upcoming MRI

Please be in prayer over the next few weeks. Ammy will be having an MRI on February 3 to see if or how much the tumor may have grown. We are not sure if we will get the information that day or later but we will post as soon as we know. In some ways it will be a relief to have an answer but yet we are still fearful of what may be laying ahead.
We are also working on getting Ammy back to school. She is nervous about going back but we hope to return some sort of normal to her upside down life. Hopefully we will have a start date for school soon. I will also let you know when that will be happening.
Please be praying for both Ammy and Beth as uncertainty lies ahead and the anxiousness that can cause.

OH, the picture was taken today at the mall before the stores opened. The kids were so happy to walk together and have no crowds to worry about. Look at the girl standing so tall!

update

Ammy is doing good and now is going to PT and OT just once a week. She should be back to school soon after we have another meeting in the next few weeks. The biggest concern with her going back to school is that she has to hold someones hand as she walks around. She is also not aloud on playground equipment or in PE class. This is not because of her ability to do things but because any fall could cause damage to her brain or spin due to her surgery. She often makes my heart jump as we are walk together and she stumbles.
It is amazing how quickly we can forget just how far she has come or that anything has happened and how fast we are reminded that the journey is just beginning...

christmas miracles...

What is about Christmas, it seems blessing are greater and sometimes sorrow is so much deeper. We as a family have had are share of sorrow at Christmas and great blessings. This year although has had its struggle and moments of deep sorrow it seems it is overflowing with great blessings too. WOW how blessed Ammy and Beth were by so many of you over the holidays and before. It was amazing to see how many people reached out to help this be so special of a christmas for them! Thank you seems so little to say when you have touched all of our lives so greatly!
I wanted to share with you a moment I am sure to remember all my life. As I am sure you are all aware of the snow canceled church for two weeks in a row and even on Christmas eve. So come Sunday the 28 we are all ready to see friends and family and watch the kids do the Christmas play at church. This year Ammy got to be the star in the christmas program. How fitting as she shinned that morning but not as the star but as herself. As the miracle she is! The kids part of the service was yet to start and we were singing as a congregation. To tell you the truth I don't remember the song just what I saw when I looked at Ammy at that moment.(side note from Bethany, the song was titled Mighty to save, which fit the moment perfectly) She was wearing a dress of gold for her costume and a smile that shinned even brighter then her dress. She was dancing to the music... Yes dancing.... tears sprung to my eyes. Just months ago I remember sitting with the child life specialist as she prepared me in how to best help Beth and Ammy and explain to my children that Ammy would most likely never walk again. I remember the look of amazement and shock on the doctors face as she raised her foot off the hospital bed. Even then he said she was the talk of the hospital, a miracle. Just a few months later she is dancing while singing to our God, the one who healed her, who allowed her dance again! I will never understand why God says Yes to some of our prayers for miracles and no to others. For this moment I choose to just be so very thankful he said yes to this miracle in our lives.
Thank you for all your prayers!
When Ammy was born Brian and I had not yet had kids, so while we waited for that answer to prayer we spent our time holding and loving on her. Each year I got her an ornament to remember something from that year. This year her ornament was an angel and on it's wings it said "Tis a gift to dance". I am so thankful she was given this gift again.
Thank you for letting me share this special memory with all of you.