Hokie Celebration and Hoops

I feel like Christmas break is going soooo fast. I miss my little preschoolers but we are enjoying laid back family life.  Kyle's birthday was several weeks ago and it was the same day as the big preschool christmas production.  For his birthday he wanted several of his buddies to come over and watch the Hokie bowl game with him.

David got to the party just a few minutes past kick-off and jumped right in with the boys. 

This was a great group of boys and they were so kind to Hope and David.  I cooked mozarella cheese sticks, pigs in a blanket, ordered pizza, and had a cookie cake made for the big event.  The boys hung out in our basement and cheered on the Hokies and it was wild when Hokies won in overtime! 

Hope is coming out of her shyness because she was all involved in "da boys" and the party.  She stayed downstairs and hung out with them:)

This morning Kyle had a basketball scrimmage so we were excited to go cheer on our Hornets.  We love our AAU basketball family and because of the holidays we have not seen them.  David wore his Hornets jersey, his new Jordans, and his Under Armor headband to look like his hero, Lebron James:) 

Christmas break gives lots of opportunity for snuggles.  These two mostly are so sweet together. 

For the party I made each boy a cup with their name on it.  When you get to be 11 no longer can you do a goody bag as a thank you for coming with playgdough and stickers in it.  I used my cricut and vinyl and made each boy a cup to use for the party and then they could take it home.  Hope insisted to have a cup but she wanted hers to be "girl colors." 

The party wore these two sweeties out:) 

I am so thankful for the great group of boys that Kyle hangs out with.  Mike and I really enjoyed spending time with those boys and they made us laugh.  Teh boys decided that the Hokies did not do well when I was in the room so they sent me to my room to watch the game:) 

Clinic and Hokies

This morning Mike and David left before sunrise to head to UVA for our monthly clinic visit.  Blood pressure, weight, and other vitals were great and where they should be.  Poor pumpkin had to go through an EKG which he hates.  There is no rationalizing with him-he hates those blasted stickers and he does NOT want them on him.  Sigh.  We do not have the EKG results yet.  It is vital to keep an eye of his heart functioning because of all the radiation and chemo he has had.  I really hate cancer.

His lab work came back good except for that blasted Creatinine.  Last month it was perfect at .7 and sadly just four weeks later today it had spiked to .9 which means that his potassium and BUN number are out of whack.  This is very concerning to us and they thought about giving him a bolus of fluid but the kidney team was consulted and they said to hydrate him at home and if we want to recheck labs in a week or so.  Despite our best efforts over the holiday he probably has not gotten his 60 ounces each day and between that and his sickness two weeks ago the kidney doctor is not too concerned. 

We did not get tragic news today but I just like leaving there with all great news.  That kidney function is as crucial as relapse in terms of his overall health and survival.  I spend as much time praying about his kidney as I do relapse.  Poor pumpkin.

David napped on the way home and he is excited to be hanging with Kyle and some of his buddies who are over to watch the Hokie bowl game with him.  Kyle's buddies are so awesome and inclusive to David and he is loving hanging with the big boys.  My heart overflows for what David has had to endure because cancer entered his life.  David; however, maintains a smile and a praise on his lips regardless of his circumstances.  I could learn a  lot from David Robinson.  Go Hokies!

Christmas Hangover

We have thoroughly enjoyed christmas break.  It is truly the most together family time we have all year and even though we have not had huge plans, we have enjoyed being together and trying to get our house under control.  It is so obvious that we have been in an alternate universe the last year or so because our house may look neat and orderly on the surface but open one closet or cabinet and you will see it is truly a wreck.  The last year of our life we have packed, unpacked, and our children have been blessed by new things over the last year. We are finally able to take some time and get rid of stuff they have outgrown, organize, and catch up. 

Mike and David head to UVA tomorrow for his December checkup.  I dread the lab draw for him, but the staff there is always so wonderful that it is fun to see all of our friends there and catch up.  I wonder when I will stop getting nervous everytime we head down the interstate for UVA???  We appreciate your prayers that tomorrow's checkup is stress-free for David and that we get good news.  He has not been drinking great the last year days so I pray for that darn Creatinine level for his kidney function. 

Tomorrow I am staying home because I am trying to get this house ready for some of Kyle's buddies to come over tomorrow night to watch the VT bowl game with him.  This is what he wanted for his birthday this year and he has invited several buddies over and he has planned the menu of junk food of goodies to eat while they cheer on the Hokies. 

I will update tomorrow after his clinic visit.  We are so thankful that you continue to hold us in prayer as we navigate our post-treatment life.  I will admit that it has been harder than I thought to finish treatment. I thought it would be this big celebration, and though we are thankful he successfully completed his regimen, it is very scary. 

Happy organizing and cleaning day!

Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012 has been laid back, filled with good food and family, and simply wonderful.  My pictures are totally out of order, but here are pictures from our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

This was taken this morning after princess opened up her Minnie Mouse dress, headband, and sunglasses. 

My boys are big Miami Heat fans, so David wanted a Lebron James hersey and Kyle wanted a Dwayne Wade jersey.  They are so excited to wear them in April when they get to watch the heat play the Charlotte Bobcats in Charlotte!!  Woot Woot!  Thank you Barbara for giving my boys a fun night to look forward to in April:)

Not only did David get his jersey he wanted, but he also got his Air Jordan shoes.  He is so happy with his shoes and new jersey:)

On Christmas Eve Day we head to Radford to my parents house to gather with my side of the family.  We usually stay in  RAdford until it is time to hit the road to get home to Marion for church at 7.  Hope got this new baby and she is pretty big!  Kyle thinks this baby is weird looking and is quite freaked out by it.  Hope and David have had fun tormenting Kyle with this new baby! 

David gets SOOO excited about every gift and here he is modeling his new hat from Uncle Chad and Net Net.  David makes christmas fun because he says "holy moly" for every present.  I think he could open a lump of coal and still get excited and sayd "holy moly!" 

This morning David found a spy kit under the tree.  He loves the show NCIS and with his new walkie talkies from Matt and Ashley and his new spy kit stuff he definitely looks the part:)

Kyle was thrilled with this signed Tim Tebow picture that he found under the tree as well as his new mens sized mountain bike to ride on the golf course. 

We arrived at my Mom's super early to help out because the day before Christmas Eve my mom spent the entire afternoon after church in the ER with my grandma who has superficial blood clots in her leg.  Thankfully she was treated and released.  Christmas Eve morning at 11:30 my Dad had an appointment with his oncologist.  A previous CT showed "spots" on his liver, pancreas, and lung and needless to say we were all worried due to his leukemia and past thyroid cancer.  We had gotten ourselves pretty worked up over these spots and blessedly his oncologist was not concerned about them and called them granulomas.  We all breathed a sigh of relief and smiled a little bigger on Christmas Eve. 

My Mom got all four grandsons a new shirt and tie and as you can see our David loved it. 

Me with all three of my sweet babies.  David loves his new tie from Oma and Bob and not only wore it to church on Sunday but also wore it christmas eve:)

My parents got each family a cornhole game and my boys are so excited!!  I love sweet David's face peeking out from it:) 

This christmas has been wonderful with very little running around but with lots of quality family time.  On Christmas Day we do not leave the house and my parents and grandmother come to visit us and spend the day playing with the kids with their new toys.  It is a laid back pj kind of day and I love it.  Merry christmas dear blog readers-thank you for reading about our family and keeping us in your prayers.  Merry Christmas!

What a Difference

What a complete difference a year makes.  This morning during church I got so overcome in thanksgiving to our God.  This time last year...

this is how little my babies were.  David was starting to lose his hair from the chemo and we were facing 30ish additional chemo treatments.  We had only been home a few weeks from the hospital from his initial surgery and we were just happy to be home.  We also knew that right after New Years we were facing a huge scan to see if his body was responding to the chemo. 

Amazingly by God's abundant grace, mercy and love we are here in 2012.  Quite honestly there were several times during the last year  we wondered if David would still be with us this Christmas.  I am overcome with gratitude that not only is he here but he is healthy, just had a clean scan a month ago, and he has a beautiful new blonde hairdo.  I am typing through tears right now, but we are so thankful and feel so blessed. 

I am not sure why these two love to slow dance, but they do and I captured it this morning. David is sporting his new tie from Oma and Bob and Hope is wearing one of her many christmas dresses.  These two really are the best of friends. 

This Christmas I am thankful.  Thankful that there will be three stocking hanging this year, thankful that David got a wonderful report a few weeks ago, and thankful to this wonderful life that God has blessed us with.  I love David's new hair but you have to now look closely under his shirt to see the scars that prove what he has been through.  The scary month of June where he battled infection after infection and we watched helplessly as  his stats were all over the place on his monitor are becoming a distant memory.

I pray; however, that the scary awful battle scars fade but that the memory of God's faithful presence in our lives never fades.  I pray that we never forget how he ministered to us during the darkest days of our lives and that all five of us will now go spread his love because of how faithful he was to us.  Praise his name-Emmanuel!!  We wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas as we all celebrate that little baby that came to change us all forever. 

I Heart Christmas Break

I love Christmas break.  It is the only time in the whole year that we are all off together.  Mike has to work a few days here and there and he enjoys using this time of year to catch up at work when it is quiet in his office.  We are blessed; however, with time to be together and catching up around the house. 

The first morning of Christmas break Kyle and I were heading to the wellness center for his swim practice and I was going to walk and listen to a Podcast of a sermon series that I am enjoying.  We both commented how beautiful the sunrise was that morning driving to the gym. 

The first day full day of christmas break all five of us headed to church to serve at the food pantry. One day each month FUMC gives out food boxes to the community.  It is a huge operation and we are so blessed to have it.  Mike loaded boxes on the carts, Hope and Kyle pushed these carts and helped load them into their cars.  Kyle and Hope worked tirelessly for three hours giving out boxes.

This little girls' new name is the food pantry queen!  She loves her rolling cart and really is awesome at rolling it around to load up each person's allotment of food.  She cried when the boxes were all given out and it ws time to leave. 

Mrs. Sylvia gave her a ride on one of the carts when she was tired:)  Sadly the boxes of food were all given out when there was still a line, but in less than three hours 280 boxes of food were distributed as well as a Walmart reusable bag with a ham and full christmas dinner inside.  Mr. Norman does a wonderful job organizing the food pantry and keeping it stocked for our neighbors in our community. 

One of the things that we often do not have time for during the year is sleepovers and playdates.  One night of break Kyle was allowed to invite three of his good friends from his AAU basketball team over for a sleepover.  David and Hope enjoyed the boys being here and for breakfast Mike made them chocolate chip pancakes.  I think four boys age 11 giggle more than a bunch of teenage girls!  We enjoyed having them over.

Last night we headed to Bristol to finish up our christmas to do list.  As a treat for the kids we rode through Speedway in Lights at the Bristol Motor Speedway.  We have never done it (gasp!) and Hope and David loved all the amazing lights, but Kyle and Mike enjoyed driving on the actual race track.  Fun, family time for sure!!

We are in prayer; however, for our friends the Pughs.  Misty works with me at the preschool and we are family friends.  They got home from Disney Wednesday night and Thursday morning they took their son Jack to the doctor for some symtpoms that concerned them during their vacation.  Their pediatrician sent them to Winston Salem to the children's hospital for an inpatient stay due to a diagnosis of juvenile diabetes.  We know that they have God on their side and they are a wonderful christian family with lots of support, but this diagnosis is a life changing one and we pray for them as they learn about their new liftstyle. 

Today is another day of resting, catching up around the house and getting ready to celebrate christmas with family! 

Emmanuel-Christmas Festivities

Christmas festivities are in full swing this week in our household. This morning I was stressed about getting my "to do" list done and then I stopped.  This time last year I would have killed to have had a "normal and busy" week of fun Christmas festivities.  Cancer once again put me in my place.  This week at Hope's preschool christmas party my dear friend, Brandi captured this amazing picture of our girl.  I gasped when I saw it because it is so her.  Thank you Brandi!

Despite the fun of the week with all the festivities we had our first scare about David's health.  Monday when I picked him up from school he was crying for his Daddy.  All he could say to me was "Daddy is my favorite guy."  We swung by Daddy's office and got some loving on the way home and I just figured he was tired and missing Daddy.  A couple hours later we realized that he felt warm and he got pale and his eyes turned red and puffy.  Poor pumpkin felt terrible.  He was pretty pitiful looking:(

Our first gut instinct was to call UVA.  Then we realized that he is no long "on treatment" and fevers do not mean the same thing that they did 6 months ago.  We are surprised at how sticky this transition has been going from being totally involved with the oncology team at UVA back to his local provider.  In some ways we feel that the apron strings have been cut from our respected and beloved oncology team at UVA.  We are thrilled we are in this stage of his cancer treatment, but we feel at loose ends.  God has guided us and we feel blessed that we are where we are.

David has perked up considerably this week and he was able to sneak into school for a few hours today to enjoy his class Christmas party. 

Here he is with his teacher, Mr. Hoffman opening his gift exchange gift.  This picture really shows how MUCH hair this boy has!!

Cute girl enjoyed both of her preschool parties this week.  Santa came to visit and though she did not sit on his lap, she did not wail and scream either:)  She had me whisper in his ear what she wants for Christmas.  Here she is with her swimming buddy, Macy.

David is obsessed with my camera. Today during his school party he grabbed my camera and starting taking pictures.  Usually he only gets random body parts but this picture of me kissing Hope made me smile.  It is random and a little too close-up of my wrinkles but it makes me smile that she is giggling so hard. 

Brandi (who also took the beautiful picture of Hope above) made me this sign for my house.  I love it so much and I know it has a "christmasy" saying on it but I think it will remain in that spot forever.  We are blessed with a wonderful life because of our Jesus and each other. 

Another cute picture of Hope and her little friend, Brady at the preschool party.  Hope was quite mad this morning when she realized that preschool was closed today.  She was convinced that her "fwiends" were at "pweschool" and we were missing the action. 

One of the activities that we took to both boys' classes for their parties was this great find off of pinterest.  Instead of messy gingerbread houses that tend to crumble we provided the kids sugar cones and let them decorate them with green icing, sprinkles and M&M's.  I am such a dork for fun holiday activities.  From my preschoolers up to Kyle's fifth grade class this activity was a hit.

David and  Kelsey at their class party.

David and his other teacher, Mr. Nutter.

David and his sweet friend, Garrett.

Tonight our town hosted a prayer vigil for the Connecticut shooting.  It was beautifully done on the steps of town hall.  They even prayed for our school leaders and faculties.  It was so touching and beautiful.  After the vigil the local news station (WCYB) asked me for an interview.  I did not have any lipstick on and was too nervous so I sent the reporter Mike's way.  He was so thrilled that I did that:) Ha!

A candle for each of the victims.  Tonight a local pastor said something about Jesus' birth that I had not thought about.  We all picture that nativity scene as so beautiful and perfect.  We forget that barns are often dirty and smelly and not the most sterile environment.  Just like now we are all wondering how someone can plot evil against children, but when Jesus was born that is exactly what King Herod was doing.  He was ordering that all babies and toddlers be killed out of insecurity for his throne.  King Herod was not going into schools with a gun, but innocent lives were being cut way too short.

Despite the darkness we know that God is our hope and our light.  Tragedies never make sense to us and they break our hearts, but our God can take this tragedy, just like he took our cancer diagnosis, and bring beauty from the ashes.  Emmanuel-God is truly always with us.   

Emotions

Tonight after a wonderful and busy weekend my emotions are all over the place.  Like you, my heart grieves for those sweet angels shot at school on Friday and their school staff who were true heroes.  Sadly cancer has come into our family and taken our innocence away.  Cancer snuck quietly into our lives but for these dear parents in Connecticutt, the evil bombarded in and took their babies. 

Cancer has given us a new perspective on life that I am thankful for.  This weekend has reaffirmed my belief that no moment should be taken for granted with our families.  We never know when the diagnosis, gunman, car accident, etc.. can happen to us and alter our lives forever.  We must cling to our loved ones and our Jesus, and make every moment here count for Him.  As we heard in church today we must choose to love radically as Jesus loves us. 

Tonight I am also overcome in thanksgiving about our David.  A friend reminded me today that this time last year David's hair was starting to fall out in chunks.  It was heart-breaking as a parent to clean up his beautiful red hair off of his pillow each morning and today I am thankful for the thick hair that he has.  What a difference a year makes and I am forever grateful that our David is here with us and survived chemo and radiation. 

Mike's father's death two months ago has also radically changed our extended family.  This story that only God could have written is amazing and it was not until we were all gathered in Arkansas for the funeral did we as an extended family realize that God has done an amazing work in Mike and his brother Daniel's life.  It is a story I will share another day but it has tendered me to the heart of our God.  He is simply amazing. 

I am also concerned about my Dad, Pops.  He has been diagnosed in the last few years with chronic leukemia.  He has also had surgery on his thyroid for thyroid cancer, and he has had patches of melanoma.  Tomorrow he will undergo a biopsy on a nodule in his neck that has caused hoarseness.  His oncologist wants to determine what these nodules are and if he will need treatment.  Of course our family is hyper sensitive to words such as "nodules" because of our David, but we are trusting God and we know that he has Pops in the palm of his hand. 

Tonight I am sad over the events in Connecticut, thankul for the amazing work that God has done in our family, and prayerful about Pop's surgery tomorrow.  I know that our God loves us and that this time of year we celebrate that He is our Emmanuel.  Thank you Lord that you are our Emmanuel-God with us today and everyday.

Phone Dump

I decided to dump some pictures off of my iphone today and I found some gems that I had forgotten about!

My grandmother was just recently released from the hospital due to asthma attacks.  She was in the hospital for well over a week and she is now home at my parents house.  On our way home from UVA we stopped by to see her and David climbed up in bed with her and I captured this sweet moment. 

We are in the holiday spirit around this household and this week David, hope and I decided to try our hand at some gingerbread cookies.  We had such fun and the house smelled wonderful.

My little decorator loved making them because we had just read the gingerbread boy book at preschool.  This little girl is over the moon excited about christmas.  It is so fun to have a three year old in the house at christmas.  She did throw a temper fit over getting her hair cut today which is another story for another day:(

These two girls make me laugh.  Here is Hope with her friend Sydney.  Sydney's mom, Misty and I work together and at least one day/week after preschool we got out for lunch.  These girls are so cute together and are obsessed with singing the blessing loudly wherever we go.  Here I captured there serious praying faces:)

Hope loves her new owl hat she got this week!  It is so cute:)

I found this picture from our last day at UVA when we last went for his scan. This is his doctor Dr. Belyea and we really trust and respect him a lot.  When he checks out David, David always has to have a stethoscope to listen to Dr. Belyea:)  Such a cute picture. 

 

We are on the homestretch to Christmas break around our house.  We are getting organized and ready for christmas and trying to remember the real reason for the season:) 

Happy 11th

Dear Sweet Kyle,

How can it be that you are 11 today? 

It just seems like yesterday you were born at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville.  You were our first born and we were so excited to be parents when you came along.  Your Daddy was thrilled the afternoon of your birth to snuggle in the hospital bed in our room and watch the  Steelers with you:)

I am so proud of the young man you are.  I get so excited thinking of the awesome plans that God has in store for you.  Stay faithful to God son because He knows the plans that He has for you.  I am overcome thinking that the last 11 years have gone to fast and now we are on the verge of the teenage years and all the drama that will bring.  I love watching you play basketball and baseball and seeing how God has blessed you with the calm and quiet gene that you did not inherit from your mother.  You are your father's son in many, many ways and I am so thankful that you have such an awesome role model in him to look up to. 

I am also so proud of the maturity that you have shown over the last year.  IT breaks my heart how many times we missed big events in your life to be with David at the hospital.  You handled those things better than I often did and I will never forget how kind, compassionate, and loving you were to your brother throughout his treatment.  Not many could have handled what you have handled with the grace that you have shown.

So, here is to another amazing year of following your dreams and following God.  Stay true to Him and just know wherever life takes you over the next year, your Daddy and I will be there pushing you and cheering you on.  Thank you for being you and may God bless you today on your birthday and all year through. 

Love,

Mom

p.s. lets try to pick up a few more books to read on your own this year without us having to make you-ok? 

p.s.s a few more vegetables would probably be a good idea too!

Emmanuel

I love Advent.  I love teaching my children and my preschoolers about Jesus' birth and we are super excited to have a Happy Birthday Jesus party at preschool very soon.  I love Santa and I am cool with that Elf on a Shelf thing, but reading Nativity Stories with children and talking about sweet baby Jesus gives me cold chills.

 Maybe because I love babies so much, but I love the story of our Savior coming to Earth as a sweet newborn.  Just picturing him so sweet in that manger gets me every time.  I also love christmas songs and this one below by Chris Tomlin is my song of the week. 



Emmanuel.  God With Us.  I remember clinging to that word this time last year as David began chemo treatments.  God has proven to us how faithful and "with us" he truly is and this song is so special to me.  This past Sunday I was listening to this song getting ready for church and then lo and behold the praise band at church rocked this song. 

A year later I still love the idea that God is our Emmanuel and that he is always with us.   I feel his presence each and everyday.  The past few weeks have been busy and intense but regardless of whether we are here at home or at UVA we know that our Emmanuel is faithful and is always with us. 

My prayer this advent season is to remember that our Emmanuel is so faithful to us that I need to be faithful in return.  I get so stressed this time of year making sure that everything is done on my "to do" list that I sometimes miss the forest for the trees. Tonight while making dinner I spilled an entire cup of milk.  Instead of calmly cleaning it up I lost my cool and in front of my children.  I tend to lose my cool when I am focusing on the superficial and silliness instead of keeping my eyes on Jesus. 

Emmanuel.  I pray that that word is as significant to you this advent season as it is to me. 

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel-which means God with us

Matthew 1:23

Awesome Day

Whew!  Yesterday we had a full yet wonderful day!  Mike and Kyle were in Pulaski playing AAU hoops, but David and I had a full day of fun.  We were extremely exhausted after our big day at UVA Friday, but we had a blast living it up this weekend.  

My pictures are out of order, but last night at the Lincoln Theatre in Marion David got an opportunity to sing with James Rogers.  He is famous because of his long career at  Dollywood but he is now retired which allows him the chance to travel around to perform.  David is a part of a children's choir that got to sing with him last night during his show.   After the show David met James Rogers and not only took this picture with him but invited him to our house for a sleepover:)

 

The children signed Silent Night and it was beautiful!!!  David has been attending choir practice after school with Matt and Ashley so I had not seen any of it so I was so surprised with the performance. 

Our sweet little Rudolph!  Challenger the Eagle did a flyover in the Lincoln and that was very special because Challenger came to visit David last spring while he was going through chemo.  The flyover was super cool!

Not only did we attend the concert, but we also attended the Thomas Musser Mr. Strong Walk in Rural Retreat to honor sweet Thomas who lost his battle with leukemia two years ago.  His parents, Ed and Lisa have been such an encourager to us since David was diagnosed.  They are a faithful and amazing christian family who encourage us in our walk and in our battle with childhood cancer.  I think it is simply amazing that they continue to give back to St. Jude by having this event each year to coincide with the race in Memphis to benefit St. Jude.

The weather was beautiful for this 5K and I was very emotional getting ready thinking about the fact that David was attending this year.  Last year he had just had his first chemo and huge surgery so my parents sat with him while we attended this event.  David felt so good that he was a little bit of a stinker yesterday and I got my exercise keeping up with him.  David really enjoyed playing with  Thomas' brothers, and he has now decided that he is moving to Rural Retreat and he is going to be an indian that wears black and orange.  I had to drag him to the car he had such fun!

David was being silly and missed the start of the kids race.  He was devastated but sweet Tristan took him and played football with him.  When it was time to eat, David took Tristan by the hand and insisted that he eat with him. 

David started the race by yelling, ready set go, but these awesome guys led the pack of the race.  The guy in the center wearing the St. Jude shirt is a current patient of St. Jude named Colby.  The cute smiley guys on each side of him are Thomas' brothers.  They were so sweet to David and if David had his way he would change his last name to Musser and move in with them. 

David with sweet Jack and Mason Pugh. 

There were signs and statistics all over the station about childhood cancer and this one makes me sick.  Why do the children not deserve more of the cancer research funding???  Even though David did not receive treatment at St. Jude, the research that St. Jude does is shared freely with doctors all over and David's UVA doctors have consulted St. Jude about his chemo dosage so we are so thankful for St. Jude.

Here is David with one of the main organizers, Susan Spraker.  He did not want to miss his chance to start the race, so he stuck to her side like glue!  Great job on such a wonderful event!!!



I am ending this long blog post with an amazing video taken last night. James Rogers sang a song called Thank  God for Kids and the children were on stage with him during this song.  James Rogers tries really hard to get David's attention and David is clueless-it is hilarious!!!! 

You will also notice that there is a video running on the screen during the song showing children. Ashley and Sally Moorer had a surprise for me that David made it into the video!!!  You can hear me gasp when David's pictures come on this big screen and then you see David realize it is him and he reacts.  Precious!!!  Thank you to everyone who had a hand in this amazing night. 

We are exhausted tonight.  But exhausted in a wonderful way from some amazing events this weekend.  This afternoon after church my friend Tonya and I put on a baby shower for our  friend Suzanne that is due with a little girl next month.  Mike and Kyle spent 14 hours yesterday in a basketball gym playing AAU hoops.  Our teams did well and came home with a second place medal.  They also fit in a swim meet this morning. 

Bedtime will be amazingly early around this household tonight.  We will go to bed with grateful hearts but tired bodies-sounds like a pretty awesome weekend!