Happy Wednesday

Thank you all for your love and prayers. I woke up this morning with much more energy and feeling excited about the day, despite getting the exact same amount of sleep.

I had a good time with friends last night meeting with Kate, an old friend of ours, who works with KidsPath- helping children and their siblings deal with chronic illness. She was an excellent resource for all of us and had some great tips for helping our children through all of this. Carter and Julia are so thankful to have a large circle of friends (under 5) who they are used to seeing nearly every day. It has been a difficult transition for every one.

It was kind of surreal to hear everyone talking about her cancer last night. At times I felt like it was all just a dream and I was watching it as an outsider.  It is a reality check to hear it all talked about by others, especially close friends.  It is a strange contrast. In some ways it seems like we've been in this for so long now and in others it still hits me as a surprise sometimes when I hear it. Kate had some very helpful advice for helping Carter deal with his emotions. He's had a lot of anger lately and has taken to kicking us in the shins when he reaches his breaking point (completely out of character for him). We are getting him to talk more and hope that this continues. He's very excited about going with us to chemo and radiation tomorrow and being a part of the process again. I think it will be really good for him.

Julia had a fun night with Daddy while Mommy was out. They played lots of games, puzzles, and some yummy food. She even sweet-talked Daddy into ordering her a pizza. When I came in at 11pm, she was downing her third piece! Our house is starting to feel like a dorm :)

Carter and I had some good playtime this morning before Julia woke up. He likes to play cards lately and actually learned to play rummy and speed yesterday. I'm so excited we've branched out from go fish and war :) Then we played some basketball and caught up on some of his Awana lessons. He was happy to be going back tonight after missing several weeks.

Julia woke up a little feisty and begging for goldfish, but cheered up when we got in the car and turned on the DVD. Annmarie came along to keep us company. It was nice to have someone else to play with. Our game of Dora go fish was much more entertaining with 3 :)
Our laughs attracted the little boy from the waiting room next door. I've seen them in passing every day we've been in there, but haven't had the chance to talk. (We share Dr. Sam during his time down in radiation oncology.) The boy usually sad or sleeping. Today I finally got the chance to talk to him and his mom. Sweet little Mason is almost 4. He had an earache on Feb 28th and they found a lump under it on the side of his face. They sent him in for a biopsy and discovered he had rhabdomyosarcoma. He is now in the midst of chemo and radiation. It was a blessing to connect with his mom. It really changed my perspective, too. He is in the midst of 28 straight days of sedated radiation and 10 months of chemo. He is at the point now where the chemo is making him sick and he has lost his hair. She was overwhelmed that Julia had to have major surgery and I was taken back by the duration of his treatment. It just shows you how uniquely and personally God equips us and gives us grace to handle our own particular life circumstances. He handles each one of us in such a special way.

My heart was really aching for Mason's mom, Jessica. She seems quite overwhelmed. Parenting and patience are difficult for her on a good day, much less now. I feel burdened to do what I can for her. We will continue to talk every day until we finish next week and God has actually shown me some neat, tangible ways I can bless her. Please pray for sweet little Mason and his mom, and that I have the words God needs her to hear.

Mimi is here now and the kids are having fun with a new playmate. Carter and i are both completely healed of our infections. I am actually feeling a little rundown at the moment and hope some good sleep tonight will pick me back up. Tomorrow will be chemo (1 drug) and radiation. Dr. McMullen will also check her tomorrow and we are hoping for a good report. We found out today she will actually be able to eat breakfast Friday because her treatment isn't until after 3pm. So, we are excited to resume a more normal sleeping and eating schedule on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday- hopefully. Thank you all for your prayers through this week. We can feel it and are encouraged by the process so far.