Dearest Prayer Warriors,

If I had every adjective in the world that describes “special, amazing, irreplaceable,” and so many other words in my heart, I could never begin to describe how I feel about all of you. I love you so much.

I know that God is still working in spite of our news today.

We learned today that Nick’s left hip is actually fractured. Also, it appears that there is cancer in both of his upper legs and hips. After conferring with our oncologist and our pediatrician, we are planning to stay in Grayson until Monday evening as planned and then be at the hospital by 6:30 a.m on Tuesday for Nick’s MRI of his brain and spine. After this we will have a lot of decisions to make. Nick knows. He was upset at first and then within minutes was playing a video game with his brother Evan. God is so good.

Until then, Nick must use a wheelchair and crutches. He can have no weight on his left leg. We have some other things coming this evening to help out in the bathroom. We just don’t want Nick to fall.

Please pray specifically for his pain to be minimal.

And continue to pray that the doctors will have wisdom as they make critical decisions about surgeries/treatments/etc. The Jericho March will still begin on Monday, the 18th. Simply walk around your block or workplace or somewhere and pray that the devil will not rob, steal, or destroy our family by things like worry, fear, loss, anger, etc. Please also pray for Natalie as you pray for Nick. Also, please continue to pray for a miracle on this planet. We know that with God all things are possible.

For now I have rearranged furniture and made the downstairs wheelchair-friendly. We are determined to embrace this weekend with laughter and love. I dread the darkness. So pray for our nights to be peaceful.

I do want to tell you how God showed Himself to me today and why, once again, I feel peace.

Just this morning as I sat in the waiting room (only one person could be with Nick at a time-Mamaw was with him), I was praying for Nick and praying that God would send someone I knew to the hospital for a little comfort or peace.

I was leaning my head back when I heard the nurse come in and say, “Grace Word.” I popped up my head and thought, “Where? That’s Kathy’s daughter. I jumped up and went out in the hall and looked around, because I knew I hadn’t seen them anywhere. Sure enough after looking two different places, there stood Kathy! I couldn’t believe it. See, Kathy is a friend who I became close to seven years ago when we worked together. I grew to love her passion and her prayers. When Nick was in the hospital for the first time awaiting his first brain surgery, they were having trouble with his veins. In the middle of the night, I was crying and reading the Bible and felt this nudge to call Kathy at 3 a.m. and ask her to pray. When I did, she answered like it was the middle of the afternoon. As I was telling her the situation, a nurse came down to me (I was on the floor) and asked if I was okay. I nodded my head “no” and she sat down in front of me. I told Kathy good bye, and this nurse began to talk to me. She quoted a Scripture. She told me she was in charge that night and usually never left the floor but had a nudge to go get a snack. It was such a God-moment. And she came in to do Nick’s next bloodwork. As she finished she said, “Thank you, God.” So today when I saw Kathy, I remembered His presence six years ago and I knew He was still with us. He loves Nick. Kathy talked with me and prayed with me. It was wonderful!

Now, looking back on this morning, I know that God was preparing me for this afternoon.

Please pray for Nick. He is scared and full of questions but he is also amazingly at peace at the same time. He is so special.

Pray for our other kids as they learn of the news.

I was just trying to add a photo of this morning and just had another amazing message from God. I couldn’t find my flash drive on the “attach a file” list, so I copied this email to start over. When I went to a new compose email and clicked “paste” this is what came up:

I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

I have not idea where this would have been saved and how it would have come up with no explanation. The words that are in bold were in bold when it popped up. I am speechless. I just keep looking at it and thinking, HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

I do believe and will always believe that God has a plan in each and every thing that happens in our lives –
good or bad.

He is working. He is working in my heart, Tim’s heart, Nick’s heart, Erich’s heart, Evan’s heart, Todd’s heart, Olivia’s heart, and I pray your heart.

Oh, I love you all.

I do believe the words above which I know must be a Scripture. I am going to go look it up right now.

Thank you for every prayer.

I love you all so much.

Tammy (and Tim)