Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Marshall Family


Dear Family & Friends,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Marshall family! This past year has been another year filled with challenges, celebrations, and changes and in the midst of it all, I simply did not make time to write our typical Christmas letter. One of the most significant changes in our lives this year has been our move from Decatur to Peoria. In April, Jeff accepted a new position with Caterpillar and he began working at the Mossville facility (just north of Peoria) at the beginning of June. Ethan and I were able to join Jeff in Peoria in mid-July and it seems like we are just now starting to slow down and settle in to our new life and routines here. We can’t thank you enough for your continued love, support and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

It is our prayer that in 2015 we would grow closer to God and see Him working in our daily lives. We continue to hold onto His promises and know that He loves us and that we can trust in that love even when we don’t understand and can’t help but wonder “why.” Since we (humans) may never understand the “whys” of so many things in life this side of Heaven (and perhaps not even when we get to Heaven, since I’m not sure it will matter anymore) we are trying to remember to ask simply, “What next Lord?” and “How can we Glorify You?” each and every day.  Some days this is easier than others, but we know that He is with us and we are thankful for the promises and hope we find in Romans 8 and the comfort and encouragement that we find in the words of Jesus recorded in John 10:28-30, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.” 

It is also our prayer that if you do not yet know this type of peace, that this Christmas season, as we celebrate Jesus’ birth, that you would open your heart and accept Him as your Lord and Savior.

With love and hope,

Jeff, Pamela & Ethan


If you would like to know more about how you can have a relationship with Jesus, please check out the following:
The Story: How It All Began and How It Will Never End
It's All About Jesus
How to Become a Christian




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Good News, Bad News

Image
Last Thursday we made the trek to Iowa City to see Ethan's epileptologist. We are very thankful that Dr. Ciliberto is part of Ethan's team. Not only is he a wonderful doctor who seems to truly love working with kids, his undergraduate degree is from the University of Illinois, Jeff's alma mater.


Dr. Ciliberto was excited to see how well Ethan is doing and how alert he is no that he is no longer on phenobarbital. In terms of seizure control it has been a really good summer and fall for Ethan, since we added Charlotte's Web hemp oil to his regimen, got off of Banzel, and got off of phenobarbital. It is like our little boy woke up again. Which of course makes sense since some of most common side effects of phenobarbital are: sleepiness or fatigue, depression, dizziness, upset stomach, memory problems, and trouble paying attention.

Since Ethan has been doing so wonderful, we talked with Dr. Ciliberto about the possibility of weaning Ethan off of Topamax as well to see if t…
Read more

Seizures are back. Operation Christmas Child. Sick Kids. Friends Hospitalized.

Ethan's been back on the full dose of Topamax for more than a week. Unfortunately, the seizures are still breaking through. I called the Epileptologist's office on Friday, and he instructed us to increase the Charlotte's Web from 9 drops twice a day to 12 drops twice a day for a week to see if that would help. If they are still breaking through we are then to increase the Charlotte's Web to 15 drops twice a day. Friday evening we began the increased dose. So, we'll know wait and see what happens. Friday we witnessed 4 seizures, Saturday we saw 2, and Sunday we have seen 2. Thankfully, they are all relatively short, just 5 to 10 seconds each, and so far they have not clustered, but it's still awful. I hate seizures.

"Big sister" saw one Sunday, while we were all at the table for lunch, and was surprisingly calm about it. Sometimes it is hard to believe that she has only been in our home since June. She has become a tiny little advocate and ambassador f…
Read more

Sick. Seizures. Sick of Seizures.

Ethan's continuing to fight the "bug" that has been plaguing him for more than a week now. The cough isn't going away, and I'll be calling the doctor tomorrow.

Yesterday, I had to use Ethan's rescue medication in the first time since May. While the seizures have returned over the last couple of weeks, we weren't seeing them every day and they hadn't started to cluster until yesterday afternoon. I am thankful that the diastat stopped them, but I hate that I had to use it. The diastat really kicked his butt yesterday and he slept for more than 4 hours. It finally got late enough that we had to wake him, which was hard because he was so groggy, but eventually he woke up.

Although we were concerned that Ethan might be up all night, he wasn't and slept really well until around 5:30am, which isn't bad considering that since the time change he has been consistently waking up between 5:00 and 5:30am. Ethan and I stayed home from church this morning an…
Read more