What's Up everyone?!

Not having updated this blog in over 6 months means only good things...no need. This is certainly a case of no news is good news. Sophie has been enjoying life as a normal rough and tumble 3 year old and has recently successfully potty trained so we are psyched that she is a BIG girl now! (Can't you just see the pride in those pics up at the top!)

Well that is just one of a number of things I wanted to update everyone on.

Last year we were blessed with the opportunity to meet other kids in the area that have a giant congenital nevus briefly at an art show in Lansing. 

This year we are doing a get together at a hotel and indoor waterpark near detroit, possibly going to the zoo and having a whole weekend to fellowship with a group of people who understand some of our families struggles more than anyone else, also gives the kiddos a chance to make some friends who look just like them. I feel so blessed for this opportunity and hope it is a tradition we can continue for years to come.  We have over 40 people coming I believe from Canada, Michigan and some other surrounding states.  That is our first excitement of the summer just after school lets out (June 8-10), I am sure I will do a little recap on here afterwards so stay tuned...

The very next weekend (June 16) is the Run4acause and I am hoping that Sophie's Super Supporters will want to do a team walk with me again.  (I am trying to work up the courage to do the 5k too, yikes!) Some memories...

There is some info about them supplying team logo's on tshirts this year so all new participants are welcome and we can certainly get out our S tshirt and our pins from last year.  I will be making another facebook page for the event so let me know if you are interested! Last year I believe our final number was 38, let's see if we can break 50 this year!!

Finally alas our normalcy couldn't last forever...Sophie will be having another surgery on Wed Jul 11. Good news is this is not a balloon surgery and should be an outpatient surgery. 

 These two pictures show you how her mole still comes up relatively high on her sides and Dr. Mann's goal is to pull together the sides and get rid of as much as he can on the sides without needing expansion. (I had to bribe her with a popsicle to get these pics, she is not a fan of people looking at her, guess I won't have to work to hard on teaching her modesty :) I always feel touched when I see her show someone her mole, they don't realize what a big gesture of vulnerability and trust that is for her. Her little heart touches my soul.)   After this surgery I don't know what the plan will be from there... When it comes time to make the next decisions Craig and I will need a great deal of prayer. We are very torn on where to go with things at that point.  We have been given the impression that the surgeon wants to stop (for awhile/indefinitely/completely done, we don't know).  We aren't sure how we feel about this.  Sophie still has a great deal of mole and although we knew it was too much to ever remove completely....well needless to say we don't know what we expected.  That hard decision is for another day...

Today is about all the wonderful things happening. Here is one last picture of our little Big Girl celebration with cupcakes and a new toy!  I am so proud of the sweet little girl that Sophie is becoming and blessed to share her journey with all of you readers...

Stay tuned....