The LONG Overdue Update
I can’t believe it has been over a year since I finished chemotherapy treatments. So much has happened over the last year being cancer free! Here is the long overdue Walne family update:
On November 19, 2022, we finally met Tessa Jane Walne. This was a day we looked forward to all year as a very bright light of hope during a very dark season. This was a very different and special delivery. Kelsey and Tessa were both happy and healthy! Fast forward 10 months and Tessa has her first tooth, crawls and pulls herself up everywhere, and “usually” has a smile on her face as she is dragged around all over by her older siblings.
Karis completed preschool. She loves her friends and teachers. Her EQ (emotional intelligence) feels like it is off the charts for being a five year old. She started Tae Kwon Do in January and kindergarten in August.
Judah completed first grade. At the beginning of the year he was just learning to read small, simple words. In May, he read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien in its entirety. He loves math and reading and is really enjoying second grade. He also started Tae Kwon Do in January.
Kelsey took a little break from photography after Tessa was born. She is wrapping up a busy summer season and launching into a busy fall filled with more weddings, engagements, family portraits, senior pictures, and more. After 9 years, she decided to stop teaching therapeutic horseback riding lessons but she leads trainings and subs occasionally at the barn where she worked and where Nöffy, our horse, works as a therapy pony.
I (Derek) started a new job with Young Life this summer, after serving as the College Director at Ohio State for the past seven years. My new job title is Associate Regional Director of Greater Columbus Young Life. I have the privilege of leading, developing, and supervising the 26 staff in Greater Columbus who in turn lead and shepherd the 250+ volunteer leaders across the city. I am also responsible for increasing support for hard to fund areas. I still participate in my direct ministry on campus at Ohio State, albeit at a different capacity.
As far as my health, I am still cancer free! I will continue to go to the James every three months for bloodwork to make sure everything continues to look good. I enjoyed snowboarding in Park City, UT this past February, only six months after finishing treatment. That felt like a major milestone! I have started lifting weights and working out again. While I am very encouraged by all that I am able to do, it is still very humbling to start back over at zero in many ways. Good thing 37 year old Derek doesn’t have any body building plans as I am now bench pressing the same amount of weight as I did when I was first learning how to weight train at 14 years old.
We continue to be so grateful for all the ways we were loved, supported, prayed for, and carried through a very difficult season. We thank God for the abundance of blessings and the peace that passes understanding that we experienced because of what we went through. We truly believe that I am here because God still has work for me to do and so, we will continue to love and follow Him, putting our full trust in Him, till we are face-to-face with Him in Heaven.
There is no way we can ever thank you enough for all your prayers, letters, texts, calls, gift cards, hospital visits, yard work, and the million other ways we were loved on and cared for. Thank you.
With love,
- The Walnes
