Today is Thanksgiving and I there is a lot to share. I first want to express gratitude for all of you. This road we are on is so difficult and scary.  I have no idea where we would be without all of the love, kindness, and support we are receiving. Thank you again for everything you do to help us get through this.
This update is a tough one. We just learned from Lincoln's latest MRI that the tumor is not shrinking as we were expecting it to. The size of it seems to have stabilized but the fact that it is not getting smaller suggests that the tumor is mostly made up of stuff that does not respond to chemotherapy. For those interested in more specific medical information please reach out and I will share it with you but I am not going to go into it here. The bottom line is that the plan has changed and now will include a surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible. We got this news yesterday and are heartbroken but hopeful. 
This surgery is a hard one. There are obvious risks. We don't want to go down this path but it is clear that there is no other choice. We are currently discussing the timeline with the neurosurgeon and oncologist. The general sentiment is that the sooner we can do the surgery the better so we may be tackling this next week. We are exploring the possibility of delaying until after Christmas as long as it won't affect Linc in any negative way. 
If we do the surgery next week there is a good chance he will be back home by Christmas but leading up to the holiday he will require a stay in the ICU and then will transition to a part in the hospital where he will continue to recover and get rehab (the surgery typically causes some mild weakness on one side of the body that is temporary). 
There is some good news in this. While our understanding of the tumor has changed and thus so has the plan,  Lincoln's likelihood of beating this is essentially unchanged and remains very favorable. But this next step will be a tough one regardless.
 Lincoln is overall doing well. He has been physically feeling good lately and his mental and emotional state has been positive (barring yesterday but today he is back to himself). He has a very high emotional IQ and seems to be processing things in a healthy way. He has a journal and a punching bag. He has wonderful siblings and friends that he plays and laughs with which is so great to witness. Larkin and I talk with him often and he also has great people to talk to that are not his parents. 
Last week he felt good enough to rejoin his soccer team for the final tournament of the season where Lincoln scored a goal and helped his team along to finish 2nd place!
This is scary y'all. Larkin and I are ok and rolling with the punches. Yesterday felt similar to day one of this whole ordeal but today things seem better. We maintain a vigilant belief that we will all come through this whole and intact. 
Again thank you for all that this amazing community is doing, we are tremendously grateful for you.
 Happy Thanksgiving!