayers!

Related posts:

1. Hardest Birthday Ever
2. Friday Night Update
3. Doing Dishes Makes Me Cry