Only 8 to go!

First of all, thank you so much for all the love and support you have given us.  It has been 6 months since since Sydney was diagnosed.  WOW!  We started out with 21 chemo treatments and have 8 to go.  
UPDATE: This last chemo was really hard on Sydney physically.  She was much more nauseous, lots of aches and pains, very weak all around felt pretty yucky for a little over a week.  However, emotionally she did MUCH better, thanks to the love and support she received.  The facebook notes of encouragement made such a huge difference.  THANK YOU!  She also had a sweet friend give her a gift a day for a week so she had something to look forward to and give her lots of distractions.  My dear niece Karli dropped in at just the right moment to cheer her up and she recieved lots of notes and phone calls to keep her going.  I can't tell you how much that made a difference!  We decided she handles the physical sickness much better than the emotional.  We are so proud of her!  
I have been doing a lot of thinking these past few weeks.  I would have never imagined being the mom of a cancer cutie.  There have been so many ups and downs and so many suprised along the way.  I have gotten to know so many amazing families who are on this journey with their own sweet children.  There is an instant bond and love that happens just in being on this crazy ride together.  It is a HUGE blessing and support to have someone know and understand all aspects of having a child with cancer.  On the flip side, my heart aches so often for these precious children.  Sydney lost a dear friend earlier this year to leukemia.  She didn't know this sweet boy until her hospital stay just 6 months ago, yet he became such a rock and inspiration to her.  His family was our first contact with a cancer family and they gave us support, hope and love.  They still show us the way through their faithfulness and postivity.  Their is certainly a guilt that comes with the fact that while Sydney is doing well, others are saying good bye to their precious ones!  We feel so blessed that she got the cancer she got, that she is responding to treatment, that her prognosis is excellent and she will go on to live a long happy life!  It is so hard to admit that when we have got such dear friends with such a different prognosis.  Sydney will lose another dear friend this year.  Another relapse with nothing more to be done.  Another vailiant, beautiful child of God leaving this earth too soon.  The only comfort through all of this is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows and loves us and is always there for us.  Families are forever.  
We hope that you can feel our love and gratitude for each of you. We hope that you realize your prayers, thoughts, notes, financial contributions, services to our family, phone calls, etc are a big part of what keeps us going.  We appreciate everything done for us, big or small.  We pray that you are blessed for your service to us.