A Week of Normal

Hannah's counts on Tuesday were good: wbc 3.2; hemoglobin 8.1; platelets around 40k. We are still on hold for the bone marrow transplant & will know more after our visit to NIH on December 21st for Hannah's bone marrow biopsy. Please just keep praying that her bone marrow will continue to respond to her treatment from June & that her body will get back to work all on its own. We are all just so thankful for these days out of the hospital & the normalcy of life right now.

Hannah helped me re-arrange the living room this week & she was hilarious! It was a mixture of her acting skills & her experience of watching HGTV with my mom. At one point, she said about some pictures that I had on the wall: "Mom, see those pictures over there -- it is like they are saying: We are trying to decorate but we are not doing a very good job" I almost wet my pants laughing .. it was so funny! Oh, the brutal honesty of a child ... love it!

We had so many normal things this week, a wonderful life that I do not take for granted:
Went shopping at IKEA (I let Hannah do all the picking out, thank you very much!)
Girl Scout meeting
Katie babysitting at our house (versus Lily being at her place & us at the hospital)
Lunch at Chick fil A
Hannah started an acting class in Studio City & she LOVES it. The class is just on Saturday's for 2 1/2 hours.
Hannah's teacher came to visit twice this week (Hannah's doctor still won't let her back in school b/c of her counts ... it has a lot to do with low hemoglobin & all the swine flu stuff).

Lily is being so sweet ... and so determined ... and so adorable ... and so talkative ... and so funny. She is desperate to make friends. The girl is just wired this way. When we came home from China, before I knew Lily's personality, I swore I'd never put her in any kind of pre-school until she was at least 4. Well, let me just say, that isn't going to work for this little pumpkin. She talks every day about "FRIENDS" We put her on the waiting list of a fantastic pre-school that Hannah went to. When we went to drop the paperwork off I was explaining to her that this is where she is going to make friends. Ever since then, at least a few times a day, she says: FRIENDS!?! It is very hard to explain the concept of "waiting list" :-)

One night at bedtime I was talking to Lily about her foster sister, Meredith, and I told her one day we would get together with her so they could still be friends. Lily said, "Morning?!" As in, can we go see Meredith in the morning? Soo cute!

OK -- Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Please say an extra prayer for a friend of ours from this crazy world of Aplastic Anemia, Ethan. He is so little & about to have a bone marrow transplant at City of Hope on Monday night. He has completed his chemotherapy & radiation. Pray for his Mom, Jennifer, that God would give her every ounce of strength that she needs to get through as the full time parent with him at City of Hope. Pray also for his brother, Cole & dad at home in the LA area. My heart just breaks for this journey that none of us would choose to be on. Here is a picture of Ethan & his family, he is on his dad's lap -- please pray!