Well you are not going to believe this!!!!!!! We have been (virtually) cut loose! Paige had scans on December 5 that were blessedly, wonderfully, fantastically, clear. Woohoo! AND to top it off, at the clinic visit that afternoon, dear, kind, brilliant Dr. Afyfi declared that there's no reason to continue scans! And my reaction? {Clunk} (That was my jaw hitting the floor.) We had understood there to be YEARS of scans in our future, but no! Apparently, in Paige's risk group, and considering her response to chemo and good surgical outcome, she's ready to go (almost) off-radar. We will still have quarterly clinic visits with blood and urine tests, but that's all, folks!

I know. I can't believe it either.

She's doing so well. I wish I could post video for everyone to see how completely adorable she is. She just melts my heart--pretty much constantly. I could be happy just snurgling her all day. She likes to echo the last word of other peoples' sentences. It's really funny when the kids are saying odd things to hear her little voice pipe up.

Lydia: "Mom, Ted's looking at me again."

Paige: "Again!"

Joe: "I'll do whatever I want, Bev. Gosh."

Paige: "Gosh!"

Ted: "Could I please have more beans?"

Paige: "Beans!"

I used to be so smug about the fact that none of my kids were ever screamers. Well, Paige humbles me. She's definately a screamer. It's usually playful, though, when she's chasing around with the big kids.

Even her sleeping patterns have improved. Remember all that whining I used to do about what a rotten sleeper she was? Well, she's a pretty good sleeper now. I'm the one with the problem...She usually just wakes up once in the night now, around 2 or 3 a.m. I'm still nursing her, so I feed her and she goes back to sleep until around 7. Not bad, huh! Then, if I take her back to bed with me, I can usually squeeze in another hour of sleep before she starts body slamming me and Eric in the face to wake us up. All in all, it's pretty good and I'm extremely grateful.

I'm still at a loss as to why we are the lucky ones--why we still have our little darling. There are so many parents whose amazing and precious children have been called home to heaven. Why do I get to keep my baby? I don't know. I guess that will be the first thing I'll ask in the next life. I know it's all in the Lord's hands, but I sure wish I could ease the loss for the many grieving parents and families. I guess that's in the Lord's hands as well.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)