Pictures!

This is last Saturday, her six-month birthday. This is today. Isn't she cute?

Recycling

KCK is starting curbside recycling. yay! I'm a lazy environmentalist, so this is great for me!

Praise God!

We met with Anne's pediatric neurosurgeon this morning.  He said the pediatrician was wrong and he was not very worried.  He said that the visible lump of fat on her back is completely unrelated to the line of fat on her spinal cord.  But the thin line of fat on her spinal cord is what he was looking at.  He says that it doesn't look like it is attached to her spinal cord - which is when it would cause a problem.  He says in babies this young, the best way to tell if there are lower spinal cord problems is if there are bladder problems.  Her bladder appears to be working fine, but he wants her to have it examined to make sure everything is fine.  That will happen when they can work us in - probably a couple of months.  And if everything is okay, he justs thinks we should keep watching the fat on her spine to make sure it doesn't change. So Anne will have another MRI in a year.  The visible lump of fat on her back he says is absolutely harmless and he isn't concerned about in the slightest. 

Summary - everything seems to be okay, but he'll keep watching the thin line of fat on her spinal cord to make sure it doesn't turn into something serious.

Sorry this sounds so confusing.  It was to us, too!

Thank you for your prayers.  Even though we have to keep watching it, we feel God definitely answered our prayers. 

Melodie

Sitting on her own

Isn't she cute?! This is at the church while I was working.

Anne's sitting up!

This makes working at the church so much easier! (I'll have pictures soon.) But the thing that just amazed me is this: So she's sitting on a blanket, right? She pulled the blanket toward her to get a toy that was out of her reach. Isn't that brilliant? Seems like higher reasoning to me! But I know....I'm her mom.... :)

Surrounded by faith

So my church had special prayer for Anne on Sunday to pray for healing. After the prayer, someone asked if the lump was gone. I'm ashamed to say I was kind of surprised by the question. Ben and I discussed it later and we obviously don't have that much faith. I'm not a theologian, so maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that this is one of those reasons we're supposed to be a part of a Christian community. When Ben and I don't have faith, we're surrounded by a community that has faith for us. Okay, I know there are flaws in my reasoning. :) Ben and I should try to have that faith. But you know what I mean? I'm glad we're supported by people that have faith for us and encourage that strong faith in us.

Miracles

So I've been thinking lately about miracles. (obvious reasons...) Why some people are given miracles and some aren't. I guess I feel a little selfish asking for a miracle for Anne. Children die of things all the time - it makes the use of her legs seem like a little thing. I know there aren't a certain number of miracles to be doled out to the most deserving, but.... I guess I just can't wrap my mind around the idea of a miracle in my life. I mean, I know people that have experienced miracles - beyond the shadow of a doubt - but....

I don't know where I'm going with this. I've just been thinkin'.

Tulips!

Spring is officially here! my tulips are up. I love it! On Saturday I didn't even notice any flower buds, but suddenly on Sunday I had about 6 open flowers! It's great!

Praise God for insurance

We got the statement for Anne's MRI yesterday. over $4,000! I'm not sure yet how much we'll have to pay, but I know it won't be close to that much! yikes. I understand why some people go bankrupt when they have a medical crisis....

Anne's MRI results

So we got the results of Anne's MRI yesterday. It wasn't so good. The lump is definitely fat. But the fat extends between her vertebrae into her spinal cord. So she'll definitely have to have surgery to remove the fat. We'll meet with the pediatric neurosurgeon on May 7 to discuss the next steps. Until then, we just wait and pray. It could be really really bad (lifetime problems with her legs) or it could be not very bad (one surgery takes care of everything). I just wanted to let everyone know and ask you to pray for healing.