Thursday, April 29, 2010

Surprise! It's Registration Time Again Already!!!

You could have knocked me over with a feather today when I saw that the registration is now open for this years St Jude Marathon! This is the earliest that I have seen it! I am happy to say that I am now officially registered for the Half Marathon this year and I hope that the rest of TEAM BELIEVE will begin to register soon for which ever run you choose to do. This year we will be running for Jordan James. Jordan will be 3 years old in July. He was born with leukemia and was is transplant with Ethan and Sully whom many of you followed while they were at St Jude. Jordan had a bone marrow transplant when he was 7 months old (on Valentines Day) and has now been CANCER FREE ever since he went into remission at 3 weeks old. If you were a part of Team Believe and at our team dinner this past year, you KNOW Jordan! He is just so precious and we are honored to honor him and the great work that St Jude has done in Jordan's healing! Jordan and his family will be joining us again this year. I will give more info on Jordan in a later post. I just wanted to let you know registration is open and it is anticipated that just like last year, it will sell out again. I will try to get the link posted on this page for a direct link to go to the registration page. I'll work on that this weekend.


Last night was a great night for some really special people. Jack and his mom and Ma joined us for a night of baseball at our youngest son's High School baseball game. He was just so precious and everyone had a great time. Jack even got past a little of his shyness and went around with our Diamond Darlings to collect donations for St Jude. I must say it was our biggest night of donations all season! I told you earlier how the baseball team challenged the softball team to see which team could raise the most money for St Jude during this ball season, they have done a great job so far. When it is all over, I will post and let you know how they have done. This has truly been a wonderful thing for this group of guys on the baseball team. They have just adopted Jack and love him so much. Jack got to the field last night and wanted to know immediately where the guys were. He went out on the field and gave the team a pep talk before the game. It was the most precious thing. I wish I had a video of it. Jack has been feeling really good this week and has enjoyed being outside most of the days this week. He has one more round of chemo to go. They plan to be home by the first part of June! Please pray for him to continue to do well and remain CANCER FREE! Keep Katie and the rest of the family in your prayers as they prepare to go home. This is always a tough thing to do even though you want it so bad. There is that comfort in being close by St Jude just in case you think you might need them.

I have posted a few pictures from last night. How could ANYONE resist this darling face???



Jack showing off his "gangster" look!! How adorable is this???


Coach (Tyler) Sutton, Jack and Garrett Sutton hanging out after the game. These guys have become big buddies!


Jack proudly showing off the donation jar! He did a great job. Could you pass up on putting a buck or two in his jar?


Jack getting a donation from one of the mom's at the game.


Your Bolton Wildcat's Baseball team and coaches with Jack. I just love how Jack is laying over and propped up on Garrett! Bud's!

It was announced over the PA system that Jack and his family were our special guest for the evening, then they told a little bit about Jack and how thanks to St Jude he is CANCER FREE, the crowd gave them a standing ovation! It was so awesome. There were some tears and lot's of chill bumps! So glad that they could come out and join us for a night of red blooded american baseball and hotdogs! Keep praying for Jack!

Jack and his family are very close to another St Jude family who really need our prayers right now. Robert Cunningham is a wonderful 15 year old young man who has relapsed. Because of damage to his heart from treatment, he is not eligible for transplant. The prognosis is rather grim at this time, but with prayer and with God this is always subject to change!!! I am asking for each of you to add Robert and his family to your prayer list and to please put them on any other prayer group list that you may be a part of. BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!!!

Big Trevor will be coming to Memphis on Monday for his surgery to repair damage to some of his bones and joints. I am not real sure what this process is, I am sure Pam will explain it better so I encourage you to check in on his CB page. Just please be praying for this surgery to be a success and for him to have relief from the pain he has been experiencing.

Click on the link for Ellen Taylor's CB page and read the most awesome story that recently happened for Ellen and her family. This story is what true love and servanthood is all about. It will bring chills and tears to your eyes! See what a difference ANYONE can make in someone else's life.

Tomorrow Jason, Tabitha, Hannah and little Max will be taking a van load of brand new donated toys down to St Jude in memory of Sully's upcoming 3rd birthday. You may remember that they did this last year to celebrate his birthday and they are doing it again this year. I had lunch with her today and she said they have had almost as much donated this year as they had last year. They are so excited to be able to do this, however it is a bitter sweet for them. Please say a little prayer for them as they celebrate another birthday for Sully without him.

Remembering all of our families with empty hearts today! Much love to them all and prayers for each family for God's peace.

Have a great weekend..... START MAKING PLANS TO GET REGISTERED AND BRING A FRIEND ALONG WITH YOU! Let's make this year even better than last year! That will be hard to beat, but I know this group can certainly do it!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Calm After The Storm...

Addition to todays post - I neglected to share some not so good news with you. Ryan has relapsed for the third time. You can go to his link and read Kim's update regarding this devastating news. She is really torn right now and searching for the best solution to help Ryan. Please read her post, be praying really hard for her to find the peace and answers she needs. Pray for Ryan and for his healing.

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Have you ever noticed how beautiful the sky is and how green the earth is after a raging storm? Last night and up until about 2:00 this afternoon we have had one Tornado watch and warning after another one. The sky has been so dark with wicked looking clouds... now at 5:25pm just a few hours later, the sky is the most beautiful blue without a cloud to be found. The grass is so green and what is left of the blooming flowers are incredible!! I absolutely love the feeling of complete peace after the storm. Funny how life, our day to day struggles, can be so much like a thunderstorm. We have trials in our life, but I feel God blesses us with a beautiful peace after our storms when we lean on him and rely on our faith to get us through our storms. No matter what our troubles or pain involve, God is always with us. "Be with us Lord, we can not live without thee."

Well, it's been rather calm on the SJ home front as far as I am aware with the kiddo's we follow here. Jack just finished up a cycle of his chemo and he has done really well so far with it. If you are following his CB site, you know that he only has one more cycle to go and he will be finished!!!! YEAH for Jack!!! His scans are all clear, he is finishing up and we just need to keep him in our prayers that he remains CANCER FREE. He will certainly me missed around the Jude but I know how much they want to be home and get on with life enjoying their family. Keep praying for Jack and his sweet family to hang in there just a little bit longer until they get to go home for good.

Little Trevor came in this past week for his chemo treatment and an MRI. The preliminary reports showed basically that his tumor is stable. I have not heard back from Melinda yet on the final report. Hopefully they will get that report by Monday. Please keep praying for Trevor and his family. They are doing great, but the travel back and forth every other week does really wear them out both physically and emotionally. When Melinda comes here to bring Trevor, she has to leave Morgan, little sister, back home. Morgan misses her mom and big brother and Trevor misses Morgan very much when he is away from her. They are very close. Please keep praying for his final report on the MRI to show that his treatment is doing it's job!!! We did get to go to Chili's for dinner while they were here. That is such a big treat for Trevor! He is the "main attraction" at Chili's when he is there. Everyone in the restaurant knows Trevor before they finish up their dinner!! He is such the cutie pie!

Ariel will be coming in on Monday for her check up. I am pretty sure this is the visit that she will be having her MRI too. Please be in prayer for the results from this MRI to show that her treatment is doing it's job too. She had a small spot of concern on her lung in the last one, pray that this spot will not show up at all on this MRI. It could have just been nothing at all, and that is what we are praying for. She has been a very busy young lady the past few weeks. She and Amber came to Memphis to attend the St Jude Prom, then this weekend she is very busy speaking at two different Relay For Life functions and also she and Amber are involved in their high school musical of "Grease". Pray for their safe trip to Memphis and for good reports.

Big Trevor has had some really great things happening in his life. He has been the recipient of a couple of awesome honors in the past few weeks. I don't want to get them wrong, so I will just refer you back to his CB page where Pam explains them much better than I ever could. I am very proud of him and his accomplishments. He is still awaiting surgery coming up the first part of May. Please keep him in your prayers.

I think I shared with you on a past post about Dr. Sara being pregnant with twins. She is doing great, the twins are doing great! She and hubby now know that the new bundles of joy will be girls!! They are very excited. On the subject of babies... if you have not yet heard, I can now share with you that ^Dax's^ mom and dad, (Julie & Austin) are expecting a baby! Congratulations to them and prayers for them and for a healthy beautiful baby. ^Dax^ will be such a sweet guardian angel over his momma, daddy and little brother or sister.

Please continue to pray for all of the families at St Jude and other families at other hospitals who have children fighting childhood cancer. Keep praying for them and doing what you can to help raise the money necessary to fund St Jude and the research needed to find the cure. We are approaching the end of April, the time to begin registering for the 2010 St Jude Marathon will be here before we know it. I believe if I remember correctly last years registration began at the end of May. Be talking to your friends and family and see if you can bring someone else with you to join our team this year. More info on the 2010 Team Believe Team will be coming out soon.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday and a great start to a new week. Be vigilant in your prayers... Prayer Works!


BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Sunday, April 11, 2010

The Knots Prayer...

The Knots Prayer
Author Unknown


Dear God,

Please untie the knots
that are in my mind,
my heart and my life.
Remove the have nots,
the can nots, and the do nots
that I have in my mind.

Erase the will nots,
may nots, and
might nots that may find
a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots
would nots, and
should nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all, Dear God,
I ask that you remove from my mind,
my heart and my life all of the am nots
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough.

In Jesus name, amen.


I ran across this prayer and just wanted to share it with you. There are times when I feel my life is full of knots and this just seemed to speak to me. I think when there is something that I do not accomplish... it is usually connected to a "not". Praying for those "nots" to be removed from my life and replaced with the willingness to do, to work to do God's work to make a difference in someone else's life.

This will be an exciting week at St Jude for the teens. This is the week of the St Jude Prom. They do such an incredible job of making this event so special for the teens. Many of the teens who we have followed will be coming back to Memphis this week to be a part of prom. I am also reminded of last years prom. It was a beautiful and special night for Mallerie. She was inpatient and could not go, so with some help we brought prom to her. She was so beautiful and had such a great time that night. I can't tell you how much I miss her. I know that each one involved this year will be beautiful/handsome and that Mal will be smiling down, she will be at prom this year.

Yeah for Jack! He finally got out of the hospital! Please keep him in your prayers that his counts will recover and he will begin to feel great soon. The weather here is so beautiful, I know that he is ready to get outside and enjoy being a little boy! Pray that he will stay out of the hospital!!!

Read Rylee's CB page, she has been struggling with some problems recently and has another laser procedure on her hand coming up. Please keep her in your prayers.

Keep all of our families in our prayer! Hope your week is absolutely beautiful and full of God's grace and blessings.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone! I hope that each of you has been able to enjoy the day and spend it with those that mean the most to you. I am reminded that so many of our sweet families have gone through the day today with an empty seat in their home and a heavy heart. I have prayed for each of you today, I pray that God will help you see the beauty in this day and give you the peace that you need to face days like today. I can only think about those we are missing and wonder just how perfect the big Easter Egg Hunt in heaven must have been. I just visualize all of our St Jude angel's having a big Easter gathering together. Please keep these families in your hearts and prayers. This time last year, I had a car load of Easter baskets that I was trying to deliver at St Jude to these precious angels. What a difference a year can make.

I think this has been the longest that I have gone without posting since I began this blog page. I do apologize and I thank those of you who sent messages to check to make sure things were okay. Things have been great, just busy. As I shared with you, my oldest son Tyler had a wreck 2 weeks ago now that totaled his SUV. He was perfectly fine, I told him that God definitely had him wrapped in his arms and protected him. He did not even have a scratch on him. I have said a prayer of thanksgiving for this everyday since the accident. However, his SUV did not fair so well. As I was reminded by one of our sweet mom's... vehicles can be replaced. I had a sweet message from Mallerie's mom Tina, and it really put things into perspective for me. Thank you Tina! This past week, in between baseball games, Tyler and I hit the road and covered every dealership in a 75 mile radius and finally on Friday, the big purchase was made. Tyler is back behind a wheel now! Hopefully this week will not be as crazy.

I am including a few more pics from the birthday party for Ariel and Amber. I made all of the pics I am posting today on my Iphone so they are not that big, but maybe you can see them. Ariel's appointments here went well. She is doing really good and will be back in a few weeks for another check up. Keep praying for this chemo to rid her body of this cancer forever!


Amber and Ariel, Happy 17th Birthday! They celebrated their birthday here in Memphis at the bowling alley with a group of friends from the youth group at Great Oaks Church of Christ. They looked beautiful and had a wonderful time.


Garrett, Mardecia, Ariel, Tyler and Amber. Celebrating!!!

The Bolton Wildcat's Baseball team pitched in and put together an Easter basket for Jack. On Saturday afternoon, my son Garrett and another of his teammates also named Garrett, went down with me to The Target House to take the basket to Jack. He had the biggest and sweetest smile on his face when the boys walked in. He is such a sweet little guy. He waned to go out for a bit to play ball with the bat and ball that was a part of his basket. He played for a bit before getting tired and ready to ride his cool dude bike for a bit. After playing outside for a little, he was very kind and showed Garrett and Garrett the Shawn White room in the Target House and also the Play Room. As you can see from the pics, Jack and Garrett and Garrett all had a pretty good time cooking in the kitchen in the Play Room. It was so sweet to see those two 16 year olds playing kitchen with a precious little guy. I think Jack has these two big boys wrapped around his little finger!


Garrett C.. Jack and Garrett S. Cooking up some yummy dinner in the Kid's Kitchen in the play room at The Target House.



Garrett C, Jack and Garrett S with all of the loot the Baseball Easter Bunny brought to Jack!




Jack and his REALLY cool bike!

Jack had to go back inpatient today for a fever. Please pray for this fever to go away quickly. He is having such a difficult time having to be in the hospital so much. What little child or adult for that matter wants to spend so much time inpatient!!! Please keep him and Katie in your prayers that he will be fever free and hospital free too!!!!

Alex V was at The Jude this past week too for her check up. Everything went really well for her. Her MRI shows NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE! WOO HOO.... NO CANCER!! She does have some complications from the cancer and the chemo that she has had that is causing some problems for her, but hopefully they will find a good solution to help her with this. I only got to see her and her mom, Joan, for a really short visit. Long enough to get some good hugs and see how wonderful they both looked! Keep them in your prayers.

I don't know of any of our kiddo's that will be coming in this week for checkups. I could be wrong, but I am not aware of any.

Keep praying for all of them. I really do need to try to catch up with the new patient I shared with you... Leah. I will try to visit with them this week.

Have a great week. I heard a saying yesterday that went something like this..."In our deepest and darkest times is when we see our real faith and trust" None of us like to find ourselves in our deepest or darkest time, but it is such a comfort to know that we do have a faith and a trust along with a wonderful and powerful God that will get us through it. Keep your faith and trust. Love the Lord with all your heart. Be His child at all times. Seek to do His work, gain his favor. When you reach out and give to others, SO MUCH MORE COMES BACK TO YOU! Each morning I try to look at what is going on in my life, pray about it and put my worries and concerns in my "back pocket" then go on and about my daily business. Most days, by the end of the day... I see once again how I truly DO NOT have any real problems. I have decided there must be a hole in that "back pocket"!!!

Love to each of you!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~