First Part of the Loan Approved

The bank has accepted our offer for the largest part of the loan with no counter offer (which is great!). Yet we still have to hear on the second part of the loan from the bank (it is a bit confusing to say the least) but the second part of the loan is where the bank stands to loose the most money. So thanks for your prayers and please keep them coming. They say we should know on the second part of the loan within the next week. We'll keep you posted.Thanks

FREE Pancakes Today

Press release from IHOP (Pancake place). They're giving away freepancakes all day TODAY (Feb 12, 7am - 10pm). It's a fund raisingdeal for Children's Miracle Network, so they ask for a dollardonation with your 3 free cakes. Enjoy. http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/

Sarah Faith

Asking for prayer for the Brewer's little girl Sarah Faith. The Brewers are our friends and our pastors, who have cared for us so.

From the Brewers Blog
"It is most likely that our little girl has cancer, a form known as neuroblastoma. This is cancer of the peripheral nervous system. One of the tumors is right next to her spinal cord, which is why she is experiencing the odd side affects she has been experiencing. From the MRI readings they received from SGH, they were not able to detect the second tumor near the liver and at this time are limiting it to the one tumor near the spinal cord. They will do further MRIs to confirm this. We will be home for the weekend for some much needed family time, and on Monday at 1pm, we will return to Hopkins to begin days of more testing: blood, urine, bone marrow, bone scan, another MRI and CT scans, all designed to learn more about the tumor before surgery can occur. The doctors are trying to get the surgery done by the end of next week. After surgery, we will begin treatment of some sort. The type and length of the treatment will be determined by what they find during surgery.At this point, we have been told by our doctors to be preparing ourselves for the likelihood of a treatment and recovery process that will take no less than six months.Please pray that the tumor is not intertwined with the spinal cord. If it is, we will have to have a neurosurgeon do the surgery with oncology surgeons. And please pray for a full healing from her all cancer and ataxia.Jen and I are so grateful for your friendship and ongoing prayers. We have been carried along by them. We are also being very well cared for by our care group and family, from visits in the hospital to simply being there with us in the down times. We are grieving a lot, but we are aware of God’s grace. He loves our little girl more than we do, and we trust him."

Who Knew....

I had such talented boys!!! Enjoy this lil show of our DANCING BOYS. Thanks Terry for this fun lil show!!

We've Moved!

We've moved out! And I know you are all wondering......but still no word on the house yet. Hope to hear soon (as always =) and seeking to wait patiently for the Lord's perfect time, place and plan. . Our Care Group guys helped to move us in on a rainy, cold Tuesday night. Thanks so much, never could have done it without you. Everyone worked so hard, we had help cleaning and moving. I'd like to say that everything went smooth yet it is more appropriate to say there was much grace for us. It seems like we are ever needing to grow in patience! So we've been moving since about Sept. and we were totally ready to be done. And done we were about about 1 in the morning, after the toilet flooding, clean-up, trips to the storage unit, more clean up, patching holes, more cleaning, tears as I a walked through the empty rooms remembering such fond times and finally jump starting the van battery which had died due to leaving the doors open too long as we loaded up.

We are both settling into wonderful basement appts with great families. My Mom and Dad are at Dan & Terri Kovlak's and Luke & I are at Joe & Jeanette Albergo's. Mom and dad's place has a mini kitchen so they are enjoying life with the Kovlaks, who have taken all of us in as family! And Luke and I are looking forward to spending time with Joe & Jeanette. If you would pray for Jeanette as well, she has cancer and has finished the standard chemo treatment but has had to continue treatment due to the nature of this cancer.

Just wanted you to know our home # is set up at our appt and of course we have our cell phones. Anyway I think that is about it. Thanks for your prayer on this house thing and for our family and of course every one's help. So appreciate it!!!Oh yeah, before I go, two great things that happened on Tuesday the 29th, Luke's Mom, Rita, celebrated her birthday and my Dad, celebrated 7 years. Tues the 29th marked dad's 7th year since his brain surgery. How grateful we are to have you both!

Pics from Dinner with the Kovlak's

Cleaning Out!

Recently I took a bunch of stuff to the thrift store. With moving we are going through everything! It was then that Jenn Dabb told me about the Shady Grove Pregnancy Center. They accept clothes that are in good condition from 0-5T. They also just give them away to people in need. Thought this might be a place to consider dropping your children's clothes off too next time you clean out.
My dad just took a load there for me last week, the women was so kind and appreciative.

Who knew how many clothes 2 little people could have! It's great to be able to give their clothes to help others out as well.

Location:
Located at the corner of Shady Grove Rd. and South Frederick Ave. (also Rt 355). On the first floor of the professional building that is located between Jerry's Subway on the north and the Comfort Inn on the south. Address is 16220 South Frederick Ave., Suite 118, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20877.


*** Also still waiting to hear on the house. We hope to hear this week. Currently we are moving into separate basement apartments while we wait. We'll let you know when we hear! =) Thanks for asking us about it and praying for us.

hey all...

Many of you have asked how our Micah Moments went and we just want to thank you for taking the time to write. It was hard but truly a special time for us. We cried and laughed. How wonderful to hear and recount these stories. It was really very special and just the perfect amount of notes.

This Christmas was filled much joy and sorrow. Christmas day marked Mikes 5 months in Heaven and while there has been much laughter and fun making memories together, there were quiet times of sadness where Luke & I remembered our little one. How we miss him still, I suppose we always will and really we wouldn't want it any other way. We can't wait to all be together once again.

This past week I found out that the little one we had hoped to welcome into our home in the late summer has too gone to be with the Lord. Perhaps this New Year Micah celebrated with a new brother or maybe a sister. The miscarriage has been sad and we of course are disappointed but God has been faithful. Our friends and family have been praying for us and caring for us. Knowing this little one is with the Lord and their big brother brings much comfort. I am so thankful for my Luke, who's tender care and wisdom have been a huge blessing to me. And once again we are grateful he has a wonderful job where he could work from home so that he could be there for me at these appointments. Thanks Love!

In the meantime, we are staying busy here, waiting to hear on the house (trying to hold it loosely), packing, packing, and more packing. Vacation is over and Braet has started back to school. He is doing a wonderful job, I love having him home with me. Cursive is his hardest challenge and he is doing well in reading, I can't believe he's learning to read- my baby is growing up too fast- he'll be 6 in just a few months!! And girlie, Cianne is beginning to really jabber, with words like ,"what's up" (which sounds more like "uts up"), thank you (taint tou), "you the man" (ou e man) and of course being the big Star Wars fans that we are, she also can say "Han Solo". It is really too cute. We love to hear her talk. Oh and she learned to jump too! I think she might be a little dare devil, she climbs up on the chairs and wants to jump off---Ahhhh- we love those kiddos =)

I'll send pics soon! Happy 2008!!