Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

That is what Paul writes at the end of his letter to the churches in Galatia.

It is such a small command on which summarizes part of what Christ came to do here on earth.

It is such a big command that I had been neglecting to realize the full impact of his words.

Until we needed others to bear our burden.

And I am utterly humbled by the kindness and thoughtfulness and compassion of others.

The seemingly small gestures that mean the world to us.

The consistent larger efforts that we will never be able to repay or adequately express our gratitude because saying "thank you" really does not begin to encompass how we truly feel.

And it vividly reminds us of what Christ bore on the cross...that which we can never repay.

Family and old friends who have been here at the drop of a phone call or flown out to check on us or send us messages..."I am thinking about you."

New friends who have brought dinner or flowers or treats for the kids.

We have received the most pleasant of surprises in the mail as well as on our phones.

And so so so many prayers.

We can't help but be humble.

Because it makes you realize how much you want to do for others when you get on the other side of your own mountain.

It makes you realize how much you have been living in your own comfort bubble and just not doing enough to bear someone else's burden.

It's a soul searching reality that makes you look at every stranger and wonder what they are going through and silently pray for them as you pass them.

And then you just want to thank God.

Update on Colby:

We have had a busy week.

Colby had a spinal tap last week to see if there were any cancer cells in his spinal cord. The tap showed that there were none (whoot whoot--answered prayer).

Then we headed to Duke on Sunday for a consultation Monday morning with the oncologist and stem cell transplant team. We had decided to do proton radiation therapy at Mass General Hospital in Boston but were unsure as to which chemotherapy regime to choose from the two options we were given. After meeting the Duke team, we decided to do high dose chemotherapy for four months at Duke Children's Hospital. The doses are so high that Colby will need to have some of his stem cells removed, frozen and then retransplanted after each chemo cycle.

We headed out to Boston on Tuesday to do three days of pre-radiation appointments and tests. We have already decided to eat our way through Boston (more on that later...).

He will be back at Duke to go through pheresis to remove his stem cells next week before he begins radiation in Boston on October 27th.

thoughts on thoughtfulness

absence

resilient