Tomorrow marks a year from the Sunday we dedicated Judson and Jessie at our church.  We had planned the occasion weeks before the onset of Jud’s Krabbe, but the disease was well underway when we stood before the members of Grace that pivotal Sunday morning.  Though we did not know what was happening in Judson’s

I vividly remember a phone conversation I had with my friend Tracy precisely one year ago.  At the time, Drake and I had to wait a full weekend before we would be able to meet with the neurologist to discuss the results of Jud’s first MRI, but we also knew that our boy did not

Singing used to flow easily and sometimes unconsciously from my lips whenever I was listening to a song that had familiar lyrics or even in a time of community worship.  However, my journey over the last year has made me much more mindful of the words that glide off my tongue in song.  I want

Dear family and friends, Today, June 13th, has been etched in our minds as the date our affliction over Judson’s journey with Krabbe began. On that fateful Wednesday morning, we met with Judson’s pediatrician and the whirlwind picked up from there. I was told to take Judson immediately to the ophthalmologist, encouraged not to even

In our journey of grief and sorrow, we have regularly been “warned” that anniversaries can be far more difficult than the average day of loss.  I have frequently wondered what makes these days more challenging, seeing as the loss itself remains unchanged.  Why would these particular days be harder? I am beginning to understand. What

A year ago today marks my first day of skyrocketing fear for Judson’s well-being (see Altered Forever). Strangely, at the time, I did not fear for Judson’s life-that thought didn’t really even cross my mind; it was devastating enough just to imagine Jud might have a long-term disability. Here is my journal entry from June

We recently popped a new music CD in the car for Jessie.  It is a bunch of old-fashioned, poorly recorded, gospel music for kids…What can I say?!!!?  It was really cheap and Jessie’s not too picky! Our little “buggy” has a couple favorites on the album, but I found it curious that the song she

This song, “Hard to Get,” by Rich Mullins, is one I had heard many times before Jud got ill and died, but since Sarah recently reminded me of it, I have listened with new ears…ears that relate to the lyrics with a deep, gut-wrenching solidarity. This is a gritty song of raw, vulnerable, genuine, honest,