God is Faithful.
Last month Michael got to give a "welcome" to our church. The church does this every Sunday by having one person get up and tell what God is doing in their lives. Mike impressed me greatly by what he said, not to mention what it took for him to get up in front of all those people. He told a story of something he learned and I want to share that lesson with all of you.
Last December when we found out that Kelby indeed had cancer and a type of cancer that only gave her a 20-30% chance of survival, we found it very easy to start asking God "why me?"
It is an easy question to start asking when things don't go the easy way. Why would God let this happen to us? What did we do wrong? Why my little girl?
During the stem cell transplant process, Michael had to stay with Kelby every evening because Tegan and I couldn't stay in the hospital at night. I know those long sleepless nights were hard on him. One night when I had changed Kelby's dressing over her catheter site, we noticed that the tube was very loose. They decided to put in a stitch to keep it from coming out. I knew that I couldn't handle watching them put the stitch in, so Mike went with her into the treatment room. What he told everyone at church was the experience he had in that room.
He said...They layed Kelby down and gave her one medication after the other to try to sedate her, but she was extremely strong willed and nothing would calm her down. They needed her to hold still. Finally they got to the point where they decided it wasn't safe to give her any more medication and Michael was going to have to hold her down. They asked him to pin her arms down tight so she wouldn't be injured by the needle. In his words, "As I pinned her down she looked straight up into my eyes with tears running down her face, a terror I'll never forget, and she just screamed, terrified and pleading for help, 'Daaaaaddy, Daaaady!' She desparately wanted me to help her but all I could do was to keep myself from crying with her and try to reassure her, 'It's okay Honey, it's okay. Daddy's here. I know it's no fun, but it's for a reason." At that time, Kelby didn't say "Daddy" very often yet, so it was very heart wrenching to hear her call out to him that way. He said that about a week or so after that, he was driving down the street by himself. Tegan had just been born and it was so hard to enjoy because Kelby was in the hospital going through this life-threatening process. He wished we could all be together. He found it easy once again to say, "Why me, God." All of a sudden he realized that he was doing the exact same thing that Kelby was doing the night he had pinned her down. His answer to Kelby was the same one that God had for him. "It's okay Mike, I'm right here. Don't be scared. I know you don't understand, but there are reasons. I'm still here." During times like these, even if God would stand over us and try to explain the reasons, just as he had tried to explain to Kelby, the explanation would probably be so complex and we are so narrow-sighted that we could never understand it. All we can do is accept God's comforting. He is our "Daddy".
We have seen a number of wonderful things happen in the lives of others because of what our family went through. That makes so much difference to us...it makes some of the hard times seem worth it. These are the things that God knows of, but we don't understand in the midst of our pain. People have told us that they have reevaluated what was important in their lives. People told us that what they considered great obstacles in life seemed more insignificant now. People that never prayed, started. With her strong will and her fight combined with ther willingness to cooperate and her sweet spirit, she won the hearts of many. There are probably lives out there that Kelby touched that we will never know about. Hopefully others will come to know God's love in a personal way because of the trials that Kelby went through. God did not cause this to happen to Kelby, but He has used it in so many positive ways and we thank Him for that. From the very beginning our faith lead us to put everything in God's hands knowing that whatever future He had for Kelby, it was best. He gave us great peace and strength. Good can come from any circumstance if we put it in God's hands.
In light of what happened on September 11, 2001...America Under Attack...I want to apply what we learned from Kelby's experience. The terrorist attacks were so horrible. Our world has been shaken. How could something so terrible be allowed to happen? "Why God?" Only God knows the grand scope of what is to come and we can only accept His comforting in this time, knowing that these things are in His hands. We can't blame God for these attacks, but we can run to Him for comfort and strength... and that is what the nation has done. There is a peace in knowing that we are in God's hands. None of us knows when our last day will be, so we should be ready. We are ready when we have faith in God and know Christ died for us. When we ask Jesus to come into our hearts, we begin a personal relationship with God...one that is a real part of our everyday lives. That personal relationship with our Lord was what got us through this time without going into a deep depression; every day we could turn to God to ask for miracles, strength, and peace. That is how I know that God is real and God is good and God is faithful.
God bless you all. Thank you again for your continued prayers. Please feel free to leave messages in our guestbook. We still love to hear from anyone out there that may have been touched by Kelby's story.
God is Faithful.
Last month Michael got to give a "welcome" to our church. The church does this every Sunday by having one person get up and tell what God is doing in their lives. Mike impressed me greatly by what he said, not to mention what it took for him to get up in front of all those people. He told a story of something he learned and I want to share that lesson with all of you.
Last December when we found out that Kelby indeed had cancer and a type of cancer that only gave her a 20-30% chance of survival, we found it very easy to start asking God "why me?" 
It is an easy question to start asking when things don't go the easy way. Why would God let this happen to us? What did we do wrong? Why my little girl?
During the stem cell transplant process, Michael had to stay with Kelby every evening because Tegan and I couldn't stay in the hospital at night. I know those long sleepless nights were hard on him. One night when I had changed Kelby's dressing over her catheter site, we noticed that the tube was very loose. They decided to put in a stitch to keep it from coming out. I knew that I couldn't handle watching them put the stitch in, so Mike went with her into the treatment room. What he told everyone at church was the experience he had in that room.
He said...They layed Kelby down and gave her one medication after the other to try to sedate her, but she was extremely strong willed and nothing would calm her down. They needed her to hold still. Finally they got to the point where they decided it wasn't safe to give her any more medication and Michael was going to have to hold her down. They asked him to pin her arms down tight so she wouldn't be injured by the needle. In his words, "As I pinned her down she looked straight up into my eyes with tears running down her face, a terror I'll never forget, and she just screamed, terrified and pleading for help, 'Daaaaaddy, Daaaady!' She desparately wanted me to help her but all I could do was to keep myself from crying with her and try to reassure her, 'It's okay Honey, it's okay. Daddy's here. I know it's no fun, but it's for a reason." At that time, Kelby didn't say "Daddy" very often yet, so it was very heart wrenching to hear her call out to him that way. He said that about a week or so after that, he was driving down the street by himself. Tegan had just been born and it was so hard to enjoy because Kelby was in the hospital going through this life-threatening process. He wished we could all be together. He found it easy once again to say, "Why me, God." All of a sudden he realized that he was doing the exact same thing that Kelby was doing the night he had pinned her down. His answer to Kelby was the same one that God had for him. "It's okay Mike, I'm right here. Don't be scared. I know you don't understand, but there are reasons. I'm still here." During times like these, even if God would stand over us and try to explain the reasons, just as he had tried to explain to Kelby, the explanation would probably be so complex and we are so narrow-sighted that we could never understand it. All we can do is accept God's comforting. He is our "Daddy".
We have seen a number of wonderful things happen in the lives of others because of what our family went through. That makes so much difference to us...it makes some of the hard times seem worth it. These are the things that God knows of, but we don't understand in the midst of our pain. People have told us that they have reevaluated what was important in their lives. People told us that what they considered great obstacles in life seemed more insignificant now. People that never prayed, started. With her strong will and her fight combined with ther willingness to cooperate and her sweet spirit, she won the hearts of many. There are probably lives out there that Kelby touched that we will never know about. Hopefully others will come to know God's love in a personal way because of the trials that Kelby went through. God did not cause this to happen to Kelby, but He has used it in so many positive ways and we thank Him for that. From the very beginning our faith lead us to put everything in God's hands knowing that whatever future He had for Kelby, it was best. He gave us great peace and strength. Good can come from any circumstance if we put it in God's hands.
In light of what happened on September 11, 2001...America Under Attack...I want to apply what we learned from Kelby's experience. The terrorist attacks were so horrible. Our world has been shaken. How could something so terrible be allowed to happen? "Why God?" Only God knows the grand scope of what is to come and we can only accept His comforting in this time, knowing that these things are in His hands. We can't blame God for these attacks, but we can run to Him for comfort and strength... and that is what the nation has done. There is a peace in knowing that we are in God's hands. None of us knows when our last day will be, so we should be ready. We are ready when we have faith in God and know Christ died for us. When we ask Jesus to come into our hearts, we begin a personal relationship with God...one that is a real part of our everyday lives. That personal relationship with our Lord was what got us through this time without going into a deep depression; every day we could turn to God to ask for miracles, strength, and peace. That is how I know that God is real and God is good and God is faithful.
God bless you all. Thank you again for your continued prayers. Please feel free to leave messages in our guestbook. We still love to hear from anyone out there that may have been touched by Kelby's story.
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