Fun Fun

This Saturday Micah turned 3!! What a blessing to celebrate his third birthday. Last year we were in house at Children's doing chemo. So it was wonderful to have Micah and have him home. A huge thanks to Eva & Jerusha who planned a wonderful birthday bash for my lil man and CC. Ladies it was over the top!! Can't wait to show you the pics (Brittney Kauflin and Josh Tucker took a ton!) Many Thanks!

Wanted to share a few words and a song that was so very encouraging to me at service this morning...

"We have joy because of the unchanging eternal promises.
~Joy comes from knowing what lies ahead" Bob Kauflin

Because of You
There's a place where the streets shine With the Glory of the Lamb There's a way, we can go there, We can live beyond time Because of You, because of You Because of Your love, because of your blood No more pain, no more sadness No more suffering, no more tears. No more sin, no more sickness No injustice, no more death Because of You, because of You Because of Your love, because of your blood. All our sins are washed away, And we can live forever, Now we have this hope, because of You. Oh, we'll see you face to face And we will dance together In the city of our God because of You. There is joy everlasting, There is gladness, there is peace There is wine everflowing There's a wedding, there's a feast. by Paul Oakely

Trying to fish at Maw & Paw's~ were a little tangled at the moment!

Posing in the flowers!

Dad's Home

Update:

Dad's home. He had a CT scan last night and everything looked good. Due to the seizure he is unable to drive or be alone until they figure out what is going on. He has to have a MRI this coming week and a few more tests. They have also put him on an anti seizure drug. It shook him up pretty good, he didn't even remeber yesterday until later this morning but he is resting well now.
That's really all we know for now... Thanks for your prayers

Dad at Shady Gove~

Hi Friends, Just a quick FYI. Dad has been taken to Shady Grove Hospital this morning. It appears he had a seizure while sleeping and then was unresponsive for a while. The medical team came and thank the Lord that Dad regained conscience and was able to walk out with their help. Please pray for the docs (that they would be able to figure out what's going on) and my Daddy & Mom.
We are so grateful that we can cry out to God at any moment and He is there ready to hear and help, never absent or far of from us.

Psalm 34:18
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 18:6
In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. .. he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

New Trial

Getting Big!!

Thanks for your prayers, we so appreciate all the support. We went to clinic on Thursday and the appt went well. It was great to see some of Micah's nurses and our friends at Volunteer Services- Mikes even played with Dr Rood. He did a great job and a new trial opened up so we were able to sign him up for that. It is a Phase 1 trial so there are no real results to go off of, it is a Phase 2 in Europe. Also it is a drug that has been around for quite awhile (the name escapes me right now- I'll send it out later), so they know it is safe, plus it is in liquid form which is another huge plus- it will just go into his chocolate milk! He will have to have blood draws once a week for the first month or until his blood levels reach the required amount for study protocol (please pray that that happens quickly- we sure don't like blood draws). Mikes will also have another MRI this coming week, we don't know yet but as always we would appreciate your prayers and we know we have them.
The steroids seem to be helping but he is still not sleeping at night, the docs are working on that one for both Micah, Luke & I =)
These last weeks have been very hard. Yet the Lord has been very near. Bringing peace and comfort to our weak hearts. Through times of prayer, reading his word, wonderful emails and calls from friends, recalling scripture and music that speaks of His greatness have tremendously encouraged us ~ reminding us that God is good and near. How thankful we are for yet another day!
More to come
All our Love

Pics from Soccer Practice... Braet really enjoys it. He is even pretending that he's Coach Allen and Mikes is Braet.

Prayer Requests

Our hearts have been a bit more anxious as we watch our little Micah over the last few weeks. It has been a hard week. He hasn't been sleeping so well at night and then during the day he is of course very tired. He has been more emotional, a lil more clutzy. He goes from just wanting to be held or watch a movie to playing and then back to laying on the floor with his blankie. We wonder at times if this is the tumor affecting little man. We have an appt. this Thurs, just 2 day before Micah's 3rd B-day,Dr Rood wants to see him and they want us to do all the paper work for Hospice (weren'rt expecting that one). They have already put him on a steroid (it is supposed to reduce any swelling that Micah is having and thus reduce the side effects). Our hearts are saddened for we are well aware that we have had Micah longer than expected and wonder if the days grow short.

We have never wanted a miracle more.We are praying for our son and our hearts. ..that we would stand firm trusting in the Lord no matter where this path would take us.

Prayer Request
* Please continue to ask the Lord for healing
* That Micah would not experience side effects - from the tumor or the steroids (they are tough on him, drastically effecting his mood and sleep)
* For our family- that we would walk through this time in a way that pleases the Lord- for strength and peace.

Love & Thanks!

"Difficulties heaped upon difficulties can never rise to the level of the promise of God. To meet the trembling apprehensions--'Who is sufficient for these things?' the answer is ready-- 'Our sufficiency is of God.'" - Charles Bridges

**Thanks for your prayers for housing. They have been answered by God giving us wisdom. We have decided to put this on hold with everything with Micah (plus Mom is to have surgery at the end of the month). While a bigger home would be nice we don't want to get tied up in a huge project like that but rather just spend time with Micah.

Updates & A Ton of Thanks

Update on Mom & Dad
Mom is doing pretty well. It is a long recovery process and she is still having considerable pain from time to time. Sometimes she's fine and then she laid out on the couch. The docs said that as the blood clots move or shift it would affect her. She has been keeping up with numerous doc appts and we think surgery will be at the May...
Daddio is recovering well to, but let me assure you it is more than a week recovery time! He is starting to get around better and is starting to put in job applications. He's getting a little stir crazy! But has been keeping busy with helping to take care of the fam and our projects....

Speaking of projects a few weeks ago some we were so blessed by the guys in our CareGroups, Mom & Dad and Cameron & Brandon. They came and spent their entire Sat. working on "projects" in our home!! They painted 2 rooms, fixed places that leaked, painted ceiling and demoed our bathroom (a huge thanks goes out to their wives!!!). These tasks have needed done for quite some time but we had been unable to do them. The time and money factor. We were not wanting to get wrapped up in these projects but rather spend the time with little man. But what a huge blessing to have these completed! The basement looks great! New carpet and fresh paint (the basement had leaked right after one of Micah's chemo rounds and Luke fixed the leak but the basement carpet and such had been torn up for a year!). It's so nice to have these tings done. THANKS EVERYONE!

Prayer Request
****I think its safe to say we've outgrown our town home! =) So Davis & Miller fam have casually been looking at moving to a bigger place. We would appreciate your prayers for wisdom, God's timing and the right place at the right cost.

fUN fRIDAY fACT

Wanted to say thanks! I have no idea how many time this blog has been visited~ but Micah's care page has been visited 9980 times!!! I can't imagine how many people are praying for our family, many of you we don't even know.
Thank You, Thank You Thank You. Oh how much it means! I had the privilege last night of meeting one such person, Helen. How I am always humbled and encouraged that so many, even strangers are praying and caring us on their hearts!

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:4-7

First Soccer Practice

Keep away from Coach, if he tags you you become a shark!! After practice we asked Braet what his favorite part was, "When coach made me a shark and not Nemo anymore," he replied enthusiastically. Don't think he got the point of that drill!
Okay, what are we supposed to do again!
Teammate, Neighbor & Friend....David Fedeli
Wearing his new shin guards (thanks uncle Rick!), cleats and his very own bottle of Gatorade, he was totally excited. The whole fam went out for this first event... Dadda, G , Micah , Cianne and I played, laughed (since our guy knew nothing about Soccer it was a sight!) and huddled in the cold. What a blast!

Baby Steps!!

This Easter, Cianne turned 11 months old and also took her first steps. What fun, the whole fam was there to see it together! She's still taking those baby steps here and there, it won't be long now!!

lil Redskin~ lil Jedi

Last night we took a trip to Toys R Us, Braet had a little birthday money to spend ~ he purchased a Star Wars Legos (Mommy & Daddy have a project to do today!) And well Micah is our little basketball star so we bought a hoop for downstairs. The first thing Micah does when he comes downstairs is head out on the deck for basketball (no matter what temperature it is) and he is always looking for a recruit to play hoops with. So hopefully the hoop downstairs will make it a little easier on mom, and yes that's where we are sitting right now~ typing and shooting! He even wakes up in the middle of the night asking to play (rather complaining to go play!) Yes, he has basketball heart issues! =)

I have a feeling I know what my wonderful mothers helper and I will be doing today...lego ship building and hoops!! Thanks Brittney!

Results

Well the pill swallowing has gone really poorly. We have decided to take Micah off the trial. We were never able to get a full dose into him and lil man got so upset trying to take the pills that he would throw up~ we want him to to be able to enjoy the days.

We also got the results back from the MRI, the tumor has grown 4 mm in a month and thank the Lord there are no new tumor spots. Hummm... it is always disheartening to hear these results, our hearts fill with sadness at the thought of losing Mikes. He is truly a joy as the other 2 kiddos are and his presence would be desperately missed. We would still ask for you to pray for healing as our God is definitely able and please pray for our hearts that Luke & I would be trusting in the Lord and his peace would continually be ours.
Even though the thought of death causes us to tremble with intense sorrow it does not cause us to fear. Thank the Lord for the cross, for freely giving his Son! This Sunday we will celebrate Easter and I believe it will be closer to our hearts than ever... Jesus lived for us, served, loved us, showed the truth and then he died for us. Because of his death for our many sins, the grave is not the end for us or for Micah. What a hope, even in death there is glorious hope conveyed on the pages of scripture and in these truths we take much comfort & hope.

thanks for journeying with us...your prayers and encouragements and friendship mean more than you know.

All our love
Happy Easter