Preparing for College

"The most beautiful campus that ever there was."

Poet Robert Frost attended both Harvard and Dartmouth. He no doubt set foot on countless other campuses as well. When he uttered the words above though, he did so describing the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

This week, we made the five hour trip south to Oxford so Jack could go through summer orientation and register for classes for the fall semester.

While we were there, he not only registered for classes, but we met with a number of people who will be helping Jack navigate the waters of being a college student while undergoing treatment for leukemia. I think we all feel at least a little better as a result, and the whole thing seems a tad less scary, although still overwhelming at times.

Meanwhile, Jack will receive chemo Thursday as he continues to progress toward the end of "frontline treatment." This phase should end next month, with Jack then moving into what is called the "maintenance" phase of treatment. In that phase, he will take oral chemo daily, require weekly monitoring of his levels, and will come home each month for IV chemo until October of 2021. If things go according to plan though, it should be a less rigorous phase than the previous phases. Please be praying for Jack that this would indeed be the case, and that his transition to college after a year off would go smoothly.

Stanley Cup Champs!!!

Cheering the Blues on to a Stanley Cup from our living room

The last year has definitely been a hard one, but we got a little bit of a pick-me-up this spring watching the St. Louis Blues battle throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We'll take anything that puts a smile on Jack's face, and the Blues winning the Stanley Cup in thrilling fashion definitely did that! It was the franchise's first title in 52 seasons, and while we may have been 550 miles away, we're pretty sure the cheering emanating from our house could be heard all the way back in St. Louis!

Last season in Detroit

It was just last season that Jack got to go to his first Blues game, when we made the trip down to Detroit to watch the Blues knock off the Red Wings. Since then, his passion for the Blues has only grown, and while we all wish that he could have been away at school this past year, getting to watch games with him has been a small but special joy. Memories were created and will forever be cherished!

One Year

One year ago today was the day that forever changed our lives. It was around 9am when Erin called me at work to let me know that she had spoken with Jack’s doctor. The blood tests they had run a few days earlier had yielded some disturbing results and she wanted us to take Jack to the hospital immediately.

I sped home to get them and drove them to Hurley. On the way, Jack asked us if this was really serious. We didn’t know what exactly was happening, but in an effort to reassure him, I said it was probably the kind of thing that if we didn’t do anything it would be very serious, but we were going to get it taken care of. Little did we know how serious it would be. Jack was diagnosed with leukemia the next day.

This past year since that day has had a surreal dual nature. On one hand it seems like the crazy-busy weekend that preceded that day (with out of town company, graduation, baseball district tournament, Jack's open house) was just yesterday. Simultaneously, it seems like a completely different lifetime. And in many ways, it was.

Today in my “Facebook Memories,” a video popped up that I had posted one year ago today. It was of a song from Andrew Peterson that begins with these words:

Do you feel the world is broken? (We do)
Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do)
But do you know that all the dark won't stop the light from getting through? (We do)
Do you wish that you could see it all made new? (We do)

Today, a year later, we do believe that we will one day see it all made new, but that does not negate the world's brokenness and the depth of the shadows that we all too keenly feel now. Thank you so much to so many who have stood by us over this past year.  In many ways your love and support has served as rays of light that have tried to pierce through the darkness. We long for your continued prayers.

Going forward, we continue to trust the One who is worthy, even when we can't understand (and, frankly, really don't like) what it is He is doing.