The Blessing of Visitors

Last weekend, Jim’s brother, Dan, and his family came down from Grand Rapids to see Brad and Steven play in the marching band and to visit Jim. The visit became better and better when they delivered a letter to Jim from our 7-year-old nephew, Jeffrey. Jeffrey still uses “best guess” spelling, and we wanted to share his touching note with you. It is an illustration of the strength that even a child can draw from our Lord and use it to encourage others. Click on the picture to see it larger.

Lately, since Jim has been feeling well, chatting with visitors has become a special blessing to him. Today he was surprised to have a dear friend and former youth pastor, Bill Bennett, make a special trip down to Fort Wayne from Grand Rapids to visit. Bill and his wife, Sandy, were the Master and Mistress of Ceremonies at our wedding. This is a friendship that has lasted through the years, and these are people who have shared both our ups and downs with us. Even though years go by without us seeing them, we still share that special bond. It reminds me of the lyrics from a song – “We’ll keep you close as always. . . Friends are friends forever when the Lord’s the Lord of them. A lifetime’s not to long to live as friends.” It’s the tie that binds. Thank you to all who are able to visit. It is truly an encouragement to Jim, and a special blessing he is receiving as relationships are deepening.

We are still waiting for Jim’s blood counts to go up. His platelets continue to be in the normal range. Hemoglobin is on the low end but acceptable for discharge. His white blood count is slowly rising – from 600 on Friday to 900 on Saturday to 1100 today. Normal WBC is anywhere between 4500 and 11,000. Please continue to pray that Jim’s counts would rise.