Eliza update 1/31

Dear family and friends,

Thank you to so many of you who made Eliza's birthday
such a joyous celebration! One person commented that
it's a rare one-year-old's birthday party that's a
moving occasion--and it's a rare one-year-old who has
two hundred people at her party! Saturday was
certainly a day that we'll never forget, and we're so
grateful to all of you who joined us in the
celebration.

For those of you who missed the party, I'm sorting and
compiling photos to post to her online album (link
below; stay tuned). What I have already managed to
upload is the video slideshow Sam created for the
party; you can find a link to it in her blog or go to
it directly: http://www.vimeo.com/clip:133925.

Get
your tissues ready before you click!

In my Bible study today, we were discussing the
passages in Luke detailing the beginning of Jesus'
ministry, specifically some of the first miracles he
performed. In our conversation, someone wondered
aloud at what it must have felt like NOT to have been
healed by Jesus. Obviously, he didn't heal everyone
who came to him or everyone who believed in him. In
fact, in Luke 4:40-42 we're told that Jesus spent an
entire night healing people, but at daybreak he said,
"I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to
the other towns also, because that is why I was sent"
(vs. 43). How did the people who were still waiting
for Jesus that morning feel to be turned away? How
would the leper have felt if, when he fell on his face
at Jesus' feet and begged for healing, Jesus had said
he wasn't willing?

It occurred to me that we do have some sense of how
that must have felt. For a year now we have fallen at
Jesus' feet and begged for Eliza to be healed...and
thus far she hasn't been. But verse 43 tells us that
Jesus was not sent to heal; he was sent to preach the
good news, and insofar as he could do that through
healing, he did. But we are certain that through
Eliza's illness the good news has been preached much
more than it could have been through her healing. Her
purpose, as ours, is to spread the good news, and
through her illness, Eliza has managed to do that
countless times more than most healthy people can ever
hope to.

We do not serve a God who desires His glory at our
expense. Despite Eliza's extreme limitations, she is
comfortable. She smiles. She enjoys our presence.
And, as for us, reflecting over the past year has made
us all the more appreciative of her presence in our
home, completing our family. Our fullest joy resides
in the eternal hope of the good news that Jesus
preached, but we have plenty of happiness in these
fleeting days. Just ask Luke!

Love,
Daniele, Sam, Luke, and Eliza

Eliza's birthday!

Dear family and friends,

Please bring your family and friends and join us for Eliza's birthday party; we've made sure we'll have lots of space because we want ALL of Eliza's friends, new and old, to celebrate this exciting day with us. The party will be on Saturday, January 27, from 10:30am-12noon at the Trinity School gymnasium (4011 Pickett Road, Durham 27705). Please share this invitation with anyone with whom you've been sharing Eliza's story: family, friends, coworkers, church members...we'd love to celebrate with all of you!

Please join us! There's no need to RSVP, but feel free to email with questions: shdbjackson@yahoo.com.

In addition, we plan to make a scrapbook for Eliza commemorating her birthday; if you'd like to contribute, please use any 8 1/2 x 11" paper and bring it with you to the party. Many of you have shared with us that Eliza has touched your lives in significant ways; it would be a wonderful gift to us for you to share those stories on your scrapbook page.

We look forward to celebrating with you!

Love,
Sam, Daniele, Luke, and Eliza

Eliza update 1/4/2007

Dear family and friends,

Over the past month, I have been reflecting on the
famous promise from the prophet Isaiah: "The people
walking in darkness have seen a great light." I
consider that description an accurate one for us.
There is so much darkness, darkness that we plod
through day by day, but there's a lot more light. I
see the truth of this in innumerable expressions of
love from you who read and respond to this email.
Your tears, your frustration, your anger, your
compassion, which well up into various tangible gifts
as well, testify to the Light.

I would be remiss if I didn't give you some hint of
God's faithfulness in material things. A few
examples: The "Eliza Fund," set up at Trinity School
and administered by a dear and faithful servant there,
continues to cover all medical expenses with a
substantial balance to spare. A rec-league soccer
team donates a generous gift card to a local mall,
just in time for the holidays. A 4th-grade class
presents poetry and a hand-made prayer blanket to our
family. Unexpected, unsolicited, 100-dollar bills
appear from parking garage attendants and beloved
relatives. And, just before our departure for the
Christmas holiday, when, despite the glorious weight
of this evidence, we were feeling utterly forsaken and
abandoned, an anonymous Santa and elf knock at our
door.

There was a stocking for Luke with perfectly
appropriate contents and a stack of hershey's goodies
for mom and dad (also just right). This was enough to
change our mood. What remained, however, shamed and
exalted us. A stack of 100-dollar bills and a package
of gift certificates: a pool membership, a gym
membership, dinner with professional babysitting,
basketball tickets, to name only a few. All of this
was entirely anonymous, with a simple note pointing us
to Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for
you, declares the Lord,...to give you hope and a
future." Some would claim coincidence, but could we
not rightly exclaim with David in Psalm 145: "The Lord
upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are
bowed down"?

With tears of awe and gratitude (and a little bit of
that magical Christmas-morning feeling lost somewhere
with our childhood), with no idea whom to thank or how
to begin to do so, suddenly our sense of the
overwhelming challenges of travelling twelve hours in
the car with Luke and Eliza, our anticipation of so
much busy-ness and little rest once we reached our
destination was overcome by this awesome reminder of
the joy of Christmas: the love Santa showed for us
reminded us to reflect once again on God's perfect
love and care for us. And indeed he did care for us
on that trip; Eliza travelled and visited and smiled
through it all better than we could ever have
expected, delighting so many family members and
friends who were meeting her for the first time.
Thank you for your prayers.

When I look at Eliza, I see terrible, and often
terrifying, darkness. Frequent seizures torment her
helpless body, literally shaking and contorting her
limbs and facial features. The cause of the problem
remains unknown; it has defied the best attempts at
diagnosis of a host of dedicated doctors from a wide
range of fields. In the face of this monstrous and
nameless disease, I sometimes want to cry out in
defiance: "Pick on someone your own size, you cowardly
dark force!" What parent, or even grown-up, has not
had some similar reaction to a child's pain? And yet,
what an absurd taunt! Adam and Eve picked a fight
that no human can win. All of us labor under a
darkness that Adam and Eve chose and we continue to
choose. It permeates our lives and relationships. We
are as helpless as Eliza to overcome it. But thanks
be to God. The season of Christmas celebrates that
Help has come to all who will receive Jesus Christ.
He has picked and won the fight that confronts us all.
In the fullness of time, the victory will be
complete. His kingdom will come. Do not ignore the
signs of darkness in your life, let them provoke you
to seek the Light.

"Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose
hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps
faith forever, who executes jusice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry." Psalm 146:5-7

Note: The photo for the Christmas card that never
happened was to have been attached to this email.
Various episodes of technological failure, illness,
and just plain poor timing conspired to thwart all of
Daniele's diligent attempts to get a festive photo of
Luke and Eliza...we'll get to work on a New Year's
photo instead. Stay tuned!

Love,
DixieJax

PS As for a medical update, Eliza is now completely
off oxygen, monitoring, and all meds except her
sedative and two reflux medications. She's sleeping
well despite many seizures and seems very comfortable.
Though she vomits frequently with her seizures, she
doesn't seem bothered, and she tolerates physical
therapy, baths, doctor appointments, and lots of
kisses from Luke without a complaint and with a few
smiles to boot.

PPS Santa(s), we're pretty sure you're out there
reading this email: thank you. You gave us a gift
much bigger and more meaningful than you could ever
imagine.