Merry Christmas

Sarah is playing with her sisters this morning. I hope she does not crash like yesterday but it is still a blessing to see her have the strength to play around. Now we have the steroid attitude, but we will take that over sickness any day!

Sarah and Hannah wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas by watching a performance they were part of at our church last week. It starts at the 7 minute mark of the video.

God Bless and Merry Christmas, Jay

I Bring You Good News from Bent Tree on Vimeo.

Christmas Update

Thanks for your prayers for Sarah. The spinal tap went really smooth yesterday. Today has been hard for Sarah so please keep her in your prayers.

We hope that she feels better by Saturday so she can enjoy the Christmas weekend. This is the third year of battling this sickness and we are ready to have a normal Christmas. Two years ago she was sick in Hong Kong. We did not know it was Leukemia but she could not even sit up Christmas morning. Last year she was in the hospital with a mysterious virus. We left only a few days before Christmas. And this year we have a spinal tap a few days before Christmas and Sarah has stayed in her pajamas since returning home yesterday.

In all of this she is still so courageous. She still keeps her smile and somehow finds a way to be excited about everyone's presents. Tonight we were watching a movie and she looked at me and said, "Daddy, what did you do to mommy's stocking?" She could see it was filled today.

We try to remember that we celebrate the birth of a Savior who was totally inconvenienced by coming to earth to save us. His earthly parents had to live outside and Jesus was forced to be born in a stable. I am sure they wanted it easier, but God had other plans. We continue to want it easier, but does easier mean better?

I pray all of you have a Merry Christmas and continue to seek the King of Kings even in the hard times of life.

Turning 9!!

Tomorrow, the 14th, is Sarah's 9th Birthday! If you want to send Sarah a message you can email through the blog or send me or Anne an email.

When Sarah was diagnosed in January 2010, we were told of Sarah's two and a half years of treatment and the thought of Sarah being 9 when she finished seemed so far away. Through God's grace and mercy, we've made it to the point that seemed unreachable two years ago.

We still have until January 2015 before the doctors use the word "cured", but it is a blessing to know Sarah only has three more months of chemo. She was supposed to have a back procedure tomorrow, but her doctors were really good to allow her to postpone it a week. A back procedure on your birthday is not fun. :)

Please continue to keep Sarah in your prayers. Her back procedure is on the 21st at 8 am. Also, over the last few weeks Sarah has noticed her hair falling out. We are told this will not be like before when she went completely bald, but it does make Sarah nervous. So keep that in your prayers also.

Thank you for sharing the journey with us. Over the last few months, Anne and I hit a wall with writing on the blog, but we pray we are able to finish strong as we start 2012 and looking to the end of chemo on March 26th, 2012.
In the next couple of weeks, we will send you an update on potential plans for 2012 and beyond.

Blessings, Jay

Even this trial, even this one

Well, when Jay gets ready to go serve in Asia each time, there seems to be trials to go along with it. First, the baby gets a medium high fever, then Hannah and Rebekah get really high fevers, and then Hannah breaks out in a rash of tiny, red bumps all over her chest and sides. I think we are getting much better at dealing with such times though. Maybe this one was just Jesus showing us how he has grown us in this area time and time again- just for us to see and be encouraged by the peace we freely accept in the storm and how we now, therefore, do not overreact or get really discouraged. So, I am thankful for even this one.

Sarah is still having to deal with her cancer in many ways. There is always the physical aspect with feeling nauseous from chemo. Usually the daily chemo is ok, but the once a week 10-pill Methotrexate and the monthly IV Vincristine and spinal tap chemo make her feel worse. Steroids for five days out of every month make her feel aggravated and sad and give her hot, red cheeks - she is also very hungry!

As she gets older, the emotional side of having cancer is becoming harder to deal with. She is much more shy than pre-cancer and cries easily. She is nervous to meet people or go where new people will be since she looks so different than she did before - gaining weight from the steroids and having such short hair - not to mention the scars from a central line surgery in her neck and chest, port surgery in the other side of her chest, surgery to remove a tumor on her finger, and two biopsies on her leg when she had those huge mysterious red bumps. And she gets a rash now and then all over her face and ears which we think is from the chemo or steroids. She has had to learn coordination all over again, which is still a bit of a struggle, and she gets tired quickly.

She has always seemed older for her age, even from her toddler years. She used long complete sentences at age 1 and then just kept going up from there! She understood that Jesus died for her and that she wanted to live for Him at age 4. And just recently, I bought here a little dictionary and her eyes lit up as she took it to her room and started intently reading it and making notes in it, labeling pages to find them later! That Sarah just loves to know what is 'right and true' and doesn't hesitate to always share it with her sister - poor Hannah.

With all the gifts that have been given to Sarah during this past year, she is struggling with her desire to love as God wants her to and to not just think selfishly all the time. So many have served her for so long that she is now trying to cultivate a servants heart of her own.

Please pray for her as she looks to Jesus to help her grow in courage and character, to be able to have many moments of a carefree childhood, to embrace all the lessons and skills and abilities God has gifted her with in this process - as all of this is preparing her for the good works God has prepared in advance for her to do, for the great things He has purposed for her life.

Thank you for entering in to this journey with us. You truly bless us.

appointment on Wednesday

Sarah has her clinic and chemo appointment on Wednesday. The appointment is at 2:30 so please keep her in your prayers.

The last few times these appointments have even been rough on her so she gets tired and a little sick to her stomach. After Wednesday we will only have five more to go!!!

Also, there are many opportunities to give this fall toward children's cancer research. My prayer is that through giving to these organizations they keep developing new drugs that one day will eradicate the need for chemotherapy in blood cancers. In case you do not know a person to support for Light the Night which is part of Leukemia and Lymphoma society, you can give through one of our friends below.

http://pages.lightthenight.org/sf/SanFran11/vswamidass

a little pain but we are good

Thank you so much for your prayers. We all felt them during the back procedure yesterday. Sarah is experiencing more back pain than usual, but it is not as bad as the last procedure.

Also, below is a video of the flash mob that Sarah and Hannah participated in during church on Sunday. You can play the game, "Spot Sarah". A hint is she is in the back in a blue shirt. When the camera zooms toward the blue shirts you should see her face. Hannah on the other hand is very easy to find. The only hint I will give is she has a purple shirt on.

God Bless,

Bent Tree FX Live Flash Mob from Bent Tree on Vimeo.

Back procedure on Wednesday

Please keep Sarah in your prayers on Wednesday. She has a spinal tap to inject chemo and take fluid for testing. After her last spinal tap in June, she had really bad side effects and had to go to the hospital for a few days. We of course do not want that to happen again. It was very painful for her.

So pray that she does not have side effects and that we get through the day without any problems. After Wednesday, she will only have two more back procedures with one in December and March.

Thanks so much for sharing the burdens with us.