Skipping Like Charlie Brown

Rest, it is one of the words that just rolls off of our tongues.  We long for it in a culture where we run back and forth shuttling the kids to and from soccer practice, piano, school, ballet, and anything and everything we may be involved in.  This week has been restful at the Miller household.  Thankfully.

Nicole has received her necessary two doses of Aranesp© in an attempt to increase her red-blood cell count.  After yesterday’s regular CBC blood work-up we find out today if her red-blood cell count and her hemoglobin have increased to the point where she can begin tissue matching with potential donors.  We are extremely optimistic that this will be the case because Nicole has been bouncing around the house the past couple of weeks like we haven’t seen her do in quite some time.  What an incredible sight!  In the past she has typically crashed in the afternoon for a 2 hour nap and then just “hits a wall” at around 8:00-8:30pm in the evening.  But she has turned a corner and doesn’t seem to want to take her usual naps and in the evening she is skipping her way across the floor on her way to the bedroom.  Obviously, something has improved in the way she feels.  By the way, she skips like Charlie Brown.  Have you ever seen the Christmas classic Charlie Brown’s Christmas?  In the show Charlie Brown learns about the true meaning of Christmas from Linus, who spontaneously quotes the Christmas story from Luke 2.  Thrilled to hear that Christmas is not just a racket run by a big eastern syndicate (Lucy’s understanding of Christmas) Charlie Brown parades proudly out of the auditorium where the Peanuts gang is rehearsing a Christmas play.  Carrying his pathetic, little Christmas tree and followed by the gang, now enamored by Charlie who has become their new found hero, Charlie Brown skips down the road recalling the truth of the words that Linus spoke.  Yes, Charlie Brown skips.  Almost every time Nicole starts skipping she turns to me, her daddy (I love that word), and says, “Look daddy, I’m skipping like Charlie Brown”.  J  I think she turns to me and reminds me of Charlie Brown because she knows that I almost always quietly shed a little tear while Linus quotes from Luke 2.  I feel like I can relate to Charlie Brown on a myriad of levels…I had better stop here.

I just stopped and re-read what I wrote above and have determined that I absolutely love blogging.  Half the time I don’t even know what I am going to write about when I start, and this is just another classic example.  I started out thinking about how restful this week has been and ended up recounting the story of Charlie Brown’s Christmas.  Random Thoughts, by Brian Miller.  It obviously has been a restful week at the Miller’s.

Anyway, and back to the point of the blog, please pray that Nicole’s blood work comes back with good news and we can press on with the long awaited tissue matching.  Titia and I have been scheduled by the transplant coordinators to perform our blood work, along with Nicole, on April 4^th.  Of course, this assumes that the blood work DOES contain good news.  I have said this before and I will repeat it here, my prayer is that I am the perfect match and the entire process for finding a donor will end on April 4^th.   We will see if the Lord’s will matches mine.  Here is a verse that pretty much sums it all up:

Proverbs 16:9

 ⁹ In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.

Hmmm.  We are all planning something in our hearts, but how often do we consider that it is actually the Lord that establishes (directs) our steps and path?  I will leave that truth right there for you to ponder.

For His Glory,

Brian