After Timothy was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of 4 1/2, life became a bit challenging to say the least. He spent the first week in the hospital to get stabilized and started on Chemotherapy. Having a newborn that I was trying to nurse proved to be quite a challenge. They would not allow me to bring her onto the floor where Tim was staying. At first, I had my sister Debbie, and then my dear sweet friend Becky that came to the hospital with me to help. They would take care of Rebekah while I was with Tim, and then we would switch when Rebekah needed to nurse. After the initial first week stay, we brought Tim home for a couple of days, but then returned for a couple of more weeks. The hospital eventually changed their policy to accommodate nursing mothers, but it was too late for us!
It is quite amazing how God puts two people together in a marriage. How we react to things and how we handle things can be so very different, yet it can be so good! The night Tim was diagnosed my husband Mike was pretty much a basket case. I on the other hand seem to be handling things pretty well. The doctors actually thought there was something wrong with me because I wasn't a basket case. Six years prior, my sister's son had been diagnosed with Leukemia, and I was familiar with some of the things going on. I just had to function so that we could get through this. Mike had mentioned that we should not have any more children . I am not exactly sure of his reasoning, but I told him that I did not think that this was the time to make that kind of decision. After a few days, Mike was doing much better, and I became the basket case. After all, I had just given birth, so my hormones were going crazy, and my son had just been diagnosed with Leukemia. God's presence was felt so much during this time. I not going to say it was easy, but God's Hand was quite obvious. Tim had Chemotherapy for 2 1/2 years. He had a central line that made life a little easier. It gave access so that he could have blood draws and transfusions without having to be stuck. We actually did some chemotherapy at home as well as other transfusions. Mike and I had learned quite a bit of knowledge that we probably assumed that we didn't have to learn.
Tim did so very well, and didn't get too very ill. He only had a couple of hospitalizations due to running a fever. Both times were on a Friday . They made us come in any time he would run a fever. Both times proved that he just had a virus like the other kids and no big deal. He got out on Monday and was good as new. We were very busy with four kids, school and Chemotherapy. In September of 2005, we found out we were expecting baby #5! This was a few months before Tim finished Chemo. Victoria was Born in 1996 and this was after Tim was all done with Chemo.
When Victoria was nine months old we had a very big surprise! I had become pregnant again with baby #6. We were not exactly expecting this because the rest of the children had pretty much been "planned out", but we were still very excited. Matthew was born in 1997.
When I was pregnant with Matthew I bought a book called A Full Quiver by Rick and Jan Hess. I had bought it because I was seeking encouragement about having a large family. After having more than two kids, people generally feel they need to make a comment about having so many children. It was wearing on me even though I enjoyed my big family and I needed some encouragement. Reading the book really spoke to my heart. It talks about letting God have control of your fertility, ( also known as being quiverfull or QF) . I really felt that is what God had called us to do, but I needed for Mike to be on the same page. This is not something I wanted to talk him into, I wanted it to be from God. I had asked him to read the book and then let me know what he thought about it. I was very anxious to know when he was done,and what he thought, but I gave him time and space. Eventually I did ask him if he was done with the book yet, and he said yes. I then asked well, what do you think about it? He said that it made sense and agreed that is what we should do. So that is when we gave our Fertility over to the Lord.
Samuel was born in 1999 followed by Anna in 2001, Luke in 2003, and Micah on in 2005. So it seemed we would have a baby every two years. Micah was born five days after my 41st Birthday. It seemed that my fertility was slowing down. I was starting to think that my baby days were coming to a close. In March 2008, I was pleasantly surprised by a positive pregnancy test. This meant I was due with a baby in November 2008! I will share more about this pregnancy very soon. This is how baby Faith came into our lives.
Until next time,
