February 22, 2000

Dear family,

We had a wonderful weekend with Skylar and Christopher and Suzanne, although
it was far too short.  Skylar was doing well health-wise, although still far to thin - yet
he had quite a bit of energy.

It rained most of the time and so we were disappointed at not being able to take
walks outside, but we talked and played inside and Papa (me) figured out how
to tuck Skylar into a "trash bag poncho" to get him out to the car on Sunday
afternoon... Papa and Skylar and Christopher drove over to Morrow Bay, where it
was somewhat dryer.  We walked on a dock and looked at the boats.  We ran along
the sidewalk.  We played on a pirate ship.  We looked at some surfboards in a
surf shop.  I took a picture of the boys beside some carved wooden bears.

We drove over to the rock.  We saw a beautiful rainbow.  The waves were awesomely
huge, and noone was out surfing!  It was too muddy to fly a kite there, so we drove
back to a parking lot and Papa got out a little kite; after getting it into the air,
Papa handed the string to Skylar who was still in the car, and Skye flew the kite
through the window of the car.

Tonight, in a few minutes from now (11:59 PM Tuesday) they will begin administering
the severely strong chemotherapy to Skylar.  This will continue for a week, destroying
all of Skylar's bone marrow and immune system and (hopefully) any remaining cancer
cells.  This treatment is so strong that they will keep Skylar sedated.  They will treat
him with other medications in an attempt to protect his remaining kidney and to
reduce nausea.  The treatment will leave him without an immune system for a period
of two to five months, and so he will be kept in isolation.

Please beseech the Lord along with me to protect Skylar from the harmful side-effects
of this treatment, and to strengthen and nourish him.  Ask that Skye be shielded from
sickness and infection which could be very dangerous in a weakened condition.

Thank you for standing by us with your prayers.

Love,

Dann and Pam