The last few weeks have been very good at our house. Ryan and Addie have been having a lot of fun together and we've gotten to do some cool things that they really enjoyed. We took them to the bowling alley a few weeks ago and Ryan's friend Tiffany came along. They all had a blast. Addie's favorite part was, of course, snack time and she loved when they turned the lights out and the disco ball was lit up. Ryan, ever the competitor, was extremely interested in the score after each frame. They had a great time. We have also been able to get outside and jump on the trampoline several times. Ryan thinks it's hilarious when Addie's hair stands straight up from the static electricity.
This round of treatment has been very smooth. His energy level has been good and he has been able to go to church a couple weeks in a row. He really loves to go and always remembers everything they talked about. Special thanks to Dawn and Keith Brown, his Sunday School teachers, for making it possible for him to come and watching out for him while he is in the class. This Sunday our whole family got to go together for the first time in a couple months (usually one of us is home with Ryan or working).
Ryan's ophthalmologist appointment went well. The doctor wants to give it six more months to see how much more his eyes will improve on their own before he does any surgery to reposition his eyes back straight. We're fine waiting as long as we know that at the end of the waiting something can be done to fix the problem. He assured me that in the least, if they never improved any further than they are right now, in the end he would still be able to do surgery to correct them.
God has been really opening my own eyes lately and has reminded me many times that Jesus already has the victory over Satan for us. There is nothing that the devil can throw at us that we can't defeat since we can already claim the victory in Christ! God has pushed me to remember that we can have joy in all situations and that our joy can only be taken away if we choose to let it be taken. It is a conscious decision to look beyond the here and now and our current circumstances and to focus on having joy through the help of the Holy Spirit regardless of the storms raging around us. As luck would have it, this week I accidentally stumbled across an old cassette tape of the Christian singer Carmen with the song The Champion on it. That song sums up everything I've been feeling; Jesus' death on the cross and then His victory over death with the empty tomb and His resurrection. If that doesn't get you fired up then you need to check your pulse and see if your still breathing!
I had someone ask me this week why God would he let this [cancer] happen to a little boy like Ryan. All I could say in response was that a little rain falls on both the good and the bad. That regardless of what happens with Ryan our family is going to love God all the way to the top of the mountain or to the very depths of the valley. Ryan and I talked a lot this week about Job and how God allowed him to be tested but in the end, no matter what Satan threw at him, Job refused to let it obscure whom he knew God to be: loving, awesome and powerful. I've always loved Job's statement immediately after he had just been told that all of his wealth had been taken away and all of his children had just died in an accident: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised." (Job 1:21)
We serve a mighty and awesome God and it's wonderful to be reminded of that sometimes!

2 Corinthians 4:18 - Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.