At home

Sarah arrived home last night around 7. She still had back pain, but the fever never came back after the 1st day in the hospital.

The best we can tell is that Sarah's sickness was not connected to Hannah's virus. It looks like Sarah just had a rough time with the back procedure and some phlegm worked its way into her lungs even with them suctioning out her throat while she was asleep during the procedure. The pain she was experiencing was from the needle going into her spine. She still has some swelling but she is able to walk around much better. We really don't know why this one was so different. We can't count how many procedures Sarah has endured over the past year and a half and she never had this many problems. It is a hard reminder that you never are able to relax while enduring chemo. She is on some extra antibiotics for a while and some pain meds for her hips, back and headaches. We still aren't quite sure of all that is going on inside her little body.

Now, we have to quickly forget the past week. After arriving from Colorado on Saturday, I was looking forward to a quiet week at home before my trip on Monday. Instead, our home airconditioner went out on Monday when it was 102 outside, and we had to spend the night at a hotel since it was too late to get it fixed. Then Sarah stayed in the hospital for two days while Anne had to take Hannah (twice) and Rebekah(once) to the doctor. Even with all of this, God gave us the endurance to persevere. Last night, the girls wanted to give me my Father's Day cards so I would have a few days to enjoy them before I leave. As Sarah, Hannah and Rebekah walked up to me (I was holding Deborah), I was overwhelmed with the love of my heavenly Father. With trials like this week, it reminds me the incredible blessing it is to be a father. The brokenness of my heart increases each time I see Sarah suffer. The beauty of it is that brokenness is not allowing anger or resentment to dominate my mind/attitude, but instead the brokenness is causing me to be a dad who loves his children more richly and humbly. Of course, I am not perfect, but the fact I can see progress in my life gives me such joy to know the Spirit is molding me into the image of Jesus, and I thank Him for it.

Good Spinal Tap / But now inpatient

Thank you for all your prayers. Sarah was in the best mood ever during her clinic visit and spinal take and IV chemo yesterday. Everyone went great and we were home before lunch. But then Sarah started having bone pain and shortness of breath with a 103.5 fever. So we went back to the clinic and since her fever and pain weren't going away, she was admitted to the hospital. Sarah is feeling better now with pain meds, and she loves being inpatient (a little too much). The doctor said we aren't going home today though.

Hannah has been sick since the weekend and her doctor said it was a possible strep so she is on antibiotics. But Hannah is still spiking fevers and not getting better. And Rebekah is getting a bit of a fever now too, so I am taking them both back to the pediatrician today.

Jay leaves Monday for Asia, so we are praying that he miraculously will not get sick or take any of these sicknesses with him!

We hope to get some more exciting pictures up soon from our week in Colorado, but it might take a little longer than expected.

Blessings,

From the Mountain Top to Reality

We had a wonderful time at the Young Life family camp at Trail West. The not so good part is reality comes back to us way too fast. Sarah has a back procedure, spinal tap, in the morning. We ask that you keep her in your prayers from 8-12 central standard time. Her recovery is slower and slower after these spinal taps so she is starting to really count down, three more after tomorrow!!

Anne will write and post more fun pictures from the camp later in the week.

Treatment update and prayer

Tomorrow Sarah has her monthly chemo infusion, her bimonthly blood work, and her monthly follow-up with the doctor. Each time it comes around Sarah is a bit nervous and a little down, and her body takes longer to recover the longer that she is on chemo (and it has been 16 months now). Please pray for her emotionally and physically and that she would continue trusting in Jesus through this big trial.

Here is a picture of our whole family at the Wish Night Ball. Also, here is the link for the video of the performance if you can't view the one in the last post.

http://www.4shared.com/video/_roKsRNR/wish_night_2011.html

Wish Night Performance

The kids you see performing have a life threatening illness or they have a sibling who has a life threatening illness. Hope you enjoy!

http://www.4shared.com/video/_roKsRNR/wish_night_2011.html

Wish Night and Game ball

It looks like we are on schedule for monthly reports! I believe this is good news because it means we are just doing life together without any drama from Sarah's sickness. Below are a few updates from the month:
1. Sarah's blood counts have continued to be where the doctors want. Her ANC is in the low range(where it is supposed to be), and even liver enzymes have been in acceptable ranges for a few months. This is a huge praise, and thank you for your prayers.
2. May has been filled with many events. I posted a few pictures for you see:
a. Sarah received the game ball in her last game of the season. She did so good all year and we are so proud of her courage to play even though there were a few games she did not feel 100%.
b. We participated in "Wish Night" for Make-a-Wish Foundation of North Texas. Sarah and Hannah were among the group of Wish kids that performed for over 1400 people at the banquet. The theme was Sweet Things and they were in three of the dance numbers. Sarah and Hannah(the other two lost the battle early on) were able to stay up until midnight and eat the famous "midnight breakfast buffet" along with watching the live auction. As you can see from the picture, Sarah had an art piece auctioned off. I believe the final/winning bid was $66. The funny story is Sarah's Wish Volunteer was bidding and promised Sarah that she would win! During the night Anne and I were sitting and talking and Sarah comes running up very upset. She says,"Another lady has bid on my painting!!" Well the other lady overheard Hannah saying to Sarah that it was sad that more people had not bid on her painting so this lady started a bidding war. So we are sorry Tony that Hannah made you pay more, but thank you for your perseverance in winning the bid! :)

Anne sends her love and gratitude for your prayers. She has been full speed with all of her many tasks of home, kids and schooling. Deborah is growing fast and will be two months old next week. Wow, I can't believe she is already two months old!

For June we will update you with our trip to family camp in Colorado. A wonderful lady has raised donations and reserved the camp and is sending 35 families that have kids with cancer to YoungLife family camp for one week. God is truly amazing how he continues to bring exciting things into our lives just when we need refreshing as a family.

Snacks for Kids and other tidbits

With Deborah Faith joining our family it has put us a little behind in blogging so I will give you a quick update.

1. Snack for Kids: As you can see from our picture, this is one of our snack runs to the clinic. Rebekah is helping us on this particular day. Thanks so much for everyone who has given. I wished I could have taken a picture of the teenage girl, who was in the clinic for treatments, when we walked into the office with our stroller full of snacks. To bring a little smile on a hard day is a wonderful experience.

2. Sarah is playing softball! Her team's, Comets, "funny" picture shows her having fun with her teammates. She is doing so good. Thanks to our world class physical therapist, Ellen, she is able to run with the other kids. The last two games she has doubled three times and scored each time. Again she has amazed me with her courage. To get back out and play a sport after the last year of having to relearn to run and regain her mobility shows so much about her character.

3. Lil Wrangler Event. Wow what a difference a year makes. If you look back to the pictures in April of 2010, you will see Sarah without hair and she looked sick. Now, you could hardly tell she is still taking Chemo.

Please continue to keep Sarah in your prayers. Recently, we had to go to a dermatologist because Sarah has developed a rash on her face. Unfortunately there is not much we can do as long as she is taking her monthly steroids. For the next year, we have to keep cleaning and most of all praying that it does not leave any scars on her cheeks.

We pray everyone has an wonderful Easter and rejoice that our Lord has Risen!

Jay