To Mom, With Love

You would probably guess this is Julia's door, but actually it's our master bedroom door. Every time I see it my heart just swells. It is so much more than just an art gallery.

Julia and I have had a tough few years. Sadly as a cancer mom your role as mom becomes suddenly so very complicated. In many ways it is a privilege to be by their side through everything, care for them, and offer them comfort in every way you can imagine. But it also becomes achingly painful, stressful, and hard. I hate being the one forcing her into pain, watching her suffer, and inflicting painful procedures. Just last week I had to do her tube change and granulation tissue burn. I hate seeing the fear in her eyes, hearing her plead, holding her down, and listening her screams of pain. It never gets easier to do and a little piece of my heart dies every time.

When the dust settled last year, there was so much work to be done for both of us individually and together. Being five years old is supposed to be a magical year of play, pretend, firsts, friends, and giggles. For Julia it was whole lot more of wading though baggage leftover from cancer. We have worked hard this year as a family, at Kidspath, and in prayer- and it is beginning to really show. In recent months a sparkle has begun to emerge and our relationship has begun to heal.

 

For me the flashing neon sign of this is right there on my door. My little girl with a passion for scotch tape, makes me pictures to tell me she loves me and then adheres them to the door with miles of tape.

The scars from cancer are deep and some may never heal, but around here we've found scotch tape can help patch some of them. 

Kindergarten Bible Presentation

At the end of Kindergarten, our church has a ceremony to present each child with their very own Bible. It's always a little emotional for me because I realize how fast they are growing up.

Julia has had a wonderful year with some great teachers and teens. We are so blessed to have some dear friends in the class who have made this year extra special.

It was such a precious sight to see them eagerly wait their turn, cross the stage, and sit down with their long-awaited package. I pray that spark of excitement and the joy of this gift remains always and is the beginning of a lifelong journey.

God bless you, Julia! We are so proud of the sweet young girl you are becoming.

Julia's 6th Birthday!!

Julia was so excited about her coming birthday. She has been doing a daily countdown for months. When the morning arrived she was just giddy.

We had Bible study in the morning and the kids had Awana that night, so we met Daddy for a family birthday lunch. Her request? Cracker Barrel, of course! She was thrilled to be opening all her presents, too. I don't think that happens often at CB because we had quite the audience. They even brought her free chocolate cake.

Do you see a theme?

 

I love that her only actual gift request was for lots of rainbow-colored flowers. She reminds me every time we see them in the store.

After a full day of fun, it was also the last night of Awana. You finished your first year of Sparks and finished your book- yay! And Carter completed his last year and graduates to T&T- crazy!! We headed to Feeney's with friends for some celebratory fro yo...

On Saturday, it was party time. Our little cowgirl waiting for her girlfriends to arrive...

We had a sugar cube relay...

horseshoes...

stick pony races...

and horse bingo...

Then it was time for some tasty treats.

We all loved the way her cake turned out. I loved seeing the smile on her face!

Happy Birthday sweet JuJu! It was such a perfect week of celebrating. It was such a treat to see you having fun with your friends and family. We all love you so much!!

Butterfly Farm

Every year we look forward to our field trip to the Butterfly Farm. Nora does a great teaching the kids.

Our butterfly, Ginny, in her chrysalis...

Our sweet little moth, David...

Surrounded by his friends in the cocoon...

And ready to fly!!

Drew made an awesome butterfly with his "smelling" antenna, compound eyes, "breathing" stomach, "hearing" knees, and "tasting" feet...

Then it was time to visit the butterfly house. The beautiful warm and temperate weather we've had has made for some very happy butterflies. There were hundreds and they were so friendly!!

Watching the butterflies emerge...

So thankful for another beautiful day with God's amazing butterflies! We enjoyed reading some great books throughout the week. A new one for us this year was, An Extraordinary Life by Laurence Pringle. It explains the intricate monarch migration that enables them to survive from season to season. As if changing from a caterpillar to butterfly were not miraculous enough, this book leaves you in awe.

In His Steps

Julia has had another amazing year with In His Steps. We are so blessed to be a part of this incredible group. It was started by two precious, godly women who had a passion for missions and a church they serve in Nicaragua. They knew they could expand their help with more funding. So they took their God-given passion for worship, dance, and the arts and turned it into ministry. Every week, they teach young girls and lead them in worship, at the same time teaching them dance, sign language, praise, and prayer. The donations made by parents for the classes go toward their mission work.

 

Julia continues to love her time spent dancing. In place of a performance recital, the girls minister to local nursing homes and adult ed centers during the year. At the end of the year, we have two nights of worship in local churches to worship together with other church groups and to share some of the work God is doing in Nicaragua.

This year they danced to The Gospel Song and The Prayer...

Sweet friends before prayer time...

Julia was able to be a part of the group's processional dance to I Love Your Presence. It was a powerful song, beautiful dance, and so amazing to see women and girls of all ages worshiping together...

Carter is so proud of his little sister...

Thank you Tricia and Angie, from the bottom of our hearts. We could never thank you enough for pouring into the heart and life of Julia. Her heart will be forever touched by your passion and your love for God that overflows in everything you do. Thank you for being a part of her faith journey. Your impact has eternal effects. We love you and cannot wait to hear about your upcoming trip back to Nicaragua.

Walk 4 Our Kids

On May 19th, our Kids of Childhood Cancer Foundation had their annual...

We could not have asked for a more perfect day for this cherished event.

We were so humbled and blessed to have over 400 registered walkers this year! The crowd was so full of faces, love, smiles, support, tears, personal stories, and determination.

The morning starts by honoring our kids- the reasons why we do what we do. We honor the warriors and survivors and let them introduce themselves to the crowd...

And then we stop to remember our angels. It is because of these incredibly brave children that we will forever carry the torch forward and help those in the trenches in any way we can. These children inspire us, challenge us, and become a piece of our hearts that we carry with us always. This year has been an incredibly tough year as so many of our friends have earned their wings. There are still many broken hearts and the loss is palpable.

We will never forget and we will never give up the fight...

 

An energetic and emotional crowd, ready to walk...

I love that one of our top 3 finishers is herself a cancer survivor! Take that cancer!!

Princesses handing out water at the finish line...

LOVE our  nurses!!!

And Camp Brenner's resident Superman. We all know the oncology kids are superheroes in disguise...

We were so thankful for our friends that came out in support...

As of last count we had raised over $37,000! All of this will go toward our foundation's new beach Safe Haven and will allow us to send local peds oncology families on getaway vacations to the beach. A chance to escape from cancer for even a moment, connect as a family, relax, and savor the beauty of the ocean.

Thank you to all of you helping to make dreams come true!!