24 days and Counting

 It's been a while since we have blogged, but I wanted to give an update to our still faithful readers. Andrew went for his every three month MRI on Thursday. We got a friend to watch the other kids so both Rick and I could go and have our "hospital date" while the MRI babysat Andrew. He once again amazed us with his carefree spirit and bravery as they put the IV into his arm. Tears were shed, but as soon as it was done, he was smiling and laughing again. They took him back and the whole procedure took about an hour and a half. Rick andI grabbed some drinks and sat outside to chat. I hadn't really been back for a serious visiit since his surgery in March so it affected me more than I thought it would. We will be coming up to a year in October when the little cough in Andrew began. We will begin to experience the months that seemed so innocent last year, but looking back we see that something big was about to hit our family. As we near his birthday on October 8th, so many emotions come back. As we sat talking and processing through my fears and anxiety being at the hospital, I realized how numb I still am that we even went through this. My son had cancer? We spent our Christmas holiday here? Even with just having a "routine scan" with no major concerns of any return, I am struck again at how abnormal it is for 2 year olds to have to go through this. When we finally were called to come back and pick him up, I felt like I couldn't get out of that place fast enough. Unfortunately, we still had to head up to the clinic to have the doctor check him over. In his groggy state from the anestesia, Andrew looked up at Rick and asked, " Daddy, is this heaven?" No, sir!! This is not heaven, thank goodness. The doc thought he looked great, we grabbed a quick cafeteria lunch, and went home to greet Madi off the bus.
 The call came yesterday around 4:00pm. Actually, I couldn't wait for the call and called the hospital twice to find out the MRI results. We really didn't have any real reason to be nervous, but there is still that lingering thought in the back of our minds. When we finally got the doctor's call, I just held my breath. The words on the other end were wonderful. A cheerful lady said, "Andrew's MRI looks great. His tumor has gotten even smaller!!!" There wasn't much left anyway, but we are even more thankful that it has done what the doctor thought and got even smaller!! Praise our great Physician who continues to hear this mama's prayer each night that we will never have to walk that road again with this little guy!! Please rejoice with us over this great news.
 On another note, we have torn off one more link in our chain that counts down to Andrew's 3rd birthday and when we leave for our Make A Wish trip to Disney World. We will depart from our house after two Buzz Lightyear parties here to go to Northern VA to stay overnight with Rick's family. Then, get this, a 10 passenger LIMO comes to pick us up (4 carseats in a limo....quite different from my prom experience) and takes us to the airport. We fly to Florida, pick up our rental van, and drive to what looks like the most amazing place we could be staying. It is a place called Give Kids the World (look it up online if you can). They pamper us with food, lodging, entertainment, characters, pools, and gifts for the week. They also pass along the Disney park passes and all the added benefits that go along with that. Our "send off" party is this Monday night with our reps who show up with dessert and fun for our kids and all the info we will need for our trip. The kids are so excited and their mom can't stop thinking about it all day long! What a celebration. I think it is perfect timing too that we just went to an MRI at the hospital. The emotions that flooded back after just being there for a few hours reminded me that this kid deserves every second of this trip and we will probably cry over what we went through, but we will also spend many moments celebrating and rejoicing at the gifts that God has given to us. The best gift being our son's life!!