Monday, December 9, 2013

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!

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