Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

Blogger is not letting me post an abundance pictures on this post, but oh well.  Today on New Years Eve I am busy cleaning my house and preparing for our 4th annual New Years Progressive dinner with some dear friends.  This is one of our favorite family traditions and we are all excited! 

As I am cleaning and cooking I am thinking back over 2013.  Jonathan started my recount of 2013 in church on Sunday, and I have been blown away now that I am taking time to count the blessings that were bestowed on us this past year.  We continue to see God's handprints on our lives and we are eager to see what he has in store for us in 2014.

 

The highlight of our year was our Make-a-Wish trip to Disney!  That whole trip will forever be tucked in my heart.  God blessed that trip with beautiful weather, good health for us all to enjoy, and precious family memories.  Simply amazing!

 

We have also had several clean scans in 2013 which have given us relief and thanksgiving to God.  Those never get easier, but we continue to be under the best care ever at UVA!  We were also chosen in 2013 to be a Children's Miracle Network Miracle Family which has been fun and given us a way to give back.  We got to do a family interview for marketing for the hospital and we love The CMN team at UVA!

 

Our summer trip to Charleston was also a huge highlight of 2013.  The beach and area were gorgeous and the kids loved the ocean, the aquarium, sightseeing, and the Charleston Riverdogs game.  I often think about retiring there in my later years it is so pretty. 

 

The boys have gotten to see not one, but two Miami Heat games this year!  What a blessing for David and Kyle to see Lebron James in real life.  We also got to participate in Special Spectators at UVA, and then we got to host Special Spectators at Virginia Tech!  My brother and Dad went to help me host these special families at VT and it was such an awesome day.  At both special spectators events, we met some brave and awesome families. 

 

2013 brought a change of schools for both of my boys.  Kyle is now in middle school and is very happy, and David in attending the new Oak Point Elementary!  The ribbon cutting day at OPES, was very emotional for me watching Mike at the podium speaking.  He did a lot of the hard work for the project at UVA while David was in treatment.  To see that beautiful new building welcoming students after years of planning, gave me goosebumps.  I will also treasure the picture of David on the first day of school with Ms. Umbarger standing at the door with her arms wide open for him to run into. 

 

David and I had an awesome Mommy/Son date night in 2013 to see David Crowder Band.  Not only was it an awesome night of worship, but I will never forget sweet David resting his head on the stage listening to his favorite christian singer play his heart out.  We got to meet David Crowder himself after the show and it was an unforgettable night for us both.  I just learned that David Crowder is going out on tour again in 2014!!!

 

Hope has continued to thrive in 2013 coming out of her little shell more and more.  Last year at the christmas show she was a farm animal who sat on the steps and looked down and never sang.  This year she was a beautiful angel and she stood proudly on the stage at church and sang her heart out!! 

 

This past year we were blessed and got to participate in two weddings!  Nick and Mary Lee got married in August and sweet Hope made us so proud as a flower girl.  Ashley and Matt got married labor day weekend and all three of my children were in that wedding.  Weddings are such fun and we were so excited to witness these unions. 

 

We cannot wait to see what 2014 will bring!  Knowing our family it will be lots of sporting events, and a few weekend trips along the way.  We are excited to watch Kyle continue to learn the game of tennis that he has fallen in love with.  Mike's job is never easy or boring so we pray God's blessings over our school system and him. 

 

I pray this year we as a family continue to grow closer to God.  Mike always tells the kids to "do the right thing always" and my new mantra for the kids is to "represent Jesus" wherever we go.  We never know what the future holds, but we know that God will always be with us.  Happy 2014 to you!! 

A lil Getaway

The nightmare of cancer has taught us to seize every moment possible to create family memories.  This break we have tried to do that which included a little overnight getaway to Gatlinburg.  I am a little behind in blogging this break:)

These two love a good hotel room and so off we went!

Our first stop Saturday morning was the Aquarium in the Smokies in Gatlinburg.  It was awesome and the kids especially loved the shark tank!  Yikes!  Here is a big shark going overhead of David and Kyle. 

Early morning heading on I-40 the scenery was gorgeous. 

The sea turtle was my very favorite! 

These crazy boys!

Our sweet girl beside the tree at the Aquarium.  We love little road trips as a family.  They are not stressful to pack for or plan for and it was precious time away together. 

The lunch choice was probably the worst decision we could have ever made.  We ate at Dick's last resort in Gatlinburg.  I remembered eating at one of those places at Myrtle Beach years ago with the Johnson family and thinking it was SO FUNNY! I remember them putting one of those hats on my dad and Sid Johnson that said something about them being old.  I thought my kids would love it,  they could seat us immediately which was awesome since Gatlinburg was packed, our kids were starving, and they had food I could eat.  Mike was leery, but I thought  it would be great. 

Evidently a place that I remembered as funny twenty years ago has gone from being entertaining to raunchy.  I was appalled at some of the things that were written on the hats.  Kyle walked out of there and said "that was the worst place ever!"  He said the portions were small (cardinal sin in Kyle's eyes), they were rude, and they said I was old!  Ha!

Mike and I walked out of there commenting that we would never return because clearly that restaurant does NOT share our values.  Thankfully also they had sports on their TV's and my boys spent more time watching hoops than reading some of the inapproriate hats.  (For the record my hat said Ms. Trailer Park 1992)!

We also went to the Guinness World record place.  That place was cool and gave our competitive family many opportunities to compete against each other!  Here are Hope and David playing hopscotch.  Thankfully no one took pictures of me and Mike competing against each other!  Ha! 

 

Besides quality family time, the highlight of the trip for the kids was the penguin exhibit.  Since Seaworld Hope has a little penguin obsession going on and she LOVED watching the aquarium staff feed the clan of penguins.  It was precious and we had to pry them away.   The penguin that kept showing off in front of us was named Ricky which was Mike's Dad's name.  That gave us a smile. 

 

Today of course was spent at church.  Today at church we talked about all the awesome things God did in 2013 while we look ahead to what God will do in 2014.  It was an awesome message.  The service was closed with the praise band and congregation singing David Crowder's song, How He Loves.  I was so overcome in thankgiving for all the memories, fun, and happy times our family was blessed with in 2013.  We do not know what 2014 has in store for us, but I was overwhelmed in thanksgiving in the ways that God blessed our family in 2013. 

Christmas Post #1

Blogger is being fussy on this Christmas Day and is limiting the number of pictures I can put on one post??!  Interesting.... Oh well!!

Yesterday we started the festivities at GG and Pop's house in Radford.  My brother and his family (minus Hunter) were there as well as my Aunt Charlotte, her husband Ron, and my Memaw!!  She was hospitalized a month ago and has been in a rehab facility since.  It was such a treat that she felt well enough to come celebrate with us. Here is GG playing the piano for Clayton and David to sing:)

The kid table!!  We really missed Hunter:(

I did manage to wrangle the kids under the tree for a picture.  Maybe I can photoshop Hunter in?! 

They may look all sweet, but here the true personalities shine!!!  I need to frame this one for GG:)

Memaw with the boys!  A month ago I took a day off to go see her in the hospital-we were worried she would not make it to Christmas since she opted not to put the defibulator in, but amazingly one month later we broke her out of rehab at the nursing home to party with her. 

It is hard, hard work to celebrate the birth of Jesus:)  Between my parents house and church Princess Hope took a power nap to get through church.  I don't have pictures from church, but it was beautiful and touched my heart.  After communion we went to the altar to pray, and I just poured out my thanksgiving to God that David is with us, he is healthy and he does not have ear tubes in.  My heart was so full last night at church. 

 

This morning, three excited kiddos heading into the living room to see their loot!  It was really a wonderful two days full of church, family, laughter, and fun.  It has been one of the least stressful and most fulfilling Christmas' we have had in a long time.  We feel so blessed. 

Emmanuel

We have certainly enjoyed our first week of Christmas break preparing for Christmas.  Except for a little health flair up that has annoyed me and made me feel bad, we have enjoyed a slower pace and lots of family time. 

The boys right now are obsessed with playing full "court" hoops downstairs in our basement.  They use the Ipad to keep "score" and they have such fun. 

Ashley must have taken these pictures because I do not remember taking them!  Ha!  I smiled so big when I saw this one when I downloaded.  These boys melt my heart together.  I shared this on facebook lately, but Kyle has asked a lot of questions lately about David and relapsing.  We talked again about statistics and such but it is all in God's hands.  He then said that when they all grow up that he and Hope will fight over who David is going to live with because he is so funny.  I was so touched that they would "fight" over something that some would see as a burden. 

Here is sweet Hope (bottom middle) with her preschool class at their Christmas party:)  She loved the party except for Santa!

David had archery one night over break and it was so fun to get to go watch him.  He was not feeling well that night but we are so thankful for this blessing in his life.  Ms. Penny is awesome and check out all of his special friends there with him that night!! 

Hope with some preschool friends at her party.  She is loving being home but she has mentioned her preschool friends several times over break.  She really loves this special group of kids in her class. 

Another archery shot with David and Ms. Penny!

David has also gotten to have Christmas already with Amber and Ashley.  God has blessed our family so much with these two gals. They split time working with David during the week and I know that God sent them to us!  Their families have become part of our family and we are beyond blessed with them.  For two years David has made poor Ashley play Swamp People with him.  He loves to stand up on the couch with his nerf gun and shoot at Ashley who is suppose to roll around and pretend to be the alligator!  Blessedly Ashley found this awesome blow up alligator and now she can sit and watch the game instead of having to roll around on my floor!  Ha! 

After swimming together today, Amber and David exchanged Christmas.  Here is David with his new football signed by the VT players and Bud Foster.  It will be perfect for a present that David may be getting from Santa on Christmas day!  Thank you ladies both for blessing our family with your love and energy-not only for David but Kyle and Hope as well.  It is hard to bring someone into your home but God sent both of theses ladies to us and we are so thankful.  David's life has been blessed and enriched because of them.

Another joy we have had this Christmas is cooking!  Yesterday Hope and I baked with the neighborhood girls, and today we cooked just the two of us.  I love having a daughter and it touches my heart that she wants to be with me in the kitchen.  I love her sweet little voice that says "Momma what can I help you with?"  She is such a joy.  Here she is sampling one of our sugar cookies with buttercream icing that we made today.  I am not able to enjoy the rich foods of the season, but I have had fun cooking with my favorite girl.  I also love that her Daddy dressed her today while I was resting and the two of them picked out a Christmas dress and tights for hanging out around the house. 

Mike keeps hassling me about what I want for Christmas.  We typically give the gift of time instead of giving gifts-we will take a little family day trip or overnight trip.  I keep telling him that I do not want anything under the tree.  We got our Christmas gift with a clean scan back on December 5th.  I also got my Christmas miracle of no ear tube surgery, and we did splurge and replace our garage door this break.  We have been saving for two years (the Dave Ramsey way-sigh) and we replaced our pitiful door for Christmas.  I am truly at a place where I just want time and memories with my family. 

We learned that a sweet little girl from Orange county passed away yesterday due to a rare childhood cancer.  They were actually at Give Kids the World for her wish trip a week after we were there.  I am so sad for her family and I am ever mindful that childhood cancer plays dirty.  Just because David's last scan was clean does not mean his April one will be.  I know on this side of heaven children dying to this dreadful disease makes no sense, but I believe in a God whose plans are perfect.  I ask you to include the Blaine family in your prayers as they prepare to say goodbye for now to their sweet princess, Ellie.

Enjoy every moment with your family as we prepare for Emmanuel-God is with Us.  We wish you a Merry Christmas and know that we are so grateful for your support and love for our family.  Merry Christmas!

My Christmas Miracle

As mentioned in an earlier post our local pediatrician worked very diligently to try to coordinate with UVA while David was sedated for his scan to have a tube placed in his left ear to relieve this stubborn infection/fluid.  We really were optimistic that it could happen to try to minimize the number of times that David would have to be sedated. 

Sadly on scan day back on December 5th the tube was not able to be placed in his ear.  The ENT and his residents were scheduled other places, the proper equipment was not where it should be, etc... Mike and I both (as well as his pediatrician) were sad that David would be facing another surgery over Christmas break to place a tube in his ear.  Tube surgery is no biggie, but it does concern us that he would have to be sedated AGAIN after all he has been through. 

So UVA had given us a date of tomorrow (December 18th) for a consult with the ENT and surgery in the OR for December 20th.  We were resigned that this would be the plan.

Last Monday we met with a local ENT (Dr. Davis who is amazing) to consult with him about David's ear and see if he could get David in the OR quicker here locally.  He looked in David's ear and said that before he would send him to the OR he had one more trick to try.  He put this little tiny sponge in his ear with some new drops and said to keep this sponge thing in for three days.  David did cooperate with the new drops, but the sponge lasted about two hours instead of three days.  Because the sponge fell out, I was not too optimistic this trick would work.

I am overwhelmed in gratitude to report that it did work!!!!!  Tomorrow when David gets out of school a half day for Christmas break we get to come home do all the fun things to get ready for Santa like cook, wrap, make gingerbread houses, paint pottery at the Herb House, and relax instead of heading to UVA for a consult and surgery.  I am overwhelmed and humbled to realize that once again God's plan was THE perfect plan.

Back on December 5th, the morning of the scan, Mike and I lit up our phones calling everyone but Obama trying to "persuade" someone, anyone to put this tube in our babies ear.  I even was asking random nurses if they could do it!  This situation has once again reminded me that God DOES have a plan for us and that it is THE perfect plan.  Sometimes I just need to give up control and let God be God.  When it comes to my kids, I forget that God loves them even more than I do and that He does have a plan.  I know I am a control freak which sometimes get in the way of me letting God be God.

For I know that plans that I have for you, plans for good to give you a hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

That day at UVA I was so frustrated to think that my plan was not panning out, but God, our amazing and infinite God, probably wanted to smack me over the head that day and say "I have a better plan that is way easier and involves a teeny sponge and a few magic drops.  Chill out girl and let me be God!"

I never want my desire to be in total control with my kids (or anything) to be a stumbling block to my faith. God has proven to us over and over and over again that He is faithful, true, and loving.  Why I continue to try to control my paths when I know in my head and heart that God's path is perfect baffles me?!  I have already turned over David's overall  survival from this cancer nightmare to God.  If I trust God with David's survival, why did I doubt tiny little ear tubes?  Thank goodness God does not give up on me when I act like such an immature control freak:) 

So clear and fluid-free ears are my Christmas miracle this year.  David can now hear without enduring another surgery!  We can plan fun over break instead of surgery, and once again God had to take some pretty drastic measures to remind this stubborn controlling diva that He is God and that His plan is perfect.

Now It is Christmas

I was chatting with a friend earlier in the week about how we were not quite "feeling" the Christmas spirit yet.  Well, after the last few days, God has blessed me with opportunities to be overwhelmed in the Christmas spirit. 

Last night at church, Ashley, her mother-in-law Sally, Mr. Bryan, and two other awesosme church ladies took a group of first through fourth graders and put on Charlie Brown's Christmas.  I figured that it would be an abridged version but it was not!!  These children put on the real how from start to finish!  It was the best show I have ever seen a group of children put on.  Unreal.  They have been practicing since October and it was evident. 

Brooklyn and Hope came in on the end in the nativity scene.  Prechoolers and kindergarteners made up the Nativity.  David was sweet Woodstock!!  I could barely stand the cuteness.  Here are Matt and Ashley with the kids after the show.  At the end of the show after the nativity characters got in place, there was a congregational sing along and I could barely sing for the lump in my throat.  Pure Christmas Magic!

My sweet babes.  I was so overcome because not only was the show AMAZING but David did awesome!  How wise of the ladies to put him as Woodstock because he was a vital part of the show but did not have to speak any lines.  He took his role so seriously in his new Woodstock costume that Ms. Donna made for him. 

There is nothing sweeter to me than a group of children playing in the nativity scene.  Mary and Joseph were so young and naiive that it tenders my heart to see children playing the roles. 

This is the part of the show that will forever be in my heart.  Woodstock (David) and Snoopy (Lanie) had to do a dance together.  They nailed it and it was so precious.  After their little choreographed dance, then they could do their own thing.  David then broke out into the robot dance!!  It was hilarious, oh so him, and everybody laughed.  Our sweet boy never ceases to melt my heart. 

Woodstock and Snoopy decorating Snoopy's dog house while Charlie Brown (Tyler who has amazing) lamented how commercial Christmas has gotten! 

Props outside of the santuary-the ladies that put this on are so creative and awesome with kids. 

Our proud Woodstock!!

What started my overwhelming Christmas spirit was on Wednesday afternoon.  The elementary aged children went to the nursing home to carol and visit with the residents.  The youth stayed behind and put treat bags together for the younger kids talking about the many names of Jesus through candy.  When we arrived back from the nursing home, the youth got up and spoke about why each candy is specifically in the treat bags.  Here is Kyle talking about the milky way bar reminding us that Jesus is the Way, The Truth and the Life. 

 

My heart was so touched at the nuring home.  We have several church members there that we took time to visit.  David was fantastic at the nursing home and was so kind and polite to all.  Here he is with Mrs. Connor who was a beloved teacher here in our county and she asked all 35ish children to line up to hug her.  We sang carols and visited with residents at the nursing home.  Walking those halls and singing Silent Night with David and our church friends touched my heart.  I must take David back again soon.  He loved it!!

 

I am in overload with Christmas spirit now.  I am so thankful that David got to shine last night as Woodstock, and our sweet and shy girl rocked her angel character last night in front of a packed church.  I am thankful for the friends that came to cheer my kids on, and most importantly for the gift of that little baby who came and changed us all. 

We are Bad....He is Good

This has been an intense week.  Must Do lists have been long, time has been short, expectations have been high, and sadly tempers have been short.  I literally got my feelings hurt this week and spent way too much time obsessing over an issue that cost very little money and took about an hour of my time (when I stopped complaining)! 

My feelings got hurt at church where sadly we "think" things like this should not happen-right?  We Christians just walk around spewing love and grace-right?!  Maybe at your church, but not where I was this week:) Let me preface it by saying that I adore my church.  I am challenged, encouraged, loved, accepted, and the list goes on.  I love serving at church and I truly enter into worship there several times per week.  My church is not the problem.  It actually rocks.

Sadly, we are.  We, sinful little humans, forget who we are sometimes and we get our feelings hurt over trivial little things. Sadly we also forget that we are here to serve and love others and to glorify God.  Not only are we on the receiving end of others serving their own selfish needs, but we sometimes act selfishly.

 Here is a true story from our own house last night.  Me, sweet little christian wife and mother, heard my husband violently heaving in the bathroom from a nasty bug.  Instead of rushing to his side, and washing his face with a wash cloth I sighed loudly because #1) I was grossed out and #2) I was fearful that he would wake up our sleeping children.  Yep, pretty much thinking of my own selfish needs instead of poor Mike's.

So  after getting my feelings hurt this week at a sacred place and then witnessing my own selfish behavior last night with poor Mike, I have come to a conclusion.  We are so bad and our God is so good.  He is the only one who is perfect.  We are off the hook to be perfect because He is.  So my encouragement tonight  is please do not judge God and His church based on our actions.  Please.

Please do not ever let sinful people represent the church to you.  We are going to let you down every.single. time. The only one who is worthy of your trust, your love, and your heart is God.  He will never disappoint you, He will never ever turn his back to you, or bicker with you over some trivial matter in His house.  He adores you and wants you to come closer to Him.  Please do not let sinful christians taint you and keep you from coming closer to God and entering into his house to worship Him.

This is what I know:

I love Jesus with my whole heart.  I have committed my heart, my family, and my future to Him.  He has my whole heart.  I trust in His plan even though we have taken some serious detours along the way called special needs and childhood cancer. 

Please do not judge God based on me or any other Christian.  I am selfish, hold a grudge, and a bad word pops out of my mouth every once in a while.   I am short-tempered, hormonal, and can be a tad judgmental.  Please look towards my God instead of my sin.   Get to know our God who wants to lavish love, grace and mercy on you.  I know this selfish wife could use a dose of grace from God tonight and heaven knows my poor, sick husband needs a dose of grace too.  His christian, loving wife certainly did not shower it upon him as he was heaving last night:) Only God is good.  Only God is worthy of your trust, your love, and your life. 

Trip to the Radio Station!

This community never ever ceases to amaze us.  Seriously.  The folks in this county have hearts as big as the mountains that surround us.  Today we were once again blown away by the generosity of spirit that exists here. 

We were invited to a local radio station today to talk about Give Kids the World and our mission project of raising money to give back to the resort that blessed us so much.  David, Ashley, and I were invited into the studio at 4:00 today for a live interview about an upcoming open house we will be attending this weekend at the Herb House to sell stars!  We put on earphones and talked into the microphone like we had done it a million times.  David got a little silly but he had such fun!

Meet the lovely CJ.  She was the one who hosted us this afternoon.  Here she is giving David a VT mini helmet for coming on air with her-can you believe it?  To prepare for our visit she read our entire blog (crazy huh?!) to get to "know" our family before coming in.  She has an amazing personality and David loved her!  They had a dance party in the studio during one of the songs and David taught her his signature move of "the sprinkler!"

Cute little dude!  I was a little star struck being in the studio but then I warmed up and felt so grateful to share about our experience at GKTW and how we want to give back so other children with life-threatening illnesses can experience the true magic that we did.  Today we experienced another God moment that only he could have orchestrated.  To have a local radio station owner (Blake Frazier) just out of the blue invite our family down to the station to share about our mission project was amazing! 

Here is David on-air!  Yikes-David with a live microphone was a little scary because he did get a little silly.  CJ talked on-air about my blog which was so sweet.  She gave out the web address and encouraged her listeners to read.

I was so thankful for the opportunity to come on-air and share about the upcoming open house this weekend at the Herb House.  If you have not been to the Herb House yet-Saturday is the day!  David will be there with his stars from 11-1!  The Herb House has amazing local goods, ice cream, paint your own pottery, and art classes.  It is a magical place and we will be there this Saturday! 

Thank you CJ for an amazing afternoon in the studio and for allowing David to share our family mission project with your listeners.  We loved spending time with you!! 

I love Small Towns!

I truly think small towns rock.  Since David's cancer diagnosis two years ago, we have felt the love and support from our old community of Orange County, my growing up hometown of Radford, and of course our current town of Marion and Smyth County.  Friends your support of David's star ornament business has truly blown us away!  Thank you for supporting our desire to give back to Give Kids the World and to teach David some valuable business skills. We are still cranking out stars and would love to visit your office to sell stars:)

This past Saturday we went to a nearby community of Rural Retreat to participate in the  Thomas Musser walk for St. Jude.  We love the Musser family and they were/are such a source of encouragement to us.  They speak our cancer language and they are humble and genuine Christian people.  Sweet Thomas received the ultimate healing with Jesus several years ago and this tiny, but amazing community raised $10,000 dollars on Saturday for St. Jude in Memphis in his memory!  WOW! 

 

Our little ones put on their Team David shirts' and we were there to support the Musser Family and St. Jude! 

Thomas' brothers are VERY kind to David and David really loves them.  Between David's gunky ear and still feeling the effects from the sedation and scan, he felt terrible and we had to leave early.  But before leaving we had to search out Matthew and Andrew for a picture and some fist bumps.  David invited them over for a playdate to play Xbox soon!  (They are the cuties handome, grown up dudes) behind David!  David did feel well enough to start the race with a loud "GO!" which was the highlight of his day! 

 

 

Saturday night after the 5K, we were blessed with an evening to remember.  David is a huge fan of the singer James Rogers.  He used to sing regularly at Dollywood, but now is "retired" and just sings for various shows and venues.  David is a part of the Lincoln Theatre Children's Choir which opened up for James Roger's christmas show.  David was very excited to do this again and as always James Rogers is awesome with the kids! Here is the choir signing Happy Birthday Jesus song:)

But the highlight of the night was when David was called back onstage to sing his favorite song ever, "Fly Eagle Fly"With James Rogers!  David has spent HOURS watching him sing this awesome song on Youtube, so he knew every word!  I did not know that this was going to happen-Ashley's mother-in-law Sally is the director of the children's choir and friend of James' Rogers.  Calling David up onstage was James Roger's idea and Ashley snuck his guitar out of our house and prepped him for this big surprise!!  When I realized what was going on, I bawled HARD.  For him to call our baby up on stage to sing his very favorite song was too much for this Momma.  Then at the end of the song when Al Cecere brought Challenger the eagle out on stage I really lost it.  These two gentlemen know about David's fight against cancer and Al and Challenger even stopped by and visited with DAvid when he was going through treatment.  These gentlemen are the real deal and this is a moment my son (and his Momma) will never ever ever forget.  Only God could have orchestrated this!

 

Meet sweet little Josie and her little sister.  If you are around David these days you will hear her name.  God has blessed David with some sweet Momma hens that take care of him and are his true friends. 

 

Meet Evelyn Lawrence.  If you are anywhere near Smyth County you will hear about her.  She is in her mid-nineties (isn't she gorgeous) and she played piano for the children to sing.  She is beautiful, amazing, and I hope I look that gorgeous in my nineties!  Amazing she had a child pass away many decades ago from Wilm's Tumor.  There were sadly no treatment options back then.  She loves  David and David loves her!  She faithfully attended every choir practice to prep these kids for the show and she was decked out in her finery to accompany them Saturday night!  She is a local legend and I am so thankful my children have gotten to work with her. 

 

David starting the Musser 5K!  It was really cold! 

 

Sunday night was the BIG preschool fundraiser and show!  My two co-teachers and I baked ten huge pans of spaghetti and along with our awesome parent volunteers we rocked a spaghetti fundraiser prior to the show.  My sweet little angel with her preschool friends.  Of course David had to be in on the action and jumped in this picture!  Ha!

 

She is our angel for sure!

 

Last year she was a farm animal and sat on the stage and did not move her mouth.  What a different a year makes!  Wow! She and her BFF, Olivia belted it out! 

 

 

A picture of our cast of shepherds, sheep, nativity characters, stars, and a chicken!  It was a fabulous show and not only did the parents come out and support us and give generously, but church members came to cheer us on as well!  Small towns truly are amazing and over the last few days I have been reminded how blessed we are to call this place HOME!