Happy 22 months our beautiful Deqlan

Wow, i cant believe how quickly the time has flown, that you are 22 months today our beautiful Deqlan - i cant believe that we are only 2 months away from celebrating your 2nd Birthday!


I know i always say this, but you continue to be the light in our lives, the joy and spring in our step , our reason for wanting to be the best mama and dadda we can be. Your smile could light up a country that has no electricity ! Your laugh could warm the coldest heart - you are just an absolute gift and blessing from above, and i promise you our darling boy, that we will do EVERYTHING in our power to give you every ounce of love and care and guidance we can. We love you and thank Our Lord each day for trusting us with you and for choosing us to be your parents, and absolute honor , privilige and blessing like no other. We pray He continues to keep you NED and safe and sounds in His hands always!


We had our first music therapy session yesterday with Anja who is very experienced in her field. I warned Anja that Deqlan would probably want to get out the room is he was not used to this new environment - boy was a wrong! As soon as Anja started playing on her guitar, Deqlan immediately took a fascination in this new sound and instrument and started strumming the strings and tapping on the guitar himself - he loved it! He then took a look at the other instruments in the room, but was more attracted to the guitar. Anja had a computer and a hi fi in her room which Deqlan was immediately attracted to , in order topush all the buttons on them. If i havent mentioned it before, this is something Deqlan LOVES to do at the moment - push any buttons on tvs' dvd players, computers, anything that he can get a reaction from - dont give him something that isnt pluged in - he knows - its got to work and do something when he presses the button! Anyway, to get back to music therapy, Anja will try and hide these as they where a bit of a distraction for our soldier. But he still seemed to enjoy it and we look very forward to our next session on Thursday!



Dada bought him the cutest little toy from Mcdonalds last night - they are currently promoting the movie kung fu panda. This toy is a cat that you have to bend down to activate and then he does a somersault - Deqlan LOVED this and laughed hysterically for 5 minutes , each time we did it - when he realised this morning that it was just waiting to be played with he already started laughing before asking me to bend it for him - i tried to down load the video clip but it wont let me!



Dada also came home with a new vacuum cleaner as ours blew up! Deqlan thinks its his new favorite thing as why? you guessed it, it has wheels! he loves to push it around and press all the buttons - but nothing compares to Dada sucking his hand with the pipe or sucking his top - he loves it !



Another favorite trick is Nanna twirling Deqlan around in her bucket ! Nanna cant go fast enough and beams of laughter are heard from our soldiers direction!



Logan will be in pretoria this weekend and we are going to hopefully we able to see her on Sunday - Mark and I will need to take turns, but i am so looking forward to even an hour with her. She has grown up over night - I try to call her on her own phone during the week to catch up and see how she is, but a do miss her terribly and cant wait to giver her a hug in person!



Now for todays notice board:

Thank you so very very much Dirk for the beautiful hand made pjamas you sent with Kelly! They are so beutifully made and i am so grateful and thank ful that you have helped our project! Thank you for all the love and effort and time put into them, they are so very special, thank you!

Happy Birthday Debbie! We hope you have a stunning Birthday today and all the best for the upcoming year! Hope you have something special planned and hope that includes being spoilt and relaxing with Kevin and Josh! God Bless!


Congrats Tracey! My friend from post natal class has just found out she is pregnant with her second baba! We pray for a safe and wonderful pregnancy and know Luke is going to love his new brother or sister!


Update on prem baby Dyllan- His mommy says he is now off the ventilator and on a c pap machine which blows oxygen into his nose. He is weighing 1.415kg and is up to 3mls of milk every 3 hours - please continue to pray for the precious baby boy and his family


Prayers for Katie: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katiekrize


Have a fantastic weekend everyone, snuggle up winter hs really arrived today

GOD BLESS AND ALL OUR LOVE
MARK,SAMM,DEQLAN


'I WILL BLESS THE PERSON WHO PUTS HIS TRUST IN ME'

JEREMIAH 17

Happy 10th wedding anniversay Dee and Mom

Darling Dee and Mom,

Congratulations on your 10th wedding anniversay! What a stunning achievement!

You are both such a shining egsample to us all, on unconditional love, support, friendship and trust.

Dee, we were delighted to learn 10 years ago that you would become a permanent part of our family , as you brought Mom so nuch joy and happiness, it just beamed from her. Thank you for taking such amazing care not only of Mom, but our entire family.

Mom, you deserve all the love and happiness in the world and we are so glad you found it in a man name Derek.

We pray Our Lord continues to shine his love and care down upon you both, that you remain united for many many more years to come and that you share many many more wedding anniversaries together.

Celebrate today with so much pride and joy and love in that you found each other and bring the absolute best out in you both. We are so proud of you and so proud to have you as our parents and grand parents, friends and guardian angels on earth.

PARENTS ARE LOVED FOR THEIR WARMTH AND THEIR SHARING.

THEIR KIND, GENTLE CARING-

SO TENDER, SO REAL.

PARENTS ARE LOVED WITH A LOVE FELT SO STRONGLY-

A LOVE THAT THE WARMEST OF WORDS CANT REVEAL.

FOR THE LOVE YOUVE ALWAYS GIVEN

FOR THE JOY YOU ALWAYS BRING,

THIS COMES TO THANK YOU AND TO WISH YOU

THE HAPPIEST OF ANNIVERSARIES

Have the most magical day together reminessing on your very special day 10 years ago

God Bless and always know how much we love you

Mark, Samm, Deqlan and Logan

balls and bunnies, bumps & bruises and birthdays

Hello Deqlans Army

Sorry, it has been a while, i left the cord for my camera at Nanna's house over the weekend!

Where do i begin...ah...Ruans Golf Day

It was FANTASTIC to say the least - Sandvik did an outstanding job in hosting the event. It was so well organised and so much effort was put into every little detail . Each player got a beautiful ribbon to wear saying Ruan, our champion! Each player got a cap, water bottle, golf towel and the list goes on - there were 140 players for the day, a full field. There where huge sponsors involved including Sandvik and Nissan - Deqlan loved the Nissan display of cars, he wanted a turn in everyone and it took all my might to get him out the car and stop him from pressing all the buttons !

Ruan is looking fantastic - he was already hitting his little golf ball around when we arrived and greeted us with a huge smile. This family is so very special and will stop at nothing to do whatever it takes for Ruan. We heard that they have found 2 donors in the UK. Another bone marrow biopsy was done last week and we get the results tommorow to decide on the next step- please pray they are clear and they can ahead with the stem cell transplant.

Ruan loves balls ! So for his upcoming birthday we got him a golf set with balls and clubs and a little basket ball with a hoop so even if he is in hospital he can play with the ball as its a portable one - he loved both of them and didnt mind Deqlan checking them out to. Deqlan tried to grab, lets rather say pull Ruan to walk with him, but he wasnt having it ! Shame, our little soldier seems to love holding hands and walking together with his buddies.

We then caught a ride with Dada in the golf cart to the 10th tee, where Dadda, Grandpa, Frans and Bob were due to tee off from - Deqlan was very chuffed to be in a mini car and to be sitting on his Daddas lap - couldnt get better then this hey my boy! We watch the guys tee off and then watched them walk into the distance. Nanna , Deqlan and I had lots of fun and games back at the golf club while having our lunch and then decided to go past the bunny park not to far from the course.

It was lovely to walk around in the open and watch the bunnies and goats and geese and ducks but, our soldier was more interested in the dangler swings going round and round. After a quick walk around the park it was time to head home as our soldier hadnt slept yet!

We heard that the guys had a great time at the golf day and they raised over R40 000 for little Ruan! How amazing is that - the guys were so giving and generous and wanted to learn as much as they could - i think it was a fantastic idea and look forward to many more events like this - awareness awareness and funds raised !

As we waited for Dadda to arrive home after the golf day, Deqlan and i were enjoying some chocolate and he was running in circles and went boom straight into the corner of the wall! It bled a little and was very sore for our soldier. Needless to say he woke up with a huge bruise on the top and bottom of his eye and down onto his cheek. Considering this happened on the eye that is still healing, Deqlan did pretty well and its starting to look a little better today.

Saturday we had an afternoon out to Kevin and Louise to wish him for his Birthday. We thoroughly enjoyed the boerie rolls and cupcakes thanks guys and Louise you did a stunning job decorating and making it so special for Kevin. Deqlan had fun to - pressing every imaginable button he could, we had to keep saying no and no and some more no , so he started getting very frustrated. Corlien, Louises sister did a great job in disctracting him and played peek a boo with Deqlan through the chair - he loved this and even gave us a few laughs. The cold wind picked up and i decided to get our monkey home, back to pressing his buttons and climbing on our furniture.

Speaking of which....we are busy looking into jungle gyms for our monkeys birthday coming up and have found some lovely ideas - still deciding on which one and how as we need to ensure it fits into our new place , which we move into 26 July ( and no, we havent started packing yet)- but i am so excited to see him on one and I know he is going to just love it !

Grandpa and Nanna bought Deqlan the cutest little table and chairs which he just loves - he has started taking the chair and moving it to places in the house and sitting on it while he watches his stories or while we try and get some food in during the very few minutes he still still. Thank you Grandpa and Nanna i love it and cant wait for Keaton to sit with me!

Also thank you to Conrad for all the stunning gifts you brought back for us from your trip - Mark is elated with his, being the biggest brazil soccer supporter i know - and Deqlan the most stylish kid in his Gap hoodie ! Thank you so very very much for spoiling us rotten. Conrad also brought some books we ordered - LUNCH FOR LIFE - they are in aid of raising more funds for neuroblastoma research and we where so elated to see a recipe and Deqlans story i sent in last year was published in the book! So proud of you my Deqlan and we used Great Grandpa's famous cottage pie recipe!

Congrats to little Keaton on taking his first bite of food - being butternut on Saturday! Meggie says HE LOVES it and cried when it was finished , shame sweetheart, you will soon be able to eat lots more and different varieties - your Aunty Samm will even get some sweet treats in when your Mom and Dad arent looking! Ha ha ha - just joking!

Well thats all for now folks - stay warm to everyone at home and enjoy the summer to our friends up north!

Please keep the prayers going for Deqlan to continue thriving, for him to remain NED always and for Our Lord to keep him safe and give us the shoes to continue on this journey - please pray for all our friends around the world fighting nb and other cancers

God Bless and lots of love

Mark, Samm & Deqlan

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD

Prayers for a very special little girl

A while back I posted about Ruth Hoffman's daughterNaomi and her pregnancy. Ruth is the president ofCandlelighters and Naomi is one of the first childrento survive a bone marrow transplant (for AML). Shewas believed to be infertile as a result of hertreatment, which included conditioning for the BMTusing TBI.Naomi gave birth to Hope Isabella last Monday, 15weeks early. Below is an email from Ruth about HopeIsabella. Please keep this feisty little girl inyour thoughts and prayers.Jen ClickCarolyn's mom************************************************
Subject: Hope Isabella
My dear friends,
I'm writing to share with you the miracle of thebirth of Hope Isabella, born yesterday at 12:46 pm atGeorgetown University Hospital, Washington DC.Little Hope arrived at 25 weeks gestation and weighs1 pound 9 ounces.Little Hope is truly 'Naomi's Hope,'(www.hope4acure.net). As so many of you are aware, mydaughter Naomi is a 2 time cancer survivor. Diagnosedinitially in 1987 with acute myelogenous leukemia,she was one of the first children to survive a bonemarrow transplant. Treated with intensivechemotherapy, as well as total body radiation, Naomihad been told that she would be sterile.Thirteen weeks ago, Naomi learned that she was 12weeks pregnant. She had actually thought that she hadcancer again and had booked a radioactive scanto see if her second cancer had returned. Routinely,she was required to take a pregnancy test, and lowand behold, she was already past her first trimester.It was quickly determined that this was going to be avery complicated and high risk pregnancy as a resultof secondary late effects from the cancer treatmentsthat Naomi received as a little girl. This turnedout to be the case. It was determined that she had avery shortened cervix as a result of the radiationshe received when 7 years of age. She had a cerclageplaced at 16 weeks gestation. Her already high bloodpressure continued to climb so she was put on betablockers and calcium blockers. She required monthlyechocardiograms due to cardiomyopathy from herprevious chemo. She required weekly blood draws tocheck thyroid levels due to her second cancer(papillary thyroid carcinoma), and bi-weeklyultrasounds. At 23 weeks gestation she washospitalized as she had completely effaced. LastMonday, at 24 weeks, her water broke, and yesterdayat 25 weeks gestation, little Hope arrived. It isbelieved that she came early due to uterine vascularinsufficiency, as well as a uterine infection fromthe cerclage.The neonatologists who are caring for little Hope saythat she's a feisty little one. She does have aninfection in her lungs, is on a trach, and isbeing fed through her umbilical cord. That said,she's beautiful! She has a full head of black hair(like her mother Naomi had when she was born), andimmediately after being born opened her eyes and waslooking all around. Her little feet are the samelength as Naomi's thumb print.I want to thank each of you for your support and lovefor Naomi over the years. Some of you initiallycared for Naomi when she was first treatedwith cancer. Some of you have loved her for herstrength as you've watched her grow, and some of youare new friends as a result of the gala that weorganized last November. Naomi and I are gratefulfor the love, and we ask that you keep little Hope inyour thoughts and prayers as she now fights forher little life. She is a miracle. She's a giftthat Naomi never dreamed would happen in her life.She's also having to fight for her life as a resultof the late effects of cancer treatments of Naomi'slife as a little girl. Once again, I must impressupon each of you, that research needs to continue sothat less toxic therapies can be found to treat thelittlest cancer patients
.... where there is life, there is hope...
Ruth

Happy Birthday Kev!

Dear Kevin,

We wish you a very very happy birthday today and many many more!

May you continue to reach your dreams and goals and may God continue to bless you each day.

Have a great day today and it was wonderful to see you all yesterday !

Thank you for your continued support and prayers for our soldier!

Lots of love

Mark, Samm , Deqlan and Logan

Happy Birthday Dunn Twins

Dear Isabella and Madeline

A very happy 1st Birthday to you both for 4 July!

We pray Our Lord continues to keep you so well and happy and healthy!

You are an inspiration to us and so many others! True Miracles from God! Have a lovely Birthday and many , many, many more!

God Bless and lots of love

Mark, Samm, Deqlan and Logan

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dunntwins

Our soldier has a cold!

Hello Deqlans Army

Sorry been so quiet - been a very busy couple of days!

Our soldier seems to have a cold, noticed on Monday night after i took him out of the bath that his nose sounded a little blocked - Deqlan has been coughing a little, sneezing a lot and rubbing his watery eyes and nose , and this morning pulling on his ears, shame..I have started giving him vitamin c syrup for kids and acc 200 so that the sinuses dont get blocked, and of course my favorite, putting olbas oil on his clothes for him to inhale and help keep everything open. I thank Our Lord that this is the first real cold he has had in i cant even remember how long , Deqlan has done amazingly well for someone who still doesn't have an immune system that is functioning 100% - he has done amazingly well, thank You Lord! Please pray for Deqlans immune system to do its thing and get rid of the cold asap!

Ok, so lets back track a little to the weekend - we had a great weekend, Deqlan thoroughly enjoyed playing in his tunnel and tent - i even had a go , got a little stuck in the tunnel, ha ha ha. Then Deqlan and I sat in his tent and played with all the goodies he had dragged into the tent- books and tele tubbies! I had to leave the tent after a while as my neck was getting a little stiff trying to fit into the little tent, and my gorgeous boy came out to fetch me and pulled me back in - he was just happy for me to sit with him and watch him play !

Went to mass on Saturday night as it was Monseigneur last mass ever in our parish , before he retired yesterday - it was very sad to hear him say goodbye and the mass ended off with everyone giving him a good old clap - as i mentioned before he was a huge part in our journey with Deqlan and i was honored that he confirmed Deqlan and gave him so many special blessings while he was sick.

Then on Sunday , Grandpa and Nanna, Meggie and Keaton and I went to Monseigneur official farewell and they brought the Welsh Male Choir of South Africa out for the occasion - we really enjoyed the beautiful singing , meaningful songs and their amazing sense of humor which had everyone in fits of laughter.

Our little soldier spent the afternoon with is Dada and when i returned from church saw a huge pile of hair on the counter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i immediately ran to find the two monkeys to see what they had gotten up to , and there was Dada getting Deqlan out the bath, with is brand new hair cut! Awwww! All Deqlans baby hair is now gone and he looks like a real little grown up toddler! He looks to cute , but i cant wait for his hair to grow a little more again. I am amazed that Mark managed to buzz Deqlans hair all by himself, as our soldier doesn't normally sit still - well done my love excellent job! Still battling to get a new photo of him so you can see the new style - he doesn't sit or stand long enough for me to take it!

As you can see from the pics, Deqlan loves climbing up the stairs and another new favorite trick is emptying the dogs water bowls, all over HIMSELF! i had to snap just 1 photo to show you all, then had to take him inside to get him warm and dry again- Logan used to do the same thing and loved taking the dogs pellets out the bowl and feeding to the dogs one by one shame...

We went to speech and occupational therapy yesterday and it went very well - Deqlan doesn't even try to run away anymore or even play by the cars . He wants me to put him down and he runs all by himself down the passage into 'his' play room and starts playing ! Its wonderful and amazing to see - from screaming and crying to get out, he now happily plays ! Deqlan enjoyed doing a new wooden stacker puzzle and of course enjoyed his old favorites - a toy with different shapes and buttons that you need to press to get the animal to pop up, and of course, bubbles! He also tried to climb on top of everything he could and towards the end of our session Deqlan became a lot more clingly then normal - Anri turned this into a game which Deqlan soon got into and understood. But our soldier didn't seem to feel 100% because of his cold, and blocked nose, but he did very very well otherwise! Esedra suggested we try music therapy for our soldier - Deqlan LOVES music , and they say that music therapy really benefits kids whether they just need help in being more social to more severe disabilities, they all seem to get something out of the music therapy, so we have decided to give it a go and hope that Deqlan will love this to- will let you know when we start going!

If i haven't mentioned it before, Deqlan love BINNELANDERS.Its an afrikaans soapie here in South Africa - dont know what on earth atracted him to it, but when he hears the music, he sprints to the tv no matter where he is in the house - a few times, happens to be when we are in the bath and he cant get to the tv quick enough.I laugh each time and wonder what he loves so much about it? Its very strange come to think of it . When Logan was smaller she loved a soapie called SONG VIR KATRYN - she knew all the characters and could fill you in on the story line! Shelby, our beautiful spaniel, had something he like or disliked about Egoli, the most popular soap here in South Africa. Each time the music came on, he used to howl like a wolf! Shame, we got into a habit of muting the tv when the them music came on so it wouldn't worry our shelby!

Tomorrow, is Ruans golf day and we are all very very excited to go and support our dear friend. Thank you to you my love, Dee, Frans and Bob for all going to play tomorrow to support this amazing cause. If Deqlan is better and if the weather is warm enough, i would like to go past the golf day to say hello to Ruan and support Dada and Grandpa as they tee off! Thank you very much Dee for the fantastic contribution of very rare port and thank you Megs and Conrad for the cases of beer and cider and jack daniels and to you my love for your contribution as well as delivering for us- these will all be used as part of a raffle for the guys to raise money for Ruan - thank you thank you! We pray its an enormous success and we can raise so much needed funds to find the perfect donor for Ruan!

Now for all the notices and prayer requests and wonderful things i would like you to go and check out :

CONGRATULATIONS TO HEIDI AND JAMES AND HANNAH! Heidi has just found out that she is expecting their second little bundle of joy ! We hope you have a safe and easy pregnancy and wish you lots of love and happiness and I am sure Hannah is going to be over the moon with her new brother or sister!

Please go and check Charli Ann's web page out - they had a relay for life to raise funds for cancer research and Charli was the honory member! There is the most beautiful video clip of Charli crossing the finish line - you have to go and check this out - thank you Brenda and Chad for all you have done and continue to do to raise awareness and funds and most of all in teaching us TO EXPECT MIRACLES! http://brenda-chad.blogspot.com/

You also have to go and see Max's Birthday celebration here: http://www.mashedpotatoesforbreakfast.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Max! We hope you had a fantastic Birthday - it looks like you had an amazing party! God Bless and prayers continue for your always, you are an inspiration to us all!

Some time ago, I introduced you to a beautiful boy, Jayden, who is also fighting neuroblastoma - his disease is currently stable and he even started the first grade this year - unfortunately no more chemo will assist him, but he continues to live each day to the full. We happened to come across an article in our local news paper about Jayden , and where shocked to hear that his Father and Jayden himself, received 3rd degree burns , Jayden to his face, after an explosion while using fuel to start a braai !!! ( bbq for our overseas friends) Please pray for his recovery and healing

Please continue your prayers for all our warriors, but please can we ask you to say special prayers today for the following nb friends

ISLA - having surgery today to remove her left adrenal gland and the peach size tumor as well as doing a lot of other testing on lumps on her liver, her bone and marrow to

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/isla

WILL - going to Vermont to get a game plan together for new treatment for Will

www.willlacey.com

KATIE - scans reveal nb has progressed and she is recovering from surgery http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katiekrize

MAX - vma/hma counts climbing and needs lots and lots of prayers http://mikulak.blogspot.com/

DAILY FAMILY - Joe Daily became an angel over the weekend after fighting nb for over 18 years - what an inspiration read the article about his amazing achievements http://www.mlive.com/flint/ then type in Joe Daily

Thank you for your continued prayers and support, please always pray for our Deqlan to remain ned always.

God Bless you all and let us know how you are

Lots of love

Mark, Samm & Deqlan

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD