Amos Ross Updates

Hello friends and family,

Happy new year! We hope that 2020 is off to a good start for each of you, being filled with God’s mercy and guidance. We are somewhat surprised, excited, and dismayed that another MRI is upon us. The emotions vary by the hour (!) but we are grateful for so many things as we anticipate this week’s scan. Here are some things we are praying and praising God for:

1. That the Lord has provided great medical care for Amos. This will be his first scan at Duke Children’s Hospital in Durham, NC rather than at CHOC in Orange, CA. The commute will be slightly shorter than it has been for the last 4 years — going from England to California! In fact, this is the first time Amos has had an MRI anywhere but CHOC since his diagnosis. Amos and Will are traveling to Durham this evening (a 2.5 hour drive) to spend Tuesday and Wednesday in appointments. Amos has his scan on Wednesday morning but will also have routine checkups with Endocrinology, ENT, and his Oncology clinic while there. Results will also be sent to Amos’s neurosurgeon in CA, who will remain part of Amos’s team.

2. There is much cause for praise that the Lord has preserved Amos thus far and promises to do so going forward, regardless of the scan results. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26) We know that in all things we are called and equipped to trust the Lord even in the hardest of places.

3. We are grateful for the life outside of Amos’s diagnosis that both we and he have been able to enjoy. Even though recovery via therapy takes up a good chunk of our time still, each day and each week, Amos has the gift of living relatively free of the major cares that once burdened his little body and taxed our strength and energy. We try not to take this for granted while also not ignoring his very real ongoing challenges, physically and cognitively speaking. But we are so thankful that currently Amos is enjoying school, time with friends, climbing trees, and snuggling his baby sister. What gifts!

All of these things and more, help to orient our hearts as we head into this week’s scan. Our fears are real and justified, but our anchor and hope remains sure. Charles Spurgeon said it well,

 “It is often so with us; when the winds are out and the storms are raging there is plenty of fear, but there is no danger. We may be much tossed, but we are quite safe, for we have an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast, which will not start. One blessed thing is that our hope has such a grip of us that we know it. In a vessel you feel the pull of the anchor, and the more the wind rages the more you feel that the anchor holds you. Like the boy with his kite: the kite is up in the clouds, where he cannot see it, but he knows it is there, for he feels it pull; so our good hope has gone up to heaven, and it is pulling and drawing us towards itself.” (MTP 22:285-86)

Blessings to all you! Thank you for praying.

Love,

Kelli, Will, Amos, Luke, Sam, and Phoebe