Beautiful Wedding

At the end of May, we got to go to Marble Falls for a beautiful wedding at Horseshoe Bay. Our dear friends, the H's, have three kiddos. Being an only child, they were like my brothers and sister growing up...

We weren't able to go to K's (the daughter) wedding in Vegas, with all that was going on with my health. So, we didn't want to miss T's wedding!

It was a beautiful drive and such a gorgeous area. The wedding and reception were both outdoors. It started to rain right before the wedding started and then stopped just in time for the beautiful bride, L, to walk down the aisle.

These are pics from the reception.

B & Me by the water.

Up close...yikes to the squinty eyes.

One of the beautiful views at the reception.

The new Mr. & Mrs. having their first dance.

Look at those eyes...I think he likes her!!! ; )

This was a friend of theirs that sang for their first dance.
Apparently, he is famous, but I missed his name.
If you know who he is, let me know.

Another beautiful view.

Watching the sunset!

We left Marble Falls Sunday morning and drove to T Bar M...that will be the next post. Mom got to see T Bar M for the first time!!!!

Nate-Thursday Night

This is from Nate's Dad:

Nate has an important MRI tomorrow morning to check and see if the chemo has kept the cancer away. This is big not only for us but also for research. Please pray that no cancer is in Nate at all, we know that this could help many other children in the future.

Fight Connor, Fight!!

“Fight, Connor, Fight!” love, dad

Monday, June 22, 2009

I have not written the update in some time because Joy is incredible with words, and right now I ask specifically for you to pray for my wife as she hovers over our son 24/7. She’s frail, emotionally worn out and is fighting the good fight for our son. Pray for Connor to continue to increase his appetite, for the swelling in his lower body to recede. Also pray that this tumor continues to soften up. There are many battles inside this war, and Connor has many to fight – his appetite, swelling, water retention, discomfort, pain – but he continues to survive and make improvements inch by inch. Remember, it’s been 31 days since we were told he had 2 – 4 weeks to live, and he’s a lot better than he was a month ago.

Also, thank you for your continued support, prayer, emails, notes. I want to specifically thank all the people feeding us and helping me take care of the house here in Frisco as my wife lives in Guatemala. Thank you so much also for the airline miles that have been donated to help us fly family and friends back and forth to give Joy emotional support.

We’re way over 220 nights in the hospital, 40 plus blood transfusions, 15-20 platelet transfusions, 25 rounds of chemo, 13 or so surgeries, 2 bone marrow transplants, with visits to Boston, New York, Houston, Dallas and now Guatemala. I continue to be amazed by how strong my son is and how my family is holding up, and that is with your prayers.

Below is a journal entry I wrote to Connor on day 27 four years ago that I read to him while he slept one night in mid July 2005. Many people have asked for me to repost this.

Sometimes you must remind those who are suffering from this disease, and their families suffering along with them, that this is not just suffering, a bad event, or a serious illness… IT IS A FIGHT. I hope it encourages you today and remember to celebrate life, for life is a blessing, and to fight for what you value.

Dear Connor,

As you lay in bed for another night, it’s hard to close the house down without you. With your bed neatly made, it just doesn’t seem the same without you in our home. And each night, as I kiss you goodbye, I whisper a couple of these in your ear each night: “Fight, Connor, fight. Fight for life. Remember the smell of eggs cooking in the morning with coffee brewing. Remember the smell of a washed shirt, or the loud music in Mommy’s car while everyone’s talking over each other as you drive to school. Remember fun playgrounds. Remember your church. The taste of donuts in your mouth. Remember a hug from your mom. Remember the anticipation of waking up Christmas morning and running downstairs with your siblings to see presents. Remember the smell of Mexican food. Or the burn of a coke in your mouth. Remember naps with Daddy, and the smell of fresh grass. Remember the feel of snow on your nose. Or the sound of the snap of a plastic sword as we fight and attack each other’s forts. Remember your brother Carson and his love and admiration for you. Remember your grandma and grandpa in Oklahoma with their cool ranch and riding the gators and fishing and hunting with Daddy up there, hiding in deer stands and seeing the wheat grow, a wild turkey, or even a wild pig. Remember Aunt Cody as she takes great care of you while Mommy and Daddy are gone. And tickle fights with cousin Lexie. The smell of a hot tub as it bubbles and steams in your nose. Remember your sister Mackenzie with scooter rides and video games and watching movies together. Remember the hot summer sun, your bike, riding in the Land Rover to Sonic with loud rock music blaring. Remember the big giraffe in our house and showing all your friends. Or riding in grandpa’s tractor. Remember, Connor, life is good and fun. Like sitting in grandpa’s lap, riding a bulldozer. Remember slurpees and nachos and cheese sticks, and your mom telling you to eat your vegetables. Remember family night and family dodgeball. Remember days on your motorcycle chasing your brother in his car. Remember going to Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks. Playing hide and seek with your neighbors, with the feel of losing your breath as you run away. Remember movies and Sponge Bob and baths with Carson. Connor, don’t look back and let time stand still. It’s time to live and go forward. It’s time to live and see the people who love you and your family that surrounds you. Remember the dream to go back to Disney World and hunt in Africa with Daddy one day. The dream of playing on a beach, or playing football and basketball, of your first concert, of driving your first car or motorcycle, of shooting your first deer, of your first kiss, and the wonderful dizzy feeling you get when you see your bride walking down the aisle to marry you.

Connor, we are ready for you to come home and be cancer-free.

Connor, I love you.

Daddy

“I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

May Trip to Houston & Aggieland! WHOOP!!

I had a follow up doc appt. in Houston in May. So, we made a bit of a weekend out of it. First, we got to see Miss A. This sweet girl (now woman) was in a Bible Study that I got to lead when we lived in The Woodlands. I got to hang out with a bunch of really cool high school girls and talk about Jesus! Now, they are college graduates. I am getting too old!

We met at Starbucks and got to hang out and catch up for a little bit.

Then, I remembered that my favorite hair stylist was in College Station. I was in desperate need of a haircut. So, I looked in my phone and, sure enough, eight years later her number was still saved. She was so sweet and worked me in that evening to trim the mullet that I seem to get every few weeks and all of this scraggly stuff I never had to deal with when my hair was long.

See if you can tell a difference in the two pics. The one above was before, the ones below are after!! I can't tell much of a difference and that's what I like. I want my hair to grow back out and so I don't want the trims to be major hair cuts, just clean ups so that it can keep growing!!!

We met back up with Miss A, and her friend T, for a little Fightin' Texas Aggie Baseball.
I got to see all of my old co-horts from the days when I worked at the Athletic Dpmt.
It was fun to see everyone.

Here we are: B, T, A, & me.

This is the family we stayed with while we were in Aggieland.
They are longtime friends of B's family.
We had a wonderful time.
They were so sweet to let us stay at their house.

On the way to my doc appt., we got to stop in and see A and her three kiddos.
Such beautiful princesses and Mr. J, "riding in to save the day."
We had fun saying hi to them. We miss them so much.

Not much to report on the doc visit. He wanted to know how the diet is going. I've been able to reduce my meds, but still having about the same # of seizures that I was having on incredibly high doses of the meds. In a way, that is good. I would rather be on less medication. So, we believe this means the diet is working. Just a bit slower than what we wanted. The doc wanted us to go ahead and consider other surgical options and other meds incase the diet doesn't work. We really want to give this diet more of a chance.

He also admitted to us that he hasn't had a lot of experience with this diet, he just felt it would be one of the best options for me and had seen some success with some of his patients. We were glad that he talked us into the diet. When I was first diagnosed, I ask my first neuro if we could try the diet. He said, "only if you want to drink vegetable oil for the rest of your life." So, when my current doc brought the diet up, I told him I didn't want to drink vegetable oil for the rest of my life. He told me that wasn't the case and convinced us to try it.

Though it has been a difficult road figuring out what I am able to eat and how to balance the day, I much prefer the seizures being controlled by food rather than medicine. They also say that after a couple of years on the diet, you are able to stop all meds and eventually stop the diet. This is what we want. I don't want to depend on dangerous meds for the rest of my life.

So, my doc agreed to let me keep going with the diet a bit longer to see what results we have as we progress. Please pray that we start to see major changes.

M, who was in our wedding, wasn't due for a few more weeks. However, we got a call that her sweet little one had arrived early. She is a Neurosurgery PA in the same hospital where I had my surgery. So, as soon as my doc appt. was over we got to go see her & love on her little girl, Miss C. She was in the NICU, but is now home doing well!

Sock Monkey had to go on the trip with us! Just hangin' around...

On the way home, we stopped in The Woodlands to see our first home purchase.
Lots of memories in this house (if you'd believe it, I recall many things in this house, despite all the memory loss).

Of course, we had to stop at Sam's on our way home and say Howdy to our sweet friends!

Summer Nights

I told you all that I had a lot of catching up to do on these posts. So, here is a start (again)!

Our front porch has some wicker chairs on it that we've never been able to get to because of all of the shrubs in the flower bed. Therefore, the chairs on our porch have been more decoration than anything. However, about a month or so ago, my hubby came up with a great idea. He successfully uprooted one of the bushes and moved it to the front of the bed, creating a pathway to get to the porch.


We usually don't keep the chairs stacked like this...makes relaxing a tad difficult!

My good lookin' man, working hard!!
Here is the pathway he created.
We had some random stones in the back from different projects, etc. So, my big, strong hubby brought them around to the front to use as stepping stones.

You can see here where he has laid them out to make a perfect walkway to get to the porch.



We absolutely love it. Now, we are able to go outside each evening, sit on the porch, and just have good hang time together. It has been so enjoyable. The dogs love it, too. Hank lays in the yard and watches everyone as they go on their walks. Rudder hides behind us, but seems to enjoy being out there, as well.

I love my hubby and his ability to do just about anything!! He sure does bless our family!!

Another Connor Update

Wednesday, June 17, 12:41p.m.

Thanks for all your prayers this week. Connor´s wheezing is gone. He´s breathing better, but still likes the oxygen at night. There are more signs that the medicine is working, but still not any discernible shrinkage. He still has the swelling, too. Now that the wheezing is gone, I´m just waiting for God to remove another symptom. Please continue to pray for shrinkage of the tumor and the symptoms to be gone.

Connor´s bloodwork was checked today and his bloodwork looked better - not dehydrated, his albumin is coming up, as are his platelets. Kidney and liver functions are still fine. White count is very high due to the medicine stimulating his immune system. Go immune system, go!!!!

I wanted to share this devotional from Frances J. Roberts from her book ¨"On the Highroad of Surrender." It is beautiful and so pertinent to our situation.

"Be not weary in well doing. It is your Father´s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32) Do not be disheartened if it seems to be delayed in coming. Lo, He is not slack concerning His promises, as some men count slackness. His times are not your times, and His patience endures forever. He can wait and not be anxious. While you see delay, He sees His will being performed in ways not discernible to your eye. What you see as standing still, He sees unfolding. It is like the rose that opens, but the motion is imperceptible to the human eye.

Rest in Him. He is surely bringing to pass His perfect will in and through the entire situation, and it is doing a unique work in many different lives, as they are touched and affected by the action.

Be still and wait. You shall know that the Lord your God, He it is who fights for you, and He will do a miracle before your eyes if you will but trust Him completely and cease to be anxious. What others are doing is as nothing compared to what He is doing and is GOING to do.}

REJOICE! Let this be a day of gladness and of jubilation, for our God is mighty, and His hand is working a victory!"

Psalm 31:15-24

Please continue to pray for our friends, Cody Novak, Caden Ledbetter and Carson Richardson as they continue to fight their own battles against cancer.

Still believing,
Joy Cruse

Connor

Saturday, June 13

Tait and I have had a good week with Connor. Connor has been coughing up a lot of phlegm so his wheezing is much better. Breathing a little easier too. He still has the swelling. He continues to have the burning/itching sensation on the tumor - side effects of the medicine, which is a sign it is working. Praise God for that. We continue to wait for the shrinking.

Thanks everyone for all your prayers. We have been covered in God's peace and grace all week. I know that all of you have been faithful prayer warriors for Connor, so I want to ask for a concentrated effort on Sunday and Monday. I know that some of you have already done this. Deb Blevons with Northwestern Mutual has asked several of you to pray on an hourly schedule on Sunday, Debby Parker has asked some to pray at 7am everyday and Nicole Arenas has set up a prayer meeting for Connor every other week. WE are blessed by all your prayers.

I found this story of King Hezekiah in II Chronicles 20. It is a great example of corporate prayer. When the King found out a huge enemy was coming against him, he asked all the people to fast and pray in order to defeat the enemy. The King said, "We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon the Lord."

The prophet Jehaziel then spoke the words of the Lord. "You will not need to fight this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you. Do not fear or be dismayed." He told them to stand still and sing His praises. (That was his strategy for fighting the enemy.) The King appointed those who should sing to the Lord and those who should praise His beauty and holiness. They went out before the army saying " Praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever." The Lord delivered them from their enemy.

This week, please pray for Connor and sing God's praises. Thank Him for His mercy, grace, provision, strength and peace that He has provided us during this trial. Like King Hezekiah and the people of Israel witnessed, may God also deliver Connor from his enemy, cancer.

Thanks for your combined efforts in prayer this week.

Always believing,

Joy

Wedding

About a month ago, my sweet friend, S, got married. Isn't she a precious bride? I think she was excited to get married.

First dance with her new hubby!

Yep, there was a mechanical bull to ride at her reception.

This is her daughter,
Miss M (you've seen her in other posts) and her cousin.

The best part of the night. B & Miss M have so much fun together. You might remember when she came over and B taught her how to find the planets, stars, etc. He even gave her his telescope from childhood that night. It's been an instant love connection ever since.

So, Miss M got to dance the night away with my hubby! Aren't they precious?

One shot with the beautiful bride!!

It was nice to get out of the house and do something that seemed social. The grocery store seems like my social hour of the week since I'm not allowed to drive yet. So, this was a fun evening. I didn't have any seizures that day and I even got to dance with my cute hubby!!

Connor update

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 8:34 PM CDT
We made it safely back on the airplane Monday. Treatments have started again. Connor is hanging tough.

We are battling a couple new symptoms now, so we want to add them to our prayer requests. The tumor has been pressing on Connor´s diaghram for awhile now and it is making his oxygen levels a little lower than normal beacause his lungs are compressed. We have put him on oxygen at night - just a low amount blowing on his face. WE were concerned about how we would get that here, but God is good. No need to worry. Our new friend, Dominique, has contacts all over this town. She hooked us up with the fire dept on a temporary basis and they deliver oxygen to our room every day for free until we can get something permanent situated (most likely tomorrow). Can you believe it? In fact, Sebastian, the fireman (trained in Dallas) who delivers the oxygen just brought Connor his oxygen for tonight. PLEASE PRAY FOR HIS OXYGEN LEVELS TO RISE.

Also, Connor had a cold last week and because he lays down all the time, he's wheezing now. He can´t cough it all up. Dominique set us up an appt with a local doctor today. He was amazing. He brought us into his office as soon as we arrived. He told us it was a blessing to him to be able to help us. He gave us a prescription for a nebulizer and albuterol to get rid of the wheezing. PLEASE PRAY FOR THE WHEEZING TO GO AWAY. We told him we need to be able to check his blood counts regularly in case he needs another blood transfusion. He said someone could come to our hotel to draw Connor´s blood. Wow! That´s service. He prayed for Connor in his office and told us that he believed in miracles - (because that is what it is going to take). He said he is honored to be on our team to help Connor and the captain of the team is Jesus. Tait and I were blown away.

The compression of the tumor is causing his legs to retain water a little bit. What this means is that we are in a race against time. Dr. Rodriguez is seeing signs that the medicine is starting to work. The composition of the outside of the tumor sticking out is getting soft. If the outside starts to change, that means it is starting to work on the inside. We need this medicine to start shrinking the tumor as soon as possible. Our race is can we keep Connor well (manage all these symptoms) long enough for the medicine to wage its war on the cancer and shrink the tumors, which will start eliminating these symptoms one by one. He is still having back pain when he walks and sits up. It is excruciating for Tait and I to watch him in this kind of pain. The tumors shrinking will relieve this pain, also. We are still believing that God will provide for Connor what he needs in His perfect timing (NOW, ACCORDING TO ME).

I´m claiming the verse Psalm 118:17 for Connor. "I will not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord." Please pray this verse over Connor as you faithfully pray for him.

I also wanted to thank everyone who participated in the III Forks Golf Classic and Auction/Dinner benefiting TeamConnor. It was a wonderful event and we so appreciated everyone´s support. The memories from your support Sunday night have helped carry us this week.

Always believing,
Joy Cruse

Connor

We just received this today, but it is an update from Sunday:

We just got home from the hospital. Connor is resting comfortably and he's going to see the movie "Up" tonight. He's been waiting to see it for awhile and we promised him he could see it while we're here.

The albumin level didn't come up very much. I guess the cancer is just eating it up like candy. The lasixs did help him urinate some, but not as much as expected. His abdomen didn't come down much. We did a sonogram to see if they could drain the liquid with a needle and it showed that most of the liquid is gone now. His extended abdomen is pretty much all tumor now. Heading back to Guatemala on Monday to see if we can get this thing to shrink. PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR A RED SEA MIRACLE. Thanks for your prayers.

Here's a song that my friend, Heather Hawkins, sent me. I'm not sure who the singer is.


I'm down on my knees again tonight,
I'm hopin' this prayer will turn out right.
See, there is a boy that needs Your help.
I've done all that I can do myself
His mother is tired,
I'm sure You can understand.
Each night as he sleeps
She goes in to hold his hand,
And she tries
Not to cry
As the tears fill her eyes.

Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel all right?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place some how.
See, he's not just anyone, he's my son.

Sometimes late at night I watch him sleep,
I dream of the boy he'd like to be.
I try to be strong and see him through,
But God, who he needs right now is You.
Let him grow old,
Live life without this fear.
What would I be
Living without him here?
He's so tired,
And he's scared
Let him know that You're there.

Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel all right?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place some how.
See, he's not just anyone, he's my son.

Can You hear me?
Can You see him?
Please don't leave him,
He's my son.

Always Believing,
Joy Cruse

Prayer Request

Hello Mighty Prayer Warriors!

This is a request from a college friend about her cousin:

Loved ones,

I ask for you to be on your knees in prayer for a beloved family member, Colette. She is a young wife and a stay-at-home mom with three kids under the age of five (Daniel, Caleb, and Anna). She is married to my cousin, Michael.

Below are her words describing her diagnosis in May...

"Something is wrong with me and the doctors are struggling to diagnosis it...I'm numb on the left side and dizzy with headaches...when I quit nursing (which might be soon at this rate), I'll have another MRI of my brain...this time with contrast...ugh....not fun at all!"

Updated Saturday, June 6:

"Well, I'm so tired of looking for good doctors and going to visits, etc.

All that they know so far is that I have a hole in my heart and have most likely had a stroke when pregnant.

The numbness seems to be getting a little better. I have some others things: an elevated rheumatoid number, an enlarged gland in my brain, and brain lesions...so, I still have lots more doctor visits to come."

May the Lord richly bless you for your prayers on behalf of Colette as she eagerly desires to be covered in prayer. If you can, please pass this prayer request along to the prayer warriors in your life. I will try to update as much as I can. It is a mighty God we serve.

Love to you all,

Elizabeth

Concerts by the Lake

Unfortunately, at this point in the month of May, the seizures had come back. No idea why. I had a few days at the beginning of May with relief and then they came back full speed ahead. The nice thing is that I was in a pattern of a few days without any seizures before they picked back up; therefore, I got some energy. However, when they started back up, I had anywhere from 1-11/day. So, no way of knowing what each day would look like.

Our town has a summer Concert series down by the lake. We take the boys out there and they seem to have a good time! It's nice for me because it allows me to get out of the house one other time in the week other than my grocery store trip and church.

Hank enjoying the music.

Rudder, scared as always, but he seems to enjoy the concert.

Us and the boys!!

First Week of May

We had fun the first week of May because we were able to say that I had gone "all of May without a seizure." ha ha! It was nice to have a break. I went about four days.

On the first, B's Field Director at work had everyone over to his house for dinner.

That's my hubby back there getting ready for a mean game of Ping-Pong!!

That night was a good test of my strength to say no to foods that I love, as they had PF Chang's catered in...I took a chicken breast with me to eat....yummy, huh?

This is one of my college roomies and her hubby! They came over that same weekend and we all got to hang for a bit!! So fun!

May 3rd was Congressman Hall's 86th birthday! So, we (B) made him a birthday card (it was a paper airplane) and we went over to his house to hug on him. This is his first birthday in many, many years without his precious Mary Ellen. So, we tried to give him some extra snuggles. He's such a sweetheart and has done so much for our country!!!

Easter

Clearly I'm behind on the updates. So, I'm going to try to back track and catch everyone up on the happenings around here.

April was spent trying to begin figuring out this nutritional approach they have me taking to treat the seizures. I very quickly titrated off of one of the medications and seemed to do okay. So, we were well convinced that this "diet" was working.

This is Easter morning. A pic with me and Miss H!! Remember Miss H? She is my sweet friend that got to cut my first pony tail before we went to the hospital for surgery. This was taken at church, Easter morning!

A pic of my sweet hubby and me on Easter.
(Hank is trying to sneak in at the bottom of the pic).

We went to my uncle's house for the day! I didn't have any seizures this day and so there was great relief and some extra energy. Instead of getting to enjoy the amazing spread that usually comes with our family get-togethers, I had to bring my own food. So, I tried to stay away from the food table so that I wasn't tempted!! It was fun watching all of the kids hunt for eggs.

It seems like it wasn't too long ago that all of the parents in these pictures and me were the ones hunting for eggs.

Again, this day was a blessing. First, because it was a day to celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead and conquered death to save us from all of our sins. WOW!!! It was also nice to not have any seizures!!

Keep checking back as I'm going to try to catch up on the blog and get more updates posted.

Connor is home

UPDATE:
I'm sending out a quick update because we need some prayers. After we got home yesterday, events unfolded and we realized that Connor's albumin was low and he was leaking fluid into the abdominal area. (If you remember, this was what we suspected was wrong when we went to the ER 2 1/2 weeks ago.) He's currently at Plano Presbyterian. He received some albumin last night and that will hopefully fix that problem. He's receiving some blood. His red count is low. After that, he will get some lasiks (diuretic) to help him urinate all this fluid out of him. This should decrease the size of his belly, which should then relieve the pain in his back. WE are praying and believing that this will be the answer to our prayers that Connor would be able to sit up and walk without back pain. PLEASE PRAY FAITHFULLY FOR THIS.

Also, his red blood count and platelets have lowered over the last two weeks. This is concerning, but I have to believe that it is because of his sluggish bone marrow. He currently has an infection (yet to be determined) and that has caused his white count to be very high to fight the infection. After his bone marrow transplants, his bone marrow is sluggish and when it really works hard to produce one line of cells, the other two cell lines drop. This happened when he was having the bleeding ulcer. His bone marrow was creating 3X the normal amount of baby red blood cells to compensate for his low red blood count. At the time, his platelets and white counts were decreasing steadily. PLEASE PRAY THAT IS THE CASE THIS TIME - THAT AS SOON AS THE INFECTION IS CLEARED, HIS COUNTS WILL NORMALIZE.

It is so hard at times like these to remain steadfast in our beliefs. Satan wants us to believe that he is winning, but I have to believe that God will redeem this situation. He is simply answering our prayers to make his abdominal area smaller and his back pain to go away. He will rid Connor of this infection and then his counts will stabilize. I am thankful the He will answer our prayers, like this devotional from Sarah Young says:

"When you bring Me prayer requests, lay out your concerns before Me. Speak to Me candidly; pour out your heart. Then thank Me for the answers that I have set into motion long before you can discern results. When your requests come to mind again continue to thank Me for the answers that are on the way. If you keep on stating your concerns to Me, you will live in a state of tension. When you thank Me for how I am answering your prayers, your mind-set becomes much more positive. Thankful prayers keep your focus on My Presence and My promises."

Please pray...
1. The albumin and lasiks will decrease the fluid retention and alleviate the pain in Connor's back.
2. The antibiotics will kill the infection
3. His blood counts will stabilize when the infections is gone
4. That he will be able to come home tonight.

Thank you for answering our prayers, Heavenly Father.

Always Believing,
Joy Cruse
**********
"Connor is home from Guatamala this weekend and we had to admit him to Plano Presby for blood and water retention. Please pray for him to have a great weekend. He should get out later this morning and hopefully to see "up". He will fly back on Monday and will be gone a month."

Connor Progress

Praise the Lord!! We received this info today!!!

*****************************************
We are in the middle of the second week of treatment. Everything is still going smoothly. It is unbelievable how easily everything has gone here. I know that God has gone before us to pave the way. This gives me more assurance we are in the right place.

With the help of our new friends, Marg and Dominique, we have found a more permanent place to stay here in the hotel district. It is a hotel with apartments and is much better suited for a long stay; and much cheaper. We have been given the names of many contacts here, so that we now have lots of help when we need it. Thanks to Ron and Margie Caruthers for helping me run errands and go grocery shopping. Thanks to our Sunday School class for donating a lot of airmiles to us. Also, thanks to Jim and Kristen Brull for donating and organizing the airline tickets. Because of their kindness, Connor and I have airline tickets here for our travels through fourth of July weekend and Carson and MacKenzie will be able to visit us in June. Many friends and family have offered to come stay with us, so we will have company through the end of July. Also, our school, Prestonwood Christian Academy and Legacy Christian Academy have rasied money for Connor by collecting Coins for Connor. It is quite a substantial amount. Thanks for putting it together, Kristen Brull and Elizabeth Collins. Also, thanks for starting the first one at your school in Houston, Cody Reeter. We were also presented by the PCA 1st and 2nd grade classes a gift certificate tree with tons of certificates to restaurants. This should feed my family back home for quite awhile. We can never thank you all enough. We so appreciate the love and care from all of you. We are humbled by this and the prayers of so many. Because of you, we know that we are not fighting this battle alone.

Connor continues to hold steady. He's not sleeping during the day anymore and he only needs pain medication twice a day (it was three times a day), so we are seeing improvements there. The tumor (bump) that is sticking out of his abdomen is a 1/2 inch smaller. Most patients don't see any improvements until after two weeks, so we are praising God for these little improvements. The abdominal area is the same, and that is what is putting pressure on his back and causing him discomfort. OUR PRAYER REQUEST WOULD BE FOR THE ABDOMINAL AREA TO SHRINK TO ALLEVIATE HIS DISCOMFORT AND BACK PAIN. He has some knots in his back, so we are going to try to get him a massage to see if that will help him. I have been massaging his back and that has helped with the pain momentarily. WE ARE PRAYING THAT HE WILL FEEL BETTER FOR OUR FLIGHT HOME THIS WEEKEND. He is so looking forward to coming home. PLEASE PRAY THAT HIS APPETITE CONTINUES TO IMPROVE. It is better, but he has a long way to go. He's getting so thin. Thank you so much for your prayers. They are greatly needed.

We pray that God will bless you and your families for being such a blessing to us. I believe that God will pour out blessings to those who help and pray for others. For example, the woman who manages the hotel told me this story this morning. Last week, she decided to give our family a great deal on renting an apartment here because she felt so moved by our story. Her co-worker told her that the money she is losing in this transaction doesn't matter, that God would bless her decision to help us. Last week, the hotel was 1/2 full. The day we checked in, they became fully occupied. They truly believe God has blessed them for helping us. We pray for those same blessings on your families.

"Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your HEALING will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer, you will cry for help and he will say "Here I am." Isaiah 58: 6-9

Always believing,
Joy