Lovely Easter weekend.

Joe and I had a lovely Easter weekend. We were granted permission to stay away from the hospital from Friday through Monday. So, a nice four day weekend! Actually, it wasn't all nice for Joe. For much of the weekend, his rash continued to be pretty unbearable. Imagine going to Fiji...and returning with a sunburn...and then having your sunburn peel. Well, for Joe it has been no Fiji (except in his head), and just constant sunburn and peeling. Day in and day out. I realize I'm starting to sound like a broken record, describing Joe's rash. However, for now, each day revolves around Joe's rash. For the greater part of the day, Joe is applying lotion to every inch of his body. Thankfully, the rash did appear to get better minutely each day. We are hopeful that it is getting better anyway, and Joe seems to be tolerating it better. The good news, is that his CMV test from Thursday was negative once again!!!!!! We'll see what Tuesday's test shows. We're aiming for another negative!

On Saturday, we got to see my parents and brother in the early afternoon. My parents had borrowed my camera for awhile, and returned it with lots of family photos from their recent trip to Taiwan. My dad also shared photos that my aunt and uncle compiled of my grandmother. I'm sharing some of my favorite photos from the whole bunch! The first makes me laugh, and laugh, and laugh. It is my grandpa striking a pose, and my dad holding my grandpa's collection of sunglasses. Perhaps my dad gets his silliness from his dad? The next is my grandpa posing with most of my sweet cousins on my dad's side of the family. They are so grown up from the last time I saw most of them. The last two photos are from the "Archives." One, of my grandparents having fun and not looking like they were in their 80s. The last photo is of my grandma with one of her famous flower arrangements. I am so thankful for the blessing of photos, and the blessing of memories.

Early Saturday evening, we were blessed by a visit from Uncle & Auntie Yang, and Joe's parents. Uncle & Auntie Yang are Joe's New Jersey parents. Lucky for me, I've been adopted by them too. Auntie Yang is the kind of angel who is always prepared for guests. Even if you call her two seconds before ringing the doorbell, she will have a table full of food ready for you. Uncle Yang is the kind of guy who always has hilarious stories to tell. He also loves to sing and helped serenade us at our wedding reception! So you see, they were really special guests, and it was wonderful to see them.

The rest of the weekend was spent coloring Easter eggs, relaxing, and singing...

Ev'ry morning is Easter morning from now on! Ev'ry day's resurrection day, the past is over and gone!

1.Good-bye guilt, good-bye fear, good riddance! Hello, Lord, Hello, sun! I am one of the Easter People! My new life has begun!

Ev'ry morning is Easter morning from now on! Ev'ry day's resurrection day, the past is over and gone!

2.Daily news is so bad it seems the Good News seldom gets heard. Get it straight from the Easter People! God's in charge spread the word!

Ev'ry morning is Easter morning from now on! Ev'ry day's resurrection day, the past is over and gone!

3.Yesterday I was bored and lonely; But today look and see! I belong to the Easter People! Life's exciting to me!

Ev'ry morning is Easter morning from now on! Ev'ry day's resurrection day, the past is over and gone! Ev'ry morning is Easter morning, Ev'ry morning is Easter morning, Ev'ry morning is Easter morning, From now on!

Words & Tune: Richard K. Avery and Donald S. Marsh, in the Avery and Marsh
Songbook, ©1967, Hope Publishing Co.

*grin* So all in all, it really was a lovely weekend. Now if we can just rid Joe of his rash!
~~~
Thank you so much to Uncle & Auntie Yang for coming to visit! Wish we could have spent more time together. Thank you also for the very generous gift.

Thank you to...
My Monroeville parents,
Ben & Eleanor Chan
Sherry, Tim, Tyler, & Noah
My Auntie & Uncle Wu
Dr. & Mrs. Drozdiak
Auntie S.B. & Uncle R.C.
Taiwanese Bible Class
Auntie and Uncle Chang
John & Donna Smith (A.M. & A.D.!)
Sue-Mei Wu
TC and Yuen Ching Chan
Tian-min and Hsueh-man Lin
Gretchen Allen
Paula Good...
for all of the love you sent my parent's way after my Grandma passed away. Your love and support was extremely appreciated.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
~Philippians 2:5-11

Peanuts

I'm not quite sure why, but Joe seems to always make me think of the Peanuts gang. I always used to call him Joe cool - because his name is Joe, and well, he's cool! Confession: We are even dorky enough to own matching Joe cool hoodies...but only because they were less than $5 each!

More recently, Joe's bald head started sprouting hairs. But not very many. So I would tease him and say he looked like Charlie Brown. Things had been so miserable for Joe lately too, with his unbearable rash that just wouldn't go away. Kinda gave him that woeful expression Charlie Brown always seems to have on his face.

Then today, Joe received a new identity. Our pastor surprised us by showing up at the door with an Easter basket! Unfortunately, Joe was asleep, but I was able to get Pastor Jim caught up on the latest news. Mainly we discussed Joe's ongoing rash that still won't go away, and his tendency to leave Joe dust everywhere he goes. Pastor Jim said, "like Pigpen!" And I said, "exactly!" And it's funny, because Joe actually likes to tease me and call me Pigpen. (Yeah, I'm not sure why either...really...) I think he must agree that he is now much more deserving of the title. What seals the deal is that even though his rash is still pretty unbearable, Joe is feeling much more hopeful now. So the woeful look is diminishing and the smile is returning. To top that off, Joe is growing even more hairs on his head. From far away he still looks bald, but get a little closer, and you will see that Joe indeed has several patches of hair sprouting from his head.

Gotta love the Peanuts gang!

Thank you Pastor Jim for the wonderfully fun Easter basket. Joe and I are currently suffering from a major sugar high!

Happy Birthday Jian! Hope you had a fun celebration!


Charlie Brown: Everything seems hopeless... I'm completely depressed.
Lucy: Go home. And eat a jelly-bread sandwich folded over. Five cents please. (Charlie Brown leaves. Lucy puts her feet up.) There are some cures you don't learn in medical school.

Violet: Pig-Pen, you're an absolute disgrace! All that dirt and dust... you could be a germ carrier. Did you ever stop to think of that?
Pigpen: So what if I am? Even germs get tired of walking now and then!

Charlie Brown: Well Snoopy, what are your plans for today?
Snoopy: Plans? I hadn't even thought about it. But I suppose I'll sleep a little this morning. Then this afternoon I'll take a short nap and later on I'll try to get some more sleep. Those are good plans!
~Taken from "I told you so, you blockhead! (Peanuts Treasury)" by Charles M. Schulz.

Birthday, birthday, birthday!

Joe now has three birthdays. The day he entered the world. The day of his transplant. And the day he was baptized. Today marks two years since Joe was baptized on a beautiful Easter morning! It is evident that God has used Joe in a very remarkable way to touch the hearts and lives of so many, and I know that the Lord will continue to do so.

After a relaxing weekend, we returned to the hospital yesterday. The major highlight of the day was that Joe had his line pulled. It had been in for 11 weeks, and Joe was all too happy to have it pulled. This does mean that he'll have to go back to being a human pin cushion. We are hoping he won't need much more than blood draws though, and Joe can handle that - easy. Joe is currently enjoying the absolute bliss of taking a shower without having a ziplock bag or 'Press and Seal' and tons of tape protecting his line and making it difficult to move his neck. Now he gets to wear fun little bandages over the spot where his line was. I never buy regular bandages, so Joe always has to put up with various super heroes and cartoon characters. The nurses get a kick out of Joe's different bandages, which makes me happy!

We had today off, and we'll have Thursday off too. Hurray! Any day away from the hospital is a happy day. We were able to get a lot of things done today, so that was nice. Back to the hospital tomorrow. We'll find out then whether Joe's Monday draw was CMV negative or not. Let's pray for continued negative results and higher blood counts. Come on, get to it! :)

As you know, we consider blessed those who have perservered. You have heard of Job's perserverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
~James 5:11