Grandpa Gill and GG Visit and updates

We have been lucky-is it obvious because each recent post speaks of visitors! GiGi and Grandpa Gill came into town to help out with my many doctors appointments, because we practically live at the doctos office these days. :-) It turns out I have a liver disorder induced by pregnancy, so our little guy will be induced on Dec. 6-in just 21 days! We can hardly believe it's that close. Gigi and Grandpa were able to visit Tanner's school for a really wonderful "writer's workshop." Tanner wrote a story about what he felt when Grace got sick. I, of course, bawled through the whole thing, but I was so impressed with his honesty and his raw emotion he let parade before his sixth grade classmates. He never ceases to amaze me with his bravery. If he allows us too, we'll post his writing, or the video of him orating his story.

Tanner is doing well in school-he just got the part of Lucentio in Taming on the Shrew, had some great basketball tryouts, and has been relishing in free moments to play army. Eva has a new found love of puzzles. She'll now sit and do them over and over (especially her snoopy one-as the picture shows). She also insists on carrying around a purse full of lipstuff and said she really needs a lipstick store. Grace is loving school, when she's well enough to go. Her teacher says she's very in charge and helpful and she loves math and art and is doing really well in Spanish and Chinese! I have been impressed by Grace. What she goes through, I don't think we'll ever fully understand, but she pushes on despite it. For example, Tanner expressed his sadness when he said that at school he often sees her in P.E. and as her class runs clear ahead of her, she still runs the laps she needs to-even if she lags behind. She gets so tired, but what's amazing is that she pushes on. Last night her tummy hurt a lot in the night and she was up early because he body got the shakes. It's like clockwork when she comes off her steroids. She was so sweet and tried to be calm about it, but as JR and I fed her to up her body sugar, we could see her hands just shaking as she held her glass of milk. She's truly good natured about it, though it's hard on her. But, the kids are good examples to us. They really highlight the need for joyfulness and the ability to still love life despite it's struggles.

HALLOWEEN AND THE MAKE A WISH AUCTION

We are a little behind on our posts, but we wanted to include a very special night. Grace got to give back to Make-a-wish by helping raise money. She sold golden tickets during the silent auction, displayed live auction items, and got to go up on stage and pick the winner of the ticket raffle. She was also featured on a slide show that played during dinner. She had such a great time picking out her dress, accessories, and shoes with Grandma and Grandpa and was amazing at the auction. When we got there all the volunteers and coordinators knew her name and greeted her and she was given a wand and a tiara. She worked the room like nobodies business and sold all the tickets available. It was so nice to see her smiling and meeting individuals who helped make her wish possible. What a great night and a better organization.

Omi visits and updates

This week was full of fun because Omi came into town! We had such a great time bowling, playing restaurant, playing Yahtzee and just hanging out. It was a blast, but went too fast...missing you Omi! Thank you for all your help and love!

By way of updates...things are going...well fast. Can you believe it's almost November? Tanner had a great Parent Teacher Conference today and is loving school-especially playing football at recess! Eva is loving playing restaurant and putting on performances. Grace is loving school, but has been pretty wiped out lately. She has been looking forward to the Alphabet party in class that took place today, but last night was up all night with her chemo aches and couldn't make it to the party. She was SO disappointed, so we had a mini party of our own and even made some letter cookies. Life is going pretty well, and now we're just missing our past visitors!

Grandpa Glen and Grandma Shele visit!

We had so much fun over this last weekend because Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. The kids were quick to make plans, and we did everything from Glow in the Dark miniature golfing, swimming, restaurant sampling, to attending a fun school Harvest Festival and more. And, mainly the kids just laughed and played with Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks for visiting guys! It was so much fun!

Chemo/Spinal Tap

Grace had chemo and a spinal tap yesterday. It's amazing how she handles it all. The night prior to chemo she was up all night with her leg pains that she gets from her medicine. And, then of course she has to fast prior to her spinal tap, so she was one tired, hurting girl. Still, she pushed on and was so strong and brave for her chemo day. She did an amazing job accessing her port (in just one minute!!!!!!!!). The spinal tap is her least favorite part because the sedation medicine bothers her, but she just trusted me, layed calmly in my arms and let it happen. I don't think we'll ever be used to laying her on that bed and allowing them to inject chemo into her spine. When we see her sedated there, our hearts just burst. But, she is amazing through it every time. Grace's blood counts were lower than her last appointment-at 1.1 (which is good-it means her medicine is doing just what it should). Typically when they give Grace chemo they inject the medicine into her spine and also withdrawl spinal fluid to test for Leukocytes (Leukemia in her spine-which thank heavens-never crossed into her blood/brain barrier). This time they could only give her the medicine, but not test her fluid. The smaller needle we opt to use so she doesn't get her spinal tap headaches wasn't cooperating-needless to say her back is pretty sore. So, in terms of her chemo treatments, things are going well and she's right on course. We're so thankful she's responding so well to her medicine and it's curing her of Cancer. We were excited when the doctor gave us an official date. Only 4 or 5 more spinal taps and of course many more chemo treatments and medicine, but if all continues on course, Grace will officially be done with Cancer treatments on October 16, 2010!