Helping Joy and James as they wait for the joy that comes in the morning

For His anger is but for a moment,

His favor is for life;

Weeping may endure for a night,

But joy comes in the morning.

~ Psalm 30:5 (NKJV)

*

Many of you know of the wonderful Catholic blogger

Elizabeth Foss and how she has done the Restore Workshop

for two years running,

of which I was part of both years.

Joy is the one who did all the technical things for this workshop to

run well and she did this very well!
I began, of course, to read Joy's blog too...

*

And so, 

I've been reading Joy's blog for over a year,

where she shares the beauty of life as a
Orthodox Christian Mother of 6 children

(Benjamin (12), Isaiah (11), Lorelei (Elizabeth, 8), David (7), 
Josiah (5), Elliana (Juliana, 4)).
{note: I have been in email contact with Joy's husband James
and have full permission to post not only their story but also pictures}
*
I read about her unexpected life as a Mother who

walked with her youngest daughter through severe illness,
 who, after much tribulations,

was diagnosed as having celiac disease and severe anemia.

Thank God she is doing well now!

*

Meanwhile Joy's heart was increasingly concerned

for her valiant and, if I may add, super cute young son Josiah.

Josiah has been having some serious GI (gastrointestinal) issues

and has been hospitalized 3 times so far, only to discover that he has
 "no natural function and only weak medicated function.
[Josiah] will have a cecostomy tube surgically placed within the next month to assist....
It is uncertain if the tube will help, and as things stand right now
there is no firm 'cure' or diagnosis for him,
only stop-gap measures to help his body work."



Meanwhile James injured his leg in a work accident
(thankfully this is covered by his workers compensation)
and Joy is facing her own health struggles - she suddenly had
numbness in her face and it was found that she has
 three internal masses in her left sinus cavity, one of which is benign.
They explain that the other two "are soft masses and remain unidentified.
Due to the history of melanoma in her family,
all three will be biopsied and surgically removed next week,
on Monday, May 11th."

"Josiah will be having surgery within the next month to place a cecostomy tube.
This will be approximately a week's admittance. ....
The c-tube may also be a permanent, life-long addition for Josiah."
~from here.



Please pray for Joy who is facing the question of cancer,
who is the Mother of Josiah sick with severe GI issues
and James her husband who has been 
recently laid up with a work injury and is awaiting the MRI results
to see if his knee injury requires surgery.
James used up all his vacation/sick leave when their daughter
Juliana was ill and has none left.
The expenses from Juliana's illness are still significant and now
they have Josiah's as well, not to mention the concerns for Joy.
*
I am here to ask first to PRAY for them all.
God can do wonders and we want to pray that
JOY will come to them in the morning and that the dawning of
this morning will come to them -- and soon.
Second, if you can HELP them with the financial burden they are facing,
please go to their gofundme page to GIVE.