"Senza la famiglia non c'e vita"

Talitha has lost her appetite again but is still going strong with drinking her milk. (Yesss!)

She is constantly overloading her diapers with pee since they give her continuous fluids through her central line plus she's drinking so much still plus they are giving her a diuretic with the Cisplatin chemo drug so it will flush from her system faster.

She received a litte stuffed animal dog today from a volunteer group that came by and she is LOVING it. She talks to it, kisses it, plays with it...it's her new friend.

The week of chemo is starting to take its toll on her as it's making her more tired. But Audrey was able to get her to play for a good half hour in the playroom on the ICS floor. (She loves stopping at that playroom when she goes on stroller or wagon rides during the day.)

So far her mouth is holding up pretty good and her weight isn't dropping again yet.

It's interesting how life can bring such heartache and such joy. Experiencing the wide spectrum of emotions can enrich our time here on the Earth.

I'm so grateful that God places us here on Earth in families. We didn't know for eight years that the Lord had another child preparing to come join our family. (We also didn't realize that for half those eight years, our now-second-youngest Afton was praying she wouldn't be the youngest forever.) To adequately express our appreciation to God for each of our children including Talitha has so far proved impossible--I've tried again and again. The lessons we've learned, the love we've experienced, the heartaches that have compelled us to draw closer to the Lord, the joy we've felt...it's all worth it!

One of our new trainers at work recently left me a beautiful voice mail after hearing about Talitha. He has a rich and beautiful italian heritage that really honors the place of families in our society. After expressing his sympathies and well wishes for Tali's quick recovery, he shared a saying that his family has honored for many generations: "Senza la famiglia non c'e vita" -- which means..."Without the family, there is no life." I like it!