Since the last update on Joseph we have seen a wonderful answer to prayer. We asked that people pray that Joseph would be able to sleep through the night as he was up just about every night and needing a lot of interaction. Since that request was posted, Joseph has slept each night in his bed all night. About half of those nights he has not woken up at all in the night. On the others, he has woken briefly needing a bit of comfort and then gone back to sleep fairly quickly. Thank you for praying.

Joseph continues to eat well and be very active, so over all his general health has been good. His treatment for Leukemia continues and last Wednesday when his blood work was taken, his neutrophils were low. So they cut his dose of chemo in half for the week to give his bone marrow a chance to recover. Tomorrow morning Joseph will go in for more blood work to see how he is doing. He will receive an IV dose of chemo and start five days of oral steroids. He continues to receive an oral dose of a chemo each night before he goes to bed.

It is wonderful to see our balding toddler going about his day and making longer and longer sentences, wanting to touch everything and desiring to do anything and everything his older brothers are doing. Sometimes he gets upset when everyone is going to the pool or to church and he has to stay with daddy or nanna. But then that seems to be compensated for by his trips to the hospital with daddy to see his friends the doctors and nurses.

During the weeks that Joseph was not able to sleep well it reminded me of that fact that God never sleeps and never gets tired. The need to sleep is a very human characteristic, one that Jesus shared with us while on earth. You would have to be really tired to sleep through a storm that was sinking the boat that you were in, but Jesus did exactly that. Yet, today we live in a 24/7 culture and take our smart phones to bed with us to extend our ability to know and do even further. But in the end it does not make us smarter or more powerful, as our mind and body just cannot keep learning and doing at full strength all the time. It is part of the humility of being a created being that we have to recognize The Lord is the one who gives us the capacity to work and learn. We are to use it to the full but then realize any good that comes from it comes from His hand – even the ability to sleep.

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep. Psalm 127:1-2