Good Afternoon Everyone,

This week has had some highs and lows.  I noticed Sharmi was limping last Sunday when we were shopping at Costco.  I successfully dismissed the worry until Wednesday.  Wednesday morning my parents drove over in the morning and came to Sharmi’s gymnastic class.  Everyone had a wonderful time!  Sharmi has become very strong.  She can do the rope swing by herself now, she can hang from the bar and bend her legs up and touch the bar with her feet and of course her favorite is the giant trampoline.  It was a small class that day so we got Grandma and Grandpa and sissy up on the trampoline with us as well.  It was a blast.  Sharmi also made sure that sissy got her turn at all of the slides and she faithfully stood at the bottom to catch her.  Grandma and Grandpa were very impressed and a good time was had by all. 

That afternoon, we drove up to Bellingham to see her Aunt Darla, Uncle Doug and her cousin Crystal.  We had a picnic by their pond and feed the ducks and geese.  They were very hungry birds and Sharmi was even able to feed them out of her hand.  After lunch they took us to “Build-A-Bear” in the mall.   For those of you who don’t know it is a place where you pick an un-stuffed animal, you watch them fill it with stuffing, you kiss a soft cloth heart and put it in their chest before they sew it up, and then you dress them.  It is important for animals to be fashionable too now.  :)  When we first got there we spent about ten minutes trying to get Sharmi to pick an animal.  There were lots of bears and there were also bunnies, cats, dogs, monkeys, frogs, etc.  Finally someone suggested that I pick one for her and so, I encourage her again to pick one. She walked back over to the animals and very decidedlypicked up a teddy bear named Champ hugged it and said, “I want this one.”  We picked a bunny for Chantel and went to the stuffing station.  Sharmi handed the gentleman her bear, he said, “Oh, you picked Champ.  He is my favorite too.  Champ is a very special bear.”  We asked why, but before he answered I knew what he was going to say.  He responded, “Champ is special because when you buy Champ some of the money goes to the kids who are fighting childhood leukemia and cancers. They do this in honor of a little girl who died.”  We then told him that she had leukemia.  He responded, “Wow, this really is a special bear.  Then I think that all of you need to pick a heart, kiss it and put it in her bear.”  It was a very special moment for all of us.

The down side to that day was that when we were walking in the mall, we notice that she had a significant limp again.  It was the exact same limp that started almost two years ago and ultimately was diagnosed as leukemia.  After her fun filled day and meeting her new best friend Crystal, we headed home.  Ten minutes down the freeway she started screaming at the top of her lungs, “I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m tired…. ”  It was different than her normal exhaustion and attitude.  I pulled that car over to the side of the road to just calm her down.  By the time I got both of them in bed that night I had convinced myself that both of them had cancer.  Sharmi is fighting yeast infections again which she had “pre”cancer as well. And Chantel was had been crying out it pain, which was getting more and more common.  That night I just sat in a dark empty room and cried, begging that God wouldn’t make us go through it again. 

Since then, Chantel is acting more normal so I think she is fine, and I am trying to tell myself that Sharmi is fine and that she has just injured her weak knee.  However, the knee is steadily getting worse.  It took several days of me asking Sharmi about her limp before she would finally talk about it.  I would try to simply ask her if she was hurting anywhere and she would either ignore me or she would say, “I don’t want to talk about it.”  Finally after the pain was bad enough that she couldn’t ignore it she told me with a smile on her face,  “I hurt because you remember the other day when my throat hurt and I ate grapefruit and it hurt my mouth..that is where I hurt.”  I told her that she knew she was being silly and I asked her where it really hurt and she pointed to her left knee,  exactly where it hurt her before.  I have placed a call to the clinic and I am still waiting for a return call, but I am praying that is it just an injury and I am afraid to take her in.  In summary, we could all use your prayers.

To end on a couple of fun bits.  Sharmi has taken reading to a new level for a three year old.  She is now playing, “seek and find” with words.  When I read her a story that has a repetitive word on every page like ”baby” she tries to find the word.  She told Grandma on the phone the other day,  ”I can find baby, I look for the one with the tail.”  Chantel also is enjoying reading.  She enjoys turning the page when it is time.  She is only patient for a couple of books, but it is fun reading to her while it lasts. 

Afternoon has become evening, so goodnight to you all.  Love and prayers to you and your families,

Cheris