Still Dancing In The Rain

The last month has been fairly stable, however, her WBC and CRP have elevated over the last 2 months without any explanation. Since she doesn't feel any worse, we will just be waiting on her scans on Sept.28. She saw the facial plastic surgeon Monday, and the surgery for both her eyes and mouth/chin region will be on October 25. She is not looking forward to this as most procedures like this just don't go well  for her. She also doesn't heal very quickly. She is praying that this one will be easy and get the desired effects. Please pray with us as the Spirit leads. She was in the ER Tuesday evening after some beef got stuck in her esophagus. This is not a new thing, but usually she is able to get it out with a lot of hacking and dry-heaving. This time it wouldn't move. After 30 minutes of trying, her doctor from NIH told us to go to the ER. Nothing would pass, not even her spit. After 2 hours of waiting in the ER, the meat went down. She didn't end up seeing anyone in the ER which is a sad thing. I hope that emergencies don't have to wait that long. Anyway, we ended up leaving without seeing anyone. At least we were in a place that could have helped up(I hope)if she aspirated which is why we went in the first place. One funny thing was that she was put in the exact room she was in about 3 years earlier when she first had the symptoms of cancer. Kelsey was with us in the ER at that time. The guy that came in was asking what was wrong with her; we told him and he didn't know the disease. Instead of asking us what it was he said, "Oh is that when the esophagus has got that twisty thing," and he proceeds to show us with his hands. Just like 3 years earlier, we were laughing, then joking about what Kelsey would have been doing. It really makes us laugh out loud. Prov. 17:22 says a cheerful heart is good medicine. Well it certainly worked. The treatment for retrieval was not at all on Karly's list of things she wanted to do that night. Praise God, she didn't have to! Earlier in the day she had some pills lodged in the same ledge, but they went down within a couple hours also. Within the last few weeks, we have determined she is allergic to beef. This allergy is a little different than her others. When she eats a food that she is allergic to, she immediately swells in the lips, tongue, and throat. With this one, she swells about 2 1/2 hours later; it is only her lips. She is keeping up with her 2 classes and enjoying some college life with a huge worship service for college folks and Bible study. Ball Bearings is doing a follow-up story on her because Kelsey's story made such an impact on campus. We enjoyed speaking with our interviewers and sharing where we are in life. God has been so faithful to us, and we are so grateful.

The boys have been very blessed in their jobs. Trent was sent to a training seminar out-of-state last week. He learned information that will help him in his job, and it showed him that he is eager to learn more. Tyler leaves Sunday for an out-of-state conference which he is looking forward to. We had a great family reunion in August which Tyler and Trent were able to attend.

Tyler has been slowly working on developing my website for DOCK8. It is up, but not in a functioning mode just yet. I am getting more excited about it. I have met 3 more families in the last month that have DOCK8 children. I hope that my dream to meet all of these families is realized one day. Pray with us that God will bless this endeavor, and it will bring Him glory.

School is going well for everyone. We have started the usual activities around here...dance and soccer. The weather has been mostly beautiful for the games, and we love hanging out with friends and family under the bright blue sky.

Probably the biggest battle we have is in the control of our mind. Everyday is a battle to find our hope. Some days it is easy to find it: others more difficult. Everyday we must make a mental effort to believe we have hope and a future. Everyday we have to dismiss the petty things and choose to do the things that give us peace...a holy peace. We thank God for His promises to us!

Love,
Mom