Fashion for a Cause!

It has been such a fun few days around here.  Friday morning we started the fun with the Teddy Bear picnic for letter T at preschool.  This little girl was so excited for that fun event at preschool. 

This class of cuties will be heading to the big kindergarten next year!!

Friday after school we loaded up and headed to Radford to visit with family.  One of my grandmothers is in a new apartment and we went by to see her.  We then headed to the nursing home to visit my other grandmother.  She is really doing awesome and loves her Hospice nurses. 

Saturday morning we loaded up with GG and Pops to head to Charlottesville for a fun reason-a fashion show!  Belk is a new partner with UVA Children's Hospital and they put on a fashion show with lots of kids and five Miracle Kids! Pops was our driver and GG helped me get Rock Star David ready for the show.  Miracle Kids were allowed to wander around the store and pick out whatever outfit they wanted to model for the show.  David started with the Under Armour section but then he decided to go dressy and he really wanted to wear a sport coat! Here he is with Mr. Ryan checking out the awesome selection at Belk!

Under Armor has some new dressy shorts for boys that are awesome and we tried those on with a Under Armor golf shirt.  I really loved this outfit and thought he looked so cute and sporty.  He liked this one but the really wanted to go dressy. 

If you think this looks fun it really was except that it was HARD WORK!  We were sweating and working hard in the dressing room with David who only wanted to dance in the dressing room in front of all those mirrors.  The price tags stressed him out but we could not take them off until we knew that it fit properly.  I could not have done it without Pops (our driver for the day) and GG (who scoured the store for Dave's sizes).  It took a village to get this dude looking awesome!  Children with Down Syndrome have short arms and legs and it is difficult to get clothes to fit properly. 

Here are four of the Miracle Kids with Dr. Druzgall and Mr. Ryan.  I love that Tyler and David are watching her so intently.  She is one of the four awesome pediatric hematology/oncology doctors on our team.  All of us were commenting that it was so fun to come together for a fun reason instead of meeting up at clinic.  We have truly met some amazing families through this journey and we are so apprective of their support.  They speak our language and know first hand the fears that we all hide behind our smiles.  We are so proud of our kids. 

Here comes Rock Star for the show!  He did AWESOME!  He looked so handsome in his gray slacks, blue shirt, tie, navy sports coat and black belt.  It would have taken me hours to have put this together but GG used her shopping talents to whip it together!

Krissy Pitts is Mom to sweet Anna (on her hip) and Grace.  Tyler is standing behind David!  Anna recently finished her treatment for Leukemia and Tyler is in the middle of his treatment.  We had such fun with these families! 

Striking the sassy pose!  Amazingly the Miracle Kids got to keep the clothes they modeled up to $100!  Thank you Belk for not only blessing us with new clothes, but for a fun day to raise money and awareness for UVA Children's Hospital.  What an awesome day!

 

Today Kyle was suppose to head to Kingsport for a baseball tourney-clearly it was cancelled when we woke up to more snow.  This is the winter that will never end!!!!  After our busy and fun two days I am thankful for a day of rest at home!  Have a great week!

Not My Will, But Yours

I am a self-proclaimed control freak.  I like when things feel "orderly" and controlled.  I am also a christian and believe fully that God's plan is always perfect.  Sometimes my trusting in God's plan and need for control and order collide and that always stings a little.  Today is one of those days.

Because I love Jesus I fully believe in his words from Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you, They are plans for good to give you a hope and a future.  I believe those words fully even when things on this side of heaven do not always make sense. 

So on days like today when I am thrown a huge curve ball that I never saw coming, instead of throwing myself on the floor and throwing a tantrum, my faith quietly whispers to me to  trust.  God has and will continue to work things for His good even if it hurts a little in the moment. 

Parenting David has certainly shown me that we can be thrown some pretty vicious and fast curve balls called Down Syndrome and Cancer and still thrive.  He has proven that His plan is always perfect and that He is trustworthy.  So on days like today I just have to remember that it is not my will, but Yours dear Jesus. 

Weekend Wrapup

The good news on this Sunday night is that this guy is finally feeling better!  He made it all day at school on Friday and this weekend his appetite and energy level are returning.  Here is our Rockstar chilling out with his headphones and Ipad listening to some tunes.

This picture for some reason makes me belly laugh.  He is the funniest child!  Tonight at dinner he picked up his banana that he was eating and put it to his ear and said "hello, hey honey what's up?" He is such a  nut!

Yesterday we loaded up and headed to Bristol for the first travel ball game of the season.  If you look really hard you will see one little tiny hint of spring with some flowers trying to come up.  Spring has been a long time coming this year, but we did enjoy some sunshine yesterday at the game.

This team had a rough day of play with two losses but they came out to play today.  Thankfully our team is full of great guys and great coaches that make it a fun experience.  Baseball is NOT my favorite at all, but if one of my kids love it then I will be there with bells on!  Kyle loves it and loves the competition and social time. 

Our team hit the ball really well this weekend despite the losses.  Here is Kyle on first base.  Base running makes me nervous!!! 

Hope and David were in heaven with a playground close to the fields. 

Mike spent a good part of the day on the phone dealing with a stressful work situation.  At the end of the day God had worked it out for the good so he did get to have a little fun with us!  It frustrates me sometimes that he does not have a job that he can "turn off" but he is using his gifts and talents from God to bless lots and lots of children with a great education.  

 

My cute little ball player:)

 

It is obvious due to my stress level that a scan is coming up soon.  That dark cloud of doubt and panic tried to rear its ugly head this weekend.  I know our God is able to handle all my fears and all my nerves and I am so thankful that I can pour out my heart to Him.  I also think having David so sick last week also triggered a lot of chemo memories where he was that sick for  a long time and those hard memories were not fun to deal with.  Sadly cancer will always be part of our lives-I am just thankful that Jesus plays a bigger role in our lives:)  Have a great week!