Health Update

I haven’t been great about posting, but I think most people in our lives get updates separately anyway. That might not be true for long though, because we have to go off the grid. Yaacov has critically low white blood cells (literally ZERO), so keeping him healthy is a matter of life and death. He’s quarantined and for now the rest of us don’t have to stay away from him, but we are going to be extra-diligent and might end up locking ourselves up just in case. 

He had chemo today, which was his third one. He has another in two weeks and then a scan before making decisions. But Dr. Rassam can feel the first tumor shrinking and I think all (or most) of his associated pain is gone! Unfortunately, he feels the worst he’s ever felt today and when he does walk around I stay close in case he needs help. Describing this as “hard” is an understatement.

We do have some good reports and I’m trying to focus on those. You might have heard of some of these recent struggles: our fridge, washing machine, van, and garbage disposal all broke. And then I got a speeding ticket. But, We were able to get a new fridge, then someone BOUGHT us a washing machine!!!! We are still overwhelmed by this. Speechless. In the meantime friends and my mom have done our laundry, and many others offered. Oh, and my van needed a new engine, but Honda Care unexpectedly covered the majority of this cost! People have given us gift cards, too, and others have been bringing us meals. I hardly have to cook at all, and when Yaacov has an appetite he LOVES the variety and fun that comes with other people than me doing the cooking! 

So, we feel like we’re in a war and we are. The enemy loves to prowl around and try to devour the children of God. But we know that all things work together for good for those who are called according to His (God’s) purpose (Romans 8:28). We are definitely called to declare the great news of all The Lord has done, so if these momentary troubles are part of this season, we know He will also strengthen and enable us to continue. 

Overall, there is a lot of bad stuff going on, but we are all amazed by the generosity and encouragement of those around us. We really don’t deserve it but are incredibly grateful. 

Chemo 1

Our hearts are full by all the offers of help, prayer and love! Everyone should go through hardships once in awhile to experience the blessing of loved ones reaching out, it's really encouraging!

The truth is that at the beginning we felt like it was Teddy, not cancer or chemo, that was making this season so hard. If you've missed it, we adopted Teddy a few years ago. He has developmental disabilities and is a really hard kiddo to raise. Although I have tons of experience with kids with disabilities, it's that more than the adoption part of having him that's so hard. He gets tons of therapy, but still the frequency and magnitude of tantrums and whining makes it hard to get through some days. I'm not sharing this to bash him, I just want to be real to remind other parents of kids with special needs that they aren't alone. I think it's hard to relate if all your kids are "normal".

Anyway, after a lot of prayer I'm happy to report that Teddy has been behaving better, and my heart is also responding to him in a more loving manner (which in turn surely helps his behavior!). So, thanks be to God for that massive improvement. The house and car are much more peaceful without someone screaming at us all day.

Unfortunately, Yaacov's response to chemo has not been as positive an experience. He had his first round on Monday, and felt pretty good that day. Even though he started turning yellow in the evening, we weren't too worried. But it's gotten worse each day, and he even had to cancel a class today. He's been very concerned about having to do that, so he didn't take the decision lightly. He's extremely nauseas, has GI issues, is exhausted, and has already lost his sense of taste. I didn't lose my taste until the very end of chemo, and I remember that was the first time I really considered quitting. So for him to lose it so quickly makes me a little nervous. But the Lord is in control of every side effect of this treatment! If you're praying, however, please pray for a total recovery from the current issues, and for peace, health and comfort. I'm also thinking of calling Dr. Rassam today for more help, but I'm not really sure what to ask. The Lord is Yaacov's perfect advocate, so I know if He wants to use me to obtain more help, He will do so!

Highlights of this season so far: 

*Yaacov coming out of anesthesia singing a ballad version of a Snoop song. He slowly covered his lips and whispered, "swear word", to replace inappropriate lyrics. Don't worry, I was able to record it!

*Several people have shared stories of how the Lord always shows up exactly when we need Him. His timing is perfect, and He is faithful to encourage us with such memories.

*I'm learning how awful it is to watch someone suffer, and he is physically suffering much more than ever before. This will help us both with future ministry opportunities, and it's also bringing us closer.

*Anytime we get to go through hard things, we are more aware of the Lord and His presence and promises. He doesn't leave us alone and will never forsake us! "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."--Isaiah 41:10

Yaacov’s Cancer Story

Our lives are a little crazy right now so it seems like a good idea to try to post information on here for those who want to know. Maybe it’ll save me a little time in sharing updates, and help me process a little. 

A few weeks ago was my 10-year healing anniversary. That was a Wednesday. Literally the next day, we learned that Yaacov has cancer.

It was a sudden bombshell, but it has been so chaotic that I don’t have much time to worry or feel sorry for myself. I’d like to say the same for Yaacov, but don’t want to risk that. He’s had a lot more sleepless nights, in too much pain to rest well, with nothing to do but think. 

The basics are that this is Hodgkins Lymphoma, and as of now it’s staged as 2A. At first that was a relief, because the prognosis is so good. However, he has many tumors that are growing quickly. So far he’s had one partially removed, another grow so big it’s interfering with his lung capacity, had 3 CT scans, a PET scan, a bone marrow biopsy, a lung capacity test, and two trips to the ER for heart pain. 

Next week he has a surgery to have his port put in, and he starts chemo Thursday. We were fortunate enough to get in with my original doctors, Dr.’s Crooms and Rassam. 

We have been inundated with love and offers of help, and a ton of people are praying for us. He’s an elder at our church now, and says it’s an honor to suffer along with the other members to give him more empathy and understanding. I doubt it felt like such an honor when they were drilling into his hip to harvest bone marrow yesterday!

We were supposed to have one last amazing family weekend before chemo starts, but Teddy is sick so I have to keep him away from Yaacov. He and the girls are still making great memories, though. 

Stay tuned for more updates, and keep praying to our Great Physician, that He will heal Yaacov and be glorified in his body and our circumstances. If you know us and have questions, please touch base with me before him. He’s quite busy keeping up with work and all these appointments.

Wesley

I don't even know little Wesley, but he's important to our family. Especially to Naomi, who also doesn't know him. He is in first grade at her school, and is also related to a few staff there. He was diagnosed with a rare stomach cancer and is fighting it bravely. 

I wasn't sure of the logistics for this "blessing 10 others" thing that the Lord put in my head, but Naomi kind of started it for me. The other day she came up to me crying and told me she didn't want to go to Space Camp, which is the highlight of her 5th grade year. It's really expensive and she asked if she could skip it and donate all the money we would have spent to Wesley. Cue my own tears!

Wesley has a gofundme account going, and I really don't know that money will help them. It's only God that can make a real difference. But for all the efforts we make to support them we're making a point to pray for them also. He has a ton of support, I hear about him everywhere I turn. So I'm praying that all those people who know about and pray for him will grow closer to the Lord through this experience. May the Lord use this difficult time in his and his family's lives to draw countless others closer to Him. Let them all see God through Wesley!

Naomi is still going to Space Camp, and we're letting her redirect all the money she's been saving and raising for it to give to him. So if you're local and want any baked goods, message me or check my Facebook page for the order form. Also please check out his story, which is attached to this fundraising link. But most of all, please pray for him and his family, and watch how the Lord answers our prayers!

This is the verse that's going out with his story, and it chokes me up every time: 

1 Peter 5:10 "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

Let it, be, Lord!

https://gofund.me/53ec80a8

Tangibly Blessing Others: Updated!

UPDATED: 1) We might still have room to bless a few others, so please contact me and pass this to others.

                    2) For another upcoming project, I'm collected stories of testimonies and answered prayers. Basically any cool times the Lord has moved that you'd be willing to share the story of. I'd love to get a ton of them, so if you'd send them to me, or just an intro to them and I'll give more info of what I need at that point it would be great. Again, please ask people you know who might want to share to contact me, and follow along for updates. I really don't spam people or anything!

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During my Bible study at Bible Study Fellowship, we were asked, "how can you make way for the Lord's return?". I immediately thought of all the "influencers" (regular people who make it big on internet platforms like YouTube and suddenly are revered for their opinions on a variety of matters) who are spreading secular news that people respond to. I think John the Baptist would have been the equivalent of a present-day influencer. We need more to spread the message that the Lord will be returning, and we do not know the day or hour. 

I don't personally have the influence like those described above, but do think every word spoken or written can make a difference toward spreading this message. But after praying about all this I'm going to make a more deliberate effort to do some of this, and ask that you all would join me. Maybe together we can spread some good news!

The Lord put some cool ideas on my heart, and they're all intimidating, so I've been putting off this post for awhile now. But I can do all things through Him, so by His strength and courage we'll get to see Him do cool things. Since February will be the 10-year anniversary of my own healing, what better way to celebrate by blessing other people? We're going to select 10 people or families in desperate situations and try to bless them.

I'm hoping there will be some surprises involved, so I don't want to post every detail yet. But everyone who reads this (or listens to the podcast I'm starting to work on, stay tuned!!) can take part. This isn't about me in any way, it's about Him and blessing His children.

The plan: 

    1. I'll select 10 people or families and decided on the goals of how to bless them. I'd really like to hear from representatives of those people who can help with the details, so if you know of someone this could help, please contact me asap with info (they could be sick or suffering in any other way). We will work on blessing people with tangible needs or just special gifts like going to Disney.

    2. Pray: We will pray regularly for all these people and work on collecting what we need to bless them, and we'll post all the praises from what He's doing in their lives in the meantime.

    3. Collect: Hopefully the Lord will put it on other people's hearts to help collect what is needed for these blessings, then they can be blessed by seeing the fruit of all this.

So, any of this resonates with you, you will please pray for this endeavor, and elect anyone who can think of who could use such a blessing? You can contact me through the blog or email me at epetscher@gmail.com.

Hebrews 13:16, "Don't forget to do good and to share what you have because God is pleased with these kinds of sacrifices."

Praying for Ella

 My friend, Ella has already checked in this morning for brain surgery in Texas. I'm so impressed by the faith of her and her family. She had breast cancer before me and was very encouraging and faithful when I needed my own support back then. She really believed the Lord would heal me. Skipping ahead to this season, she developed a brain tumor and kept it quiet because her daughter Karla was getting married. She didn't want her own issues to take away from that special day.

Today is Ella's special day! The surgeons are preparing for a long surgery to remove this scary, dangerous-looking tumor. But our great physician is the only One in true control. He has plans for her, and to show Himself to those unreachable souls who think they hold life in their hands. We ask that He would remind us all of who He is. The same God who made the earth, the sun and skies made every cell in her body. Please, pray that He would heal every one of those cells now. That He would not only remove the unhealthy ones, but that He would restore them all to function better than ever. May they regenerate as pure, unadulterated cells that live and create more life.

"I shall not die, but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done"--Psalm 117:18.

Let it be. 

Almost TEN Years!

I heard a podcaster the other day say that the problem with blogging is that it's never finished...in my case, it has felt "done" for quite awhile. For a bit I tried to change websites, but finally let that one lapse for lack of use. 

However, I finally have something important enough to share with the world! Contrary to what some others expected, it's not that the cancer is back or anything. It's that it's been almost 10 YEARS since I was healed! We make such a point to remember and celebrate other big things in our lives, I just can't help but make a big deal out of this.

As a quick recap of my story, about 10 years ago I was nursing our daughter, Naomi, who couldn't even crawl yet. Our oldest, Abigail, was only 3. I had noticed a lump that wouldn't go away, and it took a long time to finally learn that it was breast cancer. And the worst news of all was that it had already spread throughout my body. It was incurable, stage 4--no medical treatments could remove it all. The best any drugs or procedures could do would be to slow the spread and aim for as many comfortable days as possible before I died.

My husband, Yaacov, started preparing to be a single dad. My own dad moved to Tallahassee to help with the kids while I went through chemo, double mastectomies, and radiation. I mourned and tried to be Super Mom while I could... And we prayed.

First we prayed that I'd live long enough to see the girls accept the Lord as their savior. I was so afraid they would turn from Him in their pain if I died first. Then I got braver and prayed for 10 more healthy years. I had heard of a woman who beat many, many odds to live that long with stage 4 breast cancer, and I thought maybe the Lord would bless me like he blessed her. That would have been when the kids were tween- and teen-aged, which is a terrible time to lose a parent. So, finally, we realized that if we were asking for a miracle in the first place, we might as well go big with it.

In the end, we asked for prayer from others, and it spread like wildfire. People passed our story and requests out until we had people in all 50 states and 18 different countries praying that I would be miraculously healed. We prayed specifically that the doctors would be dumbfounded by the healing, so that only God would get the glory.

And He did. After just a few chemo treatments, my oncologist ran over and told me he'd never seen anything like my scan results. My cancer had disappeared! And it has never returned.

I still see him annually, and he talks about it every time. 

The Lord answers prayers. 

I'm living proof.