Amos Ross Updates

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you so much for all of your prayers as we’ve made the enormous trip home to England after such a long absence. We are overwhelmed in too many ways to count – and not all of them bad! To list a few though…

Gratitude

It’s difficult to list out or describe the help we’ve received from so many both in California and in Cambridge these past weeks and months but I’ll try! It was hard to leave California and the friendships we’ve built there, the trust we’ve established with so many gifted medical folks, and the ways that we’ve seen Amos and our family loved and cared for when we were virtually strangers. We have been so blessed by the doctors, nurses, and therapists at CHOC, Ruth McCarty and her amazing team at Open Mind Modalities, Dr. Rakov and her team at the Vision Development Center, Dr. Boisvert at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, and our church home for the past year – Redeemer Orange County. To all of you who have contributed financially to our needs over the last year, and this coming year – most of all our families – thank you so very much. And thank you all for the ways that you’ve helped, encouraged, and supported us. From excellent medical care by day to meals being delivered when we most needed them, we are so grateful for all of you and the ways you welcomed us into your professions and lives.

These past months have been so busy and our minds have been so preoccupied that I think we have often failed to communicate our thankfulness for kindnesses great and small. Leaving makes me more mindful of the missed opportunities to say thank you and to tell people how their kindnesses have blessed us in ways you’ll never know.

I also can’t talk about California without huge thanks to my parents. They have spent the last year dropping everything to help us in every possible way. From my Dad changing more diapers as a Grandpa than he ever did as a Dad 😉 and helping with countless problem solving sessions, to my Mom making us countless meals and helping out with therapy runs, doing laundry, doctors office visits etc. We couldn’t have done this without you guys! I’ve said it before but they really have been the true home front heroes for us. Thank you for all that you’ve done, including getting us on the plane last Saturday when it barely seemed like we had the strength to get there on our own!

Thank you also to the Midgley’s here in Cambridge, for their friendship and prayers over this past year as well as helping us land softly this past week. From picking us up at the airport along with our absurd amount of luggage, to making sure we had a home-cooked meal waiting for us in our house that had been cleaned to perfection by friends from church and Tyndale House – thank you. We feel so very blessed to have such a wonderful community here in Cambridge.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and for helping us out financially over the past 15 months. We could not have persisted in this journey with as much hope and confidence had it not been for your encouragement in so many ways. We are truly grateful especially as we realize how “loose” the ties are that bind us with so many of you. In other words, apart from being sisters and brothers in Christ, we are strangers to many of you. Our hearts are overwhelmed by the love and generosity you’ve shown to our family during this difficult time, and the times to come.

Being Home

Our hearts are overwhelmed as we find ourselves back in Cambridge. As wonderful as it is, I would be lying to say that being back hasn’t been a huge emotional ride on top of leaving California. We truly love Cambridge and the life we had here as a family more than a year ago. It’s unrealistic to ignore the ways in which our life has drastically changed since then and there is amazing joy and also a piercing sorrow that seems to have hit in waves as we settle back in here. We have so much to be thankful for and so much to weep over as we realize anew all the changes that have taken place and may still change in our life as a family. How does one live each day well in light of a cancer diagnosis? We are still trying to answer that question. And not least of all, the intense exhaustion from the preparations to come here, dealing with jet-lag, unpacking, and doctors appointments now that we are here. It has been a lot to handle and process but we are thankful.

Today I came across a quote posted by a friend and it really encouraged me.

“But COURAGE child; we are all between the paws of the one true Aslan.”
C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

May we always remember who is really in control of each and every detail of our lives. We covet your prayers as we continue to settle in and also as we anticipate Amos’ next MRI in just four weeks. He and Will are traveling back to California on October 10th for the scan. Please pray that it clearly shows absolutely no recurrence of cancer and that the trip there and back would go smoothly. Please pray for us to trust the Lord with our future and Amos’.

With Love in Christ,

Kelli, Will, Amos, Luke, and baby Ross