Happy New Year TEAM KELLY!! What a wonderful way we started off the year! God IS SO GOOD! So you all know Kelly's amazing report from MD Anderson, but let me share a little leading up to the actual trip to Houston. Trisha's mom...aka Nana Gains, paid a little visit to Kelly the week before. She had been reading her Jesus Calling devotion and something stood out to her.
-Hope is like a golden cord connecting you to heaven. The more you cling to this cord, the more I bear the weight of your burdens, thus you are lightened-
Nana has kept a gold piece of cord for years that her mother-in-law had given to her...just a piece of gift wrap or craft ribbon. It had stayed nestled in a junk drawer for years. Numerous times, Nana had thought of throwing it out. For whatever reason, it just kept repositioning itself in that little junk drawer over the years. While Nana was praying for Kelly that morning, and read that passage from Jesus Calling, she immediately went to find that little piece of gold cord hidden in her junk drawer. She called Kelly right away and drove it over to her. Being the teacher that she is, she knew this little scrap of gold cord would give Kelly a visual every day of the Hope we all have in her healing and how all that Hope connects us to our Father in Heaven. The best part of this story is that God had spoken to Nana Gains that morning. He told her loud and clear..."Tell Kelly that I AM LISTENING!" We hope you have the chills and tears that we all had at this amazing testimony.
So as we traveled to Houston, clutching onto a little piece of gold cord from Nana Gains, we knew God was going to give us some wonderful news of HOPE that would keep us fighting! He reassured us that He is the ultimate physician. Kelly IS an EXCEPTION! This is another text she sent for me to put on the blog while driving home from Houston --
Why are we always in awe of Him?! He can do anything!! He has big plans for me and I'm ready!! I just can't stop wondering...why me?? What does He want to use me for? It's amazing how good news and God's love can make you feel so strong!! How we keep praying circles...and He listens. I am so blessed it overwhelms me. I'm ready to celebrate and to fight some more!!
Gonna hold tight to that gold cord of Hope.
I was fortunate enough to actually go this time to Houston with Kelly and Jason. I couldn't be more grateful. God opened my eyes to just how hard it is to wait for hours and hours before getting a scan. All this waiting and anticipation as to what they may see or not see is really taxing on the spirit. Kelly has told me how depressing the waiting room is...tons of patients spilling over to overflow waiting rooms. Wondering who has what kind of cancer. Who has a wig on is one of the games you play in your mind. How anxiety and fatigue get the best of you in those hours. She never could have described it the way you actually see it when you are there. MD Anderson is an amazing hospital. A city in its own right. But it is not the happiest place on earth. At least until you meet with the doctor and he shows you scans that don't add up. Until he tells you that you are an exception. Until he says we don't know what to do with you...you are very tricky, not typical of what we see in cases like yours. Until he says he wants to meet with a TEAM of doctors to discuss the best plan for your treatment! And there you have it, TEAM KELLY, she is and always has been a unique child of God and He IS answering our prayers!
A really wonderful surprise while we were there was running into Pat...a long time friend battling ovarian cancer. What are the odds to be in the waiting room on the same day and time? Maybe it was God's gift to Kelly and Pat to say they have each others' backs in prayer. And God's little gift to me that week was sweet Aunt Sherryl and my dear friend Jamie. Thank you both for inviting me into your homes so I could be there with Kelly during this time.
This is a book published by one of Kelly's favorite third graders...love it Griffin!
God's little reminder not to worry and have HOPE
at the MDA gift shop :)
The amazing gingerbread house village created by
various charities for the children at MDA.
And how amazing is this?? This is from our long time family friends who took a trip to Israel while we were all in Houston...
Something that can make your heart flutter.....When we left town, my 53 year old cousin, Kim, whom we have also been praying for...because her liver transplant was being taken over by the HEP-C that had destroyed her original.....and she was really looking at death again. When we returned, we found that the experimental drugs were working "big time" and she was virtually clear again! I want to cry for joy and shout to the world what our God can do!...but...my thoughts were also on you and your family knowing how much we love and appreciate you all...and we were only hoping this picture would show that. And then...comes the WOW results from MD Anderson!
Our love and prayers to Kelly, from the
Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Israel.
Alicia, Koleda, Patty, Joseph, Lindsey, Michael, Daniel, Joshua, Quendy, and Gene...each wrote a prayer for Kelly on note paper, and put them into the cracks of the wailing wall!
A little background on the "antics"...It is tradition that prayers are written on a piece of paper, folded, placed in the cracks of the Wailing Wall...then periodically, they are collected, burned...and the smoke of the fire takes the prayers up to our Lord. Yeah, yeah...we all knew that God hears our silent prayers...but doing the little bit of extra effort made us feel like we were a little more serious about what we were asking for!!
It was truly a magnificent trip and we want you and yours to know that you are loved by the Swaithes Clan!!!
Team Kelly, you are a pillar of strength for Kelly and all of her family. Thank you for your constant prayers. We look forward to the year ahead and what God has in store for us next!
