GREAT NEWS!!

We took Karissa to Duke last week and once again her doctors were thrilled with her progress. They didn't see any signs of active arthritis. So they switched one of her meds to a pill instead of the dreaded SHOT. Hurray! It's the same medicine, just in a much lower dose. She still has to have the Enbrel shot once a week, but one shot is better than two right? Please pray that she continues to improve!



I can't believe Karissa is now 5 years old! We celebrated her birthday at the Jumpzone. It's basically a huge room with a bunch of inflatable bounce houses. The kids had a ball! After playing, we went to the party room, where we ate pizza, cake and Karissa opened her presents. She received so many nice things (including her "Rock Star" glasses shown above). It was like Christmas!

Karissa and I have started a special project for just the two of us. We are painting her sandbox and then her swing set in light pink, soft yellow and honeydew. We started the sandbox last night. So far, so good! Karissa is a great little painter! She was so focused and serious. Todd thinks I'm nuts-our backyard is going to look like Candyland once we're done! Todd and Dale added shingle roofs to her play sets Sunday. Originally they just had canvas tarps on them but the wind constantly tore them up and they looked terrible.