Sunday Night

First I'll give a brief update on Anna's condition.  Anna has made much improvement in the last 36 hours.  She's communicating a LOT with us and the hospital staff about what she needs and wants and also about her particular pains.  All of her labs are coming back more in the normal range; her body seems to have figured out some of those involuntary processes again.  She was much more awake and alert today.  All good things.  She understands more now about why her body isn't moving the way she wants it to.  Dear Anna finds it very frustrating, but right now is determined to get her muscles back under her control.

I feel that now that we're past the crisis point, and we've had more time to reflect on matters, I need to give an update about where Matt and I stand at this time regarding this whole situation.  We both deeply and firmly believe that God has a hand in what is going on, and that perhaps we are just a small part of something bigger that He has in mind.

We also firmly believe that God has been preparing our family for this journey for awhile, although we didn't know.  Here are a few examples:

Our family had an awesome summer and fall last year.  Matt and I were exhausted most days, but we have so many happy memories of things we did as a family.  Matt and I decided to do many things intentionally as a family and we will never regret how much work it was to make some of those things happen.

Last summer we were able to spend extended time in South Dakota with Matt's parents and one of his sister's families.  About 2 weeks before Ethan's birthday in November, we extended an invitation to family to come for a little celebration.  Matt's parents, his other sister's family, and my parents were all able to come.  We saw my parents and my brother at Christmas.  For those of you who know us better, you'll realize how amazing it is that we saw ALL of our family within 6 months.

Last fall we made a decision as a family that Saturdays were special and turned down many offers for activities simply because we wanted Anna and Kate to have that time to play together.  They had an unforgettable time together almost every weekend.

Through the chaos of the December holiday season, we intentionally did all of our family Christmas traditions as well as a few new ones.  To me it almost felt like too much, but I just had a feeling that I needed to "get it all in".  At one point I remember being in the van with Matt and someone was crabbing in the back about something.  I turned to Matt and quoted a great line from a favorite movie from our college years.  In Can't Hardly Wait, an overenthusiastic cheerleader is trying to get everyone to sign her yearbook and when no one wants to sign it, she yells out "These are happy memories we are making here, people!"  That's about how I felt.  But I don't regret a minute of it.

Anna was able to randomly spend an afternoon with her godmother the week she started getting headaches.  We'd been trying to set up a time for them to hang out for months, and this one just happened out of the blue.

Moving closer to the present.  The last time I was at the library with Kate and Ethan, I saw the book "Heaven is for Real for Kids" and threw it in our bag on a whim.  We read it with both girls in the week prior to Anna's diagnosis.  Reading it with the girls reminded me how much I enjoyed the original book.  While I was still recovering from my stomach bug, I checked downstairs to see if I still had the book, grabbed it, and read it last Friday and Saturday.  God wanted to give my faith a jump-start before our life was disrupted.

We also firmly believe that God has been present in our lives since Anna became sick.  There are too many examples for me to share them all, but our morning at church today was the epitome.  My mom offered to stay with Anna so the rest of us could go to worship together.  I got to church a bit before the others, flagged down Cindy and the pastor in charge to give them a heads up.  Matt showed up, but there was no parking left, so a friend offered to park the van for him.  We, surprisingly, found seats together on a Sunday morning extra busy with a presentation by our church's preschool.  Today's sermon spoke to our hearts.  During the Sunday School hour, I was able to spent about 40 minutes with two of my best girl friends.  We haven't been able to do that in months.  In other words, all of the details just worked themselves out and I, personally, got some much needed spiritual and emotional support.

Don't get me wrong, this sucks.  It's not fair ... to Anna, to Ethan, to Kate, to Matt, to me, to all sorts of people.  But bad stuff happens.  It's completely out of our control.  However, we still know that God is in control.  So we take a deep breath and ask "Where do we go from here?"

Time for prayers.

Thanksgiving
Please give thanks that Anna is talking.
Please give thanks for our wisdom and strength as we interact with the doctors and nurses.
Please give thanks for the amazing care that Anna is receiving at the Children's Hospital.
Please give thanks that Anna is making great improvements every day.
Please give thanks that Anna passed the swallow test yesterday afternoon so that she can now drink water and eat applesauce (or pear sauce, if she prefers).  Did you know there are people who are "swallow specialists"?  I didn't know that before this past weekend.
Please give thanks for Anna's incredible determination and self-awareness.  These personality traits are already doing wonders for her.

Requests
Please pray for good news from the pathology report and the oncology team.  We've had enough bad news to last us awhile.  We anticipate meeting with the team on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Please pray that Anna soon passes the next feeding test (I think it's for chewing), so that she can add more foods to her diet.
Please pray for continued strength for Anna, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  She really just wants to go home right now :(
Please pray that Anna's catheter stays out!
Please pray that God gives Matt and I the words on Monday as we meet again with many of the therapists and other hospital "helpers" with whom we will be working.

Two final things.  We appreciate the cards and items that have been sent to Anna's room.  At this point, I think she would most enjoy pictures that other kids have drawn for her (nature scenes, animals, people, rainbows, etc.) or notes about random things in life (like the Olympics or a silly joke or a little poem).  Our church family has given Anna a binder in which to keep these drawings and notes.

We are beginning to get an understanding of the financial needs that we will have in the weeks and months to come.  For example, we will need to hire someone to help out on the home front.  My parents have been great, but we want them to remain grandparents, not caregivers.  We don't want to ask for money because we could probably find ways to make things work.  However, if you feel moved to help us financially, a fund has been set up at our church.  You can contact Cindy Light at cindylight87@gmail.com for more information.  We will strive to be good stewards of the gifts given us.

Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers.  Don't doubt their effectiveness.