Tuesday, the 4th of September 2007

Sorry for not writing in a while - we have been so so busy enjoy every second with our gorgeous Deqlan!

On Saturday, Megs and I went through to Montana Square to go and support Jayedn Pretorius singing and recieving a cd of the song he has dedicated to his Mom - we mentioned him a while back, he is 5 years and he also has neuroblastoma and was only given 3 months and he has been active and being as 'normal' as normal can be for over a year now. His dream was to sing and record ' Dance with my Mother instead' - Mrs South Africa and Reach for a dream made this possible for him and we had to go and support and meet this little guy in person. Well, there was not a dry eye in the house - what an amazing little warrior Jayden is. I was honoured to meet him. He has the most gorgeous smile and you can just feel the presence of Our Lord around him. I told him that i was so proud of him and that he sings beautifully- I asked him if i could have a photo with him as I wanted to show my warrior how brave he was to. I shall treasure this photo always. Please pray for Jayden and his family - for Our Lord to continue comforting them and fillig their hearts with peace and hope and renewed Faith each day. I salute you Jayden !!!!!

We have been planning Deqlans 1st Birthday party for this Saturday - unfortunately we cant have a big gatherng at the moment to protect Deqlan from getting sick, so a very intimate gathering of our folks and siblings - but we are definitely going to plan a celebration when Deqlan is healthy again and to celebrate his first Birthday with all of our family and friends! We are having a Noddy party - Deqlan loves Noddy and his Bumpy Dog, he is so clever ...if you put a few different toys own in front of him and you ask him who is Bumpy dog , he will show you! So clever my sweetheart! Hope to post lots of photos of our celebration with him! I cant believe how quickly time has gone - a whole year ago my life changed for the better! What a Blessing Deqlan chose us!

Megs went and met with Yolandie today at the new CHOC house in Pretoria - this house has been set up to accomodate families for children who need treatment in the Pretoria area, and dont have funds for transportation or accomodation during treatment. They discussed what the house and the CHOC families are desperatley in need of - we are definitely going to help them whereever we can - im sure megs will be sending an email out to you all to see who and how we can help! As she has already mentioned, we would love to make this our Christmas project this year - watch this space for more details. I am so proud of you Meggie for getting involved in this and wanting to help others as you always do!

Speaking of Megs - she goes for her 17 week scan tommorow and hopefully we will be able to see whether we have a little nemo (boy) or dori ( girl) on the way! Im in two minds about what I think - my dreams definitely show a little boy running around the garden with Deqlan - my heart tells me a little girl! Who ever comes a long will be just as loved and we cant wait to meet you!

One of our Neuroblastoma friends, Charlise (4), had her operation on Monday to remove what was left of her tumor -we are waiting for un update - please pray for her and her family that all went fantastic and according to plan to for her speedy and permanent recovery - will update when we have more information!

We recieved fantastic news from our friends in Texas! Keira had a check up scan last week and it shows that her tumor continues to shrink! This is WONDERFUL news as it means she will not need chemo as it continues to shrink by itself ! Our Lord is so great , all the glory to him! We are so happy for you all and continue to pray that it shrinks and shrinks and dissapears!!!

Deqlan has had a great week so far - bundles of energy , lots of crawling and more wanting to walk at the moment - his balance seems to improve as the days go towards his Birthday...

He has been loving his walks around the block , watching the trees and cars and just being in the open air does him the world of good! His eye is looking great, his not as pale and lots of laughs and smiles and new tricks each day. Deqlans appetite is not great at the moment - but we persevere and try and get a few bites of this and that into his tummy! He loved a mashed up banana today! He definitely doesnt do carrots - every item of food we have tried that involves carrots gets a terrible reaction !

Well, let me be off to sleep and hoping to post more news tommorow! I look so forward to watching Deqlans beautiful and peaceful face as I close my eyes and pray for my beautiful boy.

Have a lovely week and please continue to pray for Deqlans total and complete healing , for his imune system to be strong and protect him from getting sick, for him to have a lovely build up to his very first Birthday!

EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE!

God Bless you all

Mark, Samm & Deqlan