When the Storms of Life Come

  It's hard to know how to start this post. We've been so overwhelmed and totally shocked by all that's happened this week it's hard to know how to put our feelings into words. Brendan, Loren's 11 year old brother, has cancer. It started conference weekend when he complained that his left eye was fuzzy. He went from partial vision in his eye to no vision at all. After doctor's visits and tests, they confirmed that Brendan has a fast growing malignant mass in his sinus region and it's putting pressure on his eye, thus causing the loss of sight. He was rushed to Primary Children's Hospital where he remains now. As of right now, they're still waiting for the pathology report to come back so they can tell what type of cancer it is and how to treat it. The problem is that the tumor is growing faster than they have time to wait for the results and if they don't act quickly, they might not be able to save his eye. He went into major surgery yesterday where they took some of the tumor out to relieve the pressure on his eye. He's in a lot of pain today and it looks like a waiting period of 48 hours to see if his vision will come back. All of this happened within a few days.

  We've felt such a whirlwind of emotions. It's been so hard for us not to be able to do anything, to help with our siblings, to visit Brendan when he needs that support, to stand next to mom and dad. We really feel so helpless. We feel comforted by the fact that Brendan is in the best possible hospital he could be in and we know he's in expert care. Though it doesn't stop our worry and grief over the fact that Brendan will have to go through pain, long days and long nights.
  Brendan, though we can be with you physically, we are with you in spirit! We think and pray for you constantly, you're always on our minds. You bring so much joy to our family and we think you're so brave! You have many, many cheerleaders- family and friends who truly love you. You will beat this thing and we'll be right beside you the whole way.
  Though we didn't feel much in the party mood, we had already planned a birthday party for Lydia and a Law Families pumpkin carving activity for yesterday. It was a good distraction and both events turned out really nice. We had around 30 people at Lydia's party. I was a stressful mess the morning of the party, Loren can attest, and had literally 5 minutes to shower and get ready for the day. So that explains my hair :) I made cherry bars, banana bread and bought cupcakes for the kids. We started by singing Happy Birthday, though I forgot a match for the candle, and dug into the dessert.

Next was a bingo game. I gave out mini pumpkins to the bingo winners.

Lydia's favorite part was the presents. She got a lot of fun stuff, books. clothes, coloring things, and to her her joy, a horse.

We had lots of help from these cuties opening presents. I actually don't think Lydia opened one. I guess we'll take advantage of the fact she has no idea why there's presents and why we're opening them.

Best birthday party ever. Hope she enjoyed it because it might be her last. Who knew birthday party's could be so stressful? After all was said and done I'm glad we did it though.

After a quick nap for Lydia we headed over to the Law Families pumpkin carving activity. It was really fun and nice to get to know the new families that have moved in. It's quite a bigger group than last year which makes it fun. 

Our good friend, Karissa and her daughter, Afton.

Lydia loved scooping out the goop. 

After carving and roasting hot dogs, we pulled out the minion piñata.

Jackson knew how to whack a piñata.

Virginia trying her hand at cracking it open.

Adeline's turn. She wasn't too excited.

Now the big kids up to bat.

We ended up just breaking it open and shaking the candy out because no one got close to cracking it. That's a quality piñata there.

Chuck, Virginia and Annie (2L)

Nick (1L), Sarah and Jackson

We were wiped out from a big day so Lydia and I snuggled on the couch with her horses and watched Spirit (a horse movie). 

  Well we love you all, it's on to another week. We'd like to ask you to keep Brendan in your prayers, we know the power of prayer is real. Thanks for all your love and support.