Update on Barb & Amy

Dear Praying Family & Friends

It's been several days since I have added a new posting to the blog so thought I should do that before I leave early in the morning for two days in Langley, BC. Joan and I both return to Calgary late Tuesday night, Joan from LA and me from BC. Thought you might enjoy a picture of "the old folks" here in the wilds of Canada.


Barb continues to tolerate this first round of chemo well. It has been two weeks since she started. She is taking a 3 chemo "cocktail" two of which are taken intraveinously at the hospital and the other orally starting the night before and then morning and night for the next two weeks. She will have a week of no chemo until the next treatment starts on March 5th. Your prayers have made a tremendous difference in her ability to deal with the side effects, when compared with some patients, hers have been minimal. She is of course tired and requires more rest but she is up and about doing many of the normal things a mom needs to do. We are so grateful for all the ongoing prayers and for the really encouraging support that she is getting from church, school(s) friends and family. She really enjoyed having her friend of 22 years from Faith Academy, Barb Cox, spend 4 days with her, her sister Ruth has been over several times and for the last two day her brother Tim as been with her and the family. Tim works for Kodak and was in LA for training. And as you know Joan has been there the last two weeks. Do pray that Barb will regain stamina over this next week in preparation for the next round of Chemo and that she will be able to tolerate the second round as well as she has on this first round. Above all continue to pray that the chemo in combination with the diet she is on will result in the eradication of all cancer cell from her body.



Amy is adjusting to a 24 hour a day brace on her leg and getting around on crutches. Not an easy task when you are 8 months pregnant and have a very active 2 year old (Sydney Grace) to chase after as well as the two older children Jeremiah and Alenna. We had a three way Skype call on Friday evening with Barb's family and Amy's family and me here in Calgary. Modern technology makes staying connected a lot easier these days. Not like the old days when we relied on "snail mail" that took 3 weeks or more. And with video cameras connected with Skype you can even see the the others you are talking to. Now that is a plus, especially for grand parents :) Do continue to pray for Amy as she shared on the Skype call that her leg is still swollen and sore. Pray for Jon as well as he picks up extra duties around the house, keeps up with language studies and carry on with work.
Pray for Joan and I over the next couple of weeks in regards to travel. We both return to Calgary Tuesday night, late. We are here for a few days and then on March 5th we travel to Orlando for meetings. We return to Calgary on March 11th and go directly into another set of meetings here with senior leadership staff. During our time in Orlando we will be seeing Jim and Jan Holsclaw, Jon's parents. We are so grateful for all your prayers for Jan who is just now finishing up her 6th round of chemo for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Treatment results have been very encouraging. It will be wonderful to see them.

We are so blessed by you our brothers and sisters in Christ who have made this difficult journey to date easier than we would have imagined it could be.

Love & Prayers

Dave & Joan and for the whole family

Dear Praying Friends, February 19, 2007

I will be posting a new update on Barb in a couple of days but wanted to put one on for one of our other daughters. Barb's younger sister Amy and her husband (Jon Holsclaw) and three children are with another agency serving in Asia.


Over the weekend they went with friends to usher in the New Year. The festivities were complete with fireworks. One of the rockets that was designed to go straight up went side ways and struck Amy in the leg and broke the tibia. She is nearly eight months pregnant so the next few weeks will be challenging ones for her and the family as Amy will be on crutches for around eight weeks.

As you know the last few months have been a season of challenge for us. The most serious of course being Barb's cancer battle. In addition we have been dealing with Joan's broken wrist. The cast is now off but it is taking time to get it fully functional again after nine weeks of being imobilized. We have also been concerned for Joan's 92 year old Mom who fell and also broke her wrist. I may have also mentioned in our December prayer letter that I was experiencing a medical problem with my kidneys and the doctor was asking me to get more tests. With all that has been going on I have not yet gone in for those tests. :( Pray that I'll be able to get in soon for the tests and that the results will be of a positive nature.

In all of this we are asking the Lord to give us a good balance between the fact that we are quite possibly under attack by the enemy of our souls and what the Book of James says in chapter one verses 2-4. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." We certainly do not want to miss anything that God has for us during this time. Your prayers have been a great sustaining factor in our lives and we are so grateful for your ongoing commitment to continue to bring all of us and most especially Barb before the throne of grace. Because of all that Jesus has done on our behalf and because of your many prayers we feel confident in claiming the promises of Hebrews 4:16 "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." God's grace truly is wonderful especially during times like these.

Dave for the whole family

Update on Barb February 16th

Dear Praying Friends,

Here is the latest on Barb. It's five days now since she started her first chemo. Overall she seems to be tolerating the chemo meds pretty well. The nerve sensations and reaction to cold seem to be decreasing some each day. She has had virtually no nausea which is a real blessing. This allows her to eat and drink and keep hydrated. She has experienced some mild headaches but they are manageable. She is of course fatigued but is still taking walks and trying to exercise and keep her body toned and in shape as much as possible. She is sticking to her alkaline diet of natural organic foods including the Goji juice from Nepal and the mangosteen juice from the Philippines. Last night she started experiencing pain in the liver/lung regions and called the doctor, as this is one of the things she needs to report on, any new pain. He said this is somewhat normal as the chemo begins to work on the lesions in those areas. Things to pray about would include: 1) The chemo meds will be effective. 2) The pain in the areas of affected lesions will be manageable 3) That she will be able to manage the dizziness/lightheadness that she sometimes has. 4) That she will be wise and not try and do more than she should, and listen to her mother :) 5) Pray that in the midst of all of this she can actually gain a bit of weight. 6)Pray for Erik and the children as they adjust to a wife and Mom who is not able to do all that she did in the past. 7) Continue to pray for Barb and all of us that we will continue to stay close to the Lord and in tune with all that He has for each one of us as we journey this road together. Your prayers are our greatest resource. Thanks for standing with us, James 5:13-15. We know your prayers are offered in faith.

Update on Barb

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Here is the latest update on Barb. Yesterday, Monday, was her first chemo. Her husband Erik and sister Ruth were with her throughout the long day of treatment. She did well and had a good night of sleep. She has done well today and has been up a good part of the day as the doctors do not want her just staying in bed, only resting when she needs to. She and Erik took a good walk together today. She has not had any nausea for which we are thankful. Her major side effects to this point have been a little difficulty in inital swallowing but once she has taken a few bites that goes away. She also is experiencing nerve sensations particularly in her hands and is wearing gloves to avoid touching anything cold. The same is true for drinking and eating, things must be warm or hot.

Joan flew down today and will be with Barb and family for the next two weeks. I get to talk with and see them all on Skype so that is helpful in keeping me connected. We do continue to rejoice over the one positive thing that we have heard from the doctors and that is that the CT scan done in December and the one done last week showed no further spreading of the cancer nor any detectable growth in the affected areas. We feel this as a real answer to prayer. We continue to be amazed, humbled and so grateful for the worldwide Body of Christ who are praying for Barb and for the whole family.

Trip to California

On January 16th Joan flew from Calgary to LA to be with Barb who had surgery for colon cancer on the 17th. The surgery went well and Barb has made a good recovery. Dave flew down for a week starting on the 26th and the two of us flew back to Calgary on February 3rd. While in LA we celebrated grand daughters Claire's (9) and Elise's (7) birthdays. We also helped with the care of all the kids and Barb over the flus and colds that had hit S.California including their household.
As we have shared earlier Barb's cancer has metastasized to her liver and lungs. The good news is that a PET scan that she had Monday February 5th showed that there was no change in the growth or spread of the cancer from the initial CT scan done before Christmas. We attribute this to the prayers of all of you who are bringing Barb and the whole family before the throne of grace. Thank you so much and please continue to pray.