Update.

Thursday, we learned that there are four people who have agreed to additional testing to see if they are a match for Joe. Two are from Taiwan, and two are from the U.S. We're praying, praying, praying that one of them is a perfect match for Joe!

Friday, Joe had his blood drawn, and we met with the doctor. His counts are still looking good - normal, or slightly below normal. Joe's platelets went down a bit, but that seems to be the trend a week before chemo. The plan now is to wait on the four people getting further testing. We're aiming for Joe to go into transplant in 8-12 weeks. This means we have an opportunity for a relatively relaxed holiday season. Transplant will probably be around January or February. Even if we aren't able to find a perfect match, we can go with the next best option, which is a near perfect match (which we have.) The doctor is confident this would be as good as a perfect match. So that's where we stand.

Friday evening, we spent some time with our CrossRoads fellowship. We met up with them again on Saturday evening to fill shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Our fellowship participates every year, and it's one of my favorite things to do for the holidays!

This morning, Joe and I went to church together. It's always a treat when we get to attend together. Joe looks so great now, and everyone is always so excited to see him!

***

Happy belated birthday to Bekah!!!!!!

Thank you to Juanita for baking us a cake! It's really yummy. :)

Also a shout-out to Louis who has been training for a marathon in honor of Joe. Read more about it here. And if you happen to have an itch to donate to a charity, or know someone who does, visit Louis' Team in Training page. I know he'd appreciate it. Don't do it just for Joe, or Louis though. Do it for anyone and everyone who might benefit from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
~2 Corinthians 1:3-4