UPDATE

Kyrie is back in the hospital. Lacie woke up Saturday morning to see that the right side of Kyrie's face was swollen. They went to the hopsital yesterday morning. Cause is known right now, maybe swollen lymph nodes? She had another CAT scan, and we're waiting on those results.

Please keep praying!

Love from Nearly 200 Miles Away.

Last week, on the March 1, Kyrie celebrated her half-birthday. She's now officially 18 months old! So for a little fun, Kyrie's Uncle Chad and I read her a story. To see it, click here!

p.s. You may need a high-speed connection to see it fully.

Recreating Normal

Since Kyrie is either lying on her plush dog or sitting in her Bumbo most of each day, Lacie has to come up with fun stuff for a sedantary 18-month-old to do. Coloring is a good one.


Very "beat," don't you think? Like a swanky, beatnik artist at her craft? Move over Jackson Pollack! Seeing this photo, I half expect her recite improvised poetry.


And then Mommy & Kyrie played "Hollywood."

This was a good day.

Heaping Bowls of Goodness

Over the course of the last month, warm love and abundant generosity have been oozing up through fissures of this affliction. When your world is cracked open and even your most modest dreams hang by a spider's thread, it's the love, care and prayer from others that weaves your only safety net. I think we have some expert weavers around this family.

Many of you have generously contributed to the bank fund, to the salon raffle, to the PayPal fund and in many more ways that neither I nor the family even know. We are completely overwhelmed with gratitude. Some of you have simply handed small, valuable pieces of paper to Jordan or Lacie in person. Special friends dropped off a gift basket overflowing with fun toys and goodies to occupy and amuse Kyrie. The Love Box company matched a spontaneous collection taken up by Jordan's co-workers.

On behalf of great-grandma Norma and Nana Jan, A-1 Singer Sewing in Wichita did something very special. Since Kyrie is especially vulnerable to germs right now, they gave Jordan & Lacie a super-duper air purifier and sanitizer, a machine that cleans the air for Kyrie! And the Young Couples' Life Group at Family Church all pitched in and delivered a slew of delicious Super Suppers meals for Lacie & Jordan.

Kindness stirs the soul, doesn't it? Above all, though, are those compelling prayers from all over the world. Such good medicine.

Kyrie is returning home from her chemo treatment right now, a vial of vincristine and more anti-nausea Kytril (she was sick to her stomach last night). According to the oncologist, her cell counts are where they should be, and Lacie is going to start giving her Pediasure today since Kyrie's appetite is dwindling.

New photos to come soon.

Twelve Days of Raffling

Just 12 days left to purchase tickets to win the Fringe Salon fundraising raffle! One raffle ticket is $5 or you can get six tickets for $25. The winner will be drawn on Saturday, March 17—St. Patrick's Day! (Kinda cool since the kicked off the fundraiser on St. Valentine's Day.)

Chad and I stopped by last weekend to check it out, and whoa! Not only is the salon a hip place to flip your wig, but the raffle prize basket that they've put together is incredible! Check this out:

Fringe Salon
"The Works," includes haircut, color and make-up application
Drs. Mar & Lennon Dentistry
Sonic Complete electric toothbrush and Crest Whitestrips
Kate Lane
opera handbag, $25 value
Brooks Brothers
necklace, $184 value
P.F. Chang's
$25 gift certificate
Chester's
$75 gift certificate
Piztro's
$40 gift certificate
Doc Green's
$25 gift certificate
Craig Allen's
The Executive Package, $120 value
Bonefish Grill
$45 gift certificate
Red Robin
$50 gift certificate
Fox & Hound
gift certificate
Individually Yours
Classic Facial with Valerie
Specs
BCBG sunglasses, $149 value
Peel's
Cricket ceramic straightening iron & Redken styling package, $90 value
Homewood Suites
Presidential Suite
Dr. Conrad
Active C Anti-Wrinkle Treatment, $40 value

See what I mean about the "whoa"?

Thank you to everyone who has already stopped by. This fundraiser has already been very well received by patrons of the salon, and we hope to make the last several days even better.

And another huge pile of thanks to everyone who keeps the prayers going for Kyrie. Donations help keep this family afloat, but the prayers keep the family lifted. Thank you.

Couple of the Year

With only 18 months of on-the-job training, anyone who has seen Jordan & Lacie with Kyrie in the last year and a half knows what great parents they are. Devoted. Patient. Loving. Happy. Unbelievably, in light of January and February events, they have become even more devoted, even more patient, even more loving and in the midst of it all, they're doing anything they can to make Kyrie happy.

Making Kyrie happy right now is a little tricky. Some days are great: coloring, 'toons, bubbles, fingerpuppets and sunglasses fashion shows. Then, there are moments when you know she wants something—she'll say the same thing over and over and point—but just when you think you've figured it out, like a cracker or soup, she changes her mind and gets upset. She's frustrated with herself. She can sit in her Bumbo and color, but she can't pull herself up to sit from a reclining position nor can she really use the left side of her body. Her left hand can tentatively hold a cracker for a little while. On occasion, she has used her right hand to pull her left arm over her chest so she can touch both hands together for a round of "If You're Happy and You Know It."

After her hearing test, they discovered that Kyrie isn't hearing in her left ear. Her left eye is the one that will look at you, but the muscles on that side of her face aren't responding. So you have to watch the right side of her face for expressions, for smiling and for crying. You can tell that she wants to play; she wants to run from room to room like before, but she simply can't get her body to work like before.

Sleeping on her giant plush puppy in the living room is the new norm—for everybody. Lacie sleeps by Kyrie on the floor upon the puppy's hind end, Kyrie sleeps in the middle and Jordan sleeps on the couch. There are times when Kyrie will cry, "Mama, Mama," and point over her left shoulder, meaning that Lacie needs to lay beside Kyrie on the dog, cheek to cheek or forehead to forehead with her.

Lacie & Jordan have become a great nursing team. Lacie is The Comforter, which means that since she's on the floor with Kyrie most of the day, Jordan has to be The Fetcher. He makes the soup or gets another blanket or another round of juice, and he has to do it quickly. Every day, Lacie has to distract and comfort Kyrie while Jordan gives the injections that build her white blood cell count. They flush the Hickman line, they change diapers and they watch her for any sign of improvement or alarm. And yet when Kyrie sleeps, these two can still share the couch and maybe share a laugh. That's good love.

Kyrie goes in today for bloodwork, and on Wednesday, she'll visit her oncologist for another round of vincristine chemotherapy, just like she did last Wednesday. The vincristine is easier on her than the cytoxam. We don't have a date scheduled yet for another scan.

If the chemo successfully makes the tumors recede, Kyrie may get more control and mobility back. For that reason and for so many more, let's pray that this chemo is doing its job.

Kyrie, Lacie, Nana Jan and Great-Nana Norma.

Sometimes a girl just needs her mom. And even when that girl becomes a mother, sometimes she still needs her mom. And even when that mother becomes a grandma, sometimes she still needs her mom. And even when that grandma becomes a great-grandma, there are times like these when she’s probably asking for extra-special help from her mom.

Motherhood’s delicacy and power careen through our lives every second. From a wondrous vessel, comes the creation of the very vessels that sustain our breath, bone and blood. Mothers keep the world spinning. Her hands butter the toast, zip the jackets and reach for the hugs—that toast, the jackets and the hugs keep us alive. Her wisdom—aloud or silently—wills the development of our own wisdom. We learn beside her; we learn by her, the sum of virtues & faults.

Modernity often belittles motherhood into a mess of years marred by drool, snot and back talk. Sometimes mothers themselves mistake their own worth, and that’s probably because no one has been able to adequately quantify a mother’s love. It’s too immense, too immortal. A mother’s love—all love—pierces miles, generations and even the boundaries of heaven.

Only a mighty holy calculator could measure something like that.

p.s. Chad & I are headed to Wichita for the weekend. Most likely, I won’t post again until Monday.