Father Daughter Sweetheart Dance

Our church hosts a wonderful annual event for fathers and their daughters. For 12 years little girls eagerly await this night and their special date with daddy. The 800 available tickets sell out very quickly. Unfortunately, Julia has never been able to attend. For the past two years she has had surgeries in February, related to her cancer treatments. This year, it was finally her turn. (Take that cancer! Another win in the JuJu column.) These normal milestones become infinitely more meaningful to us.

Julia has been anticipating this night for many weeks, admiring the tickets hanging on the wall and talking about her date with Daddy. Finally the day arrived and she anxiously started getting ready. her hair has grown so much. When it's wet and the curls are brushed out it is halfway down her back already!

She was wearing her favorite dress with the black polka dots. As she likes to say, "I love this dress because it makes me look like a cow." She eagerly awaited the arrival of her date...

Daddy came to the door with a corsage and tulips for his little princess...

She loved her new jewelry to match her dress...

Daddy and his little girl...

They started off with dinner at an Italian restaurant. Julia loved her meal and was so happy to have Daddy all to herself.

Then it was off to the dance downtown. The ice sculpture was a big hit...

Julia had fun at the dance but was rather shy. After a few dances with Daddy and her friends, they headed out for ice cream before it was off to bed.

Julia is so blessed to have a daddy who loves her so much and makes her feel like a princess everyday. he will always be her first sweetheart!

Valentine's Party

My eager little valentines with the baskets of goodies they made for their friends. Carter made lollipops with heart flowers and leaves for the names and Julia designed her own flowers and attached them to bags of m&m's.

We had a little party with a few friends from church. We read some stories together. The kids "mailed" their cards to each other...

Made heart print paint pictures...

tissue paper flowers...

and yummy cupcakes!

It was a fun day with some great friends. We are so blessed God has surrounded us with such wonderful families to "do life" with. I can't imagine it any other way.

We played a fun game where the kids each hunted for a plastic heart hidden outside. When they found it they opened it and took out the heart half picture inside. Then they had to find the friend with the other half of their match. When they made a pair, they came back to me and each one had to say their favorite thing about their friend and then each picked a lifesaver treat. It was a fun game for all ages to play together and a great way to affirm each other and speak words of love.

 Yummy strawberry cake for dessert. Thank you HT- it tastes just as good as it looks!

Tube Change

I knew it was coming and have been dreading it. Every three months we have to take out Julia's cecostomy tube and put in a new one. The entire process is very upsetting to her and makes her so anxious. I hate seeing this pile of stuff, knowing I am going to have to upset her, hurt her, hold her down, and hear her scream. It never gets easier.

Before we started she opened up and was talking to me about how she feels about all of it. I was so proud of her for naming her feelings like that. KidsPath counseling has been such an asset to her emotional progress. Thank you. Kate!! She decided she wanted to participate in the process this time. We decided to start with a few lessons.

This is what a mic-key button looks like (used as g-tubes, c-tubes, etc). The door that opens on the bottom is what you can see on the outside. The tube goes through the hole in her abdomen. The balloon at the top is inflated with saline once its in place to hold it in (and deflated to pull it out). She did well with removing the old one, but then started to panic about putting in the new one. Fortunately I moved fast and was able to get it in one-handed. I was so proud of her for overcoming her fears and starting to take control of her situation. She's come a long way!

Unfortunately, we still had to burn off the granulation tissue around the opening with silver nitrate. She still abhors this process, so we mildly sedate her. It knocks her out, but then the pain wakes her up. She fights back, but isn't quite as strong. It still takes two of us to hold her down. By the end we are all shaking, sweating, and exhausted. I hate that all of this has to be a part of our lives still. We are supposed to do it every 2-3 weeks, but I put it off longer this time because I wanted us to all be able to enjoy the holidays without any trauma. Needless to say, it was long overdue and a lot of tissue had grown. It took Billy and I both using our full strength to restrain her and finish the process. Then I held her as she cried and whimpered herself to sleep. It makes me hate cancer a little more every time.

Sweet dreams my brave little warrior. I pray God erases these memories from your heart and mind. I love you and am so proud of you! 

Choices, choices.

What does an 8 year old buy with the money saved from 5 lost teeth, allowance, Christmas, and his birthday?

The biggest lego set he's ever had! It's 1141 pieces. When I saw the number of bags of little pieces and multiple volumes of instructions, I thought it would be quite a challenge. Five hours later, he had it complete!

I must say it is quite intricate and I have learned more about Star Wars than I ever thought I would know.

I had to laugh when we did our standardized testing last week, one of the sections asked them to take a statement and phrase it as a question. As Carter looked over the choices, he raised his hand and asked, "Who's talking, a regular person or Yoda?" Oh Carter, just pick the correct answer.

Happy second graders celebrating the end of testing with Feeney's for lunch...

Prayers Please...

We have been storming the gates of heaven these past few weeks for our precious little friend, Rima. Will you join us?

She is a nine year old from our clinic who's battling leukemia (Philadelphia positive). She is a vibrant girl full of life and joy. She loves horses, sports, her family and friends, and most of all her Lord. She comes from an amazing and devout Lebanese Christian family who lives a life of faith and hope.

Rima lives out her life in praise to God and shares her faith freely with everyone she meets. In November, Rima and I had the privilege of speaking at an Arts for Life gala. It was inspiring to see this young girl stand up before the crowd and share her cancer journey, her testimony, and then play her guitar for everyone.

Rima loves art and music and has learned to play the guitar during her many hospital stays- Thanks to the Arts for Life program and Colin (our Camp Brenner music man) She uses this talent to sing praises to God and share all He is doing in her life.

On January 22, Rima was admitted to the PICU with meningitis- a blood and spinal fluid infection- that caused her to have a stroke. She lost her ability to speak and cannot move her legs or one arm. This past week she began having multiple, continuous seizures and had to be intubated and sedated. They were able to remove the breathing tube yesterday and are praying she can maintain her airway. She is having a lot of pain, but continues to fight and even smiled a few times yesterday. Please lift up this precious little warrior. We know God carries her in the palm of His hand and we know He has a perfect plan. The world still needs this amazing girl!

To read updates on her condition and offer encouraging words and prayers, you can join her page on facebook.

Symphony Safari

One of our local symphonies puts on a Discovery Concert Series for Kids. We had never been before, but decided to try it out. It turned out to be an incredible experience. They partnered with our local zoo and humane society to incorporate real animals into the event. Before it started we visited some of the animals and learned more about them.

They also had an instrument petting zoo where the kids were given a mini lesson on several different instruments.

Then it was time for the music. They began with Baby Elephant Walk by Mancini and incorporated pictures into the piece.

Next was The Circus Polka and And God Created the Whales. The images were awesome and they used actual recordings of whale conversations within the music.

They had two baritone soloists who added lyrics to the music. David Weigel performed a selection from Haydn's The Creation and the conductor, Robert Moody did a very entertaining version of The Warthog from Animal Songs.

They closed with selections from Carnival of the Animals.

It was a wonderful performance and our little symphony-goers were taking it all in. It was fun to see them all conducting along with the music. The musicians, singers, and conductor did a wonderful job of relating to the kids and making the music come alive. We look forward to many more concerts in the future. 

Safari Nation Party

Carter was looking forward to celebrating his birthday with his friends. We usually wait until later in January after the holidays. This year he and Lily celebrated together at Safari Nation.

The kids had a great time on the slides, inflatables, zip line, climbing, games, and ball shooters.

I think the adults liked it, too!

It was a great afternoon of laughs, fun, and friends...

Happy 7th Birthday Lily!  Happy 8th Carter!