Category: The Kids

Selah Janelle

A Jon Post

Beloved

Don’t tarry my daughter, don’t tarry.

You are the one we’ve wanted! You are the one we’ve waited for! You are our family’s completion and the reflection of the grace of God!

I’ve waited in this room before. I’ve held her sweating hand, eel-writhing in pain, before. I’ve wondered at the sin-curse, the soul-creation, the bloodwaterfire, lifegift of this miracle.

I’ve seen her closed eyes, her whispered prayers, her steelrope tight muscles.

Don’t tarry my daughter, don’t tarry.

Bursting forth like drum beats in the mountains

Called to the now in thunderous echoes of pain and passion

Waterfalls of agony and wonder, chaotic emotions like spider webs, silken, gorgeous and terrifying.

Don’t tarry my daughter, don’t tarry!

Yelling out her solo hymn of laborpain, my beloved heaves the weight and the urge to stop back at the liar who tells her she hasn’t the strength.

Aweful, awesome, my eyes deadlocked on the miracle of selfgiving displayed in blood and trust before me in a hospital labor and delivery room.

Given

Now, screaming down this mountain with no brakes, ripping through the waves of anguish, my beloved holds her head high and gives her body to her daughter.

IT IS ENOUGH.

Selah.

Stop… stop… reflect on this.

Janelle.

God, has been gracious.

March 27, 2015

Family

April 19, 2015

Jon

Medical, The Kids

5 comments

It has been awhile. I am sorry! We are doing well and mainly in prep mode for our sweet baby #4, Selah, who is scheduled to make her appearance on Friday, if she does not come on her own before. This pregnancy in general has been more difficult on my body; however, the Lord, as always, has been faithful. I currently feel in good health – back, hip, neck, etc. Praise the Lord! I also have an amazing husband, who has supported and served me so well; I could not do this without him. I am forever thankful.

Please pray with us on Friday for a healthy labor and delivery. I am feeling less confident going into this labor… maybe it is because I know too well what is coming, and I dread the pain. Pray for peace and strength of mind. Yesterday afternoon Jon and I were talking and I told him, “I have to just go into a certain mode, a ‘let’s get this done’ mode, and I am just not there yet.” I have a few more days!

I would also appreciate prayers for a smooth transition for Anaya, Jovie, and Karasi. Karasi is definitely used to her role as the baby, and I worry it will be hard on her. As for the big girls, it is just hard for Mama to be distracted so often.

My parents will arrive on April 5th for 10 days to support us and love on our littles. How awesome is that? We are so excited!

We decided, with the support of the Voices of the World board, to temporarily close down the Casa Ahavá portion of our ministry while our family eases into being a family of 6. It is a sort of maternity leave for me, as having people live in my backyard just comes with a certain responsibility. The patients we had living with us finished their treatments and went home to their families. With glad hearts, we sent Gilda home with a clean bill of health. Regina, on the other hand, was not responding to her treatment as we hoped. All involved in her treatment came to the conclusion that she should return home to spend her last days with her family. Pray for her in the coming days. Because her cancer moved to her lungs, she struggles with coughing, and as a result sleeping.

Jon will continue visiting at the hospital and getting to know prospects to move in shortly. Anaya asked me the other day, “Who is moving in now?” I explained to her that we are going to wait for baby Selah to come first, we’ll get used to living with a little baby, then we’ll have more people come. She nodded and said, “We’ll go get them at the hospital.” I love that my kids are part of ministry with us. It is an empty feeling out back and there is a bit of a sinking feeling peering out the window first thing in the morning and not seeing patients, but we do feel confident that this is the right decision for the next month or so.

And one more thing to pray for – Benjamin’s house! We have run into a little hiccup that Jon and the construction company are trying to work out. A couple miles from where Benjamin’s property is, there is a newly built railway that passes and cuts off the access road. They have yet to build up bridge for cars to drive over, so getting materials to the site is a challenge. Pray for quick and affordable options!

We love you guys and are so grateful for you support.

March 23, 2015

Layne

Casa Ahava, Medical, The Kids

3 comments

Things I am Praying for in April

A Jon Post

These are the things I’ve found myself praying for this month:

Trust

That my faith would grow as strong as my obedience and that my obedience would grow as strong as my faith.

That Casa Ahavá’s ministry leader would teach me to follow Him closely and that I would never think I’m leading it.

Brave

That Anaya would always trust her daddy.

That I would always look to be the servant of society, not its leader.

That Jovie would be brave.

That my beard would look good with a little grey in it.

That my knees and back would hold out a few more years.

That Christy would remember her husband well and that her children would find their heavenly daddy while they miss their earthly one.

Mending

That my gratitude would always come before God’s provision for my family and my patients.

That Layne would always melt when I hold her

That my dog would stop making such a mess.

That I Anita’s broken heart would mend.

Pirates

That my hands would stay strong enough to catch my daughters when they fall, soft enough to hold my wife when she’s weak, skilled enough to make nice things for my patients and tender enough to hold theirs when they are sick.

That my kids would be able to memorize and sing the pirate song with me that Tigger sings in Winnie the Pooh… “IIIIIIII love to live the piraty life, sailing the seventy seas…”

That I may continue to learn about self-sacrifice and servanthood from the way Layne serves me, my kids and my patients.

Teaching

That we would keep getting to know Anita and Inês as they continue to know and trust us and our family.

That Layne would always believe how much she captures me.

Strong

That Karasi would be strong.

That Christ would redeem and have mercy.

That I could learn from Inês’s years and scars.

That my children would not grow so used to death that they don’t mourn those who die and that they would not be so broken by it that they cannot find wholeness.

Scars

That Layne’s eyes always find mine.

That no one in our home would be afraid to live or scared to die.

Melt

April 12, 2014

Jon

Around the house, Casa Ahava, The Kids

3 comments

Snapshots

A Jon Post

Following are a few snapshots of our lives over the last 2 months from a family that did a pretty poor job of communicating with all of you about where we are/what we’re doing. If you don’t have time to read it all please just skip to the end where I list a couple prayer requests.

#1 Week of September 22-28
A mad scramble to figure out if we would be able to get 2 our patients home, to the hospital, or to life-extending treatment in South Africa before we left. A mad scramble to find out if one of our patient’s tumor was operable or he needed to go home, and a bus ticket to send another one home who had finished her treatment and needed to spend her remaining days/months with her family.

Family minus Filomena

Zakarias, the surgeon didn’t respond before we left, we did not know if his tumor was operable, he stayed in our house.
Tomás and Eliza, the day we left for the USA (September 24th) we were up first thing in the morning to buy last minute bus tickets to send them to South Africa for more treatment.

Filomena The Day She Left

Filomena, we purchased a bus ticket and sent her home a few days before we left for the USA to make sure she was with her family after she was discharged with no more options to fight her cancer.
September 24th, we left our house at 11 AM and arrived at Layne’s parents house 40 hours later with all three girls in tow. Thankfully we had the gracious help of Jon’s parents who came to visit us and joined us in our long journey to the USA and helped tremendously on the plane.

(whew, that was a long first snapshot but we did a really bad job of telling everyone who reads this blog that any of that stuff happened before we left)

Jovie Meeting the Dolphins

Anaya Running with Dolphins

#2 Time in Corpus Christi, TX
The Texas State Aquarium with our girls. Grandparents helping them swim and play, as well as cousin time. Sitting with sweet, sweet supporters. Trying to recover from the jetlag and help our girls sleep in new places with new surroundings.

#3 October 30th More Travel
Flight from Corpus Christ to Phoenix. Left Layne’s parents place at 8 and arrived at Jon’s brother’s house 7 hours later. This was our first plane travel with our three girls alone. They are super stars.

Layne and Her Dad

#4 More Family Adjustments
Man… it’s hard doing this furlough thing with 3 little children. We could not ask them to be better sports through all of this but a new bedroom for a month, a new bed for a month, different living space for a month, meeting lots of people (supporters) for the first time on an almost daily basis. Well… it’s tough. Our girls are super stars.

#5 Time in Chandler, AZ

At Uncle Joe’s Duck Pond

Seeing more sweet, sweet supporters. Time with other Grandparents. Time with LOTS of cousins, girls napping in the car a lot.
So there are a few, far from comprehensive or descriptive, snapshots of our lives since September. We are currently in Chandler, Arizona in the USA trying to connect with those who pray for us and give to this ministry. We have been trying to sit down with each of you and we still have a little under two weeks to do that. We are very sorry that we haven’t pursued you and communicated with you all well enough to do that “sit down” better. We are finding out that we need to be more diligent with some things and one is our personal and purposeful communication with team mates.

They See Us Strollin…

Anaya Loves Karasi

In closing this little “snapshot” post. Can we ask you to pray for two things?
Would you pray that our children’s health improves? I don’t know if it’s because they don’t have American immunities built up or if it’s just a bug they would have picked up either way but all three, Anaya, Jovie, and Karasi have bad coughs and are very congested. It’s hard for them to rest and, thus, hard for their parents, especially Layne who still feeds and comforts Karasi in the night. Would you pray for them?
Would you also pray that each airplane on our return flight has LOTS of open seats? Neither Jovie nor Karasi are ticketed for those flights and are traveling as lap children. Anaya still needs plenty of help and attention on the flights and Jovie needs space to move so if we all try to jam into three seats it’s just really hard. Would you pray for our flights? Would you pray that a check-in agent magically upgrades us to first class? Would you pray that we have 15 seats to spread out on and rest on for the 40 hours of travel?

Karasi Loves Jovie

We love you guys. Thanks for loving us, even though we lost touch there for a bit.

November 20, 2013

Jon

The Kids, Travel

1 comment

Karasi (Full of Life and Wisdom) Nitara (Having Deep Roots) Heller (Brighter)

A Jon Post

For one breathless moment we wait for a cry and a gasp.

Mother and Karasi Nitara

For one breathless moment we trust that divine lungs are blowing into a helpless and tiny body.

For one breathless moment we wait.

And Karasi Nitara Heller sings… she sings her birthsong, melting into the unintelligible songs of angels, all covered in her mother’s blood and amniotic fluid… she sings.

Then quiet, a whimpering mother clinging to her daughter…

Then quiet, an IV drip hanging from the mother’s vein, an intrusive pest into this intimate greeting…

Then more songs, more joy, a mother’s laborsong mingled with her daughter’s birthsong.

More life, and all the wisdom of the mother poured into her daughter. All the deep roots planted over 9 months of bodily sacrifice bursting forth to the surface of pain mixed with trust all washed in sponges of alcohol based disinfectant and a joyous love.

Singing Together

And mother sits with Karasi Nitara and both sing softly in cries and hymns. Then the angels join in harmony with Karasi Nitara’s laughter and her mother’s weeping.

Then they fall silent to witness this holy moment of life bringing life, of blood poured out for the life of another, of tears wept in anticipation of the now.

Karasi Nitara come forth in Life and Wisdom. Plant your deep roots and shine brighter and brighter until noon day.