We've Got a....

New Son!!!!
You read it right if you think you didn't. We got another son.

Almost seven years ago Barry met this 13 year old boy named Wesley at CIU. Wesley's mom was in school there and they lived over in The Village (married housing for CIU). Any ways Barry had just moved to Columbia and everyday at school he would see this young boy skateboarding around the parking lot. One day Barry decided to chill with him, and well from there their relationship grew from a friendship to more of a father son role. Also during that time Barry found out that Wesley's mom was going thru treatments for breast cancer. It wasn't her first time but going thru treatments for cancer is never easy no matter how many times you have to experience it. Also during that he found out that Ms. Jeanne (Wes' mom) was a single mother. Wes' dad had died five years earlier in a car accident. From those days in early 2002 Wes and Barry have grown very close. And we've always told Wes that if we ever needed to, we would claim him as our own.

Well back in 2004 or maybe 2005, Ms. Jeanne found out that her cancer had come back in her liver. She began doing treatments and everyone started praying. And God cleared her up for the time being. But once again this past spring, I think, she found out that the cancer was progressing and that treatments would become more intense/frequent. Then shortly after we had Eli, Barry came home to tell me that her cancer was spreading fast and that there was really nothing the doctor's could do. The only way would be for God to heal her completely. We have faith and so we started praying. At that point I honestly never took it that seriously. So many times docs say that there isn't much time and then there ends up being years. Well we weren't so lucky in this situation. On November 4th our pastor and his sectary came to Barry with bad news, Ms. Jeanne wasn't doing too hot and well actually the doctors had pretty much said there was nothing else they could do. Her liver was shutting down quickly. Kevin (pastor) and Greta (sectary) asked Barry what he thought they should do about Wesley. Well Barry knew exactly what to do, we needed to fly Wesley home. Longer story here, but Wesley IS an amazing skateboarder and was actually on tour with Boarders For Christ. You can check out his blog http://www.wesluke.vox.com/. Okay so the church flew him home on November 5th. Well the next few days Ms. Jeanne really perked up. But she had opted not to continue the draining of her abdomen (it was holding fluid because of the liver and stuff). So we all knew time would tell. But we also knew God is an amazing God and he could perform a miracle. We knew he could heal her here on earth with us or in heaven with Him. We just weren't sure which would happen.

During the past couple of weeks we moved Wes into our house actually into Isaac's room and moved Isaac to Eli's room. I wanted and still want Wes to feel at home. We did a lot of changes and well last Thursday, November 20th, Jesus called Ms. Jeanne home to Him. So He healed her in His time and place. It's been rough, but we're all getting thru it. But mostly during this time I've received a new son. One that I cherish like he is my own. Wes has impacted me so much the past couple of weeks and made me see and appreciate him and his faith.

Any ways keep checking back because there is alot of great things happening during this hard time. And also check his blog that I listed above. He IS an AMAZING writer and really describes his story well. Also he is heading to Cairo, Egypt on Sunday for eight days! Follow him there thru his blog.

Also, Wes if you read this, we are extremely proud of you and are so excited to have gained a new son, friend, and brother.

We love you bud!