Fifteen
(I started this post a week before Micah's birthday. His birthday was January 7. Better late than never! (: )
I am a numbers girl. As we start 2017, I can't help but look at our new numbers. They are big ones. 20 years married. Kids turning 19,15,13,11,7,1. It's our odd year! (:
Today's number is 15. That is Micah's number. His birthday is on Saturday. We celebrate all of our kids' birthdays. The Lord has blessed them all with each of their years, but this week we are thanking the Lord for Micah's life.
I tried to do 15 years in 15 pictures, but it didn't' work! (:
Our little men, Josh and Micah. They were so cute together. This was the toughest camping trip of our lives. I think the kids were 1, 3, 7. I am pretty sure I was just expecting Siah. They were dirty every minute of this week in Kilbear. We left a day early because we were so done. The lady in the booth said she couldn't give our money back for the last night and I laughed. I told her she could keep it. No problem. We just needed to get home. We laugh so hard when we think of our kids sitting in the ashes of the fire pit and a raccoon getting into our van and eating our bread and honking the horn in the middle of the night. Haha. . Memories. (:
See this face... This is the kid that would run away from us in his boots and underwear down the street. This is the boy that we lost for an hour in our neighborhood. He was standing beside the railroad tracks in his boots and underwear. This is the face that poured milk in the VCR and wrote with sharpy on the carpet. I think he made me cry the most of all the kids when he was little. I can laugh now, but boy he was a challenge. You would never know it now. He is so tender and soft. The Lord used his cancer to change him. He suffered physically and emotionally and it turned his life upside down. But what came out the other side was a little heart that the Lord touched. It's quite beautiful really.
Micah at MBC. His first fish. What a yummy little boy.
Aug 2007 - 5 years old. Kim took this picture for the Sunday School wall at the church picnic at Peace Williams. I see Grace's eyes here. The cancer may have been in his body already. He was diagnosed with stage 4 a few months later. I have this little shirt still. He wore it a lot back then. When he out grew it, I threw it in the bin for when Josiah could fit it. When the time came, I put it on Josiah and it just didn't feel right. It went back in the tote. We are going to ask a friend to make a pillow case or pillow out of the shirt and his pj pants (below) to keep as a memory! (:
Summer of 2008 - 6 years old. Almost a year into treatment. He was doing chemo and radiation at this point and had shingles. You can see the shingles by the chin of his stuffed animal. You can also see the radiation burn on the one side of his belly underneath his port. He was in isolation here on morphine. The pain was incredible. You can see it in his squinty lifeless eyes. We realized that Micah had shingles on a Sunday afternoon. We were heading into a week stretch that we thought we would all be home as a family. I remember getting ready to go to hospital, packing the van and getting in. We left Ken, Josh, Natalie and Josiah crying in the driveway. We just wanted to be together at home. It was one of Micah's lowest points health wise and our whole family had hit a wall. We were done. I remember it was the first time I was angry. I know with clarity and surety that the Lord knew best, but at that moment my heart was thinking that the shingles were just too much. Micah was so tired. The Lord knows. He is faithful at all times.
, w
December -ish of 2008 - A month away from 7. The kids visiting Micah during an inpatient treatment. Micah took steroids to help with his lung damage from radiation. His lungs were taking on fluid and the steroids fixed everything. Ken and I were probably switching off. I did the days and Ken did the nights.
This is after treatment was done the first time, the summer of 2007. He is still 7. It's hard to believe that he was 7 in the picture above and below. His hair was back. He was slim again. Natalie and Micah are standing outside the Art Therapy room. Someone asked if they were twins that day. He is a few months from relapse. I find this one really hard to look at. I forgot how little he was when he relapsed. We had some very grown up conversations and he weighed into some life altering decisions. I find it hard to comprehend.
May 2010. Micah is 8. It's a few months after his big lung surgery. At this point we weren't sure if he was cancer free or not. He looks tired and white yet. I was very pregnant with our little Grace. This is at my sister's wedding. Her original wedding month was September. She changed it because we weren't sure if we would have Micah in September and she wanted him there. It was a great day.
Summer 2010 - Doing what he loves.
Family pictures - fall of 2011 - .9 years old. Here he looks healthy and back to his old self. ( :
Summer of 2013 -11 years old. Grand Rapids, MI. Playing ball in the school yard behind our house. Such good memories.
Micah made the All Star game in GR.
We are so thankful to Lord for preserving Micah's life. I say that not only in relation to cancer but before that too. It's a blessing that he didn't get hit by a car or drown in the neighbor's pool. We are even thankful he didn't kill himself or someone else when he started the car and put it in reverse. Crazy. Six years ago, we never dreamed that Micah would turn 15. It's a beautiful gift and we are thankful that we are a complete family of 8. Each year together fills us with gratitude.
I thought about doing this story without including his years of cancer. It seems time that his identity is not wrapped up in what he went through. But I realized that it can't be done without it. It is forever a part of his story and it's a beautiful one of grace. We praise the Lord for his mercy and for giving us this special young man.
I am a numbers girl. As we start 2017, I can't help but look at our new numbers. They are big ones. 20 years married. Kids turning 19,15,13,11,7,1. It's our odd year! (:
Today's number is 15. That is Micah's number. His birthday is on Saturday. We celebrate all of our kids' birthdays. The Lord has blessed them all with each of their years, but this week we are thanking the Lord for Micah's life.
I tried to do 15 years in 15 pictures, but it didn't' work! (:
My dark little baby, whom we prayed for for 3 years. Such a beautiful blessing.I thought that Tessa looked like Micah at birth. But looking at this pic, I realized that she really didn't.
See this face... This is the kid that would run away from us in his boots and underwear down the street. This is the boy that we lost for an hour in our neighborhood. He was standing beside the railroad tracks in his boots and underwear. This is the face that poured milk in the VCR and wrote with sharpy on the carpet. I think he made me cry the most of all the kids when he was little. I can laugh now, but boy he was a challenge. You would never know it now. He is so tender and soft. The Lord used his cancer to change him. He suffered physically and emotionally and it turned his life upside down. But what came out the other side was a little heart that the Lord touched. It's quite beautiful really.
Micah at MBC. His first fish. What a yummy little boy.
Aug 2007 - 5 years old. Kim took this picture for the Sunday School wall at the church picnic at Peace Williams. I see Grace's eyes here. The cancer may have been in his body already. He was diagnosed with stage 4 a few months later. I have this little shirt still. He wore it a lot back then. When he out grew it, I threw it in the bin for when Josiah could fit it. When the time came, I put it on Josiah and it just didn't feel right. It went back in the tote. We are going to ask a friend to make a pillow case or pillow out of the shirt and his pj pants (below) to keep as a memory! (:
Summer of 2008 - 6 years old. Almost a year into treatment. He was doing chemo and radiation at this point and had shingles. You can see the shingles by the chin of his stuffed animal. You can also see the radiation burn on the one side of his belly underneath his port. He was in isolation here on morphine. The pain was incredible. You can see it in his squinty lifeless eyes. We realized that Micah had shingles on a Sunday afternoon. We were heading into a week stretch that we thought we would all be home as a family. I remember getting ready to go to hospital, packing the van and getting in. We left Ken, Josh, Natalie and Josiah crying in the driveway. We just wanted to be together at home. It was one of Micah's lowest points health wise and our whole family had hit a wall. We were done. I remember it was the first time I was angry. I know with clarity and surety that the Lord knew best, but at that moment my heart was thinking that the shingles were just too much. Micah was so tired. The Lord knows. He is faithful at all times.
, wDecember -ish of 2008 - A month away from 7. The kids visiting Micah during an inpatient treatment. Micah took steroids to help with his lung damage from radiation. His lungs were taking on fluid and the steroids fixed everything. Ken and I were probably switching off. I did the days and Ken did the nights.
This is after treatment was done the first time, the summer of 2007. He is still 7. It's hard to believe that he was 7 in the picture above and below. His hair was back. He was slim again. Natalie and Micah are standing outside the Art Therapy room. Someone asked if they were twins that day. He is a few months from relapse. I find this one really hard to look at. I forgot how little he was when he relapsed. We had some very grown up conversations and he weighed into some life altering decisions. I find it hard to comprehend.
January 2010 - 8 years old . A few weeks after relapse. We were advised to get family pictures done by our people at the hospital. We had just come back the night before from Great Wolf Lodge. A sweet family gave us the gift of a few days away. It was so needed. These first weeks especially were were filled with sorrow that words can't really describe. It was a blessing to get away from home. Some day I would like to be able to give like that family gave to us. These pictures are one of my favorite sets of pictures. I actually have a few on my wall still. They remind me of where the Lord took us. I smile to remember that I was about 14 weeks pregnant with our sweet Grace. (:
May 2010. Micah is 8. It's a few months after his big lung surgery. At this point we weren't sure if he was cancer free or not. He looks tired and white yet. I was very pregnant with our little Grace. This is at my sister's wedding. Her original wedding month was September. She changed it because we weren't sure if we would have Micah in September and she wanted him there. It was a great day.
Summer 2010 - Doing what he loves.
Family pictures - fall of 2011 - .9 years old. Here he looks healthy and back to his old self. ( :
Micah made the All Star game in GR.
Summer 2015 - Vancouver BC - 13 years old.
Victoria BC
Deep Cove, Vancouver, BC
The first meeting. Tessa and Micah - March 29, 2016. 14 years old. Love love love this one (:
Watching baseball with the new sister. in Ken's office in Grand Rapids. Don't pay attention to Ken's desk. He was in the middle of organizing to move! Boy, I am sure glad that move is done! He does miss his office space. He spent hundreds of hours sitting at that desk in that room with his Starbucks mug filled with Bigelow tea or hot chocolate! (:
First day of grade 9 -Sept 2016 - Back in St Thomas - 14 years old.
I thought about doing this story without including his years of cancer. It seems time that his identity is not wrapped up in what he went through. But I realized that it can't be done without it. It is forever a part of his story and it's a beautiful one of grace. We praise the Lord for his mercy and for giving us this special young man.
Beautiful story of God's limitless grace! Thankful for you all is well. Greetings from Thea H
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