time off

so sorry i have had to limit my time spent on reading and writing blogs lately...too many other things demanding my attention. i don't want to close the door forever so i am leaving the blog out there, but my entries will be few and far between. rest assured the boys made it back from camp safely, and had a great time. we went on two world series trips this summer before starting back to school and getting into fall. it is almost time for the leukemia and lymphoma society's light the night walk again so i'll direct you to joy's blog where you can link to join our group and the walk. james is progressing well and there is less than one year left of his treatment. our family is doing well and enjoying life...and we hope yours is too!!

camp...to break my silence!

Casey and Cody have gone away to church camp for the first time ever!

We miss them, but we know that they are having a great time and enjoying some independence (among other things)!

GOODNESS

(this is a pic from the Light the Night Walk ...James and Coleman)

A refreshing change from some of the yuk we often see in news headlines and in day to day humanity. It is amazing when people come together to do something nice for a family facing a tough challenge. Celebrate with me two events that are so appreciated by their honorees!

Here is an article published in the Woodlands Online about a 1/2 way 5K that some special friends are organizing for James.

http://www.woodlandsonline.com/npps/story.cfm?nppage=29978

If you wish to make a donation to James' 5K...leave a comment, email me or contact me on facebook and I will send you an address. All of the proceeds go directly to help with the financial burden associated with caring for a child with cancer.

(here is a pic from yesterday of Stacey and I...you'd never know she had a bad day two days prior!)


And yesterday was the golf benefit in honor of my friend Stacey. It was a gorgeous day for it and I can't wait to hear the official word on how very much it is going to bless their family through eliminating some of the financial burden that cancer treatment has brought their way!

Cancer strikes again

Please join me in praying for my lifelong friend, Stacey as she faces the battle of her life. At this point a diagnostic ultrasound has revealed that a mass found in her breast is acutally two masses with additional abnormalities found between the two masses and in the lymph nodes as well as thyroid. Tuesday she meets with a surgeon and a biopsy, diagnosis and treatment plan should follow. She is a precious friend, sister, daughter, wife, mother to two boys and teacher to first graders. Pray for strength for her and for her sweet family. Thank you so much for your prayers. When she starts a blog or carepage I will add it to my sidebar.

Update: February 17 , 2009

www.caringbridge.org/visit/staceygaecke

I added her caringbridge site to the sidebar under please pray for...

My forever friend Stacey

Parents of the Year

WARNING: This post contains content you are not accustomed to being subjected to on this blog. Please make sure your children under 13 are not reading over your shoulder.

All-righty folks. Here is how Chris and I have moved to the front-runners as Parents of the Year for 2009.

We are all in the living room last night just hanging out. Chris was working on the message on his laptop. I was snuggled up next to him with Coleman in my lap. Casey and Cody were under blankets on the other couch and on the floor next to the fire. I think we were watching the final moments of the Miss America pageant live. This is where the heartwarming part of this story ends.

Casey, our 10 year old, gets up and walks over to where we are sitting and says "Oh, I have a joke!" We look over at him and he begins...

"A boy and his dad were in the shower and the boy pointed at the dad's privates and asked him what he called them. The dad answered the boy...my limousine. Another time the boy is in the bathroom when his mom is getting out of the shower and he points at her privates and asks her what she calls them. (top to bottom) She answers the boy...my headlights and my garage. The boy is sleeping in his parents bed one night. He realizes something is not right and screams to his mom...quick, turn your headlights on, dad is parking his limousine in your garage."

omg

After the first line, we looked at each other and literally busted out laughing. Oh, at first we tried to hold it in and keep our stern and solemn "that is not funny young man" faces on. To. no. avail. Here we are, two mature adults, doubled over, side stitching, belly laughing, crying kind of tears popping out the corners of our eyes...i was even blushing, and this went on well after the joke had ended. Of course all of the boys had followed along with us and were just cracking up. (hopefully not really knowing why)

Okay, what on earth was that? You have got to be freakin' kidding me. Does he even know what he is talking about?

So since we missed the opportunity to respond the right way the at first, we scrambled to make up for lost time. Collecting ourselves and doing our best to put our stern faces on, we say..." that joke itself is not funny, what was so funny to us was just YOU, busting out with it out of the blue...so don't think that is a funny joke." Thinking to ourselves that he must be thinking, yeah right, I will be telling that one again based on the marvelous response I just got. Who doesn't love to be the funny guy? And so we proceed to say, "You cannot re-tell that joke to your friends." To which he replies, "Too late! I already told so and so and so and so and so and so." (protecting the innocent here)

So we come out with the next logical set of questions, behaving more like parents every minute. "Who told you that joke? Where did you hear it?" His response absolutely floored us I am telling you, it floored us. Lesson learned here concerning the friends...never trust the quiet and really cute ones. Again, I will protect the Innocent (or not so innocent in this case), but I can no more see the kid who told him that joke uttering those words than a man in the moon. He swears it to be true, however. And I really hope that so and so and so and so and so and so's parents feel the same way when in response to those questions, they hear, "Casey Ryan." Perhaps their jaws will drop in astonishment? Please.

Gosh, this parenting stuff just entered a whole new arena of hard. HELP US, LORD.

I will say I am thrilled that he told us. He has been very much like his daddy to this point in his personality and Chris tells me he told his parents everything. Keep it up, baby, keep it up.

Patriotism over Politics

I heard a reporter on FOX use that phrase. Truly, that is how I feel today. What an amazing moment in the history of the world. I am strangely overcome with emotion, sitting in front of the TV folding clothes and crying intermittently. I enjoyed it all. Watching the miracle of a peaceful transition of power. It is humbling to be so privileged to live in this great nation. History has always been so fascinating to me and a chance to witness it as it unfolds makes me feel so blessed. I wish I could taste the historic meal they are serving. I wish I could have been there to wave my flag and pay my tribute and honor to the Bush family and the Cheney family. I fell to my knees and earnestly prayed with Rick Warren, then laughed and cried at the prayer of the reverend who actually attended the speech Martin Luther King made so many years ago. I wonder how George and Laura really feel at this moment. How bittersweet watching them board the helicopter, and then I wonder if he was blinking back tears or if it was just the wind in his face as he waved farewell upon boarding Air Force One (Special Air Mission). I imagine them holding it all together for the cameras today, then spending the evening finally alone leaning on one another as they have so many times, and then perhaps indulging in sleeping in just a bit tomorrow. All the years of service to our country, the stress that was a part of every moment of their lives for the past decade...imagine when they finally get to the place where it is just the two of them at the conclusion of today's events. I loved seeing Barack and Michelle's beautiful daughters celebrate for their daddy. I really even enjoyed the moments when the past presidents and their wives were introduced. And hearing the musical arrangements that have stood the test of time and are played proudly by those chosen to play today. I think the speech was well written and eloquently delivered, though I think that just the moment in history itself speaks loudest regardless of the words. I really wonder what kind of president Obama will turn out to be...how I pray he will continually be equipped supernaturally for the job. So for me today, way above my politics, I am focused on patriotism and stand totally in awe of the hopes of history being fulfilled today when a man whose father could not even drink from a common water fountain stepped into the highest office in our land.

Happy New Year !

I absolutely love all the promise that a new year holds. Really, a new anything is nice. Think of the idea. A new book the first time you open it up...the sound of the pages opening up to be read, a whole new concept or story to explore. Or a new house with its fresh paint, clean baseboards, and spaces waiting to be neatly and creatively filled. Or best of all a new baby... all bathed and ready to be loved and so full of life and promise for the future.

Today we all celebrate having a fresh start...a brand new calendar year for us to fill with learning new concepts, writing our own stories, cleaning up, getting creative with and organizing both our physical lives and our spiritual lives, and loving God and those around us. Everyone longs to get something right in the new year, to resolve to do something better. We want to try to eat right, to exercise, to be better at our jobs, to be more patient and consistent as parents, to be a better friend, to spend and save our money more wisely, to master whatever it is that is our weakest attribute.

The truth of the matter is however, that we are all human. We are going to make a mistake, some of us sooner than others, that sullies our fresh new outlook. The real difference will be made in our lives when we realize that in every moment we have a choice to start over. God designed it that way...his mercies are new every morning. So let's set our goals to be better in 2009, but let's not get discouraged at our failures along the way, but remember what they say and fail forward, continuing on our journeys to make this year better than the last....and every moment better than the one before!

So Happy New Year to you!