November. A time for thankfulness. It has been a year where at times it seems hard to be thankful with all the difficulty, trials, jobs lost and even loved ones we have all lost. Covid has affected us all. Many are looking forward to a new year. Yet, today, I want to thank you for taking the time to continue to invest in our little man's, Jonah and his journey.

     Our last update was in July with continual improvement in his MRI. We were finishing summer up and heading to a new school year. We elected to hold Jonah back from kindergarten and put him into an early 5's program, which focus on kindergarten readiness skills. He seems to love school, his friends especially and has a wonderful teacher. 

     In early October, we were due for another MRI. As we all are aware, we are all dealing with the consequences and life modifications of COVID. To our surprise, a positive test for COVID was identified in Jonah, the day of his MRI. We were quite surprised by the results as he was showing no symptoms. I won't forget his face as he heard the nurse say he had COVID. Jonah, age 5, looked at me and said "mom I have it" and started to cry in my lap. So we joined the many who have been quarantined with COVID. We attempted the MRI 3 weeks later, and to our surprise , he tested positive still. We were asked to quarantine again while the hospital and the state worked out the details whether he was contagious still. Few days later, we had him tested again and thankfully he tested negative. 

     A few days ago, we were able to complete his MRI. We received good news.  The final report was that there was stable appearance of the brain mass.  The oncology team was so thankful and reminded us that we would get to a point where we would see this tumor start to become stable.  However, we know God is still moving and working on that mass. The report says there was 1-2 mm shrinkage.  We will take every mm.  Jonah had to see a neuro-ophthalmologist, who kindly stated any shrinkage counts and may not be at stability yet. We so appreciated that comment, encouragement and hope, as we know stability is great but we are believing for more.

     In this crazy, uncertain era of life we have entered because of COVID, I wanted to offer you a moment to stop and take a breath in the mist of your surroundings. Some of our friends and family have lost jobs and Ioved ones have passed unexpectedly.  At times, it might seem like its just one more thing might or will happen. I  wrote to our family after the results came back that we or I felt like I could take a breath now. It seemed that for a few weeks prior to this scan, there was more fear of the unknown and worry there was going to be bad news. The Bible reminds us in Philippians  4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." I encourage you to take these words and apply them. 

     Thank you again for all your support. We pray this Thanksgiving will be a time of reflection for the true meaning of Thanksgiving as we can to to pray for all of you.