It's a go.

Anna had her quick brain MRI today, then an appointment with her neurosurgeon (who was out of town last week).  His opinion is that everything in terms of Anna's ventricles appear to be stable at this point so her next round of chemo is set to begin tomorrow.  She and I will head back to the hospital early Tuesday morning; Anna will stay there through Wednesday evening.

A few other random Mischnick family facts ...

Kate is participating in Camp Kindergarten summer school this week and next week in preparation for entering kindergarten this coming fall.  Where has the time gone?!  She had a few tears this morning when Matt dropped her off, but was fine as soon as she saw her buddy from preschool.  She seemed pretty excited to return again tomorrow.

We have had a lot of cloudy, rainy weather here lately, including our fair share of severe weather.  We didn't realize quite how much we hadn't seen the sun until one evening a few weeks back when we took a walk after dinner and Ethan was afraid of his own shadow, literally.  We struggled not to laugh while he danced around trying to get away from his shadow, but he was petrified to stand whenever his feet touched his own shadow's feet.  It took a few days, but we're definitely past this fear now.  On Anna's birthday walk, he was playing with his shadow :)

Ethan's language is continuing to explode.  Some of our favorites these days are "here go" (here you go - when he hands you something), "mah tuhn" (my turn), "shoe on" (which means he wants to go outside), "mokyko" (motorcycle), and "opain" (airplane).  He is also pretty good at imitating snoring.  In our home right now people are often tired (Anna ... Mommy ...) and we sometimes show this by closing our eyes and pretending to snore.  Ethan then likes to pretend also by saying our name and then making the snoring noise :)

Anna got a good laugh out of her neurosurgeon today by telling him a joke.  If you know Dr. Iskandar at all, this will make more sense.  If not, it won't, but I want to record it for my own memory.

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Benny.
Benny who?
Benny long time no see.

Time for prayers

Thanksgiving
Please give thanks that Anna is cleared for this round of chemotherapy.
Please thank God for all of the continued help and support our family is receiving.
Please give thanks for strength, wisdom, peace, patience, and guidance for all involved in our life right now.
Please thank God for birthday celebrations.
Please give thanks for friendships, new and old.

Requests
Please continue to pray for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strength and wisdom for Matt and me.
Please continue to pray that Anna's treatments are 100% effective.
Please continue to pray for all of Anna's care givers both within and without the hospital system.
Please continue to pray for Kate and Ethan as they deal with Anna's illness in their own way.

Thanks, as always, for your continued prayers and support.