Praise the Lord!

PRAISE THE LORD!!! So, as you can tell, we got good news yesterday! The tumor is not growing! Of course, we always want to hear that its shrinking or better yet, gone, but I truly believe we will hear that some day and until then, the next best thing is that its not growing.

The day went ok. Her MRI was scheduled for 12:30, so we left for Indy that morning. She can't have anything to eat or drink the day of so that's always a little rough. Also, she's really starting to understand and anticipate what's ahead...a part of this I've always dreaded. We walked in the hospital and the first thing out of her mouth was, "Is this going to be scary, mommy? Please don't leave me, mommy." It took everything in me to keep from crying right there. Its just so hard to watch your child go through something like this. For the next hour of waiting she just wanted to be held...she was clearly scared. Because she no longer has the port, she has to be put out with the gas mask, which is hard. They let me hold her as they used the mask. I sang to her the entire time. She took it pretty well. But she woke up hard. They tried several pokes to get a good vein in her hands but couldn't find one so they had to use a vein in her foot. She was crying pretty hard from it hurting badly. She was very glad to get it out! And she's very, very proud of her Strawberry Shortcake band-aid and doesn't want to take it off!

Waiting for results is one of the hardest parts of the day...my mind always takes me down this horrible road as we sit in the cancer clinic just waiting for the dr. to walk down the hall with our results. She said the tumor looks exactly the same! No growth!


Thank you so much for your prayers. The Lord hears and is answering! He has truly blessed us with amazing prayer warriors and support. We love you all!

I promise to try and update sooner! And, yes, Christian still promises to update about his and Claudia's Disney trip. So until then...

MRI ahead...

Wow. Life has been so crazy. And busy. And, um interesting. And...I am blessed. I'm going to let all the pictures below tell the story of all we have been up to lately (sorry if you have dial-up, there's a TON of pic.'s), but before that, I'll give you a very quick update. (And I mean quick this time!)


I think Claudia falls more in love with her little sister every day...and so do we. Kendall LOVES being held and cuddled, and will let you know this when you set her down. She loves being talked to and does her best to try and talk back. It's really cute. We haven't quite got the sleeping thing down yet. In fact, we don't have it down at all. Kendall cries most of the night, which in turn, keeps Claudia up, which in turn means we're all up!!! Kendall has been settling down to sleep around 6 am...yes, in the morning. Claudia has been waking up around 3 am and wanting to play. Needless to say, I've never been this sleep deprived in my life! However, I know this too shall pass! Its just so cute to see Claudia with Kendall...she's so in love with her. She (Claudia) still needs to learn the whole "personal space" thing...poor Kendall!

On another note, we are asking for your prayer again. Claudia has her next MRI this next Tues. (Oct. 16). This will be her first standard MRI without her port...which means more needles and IV's...something we're very much not looking forward to. I'm so ready for this dumb thing to just shrivel up and BE GONE! I will keep you updated. Lord, please calm my heart. You know the anxiety these procedures bring. Please heal our baby girl...YOU ARE ABLE!

Now, here's what our family has been up to...

The end of August, Nate & Olivia (Christian's brother) had another little boy. Owen Smith arrived 2 weeks early (I think that's right)! This is Nate with their newest addition and Abraham (almost 3 yrs.)

Olivia and Owen.


On September 2nd, my parents celebrated their 40th Anniversary!

We all celebrated with dinner at The Boathouse and cake/icecream at the house. One of the presents we sisters went together and got them was tickets to the Bill Gaither and Homecoming Friends concert a few weeks ago! "Tis (still) Wonderful!" (For those of you who understand that!)

Their 40th brought everyone together for a family picture! (Is it obvious how "thrilled" the guys were?!)

At the end of Sept., we were off to Florida to visit Christian's mom and dad and to attend his cousin, Erin's wedding. We took the camper so the 15 hour trip with a baby and toddler wasn't TOO bad! (Sarcasm!) But, its always worth it and we had a fun time visiting family! We also got to meet Christian's cousin, Devin's new little guy, Peyton (one week older than Kendall)! It stinks we forgot our camera that day. Below is Christian with the girls at the beach, we only went one day...it was pretty windy, so it didn't last long!

Because of the wind, the sand was blowing pretty hard so Claudia proudly wore my sunglasses the whole time! She LOVES the beach!

The wedding was beautiful. The weather called for rain, but it passed over and the evening was perfect. Congratulations Erin and Bradley!

Our family at the wedding.

Claudia with the two little flower girls, Ava and Madeline (2nd cousins to Claudia!) They were adorable!

Dancing with daddy at the reception.

Aunt Tara (Christian's dad's sister...and mother of the bride!) and Kendall.

After arriving back from Florida, a week later, Christian's parents were up to Indiana for his dad's training and another visit! One night we all went to Ft. Wayne to visit Nate and Olivia...which was the first time they had seen Owen! Here's cousins and great buds, Abraham and Claudia.

The three brothers, Nate, Christian and Dale.

Here's Grandma reading to the grandkids.

Another day, we all went to the Ft. Wayne Zoo! It was the first time Claudia had been to the zoo! SHE LOVED IT! Here's the cousins at the kangaroo exhibit.

The gang watching the sea lions!

The McCray girls at the zoo! (Christian still can't believe he's got a family of all women! He constantly says how sorry he feels for what my dad went through! Just wait until they're teenagers Christian! You ain't seen nothin' yet!!!)

Christian and his mamma (in the rain forest!)

Claudia rode the carousel with A.Olivia, U.Nate and Abraham!

We all met up at Casa's Restaurant another night.

Grandma and Pa got Claudia and Abraham rollar skates and the whole protective gear to go along. So we got them all suited up and let them try! It was hilarious!

Ready to go!

She did, um, well, she needs A LOT more practice...or help!

The whole family together (minus Andrea)! We can't wait until Thanksgiving when we'll all be together again! :)

Oct. 2, Kim turned 36!!! So we had another party...

Even Janelle and her boyfriend, Doug, came down from Chicago! (Which by the way, please pray for Janelle, she just found out she has mono. Yuck.) And notice, Grandpa Kessler isn't wearing glasses anymore, his caterac surgery was very successful!

The other day, I came around the corner to find Claudia playing with Kendall...if you can't tell, she has one of her old port/tubes. She had it tucked up in Kendall's shirt and she's giving her "injections". She's still got the procedure down perfectly. Like I said in a previous post, its times like these, the reality of all she's been through hits home.

My cousin Steve and his wife Freya (who live in Bremen, about 1/2 hr. away), just had their second little boy last week, so my sisters, mom and I went to visit...all together in the the RV...just like the Beverly Hillbillies! The kids were so excited and couldn't wait. So, here we are on our way. The twins didn't know what to think!

This is where the kids spent most of the trip...up on the top bunk. (I know, I know, they should be in their carseats...)

And here is my mom and sister, Jenny, getting a look at Henry Samuel Varner for the first time (with Freya)!

They ordered pizza for us so here is Steve, Freya, their other son, Max, my Aunt Beverly, my mom and Lynae.

"Weeeeee're sisters!!!" My mom (on the right) and Aunt. My Aunt Beverly was in town (from Kansas) to help out the first week so it was a lot of fun to see her as well!

My cousin Steve playing "referee" for all the kids. (I hope our large clan didn't terrorize their night too much!)

And lastly, I'll leave you with some updated pictures of Kendall. She's getting so big, so fast. Last dr.'s appt., she weighed in at 14 lbs. putting her in the 95th percentile for her age! That's my girl!

She smiles soooo much now, especially when you talk to her! She'll even smile when she hears my voice! But do you think I could get a single picture of her smiling? Nope. She smiles real big and by the time the picture takes, she has this frown...I give up!

This picture doesn't do her rolls justice!!!!

2 1/2 months

If she's not smiling, this is the look she has on her face. Everyone always comments on how "serious" she looks! (And yeah, I know, she looks EXACTLY like her daddy!)

As I'm reflecting upon all that's gone on these past couple of months...and as I look at this beautiful family God has given me, I can't help but thank Him...I'm soooo blessed!

I'll keep you updated on Claudia's MRI results. Thank you so much for your prayers. We love you all!