Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Summer Fun



More of our Summer...

John is doing such a good job on our home addition! Roof is nearly all shingled and siding comes next.


Mark & Luke got to go flying with a friend of John's.


The three big boys LOVE fishing so we made time for that too.

It was a wonderful Summer that went by so quickly! This is our last week off & we are trying to get all prepared for Sam to attend pre-school two mornings a week & for the other boys to continue with me at home school. Soccer has begun too....guess it's time for Fall!

Birthday Boy Turns Four

Sam turned four! Whoot Whoot! 


Birthday cake with big brothers


Visiting the train museum...Sam loves trains right now







We had a fun day celebrating Sam's fourth b day. We're so thankful we get to be his family!

Monday, August 4, 2014

More Summer News

Camping! We went camping up in the NC mountains. It was a wonderful, fun break for our family & Sam's first time camping. 




I had foot surgery. Here's how I currently look. I call this my "devil boot". Yeah, I don't like it! I am, however, excited to be able to wear shoes again & get back to hiking with my family.


We also met with a new specialist at the children's hospital regarding Sam. She said we will do his labs for two more months for a total of six consecutive months. If they improve...yahoo! If they continue to look crummy, he will have a liver biopsy. (Ouch! Poor baby!) That will be used to determine if chemo is needed at that time. If we ever have to begin chemo at least we will know we took all precautions & did our best to avoid it. We are thankful for his doctors & the hospital staff. They make being there as cheerful and as good an experience as possible. 

Sam is feeling pretty good and is having a fun Summer. He is speaking more recognizable words every week & can run fast! :D He thinks his brothers are hilarious and hogs the screen when we Skype.

We are focusing on truly LIVING every day & trusting our kind God to fill in all of our gaps. 

Monday, July 21, 2014

Our Summer...

...has been going great mostly! We've been busy with all the three big boys' swim practices and meets. They have had a good season and Mark & Luke are both considering swimming full time throughout the year. 


Luke's adorable relay team 



We have been gardening too. The boys each have a raised bed and have been enthusiastic about growing their own food. I love that they are so interested.

Sam Update

Sam's labs, which we have been doing every 4 weeks, have continued to show a slow decline. :(  We are going back to the children's hospital at the end of July to do more tests and to see a third specialist. I've heard she is very good so I'm preparing a list of questions to ask her. We have been told to prepare for chemo & transplant but I have no idea what the time line is. Hopefully years!!!! Perhaps the Drs don't know either, but I'm hoping for more info so we can try to process and care for our precious son the best way we know how. We are trying to support his overall health with meds for weight gain, probiotics etc. He is feeling good overall and is a happy, sweet heart. He loves his family, Veggie Tales, chocolate, fruit, playing outside and at the pool. He is a wonderful kiddo and we are begging our amazing God to heal him, all the while knowing He may or may not. That is hard stuff to understand but we KNOW our God loves Sam deeply and we are trusting Him and trying not to live in fear. I think we are succeeding most of the time. 



Saturday, July 5, 2014

More Lab Results

We are on a schedule of labs for Sam every four weeks right now. The results come in two parts and the most recent ones have been good news so far! Yes! We should hear about the rest soon & are feeling optimistic that chemo is not in his near future (& we hope NEVER!) We are so thankful for everyone's care & prayer! 

Otherwise, we are having a pretty happy Summer. The big boys are all on swim team so we are at the pool a lot. Sam was very cautious with water last Summer but he loves it this year. It's so much fun to watch him play happily at the local water park. 

Monday, June 9, 2014

Good News

We are so thankful to share that we got good news today! There will be no harsh treatments for Sam for now. We will just continue to have his labs done every 4 weeks to monitor. The Drs want to avoid treatment for all long as safely possible and we agree. 

Thank You God!  

Now....back to concentrating on having a great Summer with lots of little boy fun! 

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Waiting

We're still waiting on test results.