Strep Throat and Life

I have been a blogging delinquent and I am sorry.  Poor David has been fighting a nasty case of strep throat.  He was pretty pitiful over the weekend:(  Because of his kidney issue (he just has one that functions somewhere between 40-50%) anytime he gets sick we take note.  He made it through it okay, but just a little more spoiled from all the extra attention and loving. 

I have been knee-deep in writing a grant to Little League international to get money to upgrade our current fields and dugouts to make them handicapped accessible because (drum roll.....) we are offering Challenger Baseball in Marion this spring!!!  I am so over the moon excited about this I can hardly sleep. 

Challenger Baseball is Little League baseball for children ages 4-18 that have physical or intellectual disabilities.  Last year Mike came home one evening and told Kyle and Hope that it was Little League signup night and he was taking Kyle to signup for baseball and Hope Tball.  David literally sat at the front door and bawled because he wanted to play too.  Because of his kidney issue and slower reflexes, it is not safe for David to play with his peers.  He can; however, play modified baseball which is what Challenger is all about.

This past summer God worked it out beautifully that I literally ran into our District person for Little League when I was volunteering in the concession stand.  I started quizzing him about Challenger ball and where is the closest place for David to play ball.  No one basically in Southwest Virginia from Marion to Gate City in our area) offers Challenger so I am going for it with the support of our local little league board. 

It is awesome to think about the idea that all children will be able to truly play baseball, BUT the reality is that our dugouts are not handicapped accessible.  I have been writing a grant (which I love to do) to get some of the money for this process to begin.  So I have been writing, just a grant and not on the blog:) We are hoping to do some local fundraisers to raise the funds so that all can will truly be able to play ball! 

Yesterday at church our pastor preached on the scripture from Luke 12:48 from everyone who has been given much, much will be required.  I cannot talk Mike into the missionary field in Africa at this time at all, but I do love local missions like our food pantry at church and my new mission of every child being able to play baseball.  I love that scripture and it is our new family scripture on our board. 

Life is more than Wins and Losses

Dear Hokie Nation,

I know your heart is broken over the loss that the Hokies suffered again yesterday.  The weather was terrible, the crowd was the lightest we have ever seen in Lane Stadium, and once again the team lost.  We look down the schedule at our remaining games and scratch our heads knowing that the Commonwealth Cup is in Jeopardy as well as our bowl eligibility. 

Yesterday, however, there was an amazing thing going on at Lane Stadium way beyond the score on the scoreboard at the end of the cold, wet, and damp game.  Special Spectators is a nonprofit group that partners with colleges around the United States to provide magical days for seriously ill children and their families.  Our family was blessed and got to participate in this program when our son David was battling stage IV cancer at UVA two years ago.  We were so blessed with our participation in this two years ago that we have signed on to be host volunteers to host other families.

Yesterday was Special Spectators day at Virginia Tech.  Yesterday three families whose children are fighting life-threatening illnesses were blessed with a magical day at Lane Stadium.  My family acted as the host volunteers welcoming the families and spending the day with them. 

We were the host family and here is our son, David, meeting Bill Roth in his radio tower for our first stop on our magical day.  Mike and Bill were amazing with this group of kids and they even let them try on their headsets and sit in their chairs.  I am not sure what was better up there-the beautiful view of the field or the kindness and hospitality from Mike and Bill. 

 

My boys, Kyle and David with Bill Roth.  Bill and Mike allowed the kids in our group time to ask questions, look around, take pictures, and despite their hectic game days, they were so kind and gracious to all the kids in our group.  These two are true class acts.

 

After Bill Roth's tower, host from VT took us on the field via the tunnell!  Here is my David pretending to be a player running through the tunnel. 

 

All the kids from our group got to go on the field touch the infamous Hokie stone, and take pictures. 

 

 

It was cold, rainy, wet, and damp but the kids could have cared less!  They were on the field sitting on the bench in Lane Stadium!!!

We got a little off schedule and the team was suppose to be in the locker room any minute.  The amazing VT reps, did not want our group of kids to miss anything, so they told our kids if we could move quickly and not touch anything we could go in the locker room for a picture!  It was gorgeous in there and the guys were so welcoming and kind. 

 

 

After the locker room, our kids were ushered into the Merryman Center and we waited a few minutes for Coach Beamer!  On a busy game day, he took several minutes and spoke to each of our kids in our group, posed for a group picture that was later used on the Jumobtron during the game, and....

even paused to take a selfie with one of the kids from our group!!  This kid was amazing and was there with his two buddies, one of whom is fighting Leukemia.  He was using his Mom's borrowed iphone for his special day at VT and he was not too quick working it.  Coach Beamer, who obviously had a lot on his mind 1.5 hours before kickoff, paused and patiently let this kid navigate his Mom's phone to take a selfie.  Coach Beamer is an amazing guy!  This kid was so proud of his selfie with Coach! 

 

 

 

Virginia Tech hosted our group at one of the corporate tailgates and the Hokie bird and cheerleaders stopped by our tailgate! 

David with the cheerleaders!

 

 

Okay, if your eyes mist when you read sweet things, get a tissue ready.  Yesterday the weather was miserable and we were worried that our kids in our group would not be able to stay for the whole game due to the cold temps and rain.  The marketing rep brought us our tickets during our tailgate and the bomb was dropped on us that due to the weather that they were upgrading our entire group's tickets to inside the club box so our kids would stay warm and dry.  That was a game changer for these kids fighting cancer and other serious medical issues.  Instead of shivering and freezing, we were inside warm and dry with free concessions during the entire game. When the marketing rep told me about the ticket upgrades, I grabbed him and hugged him.  As the volunteer host for the day, it was amazing to share that news with the families. 

 

So, Hokie Nation, I know you are totally heart-broken over another football loss, but please know that Virginia Tech may not have come away with a win yesterday, but they rolled out the red carpet and blessed some amazing kids fighting some huge Goliaths in their own lives.  They treated these kids and this volunteer host to a day that none of us will ever forget.  Coach Beamer patiently paused several minutes on a game day to allow a special needs child using his Mom's iphone to pose for a selfie.  Marketing reps shuffled and got permission from who knows where to upgrade 16 tickets so sick kids would stay dry and warm.  Virginia Tech may have lost a game yesterday, but they won a whole lot more-they truly made a difference in the lives of some sick kids.  So Hokie Nation, be proud!

Blessed

October is one of my favorite months out of the whole year.  In the last few days we have packed so much fall fun in.

Wednesday with our afterschool program at church, we visited the Conner's pumpkin patch.  They are so gracious and allow all of our preschool classes and afterschool program kiddos to visit their pumpkin patch.  Here is my sweet little pumpkin in the patch!

Thursday night I had a special time with Pops, Kyle and his good friend Tanner.  We went to the Va Tech/Miami game!  Lets don't talk about the final score and the fact that Tech kind of stunk it up, lets instead talk about how much fun it was to hang out with Kyle, my Dad and Tanner at the game:) Poor Hokies, I love them even when they break my heart. I love that Tech games are special times with my own Dad and my boys. 

Pre-game festivities.  We cheered our hearts out for them! 

Saturday morning Hope had her last soccer game.  It was chilly but this little love has loved Upward soccer season!

My pictures are out of order, but tonight at church we had a community outreach event with a worship service, hot dog dinner, and trunk or treat based on the book Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak. Our preschool staff did a trunk based on Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin! Here are Hope and Sydney in front of our amazing trunk that Christy Barr did! She is amazingly crafty.

My sweet three before church this morning.

This year David desperately wanted to be a ninja so we got on Pinterest and found an easy to make ninja costume using a roaster pan! We painted the pan, made a felt mask, and then tied it on his back for the turtle shell:) Thanks Pinterest-we had fun making it and the total costume was about $2.

Hope wanted to be Sophia the first which we already had a costume for, and David as a ninja! They were so excited to go to church tonight in their costumes:)

The night started with worship with a packed house. There were almost 350 folks at church for worship-it was beautiful chaos with kids in costumes worshipping. David of course had his normal seat on the front row! We are blessed with an amazing praise band at church.

Amber not only came tonight but she herself dressed as a ninja turtle. God has certaily brought some amazing people into David's life. We are blessed.