update on jim... jason... (& the rest of us)

March 13, 2002

Maureen,

Thank you (and your family) for sharing! It certainly made me cry! (both of

them) You all are very blessed! When I get stressed out about my brother

being my donor I have to remind myself that God is in charge and if we pray

EVERY step of the way, it will all work to His liking. I printed this out as

my reminder!

We will be praying for all of you (including 's wife) :-)

Bless you,

March 13, 2002

Maureen,

Thank you (and your family) for sharing! It certainly made me cry! (both of

them) You all are very blessed! When I get stressed out about my brother

being my donor I have to remind myself that God is in charge and if we pray

EVERY step of the way, it will all work to His liking. I printed this out as

my reminder!

We will be praying for all of you (including 's wife) :-)

Bless you,

March 13, 2002

Maureen,

Thank you (and your family) for sharing! It certainly made me cry! (both of

them) You all are very blessed! When I get stressed out about my brother

being my donor I have to remind myself that God is in charge and if we pray

EVERY step of the way, it will all work to His liking. I printed this out as

my reminder!

We will be praying for all of you (including 's wife) :-)

Bless you,

March 13, 2002

for those who relish good news... here's our news from the home front: we

had a sweet, toned-down celebration of jim and jason's 3-month anniversary

of their december 7th LDLT (this means i fixed a chicken and rice dinner and

lemon squares for dessert, then we all watched some tv).

jim sent the following e-mail to jason at work, copied to me (and has agreed

to share with you):

" Hi ,

Well guess what happened 3 months ago, on December 7th? You woke up that

morning not sure of how you would physically feel later on that day, but

sure of the decision you had made. And if it wasn't for you I'm not sure

how I would have felt today. But this I know you gave me a very special

gift that not only I can enjoy but something I need to pass on to others by

being able to be. I now have so many opportunities ahead of me because of

your gift. Thank you....! it is hard to express how grateful I am for the

chance to just " be. " Stay strong in Him, and all blessings will come your

way. Thank you again, .

Love, Dad (the " 35-year-old man " )

P.S. And to my wonderful wife and the girls in the " support staff, " I can

say and I would NOT have made it if it wasn't for you and your

constant support. Thank you, from the boys. "

to this, jason replied in kind (sent to me, and also agreed to share... i've

read it several times... and i just can't read it without wanting to cry):

" Hi Dad,

So, you made it to the 3 month mark, March 7th! I knew you would! I am as

proud of you as you are of me. And as far as my decision goes - the ONLY

decision I made was to trust in Jesus and follow his teachings. I was simply

a tool being used to glorify God. Actually, I have you and mom to thank, for

raising me to be who I am.

I always knew we were close, and I never thought we could be any closer,

but after what we went through, we are! You are not only my father - you are

also my friend. And you are definitely my hero.

I love you,

"

to continue the update, jason continues to do GREAT... he's happily making

plans with his church to go down to a sister church/orphanage in mexico and

minister there over Easter week... he and i recently spoke at a (local

private Christian school) 4th-8th grade mid-week chapel service about the

whole LDLT experience, with a focus on the power of prayer... a 4th grade

there (taught by my best friend) " adopted " us and prayed for us daily, some

days writing notes of encouragement to us... other days, asking their

teacher " if they could please get on their knees to pray for the two mister

whites " ...so jason was more than happy to play hookey from his computer

programming job for a couple hours to play " show and tell " in person. the

kids all thought his backwards, L-shaped scar, railroad-tracked with dotted

scars from 19 staples... not to mention the single scar from the site of the

jackson-pratt suction tubing... was all WAY cool :-) when jason left the

school to go back to work, i lagged behind a few minutes to ask this

wonderful classroom of boys and girls to please continue to pray for jason,

for God to give jason the desire of his heart someday... a wife. no WAY was

i going to share that prayer request in front of my son! :-)

we're still waiting to hear word from the two colleges to which jillian was

able to apply (in the midst of all the displaced final exams and LDLT

hubbub)... jessica has completed her senior project and is now awaiting

responses to her resume/applications for summer internship (a condition for

her graduating from her college this june)... and USC called yesterday with

another excellent report on jim's blood: they have decreased jim's daily

prednisone down to 7.5mg. his pre-tx bilirubin of 15.5 is now down to .2!

i don't think it's EVER been that low his whole life! needless to say, USC

is thrilled.

the " man-who-loves-to-putter " is now back at work 3X a week, enjoying it

there because it gives him a different focus... and on his off days, he is

now in the midst of remodeling the girls' bathroom which over the years

became overrun with mildew. i am VERY allergic to this room, it exacerbates

my asthma terribly... and jim (the man who hates to outsource a puttering

job) has moved from the successful remodeling of " his garage " to removing

the bathroom wallpaper, he has bleached out all the mildew (it was literally

everywhere... UGH), and plans are in the works for yanking out the linoleum,

putting down tile, paneling the walls 36 " high with beadboard, and fresh

paint (hopefully impervious to mildew) throughout. THAT should keep him

busy for a couple weeks!

and me? the ankle with the mending ligaments gets " tweaky, " but at least i

don't need pain medication anymore... and i only have to use a cane once in

a blue moon!

much love to all of you from the (california) white house,

maureen

March 13, 2002

Maureen that is all so wonderful. 's letter to

his Dad gave me goosebumps. You have much to be proud

about. Congratulations - it was a long haul be what a

great sucess story and encourgement for us all.

Peg

__________________________________________________

March 13, 2002

Maureen,

Thank you for sharing the 3 month anniversary news and letters. I'm sure you

can count on those 4th graders to help with your wish as you can from our

group. May you and Jim be blessed with a super daughter-in-law and little

s/Jasmines some day. I remember a little neighbor lady, Lil Vokaty that

prayed for me daily as she did for everyone. It was a joy for me to do her

yard work or any other chore that needed to be done. I even painted her home

for her. She lived to the ripe age of 103 and I must give her credit for the

wonderful family I have. Good will begets kindness. She was so kind and

thoughtful. Iowa Mike

--- Maureen White wrote:

when jason left the

> school to go back to work, i lagged behind a few minutes to ask this

> wonderful classroom of boys and girls to please continue to pray for jason,

> for God to give jason the desire of his heart someday... a wife. no WAY was

> i going to share that prayer request in front of my son! :-)

__________________________________________________

March 13, 2002