Dear friends and family,
Numerous times during this past week I thought about blogging or taking pictures to capture the misery our family was in, but luckily for you I didn't. Whatever I sent would have been little more than just a long whine--a creative, sarcastic and self-aware whine, but a whine nonetheless. Given the plight of so many in country and through out the rest of the world it is difficult for an overfed, employed, insured, happily-married father of two to make a strong case that his self pity is warranted!
Here is the short version: Jane and I both were fairly sick (high fever, sore throat, ache... swine flu?) during which our landlord was renovating the apartment to prepare the place for sale. Our shower was out for over a day, our kitchen floor was missing for most of the week and our refrigerator was living in the middle of our living room - in the midst of this the realtor was periodically walking people through the apartment. From our La-Z-Boy clutching Tylenol in one hand and an ear thermometer in the other I would greet those how might become our new landlord and offer them hand sanitizer. Good times.
Gladly our fevers broke, we have a new kitchen floor and I was able to restore our phone/dsl (which was taken out during construction) by doing some creative wiring in our garage. My mother and sister- in-law are in town and we are looking forward to celebrating our second son, Nathan's 2nd birthday this week. We are also praying that we get a good report from Joey's upcoming MRI (on Tuesday).
The main thing I've wanted to share about was a rich conversation I had with Joey recently. He continues to be a bundle of energy, whether he is taunting his brother or on the brink of defeating bad guys in an imaginary battle. He is also more interested in learning and is starting to practice reading, writing, counting and doing math (mostly with his money as he is saving up for his next Lego purchase) and is also becoming interested in learning Mandarin. In the midst of all of this, his more spiritual side is also starting to come out. Last Sunday I again asked him if he would like to take communion and he said he would. He walked up with me, grabbed the wafer and dipped it himself.
We talked about what it means that Jesus took responsibility for us so that we could be forgiven. We discussed the symbol of taking Jesus' life into ourselves as he took our death into himself. He seems to get it.
Many of our rich conversations have happened on our 15-minute morning bike rides to his pre-school.
During a recent ride he said out of the blue, "I love riding bikes with you."
"What do you like about it Joey?"
"I like talking about things."
"What do you like talking about?"
"I like to talk about, Jesus and cars and bikes."
"I like to talk about these things too."
Our conversions about cars often start with some history (Henry Ford, interchangeable parts, the affordability of the automobile and, of course, streets covered with horse poop). Joey loves the irony that we thought we were rescuing the world from streets covered with horse poop but instead has filled the air with car poop (green house gases etc). Maybe the irony is more for me, but he at least likes talking about poop.
Our conversations about bikes usually involve a fair and balanced appraisal of the relative merits of bicycle vs. automobile transportation but usually come to the clear conclusion that the bicycle is vastly superior.
Our conversations about Jesus have also had a similar mixture of the humorous and profound.
A few weeks ago he came to me and said, "we are never going to die, right daddy?"
Talking to your 4 year-old son with a brain tumor about the inevitably of death is both precious and terrifying.
I respond, "No Joey, we are going to die, everybody dies, even Jesus died."
"Oh..." he says.
"But hopefully that will be a long time from now and just like God brought Jesus back to life, he will bring us back to life."
"Who is going to take us out of the ground?"
"God is going to give us new bodies Joey and I am not sure if they are going to come out of the ground or not."
"In Sunday school we learned that Jesus walked through walls."
"Yes Joey I heard that too, I am not sure if we will walk through walls but our new bodies will be very cool I am sure. When God makes things new there will be no more crying, and no more bad dreams, no more sickness and no more dying."
"And no more wars?" He asks.
"That is right Joey and no more wars. God will make everything right again... That will be a good day."
He then runs off to simulate a war with his buddies at school, I guess he wants to get some more battles in while there is still time.
Overall this past week hasn't been too bad. In many ways being sick is good for me. When I am not sleeping or whining or watching Hulu I end up praying... praying that God's kingdom will come, and His will, will be done here on earth just like in heaven. We are grateful for good medical insurance, great hospitals and fantastic doctors but we long for the day when these will no longer be necessary.
Please join us in praying this coming week for a good result for Joey's MRI (Tuesday) and for Nathan as he turns 2.
With Love,
Jane, Jon, Joey and Nathan
Attached Photos:
Nathan with one of his makeshift hats
Jane, boys and Great Grandma and Grandpa Paris in Oceanside, CA
