Hi all,

So sorry for not keeping up with the latest information on April! I will do better going forward. The latest updates from September were just posted. Sign up at the bottom of the site to be notified when I publish an update, or friend April on Facebook where she regularly updates. As of now, we don’t anticipate anything more until late November when I will be sure to update on her scans.

Thank you,

Beth Robert-Small

So thank you all for your love and prayers! What they see is something but looking closer they are not as concerned praise God!! They will re-scan me at the end of November to be sure and watch me more closely these next couple months but I am going to just have to stand on His promises and rest in Him while waiting and believing that I am healed! Thank you all for your care and concern, and God is so good!!

April

Hi everyone! Thank you all for the love and prayers these past couple weeks since my last scan results. I am going tomorrow for my tests and treatment and am praying that what they find is “nothing” and that I continue to remain healed in Jesus ‘ name! Thank you all for believing with me, I will post when I know for sure but no matter what God is always good

April

Thank you all for the love and prayers! My doctors called and have a small concern about a small spot on my left side under my arm, and want to do some further tests. This was a surgery site so I am praying and believing it is just scar tissue or inflammation, but glad they are being cautious. So I will go for the tests, but please pray and believe with me that I am healed through Him! Thank you all so much and will post when I hear that all is well again!

April

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful day! I am humbly asking for prayers again for my 6 month scans which are tomorrow. It is a long day with tests and then treatment but I continue to believe that I am healed through the power of His mighty hands. Thank you for continuing to pray this and believe this with us! We are forever grateful! We serve an awesome God!!

When I was a sophomore in high school I can remember writing an essay that won me a trip to Washington,DC along with 49 other students from our country to meet our president, President Clinton. I cannot remember now the essay topic or what exactly I wrote, but I do remember the story I used that inspired my writing. Last night, Chris and I were out together on a date night and I saw the story of the starfish painted on the wall! I took a picture and am attaching it here, using it as the best way to explain our newest adventure in this crazy life!
For as long as I can remember I have always felt a tug at my heart for children without homes or families to love them. I can remember very vividly going to the Ames department store in East Providence and each year seeing a tree, an “angel tree” it was called, with names of children at Christmas time who did not have anyone to buy them presents. We found out that some did indeed have parents but those parents were going through hard times and could not afford anything extra at Christmas, like toys and clothes, but others on the tree had no parents at all, they were part of “the state system.” I remember being only 9 or 10 years old and seeing all those names on the tree with no one to buy for or possibly even love them, and my heart was broken. I had my mom and dad go back many times and each time we would take another name off of the tree. I remember thinking “just one more, we can help another one and it won’t take away all the names but it will help one more child be happy with a toy!” Oh how innocent my little heart was then, so naive and wanting to save the world, but like that starfish story I wrote about years later and have carried in my heart, I am not helping all of them and never could, but I made a difference for that one.
As a teacher at Tolman High School and then a Guidance Counselor at Chariho, I saw a lot of students who needed love. I could never help all of them and the thought was almost overwhelming, but I remember telling Chris that I would like to do foster care or adoption one day to help a child, as there are so many that just need love. As he always does Chris just smiled and supported me and said “ok!” After watching “The Blind Side” and sobbing like a baby I remember feeling that same desire all over again and Chris laughing and again saying “OK!” The timing was not right back then, and then we had children of our own, and then cancer came in. The timing was still not right, but after much prayer and discussion, we decided last year to take the classes and get certified in foster care and adoption. The timing-will it ever be right? Do you ever have enough time in this crazy life for one more thing? No! But we realized what we do have is love to share and give and have been given so much ourselves. Jesus calls us to love one another, and to take care of widows and orphans, and I think he literally means to do that. There are so many children who are aching to be loved, and that is something we can share.
Our girls have been praying each night with us for I would say over a year now to help us find a child we can share love with. To be honest, they are more excited about this venture than either Chris or I are! They, too, have such innocent hearts and when they found out that there are children in this world who do not have homes to live in or beds to sleep in they immediately said “they could stay here!” So when the call came to see if we could take an emergency placement-a little 2 /2 year old boy who has no home, was born addicted to cocaine and is non-verbal and also autistic, could we take him? Not forever but just for a little while… I was not prepared for this, we don’t know anything about special needs at all, but I saw my girls jumping and screaming holding hands in the background, singing “we’re going to help a child! we’re going to help a child!” and called Chris and we said “how can we say no?” So that is how our first little foster child came to our home, and though he came scared, sad, up all night,- he left happy, fed, played with and loved. We did not do anything different than we did with our children, and God showed us all how to love him. We could not keep him- we knew that; we knew he needed much more time and attention and energy than I could give him especially with my treatments still, but we loved him, and made a difference for him in his time of need. I am not saying any of this for praise or accalades of any sort, in fact we did nothing extraordinary at all. We simply followed God’s call to love. But the reason I am sharing all of this and this new journey we have decided to take is because there are SO MANY CHILDREN WHO NEED OUR LOVE. Our social worker actually asked me if there were any other families we knew that might be interested in getting licensed and doing foster care because the need is so great and there are so many kids in the foster care system who need love and homes. I told her I would share and pray and see what we could do. We cannot save the world; the journey is certainly not easy; there is time and effort and pain that will go into it. But would you be willing to open your hearts and home perhaps if the prompting on your heart is “yes” to this? Please message me if you have any interest at all, I will get you started with the basic steps. And remember, just one starfish at a time can make a difference to one, and change a life forever. Love and Blessings to all of you.

So the girls were beyond excited when they found out where we were going “for vacation ” as they say for 2 days!! Their smiles are worth a million!! But the greatest part for Chris and I was to see once again God and His great love for us in action! When we checked in they asked us if we have ever been here (no) and then asked if we were celebrating anything? We said yes, life , because mommy had clean scans again praise God! The woman came right back with paws passes for the girls, giving them access to all the parks, games, souvenirs, etc. and dinner for all of us. I stood there crying and the girls shrieking for they were in awe and we had to pause to thank Jesus for His undeserved mercy and blessings on us. We are so humbled and grateful for all He has done for us these past 3 1/2 years, and to see His love through others is simply beautiful. There is good out there amongst the bad, people are kind and caring, and we can choose to focus on the joys or the heartaches. Let’s choose joy!!

March 21, 2017–post by April

“How great is our God! Sing with me how great is our God! How great, how great, is our God.” Once again my scans are all clear!! We are so humbled and thankful to our awesome God and to all of you for praying and continuing to believe with us. We are going to keep my treatment as is for now with some medicine to counter the side effects, but I do not believe this will be forever. I am trusting that He will tell us completely when the time is, but for now we will continue to rest in Him and be still. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for praying on this for us.

Love and blessings, April, Chris, Faith, Savannah Grace and Bella.

Hi everyone! I hope this finds you all happy and well! I am just humbly asking for prayers once again as it is my 6 month scan time. Please pray for continued healing and also wisdom for chris and I as at some point we are going to have to make a decision about continuing my treatment every three weeks. I go on Tuesday for my tests, scans and treatments so it will be a long day. My doctors have never had a case like this before and don’t really know what to do, so it really is up to us. I am so grateful for all the chemo medicines I received because they have worked wonders for me along with my other natural remedies, and of course Jesus’ healing power being first and foremost. But it has been 3 1/2 years and the medicines, like all medicines, have not come without side effects. The neuropathy, chemo itch, possible heart conditions, chemo brain etc. are all very real things that are difficult to handle after a while. Of course it is worth a million times over my being able to be here and raise our children, but at the same time they are poisons going into my body every three weeks with side effects. So we are at a point that we are trying to use our judgment with wisdom from God on what to do next. Do we keep going with my treatment and believe that I will continue to be healed no matter what or do we stay on the medicine even if perhaps I know longer need it? It is a very difficult, loaded question so I just ask for your prayers with this that God guides us to the right choice. Thank you all so much for loving us, praying for us and believing with us. We will always remember what faith can do and thank you for having that faith with us! Love and blessings, April, Chris, Faith, Savannah Grace and Isabella Hope.

Hi everyone! I am in recovery now and all seemed to go well! Thank you so very much for all of the love and prayers!! Our God is an awesome God!!

Hi everyone! I hope you are all happy and well! I am humbly asking for prayer again as I have my regular treatment tomorrow but surgery on Wednesday, should just be a one day thing but you know how much we value your prayers and love! So please pray that all goes well with no complications, and also in 3 weeks it is my scan time again! Please keep all of us in prayer and continue to believe with us in this miracle we have been given!! Thank you so very much from the bottom of our hearts!! We serve an awesome God!!

Three years ago today we received news that would change our lives forever. Looking back now it is incredible to see God’s hand in all of this and how He carried and is still carrying us. Thank you to everyone who has ever believed with us, prayed with us, loved us and were the hands and feet of Jesus to us in countless ways. We are forever humbled and grateful. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) Thank you for loving us. April, Chris, Faith, Savannah Grace and Bella

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow!” Happy thanksgiving to you and yours! Let us all remember no matter what we are each going through that we truly do have so much to be grateful for. Thank you always for your love and prayers for our true miracle. Love and blessings, April, Chris, Faith, Savannah-Grace and Isabella Hope.

No matter who you voted for or how you are feeling now, please remember that God wins. He is in control, not one person. Pray for our country, our leaders, our children. Prayer is so powerful. He is with us , let us not forget to call on Him. We are called to be the light of the world, let us share that light and spread hope to a nation and a world that so desperately needs it. Love always wins. Share love. And remember how much you are loved by our Heavenly Father. He has got this.

Hey everyone, April is out of surgery and did great! Thank you for your prayers! Chris

Hi everyone! I hope you are all happy and well!! I am humbly asking for your prayers for tomorrow as I am going in for my port surgery tomorrow at Smilow. They have to remove my old port and put in a new one for my treatment every three weeks, as they are still recommending I go for that at this point. Also, I will have an MRI tomorrow and my regular treatment so it will be a really long day followed by a very tiring week. (I know this due to my past 6 surgeries this past year and a half!) So please pray for God to guide the hands of the surgeons and for a quick recovery so I can get back to taking care of our girls! Again, as always, we humbly thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Love and blessings to you. Our God is an awesome God!

Thank you all for your love and prayers! Today was long but peaceful and my oncologist just called to tell me that once again praise God all is clear!! They are still in awe, but our God is an awesome God!!! The concern is two minor things: my port has to be replaced as it has had some miles on it! So I will be going sometime soon for that, and the next concern is a great one to have- when to stop all of my treatment!! They are unsure so for now I will keep going, but please pray for wisdom and discernment for this decision in the future. Thank you all for your constant love and prayers! Let us praise God from whom all blessings flow!!

Hi everyone! I hope this finds you all happy and well! It is my 6-month scan time again tomorrow and so I am humbly asking for your prayers once again!! Thank you thank you, we are truly grateful! It will be a long day and I am believing that I am healed, but please continue to pray. I will hopefully get results in the next few days! God is so good! 

So a friend just asked me if she could share this online and I replied “absolutely!” This was the intent when I spoke last year- to let the whole world here how great our God is and how He still heals today just like in the past! I just listened to it myself for the first time since last June and even though IT IS ME speaking I was still in awe of how awesome He is! If you or a loved one need help or encouragement, please listen and share. Thank you Jill for re-sharing this and reminding me again of how blessed I am!