It’s been one of those weeks for our family. Actually, it’s been one of those years, but that’s a story for a different time. In the midst of Hal’s pneumonia and probable cancer diagnosis, three of the children recovering from surgery, three of the other children sick and getting sicker, our oldest son still at college for exams, and sickness finally overtaking me, it’s been pretty rough around here. If you know anything about us, you may have done the math on that last sentence. There were only seven children mentioned and we have eight. That’s because Matthew is the last man standing.

We’ve had a lot of support from our church, family, and homeschool group, but on a hour by hour basis, there is just a great lot to be done to keep a family our size going. Normally everyone in the house who can walk pitches in and does chores to keep chaos and disorder (mostly) at bay. What happens, though, when the Lord takes out the rest of the troops?? Why, you man up and do what must be done. It started this weekend, before the rest of the boys got sick. When we discovered that Hal was really sick, I rallied the troops and started trying to catch up in the house. We’d been traveling and things had pretty much fallen apart. We did a ton of laundry and cleaned and straightened and everyone worked their hearts out. Then Samuel and Seth got sick. That left Matthew.

That’s a pretty hard mission, to pick up the responsibilities of a whole bunch of siblings, but Dad is down, too. Matthew really is the last man standing. This was brought home when I was sitting here at my desk and suddenly realized that my teeth were chattering. Dragging my attention off of what I was doing, it occured to me that it was about forty degrees where I was sitting and we had a pneumonia patient and two post-operative patients in the house! I called Matt and asked him to check to see if the flue were open, since I sit next to the hearth. He grabbed a flash light and poked his head up there and said, “Yep, it’s open.” He reached up to close it and a huge piece of metal fell into the fireplace! The flue had fallen out entirely!

After a moment of panic, Matt went up to talk to his Dad. I scooted out of there – it was soooo cold – and decided to visit with Hal for awhile. Before long Matthew came up and you could just tell he was victorious. He was standing tall. He grinned and told his Daddy how he’d figured out what to do, found the tools he needed and fixed the chimney. He may have been proud, but we were prouder. He’d been confronted with a job he knew nothing about and there was no one to help. There was no way his sick Dad could have fixed it in that cold. So he did it.

That’s what men do. They stand in the gap. When they find themselves the last man standing, they keep fighting. They go down, if there’s no alternative, still fighting. God made men to be fighters. To fight against sin and evil and disorder and decay. And sometimes laundry and chimneys.

[The painting is “The Battle of Culloden”)

Dearest Friends,

I didn’t think I could bear anything else right now, but my loving Father had a different plan and though I can not understand it, I accept it from His hand and trust Him to bring us through it.

I told some of you earlier this week about Hal’s pneumonia and Katie and others in the family sick, and two children having tonsillectomies today (they are home and utterly miserable, poor things) and another on Monday, all for sleep apnea. Oh, the business is pretty wild this week, too. Katie hasn’t gotten any better, so as soon as we got home from the hospital this afternoon, I took her to the doctor. While I was there, the radiologist report from Hal’s x-ray Wednesday for the pneumonia came back.

Hal has a large mass in his chest. Our wonderful doctor got him immediately in for a CT scan this evening and we are now awaiting the results. We don’t know yet what we are facing, but it doesn’t look good.

I am exhausted. I am devastated. Hal and I are best friends, partners in business, co-authors, constant companions, happy parents, and we have the best marriage on earth. At this point, I am clinging to the Lord; trusting Him to do what is best; trying hard to just hold His hand as a child trusts his parent.

We would be very grateful for your prayers.

I am thinking about this hymn a lot:

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake. 

Amen.