PLEASE PRAY...

Here we are again…Claudia has her next MRI this Tues, Dec. 12th. We probably won’t know the actual results until the 13th (Long story, but now that we’re with Riley, the student dr.’s have to read them first and by the time the “real” dr. reads them, our clinic dr.’s have all gone home…yeah, I know, its pure torture waiting for results...I can't stand it.) This will be her first MRI since she has finished her chemo. (Please calm my heart, Lord, for even writing this forms a knot in my stomach.) Which by the way, her last round of oral chemo went…ok. The first night she threw up so much that there’s absolutely no way she kept any of it down, but the next three nights went ok. Because someday I want her to see everything she has had to endure and how BRAVE she has been, I video-taped her last night of oral chemo. I cried the entire time. Partly because its STILL so hard to watch her go through it (I can honestly say, it never got better, it was just as hard each time…maybe even harder near the end because she could talk more and would beg, “Please mommy, no, help me.”) and partly because I want SO bad for this to be the last of this nightmare. So the chemo is officially over. Forever. I am choosing to believe in God’s healing power!

Because we got behind with the chemo, we celebrated Claudia’s birthday a little late. It was just immediate family because her counts were still pretty low. She’s obsessed with Elmo and the whole Sesame Street gang right now so that was the theme. I went to the cake shop purely to find the characters to put on a plain sheet cake, and what did I find….an Elmo cake pan that I could rent for a couple of bucks…so she had 2 cakes this year! It turned out ok…mainly, Claudia LOVED it…and that’s all that matters! Her party was so fun. Elmo must be as popular in everybody else’s house as he is in our’s because it was very easy to find every kind of Elmo party supply possible (and, of course, I went way overboard!). I did all the decorating and put all the presents out while she was taking her nap (mainly because she found a couple presents a few days earlier and absolutely could not resist…she woke up one morning, unwrapped them all and then hid them! Little stinker!) so when she came down the stairs she literally starting screaming, hitting herself, turning in circles, etc. she was SO excited! I wish I had gotten it on video…it was hilarious! I had no idea she would be THAT excited! I love that girl so much! So my baby girl is now officially 3! How can that be?!?!?

Opening presents...with the help of cousins Kyle and Lynae, of course!

Before we eat my hours of work!!!

Blowing out the candles. Can you tell she put them in all by herself?!

And now for cake #2. She got a hold of this one the night before...I guess she thought she would help stick the figures in deeper than what they were...took a pretty big chunk out of the front (which you conveniently can't see!)

We were only allowed to lick the WHITE icing candles!!!

For hours after everyone left we rode her new wagon around the house...with the new baby, of course. Grandma got her a doll that cries, drinks her bottle, burps, goes potty...basically everything, and she LOVES it!

So please pray with us for Dec. 12th, that her results would be tumor free! THANK YOU. We love you all and will definitely keep you updated. Until then...