Good Evening,

The last 4 weeks have been a blur of planning, celebrating and medical appointments.   We flew back from San Diego on Sunday.  While on the plane my body must have decided that my stress was over, because I started sneezing and by Monday morning I was sick and totally wiped out.  I got some rest on Monday, and convinced my body that I was still on mommy duty, because I had to take Sharmi to the hospital the next day.  By Tuesday morning, the cold was gone but I was still really drained. 

Sharmi’s appointment went really well.  I took both of the girls, so Emalyn came with us to help entertain Chantel while I was busy with Sharmi.  She was a wonderful help.  It worked really well.   Sharmi was afraid of the new process.  She didn’t like having the numbing cream on her arm.  However, when I was identifying the best place for the draw I said, “here is a happy vein.”  Emalyn and Sharmi thought that was funny and they talked about Sharmi’s “happy veins”  all day.  Her happy vien and the numbing cream worked really well.  Sharmi didn’t even feel it.  She was very please about that.  Dr. Thompson said Sharmi’s labs were boring.  We like boring.   

The last month of celebrating has been wonderful.  The kids church in Marysville was perfect.  The theme was “Heaven is for Kids.”  We decorated the church with a ton of stuffed animals and we had a blanket and picnic basket with snacks on the stage.  All of the kids loved it.  My parents sang ”Heaven is for Kids”, dad told a story about being in Gods hands and he used fire as an illustration, there was a baby dedication, I told Sharmi’s story (without crying), Sharmi sat next to me on the stairs while I talked and she took care of her bear Mellow.  Sharmi sang a solo “Come and go with me to my Fathers house”, my Dad told a story about how angels are special to children and to Sharmi, my mom sang a song that she created for Sharmi about being a special angel from above.   And pastor Doug finished with a story about Daniels courage and emphasized that since Sharmi is in God’s hands the statistics of her ever being sick again are different then the standard medical statistics.  After church we had a wonderful potluck lunch at our house.  It was a perfect day!!

This last weekend in California was also a great celebration.  Sabbath morning when we left for church it was pouring down rain on the coast, but by the time of the party the weather was perfect.  It was wonderful to visit with our friends and family again.  Sharmi had a great time!  Chantel also really enjoyed it.  She just wandered around and watched everyone.  After it was over we asked her if she liked the party and she nodded, smiled and said, “party…cake…cake.”    The next morning when we were leaving the resort I thought I would sit down and finally rest for 2 minutes while everyone loaded up, but Dean came back in for something and saw me with a quarter of a cake and a fork.    He thought that was a good idea.  It wasn’t long before the kids found us and then there were 4 of us with 4 forks digging into a huge cake.  It was a funny sight.  The girls were skipping the cake and just eating the flowers and bees off the cake.  It is a great memory!

Well, laundry is still piled up from the trip.  I am hoping to get most of it done tonight. 

Thank you to all of you who came to celebrate with us.  It was an honor to have all of your love, support and prayers. 

Goodnight,

Cheris