MRI - back at home and happy

Hello all,

The MRI went off without a hitch. Joey was given Versed (an amnesic that causes short term memory loss) prior to the MRI so the process went well. The anesthesia was still wearing off when we got home so he was smiling and tripping over himself like a happy drunk (sorry I missed the video opportunity), but he is back to his normal rambunctious self this evening.

We won’t know the results for a couple weeks when we meet with his doctors. I will send an update when we here the results.

Warmly,

Jon

MRI for Joey - Nathan and Jane are doing well - big transition for Jon

Dear friends and family,

Below is a little more elaboration on the subject line of this email.

MRI

Joey is having a regularly scheduled MRI in about 8 hours at 7:00 a.m. (7/29). Our prayer request is the same – that we would discover that the tumor is continuing to shrink. If you are up early reading this please pray that there would be no problems with the administration of the MRI. The process involves him not eating or drinking in the middle of the night (which even at 3 he is quite accustom to doing), us waking at 5:30 a.m. to go to the hospital and Joey being put under sedation for about an hour during the MRI. This is the first MRI without his medical port so he will need to get an IV. It is always hard to watch your son get put unconscious and stuck with needles. You might want to pray for both Joey and I during the process!

Prayers answered

Since our last update Nathan has been doing a good job taking to the bottle. Jane’s transition back to work has been pretty good so far and our family is hanging in there with our fuller schedule. We have been really grateful for help from family and friends during this time and continue to appreciate knowing that so many of you are praying for us.

Transition for Jon

To learn more about what God has been doing in me internally and some of what that means for my role with InterVarsity and our family please take a look at my most recent newsletter at http://www.ivevents.com/doc/146/July_2008.pdf. Whether or not you are interested in my life or ministry there is a pretty good picture of our family that is at least worth a look!

With faith, hope and love,

Jon, Jane, Joey and Nathan Kuo Paris

Family Update

Dear friends and family,

Our family has been going through a number of transitions recently. On June 11^th Joey finished his last day of preschool and entered into summer "vacation." With his vacation starting ours began to come to an end!

On June 15^th I (Jon) finished my sabbatical and resumed my campus work with InterVarsity. There has been a lot to get caught up on and there are some more big transitions ahead for me. I will share about this in an upcoming update in which I will share more about our ministry.

Tomorrow July 15^th Jane resumes her job at Stanford where she works part time as a nurse.

There is a lot to be thankful for during this time.

· Joey is finally potty trained and is now able to participate in some day camps this summer through the local YMCA.

· Jane's job is able to provide good medical insurance for the family which has been incredibly important to us for obvious reasons.

· Nathan, now 5 months old, is growing like gangbusters and is meeting the milestones of a full term baby (rolling over, crawling, eating some solid foods, and being generally adorable).

· Some crucial aspects of our fall campus ministry schedule have recently fallen into place (especially our location for our back to campus retreats for leaders and returning students).

· Joey seems to see slightly better when wearing his eye patch which we hope is a sign that more of the signals from his right eye are reaching his brain.

We also would deeply appreciate your prayers for some of the challenges we are facing in these days.

· Balancing our family schedule. With both Jane and I going back to work we have transitioned from a point of abundance of discretionary family time to having to be really disciplined about our family schedule. Please remember us in your prayers during these days.

· Nathan transitioning to the bottle. Nathan and I have been having some issues! Basically he likes to take milk from mom more than from me. As Joey would say "that makes me sad." Please pray that we would be able to work this out this next week. I work in the mornings and evening and have Nathan in the afternoons. If you think of us in the afternoons please pray for us.

· Tumor Status Report: On July 29^th Joey goes in for another MRI. Since he was sick during the last MRI it will have been about six months since we have received a status report on the tumor. Please pray for another good report. We are praying that the tumor would continue to shrink and by God's mercy we would be able to avoid any further treatment or intervention.

With Love,

Jane, Jon, Joey and Nathan

(I could only get away with wearing this hat (see photo) during my sabbatical!)