Treatment #2 coming up...

Well, it seems, knock on wood (even though we don't believe in that), that the hot, humid, sticky, sweaty, Texas summer has finally come to an end.  For anyone who lives in the Houston area, this is very exciting.  It is almost as exciting as waking up this past Monday morning and realizing that all three kids would be out of the house and attending school in person (side note, this is David writing, Kristi would state this in a manner that sounded much sweeter).  While Andrew and Abby have been attending school in person since this school year began, Grace has been going virtual for the first four weeks of the school year.  On the first day of school, I quickly realized that not only was Grace in 2nd grade, but I was as well.  While I joke about that, I actually am grateful for the time we spent together and getting to see how Grace works and performs in school.  It gave us a whole new appreciation for how hard teachers work and the amount of patience it requires; as well as, how grateful we are that Grace has resource teachers available to help her in the mainstream classroom (as she would have a difficult time keeping up without some guided assistance).  For example, when doing math equations and typical kids are taught a number of different strategies they can use to get to the correct answer, Grace really only needs to master one strategy as to not get confused by all the different ways to analyze the problem.  Last year, Kristi and I would often talk about how we wish we could secretly observe Grace in the classroom and see how she is doing. We would often be dumbfounded with the high scoring assignments she would come with and proudly show off.  The blessing of working alongside of Grace for the past month is that it provided a fascinating opportunity to see how Grace's mind works and how much she truly understands and comprehends in her learning environment.  I was thoroughly impressed with how well Grace did and how much more she could do than what I had envisioned.  Huge thank you to all of Grace's teachers and resource teachers who are there to help her be so successful!

Another blessing to this school year is getting to see how well Andrew is doing.  In second and third grade, Andrew definitely missed a lot of the material covered in class because of the drugs he was on, pain he was in, or just from falling asleep in class.  Halfway through his fourth grade year, which is also when Andrew was finally able to come off of all the heavy narcotics he had been on for pain, I feel like Andrew was able to pull his head out of the clouds and begin paying attention in class a lot more.  However, I think he also realized how far behind he was in some areas, particularly in math.  So many of the concepts they learn in Elementary are building blocks for the next concept.  Andrew missed a lot of those concepts, so he had to work really hard to get some simple concepts that he should've known already.  Thankfully, Andrew has had some great teachers who understood the uphill battle he was facing, as well as some teachers who took extra time tutoring Andrew after school or during the summer, and really invested in him getting caught up and prepared for 6th grade.  Now, Andrew has been crushing it in all of his classes at Poly Ryon.  If this were Kristi writing, she would write something really sappy about how outstanding the Poly Ryon teachers and administrators are, so know that they really are fantastic in the way they invest in these kids.  He has really caught Kristi and I off guard and has shown a lot of initiative and starts his homework right when he gets home from school.  We no longer have to go through his backpack and search for what assignments he might have crumpled up on the bottom.  We are grateful to see him working hard and enjoying school this year.  

While Andrew is doing great in school, he is a little worried about missing six days of school in the next two weeks, as he goes back for scans next Wednesday (9/30) and his second round of treatment on Thursday (10/1), at which point he will be radioactive again and not be able to return to school until Wednesday (10/7).  In addition to Andrew feeling worried about falling behind in school, he is also really dreading feeling nauseous again.  Last time, Andrew felt nauseous around the clock for five days. He has had tears a few nights this past week and stated he really doesn't want to have to feel that way again.  We have been able to talk to his doctors a lot and they have come up with a couple ideas to try and help the nausea to not be as bad this time.  Will you please pray the scans show some positive results from the first treatment Andrew received; for his nausea to not be an issue at all this time around; and for Andrew to feel well enough to stay on top of his school work and not get behind.

In regards to Andrew's arm, he continues to amaze his orthopedic doctor, but not necessarily in a good way.  While his arm is continuing to show new growth on his bones and that it is progressing from where it had been four weeks prior, Andrew is still no where close to being healed.  It has been nearly four months since Andrew broke his arm, but when you look at his X-rays there is still a big giant break right in the middle of one his bones.  The doctor stated that Andrew's X-rays look the same as someone who is only two months into the healing process, not four.  For some reason, we just like to do things a little unorthodox in the Ross family.

Andrew and Otto had an Obstacle Course challenge this weekend and they rocked it, especially considering they've hardly been able to practice obstacles because of Andrew's arm, Andrew has to manage Otto on the course with just one arm, and this is only the second time they have done anything like this together.  Andrew even one money on one of his rides, but the best part as seeing how much he just loved being out there with his horse for over 12 hours.

The one obstacle Otto was not having was the pond.  As soon as the competition was over, they allowed the participants to take their horses to play on the course.  Andrew headed straight for the pond and they conquered it.  Andrew was one happy kid after that and it looked like Otto enjoyed it too...  he was splashing in the pond at one point.  

Lastly, we can't forget our sweet Abigail!  She continues to work hard at all that she does and continues to grow into an amazing young woman.  We are proud of her attitude, effort, dedication, care and concern for others, and grit that she displays everyday.  Abigail's grit is such a defining characteristic for her.  Just recently, in Abigail's first league game with her new soccer team, it was a HOT day and Abigail had made a lot of sprints down the sidelines while dribbling the ball.  After about 30 minutes into the first half, Abigail was subbed off, which we didn't think anything of because she had beenworking so incredibly hard and in such extreme heat.  After the game, Abigail's coach sent me a text and told me that Abigail was working so hard that she had caused the other team to have to sub off two different defenders who were covering her because she wore them down.  So, by the time Abby had subbed off, the other team was already on their third different defender for that position.  This is a small example of Abigail's grit in all aspects of life.  She is such a blessing and Kristi and I are so grateful for how God has gifted her and wired her.  

Abby and her biggest cheerleader.  Second to watching Abby play soccer, we love hearing Grace cheer for Abby and her teammates from the sideline.  She cheers "GO SISTER BUDDY!!!"  or "shut em

down" or "you got this... you got this..." or "just kick it"... just to name a few 😂. 

PRAISE- Andrew's hair is still miraculously hanging on!  Please pray it continues to do so because this has been a huge encouragement to Andrew.

PRAYER REQUEST- with treatment week ahead of us, we could really use your prayers... will you please pray for all the details above and for our time of being separated as a family for 6 days while Andrew is on isolation?  Thank you so much for never wavering in your commitment to cover us in prayer!

We choose hope, hope in the only hope that doesn't disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.  Romans 5:3-5

Prayers and Praises...

 Quick updates and prayer requests:  so many have asked how Andrew is doing... thank you for your prayers and concern!

Prayer request- Grace has a cardiologist appointment TODAY. Long before we experienced scanxiety with Andrew, we knew echoxiety all too intimately.  you see, Grace has had 6 open heart surgeries to date (4 out of the 6 were at Boston Childrens Hospital). We have walked into an appointment thinking things were ok and walked out either scheduling surgery or being admitted directly to the hospital which led to an emergency surgery, so we never feel like Cardiology appointments are just “routine” visits. Although, it’s a great opportunity to reflect back on ALL that the Lord has so graciously brought us through.... especially the fact that we were blessed to celebrate Grace’s 8th birthday last week!!!  Will you please pray that Grace’s heart looks healthy and there are no surprises at her appointment today? 

Grace started virtual school and David gets the award for the best 2nd grade teacher EVER! We continue to watch the covid trends and pray that Grace can go to face to face school in a couple weeks (assuming trends stay reasonable). She’s SO eager to get back to face to face school and I think the best 2nd grade teacher ever could use a break too🤣!

Praise the Lord, Andrew has felt great since day 6 or 7 after treatment and here’s the miraculous part... his hair is still hanging on. Y’all, I’m in absolute disbelief! I can tell his hair is breaking off some, but he hasn’t really noticed and unless you look closely you wouldn’t even be able to tell that it’s “different.” I’m certain this is absolutely an answer to prayer! Now, it could still certainly fall out in the days and weeks to come and on subsequent treatments, but for today... we rejoice! Andrew is loving school and he’s been more motivated than I’ve ever seen him to get his homework done everyday, study, etc. Another huge praise.  Will you please pray he can stay up to speed with school since he will miss a week + of school every couple months for scans and treatments? His next scan is on Sept 30th and treatment is scheduled for Oct 1st. Please pray the scans reveal awesome results, that we can better manage his nausea this time around, and that we all weather the separation well. 

1st color out day at Poly Ryon Middle School!

Abby is loving Logo’s (the private school she goes to) and we love that she’s still home with us two days a week. She’s a happy camper and so are we that soccer games are back in full swing. It’s a sense of “normal” that our whole family enjoys. 

Thanks so much for your prayers!!!  Please keep me coming!!! #butGod #fightlikeaRoss #hopeon 💚