This is weird

This are x-rays of Chris's new titanium hip and femur. Pretty weird isn't it. Amazing how God has given doctors such wisdom and the ability to come up with things like this. In the first scan the knee is to the right, the titanium piece meets up with the bone and then a shaft goes into the bone.

In this scan you can see the new hip socket. The doctor felt it was a really good fit so we are thanking the Lord for that. We pray that it will never dislocate and be as if was Chris's natural bone.
Chris did make it the full day at school. He was pretty exhausted when he got home and took a long nap, but praise God that he was able to make it through the day. Still no word on the pathology, not sure what is taking so long. But God is in control and we just pray for great results.

Thanks and blessings, Dawn

Do not fear, for I am with you

Wonderful news! John's MRI was good, the doctor even said it looked better than last time. The whole MRI thing is sometimes confusing, I guess because doctors are trying to interpret something they really can't see. But all I know is that God is faithful and He has been over and over again proving that He is in control of this situation. It is hard, sometimes I do feel great fear that things will not be good. But God always comes through for us. A friend gave me this scripture today and it really spoke to my heart and calmed my nerves.

'So do not fear, for I am with you
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" Isaiah 41:10

Thanks Kathy for that scripture. God really used it to remind me of who He is.

Chris is slowly feeling better. It truly was a rough week for him, but he maintains his good attitude - he is so trusting of God and His hand on his life.

Thanks for the prayers. Blessings Dawn

This to shall pass

This is definitely one of those rough weeks. Chris began his Chemo again, which is hard because this is the hard chemo for him (makes him feel sick) and he is still trying to recover from the surgery, so it was a double whammy. But it is encouraging to know that each day puts us closer to Chris being finished. We trust the Lord for each day, and praise Him for His continued faithfulness over our family.

John goes down Friday for his MRI and to begin his Chemo also. Thanks for all your prayers for our family. We are able to endure because we know that your prayers are being answered.

Blessings, Dawn

Family Pictures

We had the most wonderful friend take pictures of our family. She did the best job I have seen of just capturing the various personalities of each one of us. If you would like to see the slide show she put together for us copy this link to your computer, it is kind of big so you can delete it after you see it.

http://championclan.com/files/champion-video.wmv

Taking each day at a time.

Well here we are again back at CBCC for Chris to start his Chemo again. It is hard to believe it is time again, but the sooner it is started the sooner it will be finished. Chris is doing very well, the physical therapy is slowly giving him more range of motion in his leg. The good thing is that the chairs at the CBCC are comfortable for his leg.

Yesterday he made it to church, which was a major step forward, getting Chris in and out of the car. It was wonderful to see all his friends coming up and spending time with him and just being with our church family who have prayed for and encouraged us so much. We are continually standing in awe of how God has walked with us through this time in our life.

Blessing to all. Dawn

Home Sweet Home

How wonderful it is to finally be home. We were able to leave the hospital yesterday afternoon. It was a very difficult process though. Chris being so tall did not fit well into a wheelchair with his leg, and so we used a gurney to get him down to the car. Then getting him in the van caused him a lot of pain. Finally got him in the car and were on the road when guess what? The I-5 was closed over the grapevine. We had to do the detour around which of course takes twice as long. We finally got home about 8:30. We were never so happy to see home. Thanks Tom for coming over and helping get Chris out of the car and into the house. You were such a blessing.

Chris slept great through the night on our recliner and is still asleep this morning. Physical Therapy is being arranged to begin at the house. Praise God for how well He has provided for us.

Thanks for your prayers. We are praying for quick recovery for Chris, quick healing, that he would be mobile soon. What a process this has been, but God has been our strength. Each day He keeps us and encourages us.

J & D

Making progress

Well it has been 4 days since the surgery. Chris is doing very well, yesterday he got up out of bed, and today he was able to not only get out of bed but move to the door and sit in a chair for about 20 minutes. It is still very painful for him, he does leg exercises every couple hours or so to get it loosened up and get the muscles working.

The surgeon stopped by and redid the bandages. He said he was very pleased with how everything looked, the fit for the hip is very good which he feels means there is a low chance of dislocation, which is one of the main overall concerns with this type of replacement. God is so good, His hand has been on all the details.

Yesterday some friends from Bakersfield came to visit which he greatly enjoyed. The gamecube came up with a friend so now he had all manner of entertainment. Tomorrow some other friends are coming to visit also. If you would like to check out Chris's take on everything check out his own website www.kooseefoo.com, remember to click the "read more" for the rest of the articles he has written.

Blessings, John and Dawn

Tired

Yesterday Chris was tired, I guess he as ever reason to be. He is in quite a bit of pain but is able to control it for the most part with the pain medication. He has his little friend, the button you push to give the medicine. You can push it every 8 minutes. The nurse came in a scolded him for pushing it to many times in between the 8 minutes, she said it was a comfort thing, Chris told her "no" it is a pain thing.

Chris looks good, his color is back and he still has his overall positive attitude. Tomorrow they will get him up. Not sure how that will work, it hurts him a lot to even slightly move his whole left leg. Ouch!!

Please pray for no infection, very important. His body healing quickly and that we would be a sweet fragrance for Christ.

Oh the good news so far also is that they did not have to give Chris blood. They though for sure they would, but so far have not had to.

Thanks for all who have called and for your prayers. Blessings, John and Dawn

What an awesome God!

Thanks to everyone for lifting Chris and our family up in pray. God is so awesome. Chris's surgery went very well. It was a long and difficult day, but we saw God do what He does best, give us peace in the midst of the storm. It took 6 hours, but the doctor came out and was very pleased with how the whole procedure went. They replaced the femur bone about 3/4 of the way including the hip socket, the doctor said it was one of the best hip socket fits he has ever done (thanks you Lord). He had to remove 1 1/2 of Chris's quad muscles, we thought it would be 2 of them. Also a spot that they thought might be a metastisis appeared to be clear, the Pathology will confirm. The margins were clear around around where the tumor had been. So now Chris has a titanium bone, they took an x-ray after the surgery and brought it to show us. Even in his pain Chris perked up to see it and of course immediately wanted a copy to post on myspace. John spent the night with him in the hospital and said he did well.

He is in a lot of pain and will be for several days, but we are praying for God to relieve that pain and specifically against any infection. That is one big prayer request, that the healing be smooth, and against any infection. He will not be able to move for 2 days and then they will start working on getting him up. That should be interesting.

Again thanks to everyone for your prayers. God is truly good!

Blessings, Dawn

Pray Warriors

Hi,

Chris's surgery is scheduled for 10am on Wednesday. We are so grateful for everyone who has and will be praying for him as he goes through this time. The surgery will last about 5 or so hours. We will post an update as soon as we can to let you know how he is and how God is sustaining him and us.

Blessings, The champion family

When a believing person prays...

When a believing person prays, great things happen. James 5:16 NCV

Mark records: "Four men arrived carrying a paralysed man on a mat. They couldn't get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above his head… they lowered the sick man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralysed man, My child, your sins are forgiven" (Mark 2:3-5 NLT).

The word prayer doesn't show up once in this paragraph. But look closely and you'll see it in action; four men lowering their sick friend through the roof into the presence of Jesus. He stops preaching, looks at the man and then announces, "My child, your sins are forgiven." What stirred Jesus? Mark answers, "Seeing their faith." The faith of four friends triggered Christ's power on his behalf. Notice, he has no movement, no treatment, no answers, and no hope. But what he does have is friends who know how to lift him into the presence of Christ. The paralytic might be gulping ("don't drop me!"). The homeowner might be groaning (de-roofing is decidedly antisocial). But Christ? He's smiling! Their faith stirs His strength. He heals the man. The paralytic leaves the house with a clean soul and strong body.

Faithful friends carry those they love in prayer, into God's presence. And when they do God responds. How? When? The four men didn't know. And we don't know either, but we know this: "When a believing person prays, great things happen." So be that kind of friend. Go ahead, carry your loved ones into the presence of Jesus, then watch what happens!

Proclaiming the mighty works of the Lord

Happy New Year!!

We would llke to invite you to hear John share the message at our Church, The Oaks Community Church, 10200 Campus Park, this Sunday, January 7th at 9:00 or 10:45am. John has felt God giving him a message to share for many months and now has the opportunity to do so. We are excited as we believe that God is going to use our currently trials to minister to others and encourage them that God truly is who He says He is and that He can do what He says He can do.

I love this quote that John will share as part of his message:
"Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends" ~ George Muller. Wow, this is confirmed by the scripture "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we can not see" Faith is so difficult to have built in us, it usually means being forced in some way to only trust God for what is impossible for us to accomplish on our own strength, but which He is more than able to do.

Hope to see you Sunday! Blessings

God gives life abundately

Well we have the date for Chris's surgery. It is set for January 10th down in the LA area. It is hard to really believe that he will be having this happen, but we trust God for his sovereign hand on Chris's life and if this is the path we must take then God will use it for His glory.


This week the Lord gave us the scripture from John 10:10,
"The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy, I came to that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance."
We will not let the enemy steal our joy, kill us or destroy our belief in God and his love for us.
Today in church the pastor read this scripture which was empowering.
Nehemiah 4:14 "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

We will not be afraid of the enemy, because our God is great and He is awesome and we are going to fight with the sword of God's word for our family. God has promises for us who believe and we claim them.

We pray that everyone has a very blessed New Year

The Christmas Break Begins

Today begins the Christmas break and we are all excited to be "free" for the next couple of weeks. Chris has finished the first 10 weeks of treatment, now he will have the surgery on his leg in a couple of weeks. He is feeling really good. Praise God. God has been so faithful to us, and we know that He will continue His healing over Chris and John's body.

What are we going to be doing over the break?? Nothing as of this morning. It is just nice to have Dan home and everyone together. The weather is foggy and it feels like Christmas. If you have been praying for and reading our blog I thank you. I know that God is blessing us because of the prayers of His saints. I pray that you are blessed and that you have an abundance of joy and peace during this Christmas season.

God is good and His love endures FOREVER!

Dan Shaves his head

So what do you think. Dan decided to join his brother and Dad and shave his hair off. Looks pretty good. Now we can see his pretty blue eyes.

Military Ball

Chris went to the Military Ball with a friend - Emily. They had a really fun time. Don't they look smart together?

Revelation

Today while waiting with Chris as he continued his Chemo treatments, I had a revelation from scripture. I want to write it just because it filled me with such joy.

In Matthew 21:18-22 Jesus has just rebuked the fig tree and it has withered and died. Jesus says the following: "If you have faith and do not doubt not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to the mountain, 'Go throw yourself into the sea' and it will be done. If you believe you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer"

I really felt like the Lord was showing me that like the fig tree we can rebuke the cancer and it will wither and die, and like the fig tree which would never again produce fruit, the cancer will never again reproduce, reappear, come back etc... in Chris or John's body. We are totally believing God for the cancer to wither and die and this scripture really gives me assurance of God's confirmation.
May you be encouraged also. We have great authority through our faith in the creator. Praise Him!! ~ Dawn

God of Hope

"May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" Romans 15:13

This scripture has truly sustained us for the last week. Our God is a God of Hope and we have hope in all his promises - and in his mighty strength which is more than able to fight for us. Last week John had a reaction to his chemotheraphy that was if nothing else a reminder that this is a spiritual battle and that our God is going to be victorious. He has recovered from the effects, and we are confident God's complete healing and total restoration. Chris has begun his Chemo again and although tired both physically and emotionally, he is doing well. He is going to the Military Ball this weekend with a friend who is in the ROTC, so we are praying he feels completely well so that they will have a great time. Dan is coming to Bakersfield on Thursday for a month. We are very excited to have him home with us.
Blessings ~ Dawn

Continued Faithfulness

Last Friday we went to LA for John's MRI, and praise God that there was no change. We are totally believing God at his word that he had already accomplished John's healing on the cross and are overjoyed when we see the reality of that in the physical. John is doing his Chemo treatment this week so please pray for little or no side effects. It generally makes his feel weak and tired by the fifth day, which will be Tuesday.

Chris is also on his second week of his chemo free break. He is getting caught up with school. He has had a cold with a persistant cough. But that seems to be going around right now. This week is the City parade that he plans to march in, which will be fun for him.

This weekend Chris and John will be going on our Men's retreat. We pray for them to have an awesome time there, and that God would invade their lives in a new and fresh way.

Thanks for all your prayers. Be Blessed!

Rejoice Emmanuel

What a wonderful Thanksgiving, we have so much to be grateful for. We want to acknowledge our awesome God and his faithfulness. This week Chris felt amazingly better than last time he went through the same treatment. What a joy to see how God has answered our prayers. It is truly "our" prayers, all the prayers known and unknown to our family that have been answered. Don't forget to click the song below, it will bless you.