Donors and Appy and Hair, OH MY!

It's been a while, and I realized that not everyone gets the Facebook updates, so I thought I'd update here as well.

First, Jake still is actually hanging onto his hair, though it's thinning quite a bit. He was tired of finding long strands of hair everywhere, so we took the clippers to it after last chemo treatment. He still has his goatee, and I surprisingly really like his new look. I say surprisingly because when we were first dating, he buzzed his head. I hated it so much, that I threatened him that I'd leave if he ever did it again. (haha) Maybe it's partly the fact that I've been expecting him to be bald at some point, so I was able to accept it better. Regardless, I do like it.

Second, Jake has had the pleasure of experiencing acute appendicitis. He went in for surgery this morning. I don't have an update on that, yet, but will update as soon as I am able. *Update* Jake is out of surgery, back in his room, and "out of it" as he says. Seems to be doing well otherwise.

Now for the exciting news: A donor has been found! Jake is scheduled to start the process of total body irradiation with another chemo on 12/30/12. Until then, there are a lot of appointments and blood draws and all kinds of running around. And a lot of nerves. I'm anxious to get this part of it over with. We anticipate about 6 weeks of hospital stay, and 100 days post transplant of being in a bubble. So, as a reminder, if you are sick or have been around anyone who has been sick or know of a person who knows of a person who is sick, please don't come visit. We love you, but we also love Jake living better than dead. If you feel like "visiting" through other methods such as Facetime or Skype, I'm sure that would be an option. Just work it out with him to see what his day looks like.

I had an interesting thought last night. For many of you, this may be a "Duh!" thought, but for me, it was a little new. I know that so many times we trust that God will get us through our various trials, and He does. But for some reason I always had the thought (expectiation?) that if we prayed hard enough about it, it would be done comfortably and with little pain. I was introduced to a music video last night that really opened my eyes regarding this. The song was Do You Have Room by Shawna Edwards. Ok, I know that back then there weren't hospitals and epidurals and all the stuff that can make us comfortable in childbirth, but here Mary was, about to deliver the Son of God, and there was no room anywhere. Sure, I'm sure God could have created room, or some luxury suite for the delivery of His Son, but He didn't. Jesus was born in a stable, with dirty animals and dirty animal stink and cold, drafty air... It was anything but comfortable. Imagine if the story was changed just a little, if Jesus was born in a luxury suite with lots of beautiful clothing, things more "fit" for a King. I wonder if the significance of His birth even would have changed. Or maybe the wrong people would decide to believe simply because of the possessions.

It's easy to desire comfort or smooth sailing through our trials. But would our lessons remain the same? Would we have the same life application following the trial if it were easier? Or would it even be a trial? Anyway. I hope my thoughts weren't too far off track. Really, it was just a bit of an eye-opener for me.

We have been blessed so far, and so far relatively comfortable (Relatively being the key word....Jake has been uncomfortable, but faring much better than many of his cohabitants of East 8). We hope all is well with you and yours, and may the Spirit of Christmas take hold of your hearts this year. I know it has mine.