Stitches are out!

Stitches came out this morning and Dr. Waner told us to wait six weeks and send him some pictures of Sarah's face. Everyone is napping the day away so that we will be rested for our flight tomorrow. We will be home tomorrow around 3:00. This trip has definately been memorable. Our friends David and Debbie Freedman have let us stay in there apartment all 10 days that we have been here. They are on vacation in Florida and graciously let us into there home. Thank you.
Not much else to tell besides we are ready to come home. Thank you for all the prayers and comments.
God is good

Walked half the city

Today we walked all over the place. We Started from the apartment and went south to a parade that NY had on 5th avenue. After seeing what was going on we went to the battleship Intrepid which is a retired ship that has been restored and retrofitted to let you go in the top deck, flight deck and the hanger area. Just a little fun fact from pamplet it took 7000 gallons of paint to re-paint the ship.

More importantly then the sites that we saw today we remembered the reason for Easter and the ultimate sacrifice our Lord Jesus gave to die for our sins. When I think of Easter I think of sacrifice and love. Maybe these feelings come up because of our own path in life, maybe I am just relating this back to our life but felt compelled to share this.

In preperation for Easter Kim and Sarah sat down last night and colored some Easter eggs. Sarah really enjoyed this until it was time to let the eggs dry. She got so mad she sat down on her butt and then threw herself forward onto the ground. Big time temper tantrum, in her defense we started the painting process very close to bedtime.

Hope this post finds you well! Happy Easter

God is good

Friday Funday

Hey everybody,



Yesterday was a good day. We decided to walk about NY. We walked down to Broadway and took Sarah back to the Stardust Diner where all the waiters and waitresses sing oldies, she loved it. Then on our way to the East river we stopped at a fountain and let Sarah put a penny in. We got to the East river and found a little park to let Sarah walk around in. We also found a little taste of home that evening, a place called Brother Jimmy's bbq where we found sweet tea. The restaurant had mason jars for cups and had NC license plates all over the walls, we loved it. Sarah is doing great today, we had planned to take her to a easter egg hunt today but it is raining and doesn't seem to be letting up. We are going to try and find something to do inside today.

Sarah will have her stitches removed on Monday at 7:30, please pray that everything goes well, I say this because anytime she goes under anethesia it is a big deal to us. Tuesday we will be coming home, thank goodness because we are missing everyone.

I will update soon. God is good.

Out of the hospital!

Sarah's fever broke over night and she got up this morning ready for some apple jacks and pedialyte. The only set back was that Sarah's iv came out of her vein and went into her arm filling her arm with fluid. We noticed this when her arm got really puffy. They removed the iv and told us to keep her arm elevated. Dr. Waner came by about 2:00 p.m. to look at Sarah. He removed her drain and discharged us. We got back to the apartment and all of us got a two hour nap. Best nap I think I've had.
I have to tell this story. We decided to go to a famous bakery called Magnolia Bakery to celebrate our good day. We took a taxi because it is on the other side of central park. When we got there I went to pay the driver whom had been asking about Sarah on the way over there. He turned around and said " No cab fair give it to Sarah" For anyone who has been to NY you can agree that is about as rare as it gets. Thought that was something special.
Thank you to everyone that has continued to pray for Sarah,Kim and I.
This picture is back at the apartment
God is good!

Turn of events

Hey everybody,
This morning about 2:00 a.m. Sarah woke up vomiting and had a fever of 104.5 taken in her ear. We gave her some tylenol and called the doctor. We ended up going to Dr. Waner's office at 10:30 and they admitted her into the hospital. Sarah has fought a 102 fever all day. They would only let one parent stay in the room with her during the night. Visiting hours are over at 8:00 p.m. and they kicked me out of the room about 10:00 p.m. Hopefully by morning she will have broke her fever and I will be able to update everyone with good news. Out of the nine other trips we have made up here this is the hardest trip so far. I didn't take any pictures today for multiple reasons but mainly because I didn't think we would be admitted to the hospital. Dr. Waner came by this evening to Sarah's room and told us that he doesn't think the fever and vomiting is related to Sarah's surgery but that she probably picked up some kind of bug. Hopefully everything will be better in the morning. Please pray that Sarah will get better quickly and that Kim and I can function under these nights of sleeplessness. Nobody said the road would be easy though. God is Good

Day after surgery

It's the day after surgery and everyone is still pretty tired. We went to Dr. Waner's office this morning and were told that the drain tube will probably be in until friday unless the swelling goes down and the fluid quits coming out earlier. This is the first time Sarah has had a drain in after surgery and it makes the recovery a little harder on us. I say Kim and I because Sarah doesn't pay it much mind at all. She got up this morning and walked around the apartment kicking a soccer ball and enjoying herself. Hopefully her drain will be able to come out before friday, I know I will feel better when it is out. I will update later. God is Good

What a day for surgery!

Today takes the cake for our surgery days. We were scheduled for Sarah to have surgery at 11:30 this morning which is later then usual. We finally got her into surgery at 3:30 this afternoon because of scheduling issues which means Sarah didn't eat or drink anything all day. Surgery went good though Sarah got the tumor above her nose and the the one next to her nose worked on which included grinding off some of her nose bone to help straighten the nose because her tumor had pushed her nose over to the left. She also had a different laser applied to the scars on her cheek and chin, in the Dr.'s words, sands down the scar tissue to make her skin smoother. She also had a drain tube put under her skin to help with swelling in the nose area. You can see the drain tube coming out her forehead. Ok - got to go and pick up some prescriptions from the drug store before they close. I will update better tomorrow. Please pray for Sarah to have a good recovery and for Kim and I to stay strong.
God is good.

Change in Plans

Wanted to let everyone know that our March trip got bumped to April. The doctor's in NY were not going to be in at the time for March and we had to reschedule. At first this became quite a problem because we had to change airline tickets which cost $300 to change flights and we were going to have an extra night in NY. But everything worked out great. Our friends that got us the airplane tickets for March were able to call US airways and have the $300 fee removed. We called David and Debbie (our friends in NY) to let them know of our schedule changes and they had good news and bad news. The bad news was that they would not be in town when we came, the good news was that they would not take no for an answer and told us we could stay in there apartment in NY. This is just another example of God's work. We started these schedule changes with added expenses and know have the least expensive trip to NY that we have ever had. Just wanted everyone to know and thank everyone for the prayers. Next update will be from NY.

God is good!

new hardware

Hey everyone just trying new phone to see if I can use this instead of our laptop when we go to NY. Everyone is doing good. I will update soon.
God is good!

Upcoming Trip

Just wanted everyone to know that we have another trip coming up in March. We don't know exactly what will be done except that they want to start working on her right cheek area. We wanted to update everyone and wish everyone a happy new year.

God is Good

Sarah Invited to Christmas Shop with Hometown Heros

Hometown Heroes invited our little Sarah to their Christmas Shopping event at the local Monroe Wal-Mart. Sarah and Kim's mother were shown on WBT-TV news at the Christmas Eve event. Mike Heafner went around and put stickers on everyone's shirts. Kim said, " Sarah found out it was fun to take them off of our shirts, and to stick them on Meemaw's face! Sarah was even trying to take them off of shirts of people she didn't know! It was really funny, and such a blessing to have been there -we have been blessed by so much!"

God Bless and Merry Christmas - Chuck and Kim

Stitches are out and were coming HOME

This morning Sarah went under anesthesia and had her stiches taken out. Everything went well and Dr. Levitin said that Sarah's skin has healed beautifully. The most exciting news is that the Dr. also told us that it would be possibly six months before we would have to come back. WOO HOO. The reason is to let the skin around Sarah's chin heal so that they can go back and make another incision there. We will be sending monthly photo's of Sarah for Dr. Waner to see so that they can tell us when they want us back up. We have met alot of parents up hear that go to Dr. Waner with there children and among those are David and Debbie Freedman. They have welcomed us into there home on more than one occasion and have become very good friends of ours. They have two little girls that Sarah enjoys going to see. Last night we went to their house for supper and after playing with the girls and eating, when we got home this is how she looked.

Here are some pictures of Sarah after this mornings procedure and then some just a few minutes ago of Kim and Sarah taking a well deserved nap. Thank you for praying for my family and letting us be a part of your life. God is Good

Sarah's First Circus

Today it rained so we were couped up in the apartment all day but tonight we took Sarah to the circus. She had a ball. She did get scared when they would turn the lights off between acts but besides then she was glued to the stage. We even met one of the clowns after the show. I do believe if we hadn't got out this evening we would have gone stir crazy. Even Sarah was getting bored in the apartment. Tomorrow it's going to be hit or miss with the weather so we hope to get out and walk around a bit. Thursday is suture removal and Friday morning we will be coming home. Woo Hoo. Here are some pictures from the circus.

Monday night at the Laundromat

Yesterday was move day. We went from a two bedroom apartment with two full size beds to a studio apartment (one big room) with two single beds. For some reason mommy didn't sleep very well with sarah in the bed with her. I am laughing now because tonight is my turn sleeping next to Sarah, or so I'm told. We also did our laundry last night and Sarah came down for a visit. Here are some pictures of the new apartment and sarah in the laundry basket. That has got to be the coolest stove I have ever seen.

Sunday Funday

Today was all about having fun with Sarah. We started off with some drawing and ended up at the Childrens Museum of Manhattan which is for the most part a big indoor playground for kids. The museum had some educational aspects to it but would probably be better taken advantage of when Sarah gets 3 or 4. Sarah still had a good time playing with all the different stations they had. Last but not least Sarah and daddy did what they do best, we took a nap. Thank you for all the emails and phone calls it helps us more than anything, keeping intouch with everyone from home makes these trips a little easier.

Such a NICE day!

Today was such a nice day, nice weather and such a nice time! We decided to take a walk-about, like we usually do, and found ourselves on Broadway, and found the Stardust Diner...the waitstaff there sing, it really is such a treat to go...Sarah was awestruck! She loved every second and got mad when we started to leave! The waitstaff take turns singing, and boy do they ALL have beautiful voices! They pinpointed Sarah out pretty quick and would come over and serenade her...she would just watch sooo closely and then clap when they were done! Chuck even got serenaded as well from a waitress...so funny! (carly simons "your so vain") haha! Sarah got all of the love songs! After the diner we took off for another walk, and then to Central park, found the playground, and she ran around with another little boy and did some swinging! It was such a nice day and we are so glad we were able to get out...its supposed to rain tomorrow! UGH! Sarah is doing so well, not much swelling and back to herself again! Yeah, that is such a good sign! Hope you get to enjoy the pictures! Love to all, Chuck, Kim and Sarah!

Day after surgery:looking and feeling good!

Sarah woke up in a pretty good mood today even though it was 3 in the morning... mama didn't know it was that early... she thought it was 6:30 a.m., so mama and sarah decided to wake daddy up! We finally got back to sleep for a couple of hours and woke back up at the real 6:30. Sarah and I got up and made mom breakfast while she slept for a little bit longer! The three of us are getting cramped in here so were going out for a walk to get some fresh air and to see whats going on! Just wanted everyone to see a post surgery smile from Sarah and to show you that you can get sweet tea in NY... you just have to make it yourself!

October Surgery

Today Sarah had her second surgery that involved an incision to her upper lip area and around her nose. This surgery was to pull her lip up because the tumor had made it droop down which inturn gave her a constant drulling issue. Surgery went well today. Sarah woke up from anesthesia upset but that is normal for her. It has been quite a morning so this e-mail is short and sweet. We are all tired and ready for a nap. Thank you for the prayers everyone has given to Sarah. God is good.

Sarah's Stitches Come Out

Today we got Sarah's stitches taken out of her cheek. The doctor's had to re-stitch her chin because some of them came out. It was a deep wound because they stitched on the inside and out. But overall the procedure went well and her new stitches look better then the first one's. I put some pictures from this week on with this post. One is of Sarah at the Central Park Carousel, one of Sarah walking in Central park,one of Sarah just standing there watching TV, and the one in her orange dress is about an hour after getting her stitches out on her cheek. Her chin is still bloody from getting more stitches.

Thank You

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone involved in the Tony Mull Poker Run this past saturday. I wish we could have been there. I hope our letter portraid the way we felt about everyone involved. The countless hours put in to preparing this run were (from my point of view) a real task. This community has continued to help my family and I. All I can say is All the glory goes to The Lord I beleive these events for Sarah is his work.

Day after surgery and ten rounds later

The reason for the title is very evident in some of Sarah's pictures. I think we can really call her our little fighter cause she looks like she went ten rounds in a boxing ring. Last night was very challenging. We tried to put her in the bed with us but she could not get comfortable with the arm restraints on. Kim ended up laying on the couch and rocking her to sleep about midnight. I say midnight in a significant way since we started the process around nine p.m. Wanted to share these photos and then were of to the doctor's for a checkup.

August Trip: Big Changes

We just got back to the apartment. Today's surgery marks a significant step in Sarah's progress. Dr. Waner and Dr. Levitin took the scar off of her cheek next to her nose and they also took the scar off of her bottom lip and chin. They did this by cutting out the scars and then stretching the skin. She has about 15 stitches on her cheek and 8 below her bottom lip. Now the hard part starts with keeping Sarah from rubbing her face. She has little braces on her arms to keep her from touching her face but she is not liking them at all. We have antibiotics for her wounds and tylenol to keep her from to much pain. Overall the day was a success so it's up to mom and I to keep from damaging what the doctor's have fixed. I don't know how we are going to do it but Dr. Levitin told us to try to keep her from even crying so that the stitches won't rip so wish us good luck.We will be here until late next week when they will take the stitches out. I will update soon. Thank you for the prayers, God is good.