note: Since I (Joe) am not on social media, but we have many friends with whom our only contact is through the digital pipeline, I’m going to use this site as a platform to share my heart and thoughts about our little Alice. Please know that we’d love to hear from you, but for reasons our own, leave your comments here on the blog instead of Shelly’s Facebook, and we’d greatly appreciate it.
In various conversations around the dinner table over the last couple of months, my wife and I occasionally discussed the fact that it seemed the “light” had gone out of our little girl’s eyes. This was significant, since Alice’s full-featured smile could infamously light up a room of any size. She has seasonal allergy issues, so we chalked it up to that, and did the whole Zyrtek Allegra Claritin thing.
Then she seemed a bit more unstable from time to time. Shaky might be a better word. Not much, just a little. But still our happy little girl (and she still is, by God’s grace!). Last Tuesday I came home, and she met me at the door, which she often did, and as we talked together, I noticed her eyes weren’t quite tracking with each other. Not crossed, and not really a lazy eye, just not quite in alignment.
I mentioned this to Shelly, and she said she’d been thinking that same thing for a couple of days, but that maybe it was just her worrisome nature making things up. But if I saw the same thing, we thought we’d get her checked out. Wednesday morning I brought her to see an LPN who suggested some additional allergy treatments, gave us a referral to an allergy and an eye specialist, and sent us home. In previous experience, it takes weeks or months to see a specialist, but when Shelly called, they had an appointment for Friday morning in Wyoming, MN.
We watched, Shelly worried, and when Friday morning came, we really only had one question for the allergy specialist: “Do allergies make eyes misalign?” Answer: No. Then some additional allergy info, and we left, I took her to Target to buy her a teddy bear (and for once, I was hoping she’d pick the expensive one. She made a solid mid-range choice, and when asked his name a thousand times over the next two days always called him “Bear.”) Then we headed back home. On the way, we called the Pine City clinic once again, figuring we’d try to be seen by someone else, and lo and behold we got an appointment for 3:00 that afternoon.
As Violet and I sat in the waiting room and Shelly took Alice to be seen, the Doctor took one look at Alice and said, “I don’t know what this is.” He ordered some blood to be drawn for lab tests. A nurse came to get me, to help hold Alice while they drew blood. I sat holding her while two nurses worked on getting a needle in her arm. They had just got the needle in, (and I must say, Alice was amazingly calm, as she has been this whole ordeal) and they’d missed the vein and were trying to find it when the Dr. walked back in the room, told them to stop drawing blood, and pull the needle. Weird.
The nurses left, Shelly was off with Violet, and the Doctor said to me, “I called down to the Children’s hospital, and actually got a neurologist on the phone. He said bring her down. Take her to the ER, it’s Friday night, but we don’t want to wait until Monday. I’ll tell them you’re coming.”
So, we swung by the Dairy Queen to tell Natalie our plans, by the house to grab an overnight bag (how my wife manages to get all the essentials and miss nothing in a matter of 5 hyper-stressed minutes is beyond me), kiss the other kids good-bye, and headed down to Minneapolis.
Thank the Lord for friends and family who dropped everything to care for the kids over the next couple of days. We’ve not had a request denied us, no matter how inconvenient it’s been.
At the ER Alice went through a battery of little tests. Look at the light, follow my finger, push my hands, walk, jump, stand on one leg, etc. Shelly and I answered a zillion questions. They said her eyes weren’t technically crossed, and in a moment where no medical people were in our room, we said to each other that one of the Doctors had eyes that sort of matched hers. Probably this was nothing.
Little Alice, naturally shy, slowly warmed up to every one of the doctors and residents who came in and ran the same little tests with her. She must have followed fingers and looked at lights and touched this or that a thousand times. But at the end of a few hours, it sounded like they were sending us home.
But before they let us go, the ER Doctor made one more call to a neurologist, and when he returned from that call, his tone had changed. Now we were staying the night. She was going to get an MRI.
So they moved us “upstairs,” got us settled in, and over the course of that Friday night it felt like a million more “follow my finger, what’s your bear’s name, look at my nose, push on my hands,” and blood pressure readings.
Shelly had about had it when Alice didn’t finally get enough space to fall asleep until about midnight, only to be woke up again (which is no small feat for a sleeping Alice, as those who know her can testify!) to look at the light, squeeze fingers, etc.
The MRI happened about noon. Alice, exhausted, fell asleep long before they sedated her so she wouldn’t wiggle while in the machine. That was a long hour and a half, sitting in a waiting room, trying to eat, holding Violet, knowing nothing, while I mused aloud to Shelly that we might be just wasting everyone’s time and money. She assured me we were not, which was helpful but hardly comforting.
As we sat there, a voice that was trying to be calm but was clearly panicked came over the intercom: “Code 21, unit 1, code 21.” Was that Alice? What’s going on? I googled code 21, and actually got a sheet from the University hospital. Code 21 is a potentially explosive situation, apparently something like a volatile patient about to go ballistic. Well that wasn’t Alice. But it showed us how raw our nerves were.
Then the MRI was done, and we went back to sit with Alice as she woke up, very slowly, in her Alice way. Back to the room to wait.
After an hour or two, a young man walked into our room and introduced himself as a neurological resident. He asked us a few questions, said something about “showing us the pictures,” talked to Alice for a little bit, and then walked over to the computer. As he was taking us over to the other side of the room, he said, “They don’t call in a neurologist to deliver good news.” He said they’d found a tumor at the top of her brain stem. As he pulled up the scan of her head, I was looking at a little black dot wondering if that was it. He pointed to a massive white section, right in the middle of her brain. “This is the tumor. This white thing isn’t supposed to be here. This is not good. It’s basically inaccessible, we can’t get to it.”
Gulp. That thing was (and is still, at this point), gigantic. He talked us through the concept of lakes of fluid in the brain, and how the lakes drain down rivers, and this tumor is starting to make the rivers smaller. Then he explained how a child’s brain is so “plastic” and developing so rapidly, it learns to develop around the tumor, and function with it in there. But at some point, the brain can’t handle it anymore, and that’s when you start to notice some of the symptoms. These things usually show up by the time a child is Alice’s age.
He wasn’t hopeless, but he wasn’t hopeful. So far, I guess we can say the same for pretty much all the doctors we’ve talked with. The hospital’s brain tumor specialist came to see us on Sunday morning, which to me was a testament of the gravity of the situation, since I don’t think he typically works Sunday, and he talked to us a little bit about sending us home for a few days while they assembled a team to do a biopsy because, as he said, “I want to see this thing under my microscope,” ran some of the same little tests – follow my finger, look here, squeeze this, push that – and said to the team that followed him, (rather cryptically, to us) “I’ve seen what I needed to see,” and was gone. But we liked him, he’s the only one thus far to use the term “determine the path to recovery,” which still rang a little hollow but we hope he knows what he’s talking about.
An hour after he left, the hospital’s chief neurological surgeon came to see us, and said, “You won’t be needing us, as this is inoperable.” I asked “What’s the procedure for doing a biopsy?” I wanted to know how they get a needle in the middle of her brain to get the tissue. “Oh, we don’t do biopsies on this kind of tumor. This is a gliomic tumor. We only do that if we don’t know what it is, and we know what this one is.”
That was news to me. I told her the previous doctor said he wanted to do one. “Oh, I see. We haven’t talked and I thought I’d get here before him. Well, a biopsy will give us some specifics that may allow you to enroll in clinical trials and experimental treatments.” Hardly comforting terms.
I avoid googling medical things, but just because I wanted to try to get some idea of a prognosis and the doctors had (and thus far have) carefully avoided giving us one (which I don’t blame them for, as their information is still incomplete as I write), I checked out gliomic brain stem tumors. There are apparently two kinds, one is mean and nasty, and the other one is more docile and treatable. They only biopsy the docile kind. So I figure the neurosurgeon is convinced this is one of the mean ones.
One of the resident neurologists came back in our room a few hours later to talk with us again, and said that the brain tumor doctor had seen something just different enough in Alice’s tumor that he wanted to get another look at it. I think that’s hopeful. I asked her, “This feels hopeless, should we be hopeful?” She said, “I’d stick with hopeful. And enjoy her for…” and then she kind of rescued that train of thought somehow, but I’ll never remember how she did it.
My wife asked Pastor Ivan Fiske to come pray with us, and so on Sunday afternoon he did. Pastor Bob came from Lewis Lake an hour later, knelt by the bed, and wept. God bless those dear men. Shelly and I cry, a lot. But we are enjoying Alice. We are amazed by the outpouring of affection and love from all corners of our little world. It’s funny – we know God is sovereign, and if a sparrow doesn’t fall without Him knowing about it, Alice doesn’t have a tumor without Him knowing about it. But just when it seems like we should be angry with Him for not stopping it, or wonder why, of all people, it should be our Alice, we remember that He is our only real hope. So we look to the God who superintends tumors and say, “Oh God, help us trust your wisdom and grace.” I’ve often said the past few days, “Jesus loves the little children, but He loves them in strange ways.” That’s how I feel. But if I don’t understand the strange ways, I do understand He loves Alice, and He loves us.
Thursday is biopsy day. We still won’t have a prognosis for a couple of days while the pathologists do their thing. They are assembling the best they’ve got (and they’ve all been absolutely wonderful, and if I sound like I’m complaining, I’m not. There’s just not a lot of “glad game” left in me right now), which is a comfort and a concern. I wish Alice had the kind of problem the janitors could fix, rather than needing the best of the best, or the “A Team” as the resident neurologist called them.
So dear friends and family, that’s where we are and how we got there. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime if you wish to serve us, please do these two things:
Pray. Pray for Alice. She is oblivious to what’s going on, but “what’s going on” marches on nonetheless. We beg God all the time to let us keep our little girl. Please ask Him that for us too. But we pray that God’s will be done, and we cling to this promise: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us.” The future, barring an unusual Providential intervention, seems bleak. But who knows, God is God, and does as He pleases. May He please to be merciful to Alice, and to us, that we not have sorrow upon sorrow.
Pray for our other five children. These are perilous days for their souls. I’d far rather lose Alice for a few short years than lose one of my children for eternity because they turned their back on God, feeling that He’s turned His back on them. God save all my kids – now, but especially forever.
Cry. God is in this, and we are absolutely stunned at the tears shed in God’s presence for our little Alice. The tears of the men of God in particular are jewels adorning Alice’s life. If tears are stored in God’s bottle, it would seem he has a barrel full for those shed for Alice, and they are indeed precious. As one of the elders of our church stood in our driveway with tears streaming down his face, I thanked God to be surrounded by godly men with soft hearts. We know in this age of information there’s a zillion different cures for cancer, and the time will come for you to share those with us. But for now, we just need to cry and seek God’s face with you, and the time for those conversations will come later.
Comfort: We love hearing from our friends and family, and if you like, leave a note here on this page. We need you. We hope you understand that we can’t physically or emotionally respond to everyone, but your kind words and deeds are not unnoticed, indeed, they minister much grace and peace to our hearts. We thank you so much.
There is much more to say, and I’m sure I could have said what I did say in a better, more gracious way. But thank you for entering this trial with us. To the dear folks at Quamba who haven’t fully let us go yet, and the beloved saints at Lewis Lake who have embraced us as one of their own already, to our family and our friends, and to those of you we’ve never met but God has called you to our side to bear this burden with us, we are so grateful.
God help us.
joe and shelly, natalie, joe, emily, kylie, alice, and violet.
September 29, 2017 at 2:08 am
Hello dear brothers and sisters in Christ. A fellow home schooling friend posted Alice’s story on FB asking for prayer. As I read about Alice and your family tears are flowing. We serve a big, Soveriegn God who loves you all. My prayers are for physical healing for Alice, for peace and trust and faith building in all of you. I pray for rest. I pray for you & your kids and family to see the body of Christ surround you with love. I pray for God’s glory and plan to be revealed and I pray for many precious & happy moments come. My family and I will continue to pray for Alice and your family.
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September 29, 2017 at 2:21 am
I’m praying for Alice and your family.
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September 29, 2017 at 3:06 am
Prayers for Alice and for your family…
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September 29, 2017 at 4:12 am
Weeping with your family and praying for God’s healing and peace.
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September 29, 2017 at 4:27 am
Michele and I want to thank all of you so much for your prayers, your tears, and your comfort. It probably seems trite to say “we feel it,” but we really do. We are blown away by the compassion of our friends near and afar, and those we don’t know but hurt for us because they love us in Christ. It is good to be a child of God; for one, the siblings are AMAZING!
Alice had her biopsy today, and it went amazingly well. I’ll post that story if you care to read it. She’s sleeping peacefully here beside us, and we’re so happy tonight. God be praised, His mercies have been sufficient for the trial. Long road ahead for Alice, and it still may get very dark. But today was a win, and we’ll take it. Thank you for your part in it!
-Joe and Michele and Alice
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September 29, 2017 at 2:33 pm
I’m so sorry to hear this, I don’t know you at all but live in the area and seen your story on FB. I have studied nutrition a bit and listened to so many stories of cancer and my dad died from cancer a few years ago. I just want to encourage you to look into nutritional healing and especially if you are being told there isn’t much that can be done medically. One thing to look up is juicing and eating clean and then cutting out ALL sugar which is something tumors feed on. There are so ma my things to try nutritionally that encourage a body to heal itself and rid it of bad things that are attacking it. http://www.drrausway.com/case-studies/default.aspx
This is just one alternative medicine clinic. I just want to encourage you that there is more you can try! She is in my prayers, God bless you all!
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September 29, 2017 at 2:39 pm
I’ll be praying for your sweet Alice and your entire family through these challenging times. God bless you all.
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September 29, 2017 at 2:56 pm
As I read your email all the while I was putting myself right in your shoes, how can one be so strong when faced with this prognosis. And in the end we know that the only thing left to do is just give it to God. It’s not ours to have. He died for us, he died for Alice. And we sometimes hang on to things so tight we can’t let it go but I pray you can let it go and see what God can do. I pray for peace and comfort and I also pray for faith. Such a hard road a head of you but you know where that road leads. I pray for your journey you’re a walking testimony to Gods grace.
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September 29, 2017 at 3:28 pm
I’m a friend I
Of Lindsay Norman. I firmly believe in prayer. Standing with you as you pray, weep, rejoice, treasure the quick moments in the long days. Jesus hold you close.
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September 29, 2017 at 4:36 pm
Lord I ask that you Lay your healing hand on Alice. Let her be an example of your healing power in your name I pray. Be with her family and pour your power and wonders out for them to be front row witnesses to.
Amen
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September 30, 2017 at 1:29 am
Praying for Alice!! So sorry to hear that she is going through this, but yes, we serve a sovereign God.
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September 30, 2017 at 2:34 am
May God hold you close. My family to yours. Amen
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September 30, 2017 at 8:39 am
May the peace, which passes all understanding, be with you all.
Certainly I’ll pray for you and your little ones because I know what God can do and I believe in His miracles, and I’ll pray for the souls of the others your lives will touch.
May God bless you and keep you all.
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September 30, 2017 at 4:21 pm
I just finished my morning prayers when I looked at FB and tearfully read your post. I am a mother of 8 children and learned so much in regards to alternative approaches. I have helped people with Chronic Lyme ( that is what I suffered with) and also with Cancer!! Please look into EAR INSUFFLATION. None evasive. I have done Ozone therapy and it works. The Ozone through the ear will get to the Tumor. This is so safe!! It will oxygenate the blood ( Cancer can’t live an oxygenated environment). Also look into Lunasin from Reliv and Read ” Killing Cancer not People”
These options are life saving. Praying God will lead you, it sounds as if He already is +++
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September 30, 2017 at 6:58 pm
I don’t know you, but I’m praying for you from Oregon! God is good!
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September 30, 2017 at 7:47 pm
Friends of Lindsay Norman’s, standing with you in prayer from Prague, CZ.
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October 1, 2017 at 3:14 am
Mother of 6 here as well, praying for Alice and your family as well.
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” – Jeremiah 33:3
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October 2, 2017 at 3:23 am
We heard of Alice’s condition at church today. We are praying for you.
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October 4, 2017 at 1:14 am
God does indeed love children strangely. My boy is in heaven. That was how God loved him and me best. I pray He shows you and little Alice His best and strangest love.
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October 4, 2017 at 9:25 am
I am a minister. I pastored in Hopkins, MN for 24 years. I am in California now. But the gift I have been given by God led me to start a healing ministry many years ago (1995). I have traveled the globe. Preached on God’s healing and miracle grace and prayed for thousands of people. I am praying for Alice. For you all. God is a good God. He wants her whole and well. Sickness and disease came in with sin from Satan in the Garden of Eden. It is not God’s will or plan. I would be happy to send some teachings your way if I have an address. Please call me if you would like. 925-967-8867. I am on my knees for her.
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October 9, 2017 at 10:25 am
Ventura Baptist Church is praying for you from Holland, MI. We pray that God would be honored and glorified through this difficult time and that His healing grace would surpass all understanding. Our hearts and thoughts are with you.
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October 11, 2017 at 5:54 pm
Sherry Hackett has shared this with our church. I’m in tears for your family, but will do the most important thing I can – pray for all of you!
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October 18, 2017 at 12:09 pm
Hi Joe and Micheal, I would love for you to pray this over your daughters from me. I pray for Gods glory of healing to hover over Alice and your household right now. I declare that Alice arises and shines in her health – for healing to take place in her inner most being that the tumor/cancer on the brain dries up and comes to nothing now! I call for a healing glory that transforms and changes Alices health condition. I call heaven down on earth for a divine connection bringing life – a life that prospers and is full of good health. Christ lives in you Alice, so I declare you are a girl who carries victory! Praise you Lord! Psalm 118:17: Alice shall live, and declare the works of the Lord. Gods Word says He is a restorer of health ~ Praise you Lord – help Alice to experience your great miracle working power!!
I would be honored to come pray with you and your precious daughter! Valory
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October 20, 2017 at 10:32 am
Hi Joe, Shelly, Natalie, Joe, Emily, Kylie, Alice, and Violet. You don’t know me, but we have a friend in common and he shared your story with me for reasons that you’ll understand as you read this. First of all, we’ll be praying for you all, especially for little Alice. My heart breaks as I think about any child having to go through this, and no words will help, so we’ll just pray for her healing, and for comfort for your family as you endure this together.
We understand what you’re going through. I’ll make this short, as I just want to relay a short history so you’ll know why I say that we understand what you’re going through, because only a parent who has had a child in this type of situation can understand. Our daughter, Natalie, was born in June of 2012, she had been diagnosed with a heart defect during the pregnancy. She had her first open heart surgery at 2 weeks of age, and had two more in the next two years, along with over a dozen heart catheter procedures and countless other procedures and stays in the hospital. We spent time at the Amplatz Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis (now called Masonic), and out at Children’s Hospital in Boston. She passed away in Boston on October 2, 2014 at the age of 28 months while waiting on the heart transplant list.
Like you, we are people of faith. That faith was shaken to the core and tested, and we did have many questions that we finally realized will go unanswered until our time on earth is over. As it says in 1 Corinthians 13:9-10, “we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away”. I stopped trying to figure out the “why”, because there is no answer to that here on earth. I do know that one day we will hold our little girl again, and as sad as it makes us to not have her here with us, we are grateful that she is in a wonderful place, and that we know we will see her again one day.
I pray that little Alice will receive a miracle, and that you can have her with you for many many years. In our hospital stays with Natalie, we saw many miracles happen for children whose chances were supposedly non-existent. If you or anyone in your family ever need to talk to another parent, please know that we are willing to do so anytime, and also please know that we will be praying for you all. I provided a link to a website below, and our contact information is in there.
We are also starting a non-profit to help families of sick children. Once we have our status with the IRS established and the fund is fully operational (should be happening very soon), we would love to help your family. The website is http://littleredwagonfund.org/, we are not active quite yet, but will be soon.
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October 23, 2017 at 1:32 pm
Please know that your precious Alice and her family are in my every thought and prayers. My prayers are for peace and wisdom to seek whatever treatment that is offered to Alice and for a complete miraculous healing for Alice.
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October 23, 2017 at 2:35 pm
Praying for precious Alice! ❤ May God whisper His peace into your hearts. I will be faithful to pray. Rom. 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. “
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October 23, 2017 at 3:33 pm
Praying for Alice and your family. A friend of mine started Cannakids. Please look into them regarding how helpful cannabis oil is for children with cancer. The founder’s little girl has brain cancer and it has helped her a lot.
We will continue to lift you all in prayer.
Traci Chanaca
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October 23, 2017 at 8:33 pm
Praying for little Alice and your whole family ❤️
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October 23, 2017 at 10:10 pm
May God bless you all and heal Alice , praying for u all , it’s so hard to watch our children suffer and be sick ,
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November 5, 2017 at 7:31 pm
I’m praying for Alice. Believe that Jesus is with you. In our darkest times it’s hard to see, but our faith and trust guide us.
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December 2, 2017 at 12:17 pm
Praying for Alice and all who love her. The power of prayer is the greatest gift we have been given. May you all be surrounded in grace.
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December 8, 2017 at 8:49 am
Since hearing about Alice, I pray daily for her and your family. My heart aches for all of you but when I read your post here, it also fills me with great hope and strengthens my faith. Thank you. God bless you all!
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December 21, 2017 at 7:57 pm
Praying for you
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February 24, 2018 at 12:37 pm
I pray to God that your family does get better
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June 11, 2018 at 1:06 pm
Brother Reed, I’ve met you twice……though it was at “events” and I was but one of hundreds who were there. I’ve been praying for Alice, and of course for you, your wife and other children. My heart breaks for what had taken place….though I rejoice that Alice is truly having so wonderful that none of us can really understand it. I continue to hold you and your family up to the throne of our heavenly Father. I pray that Satan, though he will continue to try…..won’t be successful in destroying your faith, your marriage, your family, or your ministry. Satan will continue to try…..I encourage you to stay in God’s word…..to hold each other close…..and to pray together. Faith Baptist Church in Stacy MN has been praying for you, and we will continue to do so.
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