easter and the week ahead

What a blessing it has been to still be HOME now for over 4 weeks and counting. We were especially thankful that on Easter Sunday, we got to attend church together as a whole family, for the first time since Ethan's diagnosis. On top of that we got to have church OUTSIDE on a beautiful Spring day. Most importantly, we got to worship Jesus and celebrate his resurrection!

Since Ethan was able to resume his therapy schedule last week, he is now in the midst of some pretty heavy-hitting chemo that can really knock down his counts.

He has had a few symptoms in the last day or so that made me give his team a call and they decided to have some bloodwork drawn early (he was scheduled to have labs tomorrow) to see where his counts were at. The results came in and showed that all of his cell counts have been knocked down into low ranges. His platelets are steady enough right now, but his hemoglobin is low enough that he will need to get a blood transfusion tomorrow afternoon (outpatient) at the hospital.

So, this week he will have IV chemo at home Wednesday through Saturday, oral chemo at home each day and now a blood transfusion tomorrow.

Can you please pray for Ethan - that his body will continue to grow strong and make healthy blood cells? And that he would also stay healthy and infection free? The last time he had this week of chemo in his therapy schedule, we ended up in the hospital with a fever that was due to the chemo itself, as it can cause flu-like symptoms. Please pray that he can get some good rest and also that the transfusion will go well tomorrow - yes, these tranfusions are par for the course, but there is always a risk that his body could have a reaction.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us. Truly, we are so thankful for all of you!

A few Easter weekend outtakes of the fam:

My girl and her accessories! She is 1000% all girl.

Trying out their new special green chairs.

Trying out their new special green chairs with Dad.

Ethan set us up to apparently have LOTS of color choices for our egg dyeing. Alas, we had to consolidate to just 5. Yes, 5.

Hard at work.

My favorite part of this picture is the precious daughter in the back. Who doesn't love a good gulp of dyed water?

Easter cheese!

My girl and her basket.

And probably my favorite Easter morning memory this year - Ethan whipping each egg he found hidden around the house into his basket at full speed. And then dumping them all out on the floor. :)