Snow!

A week ago on Sunday afternoon we piled everyone up (without coasts, hats, or gloves) in the van to drive to "the wheelchair playground" to play as a family.  An hour or so of running, climbing, chasing, and zooming down ramps later, we piled back into the van to go home.  It was a great way to end the last warm days of fall.

Friday evening it started snowing.  By the time we woke up on Saturday morning, 4-5 inches of snow covered the ground, and it kept snowing until lunchtime.  Kate bounced out of bed shortly after 6 and was antsy to get outside to play.  Ethan doesn't remember snow from last winter; seeing the blanket of snow covering everything through his fresh eyes reminded us about the wonder of childhood.

We are trying to get into the routine of doing weekend homework right away on Saturday morning; otherwise, we put it off and then feel extra stress on Sunday evening.  The girls finished things up pretty quickly and we all headed outdoors to enjoy the snow by 9:30 or so.

The hill in our front yard going down into the ditch is still good for the kids.  I'm sure we will try to take them to some bigger sledding hills this winter, but for now we are going to start slow.

Anna was the first to get cold, but that's understandable since she doesn't move around as much and get her blood flowing like the rest of the kids.  While she was outside, however, she had a great time.  It was amazing to watch her be able to play and move around in the snow, especially in comparison to last winter.  We could see the fatigue in her eyes, though, after only 20 minutes or so.  As Anna's OT said later the day, playing in the snow is an occupational therapist's dream therapy :)

Thankfully, everyone's snow clothes worked the first time we went out!  Most years we have had to make wardrobe adjustments, especially with the youngest member of the family, to keep them warm.  Maybe we've just had enough practice (finally) to know what combination of hats, gloves, snowpants, and coats will work.

Later in the day, Kate and I went for an exploration adventure out in the field.  45 minutes later, I think I finally managed to tire Kate out.  With the early morning excitement of snow and the activity of the day, she was exhausted by evening.

The weather is predicted to warm up early this week and the snow will melt off fairly quickly, but it has been a fun change of pace.  We are already looking forward to other ways that we can enjoy the snow this winter.

School and learning

Anna's headaches and other symptoms quickly subsided over the weekend.  On Sunday she briefly  complained of a mild headache in the morning, but needed no caffeine or pain relievers.  Whew!  At least now we have another set of experiences under our belt so we are better prepared for the next time Anna has a spinal tap (once a year for those who are keeping track).

We recently had parent-teacher conferences for both Kate and Anna, followed a short time later with Anna's IEP evaluation meeting.  The parent-teacher conferences went well.  The girls are good, kind, hard-working kids and, when it comes to school, we like to work as a team with the educators.  When we all work together and support one another, amazing things can happen.

The schools have great programs in place, both for kids like Kate who are natural learners and readers, and for those like Anna, who need extra support in a variety of areas.  We are always glad to hear about learning that happens and see the work girls do and we are willing to provide the structure at home to help them both be successful.

Kate is an avid reader, often choosing to read in bed first thing in the mornings (especially on weekends), or use her time with books as a chance to unwind.  From the time she could first crawl and would head to her room to look at books for long periods, we predicted that she would develop a love of reading at a young age.  She has.  And the more she reads, the better she gets.  It's fun to watch her grow and begin to teach us things from the books she reads.

Kate's love of reading has greatly helped her writing.  One of my favorite parts about Kate's conferences is when her teacher gives us samples of Kate's writing.  The stories and creative spellings are enjoyable in and of themselves, but her illustrations give us the most smiles :)

Anna still loves her math.  She has great number sense and a good ability to come up with strategies for solving problems.  Ever since first grade, she has participated in math enrichment programs offered through the district.  Anna is continuing to do so in 3rd grade and loves it; she chose to play Sudoku for over an hour one day after school.

Anna's reading is continuing to improve.  In fact, in comparison to a year ago, Anna's overall literacy skills have grown remarkably.  Her main struggles with reading still seem to be related to her vision difficulties as well as her speed.  We have been conscious all along of making sure that reading and literacy are positive experiences in our home.  Although Anna doesn't choose to read much on her own, she enjoys our mommy-daughter reading time.

After Anna's neurophyschological testing this past summer, we requested that she be re-evaluated for special education.  Last year when Anna was first evaluated, she did not qualify for an IEP; she was "too smart" and since she was still in the midst of her chemo treatments, the extent of long-term damage from treatment was unknown.  Anna's 504 plan covered everything necessary and her 2nd grade team was wonderful.  The fact that Anna came out of 2nd grade with a continued love of school shows what a good job everyone did.

September and October were filled with all manner of tests and evaluations for Anna.  Although it took a lot of time for both the educators and Anna, the interactions provided everyone with a chance to get to know Anna as well as figure out exactly where she was at with many of her different skills.

Common descriptions about Anna from the IEP meeting were: smart, hard-working, careful, and determined.  Other phrases were: more easily fatigued than her peers and noticeably slow.  None of it was a surprise.


In the end, Anna now qualifies for special education under a category called "Other Health Impairments".  Her cancer and its treatments have affected her significantly enough that they interfere with regular classroom learning and thus she will need ongoing support.  As we told everyone last year, we don't really care what paperwork they have to fill out, as long as Anna is getting the help that she needs to be successful at school.

The other label that will now follow Anna is "visually impaired", not because her near or distance vision is bad, but because her ability to see one image at distances is fragile, and because her eyes/brain become fatigued more easily with up-close work.  The great thing about this label is that Anna now has access to a vision specialist through the school system (CESA, for anyone who knows) who has loads of experience with and access to adaptive ideas for a kid like Anna.  These ideas range from specific ipad apps to how to more effectively take district reading assessments.  In addition, Anna will also have access to an orientation and mobility specialist who will continue to help Anna navigate the world around her using her wheelchair, or whatever other adaptive devices she may use.

Big picture ... Anna has an amazing team around her at school (AGAIN) this year.  Even though this group of professionals didn't meet Anna until August of this year (and just think about what that means), they look at Anna and think "Why not?" instead of "Why?"  Everyone will continue to work together to bring Anna's skills and the school environment as close together as they can.

However, Anna has expressed on more than one occasion that she wants to use her energy while at school to focus on school, which in her mind includes learning as well as time with friends.  We are choosing to honor this request, because we feel the same way.  This means that Anna's IEP will include reduced time with school therapists, mainly because Anna will continue to have PT, OT, and speech/feeding at the clinic.  She has only so much energy to give and we want to make sure it is balanced in the best way.  Besides, the school therapists and clinic therapists are already in collaboration with one another.

Matt had to leave the meeting a little early, but on his way out he expressed our feelings in the best way by saying "Just so you know, we have NO plans of moving to another district.  You guys are an awesome team for Anna to have."

And ... the majority of the people in the room will continue to be on Anna's team for 4th grade and 5th grade.  Woohoo!

Time for Prayers

Thanksgiving
Please thank God that Anna's spinal headaches are gone.
Please give thanks that Anna has been out of treatment for one whole year.
Please thank God for Anna's team at school.
Please give thanks for the growing, learning, and changing that each of our kids exhibit.

Requests
Please continue to pray for wisdom and understanding for all of those working with Anna.
Please continue to pray for Matt and me, for our peace, patience, strength, and wisdom.
Please continue to ask God to grant Anna continued healing and progress, that she continues to have a good attitude about life.

Thanks!

Patience and Flexibility

This week did not turn out the way we thought it would.  That spinal headache from the lumbar puncture really did a number on Anna.  In addition, it turns out she should probably have had a dose of steroids sometime on Monday.  24 hours of fasting plus a spinal procedure on Monday created some stress on her system that her adrenal glands still aren't ready to handle.

Tuesday Anna was tired, but we thought that was just a result of everything on Monday.  Wednesday morning Anna had a bad headache, and we kept her home for a little while, but she perked up rather quickly and was at school only about 1/2 hour late.  She managed that day fairly well, but still complained of being tired and having a headache again in the evening.

Thursday morning was rough.  Whenever Anna would sit up, her headache would get worse, even to the point of causing tears.  Not much makes Anna cry, so when she does, we know something is definitely wrong.  But Anna really wanted to go to school and it's so hard to tell her that she can't go when there really is no reason for her to stay home.  So she went.  We hoped that she would perk up kind of like she did on Wednesday morning.

She didn't.  I got a call from the school nurse about 1/2 hour into the school day informing me that Anna had thrown up :(  At least most of it was caught in a trash can.

On our way to pick Anna up, I was back and forth with the hem/onc staff at the hospital.  Our nurse was able to speak with both Anna's primary oncologist as well as the neurosurgeon.  Through our collective conversations, we figured that Anna will probably be more sensitive to lumbar punctures because of everything her nervous system has been through.  They gave me advice on how to treat the symptoms of the spinal headache and instructions to call back if things did not improve.

Thursday included stress dosing of steroids, ibuprofen, and lots of lying down flat for Anna.  She perked up by the end of the day and enjoyed the evening with family home.  It was hard for us to see her having such a difficult time.  Anna doesn't remember her long hospital stay and I don't think she remembers feeling cruddy with her chemo treatments and infections.  She might remember this string of headaches, however, in the future.

Friday morning the headache was back.  Mornings are typically rough times for headaches induced by higher intracranial pressures.  We kept Anna home from school with the hope that she could just go in a little late.  She really, honestly, wanted to be there.  But then she threw up again.  Bummer.

One of the suggestions the doctors had was to give Anna some caffeine.  Apparently this kind of headache can be eased with caffeine.  However, we weren't about to put pepsi or coffee through Anna's pump and g-tube.  Instead, Matt found some caffeine pills at a pharmacy and we tried that remedy.

Between a soothing shower, caffeine, and a little more time to rest, Anna was back to normal pretty quickly.  But by that point, her formula schedule was off for the day.  Instead of trying to teach someone else how to be flexible with that whole piece, Anna and I decided to have a "school at home" day.  We did our best, but it wasn't quite the same kind of experience as she would have had at school.  Although at the end of the day, she confessed that she kind of liked having the slower pace at home than she would have had at school.

Life has been relatively relaxing recently, not having to worry about Anna's medical conditions.  It's nice not living in a constant state of stress.  This week reminded me how much we enjoy the happy, healthy Anna that we have; we missed her when she wasn't feeling well.  Plus, the added stress and anxiety of the week's unknowns were rough on several of us in the family.

However, both Kate and Anna were quick to inform me this week that at least we knew Anna's headaches weren't because of a tumor.  Thanks for looking on the bright side, kids :)

Hopefully Anna is over the worst of it.  Hopefully she wakes up tomorrow feeling better than she has the last few mornings.  If she's not, hopefully the caffeine does the trick again.  Hopefully she's feeling well enough by Monday to get back into routines.

Please ask God to relieve Anna's headache symptoms quickly and/or give us the wisdom as to how best to treat them until they are gone.

Medical Updates

Anna had her one-year post treatment MRI scans on Monday afternoon.  Everything is continuing to look stable.  Hip, hip, hooray!  The farther we get from treatment, the safer we feel.

On Monday Anna also had a lumbar puncture (spinal tap).  Since her initial cancer was metastatic (it had spread via the cerebral spinal fluid throughout her central nervous system), Anna's CSF will be checked once a year to make sure that no cancer cells are present.  The CSF was negative for medulloblastoma cells.  Hip, hip, hooray!

Unfortunately, MRIs, anesthesia, and now lumbar punctures, are all part of our reality.  Anesthesia still does not sit well with Anna, and because the lumbar puncture happens in the operating room to ensure a sterile environment, Monday's anesthesia time was more than four hours.  The longer Anna is under, the harder the recovery is for her.  (We got to the hospital at noon and didn't get home until after 8 p.m.  Yuck!)

And we learned this week that one potential side effect of lumbar punctures is "spinal headaches".  When any amount of CSF is withdrawn from someone's body, it may take a few days for the delicate pressurized balance to be regained inside their central nervous system.  Until that balance is reached, Anna is tired and is having intermittent headaches.  Tylenol and lying down seem to help, but it's still no fun.

However, we will REJOICE that no cancer is present.  We will deal with the headaches (literal and figurative) of these procedures for the continued assurance that Anna is healthy.

A few weeks back Anna had a handful of other check-ups.  Here are those updates.

GI - Anna's digestive system is in a very stable place right now.  Her diet is made up of about 1/2 formula and 1/2 homemade purees, all through her g-tube.  She vomits very infrequently these days.  Most of her remaining medications are to assist with her GI function.

Hearing - Anna's hearing is still normal.  This fact, in itself, is a miracle.  The radiation and one of the chemotherapy drugs used during Anna's treatment are known to causing hearing loss in some cases.  At this point, the likelihood of Anna needing hearing aids is fairly low.

Vision - Anna's vision is continuing to improve, although very slowly.  The term the ophthalmologist used to describe Anna's ability to see one image at distances (instead of two) is "fragile".  The glasses help, but if she is tired or fatigued, or if the image moves quickly or the lighting/contrast is poor, she loses the ability to see one image.  During the summer, Anna rarely saw one image instead of two, so we consider this an improvement.  For up close tasks, such as with reading and writing, Anna's vision has improved more than it did at distance.  She is able to see one image more consistently with closer objects.

There's not much we can "do" to fix Anna's double vision, or speed up the healing process.  The muscles are very delicate and need time, practice, and patience, similar to Anna's tongue/mouth muscles.

We are almost done with this round of medical appointments.  Following the MRI, Anna always has a neuro-oncology appointment to check in with a half dozen or so doctors, nurse practitioners, and specialists.  We have that appointment the Monday before Thanksgiving.  A week after that there's an appointment to get casted for new AFOs (ankle braces) and then a check-in with the endocrine department in January.  Then ... we're off the radar until the next set of scans in another four months.

Please praise God that Anna's scans continue to be stable!

Making Progress

One of my favorite illustrations to use when people ask me how Anna is doing involves using my hands.  (Of course.)  I stretch my hands out as far as they can go; my left hand represents where Anna was in May of 2014 while my right hand shows where most other 8 year olds are.  Then I show my left hand creeping slowly along.

That's what Anna is doing.  She's making progress.  Not stagnating, not going backwards.  Moving forwards, slowly but surely.  We'll take it.

This past Tuesday Anna had a repeat swallow study to see what was going on behind the scenes when she swallows.  For most of us, we never have to worry or think about the ability to swallow food or water.  Healthy, full-term babies are born with this innate ability and then never lose it, at least while they are young.  By the time kids are a couple of years old, they can safely eat most table food without having to think twice about it.

Unfortunately, we are part of that small group within the population who thinks and cares a lot about the swallowing skills of children, or at least of Miss Anna.
Here is a brief summary of Anna's swallow studies.  Feel free to skip ahead to the end if you want.

February 2014 - One of the many things we learned at the beginning was that a portion of Anna's tumor might interfere with her "swallowing mechanism" (among other things).

March 2014 - Anna was off of a ventilator for about 24 hours, was filled with various sedation medications, and had not been out of bed for any reason for a week.  Suddenly, she was whisked downstairs, in the midst of moving her room off of the PICU and onto P4, put in front of the special X-ray machine, and asked to drink some water from a straw.  She drank, but during one of the swallows the water went into her lungs instead of her stomach.  BAD NEWS.  She didn't cough or respond in any manner.  REALLY BAD NEWS.  Attempting to drink liquids was out of the question from then on.  (In case you didn't know, thin liquids are the easiest thing to swallow from a tongue-strength perspective, but the most challenging from an epiglottis-coordination perspective because they move the fastest.)

Summer 2014 - Anna had a very difficult time accessing many of her muscles, including but not limited to the muscles that allow you to wiggle your toes and lift your foot (Anna's home PT that summer worked hard to help her use these muscles again).  Anna's spit tasted gross (due to her salivary glands being fried by the radiation) so she started spitting into a handkerchief.  She did not eat or drink.  She played around with a few fresh foods like carrots and pea-pods, but did not chew or swallow anything.

August 2014 - Anna had her first repeat swallow study during one of her chemo visits.  She started crying when she realized it was going to happen that day instead of a week later, which is when we had previously scheduled it.  The crying gave us an indication that Anna was heading down the road towards psychological food aversions.  BAD NEWS.  Results of the swallow study - she couldn't swallow at all.  Her tongue wasn't strong enough to move liquid to the back of her mouth to trigger a swallow.  BAD NEWS.

Fall/Winter 2014 - Anna started oral motor and feeding therapy.  Under the guidance of her therapist, she started using her tongue to move bland food around in her mouth and spit it out.  Oh, the many, many times we played games spitting out cherry tomatoes that winter.  We offered small amounts of different thickened liquids for Anna to try, but none of them worked.

Spring 2015 - Anna was sick a lot.  Many yucky colds.  She made some good progress with her physical therapy, but we didn't see much progress with her oral motor skills.

Early Summer 2015 - Anna was physically strong enough to warrant another repeat swallow study.  About a week before the test, Anna swallowed a small bit of ice cold water after dinner one night.  Matt and I will probably never forget the look on her face when she realized what she had done.  She was SO excited ... and surprised by the sensation.  But she couldn't repeat this ability during the swallow study.  Anna's tongue was still not strong enough to move liquid back to her throat.  BAD NEWS.

Summer 2015 - Anna made some amazing progress with her oral motor strength, flexibility, and sensitivities.  It took everyone in our family awhile to get adjusted to Anna putting food in her mouth, chewing it up, and then spitting it out.  GROSS.  After a few months, we have decided that the cost of throwing away a few dozen paper napkins each meal is well worth it for not having to see the chewed up food on her plate, or rinse out washcloths.  VERY GROSS.  With the okay from Anna's therapist, Anna has been taking sips of ice cold water from a straw at every meal.  About the time school started, we would no longer ask her if she felt the water go down; we just assumed that it did.  She would sometimes cough and say "it went down the wrong pipe", but that was GOOD NEWS.  That means she felt it and reacted to it.

Fall 2015 - Anna's therapist thought it was time to have another swallow study to really and truly see what was happening when Anna swallowed.  Last Tuesday afternoon Anna and I headed to the hospital, met another speech/language pathologist, put on the lead aprons (mine always has sparkles on it), and went through the test.  She tried thin liquids, honey consistency (didn't taste good to Anna), and pudding consistency.

Are you ready for this?

ANNA CAN SWALLOW!  The therapist's words were "This all looks good."  Really!?!?!?  "No concerns."  The therapist had Anna go back and try the cold water several times, even with several rapid swallows, and Anna passed with flying colors.  Well, not completely.  With the chocolate pudding, she swallowed a tiny, tiny amount, but had to spit the rest out.  But who cares about that right now?  Let's celebrate the progress for what it is; a few months ago she couldn't swallow water, and this time she could swallow some thick, delicious chocolate pudding!

The therapist rechecked the dates of the previous swallow studies when we were debriefing about this one.  When she realized just how long it has been since Anna has eating orally, she looked Anna straight in the eye and said, "You have amazing persistence to keep trying after not eating for so long."

God gifted our daughter with a determination like no other (we learned that fact when she was a toddler), and now she is able to channel that willpower.

I could hardly contain my excitement as we were loading up into the van.  I wanted to shout our good news from the rooftops.  Anna told me, "Mom, you're kind of in the yellow zone because you're so happy."  (We're learning about the zones of regulation from Anna's occupation therapist.)  Of course I was!  We called Matt on the way home; he was in a meeting and didn't answer.  We called my parents; they also didn't pick up.  So we got to be happy just the two of us.

This summer we started a new tradition of letting a family member pick a favorite dessert when they work hard to accomplish something special.  The day that Kate learned to ride a bike without training wheels, we made "Celebrate Kate Cookies" for dessert.  On Tuesday, I let Anna choose the celebration dessert.  We had "Celebrate Anna Apple Crisp" because this milestone was all Anna.  Well, God and Anna.  But it's hard to let God choose the dessert.

Please praise God that Anna's medical chart now includes the official documentation to support  what we were suspecting all summer and fall ... that Anna can drink!

Happy Halloween!

This year we were able to participate in Halloween festivities as a whole family ... hooray!  The holiday has never been a big deal for our family, but as with any kids, ours also enjoy dressing up and trick-or-treating.

We had put off carving our pumpkin until Saturday morning, mainly because the rest of life got in the way.  But it turned out well that we left most of the Halloween activities until Saturday; the weather was gloomy and no one had much desire or energy to do anything else.

In the picture below, you can see how our other children enjoy using Anna's wheelchair at times.  Ethan is getting better at maneuvering around obstacles in the house, too.
 

The finished product!

The kids all did some type of pumpkin craft ... painting a paper one, decorating it with orange paper, etc.

Then while Ethan was napping, we pulled out candy from the parade back in September to make candy creations.  Even Matt joined the fun for awhile.

After Ethan's nap, the kids got all dressed up for the annual costume parade in McFarland.  The rain from the morning had tapered enough for the group to make their short walk with a fire truck in the lead.

This year Anna disguised herself as a "mad scientist"; we couldn't resist going with a costume that included crazy hair.

Kate was excited to wear her leopard costume from last year; it probably fit better this year anyway.

And Ethan was a race car driver.  Matt gave the go-kart a posterboard body and we modified a second-hand astronaut costume so Ethan looked a little more like a driver.  He took his job of driving the race car through the parade and around the neighborhood very seriously.

We did our traditional short loop through our neighborhood for trick-or-treating.  The kids had fun showing off their costumes and it was a joy to add this set of memories for our family.

On a different note, Matt has been able to take a day off each week again this fall to help use up his vacation days.  We enjoy spending time outside together doing a variety of fall clean-up projects.  Ethan pitches in whenever the job requires the use of the truck :)

Time for Prayers

Thanksgiving
Please give thanks that Anna is officially one year out of treatment.
Please thank God for the extra days off last week; we all needed them.
Please rejoice with us as Anna continues to make progress.

Requests
Please pray for the son of some friends from church.  He will be having surgery this Friday to attempt to alleviate his need for a shunt.
Please ask God to bless all teachers and school staff this time of year.  Fall conferences, end of quarter, wrapping up testing, etc.  Peace, wisdom, patience, endurance, and anything else you can think of to help make this stressful time a bit easier.
Please continue to pray for our family, that we continue to receive the gifts of the Spirit.

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

Balance

Managing Anna's life is a delicate balancing act.  As her parents, we feel responsible for her overall well-being, perhaps more-so than the other kids.  Many people continue to vie for Anna's attention and energy ... various doctors, therapists, teachers, etc.  She only has so much time and energy to give; for awhile yet it will be our job to figure out how best to balance those things that drain her, and yet help her grow.

Plus, she is a kid who deserves to have free time, independence, and space.

The balancing act of last week kicked my butt.  When I saw everything on the calendar a few weeks back, I knew it was going to be a rough one.  Any five day school week is tiring in our home and empty calendar Saturdays are precious times to recharge no matter the week.  Some parts of life take so much physical, mental, and emotional energy.

Last week took more work than normal.  Monday after school we had everyone's flu shots, plus Anna's pre-op physical that she needs to have prior to every MRI.  No tears from anyone for the shots, surprisingly, but we didn't get home until about dinnertime.  Then homework, showers, and bedtime.

Tuesday was a l-o-n-g day.  Anna had three appointments: ophthalmology, audiology, and GI.  We dropped Ethan off at a friend's house for the first appt., but he joined us for the other two.  By about 1:15 p.m. when he slammed his fingers in a cabinet during the GI appt. and proceeded to lie on the floor and scream, I knew we were ready to go home.  Even though Anna had a bit of a rest after we got home, she still melted down that evening.  Hey, I was mentally and physically exhausted after our day, and I didn't have to actually do the vision or hearing tests.

Wednesday was better, but we were all still drained from the previous two days.  At least we got outside for a bit after school to play in the leaves.  And Kate played with a neighbor/friend in the newly harvested field behind our house.

Thursday was our normal long day ... Ethan and I go to a friend's house for Bible Study in the morning (one of the few activities every week that is for me), go home and have lunch, pick Anna up around 1, have speech/feeding therapy from 1:30-3, run a few errands before getting Kate from her after school program at The Little Gym, and go home to crash ... or have dinner, do homework, and then bedtime.

This particular week, Anna's therapist was out of town so she had a substitute.  Anna likes to "show off" for new therapists.  Not a good idea this day when the 3rd grade Open House was still to come in the evening.

Last year we simply wouldn't have gone to an open house like this (6:30-7:30 ... too late in our home with the extended bedtime routines).  This year the music classes were singing and fall conference sign-up was happening.  Anna really wanted to go.  We weighed our options.  We realize that sometimes getting Anna to activities like this isn't just about us, but they are also about Anna being visible and participating as best she can for other kids and parents to see.  So I took Kate and Anna while Ethan was put to bed by 7 (no nap Thursdays make for a tired little boy).

Friday morning was rough.  Anna had a hard day at school; she was understandably very tired.  About 10 minutes after getting settled for a rest at school, a vision specialist from the district came and wanted to observe Anna and her needs.  Rest ended :(

Friday was also rough for me.  I was tired, physically, mentally, emotionally.  I gave up on any plans Ethan and I had for the day and we stayed home and did nothing.  Well, not exactly.  We watched Sesame Street together and then cuddled up to tell stories and read books.  In the midst of the crummy experiences of the day, I will treasure those moments with Ethan.  I have memories of snuggle days with the girls when they were little, but I don't know that Ethan and I had ever had one of those days.  I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it, too.

The weekend helped to recharge us all.

This week the girls have off of school on Thursday and Friday.  A three-day week is much less daunting than last week.

I know crazy weeks will come again.  In fact, we have another one or two coming up in the next month.  I hope that we have learned enough lessons from this past week and are able to balance life a little more effectively when the tricky times come up.  Until then, I will cherish the days without extra stress ... like today.

Time for Prayers

Thanksgiving
Please give thanks that Anna's hearing is still as it should be; with all of the other crap wrong with her physical body, it's nice to know that something is still RIGHT.
Please give thanks that Anna's double vision is continuing to improve.  Very slowly, but we will take any steps forward that we can get.
Please thank God that Anna's digestive system is stable these days.  Appropriate weight gain is always a good thing for a kid like her.
Please give thanks that both Kate and Anna thoroughly enjoy school these days.
Please thank God for the continued lovely fall weather.  Although we can't get out to enjoy it every day, we are thankful for the days we can.

Reqeusts
Please pray for continued strength, stamina, and energy for all in our family, especially during the busy weeks.
Please ask God to continue to grant Anna the attitude and motivation to make whatever progress she is able to make.
Please ask God to grant us wisdom as we try to balance life.

Thanks, as always, for your prayers!