January Review

After Christmas in Indiana life continued to be busy.  We left for Ohio on December 27th to celebrate Christmas with the Rufener family.  Then on December 28th, Zach, Zion, Moriah, Julie, and I headed to Connecticut for my Cousin Samuel's wedding to Laura Virkler.  On our way we stopped for dinner with Zach's cousin, Rachel, her husband, Jamie, and their two girls.  We spend a great weekend with Warren and Bonnie Zahner.  They were kind enough to host a Cancer Redemption Project Presentation in their home on December 30th.  On the 31st, we headed to Eric, PA with my dad and brother, Jason.  We stayed at Splash Lagoon, where we all enjoy the many indoor water activities.  We returned to Ohio the evening of January 1st and then spend the rest of the week in Ohio.  The kids enjoyed sled riding and playing with their cousins.  We also visited Cameron at the hospital and spent an afternoon with Mike and Sarah.  We finished our trip by attending Ben Gerber and Alyssa Maibach's wedding on the 6th. 

 

Zach and I traveled to Indianapolis on January 7th and enjoyed dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  He had an early morning procedure at IU Hospital to have the stint in his ureter replaced.  He had chemo later in the  day.  The rest of the week was rather slow with Zion, Moriah and I all feeling sick and Zach dealing with the effects of chemo.  We all missed church on the 13th.  Thankfully we started feeling better after the weekend. 

 

We enjoyed hosting Jon and Amy Gerst on January 17th to share about their vision for serving in Ethiopia.  We had a great time with Mick and Brooke Gerber on the 18th and then attended a potluck on the 19th.  Casssie and Aaron came to hang out with us on the 20th.  We were really excited by the arrival of Mike, Sarah, and Silas on January 23rd.  They stayed until January 27th and we had a great time playing games, completing household projects (I always have a list for them), and relaxing.  Mike and Zach took the kids (even Silas) to the Circus Thursday night while Sarah and I ate out with Sonya, Christa, and Tara.  Uncle Darrel, Aunt Shirley, and Elise arrived on the 26th and stayed until after church on Sunday. 

 

Zion, Moriah, and I all enjoyed spending with with Christa, Jack, and Willis on Tuesday the 29th and Christa kept the kids while I attended a meeting at Gateway Woods.  Zach had meetings with LSM staff both Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare for upcoming fundraisers.  Zion enjoyed attending Mason's fifth birthday party on Wednesday.   Moriah had her first successful dentist appointment on Thursday the 31st.  Thankfully she didn't have any cavities.  In the evening Danny and Ryan Isch came over to play games with Zach while I took Zion to stay overnight with Mason and Moriah to stay overnight with Ashlyn.  They were both excited about spending time with their friends since Zach and I needed to leave early in the morning for Indianapolis. 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!!!

 

Quote for Today

A good reminder from my daily devotional:

"In the middle of life's yuck, I want to still be able to see God's goodness and thank Him for each wonderful day.  How often I get caught up in the emotional waves if life's ups and downs, losing sight of God's goodness.  When this happens I cease operating in His peace....In times of stress, we often verbalize our complaints, frustrations, and anxiety.  If, however, I make the choice to rejoice in the Lord's ability to handle what I can't, I invite God's peace to invade that moment."  Lysa TerKeurst (God's Purpose for Every Woman p.125-126) 

 

Lysa referenced Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (NIV)

 

My thoughts:

Praying I can approach my Savior with a thankful Heart today.  Remembering that His gift of Salvation alone is worth Rejoicing.  Trusting that He has my life, my family, my dreams, and my future in His hands. 

Reflections

Two and a half years ago Zach was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.  At that time they told us the average life expectancy for someone with this diagnosis was 2 1/2 years.  We praise God that the chemo continues to be effective in keeping the cancer from growing.  Since his diagnosis Zach has had two surgeries and continues to suffer intense pain because of complications from his first surgery.  In August, he stopped working as the Administrator of Christian Care because the pain and side effects of chemotherapy made it difficult for him to work.  Since then our family has adjusted once again to a new normal which includes having Zach at home almost all the time.  On his good days he spends a lot of time playing with and taking care of the kids, so that I can focus more on my passion for adoption through my work at Gateway Woods.  We are so grateful for the many prayers for Zach's health and our family.

 

A few months after Zach was diagnosed he felt lead to Redeem his Cancer through a special project to help fatherless children.  We spoke to Loving Shepherd Ministries and with their support started a fundraising Campaign in December of 2010 to raise the funds to build four Homes of Hope in Haiti.  We sent out hundreds of letters to family and friends as part of our annual Christmas letter.  The response was amazing and God has blessed the project in so many ways.  Ed Schwartz told us early on not to limit God, so as the funds continued to come in the project grew and continues to grow.   The Cancer Redemption Project Campus sits on a ten acre property at the top of a mountain near Cavaillon, Haiti that LSM purchased in April of 2011.  Since the the campus has been busy with Haiti construction workers.  At this point there are four houses, a fellowship building which was constructed to hold solar panels, a storage building, and an two outhouses. 

 

In April of this year, Zach and I traveled to Haiti for the grand opening and the placement of 24 children with their new families in the first two homes (Ezekiel Home of Hope and Abba's Home of Hope).  We just return  from our second trip to Haiti and the opening of Mount Zion Home of Hope and Mount Moriah Home of Hope.  Ten orphaned boys and seven orphaned girls now have parents and siblings.  There is space for two more boys and five more girls to move into the homes in the next few months.  Our trip including playing with the 24 children who we placed in April and wonderful fellowship with their parents an other LSM staff.  As I looked over the Campus I was amazed by how much has been done in such a short period of time.  What was an empty hill  two years ago is now a thriving home for 41 children and their new parents.  The construction and gardens/landscaping work has provided jobs for over 50 Haitian people.  Gardens are growing to provide food for the campus and fruit trees are abundant to provide food in the future.  Many dump truck loads of stone have been brought to the church/school location and construction is scheduled to start in early 2013.  Land has been leveled for the 5th and 6th homes (Daniel and Esther Homes of Hope) and  we are hopeful that construction will start before the end of 2013.  We praise God that the capital has been raised for all the building projects and monthly/yearly supporters have committed to provide for the ongoing expenses of the first four homes. 

 

One of my favorite Bible verses is I Peter 1:17.  "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: (KJV)"  We feel like our faith has been tried over these past 2 1/2 years more than any other time in our lives.  Many days we wonder how we can press on or if God can really use us in our weak human bodies.  I often get frustrated at my human limitations and I know Zach feels the same way.  While we hate the suffering and struggles, we are so thankful that God is giving us a wonderful glimpse of how HE is using the trials we are facing to bring Praise, Honor, and Glory to HIS Name.   

Cancer Redemption Testimony with Zach Bertsch

Thoughts from Zach and Zion

 

 

Zach's Devotion from Thursday:

 

"My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee." - Proverbs 7:1

Our children may not keep our words....but they will most likely DO what we do.

Zion and I were talking about honesty and integrity today. I was driving the concepts home. I said, "Zion, you always need to keep your word. If you say that you're going to do something, you need to do it. Keep your word, son."

He smiled and I knew that he got the concept. Then he said, "Yeah dad. We need to keep our word. That would be terrible if we lost them. What would we do if we lost our words?"

Then he said something that hit me like a load of bricks:

"Dad, whatever you do, that is what I am going to do." - My Son

A few photos of our day