Day 112 - October 5 - Happy Birthday, Joélle!

Today is Joélle's twentieth birthday. Most of us don't think about how we're going to spend our next birthday, and Joélle certainly couldn't have anticipated that her 20th would be at the hospital with her brother.

Joélle has been a trooper - at her brother's side, and supporting her parents since day one. Take a few minutes and wish her a Happy Birthday!

They say you only need about 30 people in a room to have a significant probability that two of you share a common birth date. Anybody else out there born on October 5th?

Brad

Michigan
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Day 73 - August 27 - (Old) News from the Front

Back on the 15th of August, (my bad - senior deja vú - having the feeling that you have forgotten this before) one of our volunteer staff members on ConnorWatch, part of our support team that handles all the requests and coordination, sent me this email and asked me to share it with the family. Now, she meant Eric and Cherié, but by this time all of you qualify as 'family' so I thought I would let Melanie explain it in her own words.

Ok so I wanted to share with you and the family the wonderful thing that happened yesterday. I am playing in a Softball tournament for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. There are lots of folks playing for the kids. Some of the kids even showed up yesterday. There ages range from 2 yrs to 12 yrs. Some of them have hair and some don't. Most just finished their treatments. What an experience in itself but this is where the story gets good.

As you know I have been selling the Connor bracelets to everyone and everywhere. So i thought i would take some with me to this tournament. I know playing for this charity event there may not be a time to bring up my cause but i thought better have some just in case. So on the first day after the game. I sold a few to some friends who i knew would not say no. Yesterday, i was playing again.

After our games all the teams went into the bar/restaurant they have at the field. I had one of his tee shirts on. Some folks were asking me about it, so I started telling them Connor's story. Most ears were perked up at this point and I had the floor. I told some of what the family is facing and how we could lift connor up by supporting him and praying for him. Everyone sitting around bought a bracelet. Even a mother who came up to me and said. "I have a make a wish kid" I know they need our prayers and just know we will be praying. As she bought a bracelet. Wow it was exciting.

I took a break from my speech and took a short walk. I was found by one young gentleman who played on the other team, he told me he attends New Hope Church in Gilroy. He has been praying for Connor every Sunday. This totally gives me some back ground to who I have been praying for and I thank you. Can we pray right now together? Of course I was shocked and surprised by this but took the opportunity to uplift Connor. He prayed so loud and with such conviction. We stood out there praying together. Afterwards we hugged and I thanked him. He looked at me and said, soon as I saw you today the Lord told me I need to speak with you. I was unsure why, but now I get it. Please let the family know I will be praying for them more than ever.

So overwhelmed by this I needed to use the ladies room to wipe my face. When I exited I was met by this very tall buff young man who asked for a moment of my time. He looked into my eyes and said, "I am a man of god. Here take this money. I wish it could be more but it's all the ATM would give me". Please know I will be praying for Connor and his family. Don't forget that miracles happen everyday. I feel that they are on the brink of a miracle. God is good. Praise God. He then walked away. I don't even know his name. What he handed me was $100.00 to add to the Connor bracelet fund.

I was overwhelmed by both of these encounters today. I wanted you to know. I want Cherie, Eric, Joelle and most of all Connor to know how he is touching people everywhere. And through people who least expect it.

I never thought i would be standing at a softball field praying out loud and having folks joining in. This was all for Connor. I hope in someway he felt us speaking to the Lord for him yesterday.

Please pass it along to the family. Thanks Brad.


Peace,

MELANIE

'nuf said. Before you inundate me with requests for the ConnorWatch bracelets, they are currently available through E-ternal Treasures in Morgan Hill. As their website is under construction, contact them by email at customerservice (at) e-ternaltreasures.com or by phone at 1-800-693-8443.

Brad
Michigan

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Day 15 - June 30 - Joélle at Moody

If all the rest of this wasn't enough, today is the deadline for Joélle to register at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for distance learning for the next semester. She attended at the Chicago campus the last two years, but now has decided to stay in Morgan Hill for the next one.

Having a deadline in the midst of the Connor crisis is creating stress that Eric and Cherié are having to wrestle with in addition to everything else. We are hoping to get some assistance with communicating with Moody in a way that Joélle can commit but get some kind of extension or variance on the actual registration.

My wife, Margaret, is attempting to track down the people at Moody who can make those decisions. Pray that Moody would be flexible enough to accommodate the situation, and that Margaret could find the right folks at the right time.

If you know anybody there or can offer some help, please contact Margaret through the Contact page.

Brad
Michigan

Day 11 - June 26 - Thank you

For all the folks who are offering to help, and all the donations that are coming, we say thank you on the behalf of Connor, Eric, Cherié, and Joélle. We, and they, are overwhelmed with your generosity.

While our intention is to thank each and everyone of you personally with a short email at the least, we, like the proverbial sausage maker who backed into the meat grinder, are getting a little behind in our work.

So if you haven't received a thank you from the staff, at least, acknowledging your offer to help or your contribution, you can either be patient for a day or two as we catch up and watch your email, or send us a note saying "What's going on? Didn't you get my email?"

Either way, we are grateful that you're with us on this journey, and we do appreciate your contributions and offers to help.

Whatever you do, don't stop. This is a long journey, and we WILL need your help, if not today, then tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or...

If we can't accept all your offers to help all at once it's because there are many, many, of you who have selflessly offered your time, your meals, your companionship. Some we need to hold in reserve, so prepare yourself for the day when we can truly put you to work. You will always be needed.

Brad
Michigan

Day 8 - June 23 - Needs Support Team Formed!

As you might not be able to imagine, there is an incredible amount of work going on behind the scenes to make all of this work. It has increased to the point that it is difficult to even respond to the emailed offers of support that are coming in. For that, I apologize, and if you are waiting for a response, it should be coming soon. It didn't dawn on me that I was being overwhelmed until today, because I'm just not the sort of guy to admit those sort of things.

Having realized that I'm slowing things down by not keeping up, and having a providential phone call with Mel this morning resulted in a generous offer from Kim and Mel to take over the responsibility for coordinating all the incoming offers to help with the needs that Eric, Cherié, Connor and Joélle have.

So there is a new contact button on the Contact web page that will let you send your offers to help directly to Kim and Mel. They'll keep track of what is coming in, and match it with places to help, things to do, and contributions you can make.

Recognizing that there are more offers help at the moment than there are needs that can be filled, they may ask you to patiently wait until the time is right for you to engage. That having been said, please contact the Needs Support team with any offer to help.

Thanks for your continued willingness to give, and many, many thanks to Kim and Mel for taking over this significant responsiblity.

Brad
Michigan

Day 8 - June 23 - Little help here, please.

Eric just mentioned a little need we can actually do something about.

Someone in the waiting room had mentioned reading an article about Connor's accident in the "local paper", which I presume means the Fresno Bee, though I'm not sure. Eric wants a copy of that article, if it exists. Does anyone have a copy of (probably) last Tuesday's edition that could locate and save the article for us?

Eric is just asking that someone find it, secure it, and hold it for him. Or maybe get it to his house or somewhere safe. He doesn't want to be given it only to have it lost or destroyed accidentally at the hospital.

I searched the Bee website and could find no mention of Connor, so it may be in some other paper. Let me know if you find anything.

Thanks,

Brad
Michigan

Day 7 - June 22 - Ready, OK!

I had a pretty good visual image this morning that fits into what I want to say, so here goes...

Have you ever seen one of those cheerleading competitions? One where these teams of perky people stack themselves up to the sky into all sorts of formations? I'm pretty convinced that if I tried this with my friends and family, we'd pull a big "humpty-dumpty" and all come tumbling down. It takes these folks a lot of work, skill and a good coach to put together these things so that they work right.

Now here's the image - there's this big pyramid of people. At the bottom is this great big layer of strong, sturdy folks, interlacing their arms so they can stand the strain of all that's placed upon their shoulders. Standing on their shoulders is a smaller group of folks, again bracing against each other to spread the load downward in an even and balanced way. On those folks' shoulders, there are two or three people - once again leaning into each other in order to support the weight that the coach has decided will be carried by them. Finally, at the pinnacle of the pyramid, there's one tiny soul, perched dangerously high above the ground. As long as every member of the squad does exactly what the coach has dictated as their role, the person at the top is secure, and the crowd roars, the judges smile, and the trophies are handed out.

What I'm trying to say is that Connor is the tiny, pig-tailed cheerleader at the top. He is being directly supported by his family, Cherié, Joélle and I. We, in turn, are depending on both each other and our next layer of support, our family and friends - Brad and Kent with the blog; the friends who flock to our side to feed us, clothe us, and house us; and all our friends and family who are praying unceasingly for Connor and for us. Finally, this group is completely being held up and supported by the steady, faithful, unceasing prayer being offered up on our behalf by a very, very large group of individuals; most of whom do not know us, have not met us, and only help because of one thing - the direction of our Coach, the One who designed this pyramid, who brought the participants together, who developed the skills in each of us to fulfill our role, and who orchestrates the whole, seemingly precarious balance.

I cannot do justice to the list of people I owe for their great, great service to me and mine. I am astonished at how God has brought people together from every part of the world, from every walk of life, from both well-known and unknown walks, to gather together in prayer for my son and for what God is doing through his ordeal. I could never begin to thank you for what you are doing for us, so I must be satisfied that one day in eternity, I'll shake your individual hands and give you a big hug in gratitude for your service to God, and through Him, to my boy, my family, and to me.

Thank you, friends. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your selflessness. Thank you for your endurance, your perseverance, and your obedience. Thank you for your gifts, your thoughts, your comfort, and most importantly, your prayers. We continue to covet them, and we thank and praise the Lord for His provision through your hearts and hands.

Day 7 - June 22 - A Shouting God

Karen, the kids and I had dinner last evening at a friend's house here in Virginia. Their dear family has been praying for Connor this week and Heather had come across this quote. I thought it was worth passing on...

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains.  It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." 

- C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Are we listening?

Kent

Virginia

Day 7 - June 22 - A Growing Faith

Eric's faith (along with many of ours) is deeper than it was a week ago. We talked today about how most of the time God uses a tiny chisel on each of us to shape us into the people we need to become, to shape us to be more like Christ. Or perhaps He buffs us so we can shine. It's often fairly painless and we tend to become immune to the work He's doing on us.

And then once in a while (normally when we least expect it), He pulls out his giant, oversized chisel and His gargantuan hammer and guess what? He puts it to work on us. This is what Eric and Cherié and Joelle and Connor and many of us journeying with them are experiencing right now (and some us thought He was finished with us! Ha!).

The big chisel hurts, no doubt. But it's part of the refinement that shapes us, that builds us, that restores us, that polishes us, that ultimately will make us whom He needs us to be. So in that case... bring it on.

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us – an unbelievable inheritance! We go thorugh exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

- Romans 8:15-17 (Message)

• Not much has changed with Connor overnight. Continue to pray for rest and healing.

• When Eric awoke this morning, he read some scripture, and went to check the blog. He noticed the list of prayers that Jenann's had posted in her recent comment. Eric just went down the list and saw how many of them had been answered. For rest, provision, etc. Eric could just say, "Thank you, Lord, for this new day!" No alarms had gone off overnight.  There was much to be thankful for.

• Concerns for Cherié -  she awoke from a nap yesterday and had a very hard time seeing clearly. She is also lacking energy. She has a lot on her mind right now and is under enormous stress, so please pray for her. Pray that she'll sustain her health.

• Pray also that Cherié will be able to stop serving others and allow others to serve her. For those of you who know Cherié this is like asking a fish not to swim. She is so gifted in the area of service to others. She is a fabulous hostess, and right now she desires to continue in that role, but now is obviously not the time. Pray that she'll be able to set it aside and allow others to serve her.

It's Sunday. Tomorrow will be one week since this whole ordeal has begun. Thanks for your prayers and comments. God is good.

Day 5 - June 20 - Birthday Greetings

Tomorrow, June 21st, is Eric's birthday, his 46th. Though they tend to be less significant as we get older (it's not the years, it's the miles!) tomorrow has the real possibility of going unnoticed in light of the current situation. There isn't much we can fix about that, and there isn't much in the way of 'appropriate' birthday gifts that we can have delivered, but we can continue to offer encouragement.

Take a minute on Saturday to post a comment, or send an encouraging email. Remind him that the rest of us are glad we can celebrate a day for him.

For my part, brother Eric, we've talked a lot since Monday, and though I haven't been out there for you, until I'm called to be there I continue to be here for you.

I'm proud of you. You are being measured and weighed, and though it may not seem like it to you, you continue to demonstrate to us the character, courage, and commitment that seems to be missing in many of the men in our culture today. You continue to persevere. You are demonstrating in your life the role that men of God are called to, and your son reflects that upbringing like no other. You display commitment in adversity where others have quit and abandoned their wives and children. You speak of enduring in these things until that day that God says, "Well done, my good and faithful servant!"

I'm proud of you. Hold fast!

Brad
Southwest Michigan Chapter of the Brothers Williamson

Day 4 - June 19 - Laptop on the way!

Rejoicing over small victories may become our stock-in-trade over the next few months, so I'm practicing being excited over the little things.

Danny just called - the laptop is on the way in an hour and will be there tonight, thanks to Melanie and Kim.

It is one of many short-term solutions that we say thanks for. Thanks for the people that make it happen, thanks for God for making it possible. Just another small way we can support the Williamson's in Fresno right now.

By the way, I find that I'm not fast enough to keep up with the pace of things in this internet age. I've had to rewrite this entry three times based on changes happening as I type.

Thank God that it's possible.

Brad
Michigan

Day 4 - June 19 - Laptop answer to prayer! Driver needed!

Danny Bonsell of West Hills Community Church graciously offered the loan of a Mac Powerbook for Eric and Cherié. That's called an answer to prayer, however mundane. Sometimes the little things escape us at a time like this.

Thanks to the others who offered - we'll keep you in standby. (grin)

We need someone who can get the laptop from Danny in Morgan Hill, to Eric in Fresno.

Anybody driving down tonight or tomorrow?

Please email me at brad (at) hcp-images (dot) com or call me directly at 269.465.6628 so we can coordinate.

Brad
Michigan