Platelet Battle

As you know Dave's body is in a battle with itself and it is know as ITP. This has not been an easy fight, but the battle rages on and he presses on. I think it is mostly emotionally draining. He only feels some physical side effects of the steroids and dealing with additions to his schedule with blood draws and doctors appointments every week. His counts were up to 82,000 this last week. YEAH!!! He had another blood count draw today, so we should have another count tomorrow. The Hematologist is going to try to taper him off the steroids again. If the platelets drop then he will be considered steroid dependent and have to undergo another therapy. The doctor is talking about using Ritaxin, which is actually used as chemotherapy for Hogkins-lymphoma. I would love to know if anyone has any experience with this or feedback. I tend to be skeptical of putting chemicals in my body, so this one makes me nervous just thinking about it. After some research I feel like it is probably a good option, but it's hard to know.  There are about 13 different treatments for this but none guarantee remission for the long run. It seems that it is just by chance that people get better. I believe that God wants to heal Dave, but am having a hard time persevering through the here and nows, the day to day interruption, the naptime spent on the phone with insurance, the added stress of bills, and fact that this could be a chronic disorder with other side effects. This is such a complicated disorder. For this I ask you to pray for peace for us, for complete healing for Dave and for fear and worry to not have a hand in our lives. I will keep you posted.

A Time

 About a week ago we went back to Greenville for the most beautiful ceremony celebrating the life of Carol Childs. She is the mother of our dear friend, Bryan. It was sad because she will be greatly missed by her family and friends, but happy to know that she is with the person who ment the most to her, Jesus. The ceremoy was a reflection of how Carol was life giving because of the Savior who gave her life on earth and in eternity. It really made me think about my own life to someone else's ended so abruptly. I thought I would share part of the program for those that were not able to make it.

On the plane ride back everyone feel asleep except mommy.

Ty and his buddy Emily Childs.

Highlight of the trip was that we got to see Grandma and Grandpa Knight.

Bitter Sweet: First Day of Preschool

It is a bittersweet day today. As we celebrate an exciting milestone for Tyler we also mourn the loss of a beautiful women of God, wife, mother, grandmother, teacher and person dear to our hearts, Carol Childs. She was a close friend of our family and will be missed.
Today was Tyler's first day of preschool and it was a blessed day for that reason. He first was apprehensive about going to school, but I left him alone for a few minutes in his room and next thing I know he was dashing through my room dress and ready to go, asking me every five minutes if it was time to go. He got his backpack on, posed pleasantly for photos and we were off. Daddy met us at the school and it wasn't long before Tyler did not even notice us there. His teachers Mrs. Perth and Mrs. Fitzue greeted him and right off the bat established a routine...wash hands, puts backpack in cubby, turn in any paperwork, and free play. We exited with ease and it was a very smooth transition. He was there an hour and fifteen minutes for a first day orientation. I came back to pick him from his first day and he was gleaming. He is going to love it.
His highlights included: Seeing his friend Candace, playing with the"digger", reading a story and taking his backpack.

Entrance to his classroom

Greeted by teacher

Finding cubby

Free play with Candace

Interaction with Mrs. Perth

His classmates photos will go here

Overcoming

Whether it is overcoming illness, overcoming fears, overcoming adversities, there is nothing to hard for God. There have been situations recently where nothing else will do but to run to God, because nothing else will do. One situation...Dave's sudden onset of ITP was a scaring thing for us, but we are thankful for the support and prayers of everyone to help us through that. We are confident that God is with us through it all. He is calming our fears. Dave had another appointment this last Wednesday and it was positive. His platelets had gone up to 79,000 from 76,000 last week, which is not a larger rise, but it is still a rise and we are thankful for that. The doctor is continuing to tapper off the steroids 20mg's at a time. He is down to 40mg's. Dave being the Superstar that he is has been business as usual and hasn't let any of the extra doctors visits and ups and downs of medicines faze him. He even put two houses into escrow this past week.
We are also helping Tyler overcoming his own fears. Recently he has been scared of the dark and "noises". He is learning about being brave and overcoming his fears with prayer and talking through them. Earlier this week I lay down with his and hugged him and said, "I want to cuddle you forever, but I know you won't always let me." He look me square int he eyes and said...."Yes I will Mommy!" It melted my heart.  This Thursday he will have his first day of preschool and face his fears of being away from mommy and going to school. Hard to believe he is starting already. He will be going two half days a week. We picked out a little backpack and packed it already. We had a little back to school play-date yesterday to celebrate with some of his friends.
Angela has done some overcoming of her own....she is successfully weaned from the bottle. That is a big deal because she really enjoyed that bottle. But, she did what she always does and rolled with the punches. She also graduated into kids church at One Voice Church. She gets to be in with the big kids now.
With some inspiration from Mom Olson this past week, Mommy tackled organizing the entire garage along with making over the picture frames in the dining room. Mommy is getting ready to be a discussion group leader for MOPS this semester. Thanks Mom for coming to visit! We loved having you! Now, for some photos from this month.

Back to school Play-date....Someone gave us this cool jumper! Tyler loves it!

Angela in the new Tuggy Boat pool. Thank you to Grandma Olson for finding this at a yard sale nearby!

Sante Fe Dam water park. This was something we found the weekend before it closed for the summer. Look forward to going again next summer.

Peacocks in the neighborhood. Tyler and his friends, Jace and Sander enjoyed watching them.

Grandma Olson and Angela at Kidspace

I turned around for one minute and this is where Grandma and I found Angela. I guess we need to keep the chairs pushed it:)

Daddy, Tyler and Angela at Manhattan beach