Baby Polka Dot

Grant is at the end of his week of steroids. As always, his stomach is pretty distended at this point. He has always rubbed it and rested his hands on it uncomfortably, much like a pregnant woman. This time, he has been around 2 of my cousins that are expecting. So, he has started talking about the baby in his tummy. It's a sister and her name will be Polka Dot. Thankfully, the tummy will just go away after he stops taking steroids. :-)
My Granny is still in ICU. Everything looks great and she is responding well, except for her breathing. Please pray that she will strengthen and be able to breathe on her own. Her brain seems to be sharp and she started some physical therapy today. Grant and Trent went to the hospital to see Grandpa Dub. Grant wanted to see his Granny, but we decided not to do that right now. We appreciate your prayers for our WHOLE family.

God does miracles!

Grant went to the clinic yesterday for his regularly scheduled visit. This was the one that required the spinal tap. Rudy took Grant to the clinic and said everything went fairly smoothly. His ANC was way down compared to where it has been, so he may be fighting a bug on top of allergies. Rudy also said he did quite a bit of crying during the spinal, which isn't really normal. To explain my thoughts on that, I will have to back up.....
Saturday, we were spending time at my parent's house with our family (Keith, Kristina, Granny & Grandpa). We had been out there all afternoon and had a great time. That evening, we even decided to play a little whiffle ball with the set Trent got for his birthday. While we were playing, Granny (83) tripped running from 2nd to 3rd. She fell sideways and hit her head. But, she jumped back up, and when we told her to sit down while we finished, she insisted that we needed her to finish the game. Long story short from there.....the fall caused a brain hemorrhage and she wrecked driving home. Grandpa is ok. Granny is still fighting. She had a lot of blood on her brain that had to be removed by surgery yesterday. Things looked very hopeless on Saturday night. But, on Sunday, God did a miracle and she began to improve. She has been getting better and better since. Today, they took out the breathing tube, but, this evening, they are having to put it back in. We have seen lots of miracles in the last year with Grant and we know God is still at work with Granny.
All that is to say, Grant is very close to Granny and Grandpa. He saw her fall and knows she is sick. Things have not been "normal" for the last few days and that causes anxiety for Grant. Please continue to pray for our whole family.

Trent Turned 2

Happy Birthday Trent! Trent turned 2 yesterday, so we drove for 14.5 hours to celebrate. :) Ha Ha! We celebrated by stopping for a mcflurry at mcdonald's on the way home.

We went to my parents' house today to celebrate with cake and ice cream and his present. He was so excited about his "tractor".

We are very proud of you Trent and love you very much. I can't believe it's been 2 years!

www.lighthousefamilyretreat.org

Retreat Families and our Leaders

Grant waiting for breakfast, his favorite part

Grant and his new friend Conner, GO BLUE!

Grant and Trent LOVED the beach

Grant and Trent on the bridge from our house to the beach

I don't even know where to start. We just returned from a week-long trip to Seagrove Beach, Fl. with an organization called Lighthouse Family Retreat. Lighthouse ministers to families that are dealing with childhood cancer by providing a carefree beach retreat for the whole family. All I can say is it was AMAZING! We had no idea what to expect before we went. But, any expectations we had were completely exceeded.

We left Sunday morning and drove 8 hours to Hattiesburg, MS. We spent the night and then drove another 4 hours to Seagrove on Monday. We were completely overwhelmed by friendly faces when we arrived. We were welcomed into a beautiful beach home that would be ours to enjoy for the next week. All of our bags were unloaded and delivered by a group of volunteers.

The next week was filled with activities for kids, parents, and whole families. We were completely taken care of by an awesome team of volunteers; some that prepared and served our meals, did our laundry, made our beds, took care of our kids, pretty much whatever you could think of, all while we enjoyed the beach and each other.

The boys completely enjoyed having all the attention they could ever want. And Rudy and I had a wonderful time at Common Grounds, a place where we met with other retreat parents that had a child with cancer. We met some amazing families and we all came away with some incredible friendships.

We left Saturday morning and drove all day to get home around midnight. The boys did a great job traveling.

We want to say THANK YOU to every single Lighthouse volunteer and staff member that made our week unforgettable. We appreciate you.