*No tissue required (post by Josh)

The last two posts have been a little heavy, and I want to make sure you know there is far more light during each day than darkness.

I want to quickly answer the question in the last post.  It's a typical Sunday School answer, but the right answer nonetheless.  God.  God sat silently by watching His son suffer through a seemimgly unbearable agony.  And He did it for our sake.  He knows our pains and our struggles, because He has been there.  That is why we can put our hope in Him.

That is why we can find comfort in Him.  Because He loves us so much, that he allowed His son to die for us!

Now onto some more lighthearted talk.  Amy and I have found ourselves taking on different roles through this.  It's been a little weird how our differences have been highlighted through this.  We used to think we were so similar.  Now we see more of our differences.  

I find greater comfort being by Caleb's side.  I sleep better at night if I'm laying by him.  Amy, on the other hand is more worried throughout the night if she's laying by him.  She's able to sleep better if she's in another room.  Which is another example of how we've been blessed.  We have good friends that live about 5 minutes away, and Amy's uncle and aunt live about 15 minutes away.  They have all graciously opened their homes to us, so we have so many options when it comes to where to sleep at night.  While we were in the PICU, we even had a hospital "family room" available to stay in. 

Amy's also taken on the communication with the outside world.  She's done an amazing job updating caringbridge, and communicating with people.  I've been focused on technical stuff (go figure).  I'm trying to track stuff, like his medication, what makes him sick, questions we have for the doctor, blessings we encounter each day, etc.

Speaking of that... Believe it or not, there's an app for that!  Well, actually I'm using a few apps.  It's amazing how much we can do with these phones.  I'm writing this blog on an app called Evernote, which I'll transfer to our blog later.  I'm tracking medications with a cancer.net app.  It allows me to take notes, and even a picture of the medication.  I just recently set up my phone to acces my work email, which has helped me let my clients know whats going on without going into the office.  Amy's using the caringbridge app to send out daily updates. And of course there's text messaging, which helps us to quickly communicate with people.  To think I was starting to think these phones were just  huge time wasters.

But I digress... Caleb has been through 2 chemo treatments now.  His third will be tomorrow.  He got sick after this last one. Nothing that lasted a long time.  In fact, I think this morning he got sick because he drank 3 juice boxes and shoveled half his eggs into his mouth all at about the same time.  I almost got sick just watching him! 

Caleb continues to be wonderful through this.  He has had only a couple of days where he's been lethargic for several hours at a time.  Most of the time he does so well, I wonder if the doctors have made a mistake in their diagnosis.  I know that's not the case, but I just wonder how Caleb can be so full of energy, and his usual joyful self through all this!

We feel blessed to be at this hospital.  Caleb has had a therapy dog visit, which Baker also got to see and play tug of war with.  He's had his own personal concert by the musical therapist.  She serenaded him with an Autoharp!  The nurses all love him!  But of course they do!  Caleb just bats those big eyelashes at them and smiles, and they all fight over him.  Amy and I are going to have our hands full as he gets older!

Caleb is at an age where he can string together sentences, but still with his infant words. "daddy, pull dat oer here"  "peeeese"

Me: "Caleb, it's time for your medicine"

Caleb:  "noooooo, noooo medsin"

Me: "you need to take your medicine.  Do you want a timeout, or do you want your medicine?"

Caleb: (whispering) "timeout"

Me: "you want a timeout instead of you medicine?  After your timeout, you'll have to take your medicine"

Caleb: (yelling) "yes, timeout"

I set the timer on my phone for 1 minute.  When it goes off...

Me: "ok, time for your medicine"

Caleb: "aahhhhhh" (and swallows it right up)

Amy an I just went for a walk, and we were talking about changes we'll need to make at home, and I told her how last night I ordered hand sanitizer, face masks, and medical gloves.  She looked at me and asked if I was joking.  She had ordered the exact same items, and the same quantities.  It's nice to know we still think alike!