Thanks, praises and announcement

We can't even begin to thank you all for the outpouring of love you have demonstrated to us in the last 2 weeks. We are more convinced than ever that God has a personal interest in His children. You all have truly been the hand of God in our lives. We have greatly appreciated the prayers, the many expressions of sympathy, the helping hands and the people who came to Abby's services. Thank you for weeping with us. We are so touched.

This week we are getting ready for Christmas. We will spend some time in Tucson and Sahuarita with family and then come home. We expect it will be difficult and painful at times, but we do find joy when we contemplate Abby celebrating the birth of her Savior in His presence.

We are spending a lot of time imagining Abby in her heavenly home. I treated Daniel and Elizabeth to their favorite fast food tonight, McDonalds. As we were driving home Daniel pointed out the beautiful sunset. He said, "Mommy, the sunset is pink, Abby will like it." I agreed. Then, we wondered out loud together about whether Abby knew that we were having McDonalds (which was her favorite as well). I asked Daniel if he thought she was having McDonalds in heaven and he answered very quickly, "no, she's having something better!" Wow, better than McDonalds in a 4 year old mind is pretty good! Thank you, Lord for reminding us that what you have in store for is is even better than we could possibly imagine!

Now, I wanted to take a few minutes to update you on a boy that I asked you to pray for over a month ago. His name is Carlin and he has a PNET tumor. Well, I have been in contact with his mom and praise God things are looking pretty good. His post radiation MRI on Friday showed no new growth and a few areas looking smaller. Josiah and I were able to visit them last week and were amazed at the progress that Carlin seems to have made since his surgery in October. If you remember, he wasn't able to eat, walk or talk and now he is doing all 3! He is eating a modified diet, walking with some assistance and mom says he's communicating more clearly every day. He and Josiah enjoyed a game of Lego chess. Carlin, his parents and grandmother will leave tomorrow for his Make a Wish trip to Florida and then he starts his chemo on December 27 or 28. Please continue to pray for God's healing hand on Carlin and for strength and peace for his parents.

Finally, I wanted to let you know that the news story featuring Abby and 2 other cancer patients is scheduled to air on Christmas Eve at 10 pm. We got a sneak preview. It was beautiful and touching. So, tell anyone you know to watch or tape it on channel 5 in Phoenix.