Remember Micah?

Hello friends!

I am writing tonight asking for urgent prayer for my sweet friends, Elizabeth and Steve, and their precious two year old boy, Micah.  If you don't remember, I wrote about him here and here and here.

Well, Micah's story is so unusual.  First, because the type of cancer he has is so rare, and second, because the stinking tumors are not going away, but he has been feeling better and better!  For a while he had been so sad and sick so much of the time it was heartbreaking.  Now, the good news is that his strength, energy and joy have been returning, but unfortunately, the news about the cancer is not good.

Steve and Elizabeth recently traveled to Chicago where surgeons will be operating on Micah's liver.  The optimal choice would have been a liver transplant, but since there are still tumors in the lungs, he is not a candidate. The chemo has seemed to stop being effective at shrinking the tumors, so their only option now is to try to remove the cancer from the liver.  It's a very risky procedure based on where the tumor is located, and when all is said and done, only 25% of the liver will remain.  The doctor is confident that the surgery will be successful, but he is concerned about the time he will spend in recovery in the ICU, since his liver will be functioning at such a low level.   Elizabeth will be in Chicago for a long while while he recovers, and from what I was told by family members, no visitors will be allowed because of the chance of infection.  I feel for her having to be there alone for so long, as Steve will have to go back to work after a time. 

When all of that is done, there will still be the tumors on the lungs to tackle.  I believe they are planning on surgery to remove those as well.

Dear friends, I remember when Sarah was battling her disease and we were in the midst of the fight, the very, very best thing of all was knowing that people were praying for us.  We could feel God's presence, and we knew without a shadow of a doubt that God was answering all those prayers that people around the world were offering up on our behalf.  I know that most of you haven't been following Micah's journey all along, and sometimes it's harder to pray for someone you don't feel a connection to.  But I am asking you from the bottom of my heart to pray and pray fervently for this sweet boy.  Quite honestly, by the world's standards, it doesn't look really good.  BUT...  GOD is in control.  The very same God who formed this entire universe with mere words, and keeps everything going so marvelously and miraculously, who healed our own sweet girl, and made little Micah...He can heal his body as well.  I love how that would amaze those skeptical doctors!  Please, please pray tomorrow as they travel to Chicago, and especially Monday as the surgery is done, and then in the days following as he moves into the scary recovery phase.  I just know that my friend would be so glad to know even more people are praying.  The address to his Carepage is here.  I hope you can get to it easily.  The name of his page is WatchHimWork.  I love that title!

Thank you, faithful bloggy friends!!  You guys are awesome!!

When he wasn't feeling well, Micah liked to be pulled around the hospital floor in a wagon. 

Enjoying time at the Hematology/Oncology picnic with Daddy and brother!

Having fun feeding pie to Rhys, the Child Life Specialist : )

Updates...

 Hi there!

I remembered that I had mentioned some precious kids in previous posts, and thought you might like to know some updates about them. 

In this post  I told you about Corrie and Vanya.  As far as I know, Corrie still doesn't have a family.  Please keep praying for her.  (To be honest, I am praying that God would call US to adopt her!!  But maybe you are her family??)  But Vanya DOES have a family committed to him!!  God is good, and He totally came through for that sweet boy.  Now we can pray that all will go well with his adoption and transition.

And here I told you about a sweet little boy from our church named Micah, who is battling stage 4 liver/lung cancer.  Well, if you have been wondering, his story has truly been a roller coaster ride.  At first everything was looking really great.  The cancer in his liver shrunk dramatically, and the 20 tumors in his lungs were reduced to 4!  However, later, while the cancer in his liver has continued to shrink, and that is incredibly awesome,  the number of tumors in his lungs increased to around 8 or 10, and now those have begun to grow. 



He loves penguins!!



Micah is still not able to eat normally...I'm not quite sure why that is, but he has a feeding tube down his nose at all times. : (  And he has been sick off and on with his rounds of chemo.  I know that is typically normal, but normal or not, it is so hard to watch your child suffering, so our friends are having a hard time.  They are trusting God, but they are also discouraged that those tumors are not leaving or shrinking.  Please pray for them.

I hope you are all having a great weekend!  God has been teaching me so much lately about what it really means to pray and serve Him.  The time is short.  Let's not waste our time while we are here.  We only have one shot at this life.  Let's make it count!  I can't wait to go to go to church tomorrow.  I hope you have a wonderful Lord's Day too!

Two precious treasures...

I normally use my blog to share something about my life.  But today I want to share about two different lives.  Two precious little angels who both need a mommy and daddy like every child does.

First...Corrie.

Last year, our Cassandra went to China.  She spent six months over there pouring her life into the lives of some very special babies.  These babies live in The Morning Star Children's Home, run by a family and nannies dedicated to taking care of babies who are in need of some special medical help.  The link to their website is on the side of my page, or you can access it HERE.

Well, Cassandra loves all babies, especially orphans, but she certainly fell in love with the babies in the home. 

And most of all, she fell in love with Corrie.

I can honestly say that Cassandra talked about Corrie (and still does a year later) with almost reverent tones.  She just loves that little girl with all her heart.  She can't even mention her name without smiling, saying how much she misses her,  how much she longs to see her again, and how she would adopt her if she possibly could.  All the babies she worked with are adorable and sweet.  Corrie does not seem to stand out in the pictures, and she has many special needs.  But Cassandra insists that there is something so special about her.  She said that Corrie charms everyone who comes to visit, and many of them claim her as their favorite. 

And now, Corrie has the possibility of finding a family of her very own!  Her orphanage is working on her paperwork to release to adoption agencies!  It is exciting, and I am so certain that God is going to bring the perfect family to this sweet angel.  Could it possibly be you?  Or maybe someone you know? 

HERE is the link to the post her "mommy" in China wrote about her.  If you cannot adopt her, please pray that she finds her family soon!

 Cassandra and her precious Corrie

 I love this picture of her and her "daddy"

 Another one of my favorite pictures of her.  Looking so stylin', ready to shop!

 With all her friends!  (Pretty in pink back there)  : )

Sweet Corrie : )

And next, meet Vanya.

I can't write as much about him, because I don't know as much.  But, a fellow blog friend, Adeye, is doing an awesome thing for this sweet boy who so desperately needs a family.

As I write this, there is not a family committed to bringing him home.  But Adeye felt the Lord leading her to do something for him to help change that!  She is having an amazing fundraiser over at her blog site, raising funds for his adoption.  And, there is a cool give-away you can get in on too as a bonus!  Already in the short time she has had it running, she has raised over $15,000!  That was her goal...but the adoption expenses will top that figure.  Please go over there and check out how you can get involved.  I was so excited to be part of something so close to God's heart!  Here is the LINK.

Dear friends, I believe with all my heart that caring for orphans is one of the most important things we can do while we have time here on earth.  I hope you will pray about what God would have YOU to do to help a precious little boy or girl today.



Normal stuff, and an update about Micah

First of all, if you are wondering what's new with us...nothing much.   : )  We are excited it is almost SPRING,!  Cassandra is working, working, working, the bigger boys are playing homeschool basketball, the littlest boy is in gymnastics (and no, it is not girly....)  He LOVES it, and he is really, really good at it, and Sarah is a wrecking ball--getting into everything she can get her little hands on, and making our house a mess every single day.  : )  And you know what?  I love it!  Seeing her trail of odds and ends everywhere around the house just reminds me that we are spending lots and lots of time at HOME.  God is so good.  Even messes are a blessing.  However,  I'm not sure what it is, but our little sweetie is becoming little Miss Whiny more often these days.  Yeah...we are nipping this new pastime in the bud, because whininess is one little habit that drives me up the wall.  I guess we are all sinners at heart.  Even our precious Sarah.

"Oops...got some paint on my sleeve, Mom."  : )

Well, she's a keeper when she's sweetly painting, and when she is not so sweetly whining.  So very thankful for every single day!  And check out that head of hair!  I went out and got some supplies to make some pretty headbands today. : )

Secondly, a friend of mine who reads my blog called me the other day to ask some questions about little Micah, so I thought I would clarify some things for others who might be wondering.

I copied this bit of info from a post written by a family member:

 The type of liver cancer Micah has is called natal hepatoblastoma.  Only about one hundred children in the United States are diagnosed with this type of cancer each year.  Most cases occur in children between the ages of two months and three years old. Seventy percent of the liver tumors are not diagnosed until the cancer has progressed to stage three or four.  Only one to two percent of cancers in children are liver cancer.  This specific cancer is so rare that very few studies have been done to find causes of the disease.

Micah's mom told me that the biggest scare is not necessarily the cancer that is in the liver, since surgery or a liver transplant could be possible.  What is most concerning are the spots on the lungs.  She said that they are going to treat the tumors with chemo, but if they do not all go away, Micah will not be able to get a liver transplant, since they will not give a healthy liver to a child with sick lungs.  I do not know if there would be a plan B if the chemo does not take care of those tumors in the lungs, so that is a huge prayer request!

Steve and Elizabeth are doing really well.  They are handling this with faith and trust in God, and He is rewarding them with the supernatural peace that I know so well.  God truly does give us the grace to get through the circumstances He brings into our lives.  Life on this earth is just plain hard sometimes, but God is only good, and He loves to show us who He really is.  Please continue to pray for them.  It truly does make all the difference!

Micah made it through the rough week, and now he's been resting. They have weaned him off the ventilator, and he only needs a little oxygen now. They are going to let him rest and get stronger through the weekend, and then they plan to start chemo on Monday.  We are continuing to pray for a miracle for him!

Micah

I would like to introduce you to a sweet boy named Micah.

Micah is 2 years old.  Two years and five months, actually.  The same age Sarah was when she was diagnosed with cancer last year.  He and his family are members of our church, and his mom, Elizabeth, is a friend of mine.  Elizabeth and her husband have three precious kids--Ben is five.  He was in my 3-4 year old class at church, and he is probably one of the most adorable, sweetest children on the planet, hands down.  Micah I don't know as well, since he was never in my class, but he is very sweet and quiet, and adorable as well, as you can see.  They also have a baby girl, five months old.  She is honestly one of the prettiest babies anywhere!  Elizabeth is one of those creative and crafty people you wish you could be like.  I saw pictures of cupcakes she made, with each one decorated as a different Toy Story character.  ALL of the characters.  They were amazing!  And she can sew.  She made Mr. Incredible costumes for each member of her family at halloween time.  The cutest things you ever saw! AND, the last wedding shower I went to, her gift was this wedding cake...made of TOWELS, and decorated really cute.  I have no idea how she even assembled the thing.  She is one of those people! 

Anyway, she and her husband are wonderful people and terrific parents.  Just a little background on this family to file away before I tell you what kind of a week they've been having.

Micah had been not eating well at all for a few weeks, and he had a fever that kept spiking.  After some bloodwork and different doctors putting pieces of the puzzle together, they ran some tests and found that he has stage 4 cancer of the liver and lungs.  About 90% of his liver is filled with a malignant tumor, and he has around twenty cancerous spots in each of his lungs.  The amazing thing is that his liver is working miraculously well at only 10% capacity, and he is not having trouble breathing at all.  The doctors are amazed.

They just found out all of this this past  Saturday, so this is all still fresh and shocking.  Scott and I went to visit with them at the hospital Monday night, since we are all too familiar with how they are feeling right now.  Yesterday things got scarier, however, as Micah went in for more tests, and he was bleeding from his liver.  I am not sure if this bleeding was already happening, or if it was a result of the testing, but it would not stop bleeding.  They could have lost him right there, but God intervened, and thankfully they got him stabilized.  Even now he is stable, but still in critical condition in the ICU.

Our friends are handling this as well as they can.  They have peace that God is in control, although of course it is difficult.

It's so strange to me that in our relatively small church within a year's time, two toddlers almost exactly the same age were diagnosed with cancer.  We never know exactly why we have to go through certain things, but I am happy that we have already walked this cancer road, and we are able to walk through it with our friends, knowing to some extent what they are going through.  I hope and pray that we will be able to be an encouragement to them.

Please pray for sweet little Micah!  He really needs a miracle, and God can certainly give him one!  We have seen Him do wonders in  Sarah's life, and we are waiting to watch Him do them again.  The name of Micah's Carepage is "Watch Him Work."  I love that! 

Thanks for praying, friends. 

Asking for prayer...

I'm sorry that this is going to be kind of a sad post.  It's not about Sarah or our family.  We have had such happy news.  Sarah took her first tub bath yesterday since her tubees site all healed up, and she had a blast.  : )  That girl loves the water.  Tonight all four of the younger kids were down in the family room playing tag with a ball wearing jeans and no shirts.  It was so funny.  Sarah kept stopping in the middle of the mayhem and looking down at her belly button. She would just stare at it for a while while the boys laughed and tumbled all around her.  My funny, crazy kids.

If you are a mom (or a dad) you know what I mean when I say that my kids are just the world to me.  They are like a magnet when I am in the room with them.  I just want to squeeze them!  (Yes, a couple of them have been known to get annoyed with my loveyness.)  Sarah often tells me, "No kiss you!"  (She means for me not to kiss her so much.)  Sorry, sweet girl.  I can't help it sometimes!  I am just hopelessly in love with my kids! 

I know that I am not the only mom who is in love with her kids.  But some of these moms and dads have children who have cancer or other illnesses, and they have not been having good news like we have.  The purpose of this post is to ask for prayer for a few of these kids that I have been praying for.

Please pray for Savannah.  She is about ten years old, and she has been battling cancer for five years.  It is not looking very good at this point.  She needs a miracle.  Please pray!

And please pray for Jared.  He is nineteen years old, fighting cancer for the second time.  Instead of shrinking, it had been spreading.  But thankfully, he just recently started getting good news that some of the tumors have begun shrinking now.  Please pray!

Please pray for Rochelle.  She is in the hospital as I type this, having a high dose of chemo and a bone marrow transplant.  It's the second time she's had cancer.  My heart is heavy for her and her family, going through this again.

Dear friends, sometimes it seems that life on this earth just isn't fair.  And you know what?   It really isn't.  No one ever said that life on this earth would be fair.  Not even God. This world, as beautiful as it is, is tainted and stained by sin and all the ugliness that comes with it.  But what He did say is that it will not always be this way!  Evil and sickness and death will be defeated for good someday, and I believe it will not be in the far distant future.  We have the hope of an eternity that will be absent of every horrible thing we have grieved over during this lifetime.  No one will have cancer ever again.  No innocent child will be hurt or neglected.  And God in His infinite love has made a way for you to know Him and enjoy this eternal life with Him.  Click Here to know more.

So, hug your kids a little tighter today.  Be thankful for every day, the boring and the not so great included.  Keep kissing those cheeks, even if they get sick of it. ; )  And be thankful for our great God who loves us so much, He will make everything right in the end, and hug us and kiss our cheeks forever and ever.

Revelation 21:4-5--  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow , nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:  for the former things are passed away.  And He that sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new."