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This and That

Angelica went in for her last dose of chemo for this week. She has another 4 doses next week and then two more doses after that and she’ll be done. She was feeling pretty tired yesterday and the day before and so we asked if she could come in early today and get her counts. Her Hemoglobin was at a 95 on Monday and while it wasn’t likely that it had bottomed out, we just wanted to check it out.

When they did the blood work today there was good news, and bad (sort of)….the bad news was that her platelets had dropped from 220 to 146. Still in a decent range, but definitely dropping. Her White Blood count and her neutrophils are both UP, which is awesome as those are the infection fighters. They will be on their way down. The high point of these drugs should start to kick in the middle to end of next week (the nadir is 7-10 days). And her hemoglobin was at 95 which is lower for normal people and even low for her, but that’s exactly what it was on Monday so no need for a transfusion although we are likely looking at either platelets or blood or both in the near future.

(Speaking of blood, I’m scheduled to donate blood on Saturday June 18th…..have you given (if you’re able)? Would you consider it? It could be your gift!)

Other than that, today was a good day for her and that’s amazing. I’m still praying and hoping that we make it through the end of this round with no infections and no hospital stays. Actually, starting right now, I’m going to speak it out…..THERE WILL BE NO INFECTIONS, NO HOSPITAL STAYS…just protection and health!

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Judah is growing so fast. He took about 4 steps on Thursday??? I think, maybe it was Wednesday. I don’t remember and then later that day he’s been taking steps and steps and more steps. He is much faster and confident crawling and so as soon as he feels unsure he drops down and crawls, but we will have a walker on our hands and most likely before his first birthday.

He is also communicating with us a ton. Here he is letting us know that he’s done. He’s done eating. He’s done sitting in his chair or he’s done playing on the floor. Anything that he’s had enough of or wants a change, he’ll typically put his hands up with his palms facing up and say “done!”

He gets a little upset with me about half way through, I think because I’m no actually doing what he wants. This child, he knows how to let you know that he’s not happy with you. No worries about him getting lost in the masses. He is very vocal.

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I cannot wait for school to be over. I know that as soon as it’s over I’ll be wishing it was back in, but right now, I’m really ready for the summer to start so that things can just slow down around here. No early mornings. No morning meltdowns. No rushing. No lunches to be made…..the list goes on and on and on. I’m just ready for summer. I’m also ready for some summer days. It’s been so miserable, eh? BRUTAL!!!!! What’s the weather like where you’re at, if you’re not from the rainy, grey Lower Mainland!

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How do YOU deal with frustrations in your life? Any tips, ideas, thoughts to share, comments to ponder? I’d love to hear from you!

Hope you enjoy your weekend! We have no real plans. It’s a take it easy kind of weekend. I like those.

frustration rises…..

I’ve had a bit of a tough day today. It’s been coming on for a few days now and I think it’s actually hit me.

I’m frustrated and what’s worse….I’m frustrated that I’m frustrated. How’s that for ridiculous?

He’s too cool for this wig!

My mom and dad took Siah camping for the week and in some ways this week has felt like a vacation. In other ways, I feel like it’s just highlighted how little I’m able to accomplish.

I could tell you all the things I’ve done and you’d probably tell me that I’ve done a ton of stuff, but this is not about the things that I’ve done as much as it is about the things I’ve not done. The things I want to do that get pushed aside as the things I have to do or need to go keeps cycling round and round and round. It’s frustrating!!!

I can say all the right things to myself about how I need to focus on what I’ve done. I can tell myself that it’s just a season. I can tell myself that my babies won’t be babies forever. I can tell myself to stay present and enjoy “this” moment……

Right now, I’m just feeling down. I’m feeling frustrated. I’m feeling UPSET!

It’s okay. I’ll be okay. I’ll make it through, but today……..today was a tough day.

Tomorrow will be better, right?

First Hair Cut

Judah is 11 months old.

He will turn one year old on June 24th. It’s kind of hard to believe that almost a year has gone by since he was born. It’s been a busy year, that’s for sure! I haven’t been able to just enjoy each and every moment of Judah’s first year in the way that I wish I could have, but it’s okay…..Angelica is alive and that statement right there, kind of puts it all into perspective.

Enough with the deep and serious talk, let talk about something a bit lighter, shall we?

I love little baby hair. It’s so cute and soft and fuzzy. Judah has a cowlick in the back of his head and it makes his hair stand straight up. It’s so SO cute. Up until now, there’s been no need or reason to cut Judah’s hair, and I like to leave my babies hair alone because usually as soon as you cut it, they end up looking like little boys and I already have two little boys…I still want my baby!!!!!

But……it was getting so goofy looking and I just wasn’t sure what to do.

I thought about shaving his head, like the rest of us were doing, but I really wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted to do. I mulled the idea around inside my head over the weekend and by Monday night I decided to go for it.

We had just finished dinner and Judah needed a bath. He is not the tidiest eater. Typically we take him directly from the dinner table and put him straight into the bath…and he has food EVERYWHERE!

Monday night, I figured that I could buzz his head before we bathed him.

Man, this kids is SO cute! (At least I think so!)

He did so good. I’ll admit that I was nervous about how he would handle the clippers and whether he would sit still enough for me to actually buzz his head, but he wasn’t scared of the noise. He didn’t fuss or squirm too much, just played with a few random things that we gave him and in minutes it was all done. Here he is freshly buzzed, just before his bath.

I managed to snap this shot of him on Tuesday morning. I sure love this little boy. I think that in some ways the hair cut makes him look more like a baby….which I’m not exactly upset about. Mind you, he looks like a freaking HUGE baby! You should see him in a pair of footy pyjamas……so SO cute!

Okay, enough of the cuteness talk….here he is!

Radiation – The Good and the Bad

Well, when Geli was diagnosed with Leukemia, we were given a schedule of the chemo that she would receive for the first month. After the first month was finished, we were given the schedule for the remainder of the treatment period. As I read through the material, I got to the section that talked about cranial radiation.

I wondered what all that entailed, but there was SO MUCH information coming at us and it was almost impossible to absorb it all. I’ll admit that I was nervous and concerned about the radiation, but I quickly brushed it off as we were looking at almost a year down the road before we’d have to deal with it. And so we carried on.

Back in January, I started to think about the Radiation again. I started to look into what exactly was going to happen. It was pretty scarey. And once I realized that I was scared just thinking and reading about it, I started trying to figure out a way to explain it to Angelica and the kids that would make it seem less scarey.

When the kids were little and we’d watch a Disney Movie….as soon as the villain came out as being overtly scarey and evil, my kids would be done with the movie. They’d run from the room, yelling and carrying on about how they didn’t like that movie….the worst one was The Little Mermaid Movie. I didn’t want my kids to be scared of something as stupid as a movie and I didn’t want them to give up on every movie that we watched just because there was a part that seemed scarey as first. I wanted them to see that often when we carry on through the “tough” times, there is a good chance that in the end, we will win or triumph over the situation.

And so I’d go and get them, I’d talk about the villain and how nasty they were and then I’d give away the ending. I’d talk about exactly what was going to happen and then I’d make them come and sit on the couch with me and I’d TOTALLY WRECK the rest of the movie. Scene by scene, I’d tell them what was about to happen and we’d finish the movie off that way. As soon as it was over, they’d be asking to watch it over again and over and over and over again….it was no longer scarey because I’d taken away the element of surprise. Knowledge is power and I decided to use that same approach with the radiation.

I explained about how she would need to go in before the radiation treatments to get a mask made. How they would lay her down on a hospital table and drape this material over her head and face. That it was kind of a breathable mesh, and that it would be pliable but would harden into the perfect shape of her head and face. That it would take about an hour to make this mask thingy. When it was time to get the radiation on her brain, that she would go into the room, lie down on the table and they would attach this mask onto the table so that she could not move. Because when you are dealing with radiation, you don’t want to make any mistakes and end up with the radiation going somewhere where it shouldn’t go….

It would take about 5-10 mins for her radiation treatment and during this time, she would be in a room strapped to the table and the radiation machine would move slowly around her sending waves of radiation into her brain to make sure that there were no stray cancer cells in her brain.

If she happened to have any hair left at this point, she would lose it and it was possible that she’d end up feeling like she had a sunburn on her scalp.

I explained this all trying very hard to not frighten the kids, but to make it all very matter of fact and yet, I was nervous. I just kept thinking….do we have to go through with this? She’s never shown any indication that her brain was involved and she’s had the chemo injected into her spinal fluid? Isn’t there something else that can be done?

Now, I had read a lot of material at this point and some of it confused me. There was conflicting information on whether or not cranial radiation was necessary or even beneficial in kids who had never had cancer show up in their brains. There was information about how in the States children with Leukemia who showed no signs of cancer cells in their brains didn’t need to have the radiation treatment. It seemed like the long term side effects of the radiation were actually worse than the possibility of a chance that you might end up with cancer cells in the brain.

Jon went in at the start of this last stage and our Dr and nurse talked to him and explained some about the radiation and how it seems in Angelica’s case that the radiation was unnecessary, but that we’d have to actually meet with the radiation dr. to discuss the whole scenario. An appointment was made for a week later and we started talking about the whole situation between ourselves. We weighed the pros and cons and in the end we decided to opt out of the radiation treatment.

Jon was fully prepared to stand for our decision to the Dr and yet when he got there, she explained all the benefits and ALL of the side effects and in the end, there was no need to “stand”……the decision was just made, in Angelica’s best interests, to not go forward with the radiation.

In Geli’s case, the slight possible benefits to having the radiation are grossly overwhelmed by the negative side effects and as of right now we see no need to put Angelica into that kind of a position.

We have such a peace about having this portion of her treatment cancelled. We were willing to go ahead with it, if it was absolutely necessary, but I was not excited about it. To get to this stage and to have that worry or concern removed from our lives is such a HUGE blessing.

And so TODAY we start the last 4 weeks of treatment……we are counting down and we are so excited about it.

28 days…….

Max

We had a Family Breakfast on Saturday.

I love it when we get together as a family. And when there’s food involved….it’s even better. Seeing as Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, it only makes sense to have everyone over for breakfast….eggs, hashbrowns, bacon! MMMmmm, BACON!

After breakfast was over, I pulled my camera out because I wanted to get some pictures of Max -Tim and Daisy’s little guy and the newest member of our family. He is absolutely just the cutest little guy ever!

He is so relaxed and content. He has these HUGE eyes and he just takes everything in.

It’s hard to believe that Judah was that small once. I LOVE this tiny, newborn stage when they eat and sleep and poop and eat and sleep and poop; and you can just cuddle and snuggle and hold them all the time.

And he’s just starting to smile……look at that little grin.

Congrats, Tim and Daisy! He’s beautiful and we love him and you both, so much!

You can see more super cute adorable pics here.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

I feel better when I don’t eat flour. I love the things that I can make with flour and yet, when I eat too much flour….I just end up feeling bloated and gross.

Last week, my sister and I decided to support each other in our healthy food eating habits. We were feeling a bit off and knew that if we were accountable to someone that we’d have a greater chance of eating responsibly as opposed to just popping whatever was in front of ourselves into our mouths. So far it’s working. I am less bloated, feel more energy, feeling less sugar cravings and well, I’m just feeling better all around.

Basically we are eating 3 meals a day – no snacking in between. We are eating no sugar, no flour, no dairy – just sticking to whole foods. I think that we might shake it up this next week and do 2 smaller meals, 2 snacks and one larger meal. Neither of us are loving feeling like we need to stuff ourselves at each meal so that we’re not hungry in between meals. I’d rather just plan to eat some veggies or fruit in between meals instead of fighting the hunger.

I had made up our weekly meal plan before I agreed to start this with Debbie and PIZZA was on the menu for Friday night. I could have just had something different, but I remembered that I had heard of a Vegetable Pizza Crust somewhere before and so I went searching.

I found this recipe and with a few variations, I decided to try it.

I used 1 cup of grated cauliflower, 1 egg and 1/2 cup of goat mozzarella, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of oregano and 1 tsp of basil.

You mix all of the ingredients together and mix really well. You end up with something that looks kinda like this…..

I got a piece of parchment paper and spread the mixture in a pizza shape (otherwise known as a circle).

I used my fingers and a rubber spatula to spread it all out. Mine was about a quarter of an inch thick. I popped it into a pre-heated oven that was set at 450 degrees Farenheit and waited for about 20 minutes or so….until it looked like this….

It needs to be cooked until the edges have browned. If you cook it just enough, then the crust will hold together and you can pick it up and eat it with your hands just like a pizza. If you under cook it, then it will be a bit sloppier and less easier to handle. (Just a friendly, helpful little tip)

I had found some Organic Chorizo sausage at Organic World out in Maple Ridge. Lots of the regular pressed meats have chemicals and wheat in them and as I’m trying to avoid those ingredients, I was happy to have found a spicy, healthy and very tasty option.

I put a thin layer of tomato paste, topped it with the Chorizo Sausage, some Goat Feta, Red Peppers, Kalamata Olives and finally some Goat Mozzarella. Just before I put it in the oven, this is what it looked like….

This is what it looked like after it had cooked at 375 degree Farenheit for a few minutes until the cheese had melted….

Doesn’t that just look delicious?

The kids had been commenting about how good the house smelled…kinda like Parmesean Cheese toast and while it did smell and look pretty darn amazing – I will admit that I was slightly concerned that it would taste less amazing than it looked.

I needn’t have worried. It was DELICIOUS! SO Yummy! I will definitely be making this pizza again and again and again.

I had used a whole head of cauliflower, 3 eggs and 1 brick of goat mozzarella and it made 3 large pizza crusts. We ate 2 of the crusts on Friday and I cooked up the third crust and let it cool. I put the cooled crust into a large freezer ziploc bag and put it in the freezer. I pulled it out of the freezer on Saturday afternoon and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes. It was only slightly frozen when I piled a bunch of topping on it and threw it in the oven. After the cheese had melted, I pulled it out and served it for lunch. The only difference that I could tell was that it had a slight cauliflower taste, but overall I liked it and so I think that the next time I make pizza, I’ll probably make enough so that I can freeze a few crusts to be able to pull out and whip together a pizza when I need a quick easy meal.

If you are trying to avoid wheat and dont want to buy the guten free crusts…I’d offer this as a delicious alternative. Let me know if you do try it and what you think? Does it sound appealing to you or just plain disgusting?

Once More…with Love! (and MANY pictures)

Earlier this week we had our last and final head shaving party.

Angelica’s hair (which had started to grow in so SO cute!) was just in the beginning stages of falling out. She still had a head full of short hair, but we could see evidence that it was getting ready to fly, fly away! There was hair on her pillow and lose hairs on her neck and on her clothes….she was definitely shedding.

She could just wait and let it fall out on it’s own but there is something just kind of nasty about waking up in the morning and rubbing your face in a pillow full of short hairs. Even worse is when you wake up with a bunch of tiny hairs in your mouth and up your nose. BLECH!

My sister, Michelle – isn’t she pretty?

So, when my mom and sister came over to get their heads shaved, Angelica had already decided to preemptively shave her head too.

We’ve joked around that Angelica has a future in hairdressing with all this head shaving that she’s done over the last year.

Chelle had brought her kids with her and my other sister had dropped Jack off for a visit and so we had the 3 bigger girls helping to watch the 3 little boys. Cousins!!!!!!!! So! Much! Fun! Jack and Zach are already walking like little men, but Judah is still clinging to the walls and the furniture….look at those thighs – SMOOSHY BABY THIGHS…NOM! NOM! NOM!

As always, Geli’s kind of goofed around when she’s done the head shaving…she decided that Aunty Chelle needed a mowhawk this time around.

Because there was hair ALL over the bathroom floor, we put Zach and Judah into the bath tub to keep them contained….it was a good idea, until Judah grabbed the taps and turned the bath on. Yah! They were dressed…..Oh Well, they had fun playing in the water. It kept them occupied until we were finished.

Zach wasn’t so sure that he liked playing in the bath WITH Judah…..

…..but he is just SO DARN CUTE, isn’t he?

In the meantime, Geli finished up Aunty Chelle’s hair and they did the final check. It’s awful to get your head shaved and then to walk away and find out later that you have a few scraggly long hairs that didn’t get taken care of…usually you end up with a few behind an ear or sticking out of the top of your head. There is an art to “rockin’ the bald look” and it requires some effort! Ha Ha Ha!

Then it was Aunty Chelle’s turn ~~to get back~~…, ~~to get revenge~~…, to help shave Angelica’s head!

Jack was helping out by taking care of Aunty Chelle’s necklace. He did such a good job, too! Love the steely blues, man!

Aunt Chelle figured that Angelica needed one triangle patch on the top of her head. It was very modern looking, no?

Becca gave me a great big CHEESE face! Silly goose!

While Brianna went in for the close up…..

While everyone else was going bald…..Judah was practicing his best “greaser” hairstyle. Looking pretty good, buddy! Looking pretty good!

Aunty Chelle finished up on Gelica’s hair….

And then it was Nana’s turn.

Geli wanted to try out a Mowhawk for Nana too. She looked pretty cute with a punk hair style, too! But we didn’t figure that the mowhawk would look amazing for Aunty Brynn and Uncle Chris’s wedding in August and so Angelica shaved it off.

After they were finished, we headed down stairs to get a few good pics of the baldies outside.

Aren’t they pretty? Who needs hair? And this way, we’ll not have to do our hair over the summer, how awesome is that?

Three Brave, Bald Beauties….

Josiah and I shaved our heads this morning….I don’t have any pics of him, yet! but here is the most recent photo of me. I took this picture this morning and put it on Facebook with the caption “Bald Once Again…for the final time!”

This is IT! After Geli’s hair falls out this time and when she’s done this last half of this stage….it’s done! Her hair will start to grow back and we will be moving on away from this past year. It’s exciting to grab ahold of these times, knowing that they signal the beginning of the end.

Shaving your head is not easy. It’s not something that I enjoy doing, nor do I want to continue doing it. I’m “okay” with it, but i wouldn’t choose to be bald for no reason! My hair was close to 2 inches long. I could actually style it. I was liking that it was starting to grow out and yet…….to stand with, to support, to love, to create a safe place for my daughter….I’d do it a thousand times. To see her bravely confront her chemo induced hair loss and chose to deal with it proactively, knowing that “it’s okay to be bald”, makes my heart sing.

I believe that she sees herself and her beauty regardless of whether she has hair or not. Her hair is not what makes her beautiful, therefore her lack of hair does not speak of a lack of beauty. She is beautiful! She will always be beautiful and her beauty shines from the inside out. Her confidence in herself illuminates that beauty a thousand times more.

While this time has been tough….in fact it’s been brutal. There have been SO MANY GOOD THINGS that we choose to embrace as we acknowledge the tough times. Angelica’s understanding of and confidence in her true beauty is something I’m so thankful for because that is something she will carry with her forever.

New York, New York

I would LOVE to go to New York. I’d love to be able to see the sights and eat the food and shop the shops….it sounds like such an AMAZING experience! Have you been? Was it AMAZING? What was your favorite thing to do or place to be or food to eat or thing to see or hear or experience?

This picture of Judah has nothing to do with this post…he’s just cute! It’s his “Cheese” face!

Jon came home from one of Geli chemo appointments a few weeks ago and announced that Geli had been chosen to go/offered a trip to New York.

Each year 4 teens from the BCCH Oncology Department joins together with teens from other hospitals and they all get together to “do” New York. They choose 2 boys and 2 girls from each hospital and Geli was one of the girls chosen from BCCH.

Jon and I were a little nervous at first, because…..well…..she’s been with us almost 24/7 for the past year. I mean, she’s gone to school some times, and for 2 or 3 hours to the teen group; but aside from that she’s been basically glued to our sides. And this is not just some over-nighter into Vancouver…..this is a whole week away…..far, FAR away!

The group does go with one of the clinic nurses and so Geli will be SO well taken care of. And they wouldn’t offer it to her, if they didn’t feel that it was safe. We also feel that Angelica is such a responsible young lady and that this is a great opportunity for her and so……..after much deliberation…….

ANGELICA IS GOING TO NEW YORK IN JULY!!!!

Now here is the thing….

Angelica is scheduled to start the last 4 weeks of this chemotherapy on Tuesday May 31st which would mean that she’d be finished on June 27th. She would then have 3 weeks to recover and then to go on the trip.

In order to start the chemo, her counts have to be at a certain level. If they are under that level, the chemotherapy is delayed for a week. We’ve had delays before, but we are hoping and praying for no delays this time as a delay might impact her ability to go on the trip.

We are also doing everything in our power to keep her healthy and to hopefully create a situation where she does not get an infection. Again, this round can make her counts go WAY down (like non-existent) and we are trying with everything in our power to keep her healthy and strong so that we avoid any hospital stays…..but especially any infections!

She is so excited! It’s an amazing opportunity and something to look forward to as the last 4 weeks of treatment crawl by.

It’s amazing what a dream, a hope, a goal can do for your emotional well being! We are so excited for Angelica. This is truly an experience of a lifetime!

Miracles Can Happen

Well, yesterday was a day worth noting!!!!

My son….my baby – I’ve moaned about the fact that he doesn’t sleep during the day. Being just totally honest he’s not been the most amazing night time sleeper either, but he does go to bed around 7:30pm and pretty much stays mostly asleep until 6:30am the next morning. He might wake up once or twice (or three of four or five times), but he just wants to cuddle and nurse and is really not even awake!

I’ve been incredibly frustrated at the fact that this sweet boy of mine naps for 10 minutes at a time. Pretty much rendering my day, useless. He is slowly starting to play with toys a bit and can either be entertained by the kids or entertain himself for short periods of time, but for the most part…he wants to be held.

Just recently, I’ve tried putting him to sleep in strollers and reclined high chairs and while I might squeak out a 20-25 minute nap, which is nicer than a 10 minute nap but it’s not been a life altering as I’d hoped for. He’s cute though, isn’t he? He’s such a big boy!

I love that he wants me and at the same time – there is SO MUCH GOING ON AROUND HERE! And I often feel incredibly frustrated at all that I’m not able to accomplish. Today, we had some family photographs taken by Tania from Red Handed Photography. I’ll share more about that in a bit, but basically Judah fell asleep as soon as we put him the car seat and then woke up 10-15 minutes later after we parked the car. That was his morning nap….awesome eh? As least he didn’t wake up grouchy – that would have awesome, no?

I really wasn’t sure what he was going to do for the rest of the day sleep wise and he was pretty cranky. I tried twice to put him down and nope – he wasn’t having any of that business. Finally, at 3pm Jon just walked with him for about 10 minutes and BAM! He was out. Jon put him in his crib and the little darling slept…

HE SLEPT FOR AN HOUR!

I got SO MUCH DONE! It was amazing! Jon took the other boys to the park, Xani had gone swimming with a friend and Geli was visiting my mom….so it was just me trying to plow through as much house crap as possible before everyone came back…

It is so nice to feel like you’ve accomplished something. It’s a lovely feeling!

And now I must go and attempt to accomplish more….so I shall leave you with just a quick video.

Judah wants to tell you something!

Unexpected Blessings

Back in June/July of last year, just shortly after Angelica was diagnosed with Leukemia, my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins got together and bought Geli an iPod Touch.

It was the most amazing blessing EVER! (to those reading this….it’s not that your gifts weren’t amazing too, I just happen to be mentioning this particular gift for a particular reason that you will soon see.)

Angelica spent hours, and Hours and HOURS on her iPod. Playing games, and listening to music and watching movies and looking things up and well, it provided some amazing distractions at times when distractions were so SO needed. She never went ANYWHERE without her iPod.

One day a few weeks ago, Angelica went to school and had her iPod tucked into the outside pocket of her backpack. Somehow, someway, her iPod got stolen out of her backpack. She was SO upset. Its upsetting when the innocence and naivety of your world is stripped away and you realize that the world is not the safe place that you might have thought it was. To have something of yours stolen from you……it’s a rude awakening into reality! It’s even more upsetting when that “item” has memories and key events in your life, attached to it.

We asked if there was any way possible for the school to make an announcement about her iPod being stolen. Geli checked in at the office a few times, but no one had turned anything in!

We got a call two weeks ago from one of the teachers who mentioned that the WGSS Grads were fundraising to get Angelica a new iPod.

We were shocked, in a good way! Once again, we are so touched and amazed at how this community has rallied around us and supported us and loved us…..it’s overwhelming, in such a very, very good way!

I got the call last week that they had the funds in and were able to purchase a brand new iPod for her. This is even an upgrade from the amazing iPod that my family had already got for her. This new one has some new features that her previous iPod didn’t have, like a camera and the ability to Facetime.

On Friday, while she was at school, the principal came down to her Math class and got her out of class and took her down to the English 12 class. We hadn’t told her about what was happening and so it was a surprise for her.

She was BLOWN away! After they presented it to her, she texted me to let me know what had just happened. I had cried when the teacher had called to let me know and I cried again when she texted me and I’m crying now, just thinking about it. She was so SO excited. It was such a HUGE blessing for her. She had basically resigned herself to the fact that her iPod was gone forever. We don’t have the ability to replace it right now and so………….well, that was just the end of it!

The class presented it to her, and they even had it engraved for her. How amazing is that?

In the middle of this crazy, horrid weekend of pain, this blessing could not have come at a more opportune time. In the better moments, she has loaded the iPod with all of her previous apps and music and added new movies and music to it. She’s been able to watch movies while pacing the house or laying in bed or on the couch. She’s been playing games to distract herself and quite honestly, it has been the perfect gift that came at the perfect time.

Thank You! Thank you for giving, for sacrificing, for caring for and supporting!

WGSS Grads of 2011, you have made a HUGE difference in this young lady’s life. She (and we) will never forget you or your kindness. You have given from yourselves and invested in the future. You should be SO proud of yourselves. I am so thankful to you. May your futures be bright and full of hope, peace, joy and love; and may you be abundantly blessed in such greater measures than you’ve given out.