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Jill was sent home on Sunday. Sorry for not posting this sooner...many have called wondering what is going on. Everything is going fine, except that Matt & I have been doing too much research on what can go wrong between now & the end of treatment and have decided to keep her indoors as much as possible (mainly due to the fear of fungus as Invasive Aspergillosis can easily be contracted from breathing in a spore & they're everywhere, especially after it rains....and can cause awful awful problems & can quickly lead to death...harsh, but true). We've also decided to keep Anna home from school until Jill goes back to the hospital. We don't want her bringing anything home. And we're not gonna do any playdates or anything fun with other kids with her, unfortunately, due to this awesome fear. So........the girls are having a lot of fun together. They've been acting out fairy tales & scenes from their favorite movies (Anna & I were at Claire's the other night & I told her she could pick out one thing...she chose a Highschool Musical necklace with Gabriella on it...I was wondering why she didn't choose Troy, and she said because wearing a Gabriella necklace makes her Gabriella....anyway, she's been giving the necklace to Jill, who is pretending to be Troy, and walking out of the room, then walking back in & telling Jill, "Now say 'I promise forever'" or something like that, and Jill says what Anna says, then Anna says, "Now put the necklace on me" at which point Jill scrunches up her face & looks at me and says, "It's not fair! I want da necklace!" and Anna spends 10 minutes trying to explain that she's just going to take it for a while because it's how the movie goes....and they do this 20 times a day). Yeah, so like I said, THEY'RE having fun. I'm miserable. I want to get out of here! I want to do normal stuff. I want to get stuff done, like groceries, bank, dry cleaners, etc....WITH the kids. That's fun for us! For me. Social interaction with tons of people throughout the day. ARgh. I hate this. But what am I complaining about? We're home. I spent 3 hours organizing hair bows & clips & barrettes today (I told you I would, Aunt Susie!)....putting them in one of those shoe organizers you hang on the back of your door....Dina gave me that idea. It worked out awesome. I'll send pictures later. Oh, and I haven't been cooking because of my Monday & Tuesday night Chefs, Renee & Kate. How these ladies, with 2 & 3 kids respectively & tons of other stuff to do (Kate even works per diem as a nurse, and I can't even begin to tell you all the amazing things Renee does with her time), have time and energy to make complete meals for MY family nearly EVERY WEEK....I'll never know. But it's inspiring. And one more reason NOT to complain.

I just need to say thank you to my Northern CA & St. Louis Crew. I feel terrible for not acknowledging you more in the blog (some of you I haven't even gotten around to thanking personally). My cousins Ryan & Stacey sent gobs of great presents to the girls via my aunt & uncle the day after Christmas. (Stacey, I love the "Elf Help" Books!! Send me your email address!) My friend from gradeschool, Stephanie, organized a toy/book drive for Jill & sent 2 huge boxes of fun stuff to us for Christmas. So amazing. My cousins, Jessie, Mike, Nicole, and John have been raising funds for our family in various ways....JillyBean Jars at their workplaces and a fundraising night at Chevy's Restaurant. My Aunt Deb, who sent Jill two of the cutest hats I've ever seen....Jill wears the flower garden one almost every day. And one relative in particular, who's name I won't mention, gave us a wonderful gift, from his heart. A gift that had been given to him. And that is the best kind of gift. I considered trying to talk him out of it....but remembered Anna having me send her cousin Maddie a birthday present....a present that she had just received for HER birthday, and one she really loved & played with. I tried to talk her into sending something else...told her we could buy something new, and she said, "No, Mom. I want Maddie to have this. Because it's special to me." She did it for Maddie, but she also did it for herself. It made her feel so happy to share something special to her.

Everything you'll ever need to know, you learned at a ripe young age. Or maybe that's backwards. Maybe as adults we learn from the Littles. The basics of love and kindness, taught to me by a girl who just today realized that her name, spelled backwards, is still Anna.