Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Great News This Week!

A few quick updates...

Ariel had her check up last Friday. She had great reports, everything looked perfect! She was feeling good and looking great. When she finished up in clinic, she and her family followed me to Pickwick where we all stayed for the weekend. They were supposed to go to the beach but decided that was not the best idea considering the oil spill in the gulf. Everyone had a great time at Pickwick and they got to just get away and relax and meet some of the prayer warriors that have been praying for Ariel and their family. That is always a good thing!

Natalie had her 4 month check up on Monday, and she got another all clear, still CANCER FREE report too! She also looks great and is feeling great. She and her twin just finished up their freshman year in college and are looking forward to a fun filled summer and another fun college year in the fall.

Trevor was in and out for a check up. All is looking good for him. Today is his 17th birthday. Happy Birthday Trevor!

Jack went in for labs this morning and got the ALL CLEAR boot them out of here report!!! Much to their surprise, the doctor said he was looking so good and his counts could not have been better, so get your apartment packed up and GO HOME HOME!!! I went down and helped them out and said my "so longs" and they are now officially back at home and finished with treatment! What an amazing little boy and a true fighter! I got some cute pics from today, I'll post later.

Yesterday ^Mary Kate^ would have celebrated her 10th birthday. She is one very loved and missed little girl. Please keep Regina and Alyson in your prayers as they face very hard days like this. Pray for their peace and comfort to get through these times.

I saw Mikey today too. He came to hang out and "play" with Jack before Jack left. Mikey has his scans coming up June 1st. Please be in prayer for good results. He is really having some difficult days.

I am probably leaving something out but I can't think of anything right now. I hope and pray that your week is going well. Please keep these families and all of the other families that you follow in your prayers. Continue to pray hard for a cure for all of this.

DON'T FORGET TO GET REGISTERED FOR THE ST JUDE MARATHON COMING UP DECEMBER 4, 2010! DON'T LET TIME SLIP UP ON YOU! YOU DON'T WANT TO BE LEFT OUT. I DO NEED TO GET AN IDEA OF HOW MANY ARE COMING AND HOW MANY ROOMS I NEED TO GET RESERVED. LET ME HEAR FROM YOU SOON PLEASE.

Believe Prayer Works~

Saturday, May 15, 2010

No Mo Chemo- Jack Fought Back - No Mo Cancer!!!!

Jack and Katie both had a BIG day yesterday. Jack celebrated his NO MO CHEMO party and I must say he had the time of his life! This is one child that knows how to laugh, see the bright side and enjoy every minute of a day! Not only did HE have something to celebrate, so did his mom! Yesterday was her birthday. Can you imagine a better birthday present than having your child taking his last (prayerfully FOREVER) chemo treatment and to get to see him laugh, have an awesome time and most of all be here to give her hugs and kisses!! Jack has the silicone bracelets like so many of the St Jude patients do that say... "Jack Fights Back". Of course they are John Deere yellow and green!! I read his bracelet when I look down at my arm and now I say... "Jack Fought Back, and HE IS A WINNER"!!!! Thank you Lord for the beautiful day that you gave to Jack, his family and his medical staff at St Jude. They were all so happy and proud for Jack yesterday. I LOVE No Mo Chemo parties! Katie's camera broke at Jack's first one, she had made the comment that they needed to do it again so she could have pictures, well not really what she wanted... but Jack did have another one after his relapse and there were multiple camera's there to make sure they got pictures, this will hopefully and prayerfully be the last one! Please pray for Jack to remain CANCER FREE for the rest of his long life. What a testimony to God's healing power. Maybe you can get an idea of how happy everyone was yesterday by looking at some of the pics! I told you that I had a surprise, I had been to the bakery and had a birthday cake ordered for Katie and a No Mo Chemo cake made for Jack! Jack's reaction to the cakes and the joy and mess they brought to him was absolutely PRICELESS!!!



Katie, Mardecia & Jack. Jack was just as proud of Katie's cake as he was his. I told him while he was finishing up his last bit of chemo that I had a secret. I ask him if I told him, could he keep it a secret. He said with his big brown eye's just popping, "YES". So, I whispered in his ear that I had a birthday cake for him to give his momma. He got this HUGE smile on his face and whispered..."it's our secret". In about 3 minutes after that, Jack looked at me with those same big eyes and ask "where the cake?" LOL So much for him keeping a secret!!!


Jack & Mardecia holding a giant poster picture of Jack with "his boys" the baseball team from Bolton High School. This picture was taken on the teams visit/tour to St Jude where they had the honor to meet Jack. They took pictures and gave Jack a baseball signed by all of the players. They all had a big day. The baseball team requested for a poster picture of that shot to hang in their locker room and we hung one down on the ticket booth at the gate on our field as well. I took Jack a copy of it to his party. He was so proud of it.


Jack's cake


The song and the confetti! This is just such a huge deal to these kids and their families. At first Jack seemed a little concerned about the mess being made on the floor, but that concern was very short lived... he thought it was hilarious!


This was a PRICELESS Kodak moment!! Jack did not know about his cake, when we brought it in and handed it to him, he looked up at me with those great big eyes and ask "can I eat it?" his mom replied "You can do anything you want to do today" with those words being spoken, a big sparkle came into his eyes and before anyone realized what was about to happen, Jack leaned over and took a huge bite out of his cake!!!! This was just totally precious! That boy can really bring on the laughter.


All done with Chemo, this is Jack's chemo nurse detaching his line and flushing his port for the final time!!! Jack helped with the flush... so cute!


Happy Jack and Birthday Mom with both of their cakes. Smiles and cake for everyone.





Big Trevor is really having a hard time right now. He is still inpatient in the affiliate in Baton Rouge, but he will be transferring to Memphis on Monday. He is having some skin problems that they are trying to get a handle on. He is very uncomfortable and now being treated like he has radiation burn. Keep him in your prayers and pray that they can find the source of this and he will be able to treat it and get out that that hospital!

Ariel comes for her check up this week. I am not sure yet what day they are coming, but I think it may be tomorrow. Pray for their safe travel and for a good check up for her. School is getting out soon for her and Amber, so some of the stress will be lifted and hopefully they can enjoy a great summer! I'll let you know how her appointment goes later.

That's about it for now. I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend. Don't forget... TEAM BELIEVE is now open for registration for the St Jude Memphis Marathon, half marathon and 5K! Come and join us!

www.stjudemarathon.org

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow...

I want to give you a quick update on a few prayer request. I'll fill in more as soon as I can.

Update - Part II
I have another WONDERFUL prayer of praise and prayer request to share with you that I did not find out about until after I had posted this last night.
For those of you who followed my friend Angie who was pregnant with a Trisomny 18 baby back during the time we were following Ethan this update is for you. As you remember, Angie delivered ^Poppy Joy^ the morning of the marathon while we were out running/walking. ^Poppy Joy^ left this earth and went "home" by the time we had finished up that morning. I have shared Angie's book that she has written about her experience with this journey with many of you as well as many of the St Jude mom's that I adopted. Angie and her family are a true example of trust and faith in our Lord. I am so excited to share with you that yesterday she heard the heartbeat of a new little baby that will be born in December. God is so AWESOME! Please keep them in your prayers, pray for a great pregnancy and that this baby will be born healthy. Many of you met Angie, her husband and her two girls last year at our marathon dinner. She ran as a Team Believe member last year, but looks like running this year is just not in the picture! We'll give her this year off :)




First of all, a huge prayer of thanks and praise for Jordan. Jordan came in this week for a check up with neurology because they took him off of his very last medication while he was here back in early February. That med was for seizures, and thankfully he is showing no signs whatsoever of any seizures. That is a wonderful thing, therefore he will continue to remain medication free!! The picture is Jordan with Dr. Scott. I know that you all remember me talking about Dr Scott so much back when Jordan was here and going through transplant. This visit will be the last time that Dr. Scott will see Jordan as his doctor. Dr Scott will be leaving sometime around the first of July to move to Pennsylvania to begin his career there. He was a fellow while here at St Jude and fellows come and do a three year rotation with the option of signing on for an extra year. He and his wife have opted to move back closer to home so he will be leaving St Jude. This is a very sad thing for many around the Jude. He is a brilliant doctor and one of the best when it comes to "bedside manners". The kids love him and the families love him. If you do not know the story... Dr Scott's very first shift on duty at St Jude was the night that Jordan was brought in to ICU at the Jude. A little trip down memory lane.... Ethan was in ICU. Jordan was born on July 3rd and he was brought into ICU on July 4th. As I said this was Dr. Scott's first day at St Jude. I got a call from Ben that he had just met a young girl with a newborn in ICU and the mom who had just delivered the baby the night before by C-Section was being told that her baby most likely would not survive through the weekend. This was on a Friday. Looking back now almost 3 years later, how blessed Jordan and Chance were that Dr. Scott was on duty. I get so tickled listening to him tell the story of that night. Jordan and Dr. Scott will forever have a bond. Dr Scott told me at the time this picture was made on Monday, that he had better get an invitation to Jordan's kindergarten graduation, High School graduation, College graduation and his wedding!!! He may just end up being the best doctor man at his wedding!! Jordan has no clue right now about the major role Dr Scott has played in his life, but in the future HE WILL DEFINITELY KNOW. With a little prompting from yours truly... he did tell Dr. Scott "thank you for saving my life" during our visit on Monday. I think I may have spotted a little water in the good doc's eyes :)
We love Dr. Scott and St Jude will miss him greatly! I may have him convinced to come back in December for the marathon! It's okay to say a little prayer for that to happen!

Next... big Trevor is inpatient at the Baton Rouge affiliate of St Jude with a fever. He has been running some pretty high fevers since Saturday night and they have not yet been able to pin point the source of these fevers. Please keep him in your prayers that one) the fevers will go away and two) that they will find the source of these fevers. At this time he is being treated in Baton Rouge but I guess there is a possibility that if this continues they may bring him back to Memphis.

Next... tomorrow is a BIG day for Jack. In the morning he will be having his VERY LAST CHEMO TREATMENT!!!! PLEASE BE PRAYING THAT THIS IS THE VERY LAST CHEMO THAT HIS PRECIOUS LITTLE BODY WILL EVER HAVE TO ENDURE!! That means tomorrow there will be one big celebration with a NO MO CHEMO party!!!! Shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I have a little surprise for him :) I'll tell you later! For those of you who know me, you know I LOVE surprises!!!! Tomorrow is a very happy day for Jack and his family, but it also comes with a bitter sweet. Leaving and going home can be a very nervous time. Pray for their peace as they go home and begin to live a cancer free life. Pray for them to be able to enjoy being home and not have that constant thought in the back of their minds about the "what if's". This is a normal thing, it's so hard to get past. Our prayer is that Jack will be CANCER FREE for many years and if I calculate it right he and Jordan should graduate high school one year apart!! I'll should be able to make it to both graduations!

This ended up being longer than I anticipated when I first sat down to type. I will give you more details in a later post as soon as I can.

Don't forget, the marathon registration is now open and it is predicted that it will fill up much sooner than even last year. There has already been a record number of people already registered for this early in the registration process. To join our team, simply go to www.stjudemarathon.org select which run you want to participate in for the December 4, 2010 Memphis Marathon. When it ask if you want to be a HERO, click on "yes" and then when it ask what team... type in TEAM BELIEVE. That's it!! If you have any questions or problems, you can leave a comment at the bottom of this post and I will try to answer it for you. Just a reminder, this year we are running in honor of Jordan. Let's show a huge appreciation to St Jude for the work they do by raising a record amount of money this year!

I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

Psalm 52:9



BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Happy Mothers Day



One mother and grandmother who have every reason to celebrate mothers day, Jordan's mom Chancelly and grandmother Patricia. This photo is of the front cover of the St Jude Promise magazine that I received in the mail today... our very own Jordan (whom Team Believe will be running for this year) is the feature patient for this issue. If you receive this magazine, make sure you read the article about Jordan and his experience. They did an excellent job of explaining his exact diagnosis and treatment. It's a great article along with some great pictures.

I want to wish each of the very special mothers who come to this blog a very HAPPY MOTHERS DAY. For those of you who I know personally, each of you are wonderful and incredible mothers. I say a special prayer for those wonderful mothers who have special angels in heaven that they were honored to be their mom while they were here on earth. I have had the most wonderful weekend with a few of those special moms. ^Mary Kate's^ mom and sister (Regina and Alyson), ^Dax's^ mom (Julie) and ^Elizabeth's^ mom (Michelle) have all been in town this weekend. It was under very sad circumstances. Beverly, one of the wonderful nurses from St Jude passed away this past week, the services to celebrate her life were held Friday morning. I do want to ask you to pray for this family. Beverly was a very special nurse at St Jude. At the age of 15, she was diagnosed with cancer and became a patient at St Jude. After being treated and being pronounced CANCER FREE, she went on to graduate from high school, college and then nursing school and went to work at St Jude as a nurse. Last year, she was once again diagnosed with cancer, this time breast cancer. At the age of 30, she leaves a husband, a three year old daughter and a 15 month old son. She worked in the Medicine Room up until becoming to sick to work any longer. Please keep this family and all of the St Jude family in your prayers. It was very heart warming to see the St Jude staff who came to show their love and support to this family. When you see families traveling to come back to Memphis just to be here for this family, it tells you just how special she was to the families of her patients.

I have been blessed to share this Mothers Day weekend with Michelle, Regina and Julie. It was so nice to be together again and talk about so many memories about the special children that each were blessed to be mom to. Each had some places that they wanted to go to, (stores, restaurants, etc) so we hit the road and tried to get to each one. I think we did more eating than anything beside talking. I am very grateful for the time we had together. We even spent the day today at ^Elizabeth's^ bubba's track meet! That was my first experience at a track meet, it was alot of fun. The weather could not have been more perfect. A beautiful sunny day, not hot and not cold just perfect. At the end of the afternoon, there were some very pink noses and cheeks but some great laughs, hugs and special memories made. It probably goes without saying, we ended up the day having dinner at the Wolfchase Chilis!!! Thank you to our special Chili's who supports the families and St Jude in a tremendous way. Again, I will ask you to support your local Chili's anytime you can and if you find yourself in Memphis please support the one at Wolfchase. Hummmm, just a thought, why not go to Chili's tomorrow to celebrate Mothers Day :)

To recap this past week, little Trevor was here this week for his check up and treatment. They had some extra time this trip, so we were able to get to Wolfchase Chili's for dinner one night and then Melinda and Trevor came out to our house for a cookout along with Michelle, Charlie and Andrew Dunford and Regina Rushing. Mr Charles cooked up some good burgers and hotdogs and we did what we do best.... eat!!! Little Trevor had a good check up and his chemo went smoothly. He will be back in a couple of weeks.

Big Trevor was at St Jude for his surgery this week. Everything went well and he was back home on Friday. Pray for this surgery to be successful and for Trevor to be relieved from the pain he suffers.

Jack did really well recovering from his last treatment. Well enough that he got to go home-home for the week and will be returning to Memphis tomorrow (today now, I just noticed the time). He will have his last treatment coming up, please be praying for it to be successful and for him to tolerate it as well as this last one. Pray for his next set of scans and test to show that he remains CANCER FREE.

Jordan will be coming in on Monday for a check up with the Neurologist. He was taken off of the last medication that he was on which was an anti seizure medication during his last check up. They want to bring him in just for a check up to make sure all is well without this medication. If he is doing great, he will be medication free along with being CANCER FREE!!!! This will be a quick trip, in around noon, appointment around 2:30, then back to the airport for a flight back home around 7 pm. It will be a quick and busy day for them. Pray for a good report and a safe flight.

Okay, it's 12:19 pm and I am ready for bed. For all of the mom's, enjoy your day with your family. For any dad's, treat the mom in your life like the queen that she is. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Monday, May 3, 2010

A Prayer Request...

Good morning, I hope each of you have had a nice but most importantly a safe weekend. Our area has not had the best of weekends as far as the weather is concerned but the sun is shining now and God is with us. I do want to ask for your prayers on a different behalf today. Please be in prayer for all of the Flood victims in the Memphis, Nashville and entire North Mississippi and West Tennessee area. The sever weather began in Memphis on Friday evening. After a night of tornado sirens going off all night long we were awaken on Saturday morning to floods like this area has NEVER seen. The tornado sirens continued to go off most of the day on Saturday and again most of the night Saturday night. We were blessed in the Memphis area to not have any tornados touch down but this entire area has sustained tremendous flooding. We still have roads closed, schools in some areas closed and water still standing in many area. There has been loss of life from these storms, please pray for those families. The Nashville, TN area has sustained much the same flooding that Memphis and all areas in between have. We have several TEAM BELIEVE members and prayer warriors in that area also. Please keep everyone in the path of this storm covered in prayer for safety and minimal damage to their homes and property. I do realize that home and property are just items, and each can be replaced. I am so thankful that everyone involved with this group is safe and as far as I can tell has not had any major damage. Thank you God for bringing us through yet another storm in our lives. I have posted some pictures that I took from my driveway and front porch of what we could see from our home on Saturday morning. We were all fine, no water got into our house but 3 of the 6 right here around me were not so fortunate. I would like to ask you for special prayers also for the Taube family. They are two houses down from me, their home had about a foot of water inside the entire house. That in itself is awful, but Mrs. Taube is home on hospice in her final days of her battle with cancer. Fortunately for them, many of their family members have been here with them the past couple of weeks to help out so they have had help. This is a great burden for them to have to deal with at this time. Please keep them covered in your prayers.

As I am typing the local news is on... they just announced that in areas (mine for one) the water is still rising in the creeks which are already over their banks and spilling out. Also, they just said at this time there have been 17 deaths due to this storm. Prayers!!!




Front yard... our road is out there just on the other side of those big trees and between the "lake" on the other side of the road. That "lake" is the yard for our neighbors across the road.


This is the road out in front of our house. This car tried to go through and at one point the girl driving it was sitting on top of her car waiting for someone to come and rescue her. She was able to get out and someone was able to get her. Another car on down the road a little bit had another girl trapped in it and our firetruck from our little fire station right down from us was swept off the road and flipped over on it's side trying to get to the trapped girl. The firemen were able to get out and on top of the floating firetruck where they waited for over an hour for a small boat to get to them to rescue them. I NEVER knew a huge firetruck could FLOAT!!! Each of the people involved were safe. The county was able to get another truck out to our little station by the next afternoon.


One big "lake" from our yard across to our neighbor's yard and small pond with the gazebo. Can you figure out where the small pond really is??? That's like Where's Waldo??



Can you find the driveway?

Several of our special St Jude families live in the path of this storm and have had sever flooding in their area also. Please pray for them. I have talked to the Craven's and they are all okay. Mallerie's family, Brad, Tina & Heath as well as Garrett Hearn's family are all in the same town as the Cravens. I will check on them today.

I chatted through text msg with Katie Bruce about 5 am on Saturday morning. The families at Target house had been awaken about 3 times during the night to move to the basement during the tornado warnings. They were quite worn out by morning but thankfully the people there at the Target house go to great lengths to protect the families there. I think the kids thought that was a very exciting night. Jack has had a very good weekend. He has tolerated his next to last treatment very well. Thank you Lord for this. He has ended up in the hospital after each of the other treatments but not this time!! YEAH JACK!! He has one more FINAL treatment to go before getting to go home CANCER FREE! Please keep him in your prayers.

Big Trevor will be coming in to St Jude today for his surgery this week. Please keep him in prayer for a successful surgery.

Don't forget, be making your plans to get registered for TEAM BELIEVE for the St Jude Memphis Marathon. If you are registering and joining us for the first time, to join our team, you need to sign us as a HERO on the registration form and when it ask for team name, simply type in TEAM BELIEVE. It's very easy!!! I am already getting SO excited and many of our team members have already registered!!! Let's make this year another record year for us in our fundraising!

Stay safe, have a great week. I will leave you today with two scriptures to take with you as you face this week.

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified... for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:6


BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~