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Thursday, March 15, 2012 12:03 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! WOW its been a long time. Things here have been up and down for us. We went through a really bad month in February. We almost lost our place to live. Not being able to find a job has taken a toll on me. I've been super stressed out and worried. But I am happy to report that 2 days ago I started a new job. I am really excited about this job. It is working at huge Wine store as a front end clerk. Everyone there is really nice and so far training has been great. It feels so good to be out in the workplace again after 8yrs at home. I have a lot of catching up to do with bills, but it has relieved some stress knowing I have a permanent job to go to every week.

The kids are doing good. They are not use to me working yet, but they will adjust I am sure in no time. They have been on spring break this week. They both continue to do great in school. Charlie just registered for freshman year in high school and was accepted to the high school he really wanted to go to. I can't believe he is going to be a freshman in high school already. Where does the time go? On March 29th he will be 14yrs old!

Emily has been doing good health wise. She is still doing her infusions every monday for her immune system. We did go see the doctor and he wants to take her off them the end of May, beginning of June and let her stay off them for a couple months. Then he will recheck her IGG levels and see if her body is keeping its immune system on its own. If it is then she will not have to go back on them, but if it is not then he is going to put her on a once a month infusion instead of a once a week one. She was excited to hear that. Her breathing has been good lately. I have noticed she is coughing a bit more then she has been the last few months, but nothing to be worried about.

Overall we are doing pretty good. Please keep praying that I can get all our bills paid current and that we will not lose our place to live before I can get my income coming in steadily. That is my biggest worry right now.

Thank you to everyone that continues to come check on us and pray for our family and leave messages. I know I haven't been very good at keeping this updated, but it seems I haven't really found much time for the computer as I use to have. Emily does frequently check her guestbook though and loves to hear from you all.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 11:32 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. We made it through the holidays and it was great. Emily and Charlie had a good Christmas. They didn't get alot this year but they were very happy with what they did get. We have all been having so much fun with the several board games they got. They spent half the day Christmas with me and then they went to their dads for the rest of the day and spent the night. They had fun at their dads as well. For New Years we went to my sisters and hung out. It was fun. The kids ran around and played and set off fireworks. We are hoping 2012 will be a great year for us.

Emily has been feeling pretty good. No real concerns with her health. I have to call and make her an appointment with her pulmonologist and immunologist soon. Just for follow up, not because of concerns. We continue to give her infusions every monday for her immune system. She really hates Mondays because of them, but she does so well for them. Other then that she has been running and playing like any other 12yr old would. It is so exciting to see her doing so well. She is also doing great in school. She is so excited to see her report card next week cause she thinks she just may have hit Honor Roll. She has been trying very hard and I am so proud of her.

Charlie has been doing great. Very active 13yr old and loves to do all things that boys his age do. He has been playing alot of football and video games. He was excited to be going back to school though. He was really missing his friends.

I want to send a special thanks to a friend that has been there through our whole journey and has been through alot herself. Sue thank you for all that you have done to help us, support us and pray for us. I will never be able to express how much it truly means to us. God Bless You!

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, November 25, 2011 10:25 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Wow it sure has been a long time since I've updated. Things have been hectic and we are trying to settle into our new life. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was good. We spent it with my sister, Kelly and her husband. It was a good Thanksgiving with lots to be thankful for.

Let me tell you how the kids are doing. Charlie is doing great. He is still loving school and doing well with all A's and B's. He is excelling in band and just loves to play the trumpet. He has a band concert coming up next month for the holidays. Emily is doing great health wise. We are still doing her infusions for her immune system every week and they seem to be doing what they are suppose to be doing. She is doing great in school as well with all A's and B's.

We have officially moved back into our house and we are loving it. It is so nice after 8 months of living with someone to have our own home again. The kids love having their own rooms and all of their stuff back. We have been living here for about 2 weeks now and we are so happy.

Two things I would like to ask for prayers about though. I am having a really hard time finding a job. Every place I have applied tell me I have no recent job experience and that is what they are looking for. Why can they not understand that I stopped working for 7yrs because my daughter was sick and needed me? Please pray I find something very soon. Bills are going to start coming up due in the next couple weeks and I have no idea what I am going to do. I do not want to lose our home again. Second prayer request is for Christmas. We are without a tree and I am unable to buy gifts for the kids as of right now. I guess this goes hand in hand with finding a job. We are happy and loving life, but please pray these two things will fall into place for us.

I am going to try to get on here more often and update. I miss updating. Thank you to those of you that continue to leave messages. Emily does still check for messages in her guestbook and loves to hear from you.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, October 13, 2011 1:37 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates but things have been very busy and very stressful. Emily is doing great. Her health is good. The infusions for her immune system are working! Charlie and Emily are loving school and doing well.

The last month has been crazy. We have been living with my sister. I don't know what we would have done without her. My divorce is final and the kids are attempting to build a relationship with their dad again. It is going to take time considering all that has happened, but I am happy to see them giving him a chance and he is finally stepping up and showing interest. We are also getting ready to move back into our house that we moved out of 7 months ago. I met with the landlords and they are giving me a great deal on rent and willing let us move in with no move in costs. The kids are so excited that they will have their own rooms back. I am equally excited but also stressing. Please pray that I find a job quickly. I haven't worked in over 7yrs and that is my biggest worry right now.

Once we are settled I promise to keep up with the updates.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, August 30, 2011 12:46 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Let me start off by saying Emily is doing great. Her breathing has been good and she has not been sick at all. We went to the pulmonologist a few weeks ago and they told her she doesn't have to do her shakey vest anymore. She was so excited about that. They are going to start taking her off her meds one by one and see how she does without them since she started the infusions for her immune system. She has done great since being off the shakey vest.

School has started and the kids are loving it. Emily had a tough time adjusting to 7th grade but is doing great now. Charlie is in 8th grade honors classes and loves it.

I would like to ask that you keep the kids and I in your prayers. We have once again lost our place to live. The friends that were staying with decided they didn't want us here anymore and has asked us to move out. This has been super stressful on me and I am not sure what we are going to do. Right now my kids are staying with my sister while I move our stuff out into storage.

I will try to update when I can. I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers and messages. It means so much. Love to all! (((HUGS)))

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, July 8, 2011 1:45 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! SO SORRY for taking so long to update. Things have been crazy and hectic, but not all bad. Emily is doing well health wise. She continues to do her weekly infusions for her immune system. They are going well and she has had no side effects from them. She saw the oncologist last week and he was really happy with her overall. She doesn't have to go back to see him for a year. Emotionally Emily is having a tough time with our new life. Some days she is good and other days she's not. Its like a roller coaster, but it is to be expected. Overall she is dealing well with the divorce. The hardest part of it for both the kids is simply not having their dad around and the fact that he doesn't bother to contact them or try to see them. Please continue to keep them your prayers. It is so hard for them to understand why he is the way he is.

Little Charlie is doing great. He is also a roller coaster of emotion, but he is dealing pretty well. He is leaving for camp tomorrow with the cancer society for a week. He is so excited to see his friends that he hasn't seen in a while. He will come back on Friday and then Emily will leave on Sunday for her week at camp.

The last 2 months have been fun filled and busy for the kids. They have spent a lot of time with their cousins swimming and playing games. I am still trying to get all our stuff out of our old house. It has been a slow process. I know it will all fall into place sooner or later.

I would like to ask that you pray for two of our close friends that have recently been diagnosed with cancer. One with kidney cancer and one with breast cancer. They are two very strong women and I have faith that they will beat this nasty disease.

I will try to be better about updating. Thank you all for your continued support and messages. It means so much.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 12:19 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Finally an update! :) I want to start by saying tomorrow May 12th is Emily's 12th birthday. I can't believe she is 12yrs old already. Many of you have followed her journey from the start when she was just 4yrs old. My has she grown into the most amazing young lady, whom I am so proud to have as a daughter. I know she could really use the birthday messages in her guestbook. Now that we have internet she will be able to check them.

Here is what has been going on with her health. We decided to start Hizentra infusions for her immune system. It was my understanding that it would be a shot once a week. Well she got her first one last week and it was NOT just a shot. It was 2 needles in her tummy infused over 4hrs. She did not like that at all. She got her second infusion here at home on monday. This week it was 4 needles in her thigh infused over 2hrs. She is pretty sore but is handling it all like a champ. She will get these infusions every monday for at least a year, but maybe for the rest of her life. I am being taught how to do them so I can do it here at home. It will be 4 needles every week and we will rotate from her legs to her tummy. We sure are hoping this is exactly what she needs. Other then that she is doing well. We finally got to meet her new pulmonologist. She likes him. He only wants to see her every 3 months instead of every 2weeks like the other doctor was. Looks like we are going to make it through the summer with only one doctors appointment a month. Emily is super excited about that.

The last 2 months have been super hard on the kids and I. The kids hadn't seen their dad since we left. This past weekend he took them for the day. Took them to the zoo and lunch. They had lots of fun with their dad and for that I am glad, but they came home very confused. Just not understanding why he couldn't be like that when we were all together. They are going through so much emotionally and I ask that you continue to pray for them.

We had a great easter. We all went to the park and did pictures. It was so much fun. The kids only have 7 days left to school. I can't believe this year is over already. Its even harder for me to believe that Emily will be a 7th grader and Charlie will be an 8th grader. The years sure do fly by. They are excited about the summer. Spending lots of time with the thier cousins and swimming. And of course they are really looking forward to summer camp with the cancer society. Charlie has also signed up to go on a 3 day river rafting trip with the cancer society. We haven't heard back on whether he was accepted for that yet, but I hope he is. It would be a great experience for him.

We are planning cake and ice cream with family for Emily's birthday tomorrow. Thank you all for continueing to check in even with the lack of updates and leave messages for us. Also thank you so much for your prayers. They mean so much. I will definately update more often now that I have internet access.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, April 14, 2011 10:08 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! I know its been far to long since I've updated. Things have not been good at all. First let me tell you what has been happening with Emily's health. I got the results back from her ct scan finally. They did the comparison and they said that her right lung (where her cancer was) is pretty messed up but stable. Everything that is going on with that lung looks the same as the the last ct scan. So no worse is good news!! However her left lung has new nodules in the lower lobe. They are not sure what they are but do not believe they have anything to do with cancer. We see the doctor on the 28th of this month and we will hopefully know more then. Also we went to the immunologist and he said we should be able to give Emily her first shot for her immune system next week if everything goes as planned. We are very excited to start these shots and hopefully get her feeling better. Other then that, health wise she is doing well.

Our life has taken a big turn. Right now it is very hard but I know this is what is best for us and that it will get better. About a month ago the kids and I left my husband. I don't want to get into the details of things but we have not been happy for quite some time. The kids are not dealing with it very well. They want nothing to do with their dad, but are having a tough time coping with being without him. Right now we are staying with friends. The kids love it over there and they are much happier most of the time. Please continue to pray for the kids and I. I've been out of work now for 7yrs and I am scared that I won't be able to make it out there on my own. This was a hard step to make but one that had to be made. So please just keep us in your prayers.

I don't get much computer time anymore, but I will keep updating as I can. Thank you for continueing to check in on us and praying for us. It means the world.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, March 25, 2011 8:47 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! I am sorry for not updating but I haven't really had much computer access. I would like to start off by asking you to please say a prayer for the kids and I. There are big changes happening in our life and it is going to be a huge adjustment.

Here is what has been going on with Emily lately. She finished out all her iv antibiotics and they removed the picc line. She was so happy to have that gone. Since ending her antibiotics her cough has started again and gotten worse. She is feeling rundown all the time. We did however go see the immunologist. We really like him and he has a plan. He is currently trying to get a shot approved with the insurance for Emily's immune system. It is a once a week shot that I will give her at home that will help replace the IGG that her body isn't producing. The doctor says that will help her to feel better, have more energy and most likely help with her lung troubles to. He said imagine how you feel on your worst day of being sick and that is how Emily feels 24/7. Most days you would never even know it. Please pray they will get this approved and we can start the shot soon. Also pray this will be the answer and she will finally start feeling better and more normal.

Tuesday I took Emily for a Barium swallow test and a chest ct. The swallow test came back perfectly normal. They did that test cause they found high amounts of acid in her lungs and wanted to make sure that she wasn't aspirating on food and drinks going in instead of just the acid reflux. We were not worried, we pretty much knew that was going to be normal. The chest ct is a different story. They have not given me results yet. They requested previous films and so I brought those to them. Still hadn't heard anything. I hope they will call today. When they called me tuesday they said they saw something on the chest ct but wanted to compare it to the previous one to make sure if it was new or not. This is the first set of tests being done at the new hospital. So I brought them her previous one so they could compare. Please pray that there is nothing new. I will get on the computer and let you know when I get the results.

Right now Charlie and Emily are both dong well in school. Spring break was good and we had great weather most of the time. We spent a lot of time outside. This weekend they are going to a friends and going to a spring training baseball game. Next weekend they are off to spring camp for the weekend with the cancer society. They are so excited.

Tuesday March 29th Charlie turns 13yrs old. I can't believe it!!! They grow up far to fast. Not sure what we are going to do just yet for his birthday. I think we are going to keep it simple this year. Emily and I will take him to dinner wherever he wants to go and then cake and ice cream at home.

Thank you all for checking in. I will make sure I update more. Keep us in your prayers please. It is much appreciated. Hope you all have a great weekend. I will update with results from the ct as soon as I get them.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, March 4, 2011 2:29 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates, but it has been one of those weeks around here. I would like to start off with saying THANK YOU to everyone for your wonderful comments on Emily's haircut. It made her feel so much better and she is still loving it. She told that one person that his opinion doesn't matter and that he is not going to make her feel bad about her new hair. :)

The transition to the new pulmonology group has been a tough one for us. Emily was not excited about changing hospitals to begin with. So when we went to the first appointment with the nurse practitioner and she talked very badly about the other doctor it did not make a good impression on us. Her exact words to us was, "I don't understand why this doctor is doing this stupid treatment. Sounds like a quack to me." We were there for 2hrs while she looked through her records and basically told me that all the decisions I've made for Emily's care of her lungs was wrong. I left the office crying and feeling like an uneducated idiot. Emily said she never wanted to go back again. We sat and talked that night and Emily and I agreed to give them one more chance. This week we went back. We saw the same nurse practioner that tried to convince us that Emily doesn't need the iv meds and that her lungs are not that bad. Emily looked at her and said she wanted to finish out the last 2wks of iv meds. That they were making her feel better and that she felt like she could breathe easier. The nurse agreed that if that was what Emily wanted to do then she was ok with it. But that she wants to get a chest ct and throat cultures in the meantime. We agreed that would be ok. They are also sending her to an immunologist for her immune deficiency. They believe that her immune deficiency needs to be treated and that with treatment we will see a difference in her lung function and will have no need for iv antibiotics in the future. I am glad that we are going to do that. So all in all the second appointment went much better. Emily is still not sold on this doctors office, but we haven't seen the actual doctor yet so I hope that it will be better once we do. Unfortunately we can't get in to see the doctor until April 28th. So until then we will just continue on the meds previously precribed and if needed before then we can get in to see the nurse practitioner again. Please pray that all will go well until April 28th and that we will like the new doctor. Also that Emily will feel comfortable with him and feel better about the change. I've heard some really great things about this doctor.

The kids are doing great in school. Emily is going to be singing in the school talent show. She is so excited and has been practicing alot. She is singing the song Firework by Katy Perry. If you haven't heard the song before I encourage you to look it up and give it a listen. It is a wonderful song with a great message. It means alot to Emily and she hopes that she can sing it really well at the talent show. Not sure what the date is for the show yet, but I will try to post video if her performance. Charlie has a band thing coming up next week. There will be several Jr High bands coming together doing performances on Tuesday night. He is super excited. He really loves playing the trumpet.

Wednesday I took Emily for xrays of her back for scoliosis. We are waiting to hear the results from her pediatrician. We did this last year cause when she had her physical her spine was off 8 degrees. Xrays then showed all was ok. This year same thing happened. I am positive that it will all show ok again. Immunology appointment is set for March 14th. They will then look into why her IGG and IGA levels are so low. Worst case scenario from what I am told is that she will have to have IVIG every 4-6 weeks for the rest of her life. I will have more info after the appointment on the 14th.

Again thank you all for your wonderful messages to her. They have really helped to lift her spirits over the last week. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, February 21, 2011 1:12 AM CST

UPDATE WEDNESDAY FEB. 23, 2011.........

Pulmonology update first... Doctor visit was a long, emotional visit with not really much for good news. It was our last visit with Emily's pulmonologist. Emily is sad to see her go and sad to lose the nurses that she has become so close to. We got to the office about 3:30pm and was there until about 7pm. Lung function tests showed lower results once again. They are not drastically lower, but lower none the less. So today she started back on the IV antibiotics. She has 2 different meds. One is given once a day and the other is given 3 times a day. Each med runs over 1hr. Hoping and praying that they will do their job this time. Emily has an appointment with the new pulmonologist office tomorrow morning. We won't be seeing the actual doctor tomorrow, but we will see the nurse practioner. I hope we are happy with them.

Also wanted to share the pictures that the kids and I did on monday. We had so much fun. We went to the same park we did pictures before, but this time we decided to use the buildings for our background instead of nature. I really like the way they turned out. These buildings are old indian school buildings. We really had a blast. Hope you enjoy them. Also several people have commented on the skull and crossbone thing Emily has on her arm. This is my project and my new little invention you could say. I made her a bunch of these in all different material. The net they give you to put over the PICC line and dressing irritates Emily's arm. So I made these for her. She loves them and has one for just about any outfit she wears. :)

OH and last but not least. Thank you all for the comments on Emily's new haircut. She had someone very close to her tell her that it looks ugly and that she should go get a refund. This broke her heart that he said this and she has been second guessing whether she likes it ever since. I absolutely love it and she really loves it to. She really worries about what others think and especially this one person and so for him to do that to her really hurt her and had her confused on whether she ever should have cut it. Your comments meant the world to her and has renewed her spirit and her love for her haircut. :) Thank you so much!!!

Ok here are the pictures.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


******************************************************************************


***NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM***

Hi Everyone! On saturday Emily got her hair cut. Picture above is her new haircut. She loves it! She decided she wanted something different. She got about 6 inches cut off the length and then layered it. She loves the way it gave her hair more style instead of it just being straight and flat. It was really hard for her to cut that much off. Emily looks at her hair as a gift since she went nearly 2yrs without any. So it takes alot for her to cut it, but she is so glad she did it. What do you think?? She would really like to hear your opinions on how it looks. :)

Emily has been feeling so so. She finished her steroids on friday. She has been feeling very dizzy and very tired for the last week. We see the doctor on tuesday for the last time and we will be sure to mention it to her. Hoping also to see that her lung function has gone up. We went to the pediatrician on friday as well. He recommended a new pulmonologist to us and suggested that I get her in right away. I am going to call them in the morning and see how soon we can get an appointment. It is especially urgent for us to get established with a new doctor soon since Emily still has her PICC line in and her current pulmonologist will no longer be here as of friday Feb 25th. The pediatrician is confident that we will like the team of doctors he is sending us to. I will keep you posted on this.

The kids have no school tomorrow so thier cousins came to spend the night tonight. Tomorrow we are going to go to the park and take pictures and maybe play some football. Hopefully we won't get rain again. Its been raining all weekend so we have been cooped up in the house. It was the kids idea to go tot he park for pictures. They are all a bunch of camera hams. :) I will share new pictures soon.

Not to much else going on here. Please keep her lung function in your prayers. We really want to see an increase this time since it is the last appointment with her doctor. Also those steroids had Emily's emotions all over the place and she really hated doing them. It would make her feel so much better if her lung function went up. I'll keep you posted.

Here is the before and after pictures of Emily and her haircut. You can really tell the big difference and she wanted me to share them. :)


Before


After

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 12:11 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Emily had her doctors appointment yestarday. Her lung function remains unchanged. Still low and not getting better. UGH! Today she will start on IV steroids for 3 days. We will see what that does for her lung function. The other thing is she has been very tired. Not sure what the cause of this is, but hopefully we can bring her lung function up and we will see her energy level come back up. We recheck lung function on tuesday.

I've been sick since last friday so I've been trying not to breathe on Emily. :) I just don't want her to get sick. I feel like I am starting to get better, but boy is it ever hanging on. Friday Emily goes to the pediatrician to get her physical and get all her papers signed for spring camp. She is so excited that camp is coming back around again. Charlie will go for his next week. Spring camp is April 1-3. We will also be talking to the peds doctor about a new pulmonologist. I am hoping he will be able to help us find just the right doctor. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Not to much else is going on here. Just trying to get well and keep Emily well. :) Hope you all had a great valentines day. The kids had parties at school and tomorrow night is family dance night at their school. I am hoping I feel better to be able to take them. They are pretty excited and really want to go.

Pray these steroids work and that we see improvement in lung function and energy levels. Update when I know more.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, February 10, 2011 0:22 AM CST

Hi Everyone! 3 weeks of IV antibiotics and Emily's lung function continues to go down. This has been hard news to take over the last week. Her energy level is down and her cough is still frequent. She will be off the antibiotics until tuesday when we see the doctor again and do lung function tests. At that time we will determine if we should start them again. The doctor is talking about a new iv antibiotic and we hope that one will do the trick.

I've noticed a huge attitude change in Emily over the last week. She has gotten angry and even said to me, "Everyone would just be better off if I wasn't here anymore." This makes me sad. Today I think we figured out what is going on with her. Her doctor leaves in 2 weeks and we still haven't found one that we feel comfortable taking over Emily's care. Emily said she is scared of what is going to happen to her after her doctor leaves. She feels like her doctor is abandoning her. This made the doctor cry today. She is going to work with me to help me find a doctor that will take over Emily's care that we can trust. Please pray that we will find just the right doctor and that we can put Emily at ease. Also please pray that we can bring her lung function up before her doctor leaves.

The picture above was taken this morning. She was doing her shakey vest, a breathing treatment and her iv meds all at the same time and doing homework. I am so proud at how well she has done with taking all her meds like she should be. I just hope the teacher could read her writing since she was on the shakey vest. LOL! :)

Back to the doctors on tuesday. I will keep you posted.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, January 30, 2011 11:32 PM CST

**Pulmonology Update February 1, 2011**

No change in Emily's lung function yet. Was really hoping to see an increse, but guess we just have to be happy that it didn't decrease. Doctor decided to change one of her iv meds. We will be doing a stronger antibiotic twice a day now instead of the other one only once a day. Praying this will do the trick and increase her lung function. Also she has decresed breathe in the bases of her lungs. Please pray this will get better with the new meds. Emily is feeling pretty good and so we are thankful for that. We will go back next week just to check lung function. One more prayer request tonight. Please pray that we can find a new pulmonologist soon. Emily's doctors last day is Feb 25th. I have been stressing about this alot lately. I don't want her doctor to leave and us not have a new one yet. Thank you for checking in and for your continued prayers.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Emily's arm is looking so much better. The gauze dressing without tape is working. The dressing has to be changed every other day to cut down on the risk of infection. I can't believe how much of a difference in the way it looks though. All the blisters are gone, the swelling is gone, and almost her whole arm is looking normal again. The worst part is in the bend of her elbow and even that is looking only red and raw, but healing. We will find out on Tuesday if the meds are working already to bring up her lung function. The nurse will be out tomorrow to change the dressing and then we see the pulmonologist on tuesday.





Last week I took the kids to a basketball clinic with the Phoenix Suns courtesy of HopeKids. They had a lot of fun playing basketball with the Phx Suns Gorilla. No to much else has been going on. Just school, meds, dressing changes and hanging out at home. I'll post again after her doctors appointment on tuesday.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, January 25, 2011 1:22 AM CST

Hi Everyone! It has been a long few days. Emily's picc line is not liking her this time around. Friday morning she woke up and a rash was starting on her arm. By the time she got home from school the rash was from her armpit to her wrist. The nurse came and changed the dressing and told us if it got worse to call them. Saturday morning a few blisters had formed. By sunday morning her whole arm was nothing but blisters. I called the nurse back out and they changed the dressing again, but put a different kind on it. They said it should get better. Monday morning she woke up and her arm is swollen and the blisters have gotten worse. It is also weeping. She is in so much pain and just plain miserable. We are going to try to see the doctor tuesday afternoon and hopefully she will be able to suggest something we can do to make it better. It looks pretty yucky and nothing is helping with the pain. Please pray that we can get it better. We aren't even through the first week and she is going to have this in for at least 2 months.



Tuesday we are going with HopeKids to play basketball and hang out with the Phoenix Suns. Emily is so excited. I hope she will not be in too much pain and will be able to enjoy it.

Not to much else is going on. She has 2hrs of iv meds each day and that seems to be going well. I hope we will see an improvement in lung function next time we go to the doctor. I will keep you posted.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 10:32 PM CST

***UPDATE JANUARY 20, 2011***

Well it was a long day at the hospital, but everything went well. We checked in at 11am and was scheduled for 1pm. They were running 2hrs behind and so we didn’t get in there until 3pm. She did great. Didn’t fight when they put her to sleep like she usually does. The procedure took about an hour and a half. The doctor wanted to try his hardest to fulfill Emily’s request of having the picc line in her left arm. She is right handed and didn’t want it in that arm and really didn’t want it placed in her leg. She was happy when she woke up and found it right where she wanted it. We got home about 7pm tonight and Emily was starving since she hadn’t had anything to eat since last night. She ate, took some tylenol for pain and then went to bed. Tomorrow her meds will be delivered and the nurse will be here to change the dressing (the part Emily hates the most) and show us how to give the meds. She is going on 2 different antibiotics instead of just one like the last time. 3 weeks on, 2 weeks off and 3 weeks on. My HOPE is that the meds will help improve her lung function and that her skin will not break down like it did that last time. Thank you for the prayers.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY JAN. 18, 2011**

Emily has been scheduled to get her PICC line in. It has been an ordeal trying to get that arranged. The insurance company decided to put her case under medical review. The doctor made a push today to speed the insurance company up and they approved it. So we check in at 11am on Thursday. Emily is pretty upset that it was scheduled for that day of all days. Thursday at 1pm is her awards assembly and she is recieving an award for Extra Effort and Most Improved for 2nd quarter in school. She will still get the award, but unfortunately she will probably not be making it to the assembly.

Please pray the PICC placement goes smoothly. I will update after we are home.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Today was the day that we went to see the pulmonologist. It was not good news. Her lung function is down again. She is coughing alot and not able to do too much activity without getting out of breath. Within the next week Emily will have a PICC line placed again for IV atibiotics. She is surprisingly ok with this. We will do 3 weeks on, 2 weeks off and 3 weeks on with 2 different antibiotics. We sure hope this shows improvement in her lung function like it did the last time we did IV antibiotics. More bad news came our way when the doctor told us that she would no longer be practicing in Arizona come March 1st. Two of the hospitals are merging here and she has decided not to stay through the merger. She will be going to Florda. They will be lucky to have her. She wants to get Emily's lung function up as much as she can before she leaves to give us more time to find a new pulmonologist. They do not as of yet have a replacement for her. The doctor said something to me that really has me worried. She said that she is worried about what will happen with Emily's care once she is gone. I've come to really trust this doctor and her treatment plan and her judgement on what we should do in Emily's care. I am afraid that when we go see a new doctor they are going to want to start at square one and Emily will get worse. Please pray these antibiotics give us the time we need to find a great doctor to continue her care. Pray that the new doctor we find will be great and will help us improve Emily's health. I am so worried about starting over with a new doctor. Emily is incredibly upset and scared about having a new doctor. Her pulmonologist is going to give us a copy of her chart and all her records so it will make it easier when we see the new doctor when we find one.

Kids have half day the next 2 days at school for parent teacher conferences. I've already checked their grades online and they are doing good. Charlie got 5 A's, 1 B and 1 C. Emily got 4 C's and 3 B's. Now just to see what the teachers have to say. I am sure it will be good. They have been working hard to improve this quarter.

We kept busy over the last few weeks. I finally have all the pictures ready to share. I took the kids to Glendale Glitters/Hot Air Balloon Festival last weekend. We had so much fun. There was 25 hot air balloons, music, food, lights and fun. Here are the pictures.

Sunday, January 2, 2011 11:43 PM CST

Happy New Year Everyone! Hope you had a great Christmas and New Years. Things here have been busy with the kids being out of school for 2 weeks. Emily has been feeling pretty good. Her last doctors appointment showed a slight drop in her lung function again. We put her on a new med and she is doing her shakey vest 3 times a day now instead of 2. We did however take her off 2 of her other meds and replaced it with one. That one seems to be helping more then the combination of the other 2 were. I am very proud of how she is handling the shakey vest. I am not fighting with her to do it at all.

Christmas was good. We had our Christmas eve party at our house again this year. Almost everyone came and we had a great time. The kids got new bikes for Christmas. They were so excited about that. A few months ago their bikes were stolen and destroyed before they were recovered. It was the one thing they really wanted for Christmas. We spent New Years at my sister house. The kids got to set off fireworks for the first time. (they just became legal here in Arizona) I have pictures to share as well. I will try to get them up tomorrow.

The last 2 weeks that the kids have been out of school I've had a house full of kids and have been loving every minute of it. We had Katie and Tyler over and had a footy pajama party. I took the kids to the cemtery and they decorated it for Grandma and Grandpa. They did a great job. then we came home and baked and did crafts. I had joked with all the kids that I was going to buy them footy pajamas for Christmas and they didn't believe me. They figured they were to old for those. So that night I gave them each a gift to open. It was pretty funny when they all opened them up a few days before Christmas. They all loved them though. LOL! We made lots of little Christmas ornaments and made cookies and fudge. It was so much fun.

Tomorrow they go back to school. They are excited and sad about going back. They've really enjoyed being home with me. Emily's next appointment with the pulmonologist is on Jan. 12th. We are hoping the new meds and the increase in the shakey vest use will show some improvement in lung function. If not then the doctor is talking about IV antibiotics again. There is lots of junk in her lungs and her immune system is still very low. I'll keep you posted.

The kids also went and spent time with Papa (my dad) and TommyeSue (his wife). They had so much fun. They made cookies and played games and just had a great time. They can't wait to be able to go and do it again. It truly was a great 2 week vacation for them. Hope you all had a great holiday vacation as well. Praying for good health, happiness and many blessings for all in this new year.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, December 3, 2010 3:10 AM CST

~Wednesday December 15, 2010~

We have been super busy with Christmas around the corner. Emily has been feeling pretty good. We went to the pulmonologist yestarday. Her lung function stayed the same. That is good news. It means the vest is helping. We hope to see improvement soon. We also took her off 3 of her meds. She has been having headaches and so we changed her meds a bit to see if that helps take them away. Overall a good appointment.

Emily has her chorus performance thursday night. She is so excited. They have been working so hard and I know it is going to be a great performance. This weekend we have lots planned. Dinner with friends, zoolights and then their cousins are coming to spend a couple days with us. We are going to do crafts and baking. We are getting pretty excited about Christmas. I will have lots of pictures to share as well.

Thank you all for continueing to check in and leave messages. I've slacked on updating but Emily gets on and reads the guestbook and loves to hear from you.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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~~Monday Dec 6, 2010~~

NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!!

I put the tree up today and the kids decorated it tonight. They had so much fun! Emily has been feeling well. She is doing her shaky vest with no fights and we hope that we will see improvement with her next doctors appointment.

Love and HUgs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Emily had her doctors appointment today with the pulmonologist. Her lung function is stable but not to great. She is coughing alot more and feeling pretty crappy. The doctor has put her on a couple new meds hoping to help her feel better before she gets worse. She got her shakey vest delivered on monday. She has been using it twice a day without a fight. I am very proud of her. She doesn't like using it though. She says it hurts her stomach. She said she can feel that it does help her to cough up some of the junk in her lungs though, so it is doing its job. The doctor told her that she could get a small blanket to put between the vest and her stomach to help minimize the discomfort it causes to her tummy. Emily said it helps some. Lets hope that we see some improvement in her lung function after using the vest for a couple weeks. Other then that Emily is doing well. She is doing much better in school. Her big chorus performance is coming up in 2 weeks. She is so excited about that. Charlie is also starting to get sick. He has been taking medicine and I am hoping to get him feeling better before he gets too sick. Darn cold is just going around. He is doing great in school. He loves school and is relaly enjoying band most this year. He has his big band concert next week and he is really looking forward to that.

I finally have the pictures to share from nascar. Also we had puppies born in our house on Nov 4th. Three little baby chihuahuas. (2 boys and a girl) The kids just adore them and are trying to talk me into keeping them all.

We have alot of family stuff going on right now and it has been pretty hard on the kids most of all. So I ask that you please say an extra prayer for this situation to work out.

The kids are going to spend the weekend with friends of ours this weekend. They are so excited. They are going to do some Christmas shopping, help decorate their house, do some crafts and some baking. Should be a super fun weekend for them. It will be a nice break for them. Not to much else is planned. I am hoping we will get our Christmas decorations up at our house this weekend or first part of next week also. I want to thank you all for your prayers and messages. I know I haven't been so great at updating lately, but I wanted you all to know how much your kind words mean to us. Hope you all have a great weekend. Enjoy the pictures. We had a great time at nascar.

Thursday, November 18, 2010 2:51 AM CST

**EDITED UPDATE NOVEMBER 29, 2010**

So sorry its been a while since I've updated. Things have been busy and crazy here. Some good, alot of bad. Please pray for our family as we deal with the issues that lie ahead.

Emily has been feeling so so. I've been sick and been trying to keep away as much as I can as to not get her sick. Her shakey vest came in today. They sent her a purple vest. She was so excited about that. She used it for the first time tonight and she said it is not as bad as the one at the doctors office. No complaining while she was on it tonight. I am so proud of her. Little Charlie is doing great. Getting ready for his last football game on saturday, still loving school and playing trumpet in the 7th grade band. I've been battling a cold and a bad broken tooth. Tonight I got that tooth pulled and I am in the worst pain. Please pray this doesn't last long. I am going to try to get on here tomorrow and do a better update and post pictures. Thank you for checking in, leaving messages and praying for our fmaily.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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Hi Everyone! I know it has been far to long since I've updated. I've had internet trouble and lots of things going on here. First I would like to ask that you pray for our family. We have been dealing with many things here. I don't want to get into it, but God knows our struggles. Praying God will help guide us in the direction.

Emily has not been feeling to well. Her cough is getting much worse. It is a very wet junky cough, but she is not able to cough anything up. So it is just all hanging out in her lungs. Her lung function is down again. The new antibiotics that they put her on have not helped with the cough or the junk in her lungs. Yestarday the doctor ordered a shakey vest for home. UGH! Emily is not too excited about that, but she hopes it will help her to get some of that junk out. She has been ordered to do it 4 times a day 1 1/2 hours each time. So not possible! The doctor said she should do it a minimum of 30 minutes each time and at least twice a day. That is possible and that is what we will start with. Please pray this helps. We haven't rechecked her immune system to see if it has bounced back any, but the doctor is doubting that it has since the junk is getting worse in her lungs instead of better. Next step is IV antibiotics, but Emily is still refusing them. The doctor doesn't want to force her into doing it this time. She is hoping Emily will come around before she has to say, "We have to now." Please pray that she doesn't get any sicker. If she continues to get worse we will have to pull her from school and most likely to the hospital. She has not run a fever at all so that is a plus. Pray no fevers happen. Also pray this vest helps her and that she will be able to clear some of that junk out of her lungs.

This past sunday the kids and I went to the Nascar race. We had so much fun. Emily was rooting for Tony Stewart and Charlie was rooting for Jeff Gordon. We had great seats right in turn 4 very close to the track. It was really loud and we all went out of there with a headache and ringing in our ears. But it was all worth it. It was a blast. The kids got to take pictures by a couple cars and with the 3M Bull from the Scotch tape booth. We also played a game at that booth. It was like a slot game and you won a prize. Emily won a scotch sponge, I won post it notes, and Charlie won a Filtrete Room Air Purifying System. He was so excited when he won it and asked if we could set it up in Emily's room so her air would be cleaner and better for her to breathe. He is such a good big brother. I filled out the forms and they will be shipping it to me. I thought it was awesome.

Also last weekend Charlie's football team won their first game. They beat an undefeated team 54-52. It was a great game and Charlie played well. I am so proud of him. He has been having so much fun playing football.

I do have pictures to share from the last few weeks. I will hopefully get a slideshow put together tomorrow and share it. Thank you for checking in and leaving messages even though I hadn't updated in 2 weeks. We greatly appreciate the prayers and Emily loves to hear from you all.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, November 4, 2010 8:11 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. We had a great Halloween party. Everyone came dressed up, ate, took lots of pictures and had fun. Pictures will be up soon. :)

Emily has been feeling blah. Her cough is getting worse and she is having really bad leg pain. We went to the doctor on tuesday and didn't get any good news out of that apointment. Her lung function is down again. Also the doctor said her immune system is in the toilet. She is officially diagnosed immune deficient. :( We have added some extra antibiotics and will rotate different ones every 3 weeks for a little while to see if her bodies kicks in and makes the antibodies it is suppose to. If not then we have to do some IV antibiotics again. If that also fails to work then we will have to start IVIG. That will mean a port placement again and going to the hospital every 2-4 weeks for infusion. Please pray that it doesn't come to that. I'll keep you posted as more info comes to us. Her next appointment is on Nov 18th.

Charlie had his first football game last saturday with the church. He loved it and had so much fun. His team played the defending champions from last year and they were twice as big as Charlie's team. I was so proud of him and his team. They played hard and didn't let size or anything get in the way. They lost by 2 points, 30-28. He is looking forward to his game this saturday.

I will post pictures as soon as I can from our party. Everyone looked great in costume. We also had spiderweb 7 layer bean dip, eyeball deviled eggs, pumkin sandwishes, bathwater punch and dirt dessert. I love Halloween.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, October 29, 2010 2:06 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! We have been staying very busy. Emily is feeling ok. Her cough is just getting worse, but she is feeling about the same. Still no fever, so that means she is not getting sick. Please pray that her lungs are not getting worse. She just finished up 2 weeks of steroids and we go back on tuesday for lung function tests. I will keep you posted on how that turns out.

We had a great time at the state fair last weekend. The picture above is from the fair. Mason won this stuffed animal on a game and gave it to Emily. She was so excited. The kids went on lots of rides and played lots of games. We watched a hypnotists show and the demolition derby. And of course we ate corn dogs and big turkey legs. It was lots of fun for the whole family. Charlie's first football game got cancelled, but this saturday his first game is on. He is really excited and can't wait. He has been throwing the football and practicing all week.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 9:17 AM CDT

**UPDATE THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2010**

Hi Everyone. Its been a busy busy week. I feel like I've barely had time to sit down. Things are going ok. Emily has been feeling pretty crummy though. She is coughing ALOT! She's been taking the steroids now for over a week. Tuesday we will go to check lung function again.

I went for parent teacher conferences today. Charlie is getting all A's and B's and is doing great in school. He needs to learn how to study for tests though. He is getting low test scores that are lowering his grades, otherwise he would have all A's. Emily has mostly all C's. The teacher says she is getting better with her attitude and is focusing much better lately as well. She has been studying better at home so she is getting better grades on her spelling tests. She is very mad at herself. She wants better grades. I told her she is quite capable of A's and B's just like Charlie and that all she has to do is apply herself. She really is having an emotional time right now. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. For her lungs and just herself in general. :)

Fridy we are going to the Az State Fair with HopeKids. The kids are super excited. Then Saturday is Charlie's first football game. He is really excited about that. Hope you have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and praying.

Love and HUgs,
Angela







Hi Everyone! I am finally able to update. My computer monitor went out and so I had no use of my computer. UGH! So here is what has been going on here. Emily is feeling ok. Her lung function is steadily dropping and her lungs are very junky sounding. Last week we started her on Prevacid because the acid levels in her lungs were very high. This week her lung functon dropped again and so we started her on steroids. She will be on steroids for the next 2 weeks and we will check her lung function again. If it is still dropping then the doctor is talking about another PICC line and IV meds. Emily is no happy with that option. Please pray the steroids work. We are currently having major attitude issues with Emily. She is having trouble in school as well. I know when she is not feeling very well her attitude gets bad. I am hoping to see improvement when we get her feeling better.

Little Charlie went with the cancer society to Lake Powell for 4 days. He had so much fun. He lived on a houseboat, got to ride a jet ski, went fishing and just had a great time. Emily will be able to go next year.

Emily has an appointment with the endocrinologist on friday. She will have bloodwork to check her immune system next week and then the following week we will check lung function again.

Charlie starts flag football this saturday. He is so excited. I am sure I will have lots of pictures to share. Next week we will be going to the Az State Fair with HopeKids. The kids are excited about that as well. I will make sure I am not an update slacker anymore. LOL! (:

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, September 30, 2010 0:41 AM CDT

OCTOBER 11, 2010

So sorry for not updating lately. My computer monitor stopped working on me and so I haven't been able to get on my computer. I am back online now and will do a full update in the morning. Hope you will check back in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**UPDATE TUESDAY OCTOBER 5, 2010**

We had a great weekend and I have some pictures to share. I will update with pics tomorrow. Today we got some pretty bad storms. Golf ball size hail did a lot of damage. 60MPH winds and tons of rain. I felt like we were in the middle of a hurricane. Three storms right in a row and they were the worst I've seen in Arizona in a long time. The hail came down like bullets and went straight through our pool slide, tore apart garbage cans and came through our bathroom skylight. Then is was raining down into our bathroom. We are thankful we didn't get as much damage as some people did. Also thankful that no one got hurt. I have pictures to share from all that also. Emily was suppose to have a doctors appointment today but they called and cancelled. Good thing to cause I never would have been able to drive in those storms. Appointment was rescheduled to tomorrow at 3pm. I will do a full update after and post pictures.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Ok so I got the my days messed up. Emily's doctors appointment was actually today not yestarday. So today we went and saw the ENT doctor. He is the one that did the surgery on the web on her right lung. He was actually very happy with what he saw on the bronch pictures. He said there has been a 10-15 percent growth of the web. So it is indeed growing back. BUT....it has been 11 months since her surgery for the web and usually people with this condition need the surgery done every 6 months. So she has made it 11 months and only a 10-15 percent growth. That is good news. He is not going to do surgery at this time. He said it would cause her more scaring then it would be worth to improve the air flow. He said we will watch it and wait until it is 30 percent grown back or more. I am ok with that and so is Emily. :) So we go back to see him in 3 months. In the meantime we will continue to see the pulmonologist. Please continue to pray for the lump in her right lung. Also pray for lung function and her immune system. So many things hitting all at once. She said she feels like there is something different about her breathing. Crummy feeling... She sounds good and looks good, but doesn't feel quite right. Please pray this is nothing. I will keep you posted as things come about.

Sunday we had our HopeWalk. First I want to thank everyone that donated and supported our team. I know times are hard and I just want you all to know that we appreciate every one of you. Our team rasied $1632.00. We were hoping to hit our goal of $3000, but we are happy with what we raised. Emily was unsure if she was going to make the whole walk, but she wanted to try. Rob told her if it got to be too much then to call him and he would come get her on the golf cart. We got half way through and she said, "Mommy my chest and legs really hurt." I asked her if she wanted to call Rob and she said no. She really wanted to finish the walk. I asked her if she wanted to rest and she said no cause she would never get started again. She pushed herself and she made it all the way to the end. She crossed the finish line with the biggest smile on her face and was so proud of herself. She truly is an inspiration and my hero. I am so very proud of her. Once we got home she was very tired and her chest was hurting. So we rested the rest of the day. She has been feeling ok since. Here are some pictures I took and our family pictures courtesy of HopeKids.

Friday, September 24, 2010 2:38 AM CDT

**UPDATE MONDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2010**
NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!!

The walk went great!! Emily made it the whole way. She pushed herself and walked the whole thing. I am SO proud of her. I have pictures to share, but will do that tomorrow. The picture above is from our family pictures we had done with HopeKids a couple weeks ago. You would never know she was NOT feeling well that day at all. These were taken the day after her bronch. I LOVE this picture.

Doctors appointment with her ENT surgeon tomorrow at 3pm. We will bring the pictures from the bronch and see if he thinks it is time to do surgery on the web again or not. I will keep you posted when we get home and post pictures from the walk and the rest of our family pics.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! Emily had her appointment with the pulmonologist today. Results from her bllood work was the same as the results from her bronch. NO immune system and still not making any antibodies. Also her lung function went down again. This is really frustrating. Usually her lung function goes way up after a bronch. I just don't understand why its not this time. I asked the doctor if we should be concerned about cancer again. She said that we should be more concerned about a cold then cancer right now. She told me that at this point if Emily was to catch even the slightest cold it would get very bad,very fast. She is feeling pretty good right now. Coughing alot, but that has been going on for weeks now. Please pray she does not get sick. She will definately end up in the hospital if she does. The doctor assured us of that. They are going to recheck her bloodwork again in a few weeks. Pray her immune system kicks into gear and starts working again. The doctor is not sure what is causing this just yet. She tested her for 3 things that could cause this to happen and the results on all 3 came back negative.

This sunday is our walk for HopeKids. Emily is planning on trying to walk the 3 1/2 mile walk with our team. It is a long ways and I hope that she will be ok walking it. She is excited to do it. Please pray that she will be able to walk it and that there will be no big breathing issues. She is worried cause she does get out of breath very quickly, but she is strong and wants to do it. Little Charlie and I will walk with her at her pace and rest when she needs to. I will have many pictures to share I am sure.

Tuesday Emily has an appointment with the ENT. The bronch showed that the web is growing back on her right lung. We will find out on tuesday if she will need surgery again to laser the web. I will keep you posted on that when I know more.

Other then that things are going well. Little Charlie is doing great in school. Loves being in honors classes and is very proud of himself for maintaining all A's and B's. Emily is struggling in school. Being out of school last year put her behind and 6th grade is harder then she thought it was going to be But she is working hard and is confident that she will catch up soon. She has been going into school an hour early almost everyday for tutoring and one on one help from her teacher. I am very proud of her for deciding to do that on her own.

Only 3 days until our annual HopeWalk for HopeKids. We have formed our team once again and set up our fundraising page. The team is called "Emily's Butterflies of HOPE". We would like to ask that if you can, check out our page, watch the video about HopeKids and support our team by donating online or by mail. No donation is too small. Every little bit helps. I can't think of a better organization to give to. HopeKids has been such a huge part of our life in so many ways. Here is our page Emily's Butterflies of HOPE The walk will be held on September 26th. We've set our goal at $3000.00 for our team to raise. Its a bit high but we have high hopes that we will reach our goal or at least come close. Please if you can support our team and help give the gift of HOPE to children with cancer. Thank you!

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, September 13, 2010 1:29 PM CDT

**PULMONOLOGIST APPT. UPDATE**

Sorry I am late getting this update out, but here goes. Some results came back from the bronch. Her immunoglobulins are VERY low. Meaning her immune system sucks. Her body is making no antibodies at all to fight anything off. But all the fluid and puss pulled from her lung showed no infection. The pulmonologist sent us over to the hospital to get blood work drawn to check her immunoglobulin levels again and some other things. If those results are not good then we are to make an appointment with the oncologist right away. I have to say that I am officially freaked out and worried. Emily has been 5 1/2 years off treatment and cancer free and I thought we were past that stage of worrying about the cancer returning. The doctor is concerned with the lump and now with the low test results. Please pray that we will not be hearing cancer again. Pray the lump goes away and that her immune system kicks into gear again. Also pray for her lung function. Usually after a bronch her lung function goes way up cause they clean out all the junk in her lungs. This time her lung function dropped quite a bit. She has been feeling well this week though. Thank you for all your prayers. Please keep them coming. I will keep you posted as I get more info. Next appointment is on thursday sept 23rd.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Emily is feeling really crummy. She is pale and shakey and very run down feeling. Please pray that she will feel better soon. She has been feeling like this since the bronch. Yestarday was the only day where she was feeling semi good. School is going well. Emily is doing much better in class and hopefully she will keep it up. Charlie is loving every class as usual. :)

The last week has been so busy. We have been trying to get ready for our HopeWalk. I've been making handmade butterflies for a fundraiser. For a $5.00 donation to our team I am offering a butterfly magnet. We had a table set up selling them at our carwash on sunday. Then we had open house at the school. Emily had her first chorus practice after school last wednesday. She is so excited to be in chorus. She decided against joining band since the only thing she would be able to play is drums and she didn't really want to play those. Chorus is a good fit for her.

Friday Emily had her bronch done. The procedure went well, but no good news came from it so far. The doctor says her lungs looked worse this time then they did the last two bronchs. She cleaned out large amounts of puss from her right lung and the lower lobe of her left lung. Her right lung also appears to be more deformed then it has been in the past. Also the web is growing back on that right lung. The pictures have been sent to the surgeon to see if surgery is needed now or if they will wait. A lump was also found in her right lung. The doctor didn't biopsy it cause there is a vessel that is right at the surface running right along the lump. She said we will keep an eye on it. It was not there in the last bronch 6 months ago. The right lung is where her cancer relapsed to so naturally it freaked me out to hear that there is a lump there. But the doctor says it could be a puss pocket. They just aren't completely sure. Please pray it is just a puss pocket and that it will go away with antibiotics. We put her back on her 2 different antibiotics three times a day. We see the doctor tomorrow for followup. I'll keep you posted as test results come in. In the meantime please pray that she will start feeling better. That we will see better lung function tomorrow and that the lump is not anything serious.

Saturday we had family pictures done with HopeKids. The kids and I were excited about going, but Emily wasn't feeling well at all. Thankfully they got us in and did our pictures fairly quickly so we could go home and she could rest. I can't wait to see how they turned out. Sunday we had our fundraiser carwash for our HopeWalk team. It was very humid out, but we had fun. We are hoping to have another carwash on saturday, but that is still up in the air. We are so excited to be giving back to HopeKids. They have done so much for our family and so many other families like ours.

This week is fairly quiet. Tomorrow Emily see the doctor. Wednesday the kids are ot of school for staff development day. Not much else happening. I have pictures to share and I will get those up here soon. Thank you for checking in and praying.

Only 2 weeks until our annual HopeWalk for HopeKids. We have formed our team once again and set up our fundraising page. The team is called "Emily's Butterflies of HOPE". We would like to ask that if you can, check out our page, watch the video about HopeKids and support our team by donating online or by mail. No donation is too small. Every little bit helps. I can't think of a better organization to give to. HopeKids has been such a huge part of our life in so many ways. Here is our page Emily's Butterflies of HOPE The walk will be held on September 26th. We've set our goal at $3000.00 for our team to raise. Its a bit high but we have high hopes that we will reach our goal or at least come close. Please if you can support our team and help give the gift of HOPE to children with cancer. Thank you!

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, September 3, 2010 2:25 AM CDT

**UPDATE SEPTEMBER 12, 2010**

Its been a very busy week and I have lots to share. I will update first thing in the morning. So be sure to check back later. Emily had her bronch on friday. She has been feeling horrible all weekend. Please say an extra prayer for her. I will tell you all about it in the morning.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



Hi Everyone! Emily has been feeling pretty good. She is coughing alot more now, but is not complaining of difficulty breathing. Her ear is not hurting anymore! We are happy about that. Dizziness comes and goes, but has not complained of headaches. Hoping the headaches stay away. She is scheduled for her bronch on Sept 10th.

Tonight we went to the Cardinals football game courtesy of HopeKids. This is the first time we have been to a football game. We had SO much fun. There were so many people and there was lots of walking. Emily was very tired by the end of the night, but she had a blast. Charlie loved the game! Here are the pictures from Flashes of Hope and from tonight at the game.

Friday, August 20, 2010 1:47 AM CDT

**UPDATE SEPT 1, 2010**

Emily's ear is feeling much better. The ear drops have worked wonders. She is still having trouble with feeling dizzy though. We will talk to the doctor about that the next time if it persists. Her lung function is stable. No drop in any tests and even a bit of an improvement in a few. She is coughing more and so we will keep an eye on that. Her bronch is set for Sept 10th.

The picture above was taken when she was at camp this summer by an organization called Flashes of Hope. I have more to share and will post them tomorrow. Not to much else is going on. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY AUGUST 26, 2010**

Emily has a severe infection in the canal of her left ear. She is in tremendous pain. She is also experiencing headaches and dizziness again. We got meds for her ear and we started them today. Once her ear is cleared up and better if she is still having headaches and dizziness they will be doing a ct scan to make sure nothing else is going on. Please pray all is ok. It breaks my heart to see her in so much pain. Her lungs are sounding worse also. She is set to have her bronch on Sept 10th. Please pray that her lungs don't get any worse before then causing us to have to put her back on antibiotics and cancel the bronch. Right now she is miserable, in pain, and angry. She is tired of always having something wrong. I wish I could take away all her pain and health issues. Please pray for her. For her ear to get better quickly, for no more headaches and for peace within. We go back to the pulmonologist on Tuesday for lung function tests. The machine was down today. Pray that they haven't dropped again. I will keep you posted.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Sorry about the lack of updates. Its been a busy couple weeks. Emily is doing pretty good. We've taken her off all antibiotics and steroids. She is scheduled for a bronch on Sept 10th. Please pray that she doesn't get sick between now and then and that her breathing doesn't get worse before then. Her headaches come and go, but they are not everyday. She is still having trouble with dizziness, but again it is not everyday. She really is doing pretty good.

One week ago today Emily and Charlie's Great Grandpa passed away. My husband has been helping his grandpa with shopping and yardwork for the last 5yrs since his dad passed away. His grandpa was 91yrs old and suddenly his health went downhill very quickly and after 3 days in the hospital and 1 day in an inpatient hospice unit he passed peacefully in his sleep Thursday Aug 12th. He was an amazing man, a WWII veteran and a very strong independant man. He will be greatly missed. Please pray for my husband as he grieves the loss of his grandpa. Also say some extra prayers for my kids. They were going to go visit him friday after school and they never got the chance to go and say goodbye. They are very upset about that.

On a happier note, the kids love school. They have been very busy getting back into the swing of things. Charlie is loving being in honors classes. Emily is really trying to get use to her teacher. Her teacher is pretty strict, but not in a bad way. She really likes her but it is a huge change from her last years teacher. (whatever part of last year she was actually in school) They both did baseline forsight testing this week. Next week Emily should have her scores and know which level reading and math she is in. I am excited to find out where she is at. Her teacher called me last week and said that Emily is doing wonderful in school and that she is amazed considering she missed almost all of last year. (she didn't expect her to be doing so well) She expected that Emily would need tutoring to get her up to where the rest of the class is at. I never doubted her for a minute. (:

Other then that not to much else is going on. We just seem to be on the go all the time. Busy, busy, busy! Praying everyone has a great weekend. Emily sees her pulmonologist again on Thursday Aug 26th. Pray for no drop in lung function. I will keep you posted.

We are coming up on that time year again when we do our annual HopeWalk for HopeKids. We have formed our team once again and set up our fundraising page. The team is called "Emily's Butterflies of HOPE". We would like to ask that if you can, check out our page, watch the video about HopeKids and support our team by donating online or by mail. No donation is too small. Every little bit helps. I can't think of a better organization to give to. HopeKids has been such a huge part of our life in so many ways. Here is our page Emily's Butterflies of HOPE The walk will be held on September 26th. We've set our goal at $3000.00 for our team to raise. Its a bit high but we have high hopes that we will reach our goal or at least come close. Please if you can support our team and help give the gift of HOPE to children with cancer. Thank you!

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, August 9, 2010 0:32 AM CDT

**FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL UPDATE!!**

The kids first day of school was great! They are so excited to be back in school. Monday we went and met their teachers. Emily is still trying to decide if she is happy with the teacher she got. Her teacher is strict and pushes her students to do their best. She is a very well known and honored teacher in the district. I am really happy that Emily got her. She is going to be great for Emily. Emily is really smart and just needs someone to help push her and encourage her to do her best. I know this is going to be a great year for Emily.

Little Charlie is in 7th grade now and we were shocked when we saw his schedule. We went to his homeroom class and met his teacher and picked up his schedule to find out he is in ALL honors classes. He was 1 of 32 students in the 7th grade to be in all honors classes and he tested out in the top part of those 32 students. He is so excited about being in honors classes and plans to work very hard to stay in honors classes throughout the rest of his school years. He loves all his teachers and is really looking forward to this year.

I have never been happier with the kids teachers then I am this year. I have not seen my kids this excited about school in several years. Their goal is Honor Roll every quarter. I know they can do it. :) Here is a picture I took on their first day of school.



8/10/10

Love and HUgs,
Angela



**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! It has been so busy here and I haven't been on the computer much. Emily has been feeling pretty good. She has a terrible earache that is just not going away. She has been on meds for an ear infection for a week and a half. She goes back to the doctor thursday morning so we will see if that is clearing up. Other then that she has been doing well. No headache complaints and very little dizziness.

We have been getting ready for school and enjoying our last week or so of summer break together. The kids are excited to go back to school. In the morning we will go meet their teachers. Then their first day is tuesday. They have all their stuff ready. Last week we had their cousins over and I took them out to the park for pictures. I haven't use my camera much lately so I really wanted to do photos. We got so many good ones. We had so much fun!!! Here is what we got. There are about 80 pictures in the slideshow. I hope you are able to watch it all and see them all.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 11:44 AM CDT

**UPDATE THURSDAY AUGUST 5, 2010**

We have been keeping busy getting ready for school and enjoying our last week of summer together. I will update tomorrow with pictures to share as well. Emily has been feeling good this week. No headaches and very little dizziness. Thank you for all your prayers. Emily and Charlie's cousins came and spend the day and night with us today. I took lots of pictures and will share them tomorrow. The one above is one of my favorites of Emily.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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**UPDATE FRIDAY JULY 30, 2010**

Emily is still having headaches and dizziness. She has been very tired all week and just not herself. The shaking is still there but only off and on. I took her to the pediatrician and they had no answers for us. They suggested that I call her oncologist. So I will be doing that this morning. Please pray that we get answers soon and that she will feel better soon. I will keep you posted.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! Emily is home from camp!! The picture above she took of herself at camp. Too Cute! We sure did miss her while she was gone. She had a wonderful time! BUT she has been having a rough time since being home. She is having major headaches, dizziness all day long and episodes of shaking. Her breathing is wheezy also. Saturday I assumed it was just due to exhaustion. They do so much at camp and it really tires the kids out with all the fun and activities. But Sunday came and she wasn't feeling any better and she slept much of the day. Then Monday came and she started to complain of her vision being blurry. She said it was hard to watch tv, read or even look at the computer. (with her glasses on) So she has an eye doctor appointment on friday. I know this probably sounds crazy but I am hoping that her eyesight has changed and that a new pair of glasses will fix most of the issues. I mean that is better then any other medical explanation right? Today she goes to the pulmonlogist. So we will see where her breathing is at. We have taken her off the steroids and one antibiotic. So she is back down to her normal 9 meds a day.

Emily had so much fun at camp. She did cooling, archery, jello wars, lake day, and so much more. Then at the end of the week they had a big dance. I have lots of pictures to share also. But I will load them later. Little Charlie and I drove to Payson to pick her up on saturday. It was a great drive. We were a little freaked out cause it was the first time I had ever driven up north alone. I was afraid I was going to get lost. LOL! But we made it there with no problem. Emily was so excited to see us. We visited the camp, loaded her stuff int he car, ate lunch, picked up her meds and started our journey home. As soon as we left the campgrounds it started pouring down rain. It was raining so hard that I could barely see the nose of the car. I hate driving in the rain! I did good though and we made it home safely. It is so good to have both my kids home with me again. We've been hanging out mostly at home watching movies.

School starts in 2 weeks. I can't believe Little Charlie is going into 7th grade and Emily is going into 6th grade. They grow up way to fast! It feels like yestarday that they were just in Kindergarten and 1st grade. :) The kids are excited to go back to school and scared at the same time. They know this year will be harder then last year, but I know they can do it.


Emily, kindergarten and Charlie, 1st grade


7-24-10 Picking Emily up from camp.

I will post later about Emily's appointment with the pulmonoligist. Please pray that her headaches subside and that she will not have any more trouble with being dizzy and shakey.

We are coming up on that time year again when we do our annual HopeWalk for HopeKids. We have formed our team once again and set up our fundraising page. The team is called "Emily's Butterflies of HOPE". We would like to ask that if you can, check out our page, watch the video about HopeKids and support our team by donating online or by mail. No donation is too small. Every little bit helps. I can't think of a better organization to give to. HopeKids has been such a huge part of our life in so many ways. Here is our page Emily's Butterflies of HOPE The walk will be held on September 26th. We've set our goal at $3000.00 for our team to raise. Its a bit high but we have high hopes that we will reach our goal or at least come close. Please if you can support our team and help give the gift of HOPE to children with cancer. Thank you!

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 0:42 AM CDT

Emily left for camp with the American cancer Society on sunday. She was so excited! The picture above is of her with her friend, Kassandra, on the bus before they left. I will drive up north on saturday to pick her up from camp. Little Charlie and I are having a great time together so far, but have agreed that the house is too quiet with Emily gone. We miss her already. We hope she is having a blast!

I would like to ask that you keep her breathing in your prayers. She was having some chest pain and shortness of breath for 2 days before leaving for camp. We did put her on steroids and another antibiotic to hopefully help her through the week. I am just worried about her breathing, as I always am when she is away from me. So please keep her breathing in your prayers.

Charlie and I are planning to watch lots of movies, go swimming and maybe even go walk around the mall and window shop this week. Its great to have that one on one time with him. I had tons of fun with Emily last week while Charlie was gone to. Emily took her camera so hopefully we will have some pictures to share when she comes back. Otherwise I know she will have lots of stories for me to tell. Have a great week!!

We are coming up on that time year again when we do our annual HopeWalk for HopeKids. We have formed our team once again and set up our fundraising page. The team is called "Emily's Butterflies of HOPE". We would like to ask that if you can, check out our page, watch the video about HopeKids and support our team by donating online or by mail. No donation is too small. Every little bit helps. I can't think of a better organization to give to. HopeKids has been such a huge part of our life in so many ways. Here is our page Emily's Butterflies of HOPE The walk will be held on September 26th. We've set our goal at $3000.00 for our team to raise. Its a bit high but we have high hopes that we will reach our goal or at least come close. Please if you can support our team and help give the gift of HOPE to children with cancer. Thank you!

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 1:32 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Sorry its taken so long for me to post a new update. We have been very busy enjoying our summer. Emily has been feeling good. Her breathing is about the same and lung function tests have been staying pretty much stable. She has an appointment with the pulmonologist again tomorrow. I will let you know how that goes. We got our pool fixed and so we have been spending lots of time in there. Emily has been doing laps in the pool. The pulmonologist told her that was a very good way to exercise her lungs. She wants her to do 10 laps a day without resting in between. Emily has been able to make it to 5 laps before her chest starts hurting and she must stop to rest. I am very proud of her for doing them though. Last year she wouldn't even do one.

We've been keeping very busy with HopeKids on the weekends. We went to Jumpstreet. That is an indoor trampoline place. The kids had so much fun there. Then they had their May/June birthday bash. Emily was so excited to get the cd she really wanted. We also went to see Toy Story 3. Excellant movie!!! We all loved it. Then this past weekend we went ice skating. Emily is amazing on ice skates. She loves going ice skating. During the week we have been spending time in the pool, going to the water park with friends, watching movies, doing crafts and playing games. The kids and I are really enjoying our time together. I've taken tons of pictures but have been unable to get the slideshow put together. So I did post a few in the photo album. The picture above is one of my favorites of Emily. Such a beautiful smile she has!

Little Charlie left for summer camp on saturday and he will be home on friday. He was so excited to go. This is the one thing the kids really look forward to during the summer. One week away up north in the cooler weather with friends and tons of fun. This coming saturday we have a birthday party to go to and then Emily will leave for her week at summer camp on sunday. She already has all her stuff together and ready to be packed. This is a fantastic thing that the American cancer Society offers free of charge.

Emily and I have been enjoying our time together the last couple days. Its nice to get one on one time with her. We've done lots of talking, laughing, playing, swimming and just hanging out. I am looking forward to doing the same with Charlie while Emily is gone.

We are coming up on that time year again when we do our annual HopeWalk for HopeKids. We have formed our team once again and set up our fundraising page. The team is called "Emily's Butterflies of HOPE". We would like to ask that if you can, check out our page, watch the video about HopeKids and support our team by donating online or by mail. No donation is too small. Every little bit helps. I can't think of a better organization to give to. HopeKids has been such a huge part of our life in so many ways. Here is our page Emily's Butterflies of HOPE The walk will be held on September 26th. We've set our goal at $3000.00 for our team to raise. Its a bit high but we have high hopes that we will reach our goal or at least come close. Please if you can support our team and help give the gift of HOPE to children with cancer. Thank you!

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, June 28, 2010 1:20 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! We've been keeping busy here. Emily has been feeling pretty good. Emily went and had a full set of pulmonary lung function tests done at the hospital. There was a slight increase in her lung function since the last set in November. Then we saw the pulmonologist and she is happy with stable. Last tuesday she went for her check up with the oncologist. She was so excited to see him. He is very happy with her blood counts and her growth since seeing her 8 months ago. He did however express some concern about her pulmonologist. He thinks we should have a second opinion from another doctor. He doesn't like that she is on so much medication and that her lung function is still not great after seeing this doctor for over a year. Out of all her doctors, her oncologist is the one doctor that I trust anything he says and if he is concerned then I believe I should be to. He gave me the name of another pulmonologist that he would like me to take her to. Now i just have to get her over there to see him. I will keep you posted on how that all goes. Other then that she has been feeling pretty good.

Our pool is still not fixed and is a nasty green color. So we have been spending alot of time at the public pool and the parks water area. When we are not doing that we are watching movies, doing crafts and playing games. We have also attended a couple HopeKids events. One saturday we went to Jumpstreet. Its an indoor trampoline place. The kids had so much fun. This past saturday was the birthday bash with HopeKids. Emily was so excited that she got the Justin Bieber cd that she has been wanting. Always a great time with HopeKids and we got to see some of our friends that we hadn't seen in a while. I've taken lots of pictures and I will post them in the morning.

The kids are getting excited for summer camp with the American cancer Society. Charlie leaves for a week on July 10th. Then Emily will leave for a week July 18th. They always have so much fun at camp.

This week Emily has an appointment with the surgeon that did the surgery on her lungs and with her pulmonologist. I will keep you posted on how those appointments go. Also our landlords are coming out this week and we are hoping they will be able to get the pool problem taken care of so we can finally go swimming again in our pool. Saturday we are going with HopeKids to see Toy Story 3. The kids and I are really excited about that. Toy Story has always been one of our favorite movies. That is our upcoming week.

Thank you for checking in. Come back later and check out the pictures. Will post them in the morning.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 2:45 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Things have been crazy busy around here. But in a good way. Emily has been feeling good. No complaints at all. I have noticed her cough has come back though. She has an appointment with the pulmonologist on thursday. Hopefully we will not see a drop in her lung function.

On saturday, June 5th my brother Jason graduated from a wonderful, life changing program called Project Challenge. He was gone for 6 months and came out a changed man. I am so very proud of him and know that he is going to succeed in all he does from here on out. Please pray that he will continue on the right path. Emily and Charlie were so excited to see Jason. They missed him tons when he was gone. On sunday my dad had a bbq at his house and we all went. It was nice to hang out with family. Charlie played his trumpet for everyone to. He was so excited to do that, cause Papa and TommyeSue hadn't heard him play yet. We are all so proud of him.

Last week my sister had surgery and so Emily and Charlie's cousins came to spend time with us. We had so much fun. We went swimming, watched movies, played games and took lots of pictures. I love having a house full of kids! My sister is now at home recovering and I ask that you pray that her recovery will be a smooth one.

It is getting very hot here in Phoenix and our pool pump picked the wrong time to break. So we are unable to swim cause our pool has turned green. Yuck! Since we rent, we have to wait on the owners to get someone out here to fix it. UGH! The kids are very upset that they can't go swimming. Hopefully they will have it fixed very soon. Since it is too hot outside to go out and play, we have been spending our last few days watching lots of movies and doing crafts. It has been some great time spent with my kids, but we sure are missing our pool time.

Not much planned for the rest of the week. Just a doctors appointment for Emily on thursday. Then on saturday the kids and I are going to a place called Jumpstreet with HopeKids. It is an indoor trampoline place. Sounds like tons of fun and the kids are very excited. I will be sure to take lots of pictures. Here are the pictures from the last week.

Friday, June 4, 2010 2:24 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY JUNE 13, 2010**

Its been a busy long week. I promise an update in the morning. I want to thank you all for your prayers for my sister. She had her surgery on monday and everything went well. She was released from the hospital on friday. Please continue to pray that her recovery will be a smooth one. Check back later in the morning for a full update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**PRAYER REQUEST, SUNDAY JUNE 6, 2010**

Please pray for my sister, Emily and Charlie's Aunt Kelly. She is having major surgery first thing in the morning. The surgery will take a couple hours and she will be in the hospital a minimum of 7 days. This is a big one and she is very scared. It is the first of 2 surgeries she will be having to remove masses and cancerous areas and more. Please pray for peace and comfort for her and her husband. Pray for the doctors to have a smooth surgery with no complications. Also please pray for my niece and nephew. They are staying with me through this and they are very worried about their mom.

We've had a great weekend and I have many pictures to share once again. I will update later tomorrow. Thank you for checking in and praying.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! We had the most amazing day today. First let me tell you about the doctors appointment. Emily has been feeling pretty good and we had hoped for improvement in her lung function. That was not the case, however it didn't get worse either. It remained the same as 2 weeks ago. That in my book is good news! The doctor was happy with it and we are making no changes right now with treatment. Emily couldn't be happier. No picc line, no extra meds, swim all she wants, and no bad news. That makes us all happy.

We have been keeping pretty busy enjoying summer so far. The kids have been swimming everyday. We also got ticket to a baseball game courtesy of HopeKids. We were in the clubhouse seating only 7 rows from the field behind home plate. We had so much fun. Baxter came up and visited with the kids a bit also. Its been a long time since we've been to a baseball game. The kids loved it! We've also been hanging out watching movies, playing games and just really enjoying everyday. I love the summer! Well except the 100 degree weather, but we stay cool in the pool.

Last weekend there was a charity motorcycle ride put together by pro racer, Valerie Thompson. All donations went to help HopeKids. We went and got to meet the riders and Valerie. The kids were excited. I have tons of pictures to share as well.

Today was an amazing day. My sister asked me to take her family pictures. Photography has always been a passion of mine and I have always wanted to go to school and do it as a profession. I felt honored that she asked me to do this for her. We went out to a relaly nice park and I took about 150 pictures. It was so much fun and we got some great shots. Emily and Charlie have asked me to take them back out there sometime for more pictures. I can't wait. They love their pictures taken, which works for me cause I love to take their pictures. The picture at the top was taken today. The camera sure does like Emily! I would like to ask that you pray for my sister. Monday she will be having major surgery. Please pray all goes well and she recovers well.

I also want to ask for prayers for my family. There have been some changes in our house and there are more coming. Pray for peace and understanding for my children. Pray that we will be guided to the right decisions. I know that is not much info, but God knows our needs. Thank you...

Here are the pictures from the last couple weeks. It is kind of a long slideshow, so I hope you have time to watch and that you enjoy it. Love and Hugs to all....

Thursday, June 3, 2010 0:56 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! Its been a busy couple weeks and I have lots of pictures to share. But tonight I will do just a quick update and I promise a better one with pictures tomorrow.

Emily has been feeling pretty good and loving not having her PICC line in. The kids have spent alot of time in the pool. We went to see Ironman 2, went to a baseball game, met Valerie Thompson (pro motorcycle drag racer) and have just been enjoying our time together.

Tomorrow (thurs) Emily has a doctors appointment with the pulmonologist. This is her first appointment since getting her picc line out. We hope to see improvement in her lung function. I will update after the appointment and let you know how it all went and share all the great pictures I've taken the last couple weeks.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, May 20, 2010 12:37 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! A lot has been going on here. As you can tell from the new picture at the top, Emily got her PICC line removed yestarday. She was so scared but excited at the same time. She has been feeling pretty good. Her cough is just there with activity mostly and it is a dry cough. Which means the antibiotics did what they were suppose to do. Her lung function is still down, but we are hoping that we will start to see some improvement in that since the crud is gone from her lungs. Overall though she is good. The doctor ordered the PICC line removed and told Emily she could go to school without her mask. They only have 2 days left of school, but that was the best thing she could have told her. She was so excited to walk into school today looking just like all the other kids. No PICC line and no mask!

Lots of pictures to share too. Emily had her birthday party on Saturday. She got lots of earrings, and girlie stuff. We also got her a HOPE chest that she loves so very much. The kids all got in the pool and had fun. Emily couldn't swim but she got in and sat on the steps. Now that her line is out she will be a fish in the pool soon enough. Sunday we went to Papa and TommyeSue's house for Alisa's graduation party. The kids had a blast and loved seeing them. Tuesday was the graduation. The kids got to see their cousins Kylie and Dylan, whom they haven't seen in months. We sure do miss those kids. The graduation was great and we are so proud of Alisa. She graduated with Honors, in the top 10 percent of her class and on the principals honor roll. Way to go Alisa. We wish you all the best.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us as well. Saturday morning we are going with HopeKids to see Ironman 2 and then I am taking the kids to Gameworks to use their game cards they have been holding onto. Then Sunday we are going to a Diamondbacks baseball game. HopeKids got some great seats donated to them and we are going! The kids are going to be so excited. Thank you HopeKids for our wonderful weekend ahead of us.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and have a wonderful weekend.

Friday, May 7, 2010 11:42 AM CDT

***UPDATE WEDNESDAY MAY 19, 2010**

LOTS TO SHARE.....I have pictures to share and some great news from Emily's doctors appointment today. I will do a full update Thursday morning. Please be sure to come back. You will not want to miss this!!!!

Love and Hugs,
Angela




***UPDATE MAY 12, 2010***

HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!

Today is Emily's birthday. We will be having her party on saturday. She is so excited. She does wish that she had her picc line out so she could swim, but she said she can wait one more week. No new news about that. They are just going to treat the arm the best they can to get her through the next week and then we will probably take it out. Today is her last dose of antibiotics. Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY MAY 10, 2010**

Hope everyone had a great weekend and mothers day. Ours was pretty good except that we made a trip to the ER saturday night. It was the worst ER visit ever! Here is what led up to that visit. Emily's arm that has the PICC line in it broke out in a bunch of little red bumps over a week ago. The nurse and the doctor agreed that it was a reaction to the skin prep they had used when they did the dressing change. The nurse changed the dressing last wednesday and said the bumps should be gone in a week. Well each day they have gotten worse. Until saturday when she woke up her arm was swollen and the bumps had spread around the back of her arm. I decided to watch it throughout the day and see if it got any worse. IT DID! Much worse. The swelling was the whole top of her arm and it was hot to the touch. Also it was seeping. I called the home healthcare nurse and he told me to go to the ER. We got to the ER and the doctor pulled the dressing off, looked at it and said she was going to call Emily's pulmonologist and that was the last time we saw the doctor. After 4hrs the nurse came in and said he was going to put the dressing back on and then send us home. He was very rude and was complaining about having to dress the PICC line. He said "You aren't suppose to come to the ER for a dressing change. PICC lines are not our thing here in the ER" Really? I didn't go there for them to change the dressing. So we insisted on seeing the doctor again. She came in and told me that she doesn't believe that its infection. She thinks its contact dermatitis. They put the dressing back on and sent us home with the reccomndation that we have the PICC line removed from that arm and placed in the other arm. Emily is so fearful that they are going to do that and she only has 3 days left on antibiotics. We got to the doctor today to followup. I will let you know what she says when we get home. Here is a picture I took of Emily's arm saturday. This is just the front, the back is just as bad. The picture at the top was taken at the ER.



Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Lots going on here over the last week. I also have many pictures to share. Let me start with the crummy news first. Emily is sounding junky again. We went to the doctor on wednesday and she put her on the shakey vest for 30 minutes. She hated it but it made her feel better. She still has one more week left on her iv antibiotics. Her arm has broken out into a bunch of little red bumps everywhere around her picc line and up and down the upper part of her arm. The nurse says its a reaction to the skin prep that they used when they changed the dressing. It was not being used previously and her arm has been great. So other then it itching a whole heck of a lot, it is ok. She said the bumps should go away soon. Emily's lung function also went down again. Not sure what to think about that. Emily feels like no matter what she can't win. Despite all that, she has been feeling pretty good. Chest pain hasn't come back and she hasn't had tummy pain in a while either.

Last saturday we went to the Relay for Life. This is the first time we've participated and we had so much fun. We met tons of great people and Emily walked the survivor lap with her friend Eric. I took tons of pictures and will share them in a bit. We walked 4 laps. (1 mile) The first lap was Emily's survivor lap. The second lap was for the caregivers. The third lap was the silent lap for all those lost to cancer. We dedicated that lap to my mom, mother in law and father in law. The fourth lap was for my sister, Emily's aunt. Newly diagnosed and just starting her journey. Please pray for her! One mile of HOPE, Inspiration, and Rememberance. It was truly a wonderful night. Emily is now 5yrs and 3 months cancer free!

Tuesday was the Science Fair at the kids school. Emily and her cousin Katie worked hard on a science project. They did a fresh fruit with apples experiment. They cut up apples and placed them in different wrap and containers to see which would keep the fruit the freshest for a week. They used foil, plastic wrap, ziploc bag, a plastic produce bag and a plastic bowl. Their findings was the plastic wrap kept it fresh the longest. They did a great job and WON 2ND PLACE!!! I am SO proud of both of them. They were so excited, they were jumping up and down, screaming and even crying. They had so much fun doing the project and didn't expect to win anything. They can't wait to work on a project again next year.

Thursday night Little Charlie had his band concert. He has been working so hard to learn the songs for this big performance. They did a great job. He got all dressed up and played his heart out on that trumpet. He loves music and loves band. I am so proud of him. Emily is eager to join band next year as well. All in all it has been a fabulous week.

This morning the boys left to go camping. So this weekend is all about the girls. Tonight Emily and I are going to order pizza and watch the Twilight movies. Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow, but it will be great spending time with her. I am sure we will have more pictures to share next week. Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day! Here are the pictures from the last week. Enjoy....

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 0:16 AM CDT

**UPDATE THURS. MAY 6, 2010**
NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!!!

We have been super busy around here and I have tons of pictures to share. I promise to do an update in the morning (friday morning) and post all the pictures too. Emily is feeling ok. She is sounding junky again and her cough is slowly coming back. UGH! Chest pain has gone away and only returned once. Still not sure what it was, but thankfully it has not come back since. Thank you for the prayers. Please check back later in the morning for a full update with pictures.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Emily has been feeling pretty good lately. Today she had her appointment with the pulmonologist. Emily has had the picc line in for 3 weeks now, 2 of which she did iv antibiotics. So today we saw the doctor and did lung function tests. Her lung function is unchanged. As far as her doctor and I are concerned that is good news. They have stayed stable and the 2 that were lower, were only lower by 3 percent. We were happy with that. Also we noticed that Emily's cough is not wet and yucky sounding anymore. It is a very dry cough. Also good news! The doctor listened to her lungs and said she doesn't hear any rattling or wheezing. Meaning she has managed to clean out most of the junk in there. Also good news! This means the iv antibiotics are doing exactly what they should be doing. Emily has been off them for a week now, but starting tomorrow she will go back on them for 2 more weeks. She wants to make sure she has all the bacteria and junk cleared out of her lungs. She said its then that we should see improvement in her lung function. We were very pleased with how today's visit went. The only thing Emily was a bit upset about was that she will not have her picc line out before her birthday. (May 12th) But she did say that she is very happy that she decided to get the picc line. She said she can feel the difference and it feels better. The doctor said she notices Emily's energy level is up and her color is better. All the way around the iv antibiotics have done wonders for Emily and I am happy that we decided to do them. Hopefully 2 more weeks of antibiotics and then we see the doctor in 3 weeks and hopefully she will get the picc line removed then. We will wait and see. For now we are happy with the way things are going. Please pray that her lung function remains stable and the antibiotics continue to help her.

The last 2 days or so Emily has been experiencing really bad pain in her chest and stomach. Its not all the time, but when it hurts, it really hurts. The doctor thinks she is having heartburn or gas bubbles. She is already on meds for acid and heartburn. Please pray this will not continue.

This coming saturday evening Emily will be walking the survivor lap at Relay for Life. She is so excited to be walking along side of one of her friends who is also a survivor. I am hoping to get tons of pictures. Little Charlie is doing great. They are both doing well in school and looking forward to summer. Only about 4 weeks left to school.

Thank you all for checking in and leaving messages. Emily gets on here daily to read them. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, April 15, 2010 0:09 AM CDT

**Update Thursday April 22, 2010**

Hi Everyone! Emily has been feeling pretty good. She finished her 2 weeks of iv antibiotics on tuesday. She sees the doctor on Tuesday (27th) and we will find out then if she will do more antibiotics or not. She has been doing great with her picc line. Last weekend I took Emily to get her hair cut. She was really nervous about it, but decided she wanted to have it layered. When the lady started to cut she was very close to crying. When she was cutting the shorter layers she took off 6inches or so, but we only cut about an inch and a half off the total length. When she was done Emily loved it. I am so glad that she likes it. I will post a picture later.

Charlie and Emily are both doing great in school. Things overall have been good. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



Hi Everyone! Emily is doing well. She has handled having this picc line in way better then we all thought she would. The firat couple days she wouldn't hardly move her arm, but after that she just got use to it being there. She has been doing her iv antibiotics everynight before bed. She only has to do them once a day for 30 minutes. Not to bad! We don't go back to the doctor until the 27th so we will not know if this is helping her lung function until then.

Last Friday the kids went to camp with the cancer society. They had so much fun. They left on friday and returned on sunday. They can't wait until summer camp comes. This week they are doing aims testing in school. Seems like the week is just flying by.

Not really anything much to report. We are doing well. I am so very proud of how Emily has been doing with the picc line. Please pray these meds are helping her.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, April 5, 2010 1:34 PM CDT

CHECK OUT THE NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!!


**UPDATE TUESDAY APRIL 6, 2010**

Emily is home sleeping peacefully in her own bed tonight. Thank you all for your prayers. It was a long day and nothing went quite as planned, BUT Emily was great! She handled everything like a champ.

We got to the hospital at 11am and they told us we were NOT on the schedule for today. So they sent us up to radiology to find out what happened. We get up there and apparently someone messed up and put her on the schedule for tomorrow at 1pm instead of today. UGH! Tomorrow she has a doctors appointment at 1pm. So they told us to hang out a few minutes and they would see if they could work her in today. Thankfully they had someone else there that was needing anesthia, so the anesthesiologist just stayed for Emily to. I was so thankful they were able to work her in. Unfortunately they didn't get her back until 3pm. She was getting very frustrated and just wanted to go home. She did great when they took her back. No fighting at all. By 4:30 we were heading home. She is still a little uneasy about having the Pic line, but I am so proud of her. The picture above is of her in the pre-op waiting. Love it!

Come back and check for a picture of her in what she calls her "wow outfit". She decided she had to wear something great so the kids wouldn't notice her pic line so much. I will post pictures after I get back from taking the kids to school. Be sure to check back.

Love and Hugs,
Angela






Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend and a wonderful Easter. Ours was good. First let me tell you, Emily goes to the hospital tomorrow, Tuesday, April 6th, to get her Picc Line put in. We check in at 11am and the prcedure will take place at 1pm. I will update when we get home and let you know how it all went. Emily is not excited about it, but she is ok with it. She has already picked out an outfit to wear on wednesday back to school. She said she wasnts to look pretty and hopefully the kids won't notice her picc line so much. :) I will be sure to take a picture.

We had a great weekend. Saturday we did some shopping and then just hung out outside alot. It was a beautiful weekend. On sunday the kids hunted easter eggs and then we went to the park and played baseball. We had so much fun and spent some much needed family time together. I do have some pictures and I will work on getting those posted.

This will be a busy week for us. Tuesday Emily gets her picc line placed. Wednesday she goes in to see the pulmonologist. Then friday they leave for spring retreat camp with the cancer society. They are so excited about that. They leave friday afternoon and come back sunday afternoon. Next week is just as busy. Monday Emily goes to see the ENT. He is the doctoir that did the surgery on the web on right lung. Its just another followup appointment to see where we are at on that. I am confident that will be a good appointment. Then next friday April 16th she sees the endocrinologist. We see him every 6 months just to follow her growth. Hopefully she is still growing at a consistant rate and we will just keep watching it. I will keep you posted on all these appointments as they happen.

Please pray for tomorrow's procedure. Emily is very nervous. They are knocking her out to place the picc line. So also pray that she comes out of the anesthesia ok. Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, March 31, 2010 0:17 AM CDT

**PULMONOLOGY UPDATE WED. MARCH 31, 2010**

Today we went in to check Emily's lung function. She has been on steroids for the last week in hopes that it would help. Her lung function is unchanged from last week. So the plan is to get her in to have the pic line placed and start her on IV antibiotics as soon as we can. I should know in the next day or so when it will be placed. I am SO proud of Emily for how she handled the news. She told me that she has been through worse and made it through it and she will get over this bump in the road also. She is truly amazing. She has also decided that she is going to explain things to the kids when they tease her in hopes that them understanding things more will stop them from being mean. We also talked with the principal and teacher and they are going to work together to stop the bullying. I will keep you posted as I get more info.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! I want to start with a couple prayer requests. First of all I would like to ask that you please pray for Emily's emotional being. She is being teased and picked on alot at school. Seems the last week has been the worst. The kids are calling her a freak and swine flu girl. They push her around and just down right mean to her. She is afraid to tell the teachers cause then the kids will call her a snitch and tease her more. I am so sad and sickened by all of this. She loves school and really wanted to be there. Until today that is. Today she called me crying and begging me to pick her up and never bring her back to school again. I went in and had a meeting with the principal and I am going to try to meet with her teacher tomorrow. She told me that she just wants kids to like her and look at her like a 10yr old girl instead of as an illness. Second I ask that you pray for her lung function. Wednesday at 1pm we go back in to the doctor for lung function tests and to find out if we are indeed going to put the pic line in and start iv antibiotics. Emily is still not looking forward to the pic line, but she does understand why it is needed. I will keep you updated as soon as we get back from the doctors.

Now on to the good news. We had a wonderful weekend. Saturday the kids and I went to Bumblebee ranch with HopeKids. This is always our favorite event of the year. Horseback riding, rock wall, jumpies, archery, paintball target shooting, crafts, face painting, petting zoo, covered wagon rides, hummer rides, food and great friends. It was so much fun. Little Charlie had a blast with the paintballing. They even let him help set up targets and fill the paintball guns. He was so excited. Emily loved the rock wall. She climbed all 4 sides and was so proud of her self when she made it to the top of the hardest side. She climbed the wall many times. They also loved the hummer rides. They went on those 3 times. Here are some pictures I took that day.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 1:35 PM CDT

**PULMONOLOGY UPDATE**

PLEASE PRAY!! Emily is not doing well with her breathing at all. All lung function tests have decreased by at least 20 percent. Her right lung isn't functioning still and she is moving no air through the lower base of her left lung. She is very junky and just having a tough time. She did the shakey vest today without a fight. I was very proud of her. We go back next wednesday. If her lung function is still down we are going to have to put a pic line in and do the iv antibiotics for 3-4 weeks. She is not happy about this. I think she is more scared then anything. She told me today she doesn't want to do them because she is going to be teased at school. And nothing the doctor has done has made her better, only worse. She said, "Why should I try this if my lungs are going to give up on me and I am going to die anyways?" Oh I am so sad to hear her say that. I know she has fight in her and she is so strong. She really needs your prayers and encouragement right now more then ever. I will keep you posted as I get more info.

On a happier note, both kids got their report cards. They were both pretty proud of themselves. Both got all A's and B's and each got one C. They were kind of upset about the C cause that meant they just missed honor roll. I am so proud of them both. Thank you for checking in and praying.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! Wow it sure has been a while since I've updated. Things have been so busy. The kids went on spring break on March 12th and just went back to school yestarday. We were lucky enough not to have any doctors appointments during spring break at all. Emily was excited about that. However over spring break Emily got sick. She is on 2 antibiotics already so she hasn't gotten it full blown, But it has effected her breathing alot. She is currently needing her breathing treatments ever 2-3hrs. I called the pulmonologist and she told me just to continue with the treatments every 2-3hrs and call back if she gets worse. She has not gotten worse, but has not gotten better either. We go see the pulmonologist tomorrow (march 24th) at 1pm. Then to top it all off I got sick to. I am trying to keep my distance from Emily, but as you can imagine it is not the easiest thing to do. I went to the doctor yestarday and they told me I have upper respiratory infection. It is definately no fun and I hope Emily does not get worse because of me. Please continue to pray for her breathing and for her not to get what I have.

So on Thurs March 11 I picked all the kids up from school. Emily, Charlie and their cousins Katelynn and Tyler. They spent the night with us and the next day. On friday we went to the park and spent the whole day there playing. We played baseball, rode scooters and skateboards, played basketball, ran around and just had tons of fun. It was great day full of fun and laughs. I got some great pictures to share also. Then on saturday Emily woke up with a sore throat and coughing real bad. We waited it out over the weekend and then I called her doctor on monday. They told me to just keep giving her the anitibiotics she is on and up her treatments to every 2-3hrs. So that is what we have done. She has been great about doing them also. I am very proud of how she has been handling everything lately. No fights, just doing it. Tuesday I started getting a sore throat and cough. By thursday I was feeling a bit better. We hung out all week. Playing games, riding bikes, watching movies, playing with their friends. You name they were doing it. Constantly on the go and doing something. Emily sure wasn't letting anything keep her from having fun on spring break. Saturday we had Charlie's birthday party. His birthday is not until March 29th, but our weekends for the next 3 weeks are pretty full so we had it a week early. He was ok with that and decided against a big family party. (our family is not getting along these days) So he asked if he could invite friends and go to Great Skate. I thought that was a great idea and they were running a spring break special .99 admission. So we got a group of us together saturday morning and went skating from 10-12:30. The kids had so much fun. They even got Daddy and Uncle Tom out there to skate. They absolutely love Great Skate. Then we came back to our house for lunch and cake and presents. Charlie wanted just one thing for his birthday and I was sure there was no way I was going to be able to afford to get it for him. I tried all week to find an xbox 360 that I could afford. Finally friday night I got an email from someone that was willing to drop his price since he didn't play it anymore and it was for my sons birthday. We were so excited to be able to get him the one thing he really wanted. Aunt Kelly and Uncle Garett got him a nerf football, tech decks and a cd. Our friends Paul and Misty came too and they brought him the one game he really wanted for his xbox, Halo 3. He was in heaven and couldn't have asked for anything more. Saturday afternoon I started getting sicker. I lost my voice and it has still not come back. I have been resting as much as possible for days now and still not feeling better. Please pray that this will go away soon. UGH! Here are pictures from the last week.

Monday, March 8, 2010 0:37 AM CST

**UPDATE MONDAY MARCH 22, 2010**

Sorry for the lack of updates. Its been a long week full of fun and sickness. I promise a full update in the morning. I also have pictures to share. Please keep Emily's breathing in you prayers. She has had a tough week and is now doing breathing treatments every 2hrs each day. Check back later for a full update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! Emily has been feeling pretty good lately. She went to the pulmonologist on Thursday and we didn't get the best of news. First I will tell you what good news we did get. During the bronch the doctor found some bumps or bubbles growing on Emily's right lung. She is not sure what it is so she had it tested. The good news is everything came back negative for cancer. Still not sure what they are, but we are happy to know they are not cancer. Now to the other news. Her lung function tests dropped. This is not normal after a bronch is done. The brinch usually improves lung function. They found 4 different bacteria's growing in Emily's lungs. Also found significant beeding in her right lung. Anything over 7 percent is not good. Right lower lobe is at 10 percent, right upper lobe is at 9 percent and right middle lobe is at 30 percent.She said the bleeding could be caused by the infection, but they are waiting on more results before she says for sure. The left lung is at 2 percent so she is not concerned about that. The right lung is not functioning at this time and they are unsure if they will get function back in it. She is going to do everything she can to try to though. We talked about taking her off the antibiotics she is on now and starting IV antibiotics long term. That would mean putting a pic line in and Emily is not liking that idea. Right now we are just dicussing options, nothing is definate. I know she told me so much more information but this is most of it.

The doctor wants to let Emily make as many decisions about her care as possible. So we have explained everything to her and let her know what is happening and what may have to happen with her treatment. I am very proud of how Emily has responded to it all. She is ready to do whatever the doctor thinks is best. Even if that means a pic line or a shakey vest. She told me the other day that she is scared that her lungs are going to stop working and she is going to die. It made me so sad to hear her say that. She said that she trusts her doctor though. That is a huge thing. Emily and her pulmonologist have not had the best relationship the last 8 months or so. She is the only doctor that Emily hates going to see. Something has changed between them and it has been for the better. I will keep you posted on any news we get.

Friday night we went to Amazing Jakes. It is a huge place with rides, bowling, games, and much more. We went with HopeKids. It was so much fun. I took some pictures and I will post them later. We had tons of fun.

We had a good weekend. Little Charlie had his first band performance at Arts Alive on saturday. He plays the trumpet and he did great. He was so proud of himself. If I can figure out how to post a video then I will post one of the songs that they played. Then we spent the rest of the day hanging out, just us and their cousins came over to. It was a great day. I do have some pictures that I will post later.

Emily's next appointment with the pulmonologist is not until the 24th. The kids are in school for 4 days this week and then next week is spring break.

Please keep praying for Emily's lungs. More answers, better treatment plan and restored function in her right lung.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Saturday, February 27, 2010 0:05 AM CST

**UPDATE WEDNESDAY MARCH 3, 2010**

Emily has been feeling pretty good. All weekend she was feeling crummy, but by Monday morning she was good. Thursday afternoon she goes back to the pulmonologist. They will be checking her lung function now that she had the bronch done. Not sure if any results will be in yet,but I will be sure to let you know if I get any new news. Please pray that the appointment goes well. Also Emily has been having tummy pain again. Please pray this gets better. Thank you for checking in and praying for Emily.

Love and Hugs,
Angela






WOW! What a day. It was a very long day at the hospital and we didn't hear things we were hoping to hear. We got to the hospital to check in at 10am. The bronch was scheduled for noon. We got taken up to pre-op and all checked in there by 11am. Then we waited and waited and waited. At 2pm they took us up to the procedure room for her bronch. It was crazy! They were so behind and it really made for a long day. Emily decided she wanted to be a big girl and go to the procedure room without taking any Versaid (sp?) first. That was a huge mistake. She was ok until they tried to put the mask over her face. UGH! It took all of us to hold her arms down and her head still. She fought for as long as she could and then she was out. I kissed her and left the room. Just after 3pm the doctor came to talk to me. She said out of 5 bronchs she had done that day, Emily's was the worst. Meaning once she got in there it was worse then what she had thought. The right lung is not functioning at all and may never function again. She got the last of the biopsy results back from the last bronch and found out the cilia in Emily's lungs are abnormal. Which means they are not functioning and moving the mucus and phlem up so she can spit it out. Whcih means that it is sitting and getting thicker and causing infection. She removed tons of fluid from her right lung and she said it was REALLY bad. Her goal is to get to the root of what is causing all the problems in her right lung. The damage from chemo and radiation is clear, but she doesn't know why the cilia is abnormal, or why she is producing so much fluid, why it just stopped functioning. So many questions and no answers. It is getting very frustrating. The left lung looks ok, but the base of the left lung is still moving no air. Again unsure of why. Hmmm.....will we ever get these answers? Emily had a tough time waking up from anesthesia and when she did she felt very crummy. We finally got to leave the hospital about 5pm and head home. Emily was still very unsteady on her feet and groggy. She wasn't making a whole lot of sense when she was talking either. She fell asleep in the car and then again when we got home on the couch. We did get her to eat some food and then just rest. She is still feel really crappy and says her throat hurts alot. I hope she gets a good nights rest and feels better in the morning.

The doctor put her back on her antibiotics and told me to watch her for fever over the weekend. Depending on what these biopsy results show, we may be altering her course of treatment. Right now we are keeping it the same. But if the cilia comes back abnormal again then the doctor is talking about a shakey vest for home. Emily is going to hate that. If they find it is really bad infection she is talking IV antibiotics to hit it hard and hopefully get rid of it. All up in the air until we know more. What frustrates me is that we just now got the last of the results from the biopsies from the last bronch and that was done in August. It kills me to think that we may have to wait another 6 months before we have all the biopsy results back. But until then I guess we just take it one day at a time.

Please pray that Emily will sleep well tonight and wake feeling better. That she will not develop a fever over the weekend and that her throat will feel better soon. Also please pray that we will get results back very soon and answers, so we can start her on a treatment plan that is actually going to make her lungs better and hopefully get some function back in the right lung.

Thank you all for checking in, leaving messages and praying. It means so much! The picture above was taken at the hospital in pre-op. She was all smiles then, but that was shortly after we go to the hospital. I will keep you all posted as soon as I know more.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 1:05 AM CST

**UPDATE February 25, 2010**

Emily's bronch is tomorrow. Please keep her in your prayers for a smooth procedure and hopefully some answers. We have to be there at 10am and its scheduled for noon. I will update with any news I get when we get home.

Love and HUgs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Emily LOVES being back at school. It has changed her attitude and everything. She is so much happier and I am seeing more of my sweet little girl coming back each day. I am so glad that I pushed the pulmonologist into letting her go back. Her first day was last wednesday. She was so excited, but when it was time for her to go into her class she started to cry. She got scared about what the kids would say about her mask or if they would stare. The teacher introduced her and let her talk to the class about why she has to wear a mask. She told them about her cancer and that she is 5yrs cancer free. She told them that the treatment she had for the cancer damaged her lungs and now she has lung disease. She explained that it is nothing that anyone can get and that the mask is just there to protect her from getting sick. She said that if she doesn't wear the mask and she gets sick that she will end up in the hospital. The class asked lots of questions and she answered them all. They welcomed her and made her feel comfortable about wearing the mask. No one makes a big deal out of it and so it is no big deal to her. She doesn't mind wearing it now. Her teacher told me that he is amazed at how well she is doing in class, since she hasn't been in school for 6 months. He said she is very smart and seems to be right where she should be. They are in the proccess of testing her to find out where she is in her reading and math. She said she took the reading test and thinks she got an exceeds grade level on it. I am so proud of her. She has worked hard to get back in school and I know she is going to work even harder to stay in school and stay up with the class. The picture above I took of her before she went to school today. You can definately tell how happy she is.

There really isn't to much else going on. I've been spending my alone time trying to get my house decluttered and cleaned. I feel like I've gotten alot accomplished. I didn't realize I had neglected so much over the time of having her home. I tried to focus so much on her and her schoolwork. It has been nice to have some time for me. :)

This friday, Feb 26th, Emily has her Bronch scheduled. I should know some news the same day. Any cultures or biopsies they do I won't have results right away on. The doctor is planning on cleaning out her lungs of all the junk while in there, so hopefully Emily will be breathing easier after the bronch. Her breathing hasn't been to bad, but she said she has been feeling short of breath more then normal. I do notice her coughing has gotten a bit worse also. But Emily doesn't let anything keep her down.

My prayer requests tonight are for the bronch to go smoothly and for us to get some answers and a new treatment plan. Also please pray that she does not get sick. The doctor said if she gets sick she will require her to be pulled out of school again. That would be the worst thing she could tell Emily right now. Going back to school meant everything to Emily. Also Emily has tons of fluid in her ears. So I ask that you please pray that she will not get an ear infection again. I will update again as soon as we get home from the hospital on friday afternoon. Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 0:08 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Our day today was very busy and got really crazy. First we had to be at the hospital for Emily's CT scan at 7:30am. We get there and get all registered and then the tech comes out and tells me that they never recieved all of the orders. UGH! 2 1/2hrs later Emily got taken back for her scan. We were there for 3hrs. We were suppose to be at the pulmonologist at 9am. That didn't happen. We got there closer to 11am. They still took us in, but it was a long wait. That appointment went terribly. The pulmonlogist was not wanting to release Emily back to school. She is afraid Emily is going to get sick and end up in the hospital. Emily and I agrued our point for an hour and the doctor gave in and wrote the note to release her as long as the urologist agreed. The doctor also got to see the scan of Emily's lungs that was done this morning. NOT good news. Right lung is not functioning at all. The base of her left lung is still moving no air. She has lots of fluid built up in her ears also. Sadly her lungs are getting worse and worse. She has a bronch scheduled for Feb 26th and hopefully we will get some more answers on what is going on and how to better treat her lungs. The doctor said she would agree to let Emily go back to school as long as she wears a mask. Emily agreed. So then we were off to the Urologist to see if her kidney has healed enough for her to officially be cleared to return to school. The urologist came in and said her kidney looks GREAT! The blood and fluid is gone and there is no swelling. He was surprised that there was no noticeable scar tissue either. He said you can still see where it was cracked, but feels confident that it is 90 percent healed and that she can return to normal activity. Which means, SHE CAN GO BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!!

We went to the school to give them the doctors release and she told them she wanted to return on wednesday. They told her "Ok but you know that it is a half day right?" Emily replied by saying, "Oh Man!! I am getting jipped on my first day back to school." LOL! She is too funny. She is so excited. It is going to be hard for her to get back into the groove of things, but I know she will do great. Please pray that she will have a good first day back to school. That the kids will be understanding of why she is wearing a mask. That she will not get sick and that her lungs will not get any worse.

Not to much else going on. Thank you so much for checking in and praying for Emily and our family. It means so much. (((HUGS))) to all!

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 10:44 PM CST

***UPDATE MONDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2010**

Please keep Emily in your prayers for her CT scans on Tuesday morning. They will be scanning her chest, abdomen and pelvis. Then we will go see the pulmonologist and then the urologist. If all looks good and her kidney is healed enough then she will hopefully be returning to school. She can't wait to go back to school. She's been out since the second week of school and really misses it and her friends. I will update as soon as I have news. Also would like to ask for a few extra prayers for Emily's Uncle Tom. He is having surgery on tuesday also. Please pray all goes well and he recovers quickly. Thank you for checking in and praying. Check back later for results.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**UPDATE THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2010**

This week has been very busy. Lots going on in our house. Emily is doing good. We've been butting heads about schoolwork again, but other then that she is doing well. She has been feeling good. Tuesday Feb. 16th she has a ct scan scheduled of her kidney and lungs at 8am. Then we go over to the pulmonologist at 9am. Then to the urologist at 1:30pm. We are crossing our fingers that her kidney has healed and that she will get released to go back to school. She has been out of school since August and really wants to finsh the last 3 months of school, IN school. Please pray that the kidney is healed and that the doctor releases her to go to school. It really means so much to her. She is missing out on so much by having to stay home. Not to much else to report. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a Happy Valentines Day!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Emily is feeling 100 percent better. We saw the pulmonologist and she said Emily's ears still look yucky and they are full of fluid. She took her off the antibiotics though. She will be having her bronch done on Feb 26th and she needs to be off all antibiotics for at least 2 weeks prior to the bronch. Emily's cough is still about the same. She is not moving much air through the bases of her lungs, but her lung function tests came up a bit. Overall she is doing ok. We are still not sure when we will go for her next scan to check out how her kidney looks. It should be within the next week or so. She really wants to go back to school and that is pretty much the only thing holding her up right now. Thats about all I have to report.

Things around our house have been kinda tough. I ask that you please say a little prayer for us. Its nothing medical, but it is taking a toll on us all emotionally. Thank you for checking in and praying for us.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 0:40 AM CST

***Monday Feb. 1, 2010***

Emily has an appointment with the pulmonologist tuesday afternoon. I will do a full update afterwards. Emily's ears are feeling much better.





**FRIDAY jANUARY 29, 2010**

TODAY EMILY IS 5 YEARS CANCER FREE!!!!!!

What a huge milestone. She is so excited to have hit 5yrs cancer free. She told me today that even though she still has lots of medical issues she is glad to have cancer behind her and feels she no longer has to worry that it is coming back. I am hoping to plan something special for her. I am sure I will have picture. :)

I know many of you have followed Emily's journey from the beginning and I know she would love to hear from you all in her guestbook on this special day. Thank you for always praying for her.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Emily is feeling much better. Her hearing is back in her left ear and she is only having very little pain. The antibiotics have definately done their job. She will stay on them until Feb 2nd when we go back to see the pulmonologist. Her bronch has been rescheduled to Feb 26th. The Flutter device that the doctor gave her to help break up the mucus and junk in her lungs is helping also. Her cough is more productive and she seems to be able to clear some of the junk out after using it. Overall she is doing well. I haven't heard from the doctor about her next scan for her kidney yet. I believe he said that was going to be around the 1st or 2nd week in February. I will keep you posted on that.

Emily is doing better with her schoolwork. The new teacher has been good for her. She has been completing all her work on time and doing one writing assignment a week. I am very proud of her. Charlie is also working hard in school. He really wants to get honor roll next report card. I know he can do it.

Overall things are good. Thank you all for checking in and leaving messages. Emily loves to read them. I will keep you posted as I know more.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, January 18, 2010 11:54 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2010**

Emily is miserable and in tons of pain. Her ears are just getting worse and worse. She has bilateral ear infections. The doctor called in ear drops for her to help with the pain yestarday. When she woke up this morning she couldn't hear out of her left ear and she was in tremendous pain. I called the doctor back she decided to put her on 2 antibiotics. She is worried that the swelling and pressure is going to get so bad that it is going to burst her ear drum. Please pray that the antibiotics work fast and she gets some relief soon. The bronch has been rescheduled since we had to put her on antibiotics. So instead of it being on Feb 1st it is now on Feb 26th. Please pray that the pain in her ears will subside, that the swelling will go down, the pressure will relieve and that she will get her hearing back in her left ear soon. She is absolutely miserable right now. She goes back to the doctor on Feb 2nd, unless her ears get worse over the next day or so. Thank you for the prayers. I will keep you posted.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**PULMONOLOGY UPDATE. Wed. Jan. 20, 2010**

So the pulmonologist appointment went so so. Emily's lungs sound really crummy. They are full of junk, the lower left lung is still not moving air and her lung function tests came down again. We never recieved the incentive spirometer that the doctor wanted Emily to use for 2 weeks, so instead she gave her something different. Its called a Flutter. Emily blows into it and it vibrates her lungs and helps to break up the mucus. She thinks its pretty cool. She is suppose to blow 5 times then cough, blow 5 times then cough. She was told to do that 3-4 times a day. She used it 4 times yestarday and it seemed to help her be able to cough up the mucus. We could not put her back on antibiotics, even thought he doctor says she really needs to be on them. She is scheduled for a bronch on Feb 1st and she has to be off antibiotics for at least 2 weeks prior to the bronch. So we will have to wait until after that. Her bronch is scheduled for Feb 1st and then we see the pulmonologist again Feb 2nd. I will keep you posted as I get news.

I do have one prayer request. Emily has been up almost all night with really bad earaches. They just started last night and have gotten worse through the night. Tylenol is not even helping take the pain away. I am going to call her doctor today, but please pray that the pain will go away.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Sorry its been so long since I've updated. My computer is still on the fritz so it doesn't let me on all the time and when it does its not always for very long. Emily has not been feeling to well. Her cough is getting alot worse. She has been up and down all night everynight for the last week coughing. We go see the pulmonologist tuesday at 9am. Hopefully we will have some answers or she will be able to help her cough. Emily has been doing really good at taking it easy. She really wants to go back to school and the only way that can happen is if her kidney heals. We won't know if that is happening until the first or second week of February when they do another scan. Please keep praying for her kidney to heal.

Last week I got the kids report cards. Charlie got all A's and B's except one D in language. He was really disappointed about the D, but it was due to many missing assignments. It seems he has not been turning in his writing assignments. The teacher is going to start sending home weekly reports so I can keep informed on what he is doing and not doing. This way I will know he is suppose to complete them at home. Other then that the teacher says he is great to have in class and is a great student. Emily's report card did not look so good. I was very upset about what she got and how she was graded. The homebound program is really crappy. Although we loved the teacher that was coming to the house, I do not believe Emily was getting the eduaction that she deserved. I feel confident that it is all going to change with this new teacher. Her report card was all C's and unsatisfactory. She got C's in subjects that she never did any work in. How in the world can they grade her on something that she wasn't even doing? She got a U in "coming to class prepared" Really? How is that possible? I talked with the principal about it and although she can't change her report card grades, she did say that she would talk to the teacher that graded her about it. Her grades were also effected by her effort. Emily is angry about being home and just wants to go back to school. So her attitude has not been the best. She has been completing the work, but maybe not putting forth 100 percent effort. The principal told me that her quarterly grades to not go on her record. Only her final end of year grade does. So if she does good for the next 2 quarters then her end of year grade will be good. Emily and I have talked about this and she is eager to see better grades on her next report card. The new teacher comes on Monday and thursday nights for 2hrs a night. She is working on getting her a curriculumn and will be teaching her lessons in every subject. I am excited to see the teacher actually teaching her while she is here and not just giving her a bunch of work to do during the day on her own. She is going to work extra hard on bringing her up to where she needs to be in math, spelling and writing. That way when she does go back to school then she will be where she needs to be. The princpal has talked about having Emily repeat the 5th grade. Emily is dead set against having to that, so I think she is going to work extra hard at making sure she gets to go into 6th grade next year.

Today the kids were off school and their cousins came and spent the day with us. They played games, watched movies and did a little photo shoot. Emily was so excited to have them over. I know it was just what she needed. We had so much fun taking pictures. Its been a while since the kids have really let me take their pictures. Here are the pictures we took today.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 11:38 PM CST

Hi Everyone! So much has been going on the last couple weeks. First let me tell you how Emily is currently doing. Yestarday we saw the pulmonologist. Found out a couple new things. First of all the sweat test she had at the hospital came back within normal range. It took us forever to get the results, but we are so happy to hear that she does NOT have CF. Her breathing has gotten worse and we also found out that the lower left lung is moving no air. The doctor was able to pull up her last CT scan done on Dec 29th. She said Emily has contusions on her left lung. Most likely happened in the accident. The hospital was so focused on her kidney that they missed this. Her lungs are also full of crud. The doctor is going to get us an incentive spirometer for her to hopefully help improve her lung function. Right now we just have to wait for the contusions to heal and hope it starts moving air again. Today we went to the urologist. He said that the latest CT scan shows that the cracks are the same as the day of the trauma, but the hematoma is larger. He said this is normal for it to get bigger, but with rest it should start healing. He said we should not worry to much about it right now. The important things to watch for is blood in her urine, increased pain, abdomin distention, or if she starts vomiting. Those signs mean that the leakage is getting worse or the bleeding has started up again. The doctor explained to her that it is VERY important for her to take it easy and only do very light activity for the next 6 weeks. At that point they will do another CT scan and see how much it has healed. They will then decide how much actvity she can do and IF she can go back to school. She really wants to go back to school.

Ok so let me give you a rundown of the last 3 weeks. On Dec. 19th Emily was out playing with the neighbor kids. They were all riding a motorized bike and Emily wanted to ride it. So she got on and was on it less then 5 minutes and another kids rode out in front of her on a scooter. She couldn't stop and she hit the curb. It caused her to fly off the bike and then the bike flipped over on top of her. I was not home at the time and my husband called me. I came straight home and took her into the ER. Once in the ER she was taken back fairly quickly. She was in tremendous pain and was peeing straight blood. It was very scary. They did a CT scan and found out that she fractured her kidney in 3 spots. Basically the weight of the bike crushed her kidney and cracked it. Emily's response to this was, "Well at least I didn't break my leg." She really didn't understand the severity of the situation. They took us right up to PICU and that is where we spent the next 4 days on strict bedrest. They didn't even want her sitting up in bed for any length of time. The first 2 days her urine was dark blood red. By the 3rd day it was looking better and the 4th day it was barely pink. That is when they decided that they were going to move her to the Peds floor and see if she could tolerate walking a little. She did well and we were so excited to be able to come home on Dec 23rd. We went home with orders to stay very limited in activity. They wanted her to do no more then walking around the house and even that they wanted little of. It has been very hard to keep her down. She has been feeling well and has only had little pain, so she wants to get out and play.

Christmas Eve we went ahead with our party. She was so excited to get all dressed up, but knew she couldn't do much. She was very good about mostly resting on the couch and visiting with everyone. It was a great night. The kids had a great Christmas. They each got many things they wanted. They also each got a cell phone that they have been wanting. It was a huge deal for Emily especially since she is homebound. Now she can keep in contact with her friends more. The new year has brought some more bumps in the road as far as her recovery. I guess things are going to heal much slower then we had thought. But we will make the best of it and wait it out.

I have tons of pictures to share. I put them all in a slideshow. They go from her being in the hospital up to just a couple days ago. Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 2:19 AM CST

**UPDATE MONDAY, JAN. 4, 2010**

My computer is down and so I have been unable to get online. I hope to be able to give a full update and share pictures soon. For now let me just tell you how Emly has been. I am having a horrible time getting her to rest and relax, but she is taking it easy. She went for a follow-up CT scan last week. The result came back quickly and the doctor called. Her kidney has not healed at all. The scan is unchanged from the day of the accident except that the bleeding has stopped. He wants her to stay on limited activity and he moved her appointment to see him up a week. So we go see the Urologist on Wed, Jan 6th. Hopefully I will have my computer up and running by then. Also while in the hospital the doctors felt she didn't need to be on the antibiotics that her pulmonologist has had her on. So they took her off them. She has not been on them for 2 weeks now. I've noticed an increase in her cough and she has been complaining of chest pain. We see the pulmonologist tomorrow. Please pray she is not getting sick. I will try to update again soon. Thank you all for continueing to pray.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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***WEDNESDAY DEC. 23, 2009, 2:30PM***

WE ARE HOME!!!!!!

She still has a long recovery, but we are excited to be able to be home. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

Merry Christmas,
Angela

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**UPDATE TUESDAY DEC. 22, 2009, 11am**

Transfer orders have been put in and so we will be moving out of PICU to the regular peds floor as soon as they have a bed ready for her. This is good news. Just another small step in the right direction.

Her labs look good, kidney function looks good and the bleeding has slowed. There is still blood in her urine but it is Also slowly getting better. Once we are move to the peds floor the plan is to remove the catheter and have her get up and walk a little bit to see if her kidney can handle light actvity without opening up and bleeding again. No results on the sweat test yet. I will keep you updated.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Update on Emily. She remains stable. Her kidney function is good, labs are looking ok, and her urine is much lighter then it was. There is still blood in it, but nothing like it was. She is on strict bedrest right now. She is hating it, but she is improving some. Its going to be a slow recovery. The doctor says it will take 6-8 weeks to completely heal. She will not have to be in the hospital until then, but she will most likely be here a couple more days at the very least. They also did a sweat chloride test today to test her for cystic fibrosis. The pulmonologist is taking advantage of her being in the hospital and is running some tests that she was going to order for next month. I do not have the results back from that yet.

The plan is to hopefully move her to the peds floor in the morning and see how she tolerates light acitivity. All she wants is to be home for Christmas. Please Keep praying for healing of that kidney, for good results from the sweat test, and for her emotionally. She is having a very tough time. She wants to go home and sure doesn't want to be in the hospital for Christmas. I will update as I get more info.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Saturday, December 12, 2009 8:49 AM CST

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!!!! Dec 20, 2009

EMILY IS IN THE PICU WITH A LACERATED KIDNEY. Emily was in a terrible accident on a little motorized bike and lacerated her kidney in 3 spots. This is of great concern considering she only has one kidney. She is stable right now and the bleeding has slowed, but she is not out of the woods and has a long recovery ahead of her. Please pray for the bleeding to stop and for her kidney to heal itself. Also please pray for her emotional state. She is devastated and feels that she has ruined Christmas for everyone. We don't know how long we will be in the hospital. I will try to keep you updated as I get more info. Internet is not the best at the hospital, but I will find a way to keep you posted. Please just pray!!!!

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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**TUES. DEC. 15, 2009 PULMONOLOGIST APPOINMENT UPDATE**

Emily went to the pulmonologist today. Again her lung functin tests came back lower then 2 weeks ago, but they didn't drop alot. She hears crackles when she listens to her lungs also. They are thinking this is not from the web growing back, but rather something else that they are missing. We are hoping they can figure it out. She has been getting out of breath much easier then she was a month ago. The other news we got was not so good either. More of the test results came in from her bronch. They are slowly getting them all back. (I can't believe it has taken so long) Anyways it showed that she has bleeding in the lower lobe of her left lung. This is her good lung. I asked what could be causing this and the doctor replied, "I don't know". That is definately not something that you want to hear your doctor say. They are going to schedule her for another bronch in january to hopefully find out where the bleeding is coming from and why. She has also been having quite a bit of pain in the left side of her chest over the last few days. I thought it was because she was coughing so much. Now I am concerned that it has something to do with the bleeding. If the pain worsens or her breathing worsens I have been instructed to take her to the ER. So my prayer request tonight is this. Pray that it does not get worse and pray that they can figure out what is going on with her and they can fix it. Emily asked me on the way home today, "Mom when am I going to get a break?" She just wants to be able to breathe well and go back to school. We are shooting for Feb 1st for her to return to school. She is looking forward to that. I will keep you posted as I get more information.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Sorry about not updating. I've been sick all week and have been finding it hard to get motivated to do much. I am still feeling horrible. I am hopinh that whatever it is I have, Emily doesn't get. We went to the surgeon on wednesday. I was very unhappy with the how the appt went. We waited 30 minutes in the waiting room, then when we got taken back we were literally in the with the doctor no more then 2 minutes tops. He sat down asked her how her breathing is and then asked her to take a deep breathe in and blow it out. End of appointment! He didn't even listen to her with a stethascope. He said he doesn't hear any strider so he does not reccomend going back in just yet. We go back to him in 2 months. In the meantime she is coughing quite a bit more, she is feeling out of breathe very easily and is not as active as she was. She goes back to the Pulmonologist on tuesday, so we will see what she says. So basically for now we are just waiting and watching. The surgeon is not concerned that the web is growing back just yet.

I do have some pictures to share from the HopeKids christmas party but I don't have them ready yet. I did put some in the photo album though. This past thursday we went and saw The Blind Side with HopeKids. It was a wonderful movie. The kids weren't sure they wanted to go see it, but they really enjoyed it. Other then that we really haven't been up to much. Emily has been doing better with her schoolwork. I'm very proud of how hard she is working. We still haven't heard who her new teacher will be, but we hope to find out before winter break so we can go in and meet with them.

A few prayer requests: Please pray that Emily doesn't catch what I have. Please pray that her breathing doesn't get any worse. Pray that the doctors can find the reason for her continued breathing problems, if it is in fact not the web growing back. Please continue to pray for our little friend Irelynn. She was starting to get better and then took a turn for the worst. She is once again in a fight for her life. Her birthday is on Dec 22nd, she will be 4yrs old.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 10:25 AM CST

**UPDATE TUESDAY DEC. 8, 2009**
NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!

A full update will be up tomorrow after Emily's appointment with the surgeon. Things have been kinda hectic around here, but good. Emily is feeling ok. She has been coughing quite a bit lately. Hopefully we will know tomorrow whether she will need surgery again or what we will be doing. We also found out today that her homebound teacher will not be returning after christmas break. She is going back to school for her masters, so we will be getting a new teacher. Emily is sad about this, but I know they will find her another great teacher for the time that she will continue to be out of school. Check back later for a full update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2009**

Yestarday Emily had her ultrasound done. Then we went to the pulmonologist. The doctor called and got the results of the ultrasound. The report reads, "Gall bladder, liver, spleen, pancreas, urinary bladder, heart and kidneys are normal in appearance, EXCEPT the right kidney is absent." So normal ultrsound, good news. No answers to the tummy pain, bad news. Next test will be an upper gi with a small bowel follow through. Not sure when that will take place. I will keep you posted. Once again her lung function tests have gone down again. We see the surgeon again on wednesday. The pulmonologist is really stumped with Emily and her breathing. She is really not sure whether this tracheal web is growing back or if it is something else that is wrong with her lungs due to the chemo and radiation. They are still waiting on the rest of the biopsy results from the scope. She is hoping that will help give her more answers. Hopefully they will get that back soon. Other then that Emily is doing good. She hasn't been giving me too much trouble this week with her work and she has really enjoyed having her cousin here.

This week has been especially hard for our HopeKids family. Two families have heard that their child has relapsed, one of which they were told they couldn't do anything more for and he has weeks to live. Please pray for Colten, he is just 3yrs old. Tonight I got a prayer request for Emily's very close friend Kellie. She is in the ER with a very high fever and severe pain. They do not know what is wrong with her. Please pray for her. Update on Irelynn~ She remains in stable condition. Right now the Ecmo machine is running her heart and lungs, dialysis is running her kidneys, and the ventilator is breathing for her. This is all being done to take stress off her body and organs so her body can heal itself from this horrible infection.

There are some SPECIFIC prayer requests for Irelynn:

1. Pray that her body will get rid of this infection so she can get off the machines.

2. Pray that the antibiotics will decrease the size of the nodule on her lung so when she recovers from the infection the surgery will be less invasive.

3. Irelynn is currently in remission from her cancer, BUT is still on chemo. Since she is so sick, they have to stop the chemo until she gets better which creates a risk of the cancer coming back. Please pray that her body will stay in remission.

Please pray for our HopeKids family. Also please pray for Rob and Bridget. They are so close to each of our families and this has been a very emotional week.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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I want to start this update with asking for some prayers for our little friend Irelynn. Last n ight I got news that she was in the PICU, her body was shutting down and she was not breathing on her own. Here is the update from this morning along with a photo. Please pray!!

Last night Irelynn had a procedure to put a whole in her heart which relieved some of the pressure off her heart. Prior to the procedure, her heart had made a miraculous turnaround that the doctors questioned whether or not they even needed to do the procedure. (Praise GOD!) But... See More... See More…they felt was necessary to continue. The whole process took 4-5 hours. It took an hour and a half for about 15 people to move Irelynn from her room in PICU to the procedure room down the hall. She was a such a huge risk for severe bleeding that they had to take things very slow. The procedure to place the whole in her heart took about 2 hours. And then to they had to carefully move her back to her room. She still has a LONG road to recovery. There are 2 different types of infections that she is battling. One is called aspergillus and the other one they are not sure. She is so swollen right now from all the fluid in her body. We need you to specifically pray for healing from these infections that are in her body. Please also pray for Irelynn’s family. I will keep you updated on her progress. Keep praying…the prayers are working!!



Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. WE DID! The kids and I went to my sister, Kelly's house. There was lots of people and lots of food. We had so much fun. It was really nice to have a big Thanksgiving dinner with everyone. (almost everyone) I took lots of pictures, which I will share in a bit. This past weekend we put up all the christmas lights on the house. I am always so excited to decorate for Christmas. It is one of my favorite holidays. I plan to start decorating inside this week. The kids can't wait to put the tree up.

This week I started watching my nephew, Dylan. I am so excited to have him. There has been many issues within my family that has kept me from being able to see the niece and nephew, but I am so excited that I get to see them both everyday. I am sad about how it happened, so I ask that you please pray for my sister. Even though her and I are not speaking, I know she is hurting. I can't really get into to much of it, but please just keep her in your prayers. Dylan is so happy to be here at my house again. We've been playing games, throwing the ball, riding scooters and skateboards and watching movies. Its such a joy to have him around. Emily jumped right into her work yestarday and got it done in 30 minutes. She wanted to play with Dylan and I so she did it with no problems. I wish I could say the same for her afternoon work. Today has been a bit of a fight, but not too bad.

Tomorrow Emily has her ultrasound at 7:15am and then an appointment with the pulmonologist at 1pm. I will keep you posted on how those appointments go. The ultrasound is for her chronic stomach pain. I sure hope we can get some answers. This has been an ongoing issue for so long. I will update when I know results. Not to much else going on for the rest of the week. Saturday we have our Christmas party with HopeKids. I know I will have more pictures to share next week. Hope you all have a great week and enjoy the slideshow below.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 1:30 PM CST

**URGENT PRAYER REQUEST**

I promise a full update with pictures tomorrow. Tonight I come to you asking for prayers for one of our HopeKids friends. Irelynn is 3yrs old and is currently in the PICU. Her body is shutting down and she is not breathing on her own. Her counts are all very low and she has a lung infection. Please pray for a miracle for this precious little girl.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Sorry its taken so long to update. Its been a crazy stressful week. Emily is feeling better. Thankfully she didn't get real sick. Just a couple days of feeling kinda blah and a slight fever. But she is good now. We are still struggling with school with her. She is no longer hiding her work, but I am fighting with her alot just to get her do the work. She wants to go back to school so much that I believe she thinks if she makes it so miserable here for me then we will send her back. Unfortunately that is just not an option. She got her progress report yestarday and it was not very good. Mostly C's and one D. Her teachers comments read: "Emily~You are an "A" student. Some of your work is not only late, but incomplete. There is no excuse for you work not being done on time and your best work. I know you can do it. Lets work on making some changes!" I sat and had a talk with her again and hopefully I got through to her this time. I've not had to fight with her so far today about her work.

I called Emily's surgeon to get an appointment for him to check out her lungs again. They want to see her in the office before making plans to look inside again. So we have an appointment on Dec. 9th. That is the soonest they can get her in there. On Dec 2nd Emily has to be at the hospital at 7am for an ultrasound. They are hopefully going to try to figure out what is going on with her tummy. She is still having the tummy pain and it is really frustrating not knowing what it is. Then after that she has an appointment with her pulmonologist. Hopefully we will not see a decline in her lung function tests again.

Last Saturday we went to my niece, Kylie's, birthday party. She is turning 6yrs old on Thanksgiving. We haven't seen them in a while and we were so excited to spend some time with Kylie and Dylan. Then saturday night we went to the corn maze with HopeKids. That was lots of fun and we didn't get lost this year like last year.

Not to much else has been going on. We are planning on getting together with family for Thanksgiving. I am excited about that. Whats better then good food and family? The kids and I are getting really excited about decorating for Christmas to. We love the holidays. Now if we could just get Daddy to feel the same way. Maybe he will get into it once we start decorating.

I will keep you all posted on things as it happens. I will be taking lots of pictures this week and on Thanksgiving. So I will have lots to share. Thank you all for checking in and praying for us. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, November 16, 2009 1:07 PM CST

**TUESDAY NOV. 17, 2009**

Not a very good visit with the doctor today. All Emily's tests came back much lower then 2 weeks ago. She sounds worse and she is running a fever of 100. Emily is also having tummy pain tonight. Tomorrow we will be calling the surgeon again. The pulmonologist thinks it is time to take a look and see if the web is growing back already. I will keep you posted on that as I know more. Please pray for her fever to go away and for her tummy pain to go away.

On a brighter note, she did great with her schoolwork today. I am so proud of her. She sat down and got it all done and didn't fight with me at all. Praying for a restful night and for her to feel better tomorrow.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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Hi Everyone! Emily has been feeling pretty good overall. She goes back to the pulmonologist tomorrow and we will see if she sounds any worse or better. She doesn't sound lie she has gotten any worse to me, but we will see for sure tomorrow. I wish I could say homebound schooling is going well, but unfortunately Emily is making it very hard on all of us. She is hiding her work and throwing fits and refusing to complete work. I know she is tired of being home and wants to go back to school. I get that she is angry, But I just don't understand why she is refusing to cooperate anymore. Most days I am at a loss with her. I just don't know what to do anymore. Please say some extra prayers for us in this situation. I don't want to see her fall behind. She is very smart and is capable of doing the work given to her. We did finally get a schedule in place for each day so that she knows what she has to do and when. It has helped so she doesn't feel like she is doing schoolwork all day long, but she also doesn't feel overwhelmed with a stack of papers. I do hope we can get the rest worked out so the days go alot smoother.

On November 1st we got 2 new puppies. They were 6wks old when we brought them home. They are Chihuahua babies. We got a little boy named Rebel and a little girl named Daisy. They are the sweetest little puppies. The kids adore them and our other dogs are warming up to them. They are so tiny and fit right in the palm of my hand. They are now 8wks old and are doing wonderful with house training. They are so playful and just the cutest things. I have some pictures to share in a little bit.

Nov. 5th we went to the annual fundraiser event for HopeKids at Tom Lehman's house. We love this event and all the people that we meet there. The kids had lots of fun. Nov. 14th was Tyler's 9th birthday. We went to Aunt Kelly's house for a little party for him. I was so excited to get there and see my other niece and nephew that I haven't seen in a while. I sure have missed Kylie and Dylan so much. The kids were all excited to be together for the first time in a long time. I do want to ask that you pray for my whole family. So many things have us divided right now and the ones that are truly suffering are the kids. It was a great party and everyone had fun. Here are pictures of the new puppies and the party.

Thursday, November 5, 2009 1:05 AM CST

EDITED SUNDAY NOVEMBER 15, 2009

Hi Everyone! Its been kinda crazy around here the last week or so. I will be back monday morning to post a full update and share some pictures. The picture above was taken saturday night. That is one of our new little puppies that Emily is holding. Come back monday afternoon for more pictures and an update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!**

Hi Everyone! Emily has been feeling pretty good overall. Still having that off and on tummy pain. She is also coughing alot more then she was. I was afraid that she was getting sick, BUT then we went to the doctor today. First we went to the hospital for the big pulmonary function tests. She did great! I am so proud of her. She followed their exact directions and no matter how hard it was she gave it her all. I am happy to report that 3 of the tests are showing her almost in the normal range. The other 1 test is still quite low. The doctor didn't seem to concerned about that though. That is the good news. The bad news is went the pulmonologist listened to her she said she is sounding worse then she was 2 weeks ago. She thinks the web is already starting to grow back. The surgeon had us very hopeful that it would not return for 6 months to a year. We are now less then one month from when she had her surgery and they are concerned that it is already growing back. We are very upset about this. I guess we knew that it would eventually grow back and she would need to continue having this surgery to remove it, BUT just 1 month? We are still trying to process that. The pulmonologist has decided to wait on any further testing. She will see her again in 2 weeks and if she sounds worse then we will decide where we go from there. Please say prayers thats he will not be sounding worse and that the web is not already growing. Also if it is growing that it will grow slowly so Emily doesn't have to have surgery again so soon.

Emily has been working hard on her school work. We got a report card for her this week. Four A's and two B's. Her grades are based on the work she does and effort. Unfortunately she is not testing like the other kids so that part is not factored into her grade. I am so glad that they decided to give her a report card. It made her so happy to see those grades and I think it will keep her motivated to do well. We are hoping that she will be able to go back to school after flu season is over. Little Charlie is doing great. He is working hard in school, at band and in student coucil. He is determined to make honor roll this quarter. I am proud of both of them.

We had a great Halloween party at our house on Halloween. I've always wanted to do one of these. Everyone dressed up and we had so much fun. We made a whole Halloween scene on the wall in the living room for pictures. I think they turned out great. The kids went trick or treating and then came back and helped give out candy. Our family all dressed as Vampires. Aunt Kelly and Uncle Garrett were Bonnie and Clyde. Aunt Nicki was a 1920's Flapper and Uncle Tom was a Killer Clown. Kathy and Rodney was Slash and she was his groupie. We all had so much fun!! Lots of pictures to share!

Thursday, October 29, 2009 1:57 AM CDT

**UPDATE WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 4, 2009**

Full update coming tonight with lots of pictures from Halloween. Today we have a full day at the hospital for lung function tests and then off to the pulmonologist after that. We have to be at the hospital at 10am and then the doctor after that. We are expecting to be out for a good part of the day and early evening. UGH! Hoping that we get good news from all these tests. This is the big lung function tests that she hated before. It was very hard for her to do them. Hopefully since she is breathing easier they will be easier for her. I will do a full update when we get home and settled. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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Hi Everyone! It has been a very busy last couple weeks. Emily has seen all her doctors, well most of them. The pulmonologist is pleased with her breathing and her lung function tests came way up from before the surgery. The endocrinologist says that Emily is still staying on a consistant growth pattern so he is going to continue to monitor her every 6 months. Her oncologist is was so happy to hear her breathing better. All her blood counts are good. He sent us for blood work to check her kidney function and that came back good. He has no concerns at this time. We go back to see him in 8 months. Emily is creeping up on 5yrs off treatment. (Feb. 2010) We are very excited to be reaching that milestone. Then we had a follow up visit with her surgeon. He is pleased with the way she is breathing and feels confident that the surgery was a success. He explained to her that when she starts to feel like she is having a tougher time breathing to make sure she lets me know so we can go in and see him again. he told her that the surgery they did was only a temporary fix, but that he did not know how long it would be before he will have to do it again. He said it could be anywhere from 1 month to 2yrs. We are praying that it will be a long time. he wants us to follow up with him again in 6 months unless her breathing gets worse before then. ALL GOOD NEWS!!! Her next doctors appointment is on Nov 4th with the pulmonologist. We will be going to the hospital at 10am that morning for the big lung function test. She is not happy about that, but I know she will do great. Then we will go straight over to the doctors office. I will keep you posted on how that goes.

Emily has been feeling pretty good. She is still coughing alot, but has no other symptoms of being sick. So we are happy about that. We have been having some issues with the homebound schooling. Emily is not getting much for work and the teacher has not been coming as much as she should be. I had a meeting with them last week and hope it will get better now. So far it has. I am also hoping to get a report card for Emily. We got Charlie's report card and I am so proud of him. At progress report time he had 2 D's. On his report card he brough those D's up to B's. He is working extra hard now and his goal is to make honor roll next quarter. I know he can do it.

We've been pretty busy with HopeKids the last couple weeks as well. The kids and I went to a haunted house with HopeKids on Oct 20th. They dressed up in their costumes, decorated pumpkins, made pumpkin popcorn balls and witches hands, and just had so much fun. Then on Oct 23rd we went to the Az State Fair with HopeKids. We would never be able to go to the fair if it wasn't for the tickets we get from HopeKids. Its just way to expensive. But the kids did the read and ride program again. They get 3 free rides for reading 3 books and writing a little summary on what the books were about. We spent a good 4hrs at the fair and had so much fun. Then on Oct 24th we had Movie night under the stars with HopeKids. They showed Its a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and Transformers 2 on a huge 50ft screen. Everyone brought their blankets and layed out in the grass and enjoyed the movie. It was a great movie. They had pizza, popcorn and cotton candy to. We love this event and always look forward to going.

This week we have been getting ready for halloween. We are going to have our first ever halloween party at our house. Everyone is going to dress up and I am so excited. I've always wanted to have a halloween party. I hope it turns out great.

My computer is working on and off so I will update when my computer allows. I will have lots of pictures from the halloween party I am sure. But until then here are pictures from the last couple weeks. Hope you all have a great Halloween! Thank you for checking in on us and continueing to leave messages for Emily. She just loves to read them all. Enjoy the pictures.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 1:04 AM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE MONDAY OCT. 19, 2009**

My computer is down so I don't know when I will be able to give a full update, but I did want to let you know how Emily is dong. Emily's breathing is SO good! She is NOT wheezing anymore at all. We went to the pulmonologist on thursday and her O2 sats were at 99 and her lung function tests were WAY up. It was so exciting to see that. At this point she will continue on her meds and see the pulmonologist every 2 weeks to monitor her breathing. She is NOT going to be allowed back at school until flu season is over and that is provided that her lungs are still doing well. She is a little upset, but mostly ok with it.

Thank you for checking in. Hopefully I will not be without a computer for too long. I will update again when I am able.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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***SURGERY UPDATE MONDAY NIGHT OCT. 12, 2009***

Sorry for the late update. It has been a long and exhausting day. So Emily and I got to the hospital at 8:30am. We got register fairly quickly and then went up to pre op. Daddy took Little Charlie to school and then met us up there. Emily headed straight for the video games. About 10:30am they took her into surgery. She was out of surgery but about 11:45. They were having a rough time getting her to wake from the anesthesia. They could not extubate until she woke up some and they would not let me go back into recovery until they had her extubated. So it wasn't until almost 1pm when I finally got to go back there. She was really out of it and so sleepy. She insisted that they let her stay overnight in the hospital, but they said they were going to watch her a while longer and if she continued doing well then she could go home. She was very upset when at 2:30 they told us we could take her home. She had her mind made up that she wanted to stay at the hospital. It sure was funny to listen to her argue with the nurse about it. Most of what she was saying we could hardly understand, but the nurse said its not often that you get a child that cries cause she gets to go home. LOL! Once home Emily went to sleep and has been in and out of it all day. She woke up long enough to eat some ramun noodles tonight and then drifted off to sleep once again. Her only complaint tonight is that she feels really dizzy. I know by the morning she should not be feeling dizzy anymore. SO we are home and she is resting tonight and she did great. I am so happy to have this behind us. We all look forward to days of easier breathing for Emily.

The doctor showed me before and after pictures of the opening of her lung. They gave her about 50-70 percent more breathing capacity by doing this surgery today. I am going to try to get the pictures so I can share them. I was excited to see Emily with O2 sats of 97-99 in recovery. For months now she has been staying around 92-96 at best. Tonight Emily told me, "Mom I can't even hear myself breathing." She was so excited to not be wheezing and she didn't feel the need to clear her throat every 5 minutes either. That sure did make her happy. Her throat is very sore and she still doesn't feel well, But I know she will be feeling much better in the morning. Thank you all for your prayers. Here are some pictures that I took today.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 3:29 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Ok so I had planned on getting on here and doing an update earlier, but unfortunately things have not been going quite as planned lately. Emily is feeling ok. Her breathing is noisier then ever and she is getting winded quicker when playing. We went to the pulmonologist today. All her lung function tests came back way lower then 3 weeks ago. Her O2 sats are hanging in there at 95 though. Less then 2 weeks until her surgery. (Oct 12th) The doctor talked to us a little more about the surgery as well. She is recommending that Emily spend the night in the hospital after her surgery just to make sure there are no issues. Its suppose to be an outpatient thing, but they know Emily has never been a typical case. We will not know if that will be taking place until we discuss it with the surgeon the day of the surgery. Emily is getting scared, but is looking forward to hopefully being able to breathe easier afterwards. We also talked about her tummy issues. The doctor has suggested that we try a gluton free diet for a while and see if that helps. I am going to do some research and see what that involves and hopefully we will be able to at least try it. Other then that Emily is doing well. She has been working hard on her school work and has even asked her teacher to give her more work to keep her busy during the day. I am so proud of how well she is doing. Little Charlie is doing great. Working hard to get his grades up and practicing lots on his trumpet.

The last week has been kind of stressful in our house. I don't want to get into details, but I do ask that you pray that everything works out.

Saturday we went and got family pictures done. I love the way they turned out. Thank you HopeKids for doing this. I also want to thank the wonderful photographers that donate their time to the HopeKids families. This year it was just the kids and I that went. Again I really don't want to get into details of why that was. We were sad that Daddy didn't go, but we had fun doing it anyways. Here are the pictures:

Monday, September 21, 2009 11:47 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Emily is feeling pretty good. Her bretahing is about the same and her tummy issues are here and there. We are still waiting on the date for the ultrasound.

This weekend was busy. Friday night the kids spent the night at their Uncle Tom's house. They had lots of fun and loved it. They didn't even want to come home. After I picked them up saturday afternoon from his house they went to a friends house for a couple hours. It was good for Emily to be able to get out and have some fun with friends. Then we went on a hunt to find a place to get Emily's t-shirt made. All the places I knew that made these shirts were closed down. We did end up finding a place though. Emily picked out the colors, the saying and the writing style. The back of the shirt says Got Hope? I think it came out great and she loves it!

Sunday morning was the walk. We all got up early so we could be out there by 7:30am. (it was a 40 minute drive from our house) It was amazing to see how many people came out to walk for HopeKids. We got all registered and got our t-shirts and waited for the walk to begin. They had booths set up, bouncies for the kids, and music. We took lots of pictures to. Then we all gathered on the bridge to hear Rob talk. We were excited to find out that we won a prize for one of the top 3 team names. Our teams name was "Emily's Butterflies of Hope" In total our team raised $1935.00. I am so proud of our team. I also want to thank everyone that donated and helped us to reach this amount. All the teams combined for the Phoenix HopeWalk raised over $54,000. How amazing is that? We hope to participate in this walk again next year. (if they plan it again)Here are the pictures we took.

Friday, September 18, 2009 9:32 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY SEPT 20, 2009**

I Promise a full update monday morning. I will tell you all about the HopeWalk. Until then enjoy the new pictures in the photo album and one of my favorites at the top of the page. Be sure to check back in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. I feel like I just haven't had much time lately. Emily is feeling ok. Her breathing has been noisier and she has been having tummy issue again. We haven't heard anything from the doctors office about an ultrasound appointment yet. She is doing well with her schooling at home. She is getting enough stuff to keep her busy now and she is working hard. I am so happy tohnot have to fight with her as much anymore. I know this is all very hard on her. Little Charlie is doing good. 6th grade has proven to be hard for him. He got his progress report this week and he had 2 D's on it. He was upset with himself and said he will get those grades up by report card time. He wants to get on Honor roll. He loves band!! he is playing the trumpet and absolutely loves it.

Last weekend we had our fundraiser car wash for our team. It was kind of discouraging at first. The first hour and a half no one came. BUT then it picked up and people were very kind and wanted to know all about HopeKids. Of course Emily stood there and told them all about it. We had so much fun. We were there about 5 hours and raised just over $300 for our team of HOPE! We walk this weekend on Sunday. Emily is bummed out cause she will not be able to walk to whole walk. It is just to far for her to handle. She will however be walking the end of the walk with our team. She laready has her clothes set out and her mask to wear since we will be in a large crowd of people. :) Surprisingly there was no fight about wearing the mask. When she was going through treatment I couldn't get her to wear one of those masks and keep it on. But now she knows how important it is for her to not get sick. Wish us all luck on sunday.

Tonight the kids are going to spend the night with their Uncle Tom. They are so excited. They don't get to spend much time with him anymore, plus their cousins will be there also. Fun times for Uncle Tom with all 4 kids.

Not much else planned. I promise a better update after the weekend, WITH PICTURES!!! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

Please consider supporting our family in our walk for HOPE that we are doing on September 20th. HopeKids is having their first ever HopeWalk. We have formed a team and are excited to participate. Our team, Emily's Butterflies of Hope will be walking 5K for HOPE and for HopeKids. We are so excited to do this. Anyone that has followed Emily's story knows how much HopeKids and Rob Cottrell mean to Emiily and our family. HopeKids has been by our side through Emily's worst and best times. They helped her to fight harder and always keep HOPE. We are excited to have the oppurtunity to give back. I know times are hard and money is tight, but we are asking that you support our team in our walk. Go to our teams site and donate, even if it is only a few dollars. Every little bit helps. We've set our goal high and we are really hoping to reach it. HopeKids is a fabulous organization and we are blessed to have them in our lives. We would like them to be able to continue their work for all the kids yet to come. This is the first time we have ever formed a team and done something like this. It really means so much. So if you can please support our team. If you can't donate online and want to mail something directly to me, just email me and I will give you the info. Thank you in advance for your love and support.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 0:01 AM CDT

**PULMONOLOGY UPDATE**

Emily woke up this morning in hardly any pain at all. We went to the doctor and told her about the pain and she ordered some tests. We went and did blood work today. They should be calling us soon with an appointment for an ultrasound of her liver, appendix and gall bladder. The doctor really wants to get to the root of all her pain. Emily's lung function tests were exactly the same as they were last time we were in there. No change is good news as far as we are concerned.

Emily asked her doctor if she listened to the presidents speach to the kids about staying is school. Her doctor said no that she missed it. Emily replied with, "well maybe you should have watched it cause then you would know that I HAVE to stay in school." It was actually pretty funny to hear her say that. The doctor told her that she knows it is no fun having to stay home from school, but it is important to keep her healthy. Along with the bacteria that was found throughout her respirtory system, there was also a fungus that showed up in the labs in the upper lobe of her right lung. It is very important that we keep her from getting sick. She is to continue taking all her normal meds. We go back to see her in 3weeks.

This saturday Sept 12th we are having a car wash to raise money for our team in our walk for HOPE. (see below if you haven't read about it yet) We are pretty excited and hope to raise lots of money to get us closer to our goal. For anyone that is located here in Phoenix, Az and would want to come out, it will be at Auto Zone on 19th Ave, between cactus and peoria. Wish us luck!

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! I would like to start off by asking for prayers for Emily. She is having a rough evening. She is having LOTS of pain in her chest and left side. We go see the pulmonologist tomorrow morning. She finally got all her meds taken at about 9pm and went to bed. Last I checked she was sleeping. Please pray for a peaceful night of sleep and for no pain when she wakes up.

Got the phone call today to cancel her surgery for Sept 28th. We do not have a date yet for reschedule but we do know it will be sometime the middle of October. They said they are going to try for October 12th. When I know for sure I will let you know. Emily is very upset about this. Pushing her surgery means longer out of school and away from her teachers and friends. She is not happy about that. For me pushing the surgery means longer that she has to wait for some relief with her breathing. I am sad that this has happened this way. But I know that everything happens for a reason and we will wait and keep taking it one day at a time. Emily has an appointment with her pulmonologist tomorrow morning and we will let her know of the change. I will update on her appointment when we get home.

Our weekend was pretty boring. I had my surgery on friday and so we stayed home all weekend. I spent most of the weekend in the recliner watching movies. The kids played and hung out with Daddy. I am starting to feel better now. This coming weekend we are having a car wash to help raise money for our team in our walk for HOPE! We are very excited about this car wash. We hope to raise lots of money for HopeKids.

Other then that not to much is going on. I will keep you all posted on Emily's surgery as soon as I have more info.

Please consider supporting our family in our walk for HOPE that we are doing on September 20th. HopeKids is having their first ever HopeWalk. We have formed a team and are excited to participate. Our team, Emily's Butterflies of Hope will be walking 5K for HOPE and for HopeKids. We are so excited to do this. Anyone that has followed Emily's story knows how much HopeKids and Rob Cottrell mean to Emiily and our family. HopeKids has been by our side through Emily's worst and best times. They helped her to fight harder and always keep HOPE. We are excited to have the oppurtunity to give back. I know times are hard and money is tight, but we are asking that you support our team in our walk. Go to our teams site and donate, even if it is only a few dollars. Every little bit helps. We've set our goal high and we are really hoping to reach it. HopeKids is a fabulous organization and we are blessed to have them in our lives. We would like them to be able to continue their work for all the kids yet to come. This is the first time we have ever formed a team and done something like this. It really means so much. So if you can please support our team. If you can't donate online and want to mail something directly to me, just email me and I will give you the info. Thank you in advance for your love and support.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, September 1, 2009 12:31 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Emily is feeling ok. Her breathing has pretty much stayed the same and she has not been feeling any pain. She has been home a week now and is going stir crazy already. The teacher is giving her work, but she is speeding through it in about 2-3hrs and then is bored the rest of the day. She misses her friends and the teachers. I take her to the school twice a week so she can visit for a bit and pick up and turn in work. I do hope her surgery stays scheduled for Sept 28th so we can get her on the mend and hopefully back to school where she wants to be.

Friday night daddy and Charlie went to the Cardinals football game. This was their first NFL game and they had fun. They didn't take to many pictures but I have a few to share. Sunday Emily and I went to the Diamondbacks baseball game. HopeKids got dugout suite tickets and it was awesome. We sat right next to the visiting teams dugout and looked straight out across the field. It was really neat. We ate food, enjoyed the game, visited with some of our friends, hung out with Baxter, and just had an all around wonderful time. Each of the kids got free gifts, hats, tshirts, signed baseball and a helmet. We had a fabulous time. At the end of the game the kids went and ran the bases. Emily had a tough time but she was determined she was going to run the bases with her friend Kellie. She made it all the way around the bases and was so proud of herself when she hit home. She was out of breathe and her side hurt, but she didn't care cause she made it all the way around. We had the best time ever. Thank you so much Rob and HopeKids. We really enjoyed ourselves. Here are some pictures:

Monday, August 24, 2009 12:12 AM CDT

NEW UPDATE WILL BE POSTED ALONG WITH SOME MORE PICTURES TUESDAY (SEPT 1) MORNING. PLEASE COME BACK AND CHECK IT OUT!




**UPDATE THURSDAY AUGUST 27, 2009**

Emily is enjoying being home with me, BUT really misses going to school. We've been getting her work from school and she has been really good about doing it all. No fussing and no fights. Yestarday the principal called me and asked me if it was ok to change Emily's regular teacher AGAIN! So when she does go back to school she will have a new teacher for the 3rd time this year and we are only 3 weeks into school. UGH! We went to meet him today and I have say he is GREAT! Emily clicked with him immediately and loves him. She can't wait to get back to school and be in his class. I am so happy to hear that. He is also going to work closely with the homebound teacher to make sure Emily doesn't fall behind in school. He is also going toget her set up on a curriculum online where he can track her work and grades. Sounds great! The homebound teacher will start coming on Monday. Emily is excited about the teacher that will be coming. Its Charlie's teacher that he had in 4th grade. Both kids just absolutely love her. So the thing that worries me is homebound only allows for the teacher to come 4hrs a week. How in the world is she suppose to keep caught up with the class in 4hrs a week? Looks like I will have my work cut out for me to. Pray for us! :)

The doctors office called today with a date for her surgery. It will be on Sept. 28th. The doctor is scheduled for jury duty that week, but he is trying to get out of it. If he does then the surgery is a go on the 28th of sept. If he is not able to get out of it then it will push us into the middle of October. I sure hope everything will be ok until then. Somedays she has a heck of a time with her breathing. Sept. 28th is a rough day for us as it is. It is the day that Emily's grandma passed away from cancer just 6yrs ago. (just 1 week before Emily's original diagnosis)

Friday night Daddy and Little Charlie are going to the Cardinals football game. They are pretty excited. Neither of them have ever been to an NFL game before. Sunday Emily and I will be going to a Diamondbacks baseball game in a suite with HopeKids. It is going to be so much fun. Emily always enjoys going to the baseball games and we haven't been in a while. I am sure I will have lots of pictures to share. Hope you have a great weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Emily had a rough weekend. Her stomach and left side was hurting her alot. As well as her chest. The kids stayed home with Daddy while I went away for the weekend on my "Moms Weekend" That we have every year. I almost came home a couple times over the weekend just to take her into the ER. She said her left side was tender to the touch. That is something new. Usually when her stomach hurts its only the pretty much the middle and not tender tot he touch. So I was quite worried. Daddy told me that he would keep an eye on her and if it got worse then he would let me know. I came home Sunday morning and she was still hurting but less then saturday. So I decided to wait and see how she was feeling today. She still doesn't feel great, but her tummy doesn't hurt as much. Please pray for her tummy issues. I wish we could figure out what is going on there.

Today is the start of homebound school for Emily. She is happy abot being able to spend more time at home with me, but not so happy about not being able to go to school. So this morning we went to her class and got her work for the day. Its alot of work and it is very nerve racking for me to be her teacher as well as mom and care taker. Sometimes I forget what I learned and it makes it difficult to help her through some of her work. They will be sending a teacher to help, but I am told it is only for 4-6hrs a week. That doesn't even equal 1 full day of school. I sure hope that she will not fall behind because of being on homebound. We were excited to find out that Charlie's 4th grade teacher has volunteered to be Emily's homebound teacher. We loved her and will be very happy if she can make it work with her schedule. I am going to do my best to help Emily stay focused and stay on top of her work. We are hoping she will not have to stay on homebound for a long time, but for now it is what is best for her. Please pray things go well and she doesn't fall behind.

Hopefully we will hear from the doctors this week about her surgery. Other then that not to much else is going on. Just taking it one day at a time and hoping in the end it all works out. Thank you all for checking in and praying for us and Emily. I will keep you posted on what is going on with the doctors and school.

I would like to tell you about something our family is doing on September 20th. HopeKids is having their first ever HopeWalk. We have formed a team and are excited to participate. Our team, Emily's Butterflies of Hope will be walking 5K for HOPE and for HopeKids. We are so excited to do this. Anyone that has followed Emily's story knows how much HopeKids and Rob Cottrell mean to Emiily and our family. HopeKids has been by our side through Emily's worst and best times. They helped her to fight harder and always keep HOPE. We are excited to have the oppurtunity to give back. I know times are hard and money is tight, but we are asking that you support our team in our walk. Go to our teams site and donate, even if it is only a few dollars. Every little bit helps. We've set our goal high and we are really hoping to reach it. HopeKids is a fabulous organization and we are blessed to have them in our lives. We would like them to be able to continue their work for all the kids yet to come. This is the first time we have ever formed a team and done something like this. It really means so much. So if you can please support our team. If you can't donate online and want to mail something directly to me, just email me and I will give you the info. Thank you in advance for your love and support.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 8:20 AM CDT

**SURGEON UPDATE FRIDAY AUGUST 21, 2009**

Hmmm...Well we are not to excited about what we were told by the doctor doing the surgery. Dr Milligan was very nice and he explained everything to us. He said that the surgery they are going to do will all be done in one procedure. That is the good news. The bad news is that it WILL grow back and she will continue to need these surgeries. Could be every 6 month or could be as long as every 1-2yrs. That doesn't sound like a good deal. He said she will breathe much better after the surgery, but the web (the thing that is closing off her lung) always grows back or shrinks back up. There is one other option, but it is not a good option for Emily right now as far as the doctor is concerned. That is open surgery. They would go in through her neck and remove portions of her lung and then do something to hold it open. (sorry can't remember the detais of this) This surgery would require at least one week in the PICU with close monitoring and it is VERY high risk. The doctor believes we should do the laser surgery and see how long it takes before the web comes back. So scheduling is in the works for that. I will keep you posted as soon as I know when it will be.

Please keep the prayers coming for Emily and her breathing. Also please pray for her schooling. The paperwork is being done right now to get her set up for a teacher to come to the house, but until then we are on our own. I am so worried she is going to fall behind. I hope I can keep her caught up until the teacher comes to help us. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**UPDATE THURSDAY MORNING AUGUST 20, 2009**

The pulmonology appointment went ok. Her lung function tests are down again. They had to add more antibiotics. They got the results of the bronch and there was heavy amounts of bacteria growth. Emily has been feeling pretty miserable the last few days. Her stomach is becoming a huge issue again. Its hurting her all the time. Her chest is still hurting as well but that is off and on pain now. Please pray that her pain will go away.

Today we go see Dr Milligan. He is the doctor that will be doing her surgery. I am excited to go see him and get all the info I can about this surgery and what they are going to do. I will update as soon as I get home.

The doctors also want to put her on homebound schooling until further notice. They think it will be best for her until they can get her breathing better. We are in the works of getting the paperwork all together. The doctor asked if she would like to just do homebound for the rest of the year, but Emily is hoping she will not have to do that. We are just going to wait and see how it goes. I hope she doesn't fall behind. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I will keep you posted as I get more info.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

******************************************************************************


Hi Everyone! Sorry to keep you waiting for an update. Emily is feeling ok. Since the bronchoscopy on friday her chest has been hurting her alot. She has been coughing alot more, but its a dry cough. But her breathing has not worsened. We have been staying around the house alot and taking it easy.

Friday was very low key once we got home. Emily was very upset with me cause I wouldn't let her go to the Toby Keith concert. When we got home on friday it was almost 5pm and the concert started at 7:30pm. She was still feeling groggy and she hurt, she was dizzy and was having trouble with her breathing. The last place she needed to be was at a concert. She went to sleep early friday night and slept in saturday morning. She was still not feeling well when she woke up then. We stayed home all weekend and really didn't do much.

Sunday our AC unit on our house went out. It turned out to be a bad compressor. So ourlandlords decided they were just going to put a whole new AC unit on the house, BUT it couldn't happen until Tuesday. Sunday it was 106 degrees, monday it was 108 degrees outside. Inside my house it got to be 99 degrees at its hottest and never came below 92 degrees. It was miserable, but we stuck it out and we're now enjoying the cool air again. Tuesday afternoon they came and put a new unit on the house.

Monday Emily and Charlie went back to school. Emily's chest was still hurting her quite a bit, but she wanted to go to school. That is when she found out she would be changing classes and would have a new teacher starting tuesday. She was and is pretty upset about this. I went in on tuesday and met her new teacher. He seems to be nice. He said he is strict. I am just hoping that he is not to strict. Emily came home tuesday afternoon and said that her teacher yells alot. I think I am going to pay sme unexpected visits to the class and sit in for a few days and see how things are. I don't want her to hate going to school.

Unfortunately I don't know anymore today then I knew on friday about Emily's uncoming surgeries or anything. I was told they were going to do the first one this week, but I've been unable to geta hold of the doctors office to find out what is going on. We are going in to see her today at 1pm. We are on a stand by appointment so we could be waiting anywhere from 1hr to 4hrs to see the doctor. UGH! I do hope I have more info and answers after today. Emily will be missing at least 2 weeks of school. I am trying to get her set up on homebound so she will not fall behind, but I need to know exactly when she will be out before I can do that. I will be sure to keep you all posted on this as I find out more.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. It means so much. I will update as I know more.

I would like to tell you about something our family is doing on September 20th. HopeKids is having their first ever HopeWalk. We have formed a team and are excited to participate. Our team, Emily's Butterflies of Hope will be walking 5K for HOPE and for HopeKids. We are so excited to do this. Anyone that has followed Emily's story knows how much HopeKids and Rob Cottrell mean to Emiily and our family. HopeKids has been by our side through Emily's worst and best times. They helped her to fight harder and always keep HOPE. We are excited to have the oppurtunity to give back. I know times are hard and money is tight, but we are asking that you support our team in our walk. Go to our teams site and donate, even if it is only a few dollars. Every little bit helps. We've set our goal high and we are really hoping to reach it. HopeKids is a fabulous organization and we are blessed to have them in our lives. We would like them to be able to continue their work for all the kids yet to come. This is the first time we have ever formed a team and done something like this. It really means so much. So if you can please support our team. If you can't donate online and want to mail something directly to me, just email me and I will give you the info. Thank you in advance for your love and support.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 2:12 PM CDT

** UPDATE FRIDAY NIGHT AUG 14TH, 2009 PLEASE PRAY!!**

Emily went in for her bronchoscopy today. It did not go as smooth as we had hoped and it was not very good news. But it is fixable hopefully. We got there at 10am. Emily was not happy about being there. We got registered and then into pre-op. She was taken up around noon. They gave her some versaid (spelling?) to help calm her nerves. It definately did the trick. I got to go to the room with her until she fell asleep and then I left to the waiting room. After about an hour the doctor came out to talk to me. She said Emily's right lung is almost completely closed. She said its like she is breathing through one of those tiny coffee stirer straws. They are going to need to do surgery asap to make the opening bigger so she can use that lung. It will be done in 2 seperate surgeries from what I understand. Both of which will take place within the next couple weeks. I should know more on that Monday or tuesday. I will keep you posted.

After she came out of the bronch they had a hard time keeping her O2 sats up. They put her on oxygen and they were still only sitting around 90-93. When she took the oxygen off they would drop into the mid 80's. They talked about keeping her overnight, but she wasn't to happy about that. So we hung out longer and prayed that her O2 sats would go up. When we were discharged they were at 94 without oxygen. The doctor told me to watch her close and if her breathing got worse then to call immediately and get her to the ER. So that is what we are doing tonight. Hanging out and relaxing and watching her closely. Please pray there will be no issues. She is still pretty dizzy, her throat hurts and she said it is hard to breathe. I am so sad that she has to go through all this. We are all trying to take in all the info and deal with the next step of this journey. I probably left some stuff out, but I will keep you posted as I know more. Please just keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Here's a couple pictures. The one above is when we first got to the hospital while waiting to register.


In pre-op waiting to get all processed. (still happy)


After the bronchoscopy talking to her Daddy. (not so happy)

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**UPDATE THURSDAY AUGUST 13, 2009**

Emily and Charlie are loving school!! They like their teachers and are really enjoying being back at school. Charlie is a bit overwhelmed with homework, but I am confident that he will get use to the workload and be ok.

Tomorrow (friday) is Emily's bronchoscopy. We have to be there at 10am and it is scheduled for noon. She can't have anything to eat or drink after midnight tonight. So I have a couple prayer requests. First please pray that she does ok with having no food or drink for 12-14hrs. Usually the first thing she does in the morning is get something to eat and drink. Second prayer request is pray that she does well during the procedure. They will be putting her out for it and that is always concerning. Third PRAY FOR ANSWERS!! We are hoping an dpraying that we will come out of this with a more answers and maybe a treatment plan. I may know something after the procedure is done. Her pulmonologist is actually doing the scope. I will update as soon as I get home. Please just keep Emily in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow.

Emily had an aawesome time at the Jonas Brothers concert. It was VERY loud, but was a great concert. She then asked me to add a song to her site. It is sung by Nick Jonas, the youngest of the Jonas Brothers. The song was written shortly after he was diagnosed with diabetes. great song if you listen to the words. Anyways Thank you HopeKids for the tickets.

Thank you all for checking in. I will update as soon as we are done at the hospital.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Today is the first day of school for the kids. They were very excited to be going back. We went yestarday and met their teachers. Emily is in 5th grade now and her teacher Mr Davis is new to the school. He seems like a very nice teacher. Emily is not sure about him, mostly because he is a guy teacher, but I know she will do great. Charlie is in 6th grade and his teacher Mrs Rutledge already knew who he was. She is super nice and was very excited to have Charlie in her class. I know they are both going to do great this year. They both told me this morning before they went to school that they are not going to mess around this year. They want to get all A's and B's. I was happy to hear that they have set that goal. I will keep you posted as the year goes.

Emily has been feeling ok. Her chest has been hurting and her breathing is sounding very loud. She is also coughing alot more, BUT no fever or anything else. Friday is her bronchoscopy so please pray that she stays well so she can have that as scheduled. Hopefully after that we will have more answers and a treatment plan. She will not be going to school on friday. We have to be at the hospital at 10am and the procedure is scheduled for noon. I am hoping that we will get results or at least some news the same day. Her pulmonologist is the doctor that will be doing the scope. So no waiting for her to get the results. I will let you know as soon as I know something.

Our weekend was pretty low key. We did some last minute school shopping, hung out at home, and made a trip to the ER with Little Charlie. Friday he started have horrible pain in his stomach and just under his rib cage. Nothing I gave him helped relieve the pain. So saturday we ended up in the Er with him. They couldn't find anything wrong with him. They gave him Zantac to take twice a day. By Monday morning he was feeling better. No complaints since. Please pray that he will not have any more of that pain. It was pretty bad.

Tonight I am taking Emily to the Jonas Brothers concert courtesy of HopeKids. Thank you HopeKids for the tickets. Emily is so excited!!! Friday Emily and Daddy will be going to the Toby Keith concert courtesy of HopeKids also. This has definately given Emily something positive to look forward to on friday after her bronchoscopy. Thank you Rob, Bridget and HopeKids. I will definately have pictures to share from both events. They were only able to get 2 tickets for each concert. Little Charlie has no interest in the Jonas Brothers anyways so he is going to go hang out with his cousins. Friday I think Little Charlie and I will go get dinner and maybe a movie while daddy and Emily are at the other concert.

Other then that not much else planned for the week. Thank you all for checking in and leaving messages. Emily still gets on everyday and checks them. Can you believe when I started this page she was just entering Kindergarten and couldn't even quite read yet? Now she is in 5th grade and a smart cookie. They are growing up WAY to fast! Please read below and consider support our Team of HOPE to benefit HopeKids. (((HUGS))) to all!!!!!

I would like to tell you about something our family is doing on September 20th. HopeKids is having their first ever HopeWalk. We have formed a team and are excited to participate. Our team, Emily's Butterflies of Hope will be walking 5K for HOPE and for HopeKids. We are so excited to do this. Anyone that has followed Emily's story knows how much HopeKids and Rob Cottrell mean to Emiily and our family. HopeKids has been by our side through Emily's worst and best times. They helped her to fight harder and always keep HOPE. We are excited to have the oppurtunity to give back. I know times are hard and money is tight, but we are asking that you support our team in our walk. Go to our teams site and donate, even if it is only a few dollars. Every little bit helps. We've set our goal high and we are really hoping to reach it. HopeKids is a fabulous organization and we are blessed to have them in our lives. We would like them to be able to continue their work for all the kids yet to come. This is the first time we have ever formed a team and done something like this. It really means so much. So if you can please support our team. If you can't donate online and want to mail something directly to me, just email me and I will give you the info. Thank you in advance for your love and support.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 12:14 AM CDT

UPDATE COMING TUESDAY MORNING ALONG WITH 1ST DAY OF SCHOOL PICTURES!!

The kids go back to school tuesday Aug 11th. They are excited!! Come back for a full update by tuesday afternoon!

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**UPDATE MONDAY AUGUST 3, 2009**

We had a pretty good weekend. Saturday we went to the Annual Luau/end of summer pool party with HopeKids. We had a great time. It was nice to hang out and be with tons of our friends. The kids had a blast and got to see some of their friends that they hadn't seen in a long time. The rest of the weekend was spent at home, hanging out in the pool. It was tons of fun. Not to much else going on.

I do want to ask that you keep Emily in your prayers as far as her breathing. It is sounding very wheezy and raspy. Also she has been complaining about her throat hurting. Please pray that she does not get sick or that her breathing does not get any worse. Bronchoscopy is scheduled for August 14th. We need her to stay good and healthy for that. Thank you for all your prayers.

If you would like to support our family in our walk for HOPE here is the website to do that. Our team, Emily's Butterflies of Hope will be walking 5K for HOPE and for HopeKids. I want to say thank you to everyone that has already donated to our team. It means so much to us and HopeKids.

Kids start school August 11th. We go meet their teachers on the 10th. We plan on spending lots of time in the pool and just enjoying our last week of summer together. Hope you all have a fabulous week.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**PULMONOLOGY UPDATE** 7/29/09

GOOD NEWS!! Emily's lung function tests have improved a bit. The steroids have worked their magic. We were happy to hear that. She did not have to do the shakey vest today. YAY!!! Her bronchoscopy is scheduled for August 14th at noon. So here is our only concern between now and then. She is off the antibiotics and tonight is her last dose of steroids. So we ask that you pray that she will stay well and that her breathing does not get real bad between now and August 14th. The doctor said we will probably see some change in her breathing because of being off those 2 meds. She said if it gets to bad to call her. Please pray that we will not have to call her. Her next appointment in the pulmonologist office is August 25th. I am sure we will have results of the bronchoscopy before then. I will keep you posted on everything. Please just keep her breathing in your prayers. Thank you!

(NEW UPDATE BELOW) POSTED 7/29/09

NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!!!

Hi Everyone! Sorry it has taken me so long to update. Thing have been pretty busy around here. The kids will be going back to school in just 2 weeks. So we have been trying to get ready for that. I reconnected with an old friend and she has been spending lots of time visiting with us. Emily and Charlie just love her kids. I feel as though I have hardly had any time to just sit and relax. But anyways here is the update.

Saturday I drove up to north with another mom to pick Emily up from camp. She was so excited to see me. She was ready to come home, but also wanted to stay at camp longer. LOL! She took me to meet her couselors for her cabin. They were the same ones she had last year. I thought that was good cause she did a couple rough days up there emotionally. The couselor told me that Emily was great. She woke up everyday with a smile, she tried to help whenever she could, and she was just a joy to have again this year. She said that Emily had a couple days, or a couple moments rather, where she was crying. The doctor had told me that the steroids would make her emotions and moods wacky. So we assume that is what it was. Emily would have herself a good cry and they would talk with her and then she was fine and off playing with the other kids. She had some breathing issues, but nothing major. She didn't need to have any extra treatments while up there. That is great news.

They got alot of rain this year. Emily said it stopped them from doing some of the things they normally do or it cut them short. Lake day was one of those things. Emily said they only got to spend about 20 minutes at the lake before it started really raining and they had to leave. But even with all the rain they got, they still had alot of fun. They get to pick 3 classes to sign up for. Emily took archery class. She said it was fun but the bow didn't like her much. She got bruises from it snapping on her arm. OUCH! She took cards. I guess they played card games and they said that Emily kicked everyones butt at cards. She is pretty proud of herself for that. Then she took ice cream making class. They had jello wars which she loved! She said it was messy and sticky but she loved it. She said they did lots of other activities, but she can't remember all of them.

Then they had their dance and party. This years theme was space. Emily dressed up as Princess Leia. She went to the dance with Mason. She had a fabulous time and didn't want the night to end. Saturday was family day at camp. So I got there at 10am. We went and toured the camp and packed up her stuff and put it in the car. Then we headed to the dining hall for lunch. We ate lunch, Emily said her goodbyes and we headed home. Daddy and Little Charlie were happy to have Emily home. We spent some much needed family time over the weekend. This week we have been trying to get the kids ready for school. Buying backpacks, school supplies and shoes. The kids are loving it! Daddy? Not so much. LOL! Things seem to get more expensive each year. The kids are excited to go back to school. They love the summertime, but they get tired of being home with me everyday. August 10th we go meet the teachers. Then their first day is August 11th.

Today Emily has her pulmonologist appointment at 3pm. Her breathing has sounded wheezy and raspy since she came back from camp. Not sure how this appointment is going to go, but I have a feeling she will be doing the shakey vest. UGH! She really doesn't like that thing. She is off her antibiotics now. We had to take her off them for the bronchoscopy. That is scheduled for August 14th at noon. That is going to be a long day. Anyways she has to be off antibiotics for at least 2 weeks prior to the bronchoscopy. I will keep you updated on that. After we get home today from the doctor I will update on how the appointment went. Think good thoughts.

Here are some pictures from over the weekend that I took. Some from camp and some from after we got home. Hope you enjoy them. Also please read below the slideshow about our HopeKids walk that we are doing on September 20th. We appreciate all your prayers, messages, love and support. (((HUGS)))

Friday, July 24, 2009 11:52 AM CDT

**UPDATE TUESDAY JULY 28, 2009**

Things have been crazy busy around here since Emily came home from camp. 2 weeks until the kids go back to school. I promise an update will be posted by wednesday afternoon. So be sure so come back and check for it. Emily had a great time at camp. I will tell you all about it. Also Emily has a doctors appointment with her pulmonologist wednesday afternoon. Her breathing has sounded wheezy since coming home from camp. Please pray for good news from her doctor. I will keep you posted on that as well. Be sure to come back wed afternoon for a full update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! So today is the day before Emily comes home from camp. We are all excited to have her home. We've missed her. She called on Wednesday crying and saying that she missed us and loves us, but is having fun. I do hope that her breathing has not given her to much trouble up there and that she has been able to have tons of fun. Here are a couple pictures from before she left.


Emily and Eric. (both cancer survivors)


Kellie, Emily and Eric. (all cancer survivors)


Amazing kids ready for camp!!

Little Charlie and I have been hanging out at home all week. My van broke down and was in the shop. Thankfully that is fixed now. I've been in a tremendous amount of pain this week with my stomach. Unfortunately we are on stand still until my surgery on finding out what is going on. For now I am just resting and trying to take it easy. Charlie has been a huge help this week. He's been helping keep the house clean and helped with the yard the other day. He's has been my helper on everything this week. Wednesday Daddy took him to get a video game that he really wanted. He was so excited.

Saturday I will be driving up north to pick up Emily. I am so excited. I will take my camera and get some pictures. She forgot her camera when she left for camp.

Now I would like to tell you about something our family is doing on September 20th. HopeKids is having their first ever HopeWalk. We have formed a team and are excited to participate. Our team, Emily's Butterflies of Hope will be walking 5K for HOPE and for HopeKids. We are so excited to do this. Anyone that has followed Emily's story knows how much HopeKids and Rob Cottrell mean to Emiily and our family. HopeKids has been by our side through Emily's worst and best times. They helped her to fight harder and always keep HOPE. We are excited to have the oppurtunity to give back. I know times are hard and money is tight, but we are asking that you support our team in our walk. Go to our teams site and donate, even if it is only a few dollars. Every little bit helps. We've set our goal high and we are really hoping to reach it. HopeKids is a fabulous organization and we are blessed to have them in our lives. We would like them to be able to continue their work for all the kids yet to come. This is the first time we have ever formed a team and done something like this. It really means so much. So if you can please support our team. If you can't donate online and want to mail something directly to me, just email me and I will give you the info. Thank you in advance for your love and support.

Guess thats all for now. I will update again the begining of the week. I am sure I will have many camp stories to share. Thank you for checking in and leaving messages. Emily will be excited to read them, as she always loves to hear from you.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, July 13, 2009 12:43 AM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY JULY 23, 2009***

I promise an update friday morning. Please be sure to check back then. The picture at the top of the page is of Emily in her costume for the dance. She was beyond excited about her costume. I got a call from her wednesday night. She was crying and said that she was having lots of fun, but that she misses us. Last year we got no calls from her and she seemed to really be okay while there. I am not sure what made this time different. I do hope her breathing is ok and that it is not holding her back to much. We are eager to pick her up on Saturday.

Be sure to come back friday afternoon for a full update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Its been a while since I've updated. We've been keeping super busy. Emily has been feeling pretty good. Her breathing seems to be noisier the last few days. She doesn't have to go back and see the pulmonologist until after she comes back from camp. Please pray that her breathing doesn't get worse. She is very excited about going to camp. Other then that she has been doing great. Little Charlie left on saturday for camp. He was excited about going. I know he is having a great time up there. Emily is already missing her brother.

The 4th of July we stayed home. It was way to hot to be out in the crowds. So we hung out at home with Uncle Tom, Aunt Nicki, Katelynn and Tyler. We went swimming, BBQ'd, roasted marshmellows and made s'mores. We all had lots of fun. We got to see some fireworks from our house also. I took lots of pictures also. Here are some of them.

Monday, June 29, 2009 11:10 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE JULY 1, 2009**

PULMONOLOGIST UPDATE: Emily had her appointment today with the pulmonologist. Her breathing is unchanged. Her lung function tests were no better or any worse then they were last week. Her O2 sats are still hanging around 96. Good news that it hasn't gotten worse, but we were hoping for even slight improvement. She also had to do the shakey vest for 30 minutes today. She hates that thing, but she did great. The doctor did clear her to go to camp July 19-25. She is so excited! She is also equally excited that she doesn't have to go back to the doctor until July 29th. 4 whole weeks!!! 2 days before she leaves for camp we are going to start her on steriods and she will take them twice a day for 2 weeks. Hopefully that will help her while she is away at camp. Then when she comes back we will stop her antibiotics and get her in for the bronchoscopy. She has to be off her antibiotics for 2 weeks before they can do the scope. I will keep you posted as I get more info.

Thank you all for checking in. Hope you have a fabulous holiday weekend. We are going to hang out at home for the 4th of July. We are hoping to have some people over, BBQ and swim. Sounds like a great way to spend the 4th. I am sure I will have more pictures to share after the weekend.


Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM (6-29-09)**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Emily is doing well. Her breathing is about the same. We go back to the pulmonologist on wednesday and hopefully her O2 sats will be up more and her lung function tests will come up some also. We don't want anything preventing her from being able to go to camp in a few weeks. She is really looking forward to it. There was also an incident that happened with another kid over the weekend that caused Emily to have some pain in her back. She is still having some pain today. Please pray that gets better soon. Back pain is no fun. Other then that she is good. Little Charlie is doing great and had a wonderful time camping with Daddy, Uncle Tom and Tyler. They didn't get many pictures, but I do have some to share form their camping trip.

Here is our week of fun and sadness rolled into one. Wednesday Emily and Charlie's cousins, Kylie and Dylan came to spend some time with us. We've really missed seeing them and so I took them for a few days. We went swimming on wednesday and then to Emily's doctors appointment. Thursday we spent a good part of the day in the pool. It has been so hot. My brother Jason also came on Thursday and friday to hang out with us for the day. The kids played video games, swam, ate, and just had loads of fun. Friday Daddy and Charlie left to go camping. The kids and I took Emily's dog Bandit for a haircut and then came home and went swimming. Catching a trend here yet. LOL! We spent mass amount of time in the pool. Saturday was Dylan's birthday party and so it was the day for them to go home. His party was at 2pm so we had planty of time to swim before going. First we made macaroni salad to take to his party. Then we headed to the pool for a couple hours. Then packed up and headed to my sisters for Dylan's party. He was so excited about everything. (he is turning 3yrs old) Those 4 days they spent with us I took 197 pictures, got countless hugs and kisses, watched spongebob many times, got lots of cuddle time in, heard the greatest sound in the world "children laughter" and was told I Love You more times then I can count. Oh how we loved having them here. Thank you Jodi for letting us have that time with them.

Saturday night Emily and I went to see "My Sisters Keeper". It was a great movie. We both cried all the way through it. I read the book before going to see the movie and I was shocked at how the book ended. But when the movie ended I was even more shocked that it did not end anything like the book. It was totally opposite. The movie brought back alot of memories, but also made me feel blessed to have my little girl here with me and cancer free. Emily is already asking me to buy the movie. She doesn't quite get that it is only in the theatre right now and we have to wait. I recommend the movie and the book. I say read the book and watch the movie cause even though they are much the same, they are also much different.

Thursday was a rough day for us around our house. That is the day our dog Jasmine died. She had been sick for a 3 weeks and no one could figure it out. We had her on meds for 7 days but they did nothing for her. She stopped eating and just withered away. It broke our hearts and we miss her dearly. Jasmine always made sure that everyone knew she was there. She was very loud and barked all the time when people came to our door or came to visit. But she was a great dog and loved everyone. It has been hard for all of us to understand why this happened. She got sick without warning and nothing made her better. We are glad that she is no longer suffering. Please continue your prayers as we deal with this loss. She has been part of our family for the last 4yrs now. It is so quiet around here now.

Sunday Daddy and Charlie came home from camping. They had lots of fun. Charlie loved fishing the best. I have lots of pictures to share with you. As I said I took almost 200 pictures while the kids were here. The slideshow below has 80 pictures in it. They are just pictures taken from wed-sat. Hope you enjoy it. If you can't watch it all now, be sure to come back when you have time. There are some great shots in there. Thank you all for checking in and praying. Thank you also for the messages. We love hearing from you all. Enjoy the pictures.

Monday, June 22, 2009 12:15 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY JUNE 25, 2009**

PULMONOLOGIST UPDATE: Emily sounds like crap. Her breathing is very loud and crackly. BUT her O2 stats are up to 96 now. As far as her lung functions tests go, a couple improved just a little and a couple remained the same. So even though she sounds like horrible, there was little improvement and every little bit is good. We are scheduled to go back next week.

On a sadder note, today we lost on of our dogs. She has been sick the last 3 weeks. I've taken her to be seen twice and they had no ideas on what was wrong with her. They put her on antibiotics hoping it would help, but it didn't help at all. She completely stopped eating and could hardly walk. The kids are very sad and Emily just doesn't understand why she had to die. (she was just 4yrs old) We will miss having her a part of our family. Please keep us in your prayers as we deal with the loss.

We have been enjoying our time with Kylie and Dylan. (Emily's cousins) I have tons of pictures I've taken in the last 2 days and I know I will have lots more by the end of the weekend to share. So be sure to come back on Monday to see them. The boys are so excited about going camping. They leave first thing in the morning. Emily and I are excited about our weekend as well. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



Hi Everyone! Hope you had a fabuluos weekend and Father's Day! Ours was great! Emily is feeling pretty good overall. Her breathing is about the same. She has had some complaints of her tummy hurting, but nothing major. She goes back to the pulmonologist on Wednesday June 24th. I will keep you posted on how that goes. Little Charlie is doing great! He is really looking forward to his camping trip with Daddy next weekend.

We had a great weekend. Saturday we went out and visited with my Dad (PaPa) for the day. Its been a while since we've been out to his house to visit him. It was really nice spending time with him. We really enjoyed just hanging out and talking. The kids had fun watching all the prairie dogs running around. Sunday Emily and I hung out at home while the boys went to the shooting range. They had lots of fun. Then Emily and I went to Mason's birthday party for a couple hours. Emily had a blast and didn't want to leave. When we got home we all went in the pool and relaxed. Then we had a nice dinner together. Daddy's favorite, steak on the grill. Then a nice relaxing evening. All in all a great weekend.

Its suppose to be getting hotter here over this week and then I am sure there will hardly be a day where we will see under 100 degrees. This is when we are so glad that we have a pool to hang out in. I have tons of pictures from May/June that I am not sure I shared many of them cause my computer was down. I am happy to have it back. I have put many pictures into a slideshow. Not all of them as there are hundreds from the last 2 months. But these are some of my favorites. Some you may have seen already. I wasn't sure which ones I was able to put up before. Hope you enjoy the slideshow.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 11:39 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! I am so excited that I finally have my computer back and it is all fixed. I can finally get back to my regular updates on here. YAY!!!

Emily is feeling pretty good lately. We didn't have the best visit at the pulmonologist last week. I believe I did update about that. She is just continueing on the same meds and we go back on the 24th. I do notice her slowing down some over the last 2 weeks or so. She is still getting out there and playing with the other kids, but she is getting tired much faster then she was. I do hope that we will be able to get a handle on what is exactly going on and get her on meds that are going to help her more.

We have been enjoying the summer very much. Spending lots of time playing in the pool, riding bikes, playing games and just hanging out. I can't believe they have been out of school almost a month already. Seems to be flying by. Before we know it they will be off to summer camp in July. They are both looking forward to that.

On June 26th Daddy and Little Charlie are going camping for the weekend. Emily and I are going to go watch the movie My Sisters Keeper. She has been anxiously waiting for it to come out in the theatres. I read the book a couple weeks ago and cried all the way through it. I have a feeling I should bring a box of tissues to the movies with us. We may need them. We will also be going to my nephews 3rd birthday part that weekend also.

Other then that things here are ok. I finally heard from my doctors office on the scheduling of my surgery. They said they can't schedule it until I can pay my deductable. ($600) Then after my deductable I am responsible for 20 percent of the procedure cause I have an 80/20 plan with my insurance. I guess the 20 percent can be paid in payments to them after the procedure, but the deductable has to be paid before they can schedule anything. So unfortunately I will not be having the surgery anytime soon. I will keep you posted as I get more info or when I am able to schedule it.

We are also waiting to hear when they will be scheduling Emily to be scoped. I am kinda looking forward to this procedure, only because it will hopefully give them a better idea of what is really going on in there. Instead of the proccess of elimination that they have been doing. I will keep you posted on that as well.

Thank you all for continueing to check in and leave messages. Emily loves to read them all. Hope you have a fabulous rest of the week. Hopefully I will have pictures to share after the weekend. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 1:27 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE SATURDAY JUNE 13, 2009**

I have my computer back, but unfortunately it is not working the way it should be. Now there are other issues. UGH! I am so upset, but I am able to update. So I will be doing that with pictures soon. Things are good here. The kids are having a great summer so far.

Emily went and saw the pulmonologist last week. Her lung function test got worse yet again and her O2 sats are going down as well. They are now sitting around 94-95. She has been staying around 97-98. So we are going to keep her on the same meds and go back in 2 weeks. They are also going to schedule her to be scoped. They really want to get a better look at what is going on in there and hopefully they will know better how to treat her. That probably won't happen until August. In a few weeks she will be leaving to go up north for summer camp with the American cancer Society. She is so excited. Little Charlie will be gone July 11-17 at the sibling camp and then Emily will be gone July 19-25. They are both looking forward to it. Before then I think we will be dosing Emily with steroids so that she will hopefully be able to breathe better in the higher elevation at camp. I promise a full update soon.

Thank you for continueing to check in and leave messages. Hopefully I will be able to get back to my regular updates and picture sharing soon. (((HUGS)))

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**EDITED UPDATE JUNE 2, 2009**

NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!!!

Hi Everyone! Things have been kinda crazy here. Emily is feeling better from her dental work. It took a couple days for the pain to go away. I still do not have my computer back. Other things have come up that have taken priority over my computer. Little Charlie had to go to the doctor last week for this nasty cough that he had for a few days. Turns out he has strep throat. He's now on antibiotics and seems to be getting better each day. Luckily Emily did not get it. Then my van broke down and went into the shop yestarday. Cost us $300 that we really couldn't afford to spend. But we are safely driving it now and that is the important thing. Hopefully I will be able to get my computer fixed within the next couple weeks.

The kid have been having lots of fun so far this summer. They practically live in the swimming pool. The neighbor told them they are going to grow gills and fins and turn into fish. LOL! I was able to post a few new pictures. Hope you all have a great week. I will update again when I am able to. Thank you for checking in and leaving messages.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Emily has had a miserable day today. The dentist appointment went well, but she is in lots of pain. We got there at 7:30am. They gave her the sedation meds and waited an hour for them to take effect. At about 8:40am they took her back. They did 2 fillings and extacted the tooth that was growing through the roof of her mouth. It was an extra adult tooth that she had. The tooth had not come through all the way, but enough that they could get it out. The dentist said that it came out pretty easy. If you ask Emily she says different. She was so good today. No fighing at all. It took them about an hour to do the work. We were home by about 10:15am and by 11am Emily was sound asleep. She slept for about an hour and a half. She has been very dizzy and in lots of pain all day. I've been giving her tylenol, but she is still complaining her mouth is hurting alot. I don't doubt that it is hurting. She has a huge hole in the roof of her mouth. Just look at how huge the tooth was. (sorry its a bit blurry.I took it with my phone.)


The roots were very long!!


Here's Emily once the sedation started kicking in.

I hope she will be feeling better tomorrow. She hated not being able to go swimming today. I am very proud of her for being so good with the dentist today.

Our summer is aleady off to a pretty good start. The kids and I have been spending lots of time swimming. When we are not swimming we are playing card games or board games or doing puzzles. We have been keeping busy and having fun. I am hoping to get my computer fixed sometime really soon so I can post some new pictures and get back to regular updates.

Little Charlie asked us if he could have a mohawk this summer. We thought it would be fun so we went ahead and did it for him. I don't know how long he will keep it for, but for now he is loving it. LOL!



Nothing really planned for the rest of his week or the weekend. Just plan to spend lots of time together having fun in whatever we do. Hope everyone is having a great week and have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for checking in.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, May 11, 2009 10:46 PM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE MONDAY MAY 25, 2009***

I have so much to share and so little time right now. Things have been staying very busy. I also have tons of pictures to share as well. The kids are out of school for the summer now and so far they are loving it. Last wednesday Emily went to the pulmonologist. Lung function tests came back unchanged. Staying on the same meds and we go back on june 9th. Tuesday (may 26th) Emily is going to the dentist for some work. She has an extra tooth growing through the roof of her mouth. They are going to remove that one and she has 2 new cavities that they are going to take care of. I have a few prayer requests for this visit. First, Emily really hates the dentist and she always fights so much with them. Please pray that she will be cooperative. The second request and the most important one is they are going to be sedating her. Her breathing is already not so good and sounding labored. Also her O2 sats are at 95 percent last checked. Her breathing is a huge concern. Please pray that all will go well and they will be able to get all the work done with no problems. We were told to give her an extra brething treatment after her appointment and to call the doctor right away if we notice any problems. I will keep you posted on how this appointment goes.

I promise to do a full update soon with pictures. I am really hoping to have my computer fixed soon. I just wanted to pop on in and let you all know that we are doing well. Thank you for checking in and for leaving messages. Emily really enjoy hearing from all of you.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY MAY 13, 2009**

Emily had a fabulous birthday. I took her cupakes and juice to her class. They sang Happy Birthday to her and enjoyed their mini party. LOL! Daddy was out of town last night so when he got back today we gave Emily one of her gifts. She got Dance Dance Revolution for the game system. She has wanted this game for a while, but it is to expensive for us to be able to afford. We were so lucky to have found it gently used for a great price. There wasn't much she wanted for her birthday, but this game we knew she really wanted. She has expressed alot of interest in dance and the doctor feels that it would be a benefit for her lungs and may help improve her lung function. So all in all this was the perfect gift. Sunday we are having her party. She can't wait. We are all looking forward to it. Thank you all for the birthday messages. My computer is down, but I have been able to get to the website from my phone and read Emily the messages. They meant so much to her.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!!!!!!!!! (MAY 12TH)

I can't believe Emily is 10yrs old already! They grow up WAY to fast!



Hi everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was wonderful and fun filled. Emily is feeling great and is so excited about her birthday. Less then 2 weeks left in school also. They are really excited about that. I am bringing cupcakes to school for her class tomorrow for her birthday!We had a great weekend.

Saturday Emily and I went to Mother/Daughter Spa Day with HopeKids. We had a fabulous time getting our manicures, pedicures, hair, makeup and pictures done. I have lots of pictures, but my computer is down so I am unable to post any right now. The one at the top of the page my husband took when we got home. We enjoyed our day of pampering and spending time together just us girls.

Sunday we went out to the cemetary to put flowers at grandmas grave for mothers day. Then we came home and Daddy made us all breakfast. Emily and Charlie gave me cards that they got me and a great little gift. It was a heart picture frame with picture of them in it and a necklace that says MOM. I love both gifts! The rest of the day Sunday we spent in the pool. Aunt Jodi, Uncle Eddie, Kylie and Dylan came over and went swimming with us. We had lots of fun!

Today I went to te specialist about the ongoing stomach pain I have been having along with some other issues. He decided that the next step to trying to figure out what is going on with me is exploratory surgery. There is a little more to it then just that, but I don't want to get into to many details. It is not scheduled yet. It will be an outpatient thing and should only take a couple days to recover. I will let you know when it gets scheduled. Please pray they will be able to figure out what is going on and fix it.

Well sorry for the short update, but it is hard to update this way. Hopefully I will be able to get my computer fixed soon. I am so lost without it. Thank you for checking and please don't forget to leave Emily some birthday wishes in the guestbook.
Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, May 4, 2009 10:06 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend. It was beautiful here and we spent the whole weekend in the pool. It was great! Emily has been feeling good. She continues to do good with taking her meds. She is still angry, but we are working with her on that. The picture above was taken today. She had her awards ceremony for student of the month. She recieved this tshirt that says "My character counts at Sevilla West School" Also this award. The awards has a nice little paragraph written on it by her teacher. It was read after her name was called, while she was walking upt o recieve her award. Her smile was a mile wide! Here is what her teacher wrote:

"Emily is such a survivor! She makes the best of every situation by putting a positive spin on every adversity. She has a lot of self-confidence and is a joy to know. Her friendly and sincere attitude makes her a pleasant addition to my classroom. Everyone that meets her agrees that her million-dollar smile will take her far in life." Mrs. Boltz 4th grade

I am so proud of Emily. The first half of this year was a nightmare for all of us. She was disrupting class and not doing what she was suppose to be doing. She has worked so hard to get to where she is now. The teacher has seen great improvement in her amd we are all so proud of her. She is doing great in school now and the teacher is so pleased to have her in her class.

Tuesday night Charlie has his science fair at school. His lab partners and him have been making rock candy. He is excited about the way it turned out. We hope the science fair turns out great for them. Other then that not much else planned for the week. Saturday Emily and I are going to the mother/daughter spa day with HopeKids. We are so excited about that. I am sure we will get lots of pictures.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Hope you have a great week! I will leave you with a couple pictures of the kids playing guitar hero on the wii this past weekend. They had so much fun with it.




Charlie was concentrating very hard on playing the guitar


Emily hanging out watching Uncle Tom and Charlie play the game.


Charlie and Emily today before going to school. 5-4-09

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 1:03 AM CDT

**PULMONOLOGIST UPDATE AND OTHER GOOD NEWS!!**

So here is how our afternoon went. We got to the pulmonologist office at 3:30pm. They ask that you arrive 30 minutes before your appointment. (I am going to stop doing this) Our appointment was set for 4pm. We were finally taken back at about 5:15pm. Emily did her lung function test and then her breathing treatment. They had no room available for her to do the shakey vest so we were put in another room. Then she went and did the post treatment lung function test. Finally about 6:30pm the doctor came in to see us. Emily's lung function is lower then it was 2 weeks ago. BUT the doctor says her lungs sound better then they did. So not all bad right? We finally got out of there about 7:30pm. It is so frustrating that it takes so long in there and Emily made it known that she was not happy. She threw a HUGE fit whie we was waiting for the doctor. She started yelling that she wanted to leave, shoving chairs around and showing her big attitude big time. I get her frustration. She hates going to this doctors office. But the truth is this doctor IS helping Emily breath better and so we must deal with the long visits. The end results will make it all worth it. We are not changing anything right now. We are going to keep her on the same meds and we will go back in 3 weeks to hopefully see some improvement. Currently she has her on 7 different pills, 2 inhalers, and breathing treatments. Emily hates it but has agreed to continue taking them and not throw a fit.

Now the good news. Emily was chosen for Student of the Month! She is so excited. They will have a breakfast and awards ceremony on Monday morning (May 4th) I am so proud of her. She has really worked hard at doing better in school and applying herself. She deserves this award.

Thank you all for checking in and praying for us. It really means alot.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Meant to update earlier but I haven't been feeling so well. Wanted to come on tonight and update real quick before trying to get some sleep. Emily is doing good. She hasn't complained of really anything the last week. She's been taking all her meds pretty well. She only fights with me over her breathing treatments. She hates sitting there and doing them 3 times a day. She says they take to long and she would rather be doing other things. I can understand that, but they do seem to be helping. She has an appointment with the pulmonologist at 4pm on wednesday. We hope to see more improvement in her lung function.

Friday was Emily's play at school. She had a solo singing part and did great! She smiled the whole time and had so much fun doing the play. The play was called "I need a vacation". It was very well put together and I could tell the kids worked very hard. They all did a great job.

Saturday Uncle Tom, Aunt Nicki, Katelynn and Tyler came over and hung out. We all had fun in the pool most of the day and then BBQ'd. It was a beautiful day out. Not to hot, but warm enough to go swimming. Then after the sun went down and we were all done with dinner we shut off all the lights in the house and played hide and go seek. The kids had so much fun hiding from Daddy and Nicki. Everyone slept good that night. Sunday we all just huung out at home. The kids and Daddy went swimming again. The water was a little to chilly for me that day. All in all it was a great weekend.

Friday night I went to the ER for severe stomach pains. This has been an ongoing issue for some time now and they can never find anything wrong. It is very frustrating. Yet again I was sent home with no answers. I have an appointment with a specialist on May 11th. Please pray that the pain doesn't get any worse before then and that they will be able to figure out why I am having the pain. Also the last 2 days I've been fighting a migraine. Its had me pretty much down for the count. Please pray it will let up soon. Daddy is doing well with his health issues he was having. His foot pain doesn't seem to be as bad and the doctors put him on blood pressure meds for high blood pressure.Little Charlie is doing great. He has been working ona science project for school. They are making rock candy. He continues to do great in school also.

Not to much planned for the rest of the week or the weekend that I am aware of just yet. Hoping it will be another great weekend for swimming and playing outside. We have some busy weekends coming up in May. May 9th Emily and I are going to a Mother/Daughter spa day with HopeKids. Manicures, pedicures, massage, and facials. Emily is so excited and I am really looking forward to having a girls day out with her. Then May 12th is her birthday. We will be having her party on the 17th. The 16th we have an engagement party to go to for a friend of ours that is getting married. The the following weekend on the 23rd is the birthday bash with HopeKids and the kids summer vacation starts. They are so excited about that. I will keep you updated on all these events and will probably have lots of pictures.

Please continue to keep Rowan's Family in your prayers. She earned her wings last week and is now cancer free and pain free. But its those left behind that are in pain now. There are no words that can take that pain away, but I know just knowing you are there and thinking of them helps. Please slide by and leave a message in their guestbook.

Thank you for checking in on us. I will update when we get home from Emily's doctors appointment. It will probably be late since we are always there about 3hrs each time and her appointment isn't until 4pm. Please pray for more improvement on her lung function tests.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, April 20, 2009 3:46 PM CDT

**EDITED FRIDAY APRIL 24, 2009**

Please send some love and prayers to Rowan's Family. She earned her wings last night. She was a friend and fellow HopeKid. We are heartbroken over this news.

This morning is Emily's play. She is very excited about this performance. i know she will be great. Hope you have a great weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**EDITED TUESDAY APRIL 21, 2009**

Today Emily had her appointment with her oncologist. She was very excited to see Dr Cohen. Blood counts are good and he said he can hear the difference in her lungs. He said they definately sound better then when he saw her last. That made us both happy to hear that from him. Emily really loves and respects Dr Cohen and trusts him very much. So when he told her that her pulmonologists treatment seems to be working that made her feel better about taking all these meds. The only concern that he has is she is losing weight. It was something I had noticed over the last month. Each time we went to the doctor (every 2 weeks) she had lost a pound or 2. He didn't seem overly concerned, but would like to see her start gaining some. She is not at all happy about gaining weight. For some reason she is concerned about getting fat. Not something I think she should be worrying about at 9yrs old. We did talk to her about it and explained that gaining weight is all a part of growing up and getting bigger and stronger and healthier. I do hope she understands that and gets the worries of getting fat out of her head. Other then that all is well.

Today the temperature here hit 103 degrees. We spent some time after the doctors appointment cooling off in the pool. We love having a pool! We've never had a pool anywhere that we lived except when we lived in apartments. So its great to be able to swim when we want. I know there are going to be lots of days spent in the pool. Hope you all have a great week. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Hope you great weekend. Ours was wonderful! Emily is feeling pretty good. She is still coughing alot but its productive so that is good. She has only really complained of belly pain once in the last week. Looks as though the meds are doing something good. She is taking enough of them so I hope they are doing her some good. LOL!

Last tuesday is when she went to the pulmologist. Well she was prescribed a bunch of new meds. One of which was an antibiotic. Well I had a heck of a time getting that med filled. First they said the doctor didn't specify liquid of tablets. Then we couldn't get the doctors office to call them back for 2 days. Then we found out the tablets the doctor wanted her to have were dicontinued and they were only making it in liquid, BUT the insurance doesn't cover it. So they had to call the doctor back andfind out if they could give her a different dosage in the tablets that the insurance would cover and still made. Finally by Friday night Emily had her antibiotic. It was an ordeal, but she started them as soon as we got them. The pills are HUGE, but she is managing to get them down. She prefers the pills over the liquid.

Friday Emily had her appointment with her endocrinologist. He said that she is staying on her steady growth pattern. She is still delayed by almost 2yrs, but she is growing at a steady pace so he is not worried about her. We went on saturday and did some blood work. He wants to check her female hormone levels. He said he would call if there was something we needed to do or if something is out of whack. Friday afternoon Daddy and Charlie went to the Busch series Nascar race. They had so much fun. Emily and I went out to dinner and came home and watched a movie. It was a nice evening for al of us.This weekend was beautiful 90 degree weather and we spent most of the whole weekend outside playing and in the pool. The kids are excited about it warming up outside. The pool is finally warming up to. It is almost warm enough for me to go swimming also. Right now the pool has finally reached 76 degrees. The kids got Daddy in there though and they had a blast. I took tons of pictures. I would like to share them with you now.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 0:28 AM CDT

**MONDAY APRIL 20, 2009**

UPDATE WILL BE POSTED IN A LITTLE BIT WITH LOTS OF PICTURES.

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Hi Everyone! Things have been busy here. Hope you al had a fabulous Easter. Emily is feeling pretty good. Over the last week I thought she was coming down sick and that she didn't sound so good, but we found out today that is not the case at all. She had her appointment with the pulmonologist today. We got there about 3:15 and finally got taken back at almost 5pm. It was crazy. She did her little lung function test and then went to do her breathing treatment and the shakey vest. Once done there she went back in and did her test again. Then we waited to see the doctor. Finally at about 6pm we got to speak with the doctor. She said that the zithromax that Emily was on for 10 days did just what it was suppose to do. She hoped it would help to clear some of the junk out of Emily's lungs. Well what we thought was a cold coming on was actually the zithromax clearing her lungs of some of the junk. Her lung function tests jumped 20 percent higher then they were just 2 weeks ago! Can you believe it?! Her O2 sats are still hanging around 96. I am so happy to see her improving again. So the plan is this, she wants Emily to try and run around more and try to help stimulate the growth of healthy lung tissue. She also prescribed another antibiotic that she will be taking for a longer period of time. (probably about 4 months) Still on breathing treatments 3 times a day, zantac twice a day, but has added a few new ones as well. She will take Claritan in the morning and zyrtec at night. The reason for these 2 meds is because the junk that is clearing from her lungs is draining out her nose and causing her to cough up alot of junk as well. Emily will not blow her nose so she ends up sucking it all back up her nose. Kind of defeats the purpose of clearing it out. So she is thinking the claritan and zyrtec will help dry that stuff up. She also prescribed her a med that she only has to take if she wants to. We've determined thatmaybe Emily's bowels are not working regularly, but Emily is to embarrassed to talk about it with us. So she gave her a medicine to help her with that problem and told her to take it only if she thinks she needs it. We are still trying to get to the root of the tummy issues. Lots of meds to take daily, but she knows they are helping and is doing a great job at taking them and I know she will do great with the new ones as well. So all in all even though we were at the doctors office for almost 4 hours, it was a good visit with good news.

This weekend was a pretty good weekend. Saturday we went to the Easter egg hunt with HopeKids. It rained but that didn't stop them from putting this event on. They just moved it all inside. The kids had lots of fun. The did an easter egg hunt, played games, dyed eggs, ate, and got their picture taken with the easter bunny. It was lots of fun. Then saturday night we colored eggs. The kids always have so much fun doing this. I took tons of pictures and I will share some of them in a bit. Then sunday morning the kids got up and hunted for easter eggs while Daddy made breakfast. The rest of the day was spent just hanging out at home spending time as a family. Here are some of the pictures I took.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 2:02 AM CDT

**EDITED MONDAY APRIL 13, 2009**

I promise to update fully tomorrow. Its been kinda busy here and I haven't had much time for the computer. Emily's belly has been feeling better. Things worked out for the best with the situation with my husband. Thank you all for your prayers. Emily is going on a field trip tomorrow to Phoenix College. Then she has a doctors appointment with the pulmonologist. I will do a full update in the morning. I also have some pictures to share.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**UPDATE FRIDAY APRIL 10, 2009**

Emily's tummy seems to be feeling bette today. Yestarday it still hurt, but just a little. Today it seems to be gone. Thank you for your prayers. I would like to ask for a couple more prayers. My Dad's health issues are back. Please pray that the treatment works and that the side effects are not to hard on him. Also a silent request for my husband. We will know the outcome of a situation in a few hours. Please pray that it all turns out ok. Thank you for your prayers.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and Happy Easter!

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**PRAYER REQUEST WEDNESDAY APRIL 8, 2009**

Ok so I have a couple prayer requests tonight. First Emily is in horrible pain tonight. Her belly is hurting so bad. She took her zantac and some tylenol. We also asked her the first question that we always ask, and she hates when we ask it. When was the last time she had a bowel movement. That was not the problem and the meds were not helping. She did finally fall asleep about 9pm still in pain. Please pray for a pain free morning. Also she is having trouble with one of her ears. She said when she went to camp this past weekend her ear was popping alot and ever since she's been home she has complained of it bothering her. The tylenol did help her ear though.

Next I would like to ask for prayers for our little friend Ellieanna. Her Mom write, "Well… Our little Ellie Anna Moore is in the Kalispell Hospital once again. Ellie had Surgery to remove her Tonsils on Monday. Everything went well, but from that point on things slowly headed down hill." Please head on over to her site and read the rest of the update and leave a message for them in her guestbook. We love you Chloe, Scott, Ellie and Ben and we are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.

Thank you for your prayers.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hello Everyone! Its been kinda crazy here so that is why my update is kinda late. Emily has been feeling pretty good. She is taking her meds with no fights anymore. She is still mad that she has to take them all, but is hoping for better results and less meds next time she goes to the doctor. I realized in talking to Emily that she is angry with cancer. Let me explain a little. When Emily was diagnosed and going through treatment she was amazing. She was never mad. She just did what was next. I believe that is because she was to young to really understand what was truly happening. Now that she is almost 10yrs old and 4yrs cancer free she understands that the problems she has now are due to the cancer and the treatment. I have a hard time getting her to talk to me about her anger. All she does is ask why she got cancer. I can't answer that question for her. Over the years I have asked the same question. All I can tell her is that she faced the beast twice and beat it and with time she will have all these problems behind her as well. Just like the song she picked for her site says, "Its just another moutain she needs to climb." It breaks my heart that she has had to go through so much and still does. That she can't do all that she wants to do cause she gets so out of breathe. Also that she is so angry. Please pray that she will open up to me. I want to help her deal with it and I will keep trying to get her to talk to me.

This past weekend the kids went up north to camp. They had so much fun. She was having so much fun that it would upset her when she had to leave her fun and go take her breathing treatments or her meds. There were wonderful people there to help her and assure her that she could go right back to what she was doing as soon as she was done with her meds. I thank these people for being there for her when I wasn't. I dropped the kids off at 3:30pm on Friday afternoon. They were so excited to go. This was Charlie's first time going. Emily was happy to see Mason was going also. She sat with him on the bus and Charlie sat right by them also. At camp they went hiking, did talent shows, some sort of cooking class and so many other activities. Neither of them were ready to come home on Sunday. They are already looking forward to going to camp this summer. The theme this year is Space. Sunday the bus pulled back up at 3pm for us to pick them up. I was ready for them to come home. The house was so quiet without them here. Daddy and I had a fantastic weekend, but we were happy to see them. We came home and just hung out for the rest of the evening.

Monday Emily woke up and didn't want to go to school. They have AIMS testing all week and she was not ready to start the tests. Once motivated though she went to school. Daddy went to the doctor monday morning. Right now we are trying to process the information that was given to him. He is ready to NEVER go back and that worries me. Ignoring it will not make the problems go away or his health any better. Please pray that he decides to take the meds given and to go back to the doctors they want him to see. I tried to pursuade him by telling him that Emily doesn't want to see the doctor anymore or take her meds, but she has to cause that is what is going to make her better. His response is "Well she has to because she is a kid. I am an adult." My response to that is yes he is an adult and should be setting the example. He is stubborn. I can see where Emily gets it from. LOL!

Emily has a whole week away from doctors this week. Because of the AIMS testing I rescheduled her appointments thats he had. Which means that she has 2 doctors appointments next week. One with the pulmonologist and one with the endocrinologist. For now we are just enjoying the time away from the doctors. Today after the kids got home from school they went swimming. It was 90 degrees here and the pool has warmed up some. Still to cold for me, but the kids had a blast. No other plans for this week. Just testing at school and some fun family time at home.

Saturday we are going to an Easter egg hunt with HopeKids. The kids are excited about that. Not sure what the plans are for the rest of the weekend. Hope you all have a great week and weekend. Here is Charlie's spring picture that was taken at school. I think they turned out nice. As I said before I cheated and scanned them into the computer so that I could share them with everyone. Can you believe they wanted $48 for 4 sheets of pictures? Way to much if you ask me. I just assume take the pictures myself. =-)



Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 1:35 AM CDT

**UPDATE MONDAY APRIL 6, 2009**

A full update will be posted tomorrow. I've been pretty busy getting back intot he swing of things after this weekend. The kids had a great time at camp. The picture above is Emily's spring pictures taken at school. I cheated and scanned it into the computer. I really liked the pictures but they wanted WAY to much to buy them. So I did the next best thing. LOL! I wanted to share them. I will post Charlie's tomorrow as well. Hope you all had a great weekend. Check back later for a better update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**PULMONOLOGY UPDATE**

Some good news and some bad news. Good news is Emily gets to go to camp. Her O2 sats are still at 96, but the doctor is going to let her go anyways. We are so thankful for that. Emily would have been devastated if she was told she couldn't go. Bad news is her lung function tests decreased from 2 weeks ago. We were so happy 2 weeks ago cause they had gone up. We were heading in the right direction. Now we have been set back. They were not horribly worse, but they were worse. So here is what she is on now. Breathing treatments 3 times a day still, Sybicort and alvesco steroid inhalers, 2 puffs of each twice a day. Zithromax, one pill once a day. Singulair, one pill once a day. Zantac, one pill twice a day. I think that is all of it. She is not happy about all these meds. She has to go back to the pulmonologist in about 10 days. I will call and make the appointment tomorrow. Please pray that we start heading in the right direction again and improve those lung function tests. Also pray that she doesn't have a tough time at camp this weekend. She is so excited about going and I just want to hear that she had tons of fun when she gets home.

Emily and Charlie will be leaving at 3pm on friday and returning home on sunday at 3pm. Please pray for safe travels and TONS OF FUN! I will update after the weekend and let you know about their trip. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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*NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM*

Hello Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was fabulous! Emily has been feeling pretty good. She continues to do her breathing treatments and take her meds with little to no fights. Every once in a while she fights with me about it, but only when she doesn't want to stop playing to come do a treatment. I can understand that. For the most part though she is doing great with it. Emily picked out this new song for her site. It is by Miley Cyrus and it is a great song if you listen to the words.

We had a wonderful busy weekend. Saturday we did a bunch of last minute stuff to get ready for Charlie birthday party. Running errands, buying food, and cleaning house. Sunday was Charlie's birthday. He was beyond excited. It was a great day. Everyone came! We took TONS of pictures to. Everyone started showing up about 12:30pm. The whole family was here and he invited 3 of his friends from school to. Everyone went out in the backyard and played a game of football, rode the skateboards and some even tried the ripsticks. That was funny to see. None of the adults could get the hang of it, but the kids showed them how it was done. LOL! We threw some burgers and dogs on the grill and had lunch. Then Charlie opened his gifts. Everything he got he loved. He got a new skateboard, some bionicles, Tech Deck finger skateboards, nerf dart gun, a game for his PSP, and a couple shirts. Plus he got money. He loves getting money in a card. Its already burning a hole in his pocket and he is itching to spend it. LOL! It was so nice to have everyone all together. It is rare that we all get together like that. We really need to do it more often. We all had so much fun together. The last of the bunch left about 7pm and we were all tuckered out. Charlie said it was his best birthday ever. We got well over 200 pictures throughout the day. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 12:09 AM CDT

**WONDERFUL UPDATE FROM THE ORTHO SURGEON**

Emily does NOT have scoliosis! Her spine is straight and perfectly aligned with her body. She was so excited to hear that. She really liked the doctor, but was VERY happy that she got to scratch him off her list. So now we just continue to work on her breathing issues. Yestarday she came home from school early with chest pain and difficulty breathing. She was outside at reccess and there was a high wind advisory out. We got winds up to 45mph and it was blowing dust, leaves, grass, trash and everything else you can imagine around. Today she seems to be doing better. Still sounds a little noisy, but no chest pain. Busy weekend ahead. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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**REPORT CARD UPDATE**

Emily and Charlie got their report cards this week. Here are their grades. I am very proud of how good they are both doing.

Emily: 3rd Quarter

Language~ B (brought up from a C last quarter)
Spelling~ A (brought up from a C last quarter)
Reading~ C
Social Studies~ B ( brought up from a C last quarter)
Science~ B
Math~ C
Art` A
Music~ A
P.E.~ A

Emily also recieved this quarters Principals Award for extra effort. This quarter she has put forth extra effort everyday on all her work. Her goal is to have her 2 C's either A's or B's and get Honor Roll for the last quarter. I know she can do it.

Charlie: 3rd Quarter

Science~ A
Language~ B (brought up from a C last quarter)
Reading~ C
Math~ B
Social Studies~ A
Spelling~ C
Art~ B
Music~ A
P.E~ A

Charlie also wants to bring his 2 C's up and make Honor Roll for the last quarter of the year. He is very smart and I know if he stays on task and completes all his work then he can do it as well.

Emily has her appointment with the orthpedic surgeon at 11am friday. I will update on that appoinment when we get hme. So be sure to check back this evening for that update. Please pray things go well and she is cooperative. Busy weekend ahead of us also. Please pray all goes as I have planned. Charlie's 11th Birthday party on Sunday. He is so excited.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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Hi Everyone! What a fabulous weekend we had. Emily has been having LOTS of tummy issues the last 4 days. She is taking the zantac but it doesn't seem to be helping her any. We were told the antibiotic they put her on could also make her tummy issues worse. Please pray they ease up and hopefully go away at some point. Her breathing is about the same. We are trying not to focus on that so much. You see we didn't notice any change in her breathing from 2 weeks earlier, but infact there had been some improvement. So even though we are not seeing the difference, it still may be there. So we are just hoping that it is still getting better each day. Other thent hat she is feeling pretty good. Charlie is doing great as well. He had so much fun this weekend camping with Daddy.

Emily and I had a great weekend together. Friday we hung out at home and then went out for chinese food for dinner. She has been wanting chinese for the last couple weeks. We just haven't been able to go. So her and I decided we were going to treat ourselves to some chinese food. We found a buffet place and at til we couldn't eat anymore. Emily found a new love of crab legs. She use to eat crab when she was younger, but hasn't had it in so long. She tried them and loved them. She ended up eating 2 full plates of crab legs and 3 more plates of all the other great food they had. I couldn't believe how much she ate. Then we went home and put tons of pictures into picture frames to put up in the house. We have been here 5 months now and only have 1 picture hung in the whole house. Anyone that knows me, knows that is not normal for me. I would have had every wall covered in frames by now. LOL! We now have about 8 picture frames to hang. Saturday we did some chores around the house in the morning and then went to visit my tattoo guy. He is the one that did both my tattoos with the kids names. Anyways Emily loves going to visit him. He always lets her pick out a tattoo and he draws it on her with sharpie markers. She was so excited. You won't believe what she got! Here is a picture:



He tried to talk her out of putting Mason's name on it, but she was sure that is what she wanted. LOL! I have to say I am so glad that it is not permanent. I told her that if she ever does get a real tattoo that it better not have any boys names. LOL! The only names I would ever put on me is my kids. She loved it and is sad that it is almost all washed off. After leaving there we went to walmart to buy the movie Twilight. Emily really wanted to see that movie. I am going to watch it first and make sure it is ok for her to watch. We also got some snacks and then went home and got ready to go out to Movie Night Under The Stars with HopeKids. We had so much fun there. They had a huge 50 foot movie screen. We brought blankets and laid out on the football feild and watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I thought it was going to be a really stupid movie. I didn't have much iterest in it, but Emily really wanted to see it. It turned out to be pretty funny and a cute movie. We really enjoyed ourselves. Sunday we pretty much stayed home, did laundry, hung out and waited for Daddy and Charlie to get home. We really enjoyed our weekend together.

Daddy and Charlie had a great time also. They left friday early afternoon and headed up north to meet up with Uncle Tom and Tyler. They got to play in the snow and go fishing. They had poker night and everything. They had alot of fun. They took lots of pictures to. Many of them are in the slideshow at the end of this update.

This week has been ok so far. The kids went back to school. They were happy to go but were also sad. They really enjoyed being home for spring break. Only 9 weeks left until they are out for the summer. Not to much else planned except Emily goes to see the orthopedic surgeon on Friday. Her appointment is at 11am and they said to expect it to be about an hour and a half visit at least. I will update on that appointment as soon as we get home. This next weekend will be a busy one also. The owners of the house are coming to check on things. They live in California, so they are making a trip here to see how well we are taking care of the house. Also they are finally going to fix the garage door that has been giving us lots of trouble. Then on Sunday is Charlie's 11th birthday and we are having a party for him. He is so excited. I can't believe he is going to be 11yrs old already. Time sure does fly and they sure do grow up way to fast.

Daddy is still having lots of pain in his feet. He still has an appointment for April 6th scheduled, but he keeps saying he is not going to go. Please pray that he goes and gets clear and definate answers. Also pray that Emily's appointment goes smooth on friday and that our weekend works out the way we plan. Thank you all for checking in. Enjoy the pictures from our weekend.

Thursday, March 19, 2009 0:44 AM CDT

NEW UPDATE AND LOTS OF PICTURES TO SHARE COMING TUESDAY AFTERNOON. CHECK BACK THEN.

LOVE AND HUGS,
ANGELA




**PULMONOLOGY APPOINTMENT UPDATE**

FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS!! Emily's lung function test came back 10 percent higher then 2 weeks ago. I was so excited to hear that news. Though they are still not great results, she is headed in the right direction and that is all that matters. So even though we don't hear the difference in her breathing and she is still getting short of breath easy, she IS improving. So we are keeping her on the Symbicort inhaler and the breathing treatments. But we also added an antibiotic twice a day and zantac twice a day for her tummy. The doctor is still exploring the theory of puss pockets so she wants her on the antibiotic for 3 weeks to see if that helps. Then we will talk about doing the bronchiscope to get a closer look at what is going on in her lungs. She did have to do the shakey vest again for 30 minutes, but this time she put it on and did it even before the doctor told her she needed to. She said she knew she was going to have to do it anyways so she wanted to get it done and over with. I am so proud of her. I was an emotional mess today. Just so much on my mind. The doctor sat and talked to me for an hour and really helped me to deal with some of the things that are going on. She also took that time to help me understand better what she believes is going on with Emily's lungs and what the plan is. I walked out of the office feeling much better and confident that we are heading in the right direction with her breathing issues. Emily is all doctored out. She wants a break from doctors for a while. I can understand that. We are working on helping her deal with her feelings about all this also. Today's visit turned out to be a good one. Emily was happy to see that her tests improved also. It helped her to see that she is taking the medicines for a reason and that they are helping her.

Daddy and Charlie are looking forward to their weekend camping and Emily and I are looking forward to our girls weekend. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Love and Hugs,
Angela






Hi Everyone! We are having a fabulous spring break. We haven't really done much, but the weather has been great. It is really warm here right now. Its been in the mid to upper 80's. The kids are loving it though. We've spent lots of time outside. The kids can't wait until the pool warms up enough to go swimming. To many more days like today (90 degrees) and we will be swimming in no time.

Emily continues to be about the same. She has an appointment with the pulmonologist Thursday at 3pm. I will post about that when we get home. Other then that she is just doing her daily treatments and trying not to overdo it. Sometimes that is easier said then done. The picture above was taken today. We went and picked up her new glasses. Don't they look great? The ones she had for the last year were a silver color, but I am really liking these dark blue ones on her. She is very happy that she picked these ones. I also took her over to get her hair cut. This is always a challenge trying to get her to let me get her hair cut. She is very attached to her hair and doesn't like to even get it trimmed. I can understand that, but it really needed it. So she agreed. We got there and the lady asked her how much she wanted to cut and Emily showed her on her back where to cut it to. Absolutely no shorter though. So we ended up taking off 3 inches and it looks so much healthier. I am so glad she decided to do it. She says she likes it and is comforted in knowing that it WILL grow back. So there she is sporting her new glasses and haircut.

Little Charlie is doing great. he is really enjoying being home and playing with his friends all day. Daddy and him are going camping this weekend. They are going to leave on friday and come back on sunday. He is really looking forward to that. Then the following weekend is his 11th birthday. (March 29th) He is really excited! We are planning a party for that day.

Emily and I will have a girls weekend. Not to sure what we are going to do yet. Except saturday night we are going with HopeKids for movie night under the stars. We are going to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Emily has been wanting to see it, so it will be fun just the 2 of us going.

Monday the kids go back to school and they will be studying hard for AIMS testing. They are NOT so excited about that, but I know they will do great. Next friday Emily goes to the orthopedic surgeon for her scoliosis. (march 27th) I will keep you posted as I get news on all that.

I do have a special prayer request. Daddy has been having some health issues and went to the doctor a couple weeks ago. Today we got results of the bloodwork they did. Right now I am not going to share the details as we are still trying to process the information. Daddy hates going to the doctor and feels like if he ignores it then it will eventually go away. Unfortunately this time he really can't do that. So I ask that you please pray that he will do the right thing for his health. That he will go back to the doctor and stay on top of this. He does have an appointment set for April 6th to get more info and see what they recommend. Please just keep him in your prayers and I will give more details when I feels he is ready to share.

Other then that things are going great. I do have some pictures to share, but I will probably post those tomorrow. We did lots of planting over the last month in our gardens. We planted rose bushes, tomato plant, strawberries, flowers and a lemon tree. Today we were so excited to see them all flourishing so well. We have vines of strawberries that look so yummy. We have tomatoes starting to grow and I have my first rose on one of my 4 rose bushes. I have always been unable to keep any kind of plants alive in the past so you can imagine how excited I am at how well these ones are doing. Anyways I will share some of the pictures tomorrow. Thank you all for checking in. Hope you have a wonderful end of the week and weekend. I will post about Emily's appointment when we get home.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 5:02 PM CDT

**UPDATE THURSDAY MARCH 12, 2009**

Some wonderful news first and then we will get to the eye doctor appointment. First bit of great news is Emily won the poetry contest with the poem she wrote. Tonight she will be going to a ceremony where all the winners will read their poems. I don't remember if I ever shared her poem with you so here it is.

White Horse

So beautiful like snow
Runs like the wind
Hair as soft as silk
Eyes as dark as night
Nays like a baby
Jumps like a runaway rabbit,
White Horse.

Next bit of wonderful news. On wednesday Emily tried out for a solo singing part for her school play. There was only 5 parts to be given out and many tried out. She was so excited to find out today that she got solo part #2. I am so proud of her. She has always liked to sing, but always been afraid to try out for a solo. Now she has it and she is so happy. I am not sure when the play is, but I will keep you posted.

Ok now the eye doctor appointment. Emily did great! She didn't fight when he put the drops in or anything. Unfortunately her eyes are not getting better. In fact they have gotten a bit worse. No big deal though. Emily was super excited about picking out a new pair of glasses. Here is a picture of the frames she picked. Its a bit blurry but you can get the general idea.


These are the frames Emily picked out for her new glasses.

She had a very hard time choosing. The lady was really trying to get her to pick pink frames. She liked them but was afraid they wouldn't match all her clothes. Plus she said she is still kind of a tomboy and really didn't want the pink ones. LOL! Anyways the ones she picked are a dark blue color. I think they look really nice on her.

Tomorrow starts the kids spring break. We don't have any plans for spring break, except a doctors appointment. But I am sure we will find some fun things to do. Thank you all for checking in and for the messages left. We love to hear from you all.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Emily is doing about the same with her breathing issues. She is having some tummy pain lately to. Also some HUGE attitude issues. Not something I usually would talk about, but it has gotten worse the last couple weeks. She seems to be so angry. She is tired of doctors and medicine and everything. I pray that she can find peace in all of this. On the other hand I do not blame her for being so angry. She has been through so much in the last 5 1/2 years and it just feels like one thing after another. She is still on her breathing treatments 3 times a day and doing them with no issues. She is also doing her inhaler twice a day and the only complaint I am getting when she takes that is "It taste like chemo!" She said there was one chemo drug that she got when she was doing treatment that she could taste when they would inject it into her port. She said her inhaler tastes the same as that chemo drug. She really doesn't like it, but she is not fighting me on doing it. She is having some trouble at school in PE. The PE teacher pushes her harder then I think they should. They have been doing alot of running lately in PE and Emily tires easily and gets out of breathe. I do not have a doctors note from her doctor yet (we keep forgeting) so they will not allow her to sit out. They make her finish the full run just like any other child. We will definately be making it a point to get that note next time she sees to doctor. Other then that she is doing good. Thursday she has an eye doctor appointment. They told us a year ago that if Emily wore her glasses all the time then she may not need them after a year or two. So we will either be walking out of there without glasses or with a new pair of glasses ordered. Either way she is ok with it. I will let you know when we get home how it went.

Little Charlie has been having lots of stomach pain and tiredness. I think he is starting to come down with something but it is coming on very slowly. He is doing great in school. He is looking forward to his birthday coming up at the end of the month. (March 29th) He is hoping to get a new skateboard and he really wants skate ramps, but I think that is a little to much for me. LOL! He loves all things having to do with skateboarding though. He is going to invite some friends and all our family and have a party the last weekend of the month.

This past weekend Emily and Charlie's cousins, Kylie and Dylan came to spend the night. I picked them up saturday morning and they spent the day and night with us. We had so much fun. They went and played with Uncle Tom's pigs. I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures of that. I wish I had. Sunday we just hung out at home and really didn't do much. It was a great weekend though. The picture above is from Saturday. (Emily, Kylie, and Dylan)

The kids have no school on friday and then they are off all next week for spring break. They are super excited. Hopefully it will be a beautiful week weather wise and we will find some fun things to do.

My back is feeling some better today. Hopefully it will keep feeling better and then the pain will go away for good. Please pray that little Charlie starts to feel better soon also.

I also want to thank everyone that has sent emails and left messages after my last update. I have been having a really hard time dealing with all of this little stuff that keeps coming up with Emily. It all makes it seem bigger then it really is. I am trying to deal, but sometimes I get overwhelmed. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, March 4, 2009 3:01 PM CST

***MONDAY NIGHT MARCH 9, 2009**

I will update tomorrow. But wanted to come on and let you all know we are doing okay, but to also ask for a few extra prayers for me. I've been having this horrible pain in my back the last 4-5 days. I do not remember hurting it, but the pain gets so bad by the end of the day that I can hardly stand it. I tried to get into the doctor but they have no appointments for this week. Please pray that the pain will get better.

Check back later tuesday afternoon for a full update on our weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**PULMONOLOGIST UPDATE**

Emily's lung function test were worse this time then they were 2 weeks ago. Her breathing has not gotten any better. So she spent 30 minutes on the shakey vest and was NOT the least bit happy about it. They changed her inhaler from Alvesco to Symbicort. She is to do 2 puffs twice a day and then breathing treatments 3 times a day. We go back in 2 weeks on March 19th. The doctor is talking about doing a bronchioscope to get a closer look at what is going on in her lungs, but nothing definate so far. I am confident that this IS going to take place. As soon as I get more info or a date I will let you know. Please just conitnue to pray her breathing gets better. She is getting so burnt out with going to the doctors.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Hope you are having a great week so far. Ours is going good for the most part. Many little things that are weighing heavy on my mind and dragging me down a bit. Emily is about the same with her breathing. She is still doing great with her treatments. We had a few days there where she was fighting me and not wanting to take the treatments, but she quickly got back to doing good. Tomorrow she goes back to the pulmonologist. I will update on that as soon as we get home.

This weekend was beautiful. It was in the upper 80's here and the kids were loving it. They even went in the pool on saturday. They are crazy I think. The water was still too cold for me. But they loved it. They mostly just stayed right by the stairs and played in the water. I have a few pictures I will try to post. We pretty much stayed home all weekend. We hung out outside and played and enjoyed the weather. Before long it is going to be really hot and we are all going to be complaining. LOL!

Ok here are a couple pictures that I took with my phone.


Getting ready to swim.


In the pool.

Monday Daddy went to the doctor. I don't want to give to many details on that, but he has been having lots of pain in his feet. Please pray that they can get to the bottom of what is going on and that he will do whatever is needed.

Today I took the kids for their physical exam so they can go to the spring retreat camp with the American Cancer Society. Little Charlie is doing great. He is healthy and growing just the way he should be. Emily on the other hand is a bit of a different story. First of all if I have to hear one more diagnosis for my little girl I am going to scream. No matter how big or small it is. Enough is enough already!!! The doctor says she has scoliosis. Right now she is measuring a 7-8 degree curvature to her spine. Another thing they believe is due to chemo and radiation. So on March 27th we will be going to see an orthopedic surgeon. They will do xrays to accurately get a measurement. I've already had many people tel me "Scoliosis is no big deal. Don't worry about it." All I have to say about that is, Its not that I am worried about it. Its that i am tired of adding doctors to the list. I am tired of hearing something else is wrong with Emily. I am tired of Emily never catching a break. Emily is tired and just wants to be normal. I remember being told, like many other wilms parents, "This is the good cancer. She will go through chemo and live a normal happy life." This is not normal. She has been through so much already. Give her a break already. Its not that this is a big deal. Its that all the little things combined makes it all a big deal. Stomach pain, headaches, difficulty breathing, alopecia, growth delay, and now scoliosis. Thank you for letting me vent. It feels good to get that frustration out.

Thursday Emily goes to the pulmonologist again. Hopefully it will not be another 3 1/2 hour visit and hopefully she will not have to do the shakey vest. I will update after that appointment. Spring break is coming up for the kids also. That will be March 14-22. Daddy and Little Charlie are going to go camping sometime in there. I am sure emily and I will find something to do. Little Charlie's 11th birthday is coming up soon also. (March 29th) He is getting so excited. Not sure what we are going to do, but our house is definately big enough for a party this year. Other then that we don't have much for plans. I will keep you updated on how the doctors visits go.

Prayer requests: Please keep praying Emily's breathing gets better. Also pray for some peace for me. I tend to overthink things sometimes and it really gets me down. I am usually a very positive person, but Ihaven't been feeling much like myself lately. Please pray for Daddy's health issues as well.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, February 23, 2009 10:00 PM CST

UPDATE COMING WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON! (March 4th). Both Kids have a doctors appointment wednesday morning. Just a yearly check and to get some forms filled out so they can go to camp April 3rd-5th. I will update after I get home. Hope your having a great week so far.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was fabulous!!! But before I tell you about it I will tell you how Emily is doing. First I will say I am very proud of her for how well she is doing with taking her treatments and her inhaler everyday. The first day she complained alot about the breathing treatments. She has to do those 3 times a day and hates them. But after the first day or so she stopped complaining and has taken them with no problem since. The inhaler she does 2 times a day and she has been remembering all on her own. I don't see a change in her breathing, but it has only been 4 days. Maybe it will take a little longer to see a change. She goes back to the pulmonologist on March 5th at 2pm. Other then that she is feeling pretty good. Some complaints about her tummy over the weekend, but it didn't seem to be real bad.

So friday night we had a huge breakthrough with Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki. Emily has been determined to get daddy and Uncle Tom talking again. She has tried every trick she could think of, but when nothing was working she still never gave up. Well friday night we were planning to go out to eat dinner so I sent them a text message asking if they would like to come with us. I expected the same answer we have been getting. (NO) Tom shocked me when he asked what time and then said they would meet us there. Emily and Charlie were so excited and Daddy was got very nervous. Its been almost 2yrs since he's talked to or seen Tom. They got to the restaraunt before us and when we walked in, Tom stood up, shook Daddy's hand and said, "Whats up man?" Then they started talking like not a day has gone by. What a wonderful site it was. Emily was in heaven. She couldn't believe this was really happening. This is what she has been hoping for, for so long and it had finally come true. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and then we invited them to come back to our house and hang out. They hadn't ever seen our house and the kids were excited to take them on the tour. LOL! They agreed and came and hung out for a couple hours. The excitement didn't end there.

Saturday they called first thing in the morning and asked if we wanted to go to a rummage sale and the swap meet with them. We were gone most of the day "junking" as the boys call it. It was a great day. Then Sunday Tom and Daddy took Tyler and Little Charlie to the drag races. Emily and I went shopping with Aunt Nicki and then back to our house. Tom and Nicki stayed for dinner just like old times. Emily describes this weekend as the best weekend she has had in a VERY long time.

It is amazing how so many horrible things can be said and so many bad things can happen and so much time can pass, but when you get back together it is like we all just picked up where we left off. Like nothing ever happened. Its great. We are finally getting our whole family back together. No more missing links.

We don't have any plans this week that I know of. No appointments or anything either. I do have some pictures from the drag races to share, but I will post those tomorrow. Nothing else is really going on.

My only prayer request tonight is for Emily's breathing. To me, like I said earlier, the treatments don't seem to be helping. But it is still early and maybe it will start helping her soon.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 11:49 AM CST

**UPDATE THURSDAY NIGHT FEB. 19, 2009**

Emily went to the pulmonologist today. (Dr Stewart) Her appointment was at 2pm and we didn't leave her office until 5:30pm. It was a very long appointment. First she went in and did the function test. At the office that is just where she blows into the machine long and hard for a certain amount of time then inhales. Then we went into a room where a student doctor came in and asked a billion questions about Emily's history. Since this was technically Emily's first appointment as their actual patient. Then Dr Stewart came in. First she took a listen to Emily and examined her. Then she asked her what are her top 10 things that she would like to be able to do without getting short of breath that she can't do now. Emily said, play tetherball, jump on the trampoline, play soccor, keep up with her friends, swimming, run, play with her dog outside, and a couple more I can't remember. Her goal is to make those things happen for Emily. Then she wanted to go over Emily's Ct scan with me, then she wanted Emily to be put in what they call a shakey vest and do a breathng treatment. (I have pictures to share of that) She showed me Emily's scan and explained to me that she doesn't believe all of what we are seeing is scar tissue. The left lung is perfectly healthy and looks great. The right lung however is the problem. ( we knew that) There is noticeable scar tissue, but then she showed me an area that she believes is not scar tissue. She said it looks like it is damage to the walls of her lungs that have formed puss pockets. Probably due to her being intubated and extabated so much when she relasped. Then there is also a nodule that they are not sure what it is. She said it does not look like scar tissue, but she is unsure at this point what it is. I am not sure how I feel about the info I recieved today. Kinda confused, upset, hopeful, and probably a billion other emotions. Dr Stewart said we will most likely need to do a scope procedure to get a closer look. After taking in that info we headed to the shakey vest. Emily wasn't very excited about this. When we were there the last time she saw someone doing this and she was happy not to have to do it. She sat down and put the vest on, the doctor hooked her up, gave her the breathing treatment and turned on the machine for the vest. Each turn on the vest is 30 minutes. Emily ended up having to do it twice. The vest fills up with air and then shakes you or vibrates you to break up any junk that is in your lungs. here are a couple pictures.


When she first started.


Almost in tears the second time. It was hurting her tummy and she was getting tired of shaking.

After the shakey vest she repeated her function test. Unfortunately her lung function tests are still coming back the same. They are not good. So for the next 2 weeks the plan is this. She has a steroid inhaler that she will take twice a day. Then I will also be giving her breathng treatments 3 times a day. Then in 2 weeks we will go back to the pulmonologist to see if those meds are helping. Where we go from there, who knows. For now we are just taking it one day at a time and not thinking past the next 2 weeks.

My prayer requests for you today is this. Please pray the meds help. Please pray that the nodule found is nothing serious.

Thank you for checking in. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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**EDITED WEDNESDAY FEB. 18, 2009**

FINALLY WE HAVE AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE PULMONOLGIST!!!! I called her oncologist again today and told him that we still did not hear from the lung doctor. He was upset once again cause he did call them last week. About an hour after talking to him I got a phone call from the pulmonary office. Emily goes in at 2pm on Thursday. I will update with the news as soon as we get home. I am just so happy that we finally got an appointment. Please pray for answers and a plan on what to do to help Emily and her breathing.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was wonderful. We had lots of fun and we stayed home all weekend. Emily is doing ok. Her breathing is still the same. We have not heard from the lung specialist yet. I am getting pretty frustrated. I did call them and had to leave a message. Hopefully we will hear from them soon. I would really like to know what their plan is for helping Emily to breath easier. I hate the waiting. Emily has complained a little about her belly hurting over the weekend also. Nothing major and nothing that held her back from having fun. Please pray that we hear something from the pulmonologist soon and they get some kind of treatment started.

Friday Emily went on a field trip with her class to the Arizona Science Center. She had so much fun and loved it. Then both kids had their valentines parties at school friday afternoon. Saturday we hung out at home all day. We did yard work and cleaned house in the morning. Then the rest of the day was spent playing outside with the kids. We played basketball, football, frisbee, and the kids jumped on the trampoline. It was a beautiful day out and we took full avantage of it. Saturday night we sat and ate dinner and then watched a movie together.

Sunday was another beautiful day. So we went outside once again and planted a lemon tree and two rose bushes. I still have some other flowers to plant and we are planting strawberries and tomatoes. Now I just hope I can manage to keep them all alive. LOL! Then it was time to watch Nascar. Everyone was a bit upset that it was delayed. They were getting ansy. Then the race started and the battle began. Emily rooting for Tony Stewart and Daddy and Little Charlie rooting for Jeff Gordon. I always enjoy listening to them while they watch the race. We are looking forward the rest of the nascar season.

Monday we just hung out at home. The kids played outside with their friends. I got some good pictures of the kids. Not to much else is going on. We had a great weekend and hope for a great week. I will keep you posted as I get any info. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Thursday, February 5, 2009 5:51 PM CST

UPDATE AND NEW PICTURES COMING TUESDAY AFTERNOON!! (FEB. 17TH) PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK BACK.

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**UPDATE THURSDAY FEBRUARY 12,2009**

We still haven't heard from the pulmonologist office about an appointment for Emily. I did call and talk to her oncologist today and he said he would call them. Hopefully we will hear from them soon. I will keep you posted. Hope you have a great weekend and a Happy Valentines Day!

Love and Hugs,
Angela




*^*^*EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON FEBRUARY 10, 2009*^*^*

Ct results are in. They showed the whole upper part of Emily's right lung is scar tissue. Her oncologist believes this is what is causing all her breathing problems. Now we just wait to hear back from the pulmonologist. Her oncologist wants us to start seeing the pulmonary doctor in hopes that she will be able to help. That is all the info I have right now. Even though it is not much info at least we can all breath a little easier now that we have some answers. Also that the answers did not involve the words, cancer, tumor or mass. Still showing no evidence of disease. I will keep you posted as I get more info. Please just keep praying for her breathing to not get worse. Also that the pulmonologist calls soon and has a plan on what to do to help Emily breath easier. Thank you for checking in and for your prayers.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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***MONDAY UPDATE FEBRUARY 9, 2009***

NO NEWS YET! I called the doctors office today for the results of the scan that was done on friday. I had to leave a message for the doctor and did not recieve a call back from him. I will try again tomorrow. Please keep praying for answers. Emily's breathing is not getting any better. Today it is noisier and she is coughing more. Also I didn't hear from the pulmonologist for an appointment. If I don't hear from them by the end of the week I am suppose to call her oncologist so he can call them. Round and round we go and then wait. I hope we will have answers soon.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


**EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2009***

Not much to report right now. Emily's Cat Scan went well on friday. She did great and the tech was very funny. That made things much easier for her to relax. Then we went to Dr Cohen's office. He listened to her and said there really has been no change in her breathing since the last time. No results from the ct scan yet. Should have those Monday afternoon sometime. His best guess right now is that the scar tissue is pretty much taking over and not allowing her lungs to expand the way they should. She will be going back to see the pulmonologist also. I don't have an appointment yet though. I will keep you posted as I get more information.

Our weekend was good. We really didn't do anything exciting, but it was a good weekend. Nascar is coming back next weekend and everyone here is very excited about that. The battle between Tony Stewart (Emily's favorite driver) and Jeff Gordon (Daddy and Charlie's favorite driver) rages on in our house. As for me, I just love to sit back and listen to them all. Emily is begging for new Tony Stewart stuff. He is no longer the number 20 and that is what all her stuff says. LOL! So I am on the hunt for a #14 Tony Stewart shirt for her.

Thats about all for now. I will update with the results from the ct as soon as I get them. Thank you all for checking in and sending your thoughts and prayers.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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Hi Everyone! So I know you have been waiting for an update on what the heck is going on with Emily. So here it is. I hope I don't forget something. It has been a stressful last couple days. Just alot running through my head. So let me start by telling you that her breathing is not getting any better. She went for her lung function test last week and we were told to wait a week and call for results. Well yestarday (wednesday) the doctors office called me and told me that her results were not any better. In fact they were even worse then the last ones. Not considerably worse, but worse nonetheless. So then I recieved a second phone call from a pulmonologists office. They told me that her oncologist had referred her there and that they needed to see her that day. So i took her into their office yestarday. They did another lung function test. Thankfully theirs was just 1 test instead of 4. It was basically take a deep breathe, blow out LONG and HARD and then inhale again. She repeated the test many times and they were very patient with Emily. It was agreat experience and Emily did great. Then they gave her a breathing treatment and made her wait 20 minutes and then repeated the test. After that we were told that someone would call us in the next couple days. So we went home. All in all a good experience.

This morning I got a phone call from her oncologist. He said he wanted to see her in his office tomorrow. (friday) Then about an hour later I recieved a second phone call from her doctor. he said that he wants a Cat Scan done first thing in the morning and then wants us in his office so he can talk to me in person. Usually that means nothing good is about to be heard. I instantly got a horrible feeling and started to worry. Both doctors are very worried about her breathing. Both doctors have told me how horrible she sounds and that her lungs are just not working good enough. I hope I get answers tomorrow. i hope that they have a plan set in place and we can start helping Emily to breathe a little easier.

So Emily and I have to be at the hospital to register at 7:30am and her CT Scan is scheduled for 8am. Then her doctors appointment is for 10am. Please pray that things go smooth. That they get some answers. That they will be able to help her. I will update about how everything went as soon as I get home. So be sure to check back in friday afternoon.

On a happier note, last week Emily celebrated with her class 4yrs off treatment and cancer free. She went arond the whole school and told everyone she could. She was so excited to have hit this 4yr mark. She brought cookies and told the class her story again. She told them she just has one more year before the doctors consider her cured. She can't wait until that day. She has come so far and even though she is struggling with these breathing issues and still tummy issues somedays, she is happy to be where she is today. I am so proud of how strong and brave she is and has been through all of this. Through this journey she has taught me so much and I thought I was suppose to be the one teaching her.

Everything else is going well. Little Charlie went paintballing with one of his friends on saturday. It was his first time going and he had so much fun. Came home all covered in red paintballs. LOL! They both continue to do great in school also. Not much else to report.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 10:15 AM CST

***EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY FEB. 4TH 2009***

NO GOOD NEWS TO REPORT! Test results are in and are worse then the last ones. Today she will be going to a pediatric pulmonologist to repeat the test for the 3rd time. I am a sea of emotion and will update about it all later. Right now I have to get ready to go and pick her up from school and take her for this test. She is going to be MAD! Please pray that she will do just as good this week as she did last week. I will update on the whole situation later this evening.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



***LUNG FUNCTION TEST UPDATE!! Jan. 28, 2009***

I am so proud of Emily. She did so good today. She was NOT at all happy about having to do this test again, but she did great. She jumped up there and gave it her all. She completed tests 1-3 with No tears and no fight at all. She did each test 4 times each. When it came to the last test she was determined she was going to get this one done. (this is the one that really had her feeling like she was suffocating the last time.) She tried so hard to do this test, but just couldn't. She started to cry and get upset. So they decided to do the test differently. The older version of the test. I believe they called it the nitrus flush? Unfortunately its not as accurate, but it was much easier on her and she completed it the first time with no problems. We registered at the hospital at 7:45am and we were headed out of there by 9:15am. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for today. Here are a couple pictures I took of her today while there.


Emily in the lung function chamber. (Body Box is what they really call it.)


Trying to force a smile and look like she was having fun. LOL!


FINALLY ALL DONE!! Now thats a real smile.

I know how hard this test is for her to do and she handled it like a champ. I hoped that she would not get to upset and that she would just go in there and do her best. That is just what she did and I think she even surprised herself.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was good. I don't have any new news to report on Emily. She is doing about the same. She took her last prednisone on sunday. She was happy to be done with those. (they leave such a horrible taste in your mouth) Tomorrow (wednesday) she goes for her second lung function test. She is not happy about going. She just does not want to do it. Please pray that she does not put up a fight and that she just tries her best. Her appointment is at 8:30am. We have to be at the hospital at 7:30. I will update on how it went when we get home. We should have the results in about a week. I will post those as soon as I know them.

Saturday we did all our running around and shopping. Then came home and my niece Kylie came over to spend the night. We had a fun night playing games and hanging out. Sunday we went ice skating with HopeKids. The kids have been so excited about going. They were really happy when they saw this event back on the calendar. We invited Aunt kelly, Uncle Garett, Katelynn and Tyler to go with us. Katelynn and Tyler have never been ice skating before but they were excited to go. All the kids had so much fun. They each had their fair share of falling, but they got right back up and tried again. Emily and Charlie are SO good on their skates. They just fly right on by me so fast I was having trouble getting pictures. By the time the camera took the picture they were already gone. LOL! I got some good ones though.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 11:32 PM CST

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack in updates. Many things on my mind lately. Anyways here is the latest on Emily. Emily has not been improving at all with her breathing. Some days it sounds way worse. I took her back to the doctors on Tuesday. He agrees, the prednisone is doing nothing for her except making her eat everything in sight. LOL! So we have a schedule that will have her off the prednisone by monday. Then Wednesday she will be going for another lung function test. She is not happy about this. The first one was so hard for her to do. She was doing her best and the tech kept making her do it over and over again. I feel so bad for her that she has to do this test again. But they want to make sure that the prednisone really didn't make anything better or if she has gotten any worse. It is important. Please pray that she will get through this test easier then the last time. Please pray that her breathing gets better. I don't know how, but I am so worried about her. Sometimes she will be sitting on the couch watching tv and she sounds as if she is struggling to breathe. It really is scarey.

We really didn't do to much this past weekend. Friday night Emily and Charlie spent the night with their Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki. They were so excited about that. Saturday they went to the zoo with them and their cousins. The picture above was taken at the zoo. They really didn't want to come home. They had so much fun and spent some much needed time with their Aunt and Uncle. They came home on Saturday evening. We made dinner and then just hung out together. Sunday we spent at home. Playing outside, playing games, watching football and then bbqued. Monday the kids were out of school. They pretty much spent most of the day playing outside with their friends or playing video games with Daddy.

This coming weekend we are taking the kids ice skating with HopeKids. This is always one of the kids favorite things to do. They are taking their cousins this time also. This sold be lots of fun. I will take pictures and share them next week.

Please keep praying for Emily and her breathing issues. Also keep her her in your thought on wednesday morning when she is doing the lung function test.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:39 PM CST

** REPORT CARD UPDATE!!**

Emily's teacher says Emily is doing much better about staying on task and not speaking out in class. She is following directions and and doing just what she is suppose to do. She has been more tired at school and has complained of not really feeling well, but in true Emily fashion she pushes on through. I was so happy to hear that she is finally doing better in school with her following directions and acting good. Here are her grades:

Language~ C
Spelling ~ C
Reading~ C
Social Studies~ C
Science~ B
Math~ C
Art~ A
Music~ A
P.E.~ A

Her grades have slipped a little, but now that we have her on track and focusing on school, we are hoping that her grades will come up next quarter.

Charlie's teacher said that he is a pleasure to have in class. He said that Charlie has been talking a little to much in class, but nothing disruptive. He is working hard at in school. Here are his grades:

Science~ A
Language~ C
Reading~ B
Math~ A
Social Studies~ A
Spelling~ C
Art~ B
Music~ A
P.E.~ A

Language he is still having trouble with his writing assignments. The teacher said he is not editing his papers good enough and needs to improve on his spelling. He is going to work harder and hopes to have his grade up next quarter.

I am proud of both the kids for their grades. Both conferences went great.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY JAN. 14, 2009**

NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!

Just a quick note tonight. The picture above was taken tonight of Emily. Her face is really puffy from the prednisone. She went to the nurse today and even the nurse noticed. Emily really hadn't paid any attention to it until the nurse pointed it out today. She is finding humor in her weight gain right now, but has showed some concern about getting fat. I told her not to worry about it. She's just to darn young to be worrying about her weight. LOL! Everythng else is just the same. No tummy issues today though! Just the horrible breathing. Thank you for checking in. Parent teacher conferences thursday afternoon. I will update with grades as soon as I get them.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Hope your having a good week. Ours is going ok. Emily had her doctors appointment today. Sadly we did not get good news, but I am really not surprised. The prednisone has done absolutely nothig for her breathing. She is not any better and somedays she is worse. Her breathing has gotten louder. The only things the prednisone has done is help her to gain a few pounds and make her cheeks puffy and rosey red. So the doctor lowered her dose of prednisone and wants to see her back in a week. We knew when we started the meds that it was not a guarentee on it working. But I had hoped that it would. So the plan is to have her off the meds in 2 weeks and then go from there. Where exactly we are going from there, I don't know. The doctor is talking to 2 really good pulmonologists to see what we should do next. Hopefully I will have more answers next week on that. Please pray that Emily's breathing doesn't get any worse. We are also still having some tummy issues. Please pray those get better as well.

Saturday we hung out at home all day. Saturday evening Aunt Jodi, Uncle Eddie and cousins Kylie and Dylan came over. We had dinner, hung out and the guys watched the Cardinals football games. It was nice to just hangout with them. Sunday we went to the Harlem Globetrotters game. We had SO much fun there. We love this show. They are so funny and entertaining.

Monday the kids and I went to see Bedtime Stories. We love Adam Sandler and was so excited about seeing this movie. It was a good movie and very funny. After the movie I had a surprise for the kids. We were close to their Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki's house. It has been 8 months since they've talked to them and even longer since they've seen them. So I asked Nicki if it would be okay if we came by. Of course she said yes. I couldn't wait any longer for Tom to contact Emily. It was time for us to make the first step. As soon as I pulled into their driveway Emily started to cry. She jumped out of the van and knocked on the door. Aunt Nicki opened the door and both kids ran in and gave her a hug. Then it was Uncle Tom's turn. Emily and Charlie were so happy to see him. Emily didn't leave his side the whole time we were there. We stayed about an hour and a half talking. Little Charlie and Emily told them how much they missed them and how happy they were to see them. When it was time to go Emily got upset. She didn't want to leave. She hopes this is the start of our family coming back together. It would mean se much to her if her Daddy and Uncle Tom could make up and be family again. When we were driving home Emily told me "This is the best day of my life. I just knew I would see my Uncle Tom again." She hasn't stopped smiling since last night. Her teacher asked her today, "Emily you seem so perky and happy today?" Emily told her "that is because I saw my Uncle Tom last night." She didn't get into any trouble at school today and did everything that she was suppose to do. We went a whole day without her and Little Charlie fighting. It was amazing. They both got a glimmer of HOPE back that we just might be a whole family again someday. It is amazing what that one little visit did for them both. I hope it will not be the last. Thank you Tom and Nicki for letting us come by. We've all missed you guys so much.

Thursday I have parent teacher conferences with both kids teachers. I will report on how those go and with grades when I get done there. No other plans for the week or weekend that I know of.

Couple prayer requests. One is for me. Ihave not been feeling very well over the last 5 days or so. I've been very lethargic, light headed, having some chest pain and a very rapid heartbeat even when I am not doing anything active. I am going to try to get into the doctor as soon as I can. Please pray that it is nothng and that it gets better soon. Then of course please continue to pray for Emily's breathing and tummy issues. Somedays she really scares me with how she is breathing.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 10:27 PM CST

Hi Everyone! Sorry about not coming back and updating. I've been fighting a terrible migraine that i think is finally going away. Daddy made it home safe and sound Tuesday night from New Mexico. He went through lots and lots of snow and some thick fog, but finally made it home. Thank you for all your prayers for his safe return. Emily is about the same. Her breathing doesn't sound any better to me, but not any worse either. She is eating a bit more then usual. Which I was told would happen, but she is complaining alot about her belly hurting. She goes back to see the doctor on january 13th and he will decide then if she should continue with the Prednisone or not. Please pray that her belly doesn't get any worse.

The kids went back to school on monday. They were so excited to go back to school until I woke them up early that morning. They were so use to sleeping in the last couple weeks they didn't want to get up. LOL! We are al back in the swing of things now though. Charlie is going on a field trip tomorrow to the Heart Center. They are going to be learning about the heart and the body. He is pretty excited.

We had a good New Years. My sister came over with her husband and kids and played games and hung out. We had alot of fun. Sunday My sister Jodi and I went out to lunch and a movie together. It was so good to sepnd some time with her and get out of the house for a little while. We saw Marley and Me. It was a good movie.

Not to much else has really been happening. I have a few prayer requests though. I ask that you continue your prayers for my kids on the issue with their uncle. (Especially Emily) Some days are better then others. Also a silent prayer request for my sister. I want to respect her privacy, but she could use some good thoughts and prayers. And last please continue to pray for Angel Matthew's Family. They laid their brave son to rest today and definately could use all the prayers they can get. If you get a chance please leave a message in their guestbook.

This weekend we are going to see the Harlem Globetrotters game. We are pretty excited. We went several years ago and we had so much fun. We can't wait to see them again. Monday night we are going to go see Bedtime Stories with HopeKids. The kids can't wait for that. They've been wanting to see that movie ever since they first started to see the previews. Other then that, no other plans.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms warriors and wilms Angels families. They can be found Here.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, December 28, 2008 7:55 PM CST

****EDITED UPDATE JANUARY 5, 2009****

Sorry for the lack of updates. I meant to get on here today and update, but somehow the day got away from me. I will update tomorrow though (tuesday)Emily is doing well. She has been taking the prednisone since last week. Although we have seen no change in her breathing, we have noticed an increase in her appetite. We are not complaining about that, but she is however starting to complain about her stomach hurting. Please pray this does not persist.

A couple other prayer requests tonight. One of our fellow wilms warriors earned his wings on New Years Eve. Matthew fought a very long battle with wilms. His site was one of the first I started to follow when Emily was diagnosed. Matthew was a brave young man and such an inspiration to so many. he also wrote a wonderful book called Hope and the Dragon. Emily is blessed to have a signed copy of the book. Please if you could take a moment and leave a message for his family in his guestbook. Matthew is now flying free. Free of pain and free of cancer. It is those left behind to grieve the loss of this brave young man that need our prayers most.

My next prayer request is for my husband. (Emily and Charlie's Daddy) Is in New Mexico tonight in lots of snow. They closed the freeway just after he made it through this morning. It has since been opened up, but they are expecting alot more snow tonight. Please pray that he will safely be able to make it home tomorrow. Pray that he will not get snowed in.

Thank you all for your prayers. I promise more of an update tomorrow.

Love and hugs,
Angela

********************************************************************


**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY DECEMBER 30, 2008**

Here is an update on how Emily's doctors appointment went. She is not moving nearly enough oxygen through her lungs. They believe this is due to alot of scar tissue and radiation damage. Dr Cohen has been consulting with 2 pulmonologists and they have decided to take a shot and try prednisone. So she has been prescribed a high dose of prednisone to take for the next 2 weeks. He is not sure that this is going to do anything for her, but wants to try it. Then we will go back in 2 weeks and they will schedule another lung function test. Emily is not happy with this. The first one was very hard on her and she doesn't want to do it again. I am hoping that now that she knows what to expect with the test that she will be ok when it comes time to do it again. The other thing is her noisy breathing. He believes this is totally unrelated to the other breathing issues. He is talking about scoping her to get a better look inside. Nothing is set in stone on that yet though. He did listen to her lungs and he said they do not sound any worse, but not any better either. So for now she is to take the prednisone 3 times a day. We go back on January 13th. I will be sure to keep you posted.

We hope you all have a wonderful week and a Very Happy New Year!!

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! It has been a while since I've had the chance to update. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We sure did. So much has been going on and I have lots to share. I also have lots of pictures to share at the end. First let me start off by telling you how Emily is doing. Her breathing is still not good. It is worse somedays and not so bad others. She is still pushing herself to hard and when she does she has a very tough time breathing. She also has a nasty cough. Its not a sick cough like a cold, but rather a cough like when you get really out of breathe. She refuses to slow down and sometimes I really worry about her. She goes back to the doctor on tuesday afternoon. I will keep you all posted on what he says. Little Charlie is doing great and really enjoying his time off school.

We've been pretty busy over the last couple weeks, but we've had lots of fun. The kids made their first gingerbread house this year. that was lots of fun and it came out great. Sunday Dec. 21st my sister and friend came over and we did tons of baking. We baked all different kinds of cookies and bread. My brother in law finished decorating my house for the Christmas Eve party and the kids had a great time playing together. Monday and tuesday we worked hard at getting everything ready for the party. By wednesday I was exhausted but was excited about having everyone over to the new house for our party. We were missing a couple people that couldn't make it but for the most part everyone showed up and we had a great time. The kids opened gifts and then the adults did a chinese gift exchange. We all ate turkey and ham dinner and then roasted marshmellows at the firepit. It was a late night but we had a blast. I was so glad everyone could make it.

Christmas morning the kids came and woke us up. They were so excited. Daddy went downstairs and lit the fireplace and turned on the tree lights. The kids got some stuff that they really wanted this year. Emily got a digital camera, some puzzles, a ripstik, games, some high school musical stuff, some clothes and a new pair of shoes. Charlie got a digital camera, a ripstik, some lego models to build, some other models to build, some clothes and some new shoes. They also got a tetherball to go on their tetherball pole. They had a great Christmas and was happy with everything they got. Then it was time for Emily to give us her gift that she made at school. It is a beautifully made card with a story inside that she wrote all by herself. I would like to share it with you exactly as she has written it.

To: Mommy, Daddy and Charlie. My wonderful family

I am smart, desent and stupendous.
I wonder if the world is a pleasant place.
I hear butterflys wings flapping in the wind.
I want to grow up to be a wonderful teacher like Mrs Blotz.
I am Emily Kornack.
I pretend I am a super hero.
I feel badly cause my student teacher left us.
I touch my lamb everynight.
I worry if my Uncle Tom will ever be in my family again and if my mom and dad will die when they are sleeping.
I am Emily Kornack.
I understand that I am a great kid.
I try to do my best.
I hope I never have cancer again.
I am Emily Kornack.

She brought tears to our eyes with her story. She also made us an ornament for the tree. Later Christmas day Rob and Susan Cottrell came over. The kids took them on the tour of the house. The kids also got them out there to play tetherball in the dark. LOL! They brought me a wonderful gift. I got a sewing machine. I've always wanted ot learn how to make quilts and now I can. I am so excited to get started. Friday was a lazy day for all of us. We pretty much hung out at home and played with the kids. My sister and brother in law came over with my niece and nephew and hung out also.

Saturday we went to Castles and Coasters with HopeKids and spend the day with the Minnesota Golden Gophers Football team. It was so much fun. Each family got their very own football player for the day. We were lucky and ended up with 2. Logan and Ned were awesome guys. Everything the kids wanted to they did. First was the log ride. It was cold out and they got wet, but it was all good cause it was all about the kids. Then they went to the bumper boats. Next was the indy car races. They gave me a bit of a scare on the races though. There was a big crash involving both the cars my kids were in. Emily hit her head pretty hard, but then Logan protected her when the next car hit them so she didn't get hurt anymore. Everyone involved walked away unharmed though. Then they took them to the bumper cars. Emily and Charlie really enjoyed Logan and Ned. They were so much fun. Emily wished they could have stayed longer, but they had to go to practice. So she gave them each one last big hug and watched them board the bus to leave. She hopes to see them again sometime. We wish them all luck at the Insight Bowl on New Years Eve.

Today we have been hanging out at home. Daddy is in Texas for work, so its just me and the kids. I do have a few prayer requests. First I would like to ask for prayers for my sister. I will respect her privacy and not give any details, but please think good thoughts and pray for good news for her. Also I am having tremendous pain in my left hip again. It is right in the joint where I hit it when I fell a couple months ago. I was told by the ER doctor that it is possible for me to have ongoing problems and pain, but that there was really nothing they could do for it. Please pray that this pain will subside soon. Last night it was so bad that I could barely walk. Also pray for Emily's upcoming doctors appointment. Pray for the news to not be horrible and for us to hear at least something positive.

One last thing and I really can't go into alot of detail on this. Emily wrote a letter to her Uncle Tom last sunday and sent it over to him with a shirt that she bought him. She has been totally devastated that he has not called her. She knows he recieved the stuff and she feels like he hates her. Tom did something that would crush Emily if she knew. I am not sure how to handle the situation at this time. I don't want her to hurt anymore then she already is. She loves her Uncle Tom so much and I am so angry that he is causing her so much pain. Please pray that I can figure out how to deal with this situation and that somehow we can make Emily understand it all. That somehow we can help her to be okay even without Tom in her life.

Okay so for now that is all I can think of to write. Although I am sure that is enough. LOL! I have lots of pictures to share in the slideshow below. Hope you enjoy them. They are pictures from the last week. Thank you all for checking in and praying for our family. It means so much to us. I will keep you posted as soon as I know more from Emily's doctor. (((HUGS))) to all!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008 1:38 AM CST

***EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY DEC. 18, 2008***

Today I finally got the phone call I've been waiting for from Emily's doctor. Here is what he had to say about her lung function test. The test showed great abnormalities. He didn't want to go into detail about it over the phone though. He said he is concerned, but not surprised about the results. He wants us to get past Christmas and then go in to see him. I talked to him about her breathing sounding worse and her complaining about chest pain. He said that if it gets worse then for me to either call him or take her to the ER. Please pray that it does not get any worse and that we make it through Christmas without any issues. She goes back to see him on December 30th.

Tonight the kids had their Christmas Chorus show. It was great! The kids did so good. Emily was so excited about her dance parts and was smiling from ear to ear the whole time. My brother in law video taped it for me. I do have one song that I took on my little camera. Not the best, but I wanted to share it. Both Emily and Charlie are in the front row with santa hats on. Emily is on the end with the red and white shirt and Charlie is at the other end wearing a red shirt standing next to the boy in the white shirt. I will post more when I get it.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sunday, December 7, 2008 9:19 PM CST

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a fantastic weekend. Ours was wonderful. Emily is feeling pretty good. She has been without belly pain all weekend. Her breathing is still noisy and yucky sounding, but it hasn't slowed her down this weekend at all. Emily has stayed after school all week last week to complete her math workbook that she didn't do last month. I am happy to report that she is just 2 lessons awway from being done. The teacher said she worked extra hard after school and was completing 3-4 lessons a day. I am very proud of her for working so hard. She has also started her December workbook and is on track with being done with that one on time or maybe even early. She doesn't want to have to stay after school anymore. Little Charlie is doing great also. He has no complaints about school and is doing well.

Friday night was Daddy's company Christmas party. The kids went to spend the night with Aunt Jodi and Uncle Eddie. They were excited to go over and spend the night and play with their cousins. We had a great night out at his Christmas party. We picked the kids up Saturday morning and then came home and decorated the outside of the house. We strung Christmas lights up on the roof and put our reindeer, snowman and spiral tree out on the lawn. We are really getting into the Christams spirit around here. It looks great. We still have lots more decorating to do though. We are planning on having our big family Christmas party at our house this year. I am so excited about that. So there is still lots to do and plan. Then that evening we just hung out and watched some tv together.

Sunday morning we had to get up early to do family pictures with HopeKids. We were so excited about these pictures. We had to drive about 40 minutes to the place where it was being done at, but I think it was well worth the drive. We got a cd with all our pictures on it after we were done. I can't wait to go print them out and put some in frames and hang them on my walls. About 40 pictures were taken, but here are the ones that came out the best.

Friday, November 28, 2008 10:28 AM CST

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3, 2008**

Hi Everyone! Things have been very busy around here. It seems like I hardly ever get a chance to sit down and relax. 'Tis the season right? Things here are going okay. Emily has gotten herself into a bit of trouble this week at school and has spent everyday after school with her teacher until 4:30pm. UGH! I don't know what I am going to do with her. Emily has a SMAC book to do every month. A SMAC book is a math achievement workbook with about 15-20 pages. Well she gets this book on the first of every month and it is to be completed by the last day of the month. Well she told me that she was doing it in school. The teacher called me on Monday and informed me that Emily had done nothing in the book except write her name. When asked why she simply said "I didn't want to." So she will be staying after school 1 hour everyday until she completes it and she has her December one to start on now to. I am not sure what is going on with her, but I hope that we can get a handle on it before it gets any worse. At home she is doing better though. Please pray that she gets back on track with school.

Friday Emily and Charlie are going to spend the night with Aunt Jodi. Daddy's Christmas party is friday night. Saturday we are going to hang lights on our house and put out our decorations. I am super excited about that and so are the kids. Sunday we are going to get family pictures done with HopeKids. This year they are going to be taken outside. I will post them as soon as I get them. Then Sunday evening is the HopeKids christmas party. I am sure I will have pictures to share after this weekend.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and praying. I still have not heard anything about Emily's Pulmonary lung function test. I am going to call her doctor tomorrow and see if he has the results. I will post them as soon as I know.

Love and Hugs,
Angela






Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was great with a little, ok maybe big, plumbing crisis. All the water going down any drains in the house was coming out the drain pipe downstairs by my washing machine. It was not good and it flooded out my downstairs. Thank goodness it is all tile down there and I don't have much in that room yet. We got it all cleaned up though and now we are just waiting for a plumber. Its been eventful, bu despite the flood we had a great Thanksgiving. Last year we spent thanksgiving away fom Daddy. (some my remember) But this year we were all together and happy. We all pitched in to make dinner and set the table and clean up. We watched the Macy's parade and football also. It was a great day.

Now let me tell you about Emily's appointments. Tuesday she went to the dentist. What was suppose to happen was they were suppose to sedate her, remove her spacer, adjust it and then put it back in. Well they decided that the procedure was simple and that she doesn't need to be sedated. So they took her back and as soon as they started to take the spacer out she started screaming and fighting and refusing to open her mouth. So they wrapped her in the pediawrap. They got the spacer out and found that she had 3 cavities and so they had to fix those. So in the end they had to sedate her anyways to fix the teeth with cavities. 4 hours later left the dentist. She was upset, dizzy, drowsy and sick to her stomach. What an ordeal.

Wednesday I took her to the hospital for her Pulomonary lung function test. She went in there with a great attitude and was all ready to get this test done. At first she was doing great. She quickly found that the test was getting very hard for her. They had 4 tests that they do, but they did each test 7 times. She got into fits of coughing and then crying. She was really good though. Everytime she gave it her best effort and listened to the tech really well. The last test was the hardest for her to do. She said that it felt like she was suffocating and it scared her so she kept taking her mouth off the mouthpiece. Once she did that, they had to start all over again. We were there about 2 hours and by the time we left there her breathing sounded horrible, her chest hurt, and she had a huge headache. She just wanted to go home and lay down. I do not have any results yet. I am going to try to call the doctors office on Monday and see if they have answers for me. Usually we are fighting with her cause she doesn't want to do the tests. This time it broke my heart because she was struggle to do the test and she was doing the best she could do. I guess we have gotten so use to hearing her breathing sound horrible and it not slowing her down that I never really realized how much it really is effecting her. I will keep you posted on the results when I know more.

We don't have much going on this weekend. My niece Kylie just tuned 5yrs old on Nov 26th so we will be going to her birthday party on Saturday afternoon. Other then that I don't think we have anything else going on. Just hanging out spending some time together. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. It means alot to us. I will keep you posted on results from her test and hopefully I will have some new pictures to post. Have a wonderful weekend. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Sunday, November 23, 2008 11:57 PM CST

*NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM*

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. Ours was very busy, but lots of fun. Before I tell you about our weekend, I want to tell you about Emily's upcoming week. Emily will only be able to go to school 1 day this week. Monday she will be in school. Tuesday she has a dentist appointment at 7:30am to have her existing spacer readjusted and a new spacer put on the top. Please pray she will be good for this. She is always fighting the dentist. She really needs this done though so her tooth can finish growing in. Wednesday is her lung function test. We have to be at the hospital at 8:15 to check in. She is really nervous about this test cause she doesn't know what they are going to do. She knows how important this test is though and that she has to be good and cooperate. Please pray that this test will go smoothly and we will get some answers. Then of course both kids are out of school thursday and friday for Thanksgiving. So another very busy week. I will keep you all updated as I get information and results or the tests.

Ok so our weekend went something like this. Friday evening Emily and Charlie's cousins, Kylie and Dylan spent the night. The kids had a blast together. Daddy was sick and so we let him get some rest and I took the kids out to get some dinner. That was interesting. LOL! I was slightly outnumbered. The kids were really good for me though. Saturday morning we took the kids to see Madagascar 2 with HopeKids. They all loved the movie. If you liked the first one you will like the second one. It was very funny. After we got home from the movie the kids played outside almost all day. Then one of Emily's friends and one of Charlie's friends came over to go to Talmachoff Farms with us and spend the night. We got to the farm, ate pizza, saw animals, and braved the corn maze. The kids also tried to climb a rope and ring the cowbell at the top. We went into the corn maze about 6:20pm or so and didn't make it out until almost 8pm. We kept walking around in circles. Somehow we kept ending up right back in the same spot. We finally made our way out, but somehow we ended up coming out the entrance instead of the exit. LOL! We were just happy that we made it out of there. The kids then roasted marshmellows and played for a while. I figured after all of that the kids would be tired when we got home, but they weren't. They stayed up watchng movies until 11pm. I think I was falling asleep before they were.

Sunday the kids played with their friends whie I cleaned house. We really didn't go anywhere all day. We just tried to get things done around here. I have to work Monday while the kids are in school and then the rest of the week will be keeping me quite busy. Not much else going on.

The kids are getting so excited about Christmas coming. They already wrote out their Christmas lists. I was reading through their lists the other night and #10 on Emily's list brought me to tears. It said "I want my Daddy and Uncle Tom to like each other again and for our family to be together again. And I would like a card from my Uncle Tom." I asked her why she asked Santa for that and she said, "Cause Santa can make Miracles happen." We just left it at that. I will just keep hoping and praying for that miracle to happen for her. It sure would mean the world to her.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. I will keep you posted as I get news on Emily's tests and I will update after her appointments and let you know how they went. I hope you have a great week. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, November 17, 2008 10:33 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2008**

Hope you've had a great week. Mine is definately getting better. I am finally starting to fee better. The great news is the kids didn't end up getting sick but the bad news is Daddy did. Please pray that he feels better in a hurry and won't be sick for Thanksgiving and also that the kids don't get it from him.

I still have not heard from the hospital to schedule Emily's lung function test. Not sure what is taking them so long, but hopefully I will hear something soon. Tuesday Emily goes back to the dentist. She is not happy about going, but she really needs to. She has a tooth that is growing in, but is being stopped by her space maintainer. They need to adjust it so that tooth can grow in. They also need to put a spacer on the top where they pulled a couple teeth the last time she was in there. Please pray this will go smoothly.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hello Everyone! Hope your all having a great week so far. I have been sick, but luckily the kids have not gotten it. They are doing good. There's not really much to report. This past weekend Emily and Charlie's cousins Tyler and Kylie spent the night saturday night. They had so much fun together. The picture above is of them playing in the backyard. I think they were trying to be gangsters. LOL! It was too funny. We pretty much stayed home all weekend. It was a good weekend though.

Today I took Emily to the doctor. (oncology checkup) She has not seen her oncologist since March. Her blood counts all look great. She grew an inch and a half since March and has gained 2 pounds. He was happy to see her growing. Then he listened to her lungs. I could tell by the way he looked at me that there was something he was not liking. Well he told me her left lung sounds great, but the right lung (thats the one she relapsed to) sounds considerably worse then it had sounded in March. Her right lung has always sounded worse then the left one, but it had not ever gotten any worse so we never worried about it. I've gotten so use to hearing Emily breathe so loudly. I was sad to hear this news. He does NOT think it is cancer causing this. He does however believe she is losing more function in her lung. There is a lot of scar tissue from radiation in her right lung. We are waiting to be scheduled for a lung funtion test at the hospital. He said this will tell us how much air her right lung is moving in and out and ho much function she really has of that lung. For this test she is gong to have to be really good and listen and cooperate. I know he hates having to do these things, but I tried to explain that this is something that we really need to have done at this point. Please pray that she is goo and cooperates. If she fights at all they will not be able to do that test. I will keep you posted on when the test is scheduled for and what it reveals.

Not to much else is going on. I am trying to rest and get better and also still trying to get stuff in order here at he house. We are pretty much done with the inside of the house. Now we just need to straighten out the garage and the shed and work on the yard a bit. This weekend we are going to watch Madagascar 2 with HopeKids. The kids are really excited about that. Then saturday night we are going to another exciting event with HopeKids. Can't remember the name of the place, but there will be a corn maze, pumpkin patch and much more. The kids are really excited about that to. I hope to have some pictures to. My computer is still down and that laptop doesn't have my picture program on it, so its difficult to post many pictures. But I will get some more new ones up soon. (Hopefully)

Thank you all for checking in and praying for our family. Hope you have a great week. (((HUGS))) to all!!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, November 3, 2008 7:14 AM CST

****EDITED UPDATE NOVEMBER 12, 2008****

I want to start by saying Happy Birthday to my sister Jodi. (November 13th) and Happy Birthday to my nephew Tyler (November 14th)

Things here are going well. This past weekend Little Charlie stayed over at a friends house, I had a Mom's weekend away with some other HopeKids Mom's and Daddy took Emily to see High School Musical 3. She LOVED it!! Daddy? Not so much! LOL!

We are still trying to get everything in its place here at the new house. It is coming together nicely though. I got Emily's room almost completely done and all in High School Musical stuff. Charlie's room also is almost done and he wants it to be all done up in Tony Hawk stuff. Things are going great!

Right now my computer is still not working and the laptop is just a pain in the butt. LOL! I am trying to get on and keep updated, but it only lets me on when it wants to. UGH! Hopefully we will get this problems solved soon so I can check in on all our friends. Until then, please know that you are all in our daily thoughts and prayers. (((HUGS))) to all of you!!!

Thank you for checking in on our family. I hope to have some new pictures for you all after this weekend. Have a great weekend!

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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**EDITED UPDATE NOVEMBER 4, 2008**

NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!!!!

I finally found a place to resize my pictures!! I have more to share, but for now here are some from halloween and 1 of the kids in their tree house that they love so much. Enjoy and I will try to get the more posted either later today or tomorrow.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes!!

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Good Morning Everyone! Finally I am here with an update. It has been a long couple weeks, but we are so happy to be in our new house finally. Emily and Charlie love the new house. They've already been swimming to. Can you believe it? They were really excited about the pool and really didn't want to wait until next summer and since it has still been in the 90's some days, they decided to jump in. They are also playing basketball and in their treehouse alot to. Emily has been feeling great. No complaints of belly pain in over a week. Little Charlie is doing wonderful also. Here is what has been going on.

On Oct. 17th we went to the state fair with HopeKids and brought our whole family. We had alot of fun. The kids got to ride rides and eat fair food and snow cones. On Oct 20th we started moving. Our official move in date was not set until the 25th, but the owners were nice and let us start moving boxes and stuff in starting the 20th. I worked all week moving boxes, toys, small furniture, clothes and anything else I could move in my van. I would start after I dropped the kids off a school and would stop around dinner time. That is when I realized how much stuff we really have. I went through clothes and toys and got rid of a bunch of stuff also. Then on Saturday Oct 25th my sisters and brother in laws came over and we loaded up all the furniture and misc things that were left. It took us longer then we had thought, but we got it all moved over to the new house that day. Some things were a challenge. The new house is tri-level. So when you walk in the front door is one floor. Then there is a set of stairs to go up and one set of stairs that goes down (underground). So it was quite tiring moving everything in.

After getting everything moved in, my sister and I went to Walmart to pick up some food to put on the grill. Just after walking into Walmart I slipped in something on the floor and hit the floor pretty hard. I was on the floor before I even knew I was fallng. It was really embarrassing. My sister helped me up, but I was in alot of pain. I twisted my left leg and hit my ankle, knee, and hip on the floor. My hip is what is hurting me the most. I did go get it checked and there is no break or fracture. Thank Goodness! We got our food and went home.

Oh on Oct 24th I had both kids parent teacher conferences. First Charie's. His teacher said he is a great kid and a pleasure to have in class. He has some difficulty staying on task though. Charlie gets side tracked really easy. He's been working on that and seems to be getting better. Here are his grades.

Science ~ A
Language ~ D
Reading ~ B
Math ~ A
Social Studies ~ A
Spelling ~ C
Art ~ B
Music ~ A
PE ~ A

His grade in Language is based on writing assignments that he had to do. The teacher said that his grade is low only because he didn't catch his own spelling mistakes. I had a little issue with that cause if you don't know how to spell the word then how are you suppose to catch your mistakes. But we are encouraging him to use a dictionary if he is unsure of a word. He is also working harder on his spelling. Their spelling list is 35 words long and Charlie is having a tough time with that many words. The teacher says that he is doing wonderful in math. Charlie has always liked math.

Emily's is doing better in class. She is still challenging the teacher alot, but not argueing with he as much. The teacher is happy with her progress in that area. Emily got an after school detention 2 weeks ago and really didn't like it. So she is trying to make sure she never has to go back there again. Here are Emily's grades.

Language ~ C
Spelling ~ C
Reading ~ B
Social Studies ~ B
Science ~ B
Math ~ B
Art ~ A
Music ~ A
PE ~ A

I am so proud of how Emily brought her grades up. At progress report time she had 3 D's. Now look, she has all A's, B's and C's. Now that things are settling down here now, I am going to start working with them more on their spelling and reading. Those seem to be the 2 areas that they are having difficulty in.

Last week was a very busy week for us. Daddy was on vacation all week so he could help us get the house all put together. I worked on monday and thursday. Wednesday night we went to the annual event at Tom Lehman's house. The kids love going there. Tom and his wife Melissa are just wonderful people and Emily just loves them. They had fruit and cake, a silent auction and many people showed up for the event. Little Charlie got to play Nintendo WII with Tom's kids. He thought that was so much fun. Now he wants me to buy him one. A little to much for me. Anyways that night was alot of fun. We were sent home that night with a big sheet cake that was so good. A bag full of fruit and some nuts to. The kids were loving it.

Halloween Daddy took the kids out trick or treating cause my hip was still bothering me. I stayed home and handed ot candy for the first time. The kids had so much fun. Emily was Batgirl. She wanted to wear her same costume that she had from camp. Charlie was an evil joker. I have pictures and as soon as I can figure out how to make them smaller on this darn laptop then I will post them. They walked about 3 blocks or so and then came home and helped hand out candy. They had fun.

Saturday Nov. 1st my sisters came over and took me out to lunch for my birthday. It was so nice to hang out with them, no husbands and no kids. We had fun and laughed alot. Just what we needed. Then they took me home where my husband had put together a surprise birthday party. It was great! My husband and brother in laws had decorated the house and cooked some food. We had a great evening with everyone. Thank you everyone! This is the first birthday party I've had in a long time. I couldn't believe my husband did this for me. Nov 4th is actually my birthday and I am turning 30yrs old so he wanted to make it special.

So that is about what has been going on the last couple weeks. I am sure that I left something out, but for now that is what I have for you. I know that everyone has been waiting for this update. =)

Thank you all for checking in and leaving messages. I hope I get my computer fixed soon. It is so hard to update on this laptop. To all of our caringbridge friends I am sorry that I have not been by and left messages. Many of the sites are saved on my computer and I am lost without them. Just know that you are all in my daily thoughts and prayers.

I hope to have pictures up soon. I hope to be better at updating also. Love and Hugs to all.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, October 8, 2008 0:50 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY OCTOBER 28, 2008**

Sorry it has been so long since I've updated. Its been super busy and my computer is currently not working. We are all moved!!! We are so excited about the new house. I still have lots to do to get it all put together, but we are just so happy to be here. I have lots to tell you about. So I promise to get on here later and do a full upate while I have the laptop up and working. I have report cards to share with you also. Thank you for continueing to check in and leave us messages. I will be back later. (((HUGS)))

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**EDITED FRIDAY OCTOBER 17, 2008**

Just a quick update on what has been going on here. We have been keeping very busy with packing and preparing to move. It sure is alot of work. I will be happy when we are all moved into our new house.

Today we are going up to Phx Childrens Hospital to meet a friend that is having chemo today and bring her some gifts. She is new to HopeKids and this will be our first time meeting her. Maggie is 2yrs old and has luekemia and could use your prayers. If I get her moms permission I will post her website here later.

Tonight we are going to the state fair. HopeKids gets free admission tickets into the fair each year and so we are bringing our whole family. We are all excited about going. Hopefully I wil have pictures to share after this weekend.

I do want to ask that you continue to pray for Emily and her emotional issues. This situation with her Uncle Tom is not getting better. I've tried to help her feel better about it, but she is just hurting to much and mad also. I also ask that you pray for her Uncle. In this situation we have adults acting like children and the children are suffering. I just wish they realized how much these kids are suffering. Anyways I am not going to get into it anymore then that. Please just pray for peace and understanding.

Emily is also having alot of trouble at school. She is acting out and her grades are not so good. She is a good little girl and she is very smart, but something is making her just not care much anymore. We have been working with the school couselor and we are looking into outside couseling for her to. Hopefully we will get to the bottom of what is going on and we will be able to help her. Thank you for all your prayers for her. Healthwise she is doing great!

Thank you for checking in and I will update more maybe sunday or monday. Depending on how busy my days get with packing and all. Have a great weekend. (((HUGS))) to all.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


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**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! I have been meaning to update, but it has been very busy around here. Emily is doing well. She is still having the belly pain, but doesn't seem to be as often. She is still struggling emotionally though. She has cried alot over the situation with her Uncle Tom. I just don't know what to do about this. I've talked to her and told her that he will come around in his own time and that he does love her. I told her that I am sure he misses her also. She just doesn't believe me and she is very sad. Please continue to pray that somehow this situation is either resolved or she comes to peace with it somehow. Little Charlie is doing great. He is on the volleyball team at school. They only have games at lunch reccess on Tuesday's and Thursday's, but he loves it. Both kids are still doing chorus after school on Wednesday's also. Emily says she is really trying harder in school and with her behavior in class. I haven't gotten a phone call from the teacher so that must be a good thing.

Saturday we went to the annual day of hope at the Railroad Park. This is one of our favorite events each year. The kids had a blast. They ate lots of pizza, snowcones, cotton candy and played until it was time to go. The weather was great. Cloudy skies, but no rain and in the mid to low 80's. It was great. It was by far the best weather we've had for this event. It was so nice to hang out with all of our friends. Here are some pictures that we took.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 0:45 AM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY NIGHT***

Emily's appointment went great. he is really happy with her growth. He said her wrist xray shows that she is still delayed on growth, but she is catching up some. She was 2 years delayed just one year ago. Now she is just about 1 year delayed. That is great news. She is still the smallest in her class, but she is growing and overall healthy and that is what matters.

Thank you all for your prayers. We have a big day of fun tomorrow. I will probably have lots of pictures to share after the weekend. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY OCTOBER 3, 2008**

Its been a long busy week and we are readyfor the weekend. Emily has her doctors appointment today with the endocrinologist. We should find out the results of her last wrist xray. That tells them about her growth. If you remember the last one showed a 2 year growth delay. But she has been growing at a steady rate so he wanted to just recheck her every 6 months. Please pray for a good appointment today. Also please continue to pray for Emily's tummy. She is still only eating very little and having pain.

Hope you all have a great weekend. We have a big day tomorrow at the Railroad Park. Always one of our favorite events with HopeKids. I will have lots of pictures to share. I will update with the news from Emily's appointment today. Her appointment is at 1pm. Thank you for checking in and praying.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! Ok so I have good news and some bad news. I guess I should start with the bad news first. Emily is not doing any better. Her stomach pain is there almost all the time. Some times are worse then others. She is still not eating. 3-4 bites at each meal and then says she is full or her stomach hurts. Time to call the doctor again. I don't know what else can be done. They have checked her for practically everything and it all comes back normal. Please pray that her tummy gets feeling better soon.

Emily is also going through alot emotionally right now and she could use some prayers for that as well. She is missing her Uncle Tom terribly. Daddy and Uncle Tom had a huge falling out over a year ago. We have not talked to or seen Tom in about 8 months or more. Emily is taking this the hardest and cries alot over the situation. I wish Uncle Tom would call her and talk to her. Please pray that somehow this situation gets better. Either that her Uncle Tom decides that he misses her also and calls her or that she somehow learns to live with the way things are. (but always hopes for them to get better)

Ok so that was the bad news. Now for the good news. WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!!!!!! The owner called me tonight and she said that we could go ahead and turn in our 30 day notice. We are so excited. Saturday we went to the house to meet with the husband. He was great. He was very nice and said that if we liked the house and would pay our rent on time then he would rent it to us right now. But he still had to go through the credit process and all. So his wife started that today. She said our credit is not the best, but nothing really bad on there either. Mostly just a bunch of medical stuff. Anyways they live in California. So they are going to be here in Arizona on October 19th and that is when we will sign the lease and get the keys. The cool thing is they are letting us move in anytime after that, but are not charging us anything until November 1st. So basically at the time of the lease signing we will pay our deposit and Novembers rent and then we can start moving in 2 weeks early for free. We are so excited about that. Also the room that will be Emily's is painted really badly. 1 wall is green, 1 blue, 1 red and 1 yellow. It is not good at all. I asked if I could paint it and they said Yes. So Emily is thinking about a light blue with a big white flower on one wall. We'll see how it goes. Thank you so much for all your prayers. They really helped us through the waiting period. They helped us to stay hopeful and positive. My husband is usually negative about everything, but not this time. Things are starting to fall into place for us. I have also started working here and there. I am doing a little clerical work and house cleaning for a few friends. It enables me to be able to still be there for my kids, but also work and bring home some money to help us out. It is such a great feeling. here are some pictures of the house. The pictures do the house no justice at all. I didn't get great pictures of the backyard, but it is HUGE!

Monday, September 22, 2008 10:58 PM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2008***

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!

Today was Daddy's birthday. He was out of town for work, but we left him some birthday cards and goodies to see before leaving.

Emily is still about the same. Still in pain, but trying to do all normal things. She is going to school and getting through the day. The biggest problem we are having with her right now though is that she is not eating. She takes about 3 bites of food at each meal and then refuses to eat. You can tell she is losing weight. We are trying everything possible to get her to eat, but it is not really working. Please pray that things get better.

Today the kids and I went and looked at a house. It is huge, gorgeous and exactly what we have been looking for. It has a HUGE backyard with a pool, basketball area, tree house and much more. I fell in love with the kitchen. LOL! We are trying to work out the details with the owners. The rent is a little higher then what we feel comfortable with, but it includes pool service once a week. We are negotiating the rent price if we take care of the pool on our own. They are suppose to meet with us on saturday and work out the details. Please pray this works out for us. The kids and I fell in love with the house and we know Daddy will to. It is perfect!! Cross your fingers and toes and hope for all good news on saturday. I will let you know as soon as I know something for sure. Then I will share pictures as well.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and praying for us.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2008**

Please say some extra prayers for Emily today. She has been having severe belly pain all night and into this morning. I don't know what to do for her or how to help her. It really sucks that we are getting no answers to why she is having this pain.

I also wanted to share with you the kids progress report grades. They are both struggling in school right now. I really am not to sure what is going on.

Emily:

Reading: D
Math: B
Spelling: C
Language Arts: C
Science: C
Social Studies: B

Charlie:

Math: B
Language: C
Handwriting: D
Science: C
Reading: C
Spelling: D
Social Studies: C
Homework: A

They were not very happy abot their grades either. They told me they are going to work harder and bring those grades up before report card time. I know they can do it. Thank you for checking in and praying.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! It has been a while since I've gotten on here and done a full update. I really am not sure where the time has been going. Emily is doing well. She has been having off and on pain in her belly. We still have no answers and have no idea how to treat her. We are trying something different with her food and some natural supplements. Hopefully that will help. She is having some trouble in school again. Please pray that this gets better. Little Charlie is doing great. I should be getting their progress reports soon. I will post that as soon as I get them.

Last wednesday we went to the park with a friend and her 2 kids. We were hoping they would have the water section open but they didn't. The kids were really bummed about that, but they had fun playing. Then Saturday we went to the Children's Museum with HopeKids. The kids had alot of fun. There was so much to do there. They got to play shop and cook. They painted and did arts and crafts. They did storytime. They went through and pretend carwash on tricycles. LOL! They played loud drums and raced cars down a track. They just had alot of fun. here are some pictures. Thank you HopeKids!

Thursday, September 11, 2008 8:40 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY NIGHT, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008**

Hi Everyone. Things here are going ok. Emily has not been complaining of belly pain this week at all. The kids are out of school tomorrow for staff development day. I am going to take them to the park. They have a water area that the kids love to play at. I will hopefully be able to get some new pictures to post.

House hunting is not going so well. As much as we want to move out of this house, we are thankful that we do not have to move. So once our lease is up we are going to stay here on a month to month basis until we find something else. Yestarday we went to an estate give away. Basically the house was sold fully furnished, but the new owner did not want the things inside. So he decided to give it all away free. We got there early and got some much needed items. We were able to get 2 new dressers. Emily was in need of one since hers was falling apart and so was mine. She was so excited when she came home from school to find a big 8 drawer dresser with a mirror in her room. She absolutely loves it. We were also able to help my sister out by getting her an upright freezer. There were several families from HopeKids that were able to get some much needed items that they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. It was a very nice thing this guy did for all of us.

Job hunting is slow going, but I have a couple ideas on things I can do that will allow me flexibility with my schedule and still earn me money. Please pray that they come through and work out. Also please say a couple extra prayers for my husband. He is stressing out about so many things right now. I hope things start to go right so he can stress less and enjoy life more.

I will probably update tomorrow night and hopefully have some pictures to. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family.

Love and Hugs,
Angela






Hi Everyone! Things here are ok I guess. It just seems like when one things goes wrong everything goes wrong. Anyways it hasn't been the best couple weeks for us. Well I took Emily for her tests yestarday. First we dropped Little Charlie off at school. Then we went to get labs drawn. That was the one she didn't want to do so I figured we should get that out of the way first. (and her ultrasound was not scheduled until 11:30) So we got to Labcorp at 8:45am and at about 10am we were finally called. They were so busy and Emily was getting tired of waiting. I sat in the chair as I always do and she got up in my lap. The tech was great and she was fast. Emily didn't flinch, move or even cry. I think Emily was just as surprised as I was. I am very proud of her. I made it through this time without getting beat up. LOL! Once we got done there we just had to go to the next building over to the radiologist place. They told me that her abdominal xray was just a walk in thing. So I figured we would get that done and then just wait until 11:30 for the ultrasound. We were so excited after only being there no more then 2 minutes they called us back and did both tests. Emily was already complaining that her stomach was hurting her. I wasn't sure whether it was the belly pain she was having or if it was because she hadn't eaten anything since the night before and was hungry. The guy that did her ultrasound was great. He talked to her alot. He asked her about her scar on her belly, how old she was, what grade she was in at school and just had normal conversation with her. It helped take her mind off her belly pain/hungry pain. We were done and out of there by 10:30am and she got to school just in time to go to lunch.

The tests were ordered stat so the doctors office had already gotten the results before Emily was even out of school. They called me and told me that so far everything is coming back normal. They got the ultrasound and xray results. So good news that they didn't find anything, but bad news that we still don't have any answers. So now we wait for the lab work results to come back and then the results of the stool smears. I just don't know what to think. It just doesn't seem fair that she has to be in so much pain sometimes and that they have no explanation for it. Please pray that her pain will just go away or that at some point we will figure out what is causing it or what will help it.

Both Little Charlie and Emily decided to join chorus this year. They are really excited about that. Yestarday was their first chorus practice. Their big chorus performance will be in December. They are both still enjoying school and doing well. Tonight is open house.

We are still pretty upset about the house thing. We really had our hearts set on that house and it was perfect in everyway. Everything happens for a reason, so maybe it wasn't as perfect as we had thought. For now we are going to stay where we are. We are not happy here, but at least we have a place to live. Money has become a huge problem for us. We are struggling right now. Seems like no matter what we do to try to get on top we get knocked down somehow. I am going to start looking for a job. With Emily being dropped from her insurance there isn't anything stopping me from working now. It is going to be a challenge figuring out how to work around the kids schedule at school. Daddy is out of town most of the week so I have to get them back and forth to school. We live out of district so they do not provide transportation. Please pray that things somehow work themselves out. We are pretty stressed out right now.

Thank you all for the messages yestarday. Emily really enjoyed reading them. Thank you for checking in and being so patient with the lack of updating. As I said things haven't been going the greatest here, so I haven't felt much like updating. Thank you for all your prayers for our family as well. They mean so much.

Last of all I want to wish my Niece Katelynn a Happy Birthday. Today is her 10th birthday.


glitter-graphics.com

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, September 3, 2008 11:58 PM CDT

***PLEASE PRAY!!!! EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 9, 2008***

NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!

Today I took Emily to the doctor about her belly pain. They feel that they need to run some tests to rule out more stuff. They've seen her many time for this belly pain and have already been able to rule out some things then. They are not the least bit happy with the GI doctor she was seeing. They feel that he did not do all that he could have done to find out the source of her pain. So Tomorrow (wednesday) Emily has a full day of waiting and testing. First we will drop Little Charlie off at school. Then head to Labcorp to wait to get her blood drawn. Then we will go to the radiolgy for and Abdominal KUB (or xray) that is on a walk in basis. Then at 11:30 she is scheduled for an ultrasound that will take about a half hour. I have also been instructed to do stool smears for the next 3 days and then take them to the lab. (YUCK!) LOL! We managed to get the first one today. They are checking for blood in her stool.

She is already getting nervous about tomorrow. She can't have anything to eat or drink after midnight tonight and not until all her tests are done sometime after noon tomorrow. That is a long time for a little girl to wait. (or anybody for that matter) Please pray that she does ok with this. Then the blood draws. She absolutely hates those. She has had enough of needles and always puts up a huge fight when I take her for lab work. Please pray that she doesn't beat me up to much or give the lab tech to much trouble. (LOL!) Last of all please pray for answers. Pray that they find something, but nothing serious. We need to know why she is having so much pain and we need to fix it.

I will update as soon as we get home and let you know how it all went. Oh an update on the house and moving situation. We turned in our application, went and looked at the house, got all excited and hopeful. Then the lady emailed me today and said that they decided they are going to sell the house instead. We are VERY upset. It was a perfect fit for us and would have done so much good for us. The kids are very sad to. They were really looking forward to living in that house. Please pray that we find something else soon and that it is a perfect fit as well. (and that the owner doesn't change their mind after we get our hopes up.)

Thank you for checking in and praying for us. Please leave a quick message if you stop by. Emily would love to read them when she gets home.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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***EDITED UPDATE MONDAY SEPTEMBER 8, 2008***

Just a quick update tonight to ask for a couple extra prayers for Emily. her belly pain is back. She goes to the doctor on Tuesday mid morning. I hope we are able to get some kind of answers as to why this is happening. Sometimes it comes and goes, sometimes it comes and it is so bad she is doubled over and crying. I hate to see this keep happening. I will update with any info we get.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2008**

It is with great sadness that I come here today and bring this news. Samantha passed away this morning. She was such an amazing young lady and a true inspiration. Please visit her site and offer some words of comfort and some prayers for her family. Sammi is healed and is now a Sweet Angel in Heaven and her pain is gone. But her families pain has just begun. Fly High Super Sam! You are healed and free from the beast!

Love and Hugs,
Angela






I want to start off by asking for some urgent prayers for a special friend and fellow wilms warrior. Samantha really needs your prayers and her family could really use your support. Sammi is in alot of pain tonight and has been unresponsive for most of the evening. Please pray for comfort for Sammi and peace and comfort for her family.

Things here have been going okay. Emily has been feeling good. She is having the occasional belly pain and some issue with breathing. The school called me today cause they were concerned about her breathing and because she snuck some of her Zantac to school with her in her backpack. The nurse just took them from her and told her she couldn't be bringing meds to school like that. She didn't get into any trouble. Other then that she is doing good in school. Little Charlie is doing great. Still loving school and doing good.

We didn't do much over the weekend. Monday Daddy took Little Charlie hunting. They haven't been able to go in 2yrs so they were super excited about going. They left very early in the morning and came home with their limit of 20 Dove. They had a great time and can't wait to go again. Then after they got home they got cleaned up and we went to Rob Cottrell's house for a BBQ and swimming. The kids had so much fun and it was so nice to get out and hang out with friends. Here are some pictures from Monday.

Friday, August 29, 2008 2:31 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2008**

Hello Everyone! We are having a wonderful weekend. I promise a full update later tonight or tomorrow and I should have some new pictures to share as well. Hope you've had a great weekend and enjoy your Labor Day.

Check back later for a better update!

Love and hugs,
Angela


glitter-graphics.com

I also wanted to leave you with this little slideshow of the years past with Emily. In honor of childhood cancer awareness month. Emily is now 3 1/2yrs off treatment and cancer free. She has come so far. Enjoy the little slideshow.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 1:24 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! We are doing ok. Emily is doing good. She is struggling with some belly pain again, but she is strong and keeps going. She is loving school. Charlie is also loving school. They are working hard and I hope they keep it up throughout the year.

Last friday we went to the Martina Mcbride concert courtesy of HopeKids. We had so much fun. Emily got to go backstage and meet Martina again. She was so excited and was even more excited when Martina remembered her. While backstage her and the other HopeKids that went also met Chris Young and Jack Ingram. That was exciting for them also. It was very hot out and the concert was outdoors, but that didn't stop us all from having a great time. I want to thank Rob with HopeKids for making this all possible. Emily will always remember her meeting with Martina. It is always something that she talks about. Here are some pictures that we took from that night.

Thursday, August 14, 2008 12:09 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY AUGUST 15, 2008**

Exciting news to share. We will be going to the Martina Mcbride concert tonight. Rob with HopeKids has given us 4 tickets to go and a backstage pass for Emily to meet her again. Emily is so excited. She went the first couple years that Martina was here, but didn't get to go the last 2 years. She can't wait to see her again. I will not be able to go backstage with her, but the person that will be taking her back promised to get pictures. So as soon as I get those I will share them.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Love and Hugs,
Angela



***NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM***


Hi Everyone! Sorry its taken me so long to update. I get up every morning expecting to get on here and post an update, but I just never really get to it. Anyways everyone here is doing good health wise. Emily is not having tummy issues or any headaches. Charlie and Emily started school this past monday. They love it. They really like their teachers and are so happy to be back at school. I am hoping for a better year then last year. It was a rough year here at home which in turn spilled over and made it a rough year at school for both of them.

Emily was very nervous about going to a new school. (same school, but west campus now) Anyways she is loving it. Yestarday she had to bring in a treasure bag. It was a brown bag filled with things about her. She could put in that bag whatever she wanted and she had to give a presentation to the class about what she brought. It was easy for Emily to decide what to bring. There was a list of ideas on a paper so these are what she chose. First she chose her favorite music. She took her Martina Mcbride cd, her high school musical cd, and her cd that has the song all about her from songs of love. Second thing she chose was something she likes to do in her free time. She chose to take a big checker. The kids have a checker board that is a carpet and huge checkers. Emily loves to play checkers. Third she chose to take something that she's done and is proud of. She took her medal from when she was in the PF Changs Rock'N'Roll Marathon. She is very proud of that medal and the money she raised for HopeKids. Then she chose to take something that she really dislikes. Emily chose to take her port. She told the class that she really didn't like having the port cause they use to poke her with needles in it. The class and the teachers asked lots of questions about her port and her cancer. She loves to share her story with others. The last thing she chose was family and people that have changed your life. This is the part that made her tear up while talking. She took pictures of her Grandma and Grandpa (husbands parents that have both passed of cancer) She said that she really misses them and that she loves them very much. She took a picture of her Papa. (my dad) She told them that he had cancer and he fought it and has won. She said he was so strong and she was so proud of him. She took a picture of her and Martina Mcbride from when they first met. She told the class all about how she got to sit and talk with her for 30 minutes and she was so nice. She also told them how she dedicated a song to her during the concert. Emily will always remember that night. She took a picture of her and Randy Johnson from when they met. She told the class that she was trying to talk to him and the boys kept pushing her. So she went and sat down and cried and when Randy saw that he picked her up and cuddled her in his arms. It is one of my favorite photos. I'll try to post it later if you would like to see it. She took a picture of her and Rob Cottrell. (president of HopeKids) She told about how he has been so great to her and how much she loves him. She told them that no matter how she felt when she was sick Rob always gave her something to look forward to and that helped her. She absolutely loves and adores Rob. We are truly blessed to have him in our life. Then last but not least she took a picture of the whole family. She did a great job with her presentation and one of the other 4th grade teachers asked her if she could bring it all back to school today and do her presentation for her class. Emily was very excited about that.

Little Charlie is trying to get adjusted to 5th grade. He is really enjoying his new teacher. He said that his teacher is a little weird but makes learning lots of fun. Little Charlie is lacking confidence in himself and I have been trying to help build that back up. First day of shcool and he already had homework. But I was happy to see him get right to it and it did not take him a couple hours to do it. It only took him 45 minutes. That was for math, spelling, and 20 minutes of reading. I was so proud of him. I think they are both going to do great this year.

As for me, well I have been bored out of my mind without any kids here. Tuesday I watched my niece and nephew. I really miss having them here. We had lots of fun. We read, played little games on the leappad, played outside on the trampoline and played with the dogs. We had some lunch and watched some cartoons and then snuggled up and took a nap. Here are a couple pictures I took of them. My niece will be starting kindergarten on August 26th. She is excited. I really hope she likes it as much as my kids did.


Kylie


Dylan saying CHEESE!

Then wednesday I spent most of the day cleaning my house. Not just picking things up and wiping things down, but really cleaning. I don't know that my house has been this clean since we moved in here. LOL! It kept me busy though and my mind off of other things that are going on. I've had a few people ask about how the new puppy Riley is doing. So I have a few pictures to share of her as well. She will be 5 months old in 1 week. She already weighs 45 pounds and is very strong. She is sweet and for the most part gentle. Sometimes she'll get running and just mow you down if your not careful. But its all in fun. She is totally housetrained now. She knows sit, no, stay, lay down and loves to play ball. We are still working on walking her on a leash. She walks on a leash, but she tends to pull you. So my husband is working with her. She is just to strong for me. She has been a great addition to our family. The kids love her and the other dogs have really warmed up to her. Here are a couple pictures.


Riley, almost 5 months old.


Riley laying at my feet, where she normally is.

No plans for the next couple days. This weekend we may be taking a drive to my dads to get my husbands truck fixed and spend some time with him. Its been a while since we've been out there. Other then that I don't think we have anything else planned. Thank you all for checking in and praying for our family. Hope you have a great weekend.

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 0:26 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY AUGUST 13, 2008**

Sorry I haven't updated yet. I am going through some stuff right now and I just haven't been able to muster up an update. Anyways I promise to get on sometime today or tonight and update. The kids had a great first day of school. The picture above is from Monday just before leaving for school. I have more to share as well.

Thank you for continueing to check in and pray for our family. It means so much.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! It has been super busy around here. It is the last week of summer vacation. The kids and I have been doing lots of cleaning and getting ready for school. I cleaned out both of their closets. Both kids have done some growing this summer and I've given away half of their clothes. I was able to help out several HopeKids families with some clothes and shoes. It felt good to be able to help others out, even if it was just some hand me down clothes.

Saturday we went to the annual HopeKids back to school pool party. We had lots of fun. We did lots of swimming and hanging out with friends before they all went back to school. I can't believe how fast the summer went by. Sunday we just pretty much hung out at home. Monday we went to a Thriftsmart and got the kids some clothes for school. We can't afford to go and buy them some new clothes and we got a gift certificate for Thriftsmart. So we let the kids loose and they got some new outfits. They were excited since they had just gotten rid of so many of their clothes. They got some really cute stuff over there.

There really isn't alot exciting happening here. we have just been busy spending time together and getting ready for school. Friday is meet the teacher day. Emily is very nervous about going into 4th grade. She will be going into a new school (the other one she was in was only K-3) She will be with all her friends from last year, but she is still nervous about the new school. Charlie will be going into 5th grade this year. He is worried since he struggled with the workload in 4th grade. He is afraid he will not be able to keep up in 5th grade. I have assured them both that they will be okay and I know they will do great. School starts on Monday.

I do have one prayer request. Emily has been having alot of pain on her left side. This is new pain and has been there the last couple days. Usually when she complains of belly pain it is more towards the center of her belly. Right now it is all on the left side. She is having trouble sleeping and the pain is waking her up in the middle of the night. Please pray that the pain will go away and that it is nothing serious. I always worry when she has new pain. It has not gotten worse in the last couple days, but it is not getting better either. I am going to see how she is feeling in the morning and if it is still hurting alot then I will call the doctor. I will keep you posted.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. here are the pictures Emily took at camp. She did a good job with the camera. She made sure she got pictures of her new friends and even got a picture of a real live bat. The one of the bat is a little blurry, but you can still see it. Enjoy the pictures. (((HUGS))) to all!

Monday, July 28, 2008 10:47 PM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE MONDAY NIGHT AUGUST 4, 2008***

I promise an update tomorrow. I got the pictures back that Emily took at camp and I will post those as well. Things have justbeen busy here. Not really doing alot, but spending time together as much as we can before the kids go back to school next monday. Look for an update Tuesday afternoon.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Sorry its late, but its just been one of those days. Anyways we are so happy to have Emily home. We missed her so much. She got a bit homesick, but she had SO much fun. She is so glad that she went and she can't wait to go again next year. Here is how her week went.

Sunday morning we dropped her off to get on the bus. Once they got to camp on Sunday they went to their cabins and set up their bunks. Emily was excited to have a whole bunkbed all to herself. She slept on the top bunk. Basically Sunday was spent getting to know the counselors, the other campers and the camp.

Emily is having trouble remembering what she did each day, but she remembers the things she did. (just not what day she did them) LOL! So she picked 3 classes to attend. The 3 classes she picked were, crazy camp shirts, drama, and finger painting. She made a cool t-shirt. The one in the picture above. She made a pillow case that said I Love camp Sunrise and a tye dye pillow case. They had Jello wars. She had lots of fun doing that. There was also Lake day. They went to the lake and fished, canoed and swam. She had so much fun doing that. It rained so they had to cut the day short at the lake. They had water day. She put on huge underwear and had to catch pancakes in them. LOL! I sure would have loved to see that one. LOL! She went horseback riding. She ate lots of good food. I know there is probably more, but she is drawing a blank right now. So much fun in such a short time.

Thursday Mason asked her to go to the dance with him. She was so excited about that. She really loves Mason and couldn't wait to go to the dance with him. Friday came and they all got dressed int heir superhero costumes and headed for the dance. Emily and Mason danced together alot and she had a blast. But then it was time for her cabin to leave. They had to leave a little early so they could all shower and get to bed on time. Emily started to cry cause she wanted to stay there with Mason. She got really upset when she saw he was dancing with another girl and that made her cry even more. Geez she is only 9yrs old. I am not ready for the boy thing and I think she is just way to young to be crying over a boy. The counselor told me that she calmed down fairly quickly and didn't give them any problems.

Saturday we drove up to Payson to get Emily from camp. It was a nice 1 1/2 hour drive or so. It was suppose to rain all day that day but it didn't. I was thankful for that. I don't like driving in the rain. Anyways we got there and she was so excited to see us. She was ready to go home, but was also really wanting to stay there with all her friends. Some that she knew before going to camp and others that were new friends. We stayed for lunch and walked around the camp a bit. Then we headed home. Emily was fast asleep about 20 minutes after we got in the car. The week at camp really wore her out.

As most of you know Emily periodically has trouble with her breathing. I thought just to be safe I would send her inhaler to camp with her. I am so glad that I did. She doesn't use it much at home, but she really needed it at camp. From the day she got there she needed it. She used it many times a day and when that was not working they had to give her breathing treatments. It has been a long time since she has needed those. The last 3 days of camp though they were all celebrating that she didn't need her inhaler or breathing treatments. The first 4 days were rough on her breathing, but she didn't let that slow her down.

Since being home I've had lots of laundry to do. Some of the clothes that she took with her were muddy, stained with Jello, or painted on. (the painted ones did not come clean) I took her to drop off her roll of film. She will gett hat back on Thursday and I will share those pictures with you then. I have some to share with you now as well. Also today we had a trampoline dropped off for the kids. The great people at Thriftsmart wanted to give it to a family and we were chosen. Thank you to the family that donated it to Thriftsmart and thank you to thriftsmart for delivering it to us. They were also nice enough to stick around and set it up for the kids so they could start jumping on it right away. There are also some pictures of that in the slideshow.

This saturday is our Annual Summer Luau with HopeKids. The kids are pretty excited about that. We always love the pool parties with HopeKids. The kids start school in just 2 weeks. They are ready to go back to school, but I have been unable to get them all that they need yet. YIKES! I believe meet the teacher is on August 8th.

I have just a couple prayer requests. One is a silent prayer request for our family. There is something going on that is really causing termoil for us. I just really don't want to get into it here. The other request is for my nephew. He is suppose to be going in on Thursday for surgery. Nothing major, but at any rate it is surgery and it is scary. He is 2yrs old. Please pray that he is able to have this procedure done and that all goes well.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Hope you all have a great week. Enjoy the pictures.

Monday, July 21, 2008 9:37 AM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY NIGHT, JULY 27, 2008***

EMILY IS HOME!!!!!!! We have been busy spending time with her and listening to all her stories of camp. I promise a full update Monday and I will fill you all in on her week away at camp. I have some pictures to share as well from Saturday when we picked her up. Check back in later for the full update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT JULY 23, 2008**

Its been 4 days since I've talked to Emily. I miss her so much. I hope she is having lots of fun and making lots of new friends to. But to tell you the truth, I can't wait until Saturday when we get to drive up and pick her up. It has been SO quiet at my house without her here. Little Charlie is the quiet kid. He goes and plays with the neighbor, watches tv, plays video games. Little Charlie and I have enjoyed our time together. But even he is ready for Emily to come home. He said he really misses her. We sent her a letter and a card this week. I hope she got them okay and that it made her smile. We were hoping that if she felt homesick that a letter would make her feel better. I can't wait to hear about all the fun things she has done.

Please say a few extra little prayers for us. This is much harder then we had thought it was going to be. We thought the week would go by quickly as most weeks do. But this week is going slow. We miss her and can't wait to bring her home. (3 more days) Thank you for checking in. I will be sure to update probably Sunday evening and tell you all about camp and share some pictures from saturday's family day at camp.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Emily is off to camp for a week. It took us the whole week, but we managed to get all her stuff ready to go by saturday night. LOL! She decided on Batgirl as her superhero costume. She looks great in it and was so excited when she got it. There are pictures below. Saturday night she was so excited about going and went to sleep quickly. She wanted to make sure she got enough sleep.

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early. She had to be at the American cancer Society at 8:30am. We got all her stuff into the van and headed out. She immediately started to complain about her stomach and have second thoughts about going. We got there and she saw Eric (another kid from HopeKids) She ran right up to him and hugged him and she started to feel better knowing he would be there. We got all checked in and got her suitcase on the bus and then Mason showed up. She was so excited to see Mason. I am sure you can tell how happy she was in the picture at the top of the page. I took that just before they left. Mason promised to sit on the bus with her and make her feel better. She felt better knowing that if she got scared that she had friends there to help her through it. Eric and Mason are a great couple of boys. Anyways She gave everyone hugs and kisses and said goodbye and then got on the bus. I jumped on the bus to get a couple more pictures and say one last goodbye and she started to cry. I told her that I love her and to have fun. I noticed as I got off the bus she stopped crying and started playing with the others on the bus. Then the bus started to pull away and we all waved. She waved until we couldn't see her anymore. I really think it was harder on us then it was on her. She has never been away from me for more then a night or 2. So as you can imagine I am missing her already. But I am glad that she got to go and I hope she is having lots of fun. I sent her with a camera so she can take lots of pictures. As soon as I get the film developed I will post them. We will drive up to Payson on Saturday July 26th for family day at camp and to pick her up. We are so excited about that. It wil be nice to get away and have fun and of course we will be very eager to see Emily.

By Sunday evening Little Charlie was getting very lonely, so he asked if Tyler could come spend the night. So I called my sister and they brought Tyler over. The boys have been having lots of fun. They played basketball and rollerbladed. They watched a movie and played with my husband. My husband has not seen Tyler in a while and was excited to spend some time with him. Tyler was just as excited to see his Uncle Charlie. Today the boys are just being boys. LOL! They are playing rough, making lots of noise, running with the dogs, and just having loads of fun. Tyler wil be going home today and maybe tomorrow I am going to take Little Charlie to see a movie. He really wants to see the new Batman Movie. Other then that we have no other plans for the week.

Just a little update on my husband and his scorpion sting. He is feeling better. He returned to work on Thursday. He was still feeling some numbness, but not as bad. He is feeling much better now though. The numbness is gone and he is feeling no pain. They said that the effects could last from a couple days to a couple weeks. Thankfully it was not a couple weeks. We have not found anymore scorpion in our house so far. Hopefully we won't. Our lease is up in October and I want to move out of this house so much. We will see what happens though.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Please keep Emily in your prayers this week that she has lots of fun and doesn't get to homesick. Also please pray that we make it through the week with peace of mind knowing she is okay. Its hard not being able to talk to her for 6 days. I know the first time is always the hardest. Hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week. here are some pictures of Emily in her batgirl costume and of her departure from Phoenix on her way to camp.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 2:46 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! First off I would like to ask for some extra prayers for my husband. While sleeping tonight he was stung by a scorpion and had a severe reaction to it. He lost feeling in his face, hands and feet, his eyes were twitching and his vision was blurred. His speach is slurred and he is having chest pain. He is currently sitting in the ER. Please say some extra prayers. I will update with how he is doing as soon as I know more.

**UPDATE ON DADDY 9:45am Tuesday** Daddy is home and resting now. He had a rough night in the hospital. His blood pressure was through the roof and he was having a hard time breathing. They had him on lots of monitors and oxygen, but he is a little better now. They sent him home and told him to get lots of rest. He is still experiencing all the same symptoms and they said those could last up to 4 days. Turns out the type of scorpion that he got stung by is one of the worst one here in Arizona. Just our luck huh? Anyways we are glad that he is home and for the most part ok. Please continue to pray that the symptoms will not last to long. He is miserable and he will be missing work until he feels better. (that is not making him happy)

Everyone here is doing good otherwise. Emily still has that darn rash. She is going to the doctor on Friday. It is not bothering her but it has gotten worse and not better no matter what we do. Emily has some exciting news. She will be leaving on Sunday for a whole week to go to camp for the first time. She is excited, but at the same time she is scared. She has never been away from me for that long. She worries that she will get scared up there, or that she won't be able to sleep. I assured her that i know she will have so much fun and she will hardly know I am not there. The week will go by so fast. The last day we will be driving up north 2 1/2 hours to pick her up and spend the day at camp with her. That will be lots of fun and i will be sure to take lots of pictures. That will be on July 26th. She leaves on July 20th. We are in the process of trying to figure out what we are going to pack for her. Also they have a theme for a dinner and dance. It is Superheroes. She is undecided if she wants to be Wonder Woman or Bat Girl. I still have to figure out where I can get one of those costimes. Yikes! So much to do and so little time.

Charlie is a little sad that his sister will be gone for a week, but I think it will be good for them. Hima nd i will think of something fun to do together. Charlie and Emily's cousins, Katelynn and Tyler came to spend the night with us on Thursday. They had so much fun. They ran around the house with the dogs and played for hours. Then we tye dyed tshirts. This was the first time that any of us had done this, but we had fun doing it and I think they turned out great. The picture above is Emily with the one she made on.

Saturday Daddy went to the race track with a friend and the kids and i decided to draw on the driveway with paint and chalk. We painted Spongebob and Gary. It was lots of fun and he came out great. Then the kids drew Daddy some pictures in his parking space and wrote him little notes. It was really cute. Then they rollerbladed for a little while. We've been getting lots of rain the last few days which has been great. We really needed it. Not to much else went on this weekend.

This week we will be spending trying to get Emily ready to go to camp. She has already told me that if I can't go with her then she HAS to take her lamb that Daniel Gade gave her several years ago before they first met. She has always said that her lamb makes her feel safe. I just know she is going to love it and have so much fun. Maybe you guys could leave her some words of encouragement so she won't be so scared. I know she would love that.

Well thank you all for checking in and praying for our family. I will keep you posted on any changes. Until then here are some pictures for you to enjoy of the kids finished tye dyed shirts and saturday night. Enjoy!! (((HUGS))) to all!!!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 9:29 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY JULY 10, 2008**

Just a quick update to share what we have been up to this week. Wednesday we went bowling with HopeKids. We had so much fun. Its been a long time since we've been bowling. They turned down the lights and turned up the music, just like they do for extreme bowling or also called cosmic bowling. The kids were so excited about this event. I have pictures to share below.

Today Katelynn and Tyler came to spend the night. The kids were really excited about that. They haven't really seen them much in the last couple weeks. They had lots of fun playing games, riding bikes, and a little playing in the rain. Then tonight we tye dyed tshirts. I didn't get pictures of them doing it, but I will definately get pictures of their finished products tomorrow and share them. They had a lot of fun and surprisingly didn't really make much of a mess. It was a first for us, but I thought the kids would have fun doing it.

No plans for the weekend as of yet. I do have one prayer request. Emily has broken out in some kind of rash that is rapidly spreading. It does not hurt or itch. It looks similiar to a heat rash. The only thing is she hasn't been outside hardly at al the last week. Its been way tohot for them to play outside. It doesn't appear to be anything contagious though. She is the only one with it. First spots showed up the begining of the week. I am going to call the doctor in the morning and see what he thinks. Please pray that it does not spread any more and that it is something like a heat rash.

Thank you for checking in and have a great weekend. Enjoy the pictures.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 8:08 PM CDT

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. We have been keeping pretty busy around here. Emily has been feeling great. She has had no complaints. Little Charlie has also been feeling good until last night. Last night his throat started bothering him and his nose was running. Today he is feeling about the same. Hopefully it will not hang on to long and no one else in the house will get it.

Ok so let me share what we have been up to around here the last week. I've been spending lots of time with the kids doing crafts. They just love crafts. I completed my crosstitched squares also. Now I just need to buy the fabric and other stuff needed to make it into a quilt. The kids are really enjoying the summer at home with me. They do get bored however since they can't really go outside during the day. It has been between 112 and 117 degrees. (hitting 117 today) It is just way too hot to be outside playing.

Saturday morning we went and saw Kung Fu Panda with HopeKids. It was a great movie. The kids couldn't stop laughing. This will definately be a movie the kids are gonna want me to buy when it comes out on dvd. After the movie we walked around the mall. Its been a long time since we've done that. We can't afford to shop at the mall so we never really saw the use in walking around looking. But we also didn't want to go home and just sit around. So we figured it was something for us to do and it was inside where it was nice and cool. I am glad that we decided to do this. We found an awesome sale at Old Navy on flip flops. Just $1 a pair. Since that is all we practically wear here, we had to buy some. We killed about half the day walking around the mall. Then we went home and relaxed and watched a movie.

Sunday morning Daddy got a new gift. I haven't talked much about what we have been going through as a family over the last year, or about the things my husband has gone through. I will not get into detail, but in a nutshell it has been a very rough last year. My husband hit rock bottom about a year ago and our family was very close to breaking up. We stuck it out though and I am happy to say that I am VERY glad that we did. He's gone through alot and he has come a long ways. Anyone that knows the details and has been around will agree. We as a family are stronger then ever and happier then ever. I am very proud of him for all that he has accomplished. Anyways there is one thing my husband has been wanting for a very long time and on Sunday he finally got it. He got a 12 week old female Rottweiler puppy named Riley. She is the sweetest puppy ever. He fell in love with her as soon as she was given to him. She is very smart also. She knows sit, down, no and is housebroken already also. She is very gentle, but is still a puppy so she can get rowdy. She is already 27 pounds at 3 months old. Our other dogs are very unsure of her. She is at the very least twice the size of our other dogs. My little Chihuahua was scared of her the first day, but come the second day she decided to show Riley who the boss really is. LOL! There are pictures below. She is beautiful and is a huge camera ham. She sees the camera and she sits down and looks right at you. Its too funny. Hope you enjoy the pictures of her.

Monday morning Charlie and my nephew Tyler came running out to tell me that the tree in my front yard fell down. I was thinking to myself, "That can't be. That tree is huge. If it fell I surely would have heard it." So I went to investigate. Sure enough the top half of the tree had fallen straight to the ground. Then there was another branch that was broken that hadn't yet fallen all the way down. It was hung up on some other branches. I was thankful that the kids weren't out there. They usually go out in the morning and sit under the tree and play. My brother in law came and helped me get it all chopped up and moved. It was in our neighbors yard to, so we had to get it moved asap. Daddy was out of town so he couldn't help much. I also put some pictures of the tree in the slideshow below.

Not sure what we are doing this weekend. It is going to be very hot and we usually don't like to go and sit in the heat to watch fireworks. Especially not when it is 115 degrees or so. I am sure we will figure out something to do though. Hope you al have a safe and wonderful 4th of July weekend.

Thank you for checking in and praying for us. Thank you also for the messages. We really enjoy reading them. Hope you enjoy the slideshow and have a great weekend. (((HUGS)))

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 0:46 AM CDT

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!**

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the delay in updates. Everyone here is doing great. Emily has been feeling great. So far we are having a good summer. It is VERY hot which means we are spending alot of time inside, but we are keeping busy.

Nothing really exciting going on here, just trying to stay cool and have some fun. Saturday we went to my nephew, Dylan's, 2nd birthday party. He is growing up so fast. His theme was spiderman. It was so much fun. We hung out with our family and friends. We went swimming, hit a pinata, BBQued, and just hung out and had a great time. Little Charlie had fun playing with some of their many reptile pets. (as you will see in the photo album) Emily really is picking up on swimming also. It was an all around great time. Can't wait to do it again. Here is one of my favorite pictures that I took of the birthday boy.


Isn't he just the cutest! He loves his Spiderman ball.

Well I don't have much planned for this week. I also don't think we have any plans as of yet for the weekend. Staying cool is the main thing. Sorry this is so short and not like my normal updates. There are some things going on right now that kinda are preoccupying my brain. Just trying to sort out a couple things. Not to worry our family within our house is great. Its other issues that I am hoping will work themselves out. Please if you could say a little prayer for those issues and all parties involved. Pray that everyone follows their heart and does the right thing. Thank you for your prayers.

Here is a better picture of Emily and Rob with the gift that we made for him for the birthday bash. Remember I talked about it, but I didn't have a very good picture of it. Here is a good one.



Thank you for checking in and for praying for our family. Please keep praying. Thank you also for the messages. The kids love reading them, so please keep them coming. Hope you all have a great rest of the week and weekend. Hugs to all!!!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 11:46 AM CDT

Hi Everyone! I am finally here with an update. We have been keeping very busy here. Emily has been feeling great. She is still having the occasional noisy breathing as I like to call it, but she has her inhaler now if she needs it. It doesn't slow her down though, as usual. Little Charlie is doing great as well. The kids have been having so much fun this summer so far. In the last week we have done crafts, played in the water, played video games, had friends over and gone to friends houses, and played with their cousins. Its been lots of fun.

Saturday we had the birthday bash with HopeKids at Gameworks. We made something special for Rob and the kids were so excited about giving it to him. The kids and I took Perler Beads and made the words Hope and Kids and then we attached them together with 2 little suns in the center. It is so he could hang it on a wall. For those of you that aren't sure what Perler Beads are, they are beads that you put on little pegboards to make a design and then you iron them and they fuze together. It turned out great and Rob just loved it. There is a picture in the slideshow below. Its not the best picture, but you can get the idea. Emily got to see Mason and her friends Kassandra and Gabby. We had pizza and soda and then the kids got to open their presents. Rob gave Emily this big bag and she dug in to find out what she got. She was so excited when she pulled out a High School Musical Sheet set and Comforter. She is all about High School Musical right now and just loves her new bed set. She put it on her bed right when we got home saturday night. So after eating and opening presents the kids got to go play games. They each got a card with a bunch of credits on them and then each family got a card that was good for 2 hours of play time. Daddy and the kids took off to have a great time on the games. I stayed behind to visit with other moms and love on a very cute baby. LOL!! We had so much fun at the birthday bash.

Sunday was father's day. We let Daddy sleep in a bit. The kids had painted him pictures and made him cards. So they gave those to him. We were sad that Daddy had to leave for a few hours (as he has to every sunday). Long Story that I won't get into. Anyways when he got home the kids had more cards for him. They spent the rest of the day playing with Daddy and spending some great quality time with him. Then I made a nice dinner and we all sat down and ate together. We didn't go and do anything great, but we had fun spending time together. It was a good day once Daddy got home. :)

Monday Daddy was off work also. We did some food shopping and then hung out at home. It is getting so hot outside. It has been 112 degrees. That is just down right hot and its only going to get hotter. UGH!!! Tuesday Katelynn and Tyler came to our house. The kids and I emptied their pool and cleaned it out and then filled it back up. Its just one of those rectangle blow up pools. That took us forever though. LOL! The kids ate lunch and then they went out to play in the pool. They had their water guns and everythng. They had so much fun. After a couple hours out there they wanted to come in and relax a bit. The boys took off to play video games and the girls played checkers. It was a great day. They all got along great and there was no fighting and argueing. I am working on a little project of my own right now to. I have a printed crosstitch pattern that I am working on. (I still haven't figured out how to actually crosstitch without the picture on the fabric.) Anyways once I am done then the squares will be cut apart and made into a quilt. I've never done this before so this will be my first attempt. I am excited to see how it turns out. The one I am working on now will only be big enough for a baby quilt. I have another one that it butterflies that I will be working on next and that one I am making for Emily in a twin size. It is going to be beautiful. Wish me luck!

Not sure what is planned for the next few days. Probably just a whole lot of hanging out at home with the kids. With gas prices as high as they are we try to keep our driving to a minimum. I know everyone understands that. But reguardless we have lots of fun finding fun things to do here at home. Saturday we are going to my nephew Dylan's birthday party. He is going to 2yrs old on June 30th. Wow how the time flies! I remember when he was born just like it was yestarday. He is getting so big. Anyways it is going to be a spiderman pool party. We are looking forward to that. Getting out and honging out with everyone and the pool will feel great.

Thank you all for checking in and praying for us. Thank you for all the great messages also. Emily loves reading them. There is a slideshow below with some pictures from the birthday bash. They are not the best pictures, Not sure if it was the setting on the camera or the person behind the camera. LOL! (daddy was taking pictures) Daddy tries!! LOL! Anyways hope you enjoy. I will post a few more pictures later on.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 0:45 AM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY JUNE 17, 2008***

WOW!!! I can't believe it is already tuesday night. I have been meaning to do an update and post some pictures. So I promise to make time for that in the morning. It has been busy around here. Seems there is so much going on and so much to do with not enough time. Be sure to come back tomorrow though (wednesday) I will do a full update.

Hope everyone had a great fathers day.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY JUNE 13, 2008**

Just a quick update. Things here are good. Everyone is back to feeling normal. We've had fun doing lots of projects this week and yestarday we did some special fathers day projects. Emily and Charlie and their cousins were so excited about doing something special for their dad's. Only thing planned for this weekend is the birthday bash with HopeKids tomorrow. That will be fun. Hope you all have a great weekend and a wonderful Father's Day!! Wishing you an early......


glitter-graphics.com

Love and hugs,
Angela





**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Emily is finally feeling better. Her fever finally went away Saturday night and stayed away. Little Charlie is doing great also. Here is how our weekend went.

Starting with Thursday. We took Emily to the doctor. They sent her for a full blood workup and chest xray. Then we came home, gave Emily some more Tylenol and she layed down and watched tv. Thursday early evening the doctor called to let me know that most of the tests were back and were normal. Chest xray just showed asthma like activity, but nothing else. Thursday night her fever was down to 99 degrees so I gave her tylenol and we went to see Cinderella. She didn't want to miss it for anything. So we were really careful not to get to close to anyone and I made sure her fever wasn't spiking again through the show. We really enjoyed the play. It was wonderful. We were happy we got to go. Just before we left to go to the play one of our dogs had gotten out of our backyard and run away. We were all really sad, but my sisters and a good friend were searching everywhere for her. We are happy to say that she was found unharmed 3 hours after we noticed her gone. We are so happy to have her back home with us. So after the play we had to go to our friends house to pick her up. She was so happy to see us. While we were there Emily ended up falling asleep. When we got ready to leave and we woke her up we noticed she was feeling really hot. So I took her temp when we got home and it was 103.5. UGH! More tylenol and some fluids and off to bed she went.

Friday morning she woke up with a 103 fever again. I talked to the doctor and they told me to just keep giving her the tylenol and fluids and lots of rest and if she still had a fever come saturday morning then they wanted to recheck her. Friday I gave her tylenol every 4 hours with fevers between 102 and 104 all day and never coming below 101. I was really getting worried about her. She wouldn't eat or hardly drink anything. All she wanted to do was sleep. Friday night about 7:30pm I took her temp and it was at 104.2. I gave her tylenol and she went to bed for the night.

Saturday morning I got up early to check her temp and it was still 101. I called the doctor and told them what it was and how she had been the whole day before and they decided they wanted to see her again. So we took her in and they did a urine test and another strep test. Both came back negative. So she told me to keep doing what I am doing and call them back on monday. Saturday night her fever finally broke and came back down to normal.

Sunday we did things around the house and laundry. Then Saturday afternoon we went ice skating with HopeKids. The kids always love this event. I didn't do any skating, but the kids had so much fun. They had pizza and drinks and 2 hours of skating. It was loads of fun. Sunday evening we just hung out at home and tried to relax some.

Monday we spent the morning cleaning the backyard. One of our dogs got hurt in the yard last night and so we thought we should get out there and clean up the branches and pine needles that fall from the trees. It got hot out quickly, but we got it all done. Then the kids went swimming with their friends next door. Monday night we hung out and watched some tv together before Daddy had to go to bed. (he has to be up really early for work tomorrow)

Not much planned for this week. Saturday June 14th is the HopeKids birthday bash for the kids with birthdays in May and June. Emily is so excited. Rob always gets her a great gift and then they get to play lots of video games at Gameworks. I will be sure to have pictures of that. Other then that not any plans so far for us.

I am feeling better. I still feel occassional pain here and there. I do not know if I've passed the kidney stones yet. The doctor did tell me that they were small and that I may not know when they pass. Hopefully they have and I am really on the mend. I have been feeling much better since they took me off t=one of the meds that was doing more harm then good. Thank you for all the prayers and messages you have sent my way. They mean alot.

Thank you all for checking in and praying for our family. Thenk you for the messages also. We love to hear from you. (((BIG HUGS))) To All!!!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, June 3, 2008 12:02 AM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY NIGHT JUNE 6, 2008***

Emily is not feeling well at all. Her fever is at 104 right now and we have been unable to get it to come below 101 with tylenol every 4 hours. The doctor told us that if she still has a fever in the morning to call them again. Yestarday we were sent to get a full blood work up and a chest xray. Some tests have come back and are looking fine. We are still waiting on a few of the others. She is still not eating and only drinking very little. All she seems to want to do is sleep.

Please pray that her fever will come down and/or that the doctors will figure out what is causing it so we can get it taken care of. Thank you all for checking in. Thank you for the messages and the prayers.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY MORNING JUNE 5, 2008**

Just a quick update to ask for prayers for Emily. She spiked a fever yestarday of 103 and we have been unsuccessful at keeping it down. I am going to hopefully get her seen at the doctor today. Yestarday she complained of pain in her chest and throat and this morning she is complaining that her legs are hurting her. Hopefully she will get lots of rest today and we will be able to get that fever to come down so we can still go to Cinderella tonight. The kids have been looking forward to this for a few weeks now.

As for me, the doctors have taken me off of one medicine and that was the one that was causing me to feel so horrible. Yestarday was the first day of me not taking the med and I was definately feeling better. Still in some pain, but I don't feel crappy.

Thank you for checking i n and for all your prayers. I will let you know how things go with Emily.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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Hi Everyone! Sorry for the delay in updating. The weekend didn't go quite as planned. Emily is feeling good. She has had some off and on headaches, but nothing that is slowing her down. Charlie and Emily are both having so much fun so far this summer. They are spending as much time with their cousins as they can. When their cousins can't be here they are having fun playing with their friends. They have been riding bikes and playing in the water alot.

Friday night we had an unexpected trip to the ER. Around 9pm I started having severe pain in my left side and back. I thought if I just drank some water and rested that it would feel better, but over the next hour it got to the point of being unbearable. We left the kids with the neighbor and my husband took me to the er. I was puking by then, couldn't hardly walk and many other things. It didn't take them long to get me registered and back for some tests. They didn't have a bed available but they still took me in a room, put an iv in and gave me pain medicine. We were only there for 4 hours and I found out I have kidney stones. So they sent me home on a couple different meds and with some pain medicine. I am still in a good amount of pain, but tolerating it. The meds they have me on give me severe headaches, make me dizzy, blur my vision and just make me feel crappy all the way around. It has been one heck of a crappy feeling weekend for me. Please pray that the kidney stones will pass soon and I will feel better soon. The headaches and dizzyness are just horrible.

Saturday Daddy and Little Charlie went out to Papa's and Emily and I met them out there a little later. I really wanted to visit with them, but I really should not have ever gone out there. Papa's house is about 35 miles from our house. It is a good 45 minute drive at least. So Emily and I were on our way home and I was feeling so weak and tired. I was having a very hard time staying awake. We definately had angels watching over us on our drive home that day. We are so thankful that we made it home safely. Sunday was a lazy day at home most of the day. The kids played outside with their friends and I did some laundry. Monday was another relaxing day at home. I started feeling a bit better around 3pm so we decided to go out and do some food shopping and maybe grab something out for dinner. (I hadn't really eaten much in 2 days) So by the time we got done shopping and eating I was ready to go home. We got home and I was in severe pain once again. The kids went outside to play in the neighbors pool. I took some pain meds and rested awhile.

Today the kids are playing with Katelynn and Tyler (their cousins). Right now they are riding their bikes before it gets too hot outside. We don't have any plans for tomorrow. Thursday I really hope I am feeling better. I am taking all the kids (Emily, Charlie, Katelynn, Tyler and Kylie) to see the theatre production of Cinderella. They are so excited and I think it is going to be lots of fun. Please pray that I am feeling good, even if for just that short time to enjoy the show with the kids.

I don't have any pictures to share with you today. I hope to have some this week though. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. We love you all. (((HUGS)))

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday May 29, 2008 UPDATE!!!

Hi Everyone! I come tonight with a short update. We have been VERY busy this week. We have been trying to pack in as much fun as we can while Emily and Charlie's cousins were allowed to be here. We've done crafts, ride bikes, play sports, go to the park, watch a movie, play in the water and with water balloons and much more. I've put together a slide show of pictures from our week. Hope you enjoy it. Katelynn and Tyler will not be back at our house until next Tuesday. Emily and Charlie are not happy that they have to wait that long to play with their cousins again. Please continue to pray for all involved in this horrible situation that is causing so much heartache for our family.

This weekend the kids will get to spend Saturday with their other cousins, Kylie and Dylan. Also we plan to spend the day with Papa and TommyeSue on saturday. Other then that we have no plans for the rest of the weekend. Hope y ou've had a great week and that you will have a wonderful weekend. I will probably have many more pictures to share after the weekend.

Thank you for checking in and for all your prayers. Hope you enjoy the pictures. The kids really had lots of fun with all the activities that we did.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**Tuesday May 27th, 2008**

**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

(The picture above is of Emily and Charlie with their cousins, Katelynn and Tyler.)


Hi Everyone!Hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was great! The weather was beautiful! The kids are officially out of school for the summer. They are loving it already. Emily has been feeling great. Little Charlie is doing wonderful. Life is just going really good here. (except one thing) I will get into that a bit later.

Okay so last thursday was the kids last day of school. They just had half day that day. They got their report cards. Here are their grades.

Emily 3rd grade End of the year grades.

Oral/ written expression ~ C
Spelling ~ C
Math ~ B
Arts and Sciences ~ Excellent
Study and social skills ~ Satisfactory

Teachers Comments ~ I enjoyed having Emily in my class this year. Good Luck in 4th Grade!!

Reading ~ A

Teachers Comments ~ Emily has really improved this quarter. I'm Very proud of her!


Charlie's 4th Grade end of the year grades.

Spelling ~ C
Science ~ A
Language ~ B
Reading ~ B
Math ~ A
Social Studies ~ B
Art ~ C
Music ~ A
PE ~ A

This year the kids struggled alot in school. I am very proud of them for the grades they got.

Friday was the first day home with me. Emily and Charlie's cousins, Katelynn and Tyler came over. They had so much fun spending the day together. They rode bikes, played basketball, baseball, painted, watched a movie and just had fun. They haven't gotten to spend much time together this last year so they were really looking forward to spending the summer together.

This weekend we spent alot of time at home playing with the kids and hanging out. It was a great weekend and we had perfect weather. We played baseball and drew things on the driveway with chalk. The kids had alot of fun this weekend. Emily and Charlie also spent the night at Aunt Jodi and Uncle Eddie's house on Saturday night. They were really excited about that. I have a really funny picture to share with you in a bit of Emily. Aunt Jodi did her hair sunday morning and when she took it down this morning to wash it she couldn't stop laughing at the site. I will post that picture in just a minute.

We did have lots of great things planned for this week with Katelynn and Tyler. But unfortunately we had someone come and rain on our parade. So our plan of having Katelynn and Tyler here each day is no longer. We are very sad about that and the kids are just heartbroken. We do hope that it will only be that way until july though and then they will be back fulltime. We have 2 people that we use to be VERY close to that are causing alot of heartache for our family. I would like to ask that you please pray that they find it in their hearts to do the right thing in the coming month. That they can focus on moving forward and leaving us be to live our lives. That they can find happiness within their life, so they will not have to inflict any unhappiness on anyone elses life. It is so important that they know that what they are doing is hurting all the kids very much. I wish I could go into it more, but I won't. Please just pray that they do the right thing and allow for all of us to move on and be happy. Thank you!

We are planning to do more crafts this week and maybe go to the park. Also I know the kids have been wanting to set up their pool so they can play in that. I will probably have some more pictures to share with you later in the week. For now I hope that this little picture of Emily puts a smile on your face. I can't believe that just 3yrs ago she had NO hair at all.


She had her hair in pigtails and then braided. This is what it looked like when she took it down. LOL!!


Okay had to show you another. LOL!!

Thank you for checking in. Thank you also for all the prayers for our family. Hope you got a good smile at least out of the pictures. Have a great week. (((HUGS))) to all!!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 1:27 PM CDT

Hi Everyone!! Finally have a chance to get an update in. We had a wonderful weekend. It has been so hot here the last few days. Between 106-110 degrees. It is way to early for it to be this hot already. UGH!! Emily and Charlie are doing great. They are so excited about the last day of school coming up on Thursday. Thursday is also a half day. So technically they only have 1 1/2 days left til summer. They are also excited because their cousins will be spending everyday here with us during the summer. They don't get to spend near enough time with them so that will be fun. We have so many cool things planned to do during the summer.

Saturday we had Emily's birthday party. We had a house full of people and chaos. It was great! The kids had so much fun playing together. We barbequed hamburgers and hot dogs, had cake, opened presents, played in the water outside and just had lots of fun being with all our loved ones for the day. It was nice to get the whole family together. Emily got lots of great gifts. Aunt Jodi and Uncle Eddie got her a High School Musical nightgown. Aunt Kelly and Uncle Garrett got her High School Musical socks and sleeping bag. Papa and TommyeSue gave her a giftcard for Walmart. Which she loved cause that meant she got to go shopping. LOL! Janine, Jaime, Carli and Jason got her a High School Musical outfit. Little Charlie got her Designer World game for the tv. Mommy and Daddy got her new earrings, a watch, High School Musical purse, wallet and hair clips, and a music player. She really made out this year and was so happy with everything she got. Here are some pictures. We took lots of pictures. Hope you enjoy them.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 8:49 AM CDT

***EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY MAY 16, 2008***

Just a quick little update about our week. Emily's dentist appointment went great. She was a little nervous and argued quite a bit about taking the demerol, but she did finally take it. They gave her a Nintendo DS to play while they waited for the demerol to take effect. She wantsa Nintendo DS so much, so she was excited about being able to play it. The game she played was Nintendogs. It is an interactive game where you teach your pet his name, tricks, take him for walks and feed him. Well the ladies in the office couldn't figure out how to feed their pet. Emily caught on quickly and by the time it was time for us to leave she had 3 pet dogs, had taught them all their names and how to sit. Had taken them for walks and fed them all. I couldn't believe it considering she has never played it before. So that made the dentist visit fun for her. She did great though and came home ate some ice cream and layed down and took a nap. The next day her mouth was hurting a little bit so she took some tylenol and went to school.

Today in school Emily's class is having a solar Cookout. They have been learning about solar energy all week and today they are going to use solar energy to cook hot dogs. She is so excited about the cookout. Sounds like it is going to be fun.

Tomorrow is Emily's birthday party. All High School Musical! I am excited about having everyone over. I love it when our whole family gets together. I will have lots of pictures to share with you after this weekend.

Thank you for checking in and for all the messages. Emily really enjoys reading them all. Hope you have a great weekend.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

*********************************************




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**

Hi Everyone! Just a quick update before I take off to get Emily to the dentist. She is going to get 2 teeth pulled. She is very unhappy about doing it, but so far so good on her mood. Please pray she does well.

We had a great weekend. Saturday we had our pool party with HopeKids. It was so much fun. The kids still don't completely know how to swim, but they were doing great. They are catching on quickly. It was so nice to hang out with our friends with HopeKids and bbq and swim. There are some pictures below in the slideshow.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Daddy and the kids let me sleep in. They got up and cooked breakfast. It was so good. Then the kids gave me cards that the made me and a dvd movie that I really wanted. It was great. We pretty much hung out at home all day. Daddy went to the cemetary to take flowers to his mom. The kids took off next door to swim for a couple hours. I did laundry. LOL! It was a good day though.

Monday was Emily's 9th Birthday. WOW I can't believe she is 9yrs old already. Its amazing how far she has grown up. Emily had a wonderful day at school. The class sang Happy Birthday to her and she got to wear a crown all day at school. Then about a half hour before school let out Daddy and I brought cupcakes and juice for the class. We went outside and had us a little party. The kids had a blast. Emily got some presents from the Kelley family. Cathy and James Kelley sat with us at the benefit dinner. They really took a liking to Emily and wanted to get her something for ther birthday. Well they even got Charlie a couple things to. Emily was so excited when she opened her gifts. All High School Musical things. Charlie got a skateboard and protective pads. Thank you Kelley Family.

Today Emily is going to the dentist and then to get her wrist xray. I have been meaning to take her for this xray for the last month. It is to measure her bone growth. Last time we did it they determined her growth was delayed by 2yrs. So we will see what it says this time. She will not be going to school. She is just going to come home and rest up after getting her 2 teeth pulled.

Nothing else planned for the week. Saturday May 17th is Emily birthday party. She is so excited. I love when we have these parties and have the whole family all together. We are going to have some water fun, bbq and have cake and ice cream. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

Well gotta run so I am not late to the dentist. Thank you all for checking in and praying for our family. Hope you enjoy the pictures in the slideshow. (((HUGS))) to all!!!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 11:14 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY MAY 12, 2008**


glitter-graphics.com

Today is Emily's 9th birthday. I will be back for a full update later. We had a great weekend. Hope you all did to. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

***************************************





Hi Everyone! I am finally here for an update. Emily has been feeling pretty good. She is still having the off and on tummy pain, but it hasn't seemed to be as bad the last few days. Otherwise she is doing great. Little Charlie has started having some tummy issues also. I am not really sure what is up with his and they are really starting to concern me. This has been something that has been going on for months now, but again is off and on. Seems to be after he eats and his stomach starts hurting really bad. Please pray that we figure his pain out and that it is nothing serious.

Our weekend was pretty good. Saturday Emily and I went to get our hair cut. Emily hasn't had her hair cut in just over 2yrs and it was starting to split. She got kind of upset about cutting her hair. She loves her hair. But once we got there and the lady explained to her that it would grow better, healthier and faster if she cut off the split ends then Emily felt better about cutting it. Her hair was almost to her butt and we took off about 3-4 inches. So now it is around mid back or a bit longer. It looks great and Emily is happy with it. I got about 6 inches cut off mine. It is starting to get hot here and it was time for a bit shorter haircut for the summer. The rest of the day we pretty much just hung out and spent some family time together.

Sunday the kids and I went to a birthday party. It was nice to see an old friend that I haven't seen in a while. We had fun. Monday I took Emily to the dentist. She was not happy with me at all. She cried and begged me not to take her. She even hid the business card and magnet for the dentist so I could schedule the appointment or get the address off it. LOL! We made it there anyways and she was so stubborn and didn't want to go in. Finally we got inside and they did xray's and looked in her mouth. It was bad news for Emily. She needs 2 more teeth pulled. One on the top and one on the bottom, both in the front. She was so mad. The dentist explained that her big teeth are trying to grow in, but her little teeth are making it hard for them to come in the way they are suppose to. Basically those 2 little teeth should have fallen out already. The big teeth for those spots have already started to grow in, but are growing over and behind the little teeth. So they have to come out. She is not happy with this decision at all. She said she doesn't care how her teeth grow in. So we have her scheduled to have those teeth pulled on Tuesday May 13th. (the day after her birthday) They are going to try to use Demerol to help relax her for the procedure. Please pray all goes well and she is relaxed and cooperates. We all know how stubborn she can be and how much she fights when she really doesn't want something done to her.

This weekend coming up we are going to a pool party with HopeKids. The kids are so excited. Thats on saturday. Then of course Mother's Day is on Sunday. I want to go ahead and wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day in advance. I am also keepng each of the mom's in my prayers that have an angel in heaven this mother's day.

Monday May 12th is Emily's 9th birthday. She is getting so excited. We will be having her party on May 17th (saturday) Then the kids only have 2 weeks left til summer. School is out May 22nd. I am pretty excited about this. I get so bored here at home once I've gotten all my cleaning done and all. So it will be great to have the kids here to spend time with. I will also be watching my niece Katelynn and nephew Tyler this summer. We have some great things planned for the summer. Lots of crafts, the park, water days, and teaching my niece and nephew how to ride a bike. It is going to be so much fun.

This may seem like an odd prayer request, but I am going to throw it out there anyways. Emily has a test coming up that she doesn't believe she should have to take. I don't want to offend anyone so I will not give details of the test. If you would like to know more you can always email me. Anyways we talked to her about the test and Daddy also feels like she should not have to take it and that it should not be part of her grade. He just doesn't agree with it. This is the first time that she has felt so strongly about something like this and I was really not sure how to deal with it. So I told her that she should do what she feels is right. Not to cause a problem or disrupt her class though. I have a feeling that I will be getting a call from the school about this though. Please pray that she knows in her heart what is right and that if she chooses not to take this test that she does it with respect and does not cause a problem. I will update more later on how this situation worked out.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Hope you have had a great week and that you all have a wonderful weekend. (((HUGS))) to all!!!!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, April 30, 2008 11:35 PM CDT

****Edited Update Tuesday May 6, 2008 ****

I meant to come and give a full update today, but I have been fighting a headache all day that has turned into a migrain tonight. It just doesn't want to go away. It has been a while since I've had a migrain like this. Please pray with rest tonight that I will wake up without it in the morning. I will update completely tmorrow.

Emily has been doing pretty good. She has complained a few times about her belly. It seems to always be after she eats or while she is eating. It is not everyday, but it does happen more then we like. Overall things are going good though. 2 weeks left until school is out. (May 22nd) and only 6 more days until Emily's 9th birthday. (May 12th) She is so excited!

Ok I need to get some rest and hopefully this migrain will go away. Thank you for checking in and praying for us.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

***************************************




**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY MAY 1, 2008**

Here is the bookmark I told you about below. Emily was so excited to get some extra ones and she even got some of her friends that were also there saturday night.



Emily is still having some tummy issues. She is also not eating very much because of the pain. Please pray that her pain will go away and her appetite will pick up again. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

***********************************



Hi Everyone! Finally I have a bit to sit down and update. Sorry its taken so long. I really did intend to do this Tuesday. Okay so Emily has been okay for the most part. She is back to having tummy issues again.They are not constant, but I would say that out of the last 7 days she has complained at least 4 days about her tummy. Please pray for these issues to go away. Today Emily also lost a tooth. Not exatly the way she wanted to, but it was one that would have been coming out soon anyways. She bent down at school to pick something up off the ground and got hit in the mouth with another girls knee. When I picked her up the tooth was VERY loose and barely hanging on. She ended up pulling it out this evening. She said it hurt alot when she pulled it and it took a while to stop the bleeding, but she is peacefully sleeping now.

Okay so what has been going on with us? My husband and I want to tahnk you all for your prayers for him and last Thursday. We are happy to report that everything worked out the way we hoped. We were so worried about what was going to happen that day, but thankfully it all worked out for the best and the right thing was done. It is definately a huge weight off our shoulders.

Friday Little Charlie had his music show. It was a great show. I love going to these each year. Charlie had a speaking part and he did it beautifully. He was afraid he was going to forget the words, but he didn't and was great.

Saturday was the big dinner for Emily and I with HopeKids. Emily and I were so excited. It was a fancy event at the Four Seasons Resort. Emily loved that she was able to get all dressed up. We arrived at 6pm and signed in. There was a little reception with appetizers before dinner. So they told us that we could go ahead and get some food and mingle. So I took Emily to the table and she asked what was on there. I told her it was cheeses, shrimp, oysters, and crab. She instantly said, "YUCK!" So she just decided to got a coke and wait for dinner. After alot of bugging I did get her to try to crab. She discovered that she likes crab. She ended up going up to the table and getting a plate full of crab. LOL! I always tell her to at least try things once, you might find out that you like it. At 7pm we went in for dinner. It was a beautiful place. Very high class and way to fancy for me, but I was loving it. We found our table and met the people we would be sitting with. There was 3 couples at our table and Emily and I were their hosts for the night. They were all wonderful and very kind. They wanted to know all about Emily and her cancer. How she is doing now. What are things that she has done with HopeKids and how they helped us through her treatment. I gladly answered all their questions and just really loved talking with all of them. I made some wonderful new friends that night. At first Emily was quite shy, but after a short while she became the social butterfly. Talking to everyone and eating up the attention. As they started to serve dinner Emily asked why we had so much silverware. LOL! Honestly I have often wondered why they use so many different forks and spoons and knives. LOL! I told her to just start from the outside and work her way in. I had no idea what was for what I just remember hearing that you use them from the outside in. Anyways we had white asparagus soup for the first course. Emily kind of liked it. Then came Organic field green salad with goat cheese. Emily took one look at it and told them they could take it. (She doesn't like salad) Next was rasberry sorbet. Emily also did not care for that and somehow hers ended up on the floor. LOL! She said the glass slipped from her hand when she tried to pick it up. Then came the main course. Emily got chicken tenders and mashed potatoes. I got the steak and lobster. It was wonderful food and one of the only parts of the meal Emily even liked. Then for desert was a chocolate fudge cake with ice cream. Also a huge hit with Emily. After dinner Rob talked a while about the kids that are in HopeKids. He talked about the donors that help keep HopeKids going. Then the 19 kids that were there handed out these special bookmarks to each person at their table. The bookmarks have a picture of that child during treatment as then and then a picture of them now. It was a precious little gift so that each person there that night would take these kids home with them and remember what they so graciously donate for and what they do for these children. I will try to scan emily's into the computer tomorrow and post it so you can see it. Emily also got to take a couple home with her. (she was so happy about that) It was a wonderful night. We got to spend time with our friends, meet new friends and also see 2 of our golfer friends, Tom Lehman and Aaron Baddeley. We thank you Rob for asking us to be a part of such a special night. Here are a couple pictures that I took.


Emily after getting ready to go.


Emily found out that she loves crab.

Since Daddy and Little Charlie could not attend this dinner with us, they went to the moster truck show. Rob had a bunch of ticket for the saturday monster truck show, so they decided to do that instead of staying home. They had so much fun. Little Charlie was excited to spend time with Daddy just the boys. I am so glad they got this time together and that they had fun.

Sunday we stayed home and tried to catch up on some laundry and house cleaning. Since then it has been nonstop running. Plus we have been having trouble with my van, which hopefully we got taken care of today. Please pray that nothing else goes wrong with it. I am literally going broke trying to keep it running. Gotta love car problems!

I can't believe it is May already. Emily turns 9yrs old on May 12th. Time truly does fly. I remember when she was just 5yrs old and going through treatment. It feels like it was just yestarday. Now she is just over 3yrs off treatment and for the most part she is doing good. She is going to be 9yrs old and I tell you she acts like she is 15yrs old. LOL! We are going to have a party for her on May 17th. She has picked High School Musical theme for her party. That is definately her favorite thing right now.

I don't think we have any plans for this weekend yet. Maybe we will get the chance to relax and just spend some time here at home together as a family. Monday Emily will be going to the dentist. She is so mad at me for making this appointment. But I notice her other front tooth is coming in and it is growing over the tooth next to it. I just want to make sure they do whatever they are able to do to help that tooth grow the right way. Please pray that she will be okay at the dentist and that she will not put up to much of a fight. She is really scared about going.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Thank you also for all the messages. They mean so much to us. Love and Hugs to all of you!!!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 11:05 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY APRIL 28, 2008**

I promise to update after I drop the kids off at school tuesday. We had a pretty good weekend. Emily and I had so much fun at the dinner and we met lots of wonderful people. I only have a couple pictures to share though. The picture above was taken just before we left. This is the dress Emily picked out to wear. She looked beautiful. Be sure to check back for a full update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela






Hi Everyone! Where to begin? Well let me start with the good news. Emily has been feeling good. No tummy aches in the last 4-5 days. That is great. She has been having a little bit of the noisy breathing and lots of coughing lately though. But it is definately not slowing her down. Little Charlie has been feeling good also. He was having some tummy issues as well. But all is well. They are excited about only having 4 1/2 weeks left in school. Then the summer is here and their cousins are going to be spending everyday with us. They are really excited about that. They don't get to hang out nearly enough.

So last week was pretty good. I had some car troubles, but other then that it was just a typical week for us. Saturday we went to my sister house and spent the day there. My brother in law helped my husband fix my van. Then we all went to eat dinner together. It was really nice spending time with them. As I said before, we just don't get to hang out as much as we would all like. Sunday started out as a typical sunday. My husband has an obligation every sunday that takes him away for a few hours and so the kids and I stayed home and cleaned and did laundry. After Daddy got home I decided to head over to our storage unit to get something out for my sister. That is when I discovered that someone had broken into the unit and trashed it. I was so devastated. I called the police and filed a report, but they were unable to get any prints and the security cameras at the storage place were not working. (They were stolen a few months ago) Sunday we were so hurt and heartbroken that there was no way we could go through the unit. So we closed up the door and went home to grieve for our loss. We knew the most important things were no longer there. We explained what happened to the kids and they were so sad. Monday I went back to the unit to clean it up and take inventory. The police wanted me to send them a list of what was missing. I got to the unit at 8am and I worked on it until about noon. I was so sad to discover everything was gone except our Christmas stuff, some craft things and some camping stuff. The box that had letter and cards that were sent to Emily during treatment was torn up and thrown everywhere. My husbands Nascar collection is gone, boxes of books, luggage sets, all of my in laws things that were left for my kids or my husband is gone, the few things I had left of my mom is gone and so much more. What was not stolen was ripped from the packages and thrown into the unit. Picture frames broken, pages torn from photo albums, all sentimental things were just destroyed. We are all so far beyond hurt and just don't understand how someone could do this. We will probably never get our things back and that makes us very sad, especially for our children. Since they lost all the things their grandparents left them. Some of those can be replaced, but most cannot. Even if we replace it, it will not be the same. Please continue to pray for our family. For peace and comfort. I believe that all things happen for a reason. I sure would like to know what the reason is for all this and all the bad luck that seems to loom over our heads. =(

I would also like to ask that you pray for my husband for tomorrow. I cannot go into detail about what it is, but God knows his needs. This is yet again something that could really turn our life upside down. We just want to be able to put tomorrow behind us and move forward. Please pray things turn out the way we need them to.

Friday little Charlie has his music show. He is really excited about this show. He has been working hard on his songs and he also has a speaking part. I can't wait to see it. I am sure that he will do great.

Saturday night Emily and I are going to a benefit dinner with HopeKids. It is a fancy event and Emily is so excited about getting all dressed up for the occasion. I will be sure to take pictures. Other then that we don't really have any plans.

Hope you are all haveing a great week and have a wonderful weekend. I will update again soon. Thank you for checking in and praying for us. It means so much to us. (((HUGS))) to all!!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, April 14, 2008 4:12 PM CDT

*****EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY NIGHT APRIL 22, 2008*****

It has been a very emotional last couple days. I will be back on tomorrow morning and I will do a full update. Thank you for checking in and please keep praying for us. The kids are still very hurt by what happened over the weekend. Health wise everyone is doing good though. Check back later for more.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

***********************************






***EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY NIGHT, APRIL 20, 2008***

I'm here briefly tonight to ask for some extra prayers for our family. About a month ago we had to get a storage unit for all our extra stuff we had stacked up in the backyard that use to be in the garage at the other house we lived in. Well today I went to the unit to pick something up, only to find that it had been broken into. SO much stuff was stolen and what wasn't stolen was destroyed. Most of what was in there was stuff that my in-laws left for the kids and for my husband. My husbands whole Jeff Gordon Nascar collection, Little Charlie's baseball collection, Emily's collectible Barbie's and so much more sentimental and irreplaceable items. I have to go back tomorrow and sort through the wreckage that use to be our belongings. It is going to be very hard. I can't believe someone could do this. There were things in there such as cards and things that Emily recieved while she was going through treatment that I saved for her. Those cards were all torn apart and thrown everywhere. It makes no sense to any of us. We are all very heartbroken. It seems the bad luck cloud is just looming over us.

Thank you in advance for your prayers. I will try to update tomorrow sometime. Please pray for peace for our family. Pray they will hopefully, by some miracle be able to catch whoever did this. Also please pray that we will maybe, just maybe recover some of the items stolen. (they mean so much to us) One last thing, please pray for me as I sort through the unit tomorrow and try to salvage what I can.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

*************************************






First I would like to ask you all to pray for our friend Super Sam. She did not get the results she was hoping for from her latest scans. I was so heartbroken when I read the update. But we are not giving up hope and believing in her miracle. So please pray with us and believe with us for this amazing young lady.

Ok so onto the update about our weekend. We hope that you all had a great weekend. Ours was fun. I have some pictures to share also. I do want to ask that you say a few extra prayers for Emily and her belly. It has been hurting her alot the last couple days. We have never been able to figure out what is wrong with her and not much that we do helps the pain go away. Usually it is just a waiting game. Please pray that the pain will go away soon.

Saturday we went to a birthday party for our old neighbors little girl. The kids had a blast. They had it out at the park. It was a princess party so at first Charlie was feeling a little out of place, but he had fun playing at the park while the girls did all the princess things. Then he came over and enjoyed some food and cake. After leaving the party we went to pick up Charlie's glasses. There are pictures in the slide show below. He was so amazed by the difference when he put his glasses on. He said that when he put them on the world looked brighter and clearer. I was so happy to hear that. He looks very handsome in hs glasses also. Saturday night Daddy got to go to the Nascar race with a couple friends from work. He had really great seats and was right in front of Jeff Gordon's pit stop. He is daddy's favorite driver. He had a good time.

Sunday was our annual HopeDay at Bumblebee Ranch with HopeKids. We were very sad that Daddy was unable to go with us. (long story) Unfortunately Daddy doesn't get to spend much time during the day with us on the weekends. The kids are really missing that. Hopefully soon we will be able to get our weekends back with him. Anyways so the kids and I drove out there. This is our favorite event of the year. The kids get to do the hummer rides, horse back riding, paintball targets, archery targets, the rock wall, and so much more. Over 350 people were in attendance this year. It was wonderful. As soon as we got there the kids were off to the hummer rides. They were gone for a good hour on that. They said that was so much fun. (I didn't go with them) They had a new thing this year that was tight rope walking. The kids really wanted to try that. They both did great with little help. Emily of course tried her hardest again this year to make it to the top of the rock wall. She didn't quite make it all the way up there but she doesn't give up. I love that about her. We all had a wonderful lunch and just got to hang out with a great bunch of people. We want to say thank you to Tim and Willy for making this event possible each year. Tim and Willy are no longer on the radio, but their Kids Fundation is what makes this event possible each year. Also thank you to Ken and his wife, whom live at bumblebee ranch. A big huge thank you to Rob and HopeKids for this event every year. We hope that this will continue for many more years. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 0:26 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY EVENING**

Emily has her new glasses and she loves them. I posted one picture at the top of the page. Doesn't she look SO cute? If you stop by please leave her a qick message. I know she would love to hear what you all think of her new glasses.

Love and Hugs,
Angela


Hi everyone! I am a little later then I had planned on getting this update done, but I am here. LOL! Emily and Charlie are doing great. This week is AIMS testing at school. The kids always get a bit nervous when taking these tests. (Especially Emily) Please pray that they are able to be relaxed and are able to concentrate and do great. We will be going Tuesday afternoon to pick up Emily's glasses. I know this will help her with her reading of these tests and to focus more at school. That is my hope anyways. I will post a picture as soon as she gets them. She is really excited about getting them and can't wait to wear them.

We had a great weekend full of fun and family. On saturday we had Charlie's birthday party. Everyone came over, we barbequed hamburgers and hot dogs, played on the trampoline and the slip and slide. Opened presents and had cake and ice cream. Then we just all hung out and had fun being all together as a family. We took lots of pictures. He had a great birthday and I want to thank everyone that came for making it a great day. We love you all.

Sunday I took the kids to the park. We played raquetball, basketball and played on the playground. The kids also climbed trees like a couple of monkeys. LOL! I took my camera with me and they were just begging for me to take pictures. Of course anyone that knows me, knows that you don't have to beg for me to take pictures. LOL! I got a bunch of really great ones. There are a few in the photo album. Be sure to check them out if you haven't already. Here are some more of our fun filled weekend. Enjoy!

Thursday, April 3, 2008 7:29 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE SUNDAY NIGHT APRIL 6, 2008**

****NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM****

Hope you all had a great weekend. We did and I have lots of pictures to share. I promise to get on here in the morning and get an update and some more pictures up. Until then please enjoy the few I put up from today at the park. The kids were in the mood for pictures today. They were practically begging me to take their picture. LOL! Enjoy and be sure to check back later on Monday for a full update and more pictures.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Hope you are having a wonderful week. Mine has been quite busy. Emily is doing great. She is feeling good and has no complaints. She is getting really excited about getting her glasses. They should be in tomorrow or Monday. I will be sure to take a picture as soon as she gets them and post it. She really does look SO cute in her glasses. Little Charlie is also doing great. He turned 10yrs old last saturday. We are having his party this saturday. He is getting really excited. Both are working hard at school to try to pull their grades up even more before the end of the school year. Only 9 more weeks left to school. This year sure did fly by fast. They are excited about summertime coming. Next year they will be starting in a new school. I am going to enroll them in the school that is by our new house.

Saturday was Little Charlie's birthday. We made cupcakes and the kids had the neighbor kids over to play on the slip and slide. They had so much fun and it was a perfect day for it. He had a great day on his birthday. Still looking forward to this saturday though when he has his official birthday party.

Sunday we hung out at home most of the day. Did some yard work and cleaning. Monday and Tuesday felt like they ran together for me. I was out running errands and trying to get last minute stuff for the party. I still have to get all the food. Yikes! Wednesday I went to the ER for my belly pain. Finally someone actually took the time to really look into what is going on. They checked out everything that could possibly be causing it. Diagnosis is Abdominal pain of the uncertain origin. UGH! Well at least I know that it is nothing serious and all looks healthy in there. The doctor says he thinks that I have developed scar tissue from when I had my gall bladder removed. He said that will often time cause lots of pain. Seems I just got the same answer about my belly pain as we got for Emily's belly pain. So I have something for pain and feel somewhat relieved to have at leats some sort of answer.

Today Emily had an appointment with her growth doctor. She continues to stay on her normal growth pattern. That is good news. He says as long as she continues to stay on the line of her growth chart then he is not concerned. She is just going to be shorter then most kids her age. He is going to continue to monitor her every 6 months. He will only get concerned if she just stops growing all together. So all in all that was a good visit.

Little Charlie had his eye exam today. Unfortunately he does not have insurance and he needed glasses as well. We got a good deal on 2 sets of frames and they look great on him. Geez glasses are just so darn expensive though. But he needed them and that was priority. He is also getting excited about getting his glasses. He has the opposite problem Emily does. He has a hard time seeing far. (same as me) So they want him to wear his glasses when he is looking at the board at school, watching tv, playing video games, but he should take them off when reading. He should have his glasses in 7-10 days. I will post pictures when he gets them.

I would like to ask for a few extra prayers for our family. I don't want to go into detail about them, but they are not huge major things. Just things that have us very stressed and a bit worried. Thank you for all your prayers for us. They mean so much to us.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Also thank you so much for your messages. We love to read them. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I will post pictures from the party after this weekend. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Friday, March 28, 2008 1:26 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY APRIL 2, 2008**

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been so busy this week. I promise to update completely tomorrow early evening. Emily has a doctors appointment with the endocrinologist. (growth doctor) Pray we get good news that she is still following a normal growth pattern. Also Little Charlie is going to the eye doctor. He is complaining also about his eyes. My husband and I both wear glasses, so I figured the kids would probably need them at some point. Please pray that he does well with the eye tests. (Mostly the dialation part) I promise to update after both appointments and tell you how they went and what we have been up to.

Thank you for checking in and praying for us.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! I finally got the results from Emily's chest xray today. It came back CLEAR! She is now just over 3 years cancer free. WOOHOO!! I took Emily into the eye doctor today. She has been having lots of headaches over the last month or two. She also started complaining that it was hard for her to see the board at school. Next week Emily will be the proud owner of her first pair of glasses. She has a stigmatism and she is far sighted. They told her that she would need to wear her glasses when she is at school, reading, doing homework, when she is on the computer and when she is watching tv. If she does this then they said she may only need to wear her glasses for the next year or two and then she may not need them anymore. She picked out her glasses today and I must say, she looks VERY cute in them. She picked out a very cute set of frames. I was surprised that she is pretty excited about getting her glasses. They said she should have them by the middle to end of next week. I will be sure to post a picture as soon as she gets them.

I also got Emily's report card to. Here is what her grades are.

Reading ~ C
Teachers notes ~ Emily is having a difficult time in school. She needs to remain focused on her work and not on the work of others. WPM= 67

Oral/written expression ~ C
Spelling ~ C
Math ~ B
Social Studies ~ Satisfactory
Science ~ Satifactory
Art ~ Excellent
Music ~ Excellent
PE ~ Excellent

Teachers notes ~ Emily still needs to remain focused during class time.

All Emily's grades have fallen just a bit, but we are still happy with them. I am wondering if she is having a hard time focusing because she needed glasses. I think that would explain why she is helping the other kids with thier work more then she is focusing on doing her work. The eye doctor said she is having a harder time seeing and reading things that are closer to her. I do hope that getting her glasses will help her focus on her school work more. She said she is trying, but gets a headache almost everyday at school. I do wish she had come to me about this issue sooner. But I am glad that we are getting it taken care of now.

Little Charlie's 10th birthday is on saturday March 29th. I am going to make cupcakes and he is going to have some friends over to play on the slip and slide. We are holding off on his actual party until April 5th. (next saturday) I can't believe he is going to be 10yrs old already. Time sure does fly and they grow up way to quick. He also seems to be going through a huge growth spurt. He has gone up 2 sizes in shoes over the last month. I also got his spring pictures that they took at school. His picture came out great. I don't think I will be buying them this year, but I will be sure to scan one into the computer so I can share it with you before I send them back to the school. Also if you didn't get a chance to check out Charlie's grades, be sure to check my last journal entry. He is very proud of his report card.

Not to much else has been going on. Its been a fairly quiet week. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Hope you all have a great weekend. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, March 24, 2008 9:58 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY MARCH 25, 2008**

I wanted to come on tonight to share Charlie's report card with you. He is so proud of this report card.

Spelling ~ C
Science ~ A
Language ~ B
Reading ~ B
Math ~ A
Social Studies ~ B
Art ~ B
Music ~ A
P.E. ~ A

Teachers comments ~ Showing great improvement on spelling. A pleasure to have in class.

Most of you will remember that at midterm reports Charlie had an F in spelling. He is so proud of himself that he was able to bring that grade up to a C by report card time. He worked so hard on his spelling. I am so proud of him.

I haven't recieved Emily's report card yet, but I will be sure to share that as soon as I get it.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!**

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend. We did! Emily and Charlie are doing pretty good overall. They have both been having some stomach issues the last couple days. It seems to bother them for the first few hours of the day and then it seems to go away. Not to sure what is causing it, but I am sure it is nothing major.

The kids had a great spring break. They really enjoyed having a week off school and being able to play with the other kids all day long. The weather has been great for them to play outside. (mid to upper 70's)

Saturday we went to Papa and TommyeSue's house. We all had so much fun. We took lots of pictures. Papa has big round sand circle that he dropped $4 in change into and covered over it for the kids to dig through and find the money. They all had so much fun with that. Even I got in there to help them towards the end. Papa sat right down on the ground and got in there with them to. I think Little Charlie got $1 and Emily got .80 cents. There was 6 grandkids in there digging. After a while of using their hands they decided to bring in the big tonka trucks to help them dig. LOL! Then it was time for the easter egg hunt. Well my dad lives on 5 acres as you can imagine there was lots of room to hide eggs. We hid 80 of them and no we didn't use the whole 5 acres. LOL! That would have taken them all week to find them all if we did that. They all did really good. They found all the eggs except one. Good thing they were plastic eggs and real ones. Some eggs had candy and others had money. Then the kids all got to dye hard boiled eggs to take home with them. Emily and Charlie always love doing this. There were plenty of eggs to dye also. (4 1/2 dozen) Then we ate and just hung out. The kids and the dads and Papa were throwing foam footballs at each other. It was like they were playing dodgeball with foam footballs. They were having so much fun though. It was really nice to have the whole family together and having so much fun. Here are some pictures.

Sunday, March 16, 2008 10:09 PM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY MARCH 21, 2008**

Hi Everyone! The kids have been having a great spring break. The weather has been beautiful and they've spent alot of time outside playing.

Hope you have all had a great week and will have a wonderful Easter. Saturday we are going to Papa and TommyeSue's house to have an Easter egg hunt for all the grandkids and dinner. We are all looking forward to that. I am sure I will have pictures to share after this weekend. Have a wonderful weekend and a very Happy Easter.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




**NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM**


Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. Ours was busy. We did lots of work around the house but still managed to have some fun to. First let me tell you that Emily has been feeling good. Some complaints here and there of belly pain, but nothing major. We still haven't heard anything about her chest xray. Please just keep thinking positive thoughts and I will let you know as soon as I have some results. Little Charlie is feeling great and doing great.

Friday started spring break for the kids. They had a great day playing with the neighbor kids. I spent the day out in the backyard trying to get it straightened up and cleaned. Our patio has been our storage shed for the last 5 months and I really wanted to have my patio back. I promised the kids I would finally set up their trampoline. So all the kids parked their bikes and came to the backyard to help me set it up. It only took about 30 minutes to get done. Then the kids jumped on it for about 30 minutes to an hour. Within that time someone came by and stole Emily's brand new bike that she got for Christmas. All the other bikes were still there, but Emily's was gone. She is so upset. She went on a search for her bike. She thought maybe she left it next door at her friends house. She walked down the street and looked everywhere. She searched the whole backyard and it was just no where to be found. She cried so much that night. We told her that when we got the money we would replace her bike and that from now on they need to make sure that no matter what they don't leave them out front. I can't believe someone would just come by and steal it right out of our driveway. It was up by the house to. So its not like they could just grab it and run. They actually had to come up by the house to get it. UGH!

Saturday the kids and I spent more time out in the backyard and also dong laundry. At one point Emily was out front and saw a bunch of teenagers riding by on bikes and she yelled "Thats my bike!" They stopped and looked at her and sat there for a bit, but as soon as I stepped out the door they took off and we haven't seen them since. The way she knew it was her bike is because she had a broken reflector and she had taken stickers and put EMILY on the middle bar. I can't believe they were that bold to steal it one day and then ride past our house the next. We have no idea who they were so we couldn't do anything about finding them again. But we took her to the store and let her pick out the one that she wants. So we are going to buy her the one she picked today. Then we started moving all the boxes off the back patio and putting them into storage. It looks so nice in the backyard now.

Sunday we stuck around the house most of the day until about 2:30pm. Then we went ice skating with HopeKids. Ok well I didn't exactly skate, but the kids and daddy did. They had so much fun. We saw lots of our friends that we hadn't seen in a while, ate pizza and skated for 2 hours. I didn't get many good pictures of them skating. By the time I snapped the picture they were already past me. LOL! They are getting really good on those ice skates. This is an event they do once a month during the warmer months. The kids really enjoy it so much.

I would like to ask you for a few small prayers for myself. I am still in a tremendous amount of pain in my stomach. So far they have been unable to tell me what is causing this pain. Some days it is a tolerable pain, other it is so bad that all I want to do is just lay down all day. A friend of mine has given me something to try. It is all natural. She works with naturopathic remedies. At this point I am willing to try anything to lessen the pain or even take it away completely. I still plan on going to see the specialist as soon as I can also. Anyways please pray that this helps me in some way. Also please pray that I will be able to see the right doctor soon and they will figure out this pain and help take it away for good. Thank you in advance for your prayers.

The kids are out of school for the next week. I am not sure what we will do, but hopefully I will find something fun for us to do. Maybe we will spend some time at the park. I know the kids will love that. Hope you enjoy the new pictures. If you haven't checked them out yet be sure to check out the ones in the photo album. I promise to update as soon as I know something on the chest xray.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. Thank you also for all the great messages. Emily has loved reading your comments on the tarantula. LOL! She still carries that picture around. Have a great week!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 0:32 AM CDT

**EDITED UPDATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH 12, 2008**

We are done at the doctors and Emily is back at school. Emily was so excited to see Dr Cohen. She really misses him when she hasn't seen him in a while. (its been 6 months since her last visit) Ok so her blood counts are good, she grew 3/4 of an inch taller and gained about a couple pounds. He listened to her lungs and said she sounded a bit wheezey. So we were sent right over to the hospital for a chest xray. Of course we don't have results today and probably will not get them for a few days or so. Please pray that it will come back clear. She has now been just over 3 years off treatment. This is huge and we are so excited to be at this point.

Emily has insisted that I post the picture of the tarantula. (if you have not read about it yet, scroll down and read my update from early this morning) So I am putting the picture in the photo album all the way at the bottom for those of you that would like to take a look at it. She loves this picture and was not freaked out by it at all. (Unlike Me!! LOL) So if you would like to look it will be there.

Thank you for checking in and please pray for a clear xray!

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! Hope you are having a great week so far. Ours is going ok. Emily is feeling pretty good. She has a doctors appointment with her oncologist on Wednesday March 12th (today) I will update with what he says after her appointment. It is just a routine 6 months visit and I think we will be talking about getting scans done. I am not totally sure since Emily has never been on a set schedule for scans. I will be sure to let you know as soon as I know something.

Little Charlie is doing great. He finished his meds on Monday and his sores are totally gone. We are crossing our fingers that they will not return again. I have some great news that Charlie wanted me to share with you. He got his spelling test back from last week and he got a 90 percent on it. He only missed 3 words out of 30. I am so proud of him. He was so excited about that test and proud of himself also. He also told me today that he thinks he brought his F in spelling up to at least a C. He has been working very hard. Report cards will be coming out soon I believe so we will wait and see what it says.

Saturday we went out to Papa and TommyeSue's house. I have been having some problems with my van and so my dad said he would take a look at it for me. He got that all fixed up for me in no time and then we stayed for a while and visited. It was a great visit. Here is kind of a funny but creepy story from that night out at my dad's. So Emily was inside playing video games with Jason and I was outside talking to my dad and Tommyesue. Well all of a sudden Tommyesue said, "Oh my goodness look at that." and she pointed to the ground just off to the side of me. Boy do I wish she had told me what I was looking at before I looked. I looked down and there was a big Tarantula crawling into the garage where we were standing talking. I totally freaked out like the thng was going to attack me and I ran. Of course everyone laughed at me. LOL! Emily, Jason and Alisa came out and looked at it and then took pictures. I had to get a good picture of it on my camera so I could show Little Charlie and Daddy. (they were at the races) So Tommyesue took my camera and got a great picture of it. Then my dad picked it up and relocated it gently as to not kill it. They live out on 5 acres of land in the middle of nowhere. LOL! I've never seen a tarantula in real life like that. It really freaked me out. Well Emily and Little Charlie have been carrying the picture of it around to show everyone at school and in the neighborhood. They think it is the coolest thing. I was going to put the picture up here but then I didn't want to freak anyone else out. So if you would like to see the picture then just shoot me an email. I know Emily would love to share it with everyone if she could. LOL!

Sunday was spent cleaning, running errands, and food shopping. It was a very stressful day here for me. It was just not a good day. But I made it through it and Monday was a brand new day. Monday I took my van through emissions, paid some bills and did more cleaning. Little Charlie's brithday is coming up and there are many parts of our house that still looks like we just moved in. I want to make sure that the house looks good for his birthday. We are not sure what we are going to do yet.

I feel like I am forgetting something. I will be back tomorrow with an update on how the doctors appointment went. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. It means so much to us. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, March 3, 2008 10:23 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY MARCH 4, 2008**

Well I took Charlie to the doctor today and they told me he has a staph infection. Apparently the infection was resistant to the antibiotics that he was prescribed before so they gave him a stronger one. So he is back to taking those for another 7 days. Plus they gave me a cream to put on it twice a day for 5 days. Hopefully that will take care of the infection once and for all. Thankfully this antibiotic he takes only twice a day so we will not have to wake him up in the middle of the night to take it like the other one. He likes that. LOL!

Other then that all is well. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela



Hi Everyone! Okay so I meant to get on here earlier, but time got away from me today. So here I am. Emily is doing great. She has been feeling good and has had no more issues with her hands shaking or anything of that nature. We are very happy about that. Little Charlie will be going back to the doctor tomorrow morning. His left thigh is covered in those sores again. They are really nasty and hurting him very much. He just finished those antibiotics not long ago for the same thing. We are hoping this doctor will be able to tell us better what it is and give him the right meds to take it away for good. Please pray for answers and for them to stop hurting him so much. I am still dealing with lots of pain as well. I just got done taking my meds and still not feeling better and sometimes feeling worse. UGH! I do hope to have answers soon. Until then please just pray for minimal pain for me.

Well we really haven't been up to much lately. Last week was pretty much a relaxing week for me. Saturday was My sister Jodi's wedding. We are were all really excited about it and couldn't wait to spend some time with family and share in her special day. Well she had asked me tot ake all the pictures for her. That is just what I did to. I took 450 pictures that day. So many good pictures. I am so happy that I was able to capture this very special occasion for Jodi and Eddie. I will share them in a bit. We arrived at my dad's house at around 11am. The wedding was set to start at 2pm. I wanted to start taking pictures of everything and then everyone as they arrived. It was such a beautiful day out. The weather was perfect and the day moved along just perfectly for them. I was definately brought to tears many times. Jodi looked great, Kylie looked beautiful, Eddie looked sharp and my dad was feeling great and looking wonderful. I feel honored that I was the one chosen to capture these priceless memories. Congratulations Eddie and Jodi. We love you. It was a beautiful wedding.

Here are about 90 of the 450 pictures I took. LOL!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 0:05 AM CST

**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY MARCH 3, 2008***

NEW PICTURES IN THE PHOTO ALBUM!!

I promise a full update later. I just wanted to share a few pictures from this weekend. I will share more later with the update. Be sure to check back later.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2008**

Hi Everyone! I wanted to come on tonight and let you know that Emily has not had trouble with her hand tremors since Wednesday morning. Not sure what they were all about, but for now they are gone and we hope that they will stay gone. Little Charlie got his spelling test back and he got a B. He was so excited when he brought that test home. We have been working hard on his spelling words so he hopes to bring another good test home this week to.

The kids are doing great. I on the other hand am still in a great deal of pain and still getting no answers as to why. I have been trying to take it easy this week and get lots of rest. We have a busy day on saturday with my sisters wedding. No plans for sunday as of yet.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Thank you for checking in and praying for our family.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi Everyone! I know I have been slacking on updates lately. LOL! Things are going ok here. Emily has been feeling good until today. (I will explain in a bit) Little Charlie has been working extra hard on his spelling words each night. He took his spelling test on monday and thinks he only missed 3 words out of 30. YAY!! This week Emily is doing lots of testing for the AIMS tests. She came home yestarday all excited about the math portion she took. The last time she took it she was below grade level. Yestarday she was at a high meets grade level almost above grade level. She was so proud of herself.

Our weekend went great. We have spent alot of time together as a family. Daddy is really trying to spend more good quality time with us. It has meant alot to the kids. We didn't really do anything exciting over the weekend, but it was a good weekend. Sunday the kids and I spent the day at my sisters house. Her husband did all the brakes on my van. I am so thankful he did that. I had absolutely no back brakes. I knew my brakes were bad, but I had no idea they were that bad. Thank you so much Garett for keeping us safe and doing my brakes for me.

Monday I spent the day in the ER. My stomach pains are back and really bad. So after 9 hours in the ER I left with still no answers. They yet again said that I have a UTI. I have this pain all the time and at times it gets really bad. I just wish they could figure out why its there. So for now I am on some antibiotics and they are hoping that is all it is. I can tell you right now that isn't all it is. I have gone in circles with this pain for quite some time now. They put me on antibiotics and the pain is still there when I am done with the meds. I go back to the doctor and they tell me they can't find anything wrong. Please pray for this pain to go away. It is really frustrating to have pain for no reason.

Today (tuesday) Emily's teacher called me at about 9:30am. He was very concerned about Emily. During readin class she walked up to him with a look of concern and told him that her hands were shaking and she couldn't get them to stop. I went up to the school and talked to her about it. Asked her if she was feeling weird at all. Meaning dizzy, light headed, nauseous, or anything. She said she was feeling a little dizzy and couldn't stop her hands from shaking. We talked it over and decided to have her finish up her test and have some lunch and see if that helped. The shaking in her hands was more like tremors, not really full uncontrollable shaking. So the teacher called me after lunch and said her hands were still doing it and she was really bothered by it. She wanted to stay at school though. So I called her pediatricians office to see if they had any suggestions. For some reason they wanted me to call her oncologist instead. So I've left message at his office and will try him back again tomorrow. Hand tremors is something we have not dealt with before. So it is a little concerning to me. I am thinking it may have to do with stress or maybe her being nervous about the testing they are doing this week. Please pray that is all it is and that it is not anything medically wrong. She was still having trouble with it tonight, but didn't seem to be as bad. Like it wasn't continuous, but rather off and on. Praying she wakes up without the shakes tomorrow and that it stays away.

Nothing planned for the rest of the week. Saturday my sister Jodi will be getting married. She has asked me to take the pictures at her wedding. I am SO excited about this. As you all know how much I love to take pictures. It is suppose to be a beautiful day out also. The wedding is going to be outdoors at my dads house. Please pray that all goes well and that I get lots of great photos for her to treasure.

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family. It really means so much to us. I promise to update if there are any changes with Emily's hand tremors. Hope you have a great week and a wonderful weekend if I don't get on before then. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!!!

Please remember to pray for our fellow wilms tumor fighters. They can be found Here. Also please continue your prayers for our friend Samantha. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families, here are just a few of them Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also we ask that you keep in your prayers our soldier friends Ryan Kules, and Maj Daniel Gade and thier families. They are doing great and we wish them the best always. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:11 AM CST

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend and you week is going well also. We had a busy weekend, but fun. The kids are doing better. Charlie has been taking his meds and his sores seem to be healing and not causing him any pain anymore. I am so glad about that. Emily's sore's never got worse and actually got better on their own with just some neosporin. She only had a couple. Hopefully that is behind us now.

Friday I went out with some friends and my sister for a girls a night out. We had alot of fun. Saturday the kids and I met with my sisters for lunch. Kind of a pre wedding thing. My sister Jodi is getting married on March 1st. It was a nice lunch. Then we went oout to my dad's house to visit and put together some favor and stuff for the wedding. It was so nice to see my dad. The kids had fun visiting with Papa and following Jason around. They got to ride the quad and help Papa lay some brick. They really enjoyed themselves and didn't want to go home. LOL!

Sunday we stayed around the house and did lots of cleaning. The kids and I cleaned out their rooms and hung pictures and put stuff where it belongs. It practically took the whole day to do their rooms. Things have been not so great around here so we pretty much left most of their stuff in boxes. They are so happy to have normal rooms now. With stuff on the walls and room to play. Sunday night Daddy took us out to dinner. We went to a Mexican food place that we use to go to all the time with his parents. We hadn't been there in so long. It was really nice.

Monday the kids were out of school for Presidents day. We took the kids to the park to play. We had so much fun. We got Daddy to go with us. (that doesn't happen often) The kids were so excited. They played football and frisbee. They had daddy running all over the place. LOL! Then they went to the monkey bars, slides, swings, and this zip line type thing. They were having so much fun. It was a beautiful day for it to. Here are some pictures from our day at the park.

Thursday, February 14, 2008 0:16 AM CST

**EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY NIGHT FEBRUARY 19, 2008**

Hi Everyone. I promise to update fully tomorrow. It is late and i am very tired. I did want to come on and let you know that the kids' infections seem to be clearing up. They are no longer in any pain from the sores and the sores seem to be healing.

I put some new pictures in the photo album. Hope you enjoy them. Check back later for a full update.

Love and Hugs,
Angela







**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2008**


glitter-graphics.com

I know its a little late, but better late then never. Ok so I wanted to ask for a few prayer for the kids again. The last couple weeks they both had a couple little sores show up. Emily had one on her arm and 2 on her legs. Little Charlie's showed up on his butt. (poor kid) Well they appeared like they were getting better and going away. Well Charlie came to me today and said he was really hurting and showed me his butt. LOL! Well the sores spread and there were more of them. I took him to urgent care and they told me he has some sort of infection. So now he is on antibiotics. Now I will be making Emily an appointment tomorrow to see if she has the same thing. I have no idea where they picked it up from, but they are both complaining of them hurting alot. So I ask that you pray they go away real soon so they will stop hurting.

I also want to say Thank You Lisa. I got my valentine gift today. I can't express to you how much it means to me. (((BIG HUGS)))

Thank you for checking in and praying for our family.

Love and Hugs,
Angela




Hi everyone! I meant to come on way sooner then this to update. Today has been a rather rough day here. So glad for it to be over. Ok so here goes. Emily is feeling good health wise. She has had no complaints except for belly pain here and there but nothing major. Emotionally she is not doing so good. I will explain some later. Little Charlie is doing good. He came down with a bit of a cold last weekend, but got over it fairly quickly. I am hanging in there. Pretty much all I can say about me.

Okay so here is what we have been up to lately. Friday night I went out with my sister in law Nicki. We had lots of fun and it was much needed. Saturday we stayed around the house for much of the day. Then Saturday evening the kids and I went to a friends house to hang out. I just got back in touch with this friend a couple months ago and it has been so nice talking with him and his wife. The kids had a blast playing with thier kids. It was nice to sit and catch up. We looked at pictures, talked about old times, played with the kids and just had fun. Sunday was not such a great day around our house. It was just one of those stressful kinda days.

Monday Emily decided to put one heck of a scare into all of us. She got dropped off at school at 8am just like every other day. She went onto the playground and walked back to where the buses let the kids off to meet with one of her friends. Well her friend asked her if she wanted to ditch school. Emily said no at first, but her friend kept asking her so Emily finally said yes. So Emily and 2 other little girls walked right out the back gate and off campus. They returned to school around 9am or so. She said they walked through the neighborhood, down an alley and to a park almost 1/2 mile from the school. They then decided that it would be best to go back to school. I was so upset when the principal called me to tell me all of this. I had so many thoughts run through my head. All the "What If...." questions. The principal talked to me and told me that he had talked to all 3 girls and it seems that it was one girls idea and peer pressure played a big role in Emily going. So he decided not to punish her. He figured I could handle that end of it. So I got there Monday afternoon and she was afraid to get in the car. She knew that I already knew what she had done. So she got in and I told her to tell me what happened and why she did it. Well she pretty much told me the same story the principal told me. Then she had us both crying when she told me why. She said that she hadn't slept very good the night before because of what had happened throughout the day Sunday. She said she was tired and sad and just didn't want to go to school. She said she knew it was wrong, but that the other girl kept teasing her and telling her she was to scared to go. So Emily went along with it. They did all make it back safely. I believe this was Emily's cry for attention. It just wasn't quite the attention she ws hoping to get. She is now grounded and I've explained it all. We had a long talk about how someone could have scooped her up and ran off, She could have been hit by a car. ANYTHING could have gone wrong. I think she understands now. I feel sad for her. She has already been through so much. Also it seems that it takes alot to gether emotionally worked up. Now she is crying at the drop of a hat. Please pray for her to feel better soon and help her deal with everything.

Tuesday didn't get much better for her. She was sitting in reading class. Well she told her teacher that she had to go to the bathroom. The teacher asked her to wait 15 minutes until they were done and they went ot lunch. So she started to cry and get all worked up and then she ended up having an accident. She was so devastated over this. The kids started teasing her and trying to get away from her. She was at the nurses office when I got there and she was breathing just horribly. I do not have an inhaler for her anymore. So we just try all we can to get her to settle donw and relax. She finally did settle down but really didn't want to go back to class. I did get her to agree to go back to class with no more problems from her.

Well it is getting very late here and i am starting fall asleep. LOL! Ijust wanted to be sure to get this update up before the morning. I am not sure if Ileft anything out. If so I will be back to write more. Hope you all have a great Vanentines Day. Thank you for checking in and praying for us. Please don't stop! (((BIG HUGS))) to all

Please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Monday, February 4, 2008 11:49 PM CST

***EDITED UPDATE TUESDAY FEBRUARY 12 2008***

I promise to be back on tomorrow with a full update. I have lots to share. Some good, some not so good. So please be sure to check back. It is really late otherwise I would do the update now. Please just keep us in your prayers. I will explain a little more tomorrow. Thank you for checking in.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





**EDITED UPDATE THURSDAY NIGHT FEBRUARY 7, 2008**

First I would like to say Happy Birthday to Alisa. (my step sister) She turned sweet 16 today. Hope it was a great day for you Alisa!

Next I would like to ask that you please Pray for Emily and little Charlie. I really can't get into the details of what is going on, but they are really having a tough time right now emotionally. Please pray that it gets better.

Charlie had a great time at his field trip this week. He actually went today not on tuesday. I really don't have much else to update about. So please just continue the prayers for Us. It means so much. Thank you for stopping by.

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! I would like to start with some sad news of one of our friends and fellow wilms warriors. Sadie lost her earthly battle with cancer last evening. I am so sad and so angry at the same time. There have been far to many children becoming angels lately. Please pray for Sadie's family. Also please keep praying for a cure.

Things here are going ok. Emily has been doing good. She is still having on and off stomach pain. Her head scalp doesn't seem to be bothering her nearly as much as it was though. Little Charlie is doing great.

This weekend I took the kids to pick up my niece and nephew and take them to the park. Oh we had so much fun. We played on the swing, the slides, threw a football and frisbees, and ran around and had a great time. A couple of my friends met us up there with their kids as well. It was so much fun. Of course I took my camera so that I could take lots of pictures, but unfortunately something very bad happened. I was trying to get my nephew off the swing and i dropped my camera. The screen broke and now it won't work at all. Oh I am so sad and so lost without my camera. I just don't know what to do without being able to take pictures. I so hope that I will be able to get a new camera soon. You usually do not see me without my camera with me. Now I just can't take any pictures and that is just killing me. But aside from that we had a great day at the park. After leaving the park we stopped off for lunch before taking my niece and nephew home. Then Saturday night I took the kids out to the Chocolate Festival. We met Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki, Katelynn and Tyler there. The kids had fun walking around and seeing all the different things they had chocolate covered out there. Strawberries, bananas, marshmellows, rice krispie treats. You name it they had it. Then we took them around to the kids zone where they got to go into the petting zoo. They spent a great deal of time in there. Petting the pigs and goats. LOL! They loved it. We had alot of fun and I am glad that I took the kids out there.

Sunday we stayed home all day. The kids played outside with the neighbor kids while I cleaned house. I cooked tons of wings and put together some chips and dip and a veggie tray also. Just needed some good munchies for the superbowl. We are sad that our team didn't win, but good job to the NY Giants. Anyways the night didn't go quite the way I had hoped, but it was alright. Monday the kids went back to school. I had a doctors appointment today also. I would like to ask that you please pray for good results on some tests they did. Thank you.

Little Charlie is going on his field trip tomorrow (tuesday) He is going to the state capitol. He is pretty excited about it. I hope he has fun. Not much else to report though. Hope you had a great weekend and have a great week. I will update later on in the week.

Thank you for checking in and praying for us. Sending lots of Love and Hugs to all of you!!

Please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:48 PM CST

Hi Everyone! I am sorry I am late with the update. It has been a busy day. Emily got up this morning belly still hurting but not really bad. Just the annoying hurting. So she went to school. Tonight she is coughing and not feeling so well. It just seems to be one thing after another lately. Hopefully she will get better quickly and not get to sick. Little Charlie is doing great. Here are a few pictures I have to share with you.


Little Charlie ready to go to school.


Little Charlie and Emily. They really are that close! (even if they do fight alot. LOL!)

And last but not least.........


Emily 8yrs old. NOW 3yrs off treatment and cancer free. She was so excited to see on the calendar that she has hit her 3yr off treatment mark.

She is still having scalp pain. I am not really sure what I can do to help her with that. She also has a hue cut on her knee from a fall that she took about a week ago that is horribly infected now. She has been hiding it from me cause she didn't want me to mess with it. Well I had to pin her down this morning and get it all cleaned up and get some medicine on it. It was really gross and I can't believe she didn't tell me about it. Hopefully it will heal up nicely now and the infection will go away.

Not to much going on this week. This weekend we will be watching the superbowl. GO PATRIOTS!!!!! Other then that I am not sure what we will be doing. I know not a very exciting update, but really there isn't much to talk about. I am hoping to be able to get a new battery for my camera soon. I really miss taking pictures of my kids. :( My battery is only good for a few pictures before I have to charge it again. Anyways I do hope you enjoyed the few pitures I did get today.

Thank you all for checking in. I hope you have a great week and if I am not on before the weekend, have a great weekend as well. (((BIG HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, January 23, 2008 0:51 AM CST

**EDITED UPDATE MONDAY JANUARY 28, 2008**

Hi Everyone! I just wanted to come on here real quick to let you all know we are doing ok. I will do a full update and maybe even have a few new pictures for you tomorrow sometime. I am pretty tired right now.

A couple small prayer requests real quick though. Emily's stomach pain is back. It is constant right now. Sometimes it is really bad, but most of the time it is just there and annoying. (as she puts it) Also her head is hurting her. Not headache pain, but scalp pain. I believe this has something to do with the alopecia. I have noticed her hair in certain areas thinning out again. She is getting pretty upset about this. Please pray that the pain in her belly will go away. Seems nothing really relieves it when it comes. Also please pray for no bald spots to appear on her head. That may seem like a stupid request, but she really does get so upset when that happens. Its hard for her to deal with it. As of right now we are just seeing thinning. No bald spots so far.

Anyways I will be back tomorrow (tuesday) with a full update. Thank you for checking in and praying.

Love and Hugs,
Angela

**************************



Hi Everyone! There really isn't alot to report. Things have been kind of boring around here. Guess in a way that is good. Emily and Charlie are doing good. They had a long 3 day weekend this past weekend. They really liked that. Their friends across the street will be moving this weekend and they are really sad about that. They spent most of their long weekend out there with them playing.

Sunday the kids and I sat and watched the football games together. We were so excited to see the Patriots going to the superbowl still undefeated. We were equally sad to see Greenbay lose to the Giants. But we are excited about the superbowl coming up here in Phoenix. I mean we won't be at the game, but it will be exciting to watch on tv knowing it is being played just down the street from our house. The kids think that is really cool.

I've spent the last 2 days going through boxes and boxes of pictures. I am seperating pictures into seperate photo boxes for the kids. It was so much fun looking at old photosof the kids and the family. Brought back so many memories. The kids had fun looking at the pictures after I got them put into their own boxes. They were so excited that they each had their own box. I can't believe how much they have grown up and changed. They just grow up to fast. I wish i could slow down time. LOL! I miss my sweet little babies that loved to cuddle. Now they are so independant and want to be out with their friends all the time. Its okay though. Sometime between school and friends they always seem to squeeze in a litte mommy time. :)

Anyways so that is about all that is going on here. This friday Emily goes on her field trip. She is really looking forward to that. Other then that no other plans for this week.

Thank you all for checking in and for your messages. They mean so much to us. I would like to ask you to take a brief moment and say prayer for me. It is a silent prayer request at this time. I don't really want to get into details, God knows just what I need. Thank you all. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, January 17, 2008 2:42 PM CST

**EDITED UPDATE FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2008**

Emily got her report card today. Here are her grades as promised.

Reading ~B

Comments from reading teacher~ Emily had an average quarter. I would like to see her fluency improve and her talking in class decrease. WPM= 60

Oral/written expression ~ C
Spelling ~ C
Math ~ B
Arts and Science ~ Satisfactory and excellent
Study and social skills ~ Satifactory and excellent

Comments~ Emily needs to realize that her concern for other students gets in the way of her instructional time.

Emily's grades have gone down a bit from last quarter. I don't understand why this year both of the kids have had such a hard time in school. I am hoping that they will pick up and put more effort towards school. Still her teacher told me she is doing better and not talking as much. She also is following the rules a bit better. She is just to much of a mother hen I guess you would say. She feels the need to help everyone else and ends up not getting her stuff done.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Love and Hugs,
Angela





Hi Everyone! Wow a whole week without an update. I kept meaning to get on here and update, but something always seems to come up. So here I am finally. Emily and Charlie are both doing great.

Today I had Charlie's parent teacher conference. Overall the teacher said he is doing good. He is applying himself a little better in some areas and not so much in other areas. He is not talking alot in class anymore either. Here is what his report card looks like.

Spelling/Vocab ~ C
Science/Health ~ C
Language ~ C
Reading ~ B
Math ~ B
Social Studies ~ C
Art ~ B
Music ~ A
PE ~ A

He is currently getting alot of C's which is really out of character for him. He is usually an A and B student. His C in language is because he has missing assignments. He decided not to do his book report for some reason. I asked the teacher to let me know when he has one that he has to do so i can make sure he gets it done. She told me that their Science assignments have gotten harder and all the kids in the class are currently getting a C or lower. Same with Social Studies. I really have been encouraging Charlie to put more effort into school. For some reason this year he has just gotten lazy and pretty much just doesn't try much. I hope that will change. He is a very smart kid and I know he can do it.

Emily is doing great as well. I haven't gotten her report card yet, but I will post her grades as soon as I do get it. Her teacher said there ws no need for a conference this time. Emily also got Star of the week this week. She was so excited. She had to fill out this paper that looked like the front page of a newspaper. It was where she wrote about all her favorite stuff. She also had to write a story about one important event in her life. Here is what she chose to write.

***
One important event in my life was in Feb. 2005 when my doctor told me I was cancer free. I fought cancer twice. Once in my belly and once inmy lungs. I was so happy when I got my scan done and Dr Cohen called and said I was cancer free. I didn't have to have anymore pokes or medicine. I have been cancer free for almost 3 years now.
***

Then she brought her port to school and explained to everyone where it was inher bodya nd what it was for. The kids were really listening and asking lots of questions. Some I had to help her answer. She also brought pictures of everyone in her family and pictures of her without hair and now with hair. She was loving being the center of attention for that time. LOL! Thats Emily for you. I will get a picture of her with her paper when she brings it home. She did such a great job on it.

Last weekend was not such a great weekend around our house. I don't want to go into detail, but please pray things get better. This week has been busy. The kids have been in school and I have been running around doing lots of stuff. Anyways I don't have much else to report on. Hopefully we will have a better weekend and i will have more to report then.

Thank you for checking in and for all the messages and prayers. Hope you all have a great weekend. I will probably have Emily's report card friday so i will post her grades as soon as we get home. So check back sometime after 1pm friday. (((HUGS))) to all!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Thursday, January 10, 2008 0:13 AM CST

Hi everyone! I meant to come on earlier and update, but it didn't quite work out the way I had planned. But here I am ready to update now. Emily is doing good. Yestarday she was in the nurses office with chest pain and difficulty breathing. The nurse had her rest for a little while and she appeared to be alright. Maybe she is starting to come down with a cold. Today she seemed okay. Please pray that she is not coming down sick and that it was just from running around outside on the playground. Little Charlie is doing great. They are both happy to be back to school. I think 2 weeks was just to long of a vacation. LOL!

This past weekend we had lots of fun. Saturday during the day we didn't do to much of anything. The kids played outside with the neighbors most of the day. Saturday night the kids and I went to Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki's house. The kids stayed with Uncle Tom and watched Transformers while Aunt Nicki and I went out. We went out had a few drinks, danced, laughed and just hung out. It was so much fun and I really needed that. I think Nicki did to. LOL! We stayed the night over there and all day on Sunday. The kids haven't gotten to spend alot of time with their cousins so we stayed there and they played all day. Again I want to thank Tom and Nicki for having us over and helping us have a stress free weekend. We had so much fun.

Sunday night I tried to get the kids to go to bed early. I knew they were going to have a tough time getting up in the morning for school. Well I was right. It was horrible getting them ready for school and out the door. They were late for school that day. Then again on Tuesday they were late. I think we got to school on time this morning. Hopefully we are getting our routine back. Parent teacher conferences are coming up next week. I already have Charlie's scheduled for Jan 17th. I will try to get Emily's for the same day. (hopefully) Then I will post their grades. As far as I know they are both doing great, so I am not really worried.

Not to much else to report. Please keep praying for my dad's health. Thank you to all that have sent prayers and messages for him. Things are still rocky around our house, but we are still believing in 2008. Hoping this is our year for all good things to happen. Thank you to all that are believing with us.

Hope you've taken the chance to look at the new pictures in the photo album of the kids and their cousins. They are all a bunch of camera hams. LOL! Its nice to be taking pictures again. Thank you for checking in and praying for us. Hope you have a great rest of the week and weekend if I don't get on before then. (((BIG HUGS)))

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

Wednesday, January 2, 2008 11:34 AM CST

**EDITED UPDATE JANUARY 8, 2008**

Sorry for not updating sooner. I will do a full update later this afternoon. (wednesday) It has been a rough few days trying to get back on schedule with the kids. But everyone is doing okay. If you haven't checked out the new pictures in the photo album, be sure to. They are of the kids with their cousins. We had a good weekend with them. Check back later for a full update. Thank you for checking in.

Love and hugs,
Angela






Hi Everyone! Wow it has been a while since I've updated. Where to start? I have alot of pictures to share with you all. I am putting them on here in 2 slideshows. The first one is from the zoo and Papa and TommyeSue's house. (our family party) Then the second one is from Christmas day. First let me start by telling everyone Happy New Year!! Hope this year brings happiness, and good health for all. We are doing okay around here. The kids are still on vacation from school. They have been having lots of fun playing with the neighbor kids and with their new toys.

Let me begin telling you about what has been going on. Saturday Dec 22nd we went to Papa and TommyeSue's house for our family Christmas party. It was so much fun. We played, sang, ate, opened gifts, talked, hung out and just all around had a great time. We don't get together often as a whole family so it is always nice to get us all in one place at the same time. We got home very late from my dad's house. The kids and I went right to bed and crashed out. Here are some pictures from the zoo and from that night at the party.

Then Sunday and Monday The kids and I did some baking and last minute shopping for Christmas dinner. It was a couple of crazy days. The kids were very excited on Christmas Eve when they went to bed. They put out milk and cookies for Santa and then tried very hard to go to sleep. I kept reminding them they had to go to sleep if they wanted Santa to come. They did finally fall asleep and then Mommy did to. Christmas morning they got up and were very excited to start ripping into their gifts. I tried to get lots of pictures, but I am having issues with my camera. It only works when it wants to. I guess that will be going on my wish list. LOL! Emily was very cooperative in getting pictures. Charlie not so much. He is really getting tired of the camera in his face. LOL!! Emily is totally into the High School Musical thing. Well she got her fair share of High School Musical stuff. She loved it. Charlie like to play video games and build stuff. He really likes those bionicles. He got a couple of those. They each got a brand new bike from Mommy and Daddy. They each also got a few board games. They love to play games. They both asked for games like Cadoo and are you smarter then a 5th grader. They were so excited when they opened those up. Now if we can just get through one game without them fighting. LOL!! Here are some pictures from Christmas morning. There are quite a few.

Thursday Dec 27th we went with HopeKids and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks. The kids loved it. They have been quoting things from that movie ever since. They can't wait until it comes out on dvd. They've already asked me if we can buy it. LOL! On Monday Dec 31st the kids and I decided we were going to spend new years with Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicki. So we went over there on Monday and stayed until sometime on Tuesday afternoon. We had lots of fun. It was nice to just be somewhere that we didn't have to worry about the drama of our house and just have fun. We went out to eat and then went to their house, had a few drinks and played games. Thank you Tom and Nicki for having us over.

As we went into the new year I had a sense of Hope come over me. I really don't know what direction my life is going to go, but I believe it is going to be a good direction for the kids and I. We believe 2008 is going to bring us good things. Please believe with us.

I would like to ask for some special prayers for my dad. He has been sick and really needs some prayers. Tomorrow January 3rd is his birthday. We want to wish him a very Happy Birthday and prayers for good health. We love you! (((BIG HUGS)))

I am probably leaving out a whole bunch of stuff. I don't remember when the last time was that I didn't update for this long. Yikes!! Things have been so crazy around here. Between the holidays, the kids being out of school, and the problems with my husband. I just haven't had much time to get on the computer. I am however happy that I got my computer back. *SIGH*

Well thank you all for checking in and continueing to pray for us always. We hope the new year brings much happiness and good health to you all. Lots of love and (((BIG HUGS))) to all of you!!!!

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaye Bear and her family. She really needs your prayers right now. Jaye Bear is such an incredible young lady with the biggest heart.
Please also pray for her wonderful mom, Laura and dad, Ralph. Also please continue your prayers for Asher. Please remember our fellow wilms tumor fighters Abby, Reana, Mighty Macy, Devin, Samantha, Victoria, Tess, Kayleigh, Ashley, Makala, Grace, Marenna, and Sage We also ask that you pray for Matthew and his family. He is another of our Wilms Tumor friends. He to has been fighting the good fight for a long time and there is nothing more they can do for him in the way of treatment. Then of course don't forget our angel friends families Haley's Family, Thank you for always watching over us, the brightest star in the sky. Addie's family, Ethan's family, and Josh's Family, Brooke's Family, Kyle's family, Brooke Ann's Family, and Amazing Jacob's Family. Also pray for our friend Ryan Kules. He is looking great, but still needs our prayers. Then of course last but not least pray for MAJ Daniel Gade. They are doing great. We are sad to see the updates farther apart, but know that is always great news. We love you Gade Family. Also please pray for all the soldiers still in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know that is alot of prayers, but you are wonderful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for all our friends.

Thank you for checking in on Emily and our family. Please don't forget to sign the guestbook. We love to read your messages. Please continue to pray for all the kids fighting cancer, the ones in remission, and the families of the Precious Angels in Heaven. We love you all and God Bless!

Love and Hugs,
Angela

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