Avry Jo’s slideshow
In support of
#miraclesforAvryJo
View Support Registry
#miraclesforAvryJo
One week ago, we celebrated Avry Jo ringing the bell—signifying the end of cancer treatment.
CANCER FREE. 🎗️🙌Today, I wanted to share the slideshow we created for her—a glimpse into the hospital stays, treatments, procedures, and countless moments that made up the past 18 months. As you watch, notice her smile.Notice her light.Children are incredibly resilient—but we also wrapped her in positivity on purpose. There were days when Jake or I had to tell the other, “Go take a walk, and don't come back into this room until you can bring life and hope with you.” Not because we weren't allowed to feel afraid, exhausted, angry, or heartbroken. We felt all of it. But Avry was watching us. She was borrowing our courage, reading our faces, and looking to us to know whether she was safe. So we cried in hallways, elevators, bathrooms, and parking garages—and then we walked back into her room determined to protect her light. And somehow, through every needle, surgery, transplant, fever, medication, and long hospital night, she kept shining. Dr. Cohn, one of her transplant doctors, wrote in her card:“Avry Jo, you're my hero.Ours too, Dr. Cohn. Ours too. 💗
There's so much to unpack from the past two weeks, so I'm going to just intentionally take time every couple of days to write. I want to share all the details of our beautiful and emotionally charged week and it's taking time to unpack.
And now, as we sit with the fullness of this moment, we are overwhelmed in a way words cannot hold. We have begun going through the stack of mail—over 100 cards already—and we are undone. Strangers from 38 different countries. Cards, letters, prayers, sunshine boxes, DoorDashes, flights, Zoom prayers, texts, gifts, and the most tender acts of kindness we never could have imagined. We don't even know how to say “thank you” in a way that feels worthy of what we've received. It feels too small. It doesn't reach the depth of what we feel in our hearts. But more than gratitude for support, we are in awe of God's faithfulness through His people. You have shown us Jesus. In every card-In every meal left at a hospital door.In every prayer spoken across oceans.In every child's drawing, every Sunday school offering, every Bible school gift, every private school and church that gave from what little or much they had.In every message that said, “We are with you.” It has felt like heaven stooping low—washing our tired, dusty feet through the love of strangers. We never imagined we would be held like this by the global body of Christ. And yet here we are.
CANCER FREE. 🎗️🙌Today, I wanted to share the slideshow we created for her—a glimpse into the hospital stays, treatments, procedures, and countless moments that made up the past 18 months. As you watch, notice her smile.Notice her light.Children are incredibly resilient—but we also wrapped her in positivity on purpose. There were days when Jake or I had to tell the other, “Go take a walk, and don't come back into this room until you can bring life and hope with you.” Not because we weren't allowed to feel afraid, exhausted, angry, or heartbroken. We felt all of it. But Avry was watching us. She was borrowing our courage, reading our faces, and looking to us to know whether she was safe. So we cried in hallways, elevators, bathrooms, and parking garages—and then we walked back into her room determined to protect her light. And somehow, through every needle, surgery, transplant, fever, medication, and long hospital night, she kept shining. Dr. Cohn, one of her transplant doctors, wrote in her card:“Avry Jo, you're my hero.Ours too, Dr. Cohn. Ours too. 💗
There's so much to unpack from the past two weeks, so I'm going to just intentionally take time every couple of days to write. I want to share all the details of our beautiful and emotionally charged week and it's taking time to unpack.
And now, as we sit with the fullness of this moment, we are overwhelmed in a way words cannot hold. We have begun going through the stack of mail—over 100 cards already—and we are undone. Strangers from 38 different countries. Cards, letters, prayers, sunshine boxes, DoorDashes, flights, Zoom prayers, texts, gifts, and the most tender acts of kindness we never could have imagined. We don't even know how to say “thank you” in a way that feels worthy of what we've received. It feels too small. It doesn't reach the depth of what we feel in our hearts. But more than gratitude for support, we are in awe of God's faithfulness through His people. You have shown us Jesus. In every card-In every meal left at a hospital door.In every prayer spoken across oceans.In every child's drawing, every Sunday school offering, every Bible school gift, every private school and church that gave from what little or much they had.In every message that said, “We are with you.” It has felt like heaven stooping low—washing our tired, dusty feet through the love of strangers. We never imagined we would be held like this by the global body of Christ. And yet here we are.
Held.Carried.Prayed over.
We are not the center of this story. We never have been. This has always been about God's sovereignty in the fire—His nearness in the valley, His mercy in the midnight hours, His faithfulness in every breath we were given to keep going. If we have shared anything, it has only been because we asked Him to take it all—our story, our pain, our daughter's life—and use it however He would to draw hearts closer to Him.
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the glory.”
If we had to walk through this valley, it is only by His grace that anything good could be seen within it. Our goal for this platform has always been not to just consume the details, but rather that lives would be changed. That if we have to go through this valley that we would be an instrument of peace.That the heartbreaks would cause each of us to take a closer look within, and that this horrific journey and the suffering of our sweet girl would call us higher,push us closer to who we were each created to be on this earth. It's surreal to be on this side of it and have so many testimonies of you allowing the sufferings and the pain to do just that. There could be no greater way to love us or to celebrate this miracle than to allow God to use Avry's story to change your life. That He would be honored and glorified—not because of the pain and suffering, but through it—has always been our deepest prayer. A prayer that we have prayed for years in our Home and we still pray today:
Prayer of Saint Francis:Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.Where there is hatred, let me sow love;where there is injury, pardon;where there is doubt, faith;where there is despair, hope;where there is darkness, light;and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seekto be consoled as to console;to be understood as to understand;to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive;it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.Amen.
-our story for His glory
Ps. There are probably a hundred churches/ schools/Sunday schools around the globe that have sent us their offerings. We just want to again express our gratitude. In the absolute whirlwind of the past year and a half, I wish I could say I had sent a Personal 'Thank you'. Please know your support has meant so much and we ask God to bless you for your love!
Comments
Bonnie Michelman 3 days ago
Debbie Linthicum 3 days ago