Happy Birthday, Erin!

Well...our niece Erin seems to always get "looked over" with her birthday falling just 10 days before Christmas.  Our families are always together for Thanksgiving...which I must admit I'm not thinking of December birthdays yet...and by the time we all gather together again for our traditional New Year's Eve/Kline Christmas celebration...her special day has passed.  Thanks to this blog I hope to be right on time in remembering such a sweet and special young lady!  Erin is my brother's second daughter/child who is extremely blessed with intelligence...we all agree she gets that from her mom!  Erin is a junior nursing major at Kent State University where her parents also went, met and graduated from.  She is very involved in the Navigators Campus Ministry and has met a godly young man, Andrew, who our family is getting to know with great approval!

We are so thankful for all the nurses in our family...sweet women who serve others unconditionally.  We know Erin will make a great nurse, just like her mom!

"When you walk, your steps will not be impeded;

And if you run, you will not stumble. 

Take hold of instruction; do not let go.

Guard her, for she is your life."

Proverbs 4:12-13

We love you, Erin, and trust your day if filled with beautiful blessings!

Yesterday took some interesting twists and turns.  My sister-in-love, Cheryl, came down from Akron to go to the OSU "second opinion" doctor appointment.  We didn't realize how crazy with construction the OSU Medical Center was!  After several loops and turns we found our way and had a sweet girl escort us to Tom's appointment.  I found it interesting they gave us a square, vibrating, light up gadget...the kind you get in a restaurant while you wait...and when it lights up and vibrates, it's your turn!  We teased Tom asking him if he knew what he wanted to "order"!  When we were being taken back to the exam room we told the nurse that we wanted non-smoking, table for three!  We were very impressed with the knowledge they had of Tom's case.  There is quite the "team" approach there and we felt very welcomed and very concerned for.  Now understand Tom's appointment was at 10:00 a.m...by the time the doctor finally came in it was near noon!  Our tummy's were rumbling.  The doctor wanted to get another MRI as soon as possible on Tom to make the best decisions regarding where we go from here.  Tom's last MRI was in October and while he was in the hospital last week he just had a CT scan.  So they scrambled to get us in for an MRI as soon as possible and the quickest and first available was at 1:15 in their out-patient facility in Gahanna!  With no time for lunch, we loaded Tom back into the car and headed to Gahanna.  We were out by 2:00 and headed straight to Chipotle for a late lunch and with a very tired man.  Later that evening I received a phone call from the doctor at OSU who said he just saw Tom's MRI and he had some news that I'm not sharing at this time, but will give more details as I get clearer information from him either today or tomorrow.  The team of doctors (neuro-oncologist, radiologist, neuro-surgeon, etc.) will discuss Tom's case today and come up with a plan to disclose to us.  We wait in prayer for wisdom and peace.