Ethan is a precious 6 month old little boy with Leukemia. He has been given a 15% chance of survival, but his parents know that God is much bigger than that 15 percent. They are currently waiting for test results to see if he has any cancer cells in his bone marrow – low cell count means he can proceed with a transplant. He has been tested before & had a high cell count. They are asking everyone to be in prayer over Ethan & his cell count. Put plainly, if his cell count is low, it is only because God chose it to be so.

This is a last chance scenario for this little one. I know what it is like to sit down with a doctor & be told, “I’m so sorry, there is nothing we can do.” Please be in prayer for Ben & Becky (his parents) as they walk this long, exhausting, terrifying road. Their faith is encouraging; go read their story. (The site is very busy today & you may have to refresh the page a couple of times.)

When we were walking this road with Elijah, people were always commenting on how strong our faith was, as if we were some kind of Super Christians. I think the reality is that there are only two choices when the rug is yanked out from underneath you & your world is turned upside down: you can cling to God and hang on for dear life, or you can focus on the wind & the waves and drown.

My 2 year old & I were sitting at the table looking at some oranges. She wanted to know if they were sweet; I told her yes. She looked at me with her big brown eyes & said, “But not as sweet as me!”.

If she only knew how much she & that orange have in common. Full of juicy sweetness on the inside, beautiful on the outside. But watch out for the whammy if you happen to get a bite of peel! I affectionately call her Little Miss Sassyfrass. She is 2 going on 20 and you just better stay out of her way!

I used to (half)jokingly tell people that it’s a good thing she is our fifth, because if she was our first we might not have had any more :o) We wouldn’t trade her for anything though – because that same bitter orange rind can also kick up the flavor a notch & provide a beautiful aroma.

I look forward to seeing the plan God has for our little Sassyfrass. It must be a big one because she wouldn’t settle for anything less!!

Update: Just to give you a glimpse into the life of Little Miss Sassyfrass, here’s what she’s done between the time I first posted this & bedtime.

Let’s see, she changed clothes twice, hit her brother with a toy, climbed up on the back of the recliner, killed a bad guy with a sword, got stuck on the top bunk, pulled all the toilet paper off of the roll, locked herself in my bedroom, unplugged the video game in the middle of her brother’s game, sweetly apologized for unplugging the game, helped me clean up our school stuff by throwing the counting bears all over the room, hugged the dog, washed her hair in the sink with the foam hand soap, and gave me a big kiss on the cheek.

And lest you think she is a spoiled rotten little hooligan, she knows full well that she is going to get in trouble for most of it, but the call of the wild runs deep with this one.