Every day is a miracle!

Where do I begin?! Abby is continuing to show so much strength and character, she just blows my mind! Over the past few weeks, we have noticed some negative effects from the tumor with Abby. Her walking is almost completely gone now, and even with help walking, she is mostly throwing her legs out in front of her than walking. She has compensated by learning how to scoot herself off of the couch and onto the floor, and then very slowly crawl around to play with her sisters or to just move. Her spirits are still up and she is an inspiration to me!

Last Friday, while Abby was getting her chemo treatment, she was only able to receive one of the medicines because of a high liver enzyme. They told Maegan, that if Abby doesn't feel like making the trip to St. Louis for her chemo, then to keep her home. If she is playing, or anything else and she doesn't want to come up, they said that it was fine to keep her home and to make her happy. It hurt to hear that, and the doctors did say that in no way are they giving up on Abby, and we never will, but we just need to make Abby happy. That is the most important thing.

Before reading the next little bit, please remember that we will fight tooth and nail to help Abby get better and giving up is not in our vocabulary! I'm not trying to be offensive or defensive, but when you keep reading, you'll see why I felt it necessary to put in that disclaimer...

On a sad note, (and yes, I'm tearing up just typing this), Maegan and I have had the discussions on keeping Abby home or at the hospital. We have decided that Abby will be home where she is comfortable until the end. As things get closer, we will move her into our bed (because nothing is more comforting than being in mom and dad's bed!). We'll also move a spare bed into the room for the other girls to sleep on, because we don't want them to feel left out or neglected. We feel that Abby will be the most comfortable at home surrounded in love.

On another sad note, we've also decided that we want Abby and Curtis to be together. Grandma Mary spoke with the funeral home and they said that it is possible to bring Curtis up, and then Abby and Curtis can be together in the same plot. You don't know how hard it is to type this right now, or how hard it was for us to have this conversation.

With all of the sadness out there, let me share some positives! Everyday is a miracle and we are trying to treat them as such! Abby and Mary-Beth are both on t-ball teams, with Mary-Beth being on a coach pitch team. Abby just loves being on the team and smacking the ball! She lets me help by pushing her in her stroller around the bases! She also enjoys being in the field too, and the coaches, players, and parents, all go out of their way to let Abby really be a part of the team! She gets ground balls, catches the ball, and throws the ball! I offer a little assistance, but to see her face beam is awesome! Her next game is this evening at 6pm and she can't wait! When we showed up to the first game, there was a new t-ball bat, glove, and some t-balls waiting for her that a new friend of ours had got for her!

On Memorial Day, we all went to our church's picnic, and Abby was having a blast throwing water balloons and playing with the other kids in the water! The primary children are inspiring to me, as I watched them fill and tie off water balloons for Abby, and then let her throw the balloons at them. It was a really good time for all of us!

A few days later, Maegan was outside with the girls cleaning the silly string off of the deck from their silly string battle (because grandpa Brian and I had spent all morning power washing it) and had a water spraying good time! I looked outside and I see Abby in her stroller with Maegan spraying her down and Abby just laughing and loving every second of it! Those are the types of memories that will last forever!

We are all looking forward to Uncle Bob, Auntie Colista and the cousins coming out next week!! The girls, and all of us, are so excited! It will be a good time for all of us!