What Is Coming This Week (Update #6: Emily Whiting)

So many of you are praying, I wanted to be sure you know what is coming this week. But first of all, let me tell you the story of the four pictures above. On the top left is Emily the first day in the hospital – giving me the look she often gives when I take her photo. But the purpose is to show you her long hair. When she learned last week that she will lose her hair about two weeks after chemo starts, she decided she wanted to get it cut short. And she’s always wondered what she’d look like with brown hair. So yesterday she got her hair cut and then last night a friend colored it at our house.

And as I look at these pictures, I see the eyes and smile more than the hair, but the hair looks great too. My little girl is sick and it is a test for all of us who love her. Our faith is being tested. She is such a blessing and filled with joy. Please add to your prayer list that God will continue to give her joy, even in the difficult days ahead.

Here is what is coming this week:

• Monday & Tuesday – nothing!! Days at home. She is hoping to finish her Christmas shopping today. Her love language (both giving and receiving love language) is gift-giving. So she always takes Christmas and birthday gifts very seriously. She asked us to pray that she will be able to finish that up today.
• Wednesday – there is a consult about chemo. We will likely decide (or be told) when chemo will begin.
• Thursday – there is nothing planned, but there are some tests we know are supposed to happen before chemo – so we are hoping those can happen on Wednesday while she is already in the hospital.
• Friday – she will have surgery to put a port under her skin on her collarbone area. This port allows them to administer chemo, IVs, etc… so she won’t be stuck over and over and over for the next nine months.

How can you pray? Our long-term requests haven’t changed.

• That God would be glorified in and through Emily and her Osteosarcoma, and that we all would submit to His glory being our priority.
• That Emily and our entire family would grow through this (we believe God is always out for our good – which ultimately is to become more like Jesus).
• That God would heal Emily and she would live a full, long life.
• That Emily (and all of us) would have peace and joy. This did not take God by surprise and He is for us.
• That we would be sensitive to how God wants to use this in all of our lives.

Our short-term requests include the following:

• Pray that the surgery Friday will be as quick and painless as possible.
• I will be gone Tuesday through Thursday, which may coincide with her first week of chemo. I get home Thursday morning. Morgan gets home Thursday night. So Tuesday through Thursday, it will be Emily and Sue. A lot of details (including silly things like dog care) have to be planned for. We are so thankful for Sue’s BFF from high school who flew in Sunday with her daughter for a week. They already have been a great blessing to us.
• Pray that Emily will get very good sleep in these days before chemo starts.
• With us, beg God that the tumor will respond to the chemo.