Play, Play, Play

Here are some pictures of the boys playing outside today. Cason really enjoys the sand box and Jackson is playing with his airplanes that Santa brought him in his stocking. We are enjoying the time at home, as we are preparing ourselves for a couples weeks in the hospital. Thanks so much for everyones prayers, Cason has not had a fever since Monday morning. Praise the Lord! God is so good.

Pre - op

Cason and Beverly had their pre-op appointments today. We were afraid that transplant was going to be postponed because of Cason's fever and cough, but it looks like we are still on for next Monday. As long as the fever is gone by Sunday we are good to go, so please pray that it goes away! It's hard to believe that it's almost here. Thank you so much for praying for our little man!

Dr. Kirk, one of Cason's transplant surgeons.

This is Shannon, the transplant nurse. She is in charge of scheduling and making sure everything is going just right.

Nona and Cason today during Pre-op. We are so thankful for Nona
and for her willingness to give this special gift to Cason!

Christmas

We have had a really great Christmas and we are so thankful. We hung out with the Maday crew on Christmas eve, spent the night at home for Santa on Christmas morning, went to Nona and Papa's later that night and then visited with more family at B.G.'s grandparent's on Friday night. It's been a little crazy, but lots of fun. The boys have enjoyed their new train table and drum set, tools and race cars, skates and puzzles, and they (and we) have had a great time with our families.

Please pray for Cason as he has a pretty bad cough and has had a low grade fever for the past couple of days. We took him to the doctor on Friday morning and he may have a touch of pneumonia, so we are treating him for it just in case. Pre-op is still scheduled for Monday and they will repeat a few tests then. We are praying first of all that he does not have pneumonia (0r worse, RSV) and that, whatever it is, it will not delay transplant.

Thanks for all of the encouragement through e-mails, Facebook posts, cards, etc. We can't say it enough, but we appreciate and love all of you so much! We hope that you have had a great Christmas!

Jackson rocking it out on Christmas morning!

Good News!!!

Well we got an early Christmas present today...Mom has passed all of her tests and is going to give Cason a kidney!!!! Praise the Lord!!! She and Tricia have been on the phone this morning with the team at Emory and Egleston and it is going to happen really soon. January 5th is the big day. It hasn't really sunk in yet, but we are incredibly thankful, excited, nervous, hopeful...lots of mixed emotions. Cason and Mom will go for pre-op on Monday the 29th and then surgery will be a week later. We can't believe that it is so close. Please keep praying!

BG

"I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands." Psalm 63:2-4

We're so close.

Today was our big day to find out if we had a kidney match for Cason. We heard from the doctors after a long week of waiting that Beverly passed all of the hard examinations, but will need to repeat her 24 hour urine test. This needs to be redone because of a slightly high creatinine level. Her level is 1.1 and they would like it to be under 1. She will repeat this test hopefully this weekend and we will probably get results on Monday. The nurse that I spoke with said that it is common to have to redo this test and that it will likely improve with hydration. So if you see Beverly while your out, please offer her a drink! We are so thankful for Beverly being so healthy otherwise.

We appreciate everyone's prayers, texts, emails, calls and visits during this waiting time. Y'all are all so special to us. We are so excited about hopefully soon getting Cason on a new track to treatment and recovery.

Field Trip!

Jackson's preschool went to Christmas Lane in Thomaston this week.
Tricia went as a helper and they all had lots of fun!

Jackson and Kinsleigh

Jackson and Payton

This is Cason's new, silly smile. He is so proud of himself!

Bird!

So apparently the word has gotten out that our house is a haven for critters because this little guy swooped in when I opened our door tonight. We staged an elaborate plan and safely shooed him back outside. He was nice enough to leave a present on our wall. Any ornithologists know what kind of bird this is?

We are infested!

With our pretty Christmas tree this year we have also have had some unexpected guest. The day after we put up the tree we noticed that there was a huge grasshopper on a shepherds back of our nativity. We finally got rid of that bug and then the next morning Jackson was watching cartoons and I hear him yell "mommy there is a bug in our house". I was home alone and on crutches so i was hopping all over trying to kill this bug with Jackson cheering me on. I did get it! Then today we came home from church and sitting on the living room floor is yet another "Christmas tree bug"(picture above after B.G. caught it). We are starting to wonder how many grasshopper brothers, sisters and cousins came along for the ride from the tree farm.

Cookies

Beverly finished up donor testing on Wednesday. We tried our best to get some kind of information about her results, but they said that they would contact us next Wednesday after 1:00 to let us know whether or not she is a match. Casons doctors are all ready to go. So...................if Wednesday we get a clear report to move forward we have talked about possibly having the transplant the week of January 5th.

BG and I are so excited, but yet very nervous. We are trying to do our best to prepare ourselves, but how to know how to do that is hard. We have read books, talked to people, and asked LOTS of questions. One thing that we are so sure of is that the Lord's hand is in this situation. This past week we have seen God working and using Cason's story to share His comfort and love to others. Our prayer as we move forward is that the Lord will continue to use us to encourage and be a witness to others.

As you can see in the pictures we are really having a lot of fun this Christmas season. Both boys are loving the bright lights, big trees, Santa, colorful presents, and sweet treats. Jackson is very curious about Baby Jesus and said the other day that " presents are the pretend reason for Christmas". Big Daddy and Gigi were here last night and Jackson had lots of questions for them about the Wisemen and the gifts that they brought to Jesus.

This weekend we made up a lot of homemade goodies to share with friends. We are so thankful for all of our friends and family. Jackson really likes to recite random Christmas rhymes and songs that he has learned at school. He really makes us laugh and keeps us entertained.

"I just came back from a lovely trip along the milky way.

I stopped off at the north pole to spend the holiday. I called on old dear Santa Claus to see what I could see. He took me to his workshop and told his plans to me. Now Santa is a busy man - he has no time to play. He's got millions of stockings to fill on Christmas day. You better write your letter now and mail it right away because he's getting ready - his reindeers and his sleigh. You better watch out, you better not cry You better not pout, i'm telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town."