Merry Christmas!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is this week - where did this year go?  I am glad to have made it through this past fall - it has been an extremely busy few months for me.  But, the Lord gave me grace and helped me prioritize and get everything done in the right time. Now, all the shopping is done, the Christmas program at church is over and I am just planning Christmas dinner this week. Ahhhh - I am looking forward to a relatively quiet week...I hope.

McKayla is doing much better since starting the medication for her JRA.  She is experiencing less pain in her knees and wrist and the swelling is going down. The x-ray that she had in November showed significant swelling, but no joint damage.  Now that the swelling is subsiding, she is gaining better range of motion in her knee.  She is also showing less fatigue throughout the day.  We are very grateful to see that she is making progress and beginning to feel more like her perky self. She will be on the medication for at least another year - she has to go a full year with no symptoms before the doctor will begin to decrease the medication and eventually take her off of it completely.  So far, she has done very well on it with little to no side effects.  Thank you to all of you who are praying for her.

Tim is still feeling fabulous and got another good report at the last doctor's appointment.  They are now stretching his appointments out to every 6 weeks instead of every 4 weeks.  He has begun writing a book about things the Lord has done and taught him throughout the last couple of years and is very excited about how the Lord is leading in that endeavor.  We'll let you know when it's done!

Michael is 14 now and doing really well!  The intense autism therapy that he received this year has allowed him to make some significant gains academically, socially, mentally and physically.  We have continued "home therapy" this fall and he is scheduled to have another evaluation in January.  We are looking forward to seeing the results of those tests.  He loves his karate classes and is moving up the ranks.  He's also very proud that he is just barely taller than I am now!

McKayla is 8 and was baptized in August.  What a sweet service that was!  She is doing really well homeschooling this year and is enjoying piano lessons.  She played soccer this fall and was the star defensive player on the team - way to go, McKayla!  She loves Master Clubs at church and is memorizing lots of Scripture -she loves earning those badges!

Mark is now 7 and loves homeschooling this year, because as he says - he doesn't have "to wait for all the other kids in the class to answer the questions. That's soooo boring!"  :)  He enjoyed playing soccer this fall and is excelling at the piano.  He loves Mario Kart and Legos, Legos, Legos!

Please continue to pray for our oldest son, Matthew, who is now 18.  He is attending classes in a program out of state and enjoys his job.  It has been a rough year with him, but we know the Lord is working and we trust Him with Matthew's future.

Thank you for following us on this journey.  The Lord is so faithful to us and gives us exactly what we need for each day.  We are excited to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ - May all of you have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.

McKayla

Our daughter, McKayla, is 8 years old and has the sweetest personality.  She has a real heart for the Lord, and she truly cares for others.  We are so blessed to have been given the privilege of raising her.  When she was only 18 months old, she was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.  It was very hard to watch her as a toddler experience stiffness in her joints and hear her cry out in pain during the night.  We battled it for about two years with different medications, and then finally the JRA went into remission when she was around 4; however, the remission was only for 6 months.  So at 4-1/2 years old, she went back on the treatment plan.  Again, it took about two years of treatment, and then at the age of 6-1/2, the JRA went back into remission.  It was a such a huge blessing that while Tim was very sick and going through his cancer treatments, McKayla did not experience any symptoms from the JRA and we were able to cut back on the frequency of the doctors appointments.

In June of this year, she began complaining of knee pain and experiencing extreme fatigue.  In August, the doctor determined that the arthritis had become active once again, and started her on just an anti-inflammatory treatment, but she has not responded to that.  So starting on Monday, we will begin the treatment plan that we have done twice before.  Please pray that McKayla will once again be able to tolerate the medications and that her body will respond in a way that forces the JRA to be calm again.  McKayla has such a sweet spirit and has not let the pain and stiffness steal her joy.  She doesn't complain and tries to be as active as her body will allow. One thing it has hindered her from doing is riding her bike. She loves to ride with Tim and the boys, but it has just been too painful for her. We are hopeful and praying that by the spring, she will be able to go on bike rides with her daddy again.  Please pray with us as she starts back on the medications that the side effects will be minimal and that she will respond positively.

Tim continues to feel great and has an enormous amount of energy!  We praise the Lord for the good reports he continues to receive from the doctor!

More Pictures...

Today, we received a few more pictures from the bike ride and I wanted to post them.  Tim and Marc both reached their goals - their total amount raised is $1,325.  Thank you to all who gave!!!

Tim next to his bike - it's the black and white one with gold "Z's" on it!

Tim and Marc

Just to note - Tim is feeling great!  He has so much energy right now, I'm having a hard time keeping up!

In Remission and On a Mission

Today was a beautiful day as Tim and Marc participated in the Closer to Free Bike Ride for cancer research.  They had great time riding 25 miles with about 250 other participants, several of which were cancer survivors.  Tim wore a sign that read " In Remission and On a Mission" as a testimony of how God has brought him through some dark days and allowed him to participate in this event. It meant so much to Tim to be able to ride.  It is almost 2 years to the day that Tim was first diagnosed with cancer.

Thank you to all those who gave to support and sponsor Tim and Marc - so far they have raised $1125!  Way to go guys!  If you did not get a chance to give, but would like to, you can go to www.rideclosertofree.org and click ride a sponsor.  They will accept sponsors until September 30th.  You can also go to that site to read more about the ride today.  We really appreciate each one of you that sponsored the guys!

Irene

Tree on our car

McKayla and Mark help wash the clothes

We survived the hurricane that came through last week.  We were without electricity, phones and Internet for 5 days.  We did have a tree fall on our car, but the damage was very little. We became very resourceful during our experience - we moved what food we could salvage to coolers and had to venture out to find ice each day.  The kids enjoyed doing laundry in buckets one day and learned what it was like to live "Little House on the Prairie style."  We are so thankful that we had water - while it was cold, it was still water.  Several people in our church have wells, so they have been without water in addition to all the other needs.  We are also thankful that the damage around us was not as severe as those in the town over from us whose homes were completely destroyed by the storm.  Our prayers are with them as they begin the task of rebuilding their lives.

By the way, Happy Birthday to Tim - he is 45 today!!!  He had another good report at the doctor this week and is very much looking forward to the bike ride next Saturday.