The Final Phase!!!!!

We are officially in the VERY last treatment cycle! Words cannot possibly express our excitement level. After today, we have 9 more Mondays of chemotherapy, then 1 more week for final scans/etc., then fully expecting Samuel's lab work will show that he is absolutely able to have surgery so that his port will be removed -- if you do the math, that means Samuel will be COMPLETELY done with treatment AND have NO MORE PORT before Christmas this year!!!!!!!!! It will truly be a powerfully blessed celebratory season for us all this year. THANK YOU, GOD for Your Goodness always. We are overjoyed. The countdown has officially begun....

 

 Happy Crew

 Races in the exam room

Zoom Zoom

This one is Samuel's newest bulldozer toy - he got it special today from the nurse's secret stash for being brave after a rough time getting accessed with his IV needle (he was NOT happy about it this morning and said he "hated" our friend Nurse Amy, later clarifying he meant he hated ALL the nurses + doctors for hurting him so much....after I explained how much they love him + do what they do bc they want to help him, he lovingly apologized to Nurse Amy, and we ended on a reasonably good note. THANK GOD).

 Snuggles while Samuel gets his Zofram drip

 "Bubble juice" is a special treat on Actinomycin days bc it helps cover the taste of the drugs in Samuel's mouth.

Have we mentioned the "Victory Bell" at the clinic? It's a bell hung in honor of one of the hospital's pediatric patients, and every child who completes their last chemo treatment gets to be raised up in the presence of all their nurses + the clinic staff to RING THE VICTORY BELL signaling that they have officially kicked cancer's bum. Samuel is SOOOOO excited to ring that bell. PRAISE GOD we will see that day so very soon. Thank you all most sincerely for your continued prayers + encouragement. We would not be able to walk this Victory out so easily + faithfully without your support + love. We appreciate you more than you could know. GOD BLESS YOU + YOURS, always. xo

Happy Smiles

On our "week off" we decided to take the time for annual dental checkups. It never ceases to amaze me how differently we approach even seemingly inconsequential things like visits to the dentist during this kind of treatment. We praise God that we found a wonderful dental office, staffed with some of the most kind + personable professionals we've encountered. Their office has treated several pediatric cancer patients, so they were fully prepared to handle Samuel - not to mention that they're very capable for successfully handling toddlers in general! Each semi-private exam chair was "fully loaded" with everything needed, including a flat screen. Needless to say, neither Samuel + Trinity had ANY problem with other people brushing their teeth while they laid back + watched cartoons!

 The "thousand yard" TV stare...wow.

This is actually NOT "fear of dentist", must've been something intriguing on her show :)

Pearly whites :)

Celebrating Daddy

We use every excuse we can to celebrate how awesome our Daddy is. Last week we decided to take a very cool military honor he received as the reason at hand :) Great food, lots of love, laughs... blessed good times.

 The Man of our hearts

 Kids playing with ketchup... usually never a good thing, ha!

 Best friends for real

You're my hero, Mr. Godsey, always + forever.

*PROUD OF YOU, DADDY!*

Spa Day...kiddie style!

Last Sunday, an incredible organization founded by an incredible young lady hosted an open house at a local Paul Mitchell Salon in order to raise funds for pediatric cancer research + patient support. We were honored to attend + support their mission... and, of course, it was too much fun to pass up!

The Salon + the wonderful volunteers from Nellie's Catwalk put on a fantastic event with food, face painting, fashion show + hair cuts! Mawmaw happily joined us for the party, and it was everything we could have hoped for. Nellie's organization does tremendous work with pediatric cancer patients around Columbus - with hopes to expand nationwide. Please visit their website to learn more, and do more if you feel led. THANK YOU!

www.catwalk4kids.com

 So ready for all the excitement to begin!

 BFF's :)

 Mawmaw surprised the kiddos!!!!

Feelin' the love :)

 Fashion Show FUN

 Some of the models

 Getting ready for his "buzz"

 I think Trinity may have enjoyed the "spa treatment" a little too much! Uhoh :)

 Handsome as ever

 Cheeeeeze

 Picking out colors for his TIGER face (his choice)

 Practicing tiger growl

 Gettin' there...

 I do not know where in the world this look came from, but I LOVE IT! haaa

"Rrreeeeooowww"

 Our little green tiger :)

 Mommy had gone first... coincidence we matched (it's cuz we have such like minds, haha)

 Soooo excited little princess....

 Picking out the colors for her "different colored puppy dog" face

 Woof Woof

Cutest animals we've ever seen :)

GREAT DAY! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Nellie's Catwalk + Paul Mitchell Salon, xo!

Are You Ready for Some...? :)

Fall means FOOTBALL! And some of the best kind is the good ole high school variety.

 St Vincent De Sales v. New Albany

 They love the stadium steps... a sign of conditioning workouts to come, haha!

 St Vincent De Sales v. Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (!!!)

"Uncle" Brian came along for this one since he's a former Youngstownian, too :)

 Plastic hand clappers (ie, very loud + reasonably annoying, but SO much fun!)

 Gooooooo Team!

We dressed in neutral team colors to avoid being harangued, lol.

Although, Mooney did get run over by De Sales....

The Home Stretch!

We are soooooo excited to learn that Samuel will be done with the actual "drugs" part of his treatment before the end of the year! This will be a most special Christmas FOR SURE! This week we didn't get any drugs, we had the third round of follow-up CT-scans, ultrasounds, and more lab work. We praise God we can report that Samuel's blessed body is still + always 100% free, clear + healed from any + all cancer. THANK YOU, LORD.

Ultrasound first...excited to see there's a fun movie on...haha

Then, upstairs to get IV accessed + have blood drawn...

Accessed...getting flushed with saline solution...

Bandaged up, now getting flushed with Heparin to prevent clotting in his catheter...

Trinity has assumed her usual pose, lol...

Now, we're all just hanging out while Samuel has to drink dye contrast over 2 hrs...

Snuggles...

Sibling snuggles this time...

Mmm...contrast...

Almost done! ...Trinity snacks while Samuel still on last leg of no food/drink orders before CT's.