Believing, Praying & Taking Steps For A Cure

What a Slacker I Have Been!!

2011-08-01T18:15:00.003-05:00

My apologies to everyone who followed this page. I just had to take a break. Life gets so busy around our house, I know it is the same for each of you as well. Things have been going good. All of our kiddo's are doing well. I was trying to update more on facebook, but I do realize that not everyone who comes to this page is on facebook.

I want to address first of all some computer glitch errors regarding Team Believe. As we are trying to get geared up for the next St Jude Memphis Marathon, it seems every corner I turn, something is going haywire! Team Believe members, you have not been receiving any team emails, nor has the office St Jude Team page been set up because apparently two ladies decided to form a team and chose our same team name. The way St Jude sets up their system, whomever join the team first, is automatically set as the team captain. Apparently one of these two ladies got registered before any of us did, so therefore the team captain is listed as one of these two ladies. I, nor anyone else in our group know these ladies. The team captain is the only person with passcode and access to the official team page. While the two of them are the only members of "their" team, all others on the list are our normal members. I have been in contact with the Hero's office of ALSAC and they are trying to help us out with this problem. I am praying these ladies will either join up with us and relinquish the team captain position to us or they will change their team name realizing we have had this name and have a reputation with this marathon after raising over $100,000.00 over the past five years. Our next obstacle happened today. Last night our Team Believe page on Facebook was just fine, showing 47 members. Today is is POOF, GONE, VANISHED... JUST NOT THERE!!! Is someone trying to get in our way of doing our good work??? Well, if so, we will find a way to fix it all and get back on track! As of right now, this is our only communication for our team until the others can be resolved. Please be patient and check this site often for info.

Now, for a quick update on some of our kiddo's.
Our team is running for little Trevor this year. He is doing really well right now, but a few things have come up in the past few weeks that are of concern. It has been determined that while he still has a portion of his original tumor and the lito spread on his brain and spine, the chemo is doing more potential damage to his kidneys. Therefore, the doctors have decided it is best to hold off on any more chemo treatments for the time being, give him a few months, then do more scans to see what is going on with the tumor and lipto spread with no chemo. Also, this will allow some time for his kidneys to recover some. Outside of this, he looks great, feels great and is just like any other normal healthy little boy. We are so excited to be running in his honor this year. Please help us out in anyway that you can.

Preston is doing fantastic! He was here last week. He looks great, all of his counts are great and he is just as active as can be. He will begin preschool this year!

Jack is doing great. His last 3 month check up results were perfect. Still no signs of any cancer!!! Jack is also now the proud big brother of Baby Tucker. They are two peas in a pod. Tucker looks just like Jack. Mom and everyone are doing great and enjoying every single day that life has to give them.

Ariel, Morgan, Heather are all doing great too. All are getting ready for school to start back. Ariel and Amber will be college students this year! So hard to believe!

Natalie, is doing great, she recently had her 6 month check up and remains CANCER FREE!! She and Nicole will begin their junior year of college. Do you realize when I introduced her to you, she was supposed to be in her junior year of high school and not a St Jude patient! Wow, time flies and she remains CANCER FREE!

I know I am leaving out some others, I will try to go back and catch up on them in another post. I just really needed to get some info out to let you know what was going on with our team information systems. Say a little prayer that is is all resolved VERY SOON.

Thank you for being patient with we, leave comments and let me hear from you.

Hope each one of you is having a wonderful week.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!!!

PS I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I am not proofing this. Any mistakes or typo's, please overlook :)

What A Great Week!

2011-02-24T17:58:00.003-06:00

You just have to find a way to have some fun when your on your way into surgery! Regina, mom, was all decked out to go into pre-op with Ariel and having a good time messing with Ariel right before going into surgery. These are some really wonderful people to be blessed to hang out with!!

Ariel, the aftermath of her NO MO CHEMO party!! Lot's of fun, something she has been patiently waiting for!!!

Jordan got to enjoy the carousel at the mall.

Well, our little baby Jordan is showing off how BIG he really is now! He is just such the ladies man!

You simply can NOT possibly get enough Jordan hugs and kisses!

This has been a great week! I am so happy to pass along to you that both Jordan and Ariel have completed their week of test, scans, pokes and prods and are now considered to be NED-ALL CLEAR or in other words.... STILL CANCER FREE!!! Jordan will be coming back in 3 months to have some follow-up test for some activity that showed up on his EEG this time. Nothing they seem to be to concerned about at this time. He has been off of his seizure medication for almost a year now, and this is the first time that any such activity has shown up. He has not displayed any signs of seizures, so this is a precautionary measure, and they may consider putting him back on the seizure meds just to make sure he remains seizure free if they feel it necessary.

Ariel, had her surgery this afternoon to have her "extra part" or her port removed! This is a huge step toward being "NORMAL"! All of her test have come back perfectly normal and she is doing great! She will be returning in 3 months too, just for follow up. They will continue to monitor her closely just to make sure that they stay on top of any and all changes in any moles or spots that may come up. She will not be taking any further treatments, just check-ups. She had her NO MO CHEMO party in her clinic today! She was so excited about this, just like a little kid! No Mo Chemo Parties are a HUGE THING regardless of what age you are. I am so very proud of this beautiful young lady. She has been such a trooper and has come through her journey with cancer with such dignity and showing tremendous faith. This girl has had to administer her own chemo at home on a weekly basis, I have been in very close contact with her and her family through the entire journey and I can honestly say, she has not complained or had any negative comments to bring herself or anyone around her down. She is such a fighter and has faced this like a true champ.

So, having said all of this... we have 2 very happy kiddo's and families who are ST JUDE SURVIVORS and thriving tonight!! Jordan is back home, he left this afternoon, and Ariel will spend the night (post surgery requirement) and return home tomorrow.

Lord, we just want to come to You and thank You for Your perfect healing on Jordan and Ariel. What an Awesome God You truly are. We humbly thank You for all of the many rich blessing that You have bestowed upon us. We love You Lord,
In Christ Name, Amen

On, a sad note, I want to ask each of your for your prayers for Ryan's family. Please keep them in prayer tomorrow as they attend the funeral service for Ryan. I just can not imagine burying one of my children. Please keep them close in your prayers and if you have a moment, leave them a message on Ryan's caringbridge page.

It's been a very busy 2 weeks, things I THINK will slow down just a bit. I have had a call regarding a new patient. He is an older teen, non-hogkins lymphoma diagnosis. His name is Nolan, I would like to ask you to please add him to your prayer list. I will be meeting him tomorrow, I'll give you more info as I know and have permission to share.

Thank you to the most wonderful prayer warriors that I know of! Keep praying, your pleas are being heard.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Prayers For The Madrid Family

2011-02-22T09:41:00.003-06:00

Another sweet one has gone home. Ryan passed away in his sleep around 11:30 last night. He did not seem to be in any pain, that is something to be so thankful for. This has been a very long journey, a very painful journey. I know Kim and the family are hurting so much, but at the same time so relieved that his suffering and horrible pain are now gone forever. He is at perfect peace with his Heavenly Father. Please lift them up in prayer as they face the tough decisions and reality of everything over the coming days.

It's been a very busy couple of weeks around the Jude. Last week Lil' Trevor was here most of the week for his big test, scans and chemo. He did great. Had the best results on his MRI since he began treatment. Tumor is still there, but the spine and brain stem looked as if the cancer there was possibly decreased in size. WOOHOO! Please continue to pray for this treatment to work.
He is just as much all boy as you can imagine. He is such a joy to be around. He will be back next week.

Preston seems to be really doing well. He is feeling much better, Renee says he is more and more like the old "pre-sick" Preston! For that we are so grateful! Please pray that he continues to recover for all of this nasty GVHD and will get to go home soon.

This week is a big week too! Jordan and Ariel are both here for the whole week. We have been having a blast! Jordan, believe it or not, is here for his 2 year POST TRANSPLANT check-up!! Yes, it has been two years since his transplant! That is just so hard to believe, but it has been that long! He is doing GREAT!! He is such the talker and really a ladies man! He loves the girls. I'll post more info from our events of the week with pictures later. We did meet up with Ariel and her family yesterday and did some major shopping at the mall and some fun time with the carousel and Spider Jump. These two attractions in the mall are so sweet and allow the St Jude patients to participate for free. Jordan and Ariel had a blast on that Spider Jump. If your on my fb, I have video posted there from yesterday.
Ariel is also here for her big week! She has completed her protocol of treatment and is here for all of her scans and test to make sure the chemo has done it's thing and she is NED or all clear of cancer. On Thursday, she will have surgery to remove her port. Thank the good Lord, this is now an extra un-needed part!!! Please keep her in your prayers as well as Jordan for all scans and test this week to show both continue to be CANCER FREE!!!

Got to run, more fun to be had today!

Please keep everyone in your prayers, especially the Madrid family.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

BUSY, BUSY PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS...

2011-01-23T18:09:00.008-06:00

I'm sorry for such a long delay in posting. The first of the year is always quite busy for everyone. I hope that each of you have been safe, warm and enjoying the snow if you are in any of the 49 states out of 50 that have had snow. Sorry, to those of you in Florida who have not had the opportunity to enjoy the snow. Personally, since we do not get to much of it in West Tennessee, I have loved every single flake that we have had so far. I'm just a big kid when it comes to snow.

Quite a few of our kiddo's have come in over the past few weeks for their check-ups. I am so thrilled to tell you that each one of them has had an excellent checkup with excellent results!!! Morgan is doing great, she looks beautiful and is enjoying life to the fullest. We were able to go out to dinner a couple of times while they were here for her two year post transplant checkup. She was selected by St Jude as one of the patients to feature in a huge picture on the wall of St Jude survivors. It's beautiful.

If you are in the hospital, you will find the wall of pictures in the long hallway leading to the Chili's Center right across from the ABC wall.

Please continue to pray for Morgan.

Jack was here for a few days for his 3 month checkup. Everything came back ALL CLEAR! He looks great and is feeling great. He is still quite the adorable little boy, so full of himself and life. He is getting ready to be a big brother. Not to sure if he wants to keep the baby if it's a girl. My bet is, he will certainly change his mind the second he lays eye's on her if it is a girl. They do not know yet, but do plan to find out the gender of the expected baby. Katie is doing great, looks great and has the cutest baby bump going on. Please keep their family in your prayers as they prepare for the new baby and continue to make their trips back to St Jude for checkups. Pray for Jack to remain CANCER FREE forever.

Natalie was back for her 4 month checkup. She got the ALL CLEAR too!!! WooHoo!!! I love when all of these kids come back and get excellent reports. It shows the hard work and success of the teams of researchers and doctors at St Jude. Natalie, looks absolutely wonderful. I got to meet up with Nat and Sandy for dinner the night before her appointments. They are such a sweet family and a blessing to be around. Nat is doing great in school. She and Nicole are in their sophomore year in college and both take full time classes and have a part time job. They are both remarkable young ladies. Continue to pray for Natalie to remain CANCER FREE. I forgot my camera when I went to visit with them.... sorry!

Little Trevor has been in for his treatment and checkups. He is doing great!

Just to give you an idea of his day during treatment... this child is non-stop from the time he gets up till the time he goes to bed except for during his chemo treatment. The minute they start the drip with the benadryl included, he is out like a light for the three hours of chemo! Melinda and I get a chance to visit and catch up on the events at their house while a freight train could come through the room and Trevor would not move! He is just so precious to watch him sleep. He had a rough time with chemo this past week, it made it more sick than usual. Bless his little heart! Please keep praying for him and for the treatment to show stable or actual shrinkage of his tumor. Pray for the sick side effects of the treatment to subside. Please be praying for excellent results on his upcoming scans. He will have his big set of scans coming up on his next trip in.

Ariel was in for her checkup and she too is doing great! She is one shot away from being COMPLETE with her chemo!!!! A HUGE WOOHOO for her!! She will be in for a checkup this coming Friday and I am so excited to be going to Hattiesburg to visit with them over the weekend. My son, Tyler, will be in Hattiesburg for the weekend with the baseball team he plays for. The team just happened to be based out of Hattiesburg, so that makes a win win for me!! I am looking forward to getting to spend time with them and see their hometown. Ariel and Amber are in the final semester of their senior year in high school. Their year is going great and they are really enjoying all of the joys of being a SENIOR!! They are both very busy making their plans for college next year. Please keep this sweet family in your prayers.

Please keep Preston in your prayers. He is once again back inpatient with fever. He has really had a tough time, and needs all of our prayers. He is over day +100 and had hoped to be back home HOME by now. You can check out his CB site, Renee does an excellent job keeping everyone informed of what is going on with him.

Last week I had the pleasure of going to the movies with Preston, his mom and Ma to see Yogi Bear in 3D. We really had a great time and Preston LOVED the movie! He sat on the edge of his seat with his 3D glasses on the entire movie! He was adorable to watch, I enjoyed watching him as much as I did the movie.

One other prayer request that I would like to share with you... our team member Svetlana had ear surgery this week. It was an outpatient surgery and she is doing really well. She has been in some pain and discomfort from the packing that remains in her ear. Please pray for her recovery and also pray that as this heals it will show that the surgery was successful to restore the hearing loss she has had in that ear. Thank you so much for those prayers. Her family is all located out of the country and she did not want to worry them, so she has not told them yet about her surgery. She has ask that we do not post any comments regarding her surgery on her facebook page if you happen to be facebook friends with her. You may private inbox messages to her, or for our team members you may post them on our Team Believe facebook page. Thank you for honoring her request.

Ok, I think that is about it to catch you all up on our kiddo's and team members. The only other thing I want to share with you is a big honor for me! I have been asked to serve on the Advisory Board for the Hero's Program for St Jude Marathon. We will have our first board meeting tomorrow. I feel so honored to be selected for a position on this board. I will fill you in more after we have had our first meeting and I know more. Just pray for me to serve the best way possible on this board.

I pray that each of you have a great week.

Keep praying....

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

This is what God's love is all about.... get your tissue!

2011-01-03T20:09:00.002-06:00

Plain and simple, I have no greater words to share with you than these of a mom with a precious child fighting the beast.

Please go down the list of names under "Our Friends" on the left hand side of this blog page and double click on "Eli". Please read his mom's post today. This family is so precious and have such a great faith. I will share more with you later.

BELIVE PRAYER WORKS~

2011-01-02T22:32:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

Praying for a wonderful 2011 for EVERYONE!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-25T07:49:00.002-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS!!!

Goodness, where did the time go? Was the marathon not just a week or so ago? How did I wake up this morning to find it Christmas morning???? Seriously, time has gone by so vey fast, I have been in high gear trying to keep up.

It seems that all of our families are doing very well. Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but over Thanksgiving my family went down to Florida to spend some time with the Dunfords after we had Thanksgiving with my family in Mississippi. We had such a great visit with them. DJ and Michelle are doing great, very happy in Florida and the boys are just wonderful. It was so great to be able to spend time with them. We were blessed again last weekend to get to spend a little time with them as they came through Memphis for the night on their way to Peoria to be with Julie, Austin and new baby Madeline Elizabeth Locke. Michelle is Madeline's Godmother. Her baptism was last Sunday and the Dunford's went up to be with the Locke's for the baptism. Both families are doing really good. Keep them in your prayers as they spend today without Elizabeth and Dax.

Preston as of this writing, is not inpatient for Christmas! Please pray that it stays that way! Bless his little heart, he has just had such a difficult time. Please keep him in your prayers for his complete healing and no more inpatient stays.

Eli and his family were able to go HOME for Christmas!! Hopefully they will get to have a wonderful visit at home and he will be on his way to his complete healing.

Little Trevor was here this past week. He is doing great! It was great to get to visit with them during his chemo on Wednesday. He slept through all of it, but Melinda and I were able to have a great catch-up visit! They are such a wonderful family. Please keep them in your prayers and Trevor continues to fight his battle with his brain tumor.

Please begin to pray for Jack and his upcoming visit for his 3 month check-up. He will be here on the 9th of January for a few days of testing. Pray for him to get another report of NED. NED = No Evidence of Disease I'm not sure if I have shared this with you or not, I had to keep it a secret at first, but it's now out... Jack is going to be a big brother!!! Ryan and Katie AND JACK, are expecting a baby on July 7, 2011. I am just so excited for them. Jack will be the best big brother!

There are so many today that are spending this very special holiday without their sweet child. Please, as you pray today for all of your blessings, please pray for all of those with an empty place in their hearts and homes today. Unfortunately, there are way to many to begin listing. Pray for strength for these families and those of you who have an empty seat at your house. Christmas is always a hard day for me, I miss my daddy but I know he is healed from his disease and getting to spend a beautiful birthday celebration with Jesus.

I pray for each of you and for a wonderful holiday season and Christmas Day with your families. Hug each one an extra time, hold them just a bit tighter. Love them just a bit deeper, appreciate them just a bit more and cherish every single millisecond so much more. Family is the glue that holds us together. It may be blood related family, friend family or a serving prayer warrior family, which ever, show your love today.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EACH OF YOU! I love you and cherish you for your hearts and your love you share.

Enjoy your day!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

What More Can I Say?

2010-12-15T19:34:00.003-06:00

Team Believe is the most awesome and amazing team! Thank you to each team member, each person who donated even a single dollar, and certainly to everyone who offered up prayers on behalf of our team and our efforts to raise this money for St Jude. Your prayers were answered! Just a reminder... our goal was $20,000.00! This is the most we have EVER raised in a single year, and it's not over yet!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~ Here is yet another example of proof!!!

A Few Pics to Share....

2010-12-07T00:08:00.002-06:00

Our little miracle HERO-Jordan. Sporting his Family Walk Marathon Bib # He was just the most precious little thing.

The force behind the HERO'S program, Christopher Beck, Tyler Sutton, Garrett Sutton, Matt Riley & "Goose". Matt and Goose are a couple of Tyler's teammates from the Hattiesburg BlackSox Baseball team. The organization is now behind our efforts and more of the players plan to join us next year. Notice, Christopher Beck is wearing one of our Team Believe hoodies!

Garrett Sutton, crossed the finish line in the half marathon in 2 hrs 27 min. He did a fantastic job!

Matt, Goose & Tyler right after crossing the finish line.

This years very awesome and adorable FROG TEAM CAKE! Our decorating theme for this year was "Frogs". Jordan loves animals, especially frogs and lizards. This was the most amazing cake and I am very proud to say the sweet cake lady donated it to our team! Thank you very much to Cakes by Diane! Oh, and by the way, even the frog on top was cake and edible.

Everyone did a fantastic job this year. I'm not giving out totals yet, there are more to post. I will say, we have set a team record for our fundraising this year. This team definitely has the respect of the Hero's Program. I am honored to say that this team is a team that is used as an example for other teams to see. I give all of the honor and glory to God for our success. Your prayers for this team has made it the success it is. God is blessing our efforts, and I am truly thankful for this. Please continue to pray for our continued success and also add a prayer of thanksgiving for what He has done so far.

You all are hearing it or reading it for the very first time here.... next year I am very excited and honored to announce that Team Believe will be walking/running in honor of our precious Little Trevor!!! I talked with his family today and they are just thrilled to have Trevor as our Hero to Honor for 2011. Start making your plans for next year. Be a part of this incredible weekend of events and help us honor Little Trevor.

I'll post more pictures and more details in a few days.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Fantastic Weekend!

2010-12-05T21:49:00.002-06:00

Well, it rained for forty days and forty nights.... I am wondering right now if one can sleep for forty days and forty nights! It was a wonderful weekend, as always it comes to an end much to soon. I have lot's to share with you, but right now this old gal is going to get some rest. I did want to let you know all the prayers for the success for this weekend were definitely answered. Everyone made it here safe and sound, everyone completed their run/walk successfully, and everyone, as far as I am aware, had a great time together! I think we only had one to draw blood, a few to beat their personal best records and MANY to wake up this morning having a little level of difficulty getting out of bed and moving! Guess that is to be expected when these awesome people push themselves to go above and beyond the normal to participate in an event such as the St Jude Marathon. We had many new people to join us this year. I hope we have hooked them and they will be returning every year.

I'm gonna keep this short for now, however I do want to share that we have an amazing total of OVER $25,000.00 raised so far! Did you catch the "so far" part? Be watching.... there will be a grand total posted soon. If it does not knock your socks off and make you so proud to be a part of this group by either the donations you made to the team, or the prayers you offered up for this team or if you participated as a team member, then NOTHING WILL! Be watching~

I'll post pictures soon too.

A TREMENDOUS THANK YOU to everyone for all of your love and support during this marathon.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

And Let The Fun Begin

2010-12-03T04:44:00.002-06:00

The first team members have arrived, the set up for the team dinner which will be later tonight has begun. Goodie bags are being filled for each team member. Auction items for our silent auction are being set up. Cheesecakes have been delivered, team cake will be delivered later this afternoon, food will arrive from caterer around 6:00pm. The evening will begin with everyone coming to the team dinner at 6:30. It's here! Let the weekend blast begin!! I just can't tell you the thrill of victory here. I wish everyone who reads this, could experience this incredible weekend of events.

The weather is supposed to be close to perfect. There is a 20% chance of rain, but we look at it more like there is an 80% chance of no rain. I like our odds pretty well Please keep each participant in this event in your prayers for safety and no injuries.

I am very happy to share some great news with you. As of late yesterday evening, we have reached and exceeded our team goal of $20,000.00!!!! As of bed time, we were actually well over 23,000.00! This team of awesome people never cease to amaze me. They really kicked it in to high gear when the crunch time came. I am so proud to be a member of TEAM BELIEVE! Here in the last week, our team total has gone up 1,000.00 or more everyday! Ya'll that is just incredibly awesome!

I'll try to post again after the dinner and include some photos. If you do not hear from me, no worries, just busy and I'll post as soon as possible.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support for the events of this weekend.

Keep our kiddo's in your prayers.

GO TEAM BELIEVE

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

4 Days to the BIG DAY!

2010-11-30T07:13:00.002-06:00

In four more days over 14,000 people will be all suited up, bib numbers pinned on, shoe laces tied up, smiles across their faces just waiting to hear the gunshot sounding the beginning of the ST JUDE MEMPHIS MARATHON! If you have never experienced this event either as a race participant or just a cheering supporter.... you are truly missing an amazing event. There is absolutely no possible way to describe the feelings, emotions, and thrill of this day unless you are a part of it in some way. I read where Mal's mom had made a comment about the feeling when so many thousand people come together at the finish line in the baseball stadium all for one cause, to support this wonderful hospital. She is so correct! Just watching all of the people come in, some with smiles, some in tears, some in lot's of pain, some like they just took an early morning stroll across the beach.... but all for a reason, to support St Jude and the children and families treated there. Very little has touched my heart like this weekend of events does.

I have a letter that I received in the mail yesterday. It was the second such letter that I have received from the same sweet, selfless, giving CHILD! This little boy can teach all of us a BIG lesson on the giving heart. The bible tells us to give from a willing heart, just read his note. He sent me a note with $1.50 in it a few weeks ago. Yesterday, I received the note that I have posted in a photo for all to see. Enclosed with this note was a $5.00 bill. If you go to my personal goal page
www.mystjudeheroes.org/mardecia
you can see where I have proudly deposited that money, a total of $6.50, into the St Jude account. That $6.50 is just as important to St Jude and to God as any $650.00 or more! He gave from his heart and his desire to help others. I will say, this little boy from Oklahoma has certainly been raised in a great home with the love for others and the desire to help being a daily example in his life. His mom, is a team member of Team Believe. She was not going to be able to come this year, but because of another sweet and giving angel, she will be here with us! This event brings out so much more than just the love and heart for St Jude, it extends to so many other acts of random kindness that touch so many lives. I ask each of you today, look around you, do just ONE act of random kindness today toward a perfect stranger or to someone you know needs some help in some way. It is not necessary that it be some huge expensive thing, just a simple act that makes a difference to someone. A simple $6.50 from a giving heart has already touch so many people.

I got to visit with Preston yesterday. Please keep him in your prayers. He is still running a fever. They will be doing several procedures today to try to determine the origin of these fevers. They have already been running a battery of test, with no luck finding the source yet. Please pray that they will be able to determine the cause and get it under control. Pray for him to get out of isolation and out of the hospital before the holidays.

Your prayers worked, (any surprise here?) Leah's ANC went up, she was able to go home for Thanksgiving! Keep her in your prayers, she will begin the next phase of her treatment which will wipe out her ANC again. Let's pray for her to do well and be able to be home for Christmas too!

Ok... I have a very busy week but it's a busy I truly enjoy! I will be checking my list, checking it twice and getting ready for the first plane to arrive bringing in some of our TEAM BELIEVE members! Thursday, the fun begins... we have a group that will be here to help me get set up for our big dinner. Friday, the rest will come pouring in and Friday night we will all be together and enjoying hugs and tears of happiness. Please keep everyone traveling in your travel mercy prayers. Please pray for the success of this weekend. Please keep Molly's family in your prayers. She is the young lady that collapsed at the finish line and passed away last year. Her mother and other family members and friends will be here to participate in the race this year in her memory. It was important to Molly to run the St Jude run, her family will carry on for her. Pray for them, this will certainly be a tough day for them. Pray for all of the families who will be returning without their child to run in memory of their precious child. This is such a difficult thing for them to face, but so inspirational to us to see them do this to support and give back to the hospital for what the hospital gave to them. It's one way to keep the memories alive and in our hearts. I can't wait to see many of our "adopted" families and get me some big hugs!

Heather is here this week for her yearly check-up and battery of test and scans. She had her MRI yesterday. Please be in prayer for her results to be NED... No Evidence of Disease! She looks great, she is doing very well. Thank you St Jude!

HAVE A GREAT DAY! Look into your heart and see what you can do to help us out. We are just a little under $4,000.00 away from reaching our team goal of 20,000.00 I know we can hit this mark! I just know, with God's hand on our efforts, we can do this!
CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE IN THE TOP OF THIS BLOG PAGE TO DONATE NOW- EVEN $5.00 WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Keep our efforts in your prayers, please.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T21:39:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to the best group of prayer warriors in the world! I hope and pray that each of you have safe travel and enjoy your time with your families and friends during this grateful holiday. I give thanks for each one of you!

You know from the very beginning we have always said... BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS. Well, I just wanted to share another testimony showing that prayer really does work. I ask for each of you join in and pray for Leah for her counts to recover so she can go home for Thanksgiving. Well PRAYER WORKED! Leah and Heather WILL BE GOING HOME FOR THANKSGIVING to spend the time with their family. Praise our almighty Father for His answer to this prayer. I hope that this will be the best Thanksgiving ever for Leah and her family.

I will be going to have Thanksgiving lunch tomorrow with my mom, my brother and his family and all of my family. I'm very grateful to be able to be together with them. Later tomorrow afternoon my family and I will be traveling on to Florida to spend the rest of the weekend with the Dunfords. I am so excited to see DJ, Michelle, Andrew and Charlie. The boys have grown so much, they are just young teens now. I can't wait to get to spend some beach time with them! Please include us in your prayers for safe travel. Thank you. We plan to return home on Sunday evening. So unless there is some major happening, you will not hear from me until after we return.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Team Believe is now over $13,000.00 and still climbing! It's not to late.... Help us reach our $20,000.00 goal. Thank you.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Team Believe - Night Before, Dinner Information

2010-11-22T12:38:00.002-06:00

BELIEVE it or not... only 2 more weeks! Plans for the weekend are going well, a few more things to do, but it's all coming together. The yummy cake has been ordered, food lined up, let the weekend festivities begin!! Plan to arrive for the dinner at 6:30. Colletta's will be cooking for us this year. They will be serving: Spaghetti, Chicken Pasta Primavera, Mac & Cheese, Italian Spinach, Salad and Bread! The cost of the meal will remain the same $10.00 per person. Please bring cash or check. We do not have a credit card machine. I MUST HAVE all RSVP's by this coming Friday, November 26, 2010. For those of you coming straight in and to the dinner, below is the address for the church building where the dinner is held:
Great Oaks Church of Christ
3355 Brunswick Road
Memphis, TN 38133-4121
(901) 372-4449
I hope that each of you have a wonderful and grateful Thanksgiving with your families. Watch the stuffing.... you gotta a marathon to do the next weekend!

GO TEAM BELIEVE!

It's not to late to donate to help support St Jude!

"Be thankful the healthy children in your life and GIVE to those who are not" ~ Marlo Thomas

To Donate: Simply go to stjudeheroes.org
click on sponsor a participant, then click on Find Team
Type in Team Believe
You can donate to the team as a whole or if you want to donate on a particular team members goal page just click on their name and it will take you directly to their personal goal page where you can make a secure online donation to help the children and St Jude. Thank You so much!

Are You Ready To Do Some Praying? Part II

2010-11-19T18:16:00.005-06:00

Part II

We need to add Preston to our list. I got a message this morning from Renee that he had spiked a fever this morning of 103.3. I have been at the soccer field all day with my brother and his family for my nieces soccer tournament, so I have not talked to Renee but I would imagine that he is now safely checked into the Penthouse Suite on the BMT floor. Please pray for the fever to go away and for it to not be coming from anything serious.

Also, I would like to ask you to please lift up the Pettit family in your prayers. They are from my hometown, I've known them all my life. I graduated with the parents. Their daughter (a senior in high school) came home on Friday afternoon to find one of her brothers (age 23) had committed suicide in their home. Please keep them in your prayers, it's going to be a very tough road ahead of them. I just don't know how a family copes with such a tragedy... through God I would think would be the only way. Here is another family who will be without a child during the holidays. My heart is just breaking for them.
___________________________

Part I

Calling on all of the Team Believe Prayer Warriors to lift up little Leah in your prayers. Leah is going through a pretty heavy chemo protocol right now and her ANC is at 0. It's been there for quite awhile and they have been waiting for it to come up. The holiday are coming up, she only lives a little over an hour from Memphis, but she can't go home for Thanksgiving for their family to be together unless her ANC is at least at 500. We all know that prayer works... could you join me in waging a prayer campaign lifting Leah up in prayer for her ANC to come up so she can be with her family for Thanksgiving! Thank you!

Let's not forget to lift up all of our St Jude kiddo's and their families in prayer during the holidays. It's so hard for all of them!

Thank you, I always know I can count on you guys!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!!!

A Look Back....

2010-11-11T17:08:00.003-06:00

Thought for the day....

When was the last time you had a spiritual checkup? When was the last time you read the instruction manual? Just like in our physical lives, exercise, work, proper diet, and self-control are essential to keeping ourselves physically fit. The same concepts also apply to our Spiritual lives. Taking a daily spiritual checkup and following a few key instructions from God's Word will help us maintain our spiritual health.

Our Father in heaven, I honor and glorify Your name. I thank You for the power of prayer and I am comforted to know that You hear me when I pray. I thank You that my physical health allows me to enjoy the beauty of Your creation. I thank You for the Holy Spirit that comforts us and Your sacred word that guides us. May we always be spiritually fit and ready to defend he truth in any of life's circumstances. In Jesus Name, Amen.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

First I want to ask for a special prayer request for the Lutrell family. Rachel Lutrell was a freshman (age 14) at Bolton High School where my youngest son, Garrett, is a student. Tuesday afternoon after school, Rachel and 3 other teens were involved in a vehicle accident about a mile from the school on their way home from school. No parent expects to send their child out the door in the morning and not have them make it back home. However, Rachel did not make it to her earthly home on Tuesday, but she did reach her heavenly home. The other three teens are fighting for life at The Med. Please keep these families in your prayers. No family is prepared for this, just as no parent expects to take a child to the doctor and hear the words "cancer". Life is hard, and we just never know what tomorrow brings. Also, I ask that you lift up the staff and students at Bolton HS. It has been very difficult for the students to cope with this tragedy.

Preston is still inpatient. Please pray for his healing. She keeps his CB page updated.

Ok, I have posted some more pictures from the past... LOOK BACK and enjoy. Be a part of this years events!

Time is running out, but you can still make a donation. Go to the link at the top of this page (to the left) and click on the team page. If you would like to make a donation on a particular team members page, you can do so by simply clicking on their name from our team page and it will take you directly to their goal page and you can make a secure donation directly online. Even a $5.00 donation makes a hugh difference. Prayerfully, please consider any amount that you can do to help support St Jude.

Look back and enjoy....

I can't wait to make more pictures and more memories from this years events!

Team Believe is looking forward to joining "Henderson Helping St Jude in Memory of Mallerie", "Alex's Warriors", "Remembering Reagan", "Team Trevor" and Sully's Scuttlers" this year to raise the roof on the fundraising for St Jude!!! Good luck to each of the teams, I personally can't wait for them all to get here so we can all have a HUGE REUNION!! It's going to be a wonderful weekend! COME AND BE A PART OF IT!

Take care, say a prayer for all of our efforts.

GO TEAM BELIEVE

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

BELIEVE

2010-11-09T06:33:00.003-06:00

"And Jesus said to him, 'If You Can? All things are possible to him who believes.; Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, 'I do believe; help my unbelief.'" - Mark 9:23-24

Let us not settle for mediocre faith. Let us decide today, that with God's help we are going to build a stronger faith in ourselves and in God.

God, I believe, but help my unbelief. Don't let me settle for who I am today, but show me who I should be and give me the courage to desire and pursue that goal. I pray that You will build in me a faith that can move mountains for You, a faith that will overflow into those around me. In Jesus Name. Amen

BELIEVE IN PRAYER~

I trust that everyone's week has gotten off to a great start. Those of you getting ready for the trip to Memphis, I trust you are as excited about the big weekend as I am.

This past weekend I had the honor of hosting a family/friend gathering for Joseph. He has really been fighting, at times his prognosis has not been what the family wanted to hear. They have continued to have faith that God has a different plan for Joseph. Yesterday, they got a report from the doctor that the secondary cancer "lymphoma" was no longer detected! Wow! The power of prayer!!! Please continue to pray for Joseph, pray for his healing. Pray for his family. We did one smile from him at his party. He is a big Ole Miss fan, a friend of mine at ALSAC was able to get a baseball signed by some of the baseball players at Ole Miss for Joseph. That brought a big smile! I must also tell you, that was one fun day for me, I got to be surrounded by loving Ole Miss fans! Keep the prayers going up for Joseph.

Big Trevor will be traveling today to come for his check up. Let's lift Pam and Trevor up in prayer for safe travel to Memphis and also for great reports.

Ariel was here last Thursday and Friday. She had good reports. Bless her heart, it was probably not one of her more fun trips, she had to get the flu shot and take the ACT test! She was feeling great, but by Sunday she began to feel a little puny, most likely from the flu shot. Pray that she is feeling much better soon. She really showed her spirit and drive to raise money for Team Believe this past weekend! They took a set of tickets for the IPad fundraiser back to Hattiesburg with them Friday night. Ariel took them out to a fall festival on Saturday morning and completely sold out of all her tickets by lunch time!!! She may have a future in sales! We are so proud of Ariel. She and her family are members of Team Believe this year, they will be with us at our team dinner. I look forward to everyone getting to meet this wonderful family. Beware.... there will be two sets of St Jude twins with us!!!!

Ok, since we are back to the topic of marathon weekend... I thought I would maybe begin to post a few pics to start that walk down memory lane to get everyone really geared up and ready for this years BIG WEEKEND! I went back and picked a few pictures to post. If you have not realized yet, IT'S ALMOST HERE!!! YEA!!!!

Mardecia, Marcella, Lisa & Brenda

Svetlana

Ben, Mardecia & Cindy

Nicole, Sandy, Natalie, Mardecia & Cindy

Susan, Brenda & Allison

Be watching... more blast from the past to come!

Things are going great! Plans are all coming together. Funds are beginning to come in. I want to send out a few "shout-outs".
Brenda and Lenzy had a successful Arkansas Angels Beauty Pageant this past weekend, with all proceeds going to St Jude for our team! Congratulations to you ladies for your success and thank you for your hard work.

Svetlana is rocking!!! She is our top fundraiser at this point! Way to go girl! Not sure what she is doing down there in Atlanta to raise all of that money, but we could take a lesson from her :) Keep it up!

We do have 3 team members who have each raised over 1,000.00!! Wow, just think, if all 50+ of us raised just half of that, we would exceed our goal! Here in the last few weeks, I ask each person to try to reach a personal goal of $500.00 to put our team over our team goal. We are a team, we can pull together and show our love to St Jude and the children being treated there.Send out your letters asking for support, post you team page on Facebook, give your friends a chance to support your efforts. Just try those two things and see what happens.

Please keep our silent auction in mind. This was a very fun way of raising some money for our team and some lucky people got to go home with some pretty cool goodies. Be creative, bring an item, or a themed basket, anything you want to donate will be WONDERFUL!

Ok, go out today and show your faith to those around you! Make today a day that brings a smile to you and to those around you.

GO TEAM BELIEVE!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Good Morning!

2010-11-02T07:04:00.003-05:00

Good morning. Did you start your day with a prayer for all your blessing this morning? I bet your friends said a prayer of thanks for the blessing that you are in their lives. Relationships and friends are some of our greatest blessings.

Everything is going well with the St Jude kiddo's. Preston is still inpatient, still struggling with that GVH rash, but hopefully getting it under control and getting to go out to Target House soon. Keep praying for him to clear of that rash.

The new guy I mentioned to you, has left the hospital and now at Ronald McDonald house. He seems to be doing well. Keep praying for his successful treatment.

Little Trevor was able to have his chemo treatment this week. He did see the kidney specialist, she was not to concerned at this point about his kidney functions, so they will continue on with his chemo treatments. They will be back on the 10th of November for his next visit and treatment. Keep him and his family in your prayers.

Big Trevor comes back on Friday for his check-up. Be praying for good reports for him, and safe travel. When Pam is driving, they need prayers! LOL

One year ago yesterday, our sweet precious prom queen traded in her crown for her wings. Mal is missed by so many people. She was a very special daughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend. She was so loved by all of her friends because she was a friend to them. I think Mal taught a lesson on how to be strong, how to fight and how to love. Please keep her family in your prayers at this time. Anniversaries are so hard. Prayers for Brad, Tina and Heath. We love you.

Welcome to Madeline Elizabeth Locke. ^Dax^ is a big brother now! Julie and Austin had their baby, a beautiful little girl with a very special name. They chose Elizabeth to honor sweet ^Elizabeth Dunford^. Prayers for this sweet family as they begin a new life with Madeline.

Please continue to pray for Ryan, pray for his miracle, pray for him to not suffer from all of this pain. Pray for peace. Prayers go out to Ryan and his family.

Time is getting closer for our big marathon weekend. Please pray for the success of this weekend for our team as well as the success of the entire St Jude Marathon. Many of our kiddo's families have teams who are working hard to raise money to help give back to St Jude for the time and treatment, love and care they received while at St Jude. Pray for each team. I am looking forward to seeing everyone as we all gather back in Memphis for this wonderful weekend. I am like a kid waiting for Christmas for all of TEAM BELIEVE to get here! I'm ready for some sweet and special hugs! This group of people are so special to me, they are a wonderful example of selfless people. I encourage each of you who have not been a part of this group and this experience to consider becoming involved with this team of wonderful prayer warriors and St Jude Heroes! I pray a prayer of praise for each one of you.

Last on my mind today... It's election day! Please choose to exercise your right to be a part in the process of selecting those people who will be representing you and making decisions that directly effect your life. As one friend of mine put it.... get out and go earn your right to complain if you are not happy with your government. If you are happy, then go out and cast your vote to keep things the way they are. I will be leaving when I close this post and going to cast my vote. I am truly excited about this privilege today. I have not really felt this way before, but I think it is going to feel so good to hit that CAST VOTE button.

I hope each of you have a wonderful day! Rain is in our forecast, but that will not keep us from enjoying our day.

GO TEAM BELIEVE

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

TODAY - LAST DAY

2010-10-29T09:41:00.002-05:00

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ORDER YOUR TEAM SHIRT FOR THIS YEAR'S ST JUDE MARATHON.

ALSO, WE DID GET THE IPAD FOR A TEAM RAFFLE TO HELP US RAISE OUR $20,000.00!!! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO (DONATE) $5 FOR EACH TICKET, I WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SEND YOU SOME IN THE MAIL. JUST EMAIL ME WITH THE NUMBER OF TICKETS YOU WANT AND A MAILING ADDRESS TO SEND THEM.

TEAM MEMBERS, IF EACH OF YOU WILL SELL JUST 10 TICKETS, WE CAN SELL ALL 500 TICKETS BEING SOLD AND TURN THIS INTO $2,500.00 FOR ST JUDE. IT'S EASY. OF COURSE, YOU ARE WELCOME TO SELL MORE. THEY ARE ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS.

TOP SALES PERSON (SELLING THE MOST TICKETS) WILL RECEIVE ONE NIGHT FREE IN THE HOTEL DURING THE MARATHON WEEKEND. IF THE TOP SELLING PERSON IS NOT COMING THAT WEEKEND, THE PRIZE WILL BE OF EQUAL VALUE TO THAT ROOM.
THE PERSON WHO SELLS THE WINNING TICKET WILL RECEIVE A CASH PRIZE OF $25.00!!

ALSO, ANY AND ALL DONATIONS WELCOME, WE ARE IN THE CLOSING WEEKS OF THIS YEAR'S BIG EVENT, YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO BE A PART AND HELP US HELP ST JUDE AND ALL OF OUR PRECIOUS KIDDO'S WE SUPPORT.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

rebelmom528@aol.com

Good Morning!

2010-10-28T07:58:00.002-05:00

Good morning! I hope each of you will have a wonderful and blessed day! As you go through today, look around you and take the opportunity to do one random act of kindness toward someone else today. Just watch the smile come across their face when they realize what was just done for them! It's contagious!

I had a pretty full day yesterday at the Jude. I had the opportunity to meet a new family that arrived over the weekend. They are a very sweet and precious family and came to my attention by several different friends of mine from different times and places in my life. It was pretty amazing how small our world and circle of friends can really be at times. This family has a precious little 4 year old boy who has just been diagnosed with leukemia. They do not have a CB page set up at this time, they are just very busy getting adjusted to the journey they now find themselves on. Please keep them in your prayers, I'll post more as I have more opportunities to visit with them and have an opportunity to talk with them regarding sharing his info.

Also, big prayer request... Please keep Joseph and his family in your prayers. Joseph has left the hospital and gone to Target House on hospice care. A few weeks ago, the doctors told the family there were no more options for him and his time was very short. Over the past few weeks, his counts have begun to come up and look better. He needs all of he prayers you can send up on his behalf. His family is a very strong spiritual family and know that God is in control. Pray for Joseph's miracle of healing and for his family to have peace during this time. I got to spend some time with them last night, they have ask me to help them arrange a party for Joseph so that his friends and family will have an opportunity to come and spend some time with him. I am very honored to help them with this and extremely excited because he is a BIG Ole Miss fan like myself. They want an Ole Miss cake!!! I'm REALLY honored and excited to pull this one off!!! Please keep them in your constant prayers.

I got to spend some time with Preston yesterday too! He was hyped up on steroids and was absolutely adorable and full of himself! He was bouncing all over the place. He is just so cute! Please continue to pray for him to continue to improve from the GVH complications. His counts are all great, just dealing with the GVH now. Hopefully he will get to get out of the hospital in the next couple of weeks.

BIG NEWS: A brand new IPad has been donated to our team to be used as a fundraiser for Team Believe. We will have the opportunity to sell chances to win the IPad. The chances "tickets" "donations" will be $5 per donation with ALL proceeds going to St Jude. If you are a team member and want to participate in this, email me and I will mail you the amount of tickets you think you can sell or if you are not a team member and want to donate for tickets for yourself, email me. We will only be selling 500 tickets, and they are already going fast. We will have the drawing for the winner at our team dinner on Friday night December 3, 2010. Anyone anywhere can participate in this opportunity. I can ship the IPad via FedEx to anyone who is the lucky winner! Support our team, get your tickets today. They WILL NOT last long.

ALSO....TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY TO ORDER TEAM APPAREL. TEAM T-SHIRTS, SWEATS, HOODIES AND HATS. DO NOT MISS OUT the pay pal buttons will come down tomorrow night and all sales will be over. While it is not required, we would love for all team members to wear their team shirt on race day. We want everyone to see us coming and know who Team Believe is!

Keep up the great work! Please be in prayer for a few of the fundraisers that some of our team is doing. Pray for the ones working to put them together and pray for their success. Arkansas Chapter (Brenda and Lenzy) are working on their beauty pageant. It is coming up in another week or so. Pray for lot's of pretty little girls to participate in this and for them to all have a great time and feel so special.

Jordan's family is hosting a big dinner and festival type event at the end of November. Be praying for them as they are working very hard to make this happen.

Order your team shirts and ask someone to make a donation today! Just one a day will add up :)

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

rebelmom528@aol.com

Counting Down...

2010-10-25T20:59:00.002-05:00

I'm home and playing catch up. I hope to get some time to get to the hospital tomorrow or Wednesday to see Preston and Leah. Also, I received word today of a new little guy who has come while I was gone. He has been diagnosed with leukemia. That is really all I know at this time. Please be praying for him and his family as they are trying to grasp the new world they have just found themselves in the middle of. I'll give more details after I visit with them.

Please be in prayer for precious little Ryan and his family. Ryan, as you know, come to St Jude for a second transplant last year but relapsed again. He has been waiting on a donor for a third transplant for awhile now. He has been back home in Texas. He has been in and out of the hospital with fevers and infections quite a bit in the past few months. He was sent home from the hospital at the end of last week to be with his family. Short of a miracle, Ryan is losing his battle. Please keep him, his mom Kim, and his father and other siblings in your prayers. I still just do not know how you face knowing the time is very short. Kim has been very strong the whole time she was in Memphis and has remained strong after going back home to Texas. Please pray for them.

THIS FRIDAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ORDER A TEAM T-SHIRT AND THE SWEATS. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR ORDER IN BY MIDNIGHT ON FRIDAY NIGHT OCTOBER 29, 2010. THE ORDER BUTTONS WILL COME OFF THE PAGE AT MIDNIGHT, THERE WILL NOT BE A CHANCE FOR LATE ORDERS. I HAVE TO HAVE THE ORDER IN TO THE PRINT SHOP MONDAY MORNING IN ORDER TO GET THE PRINTED AND IN THE MAIL BACK TO YOU. PLEASE DON'T MISS OUT, IT'S AWESOME TO LET OTHERS SEE OUR TEAM! I AM VERY PROUD OF EACH AND EVERY ONE OF OUR TEAM MEMBERS.

More to come...

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

BELIEVE IN TEAM BELIEVE!!!!

There is Power in Prayer

2010-10-16T21:56:00.002-05:00

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone: or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets." Matt. 7:7-12

Prayer is such an important part of the Christian's walk with God. I cannot fathom living life without such an option! Prayer grants believers not only the privilege of being able to personally evoke God's name in praise and gratitude, but also the right to petition Him for things of concern. In prayer, the Christian can essentially ask God to intervene in their life. It is an incredible thing if you really think about it - in prayer the Christian may actually be praying for something to happen that may not have taken place had he or she not prayed about it. AMAZING!

Our God is not only a loving father, He is one who stands ready to give. Scripture says He is the giver of "good gifts" and "perfect gifts." Your needs are neither unknown, nor are they unimportant to your God. Your God is right beside you essentially saying, "Just trust me. Everything will be alright." What a comfort!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!

I just want to leave you with that thought for the week. I will be "out of pocket" this coming week. I will be enjoying a long awaited vacation cruise with my husband and all four of our boys this next week. I would like to ask for your prayers for safe travel for us. We will fly out of Memphis to Ft Lauderdale early Monday morning, board ship that afternoon and return home the next weekend. We have been looking forward to this trip, at this stage of our lives and the ages of our guys, it becomes very difficult to find a time when all of us can get away together. God has blessed us with this time.

I have another prayer request for you too. Little Trevor really needs some prayers going his way to help him adjust to the new life of school structure. He is really having a difficult time adjusting and it's been very tough on him and his parents. Please pray for him to have a great week at school this next week. Healthy wise, he is doing really well!

Please keep praying for Preston as he continues to remain in the transplant unit waiting for his cells to engraft. His hair is just about all out now, he is still just as cute as can be! I just love a shinny slick chemo head!!! He is doing well, he has his good days and his not so good ones... that is just how it goes following transplant. Pray specifically for no side effects affecting his organs and NO GVHD! Pray for his ANC and others counts to keep going up!

That's about it as for the SJ kiddo's! Everyone else seems to be doing very well.

TEAM BELIEVE: Don't forget to get your hotel confirmations in. Last day to order t-shirts and sweats is OCTOBER 29TH.
Plan your trip to Memphis... Team Dinner on Friday evening beginning at 6:30; allow time to go downtown to pick up your packets. Do not forget... THERE IS NO PACKET PICKUP ON RACE DAY THIS YEAR.

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME THIS WEEK TO ASK JUST 5 PEOPLE TO PLEASE DONATE TO YOUR GOAL TOWARD RAISING MONEY FOR ST JUDE. If each one of our 50 members can get just $100.00 in donations, that would put us way up toward reaching our goal.
Remember: You DO NOT have to be on the team to donate, please if you are reading this page, please go to our team goal page and click on DONATE NOW and give what you can to this wonderful hospital. It is people like you and I that keep the doors open for these children to continue being treated to fight this ugly beast! If it is $5.00 or $500.00... it does not matter! Every penny is so important! Please help us reach our goal of $20,000.00.

Pray for our success as a team.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Fun Faces to Share

2010-10-12T09:30:00.002-05:00

Trevor at the Bolton Night For St Jude Spaghetti Dinner- we raised $350.00 for St Jude!! Trevor had a blast and was the star of the night!

Yes... that is our sweet Beauty Queen Ariel at a photo shoot at her high school Homecoming! That girl is one awesome girl! She was the Senior Maid for the Homecoming Court this year. Congrats Ariel

You know you just have to smile when you see this little face! Jack says..."Look at me now guys!" He is doing great and you should see the head of hair under that hard hat! He was helping with a family building project over the past weekend.

TEAM BELIEVE - A Team page has been set up on Facebook. It also has closed group chat availability. I have tried to add everyone to it that is on our marathon team, if you would like to join it, you may send a join request through facebook to join.

IMPORTANT... ONLY ABOUT 2 MORE WEEKS TO ORDER YOUR TEAM BELIEVE MARATHON TSHIRT. Orders will only be taken until October 29, 2010.

HOTEL CONFIRMATION/RESERVATIONS NEED TO BE MADE ASAP.

Hope you all have a great day. Say a little prayer for the success of our Memphis group's Chili's Give Back Day that will be held tomorrow. If you know anyone in Memphis, give me a call and let them know to go eat at either the Millington or the Wolfchase Chili's tomorrow anytime from 11 - 11. Tell them you are there for the St Jude Give Back Day when you go in and 10% of the profit will come to TEAM BELIEVE for St Jude!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

St Jude Fun Day

2010-10-03T11:08:00.002-05:00

What a beautiful weekend God has given to us! The weather in West Tennessee has been just perfect. I had a wonderful day yesterday at a small town BBQ Fest in Henderson, TN. Mallerie's family had a booth at the BBQ Fest to raise money for their St Jude Marathon team. It was a huge success and a fantastic day. It was a blessing to get to spend some time with them. Heath has grown up so much and is such a handsome and sweet young man. Brad and Tina look great, they are staying busy keeping up with Heath and doing wonderful things for St Jude. Keep them in your prayers.

Mallerie's booth at the Chester Country BBQ Fest - NP Jen, Tina, Mardecia, Shelia (Tina's sister)

Update more later.... I'm at Pickwick now.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Get Your Order In...

2010-10-01T10:15:00.002-05:00

It's time to start getting our orders in for shirts, sweats, hoodies, & hats! The team t-shirt will have the photo of Dr. Scott and Jordan on the back and our Team Believe logo on the front. The logo is the same as was on the front of our team shirt last year. We will be adding a few names this year. We will be adding Ariel as they have joined our team this year, LIttle Trevor, and Natalie. All will be with us this year! Also, ^Mary Kate's^ name will be added.

We will also be offering a hoodie/sweat pants set or you can purchase them separately if you only want one or the other. The is a small price break if you order the set. You will have a choice on the hoodie, you can either order one with the team logo on the center front or the words "TEAM BELIEVE" on the center front. The pants will have TEAM BELIEVE down the leg. The set will be $40.00. Hoodie alone is $25.00 - pants alone will be $20.00. We have a baseball style cap that will have TEAM BELIEVE on the front center, cost on the cap is $12.00.

The pay pal order will be open on our blog page through this month. The orders will close on Friday October 29,2010. I MUST have the order turned in to the print shop by Monday November 1, 2010 in order for us to have it all back in time to get them shipped out to everyone. If you want to just pick yours up when you get to Memphis, just let me know.

I'm excited about our silent auction again this year. We did very well with that last year. Remember, please try to bring at least one item to put in the silent auction with you. Either a themed basket, or an individual item , either is perfect!

Our Memphis group of Team Believe is all organized and ready for NOT ONE BUT TWO Chili's Give Back Nights on October 13th! We have met with the managers and two different locations will be hosting the Give Back night for us on the same night. They will actually be hosting it from 11am to 11pm at both locations. We are very thankful and grateful to Chili's for all of the support they give to St Jude. I LOVE CHILI'S!!! I wish you could all come to Memphis on the 13th and join us!

Do you have your hotel room confirmed? Have you asked someone to donate to your goal this week? Are you ready to come to Memphis????

Please be in specific prayer for a few of our kiddo's. First Preston had his transplant on Wednesday, please keep him in prayer for a uneventful and successful transplant. Also, Morgan is on her way to St Jude today to get a few things checked out, please be praying for her today that all is well. Big Trevor had his surgery on Monday and has returned home. Pray for his surgery to be successful. I know many of you have followed Devon Lore, he went home to be with Jesus and his other St Jude buddies who have fought the battle and earned their wings before him. Please keep his family in your prayers. Little Trevor is doing well as for his cancer, however he is having some difficulties adjusting to school. He started kindergarten this year and it's a huge change for him. Please keep him in your prayers and his family as they are trying to help him with all of these adjustments. Jordan has started full time school in the past month too, he is loving it! He has some mornings where he cries when they drop him off, but it's over by the time they get out of the parking lot and he is loving it! Boy, I can't wait to get my hands on him in December! This is the longest I have gone without seeing him!

Please be in prayer for our team. For us to be successful and reach or surpass our goal of $20,000.00, for everyone to have safe training and safe travel here. Pray for an overall successful marathon for St Jude.

Enjoy your family and friends this weekend. I hope the weather forecast for where ever you are is as perfect as the one we have for Memphis! This is the most beautiful weather we have had in quite sometime.

Ok, I just got a text from Regina Rushing, her other daughter Alison just finished up at the doctor. She has been having trouble with her knee for quite some time now and they are finally going to do surgery this coming Wednesday. They have tried all measures to see if it would get better without having to go to surgery, but seems surgery is the only way now. Please pray for Alison and Regina. Pray the doctors will be able to find the problem and fix it right up!

Have a great weekend!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

T-Shirt Time!

2010-09-27T22:41:00.002-05:00

I've been patiently waiting for the t-shirt design artwork to come back.... IT'S HERE!! This is the design that will be on the back of our 2010 St Jude Marathon t-shirts. Our team logo will be on the front. The team logo will have a few names add ed this year to the circle of stars but other than a change in the date, it will remain the same as we created last year. I am also very excited to share with you that we will be offering a few new "TEAM BELIEVE" items. We will have our team t-shirt in both short and long sleeves. It will be a white shirt with light royal blue print. The company doing the shirts this year is only one of two print shops in Memphis that have a new process to do full color, yet it is still screen print and not a photo transfer, so it will hold up just like screen print. They can take a four color design and mix the four colors and make 16 colors. Pretty neat process! Along with the short and long sleeve T, we will be offering a light grey hoodie with your choice of our team logo or the words "Team Believe" in the center front, a pair of light grey sweats to match and a baseball style running cap with "Team Believe" on the front. Allison will get our pay pal button back up on the blog for you to order your shirts and sweats and hat. I know you will want it ALL! As always in the past, the sale of our team clothing is a fundraiser for our team and 100% of the profit goes directly to St Jude. This is another way you can help us out and get something really nice in return too. Remember, you do not have to be on the team in order to wear the team clothing and show your support for Childhood Cancer Awareness and St Jude. Order away and show your support!

For those who may not know, this is our Hero for this year that we will be honoring by running for him... Jordan James. I took this picture when he was here for his very healthy 2 year post transplant check-up. He and his family will be here to run with us again this year. They are so excited and working so hard down in Louisiana raising money for our team. Jordan is with Dr. Scott in this picture. Dr. Scott is our Hero too, he was Jordan's primary doctor during his treatment and transplant.
On a side note, I have a shirt for Jordan to wear that says "Thank You St Jude, You Saved MY Life"! I can't wait for him to put it on and hits the streets of Memphis in December.

As soon as Allison is able to get our pay pal button up we will begin to take orders. We will take orders until Friday October 29,2010. I have to get the order in to the print company on Monday November 1, 2010 in order to have it processed and ready to mail out for those who will be coming to Memphis for the marathon weekend. I will not be able to accept any late orders, it will go to print only one time.

Have you confirmed your hotel room? They are filling up, so don't wait and miss out on our half price discount for the rooms I have blocked off for us. Hopefully you all are coming up with some great items for our silent auction. You can either bring them with you or ship them to me ahead of time if you do not want to travel with them. Again, even if you are not on the team and traveling to Memphis, if you want to donate an item for our silent auction to help our team reach our goal, you may send them to me.

News on our kiddo's... Little Trevor was here this past week for his scans and chemo. His MRI show that his tumor remains "stable". So he continues his chemo. He is doing very well, looks great and has more energy than the energizer bunny! Praises of thanks for how well he is doing.

Big Trevor had knee surgery today. Pam explains what they did on Trevor's CB page, I'll let you get the info from there. It is a totally new process to me, one that I am not familiar with at all. The chances of it's success are less than 50%, so I ask you to be in prayer for it to be successful for him. He looks good and was feeling good (probably from pain meds) when he came out of surgery. I hope he will have a quick and successful recovery, He will have tomorrow off, then has some appointments at the Jude on Wednesday.

Preston is on his way to transplant. He is set to receive his transplant on Wednesday. His donor will be harvesting tomorrow, so I ask you to please be in prayer that all goes well for his donor. Pray for a speedy recovery for his donor. Pray a prayer of praise for the loving giving spirit of the donor. Pray for a successful transplant for Preston.

I have had so much going on the past few weeks. I apologize for such a long delay in posting. My "extra" time has been very short. It's late and I'm going to turn in for tonight but I did want to get the design up so you could see it. I hope you all love it as much as I do. I think Jordan's family did a great job, they knew exactly what they wanted. Dr. Scott and Jordan!

Sleep well, pray hard and love those around you with all of your heart.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Marathon and Fundraising Info

2010-09-15T17:35:00.003-05:00

79 Days 7 Hours and 21 Minutes

Yes, in about 77 days members of Team Believe will begin to make their way to Memphis. Others will make their way to Memphis in 78 days. We hit the streets of downtown Memphis to begin the event in 79 days!!! I wish you could feel just a tiny bit of the excitement that I feel just thinking about this! This is ALMOST as good as Christmas. When I stop to think about it, it's BETTER than Christmas for many many families who depend on St Jude to save their child's life. Just to think about what a wonderful gift this team of people and all of those of you who donate to this team are able to give. Not just any old Christmas gift but the GIFT OF A CHANCE TO LIVE TO BE AN ADULT! I consider that the best gift I can EVER give to anyone other than the gift of dedicating and giving myself to God.

Plans are coming together. I have talked to many of the team members from all over and many fundraising ideas and events are beginning to come together. Our Arkansas Chapter (Brenda & Lenzy) are preparing for their second annual Beauty Pageant. Last year was very successful and they are looking forward to an even bigger event this year. Be in prayer for their hard work to be a huge success.

Our Southern Mississippi Chapter (Ariel & Amber) are working on their County Wide Capture The Flag fundraising event. Their mom and dad are preparing for a Chicken Plate Dinner sale. Prayers for their success are requested also.

Our Northern Mississippi Chapter ( Hope and Beth) are working on some things through their businesses... top secret cant share yet :) Please keep them and their efforts in your prayers.

Our Louisiana Chapter (Patricia, Chance, Jordan and their family) are working on several different things. They have a Jordan Day Fall Festival and a Dinner (2 separate events) in the works so far, with more things in the works. They are really getting so excited about all of this. They call about every other day with questions and excitement for everything going on.

Our Houston Chapter (Allison & Susan) will be working in combination with our North Mississippi Chapter to do a fundraiser with Willow House (Hope's business). They will be hosting a home Willow House party and catalog sales with all of the profit going to St Jude.

Our Memphis Chapter has alot going on. We have 3 Give Back Nights at our Wolfchase Chili's with 10% of the profit on those nights coming to our team. We will be selling Spaghetti plates and Smoked Chicken plates during two different evenings at the concessions for a double header baseball game. All proceeds to St Jude (Team Believe).

These are the ones that I am aware of at this time. If you have any ideas or have anything going on that I am missing here, please let me know so I can share with others.

Lot's of great things going on to help our team and exceed our goal. Thank you to everyone for all your doing. I can not wait to give our gift of $20,000.00 + to St Jude this year!!!

Also, I will have our artwork for our team shirt ready to post hopefully in the next day or so. I have been playing phone tag with the guy from the t-shirt print shop today. He has it all, I just need for him to email it to me so I can post it and we can begin taking orders. This year, as in the past, we will offer our "official" team shirt to anyone who wants to have one. It's an awesome way for each one of you, team member or not, to bring awareness to Childhood Cancer and to St Jude. So please, order yours and wear it proudly to promote this very worthy cause and hospital. In purchasing a shirt, you are also supporting our team. All of the profit from the shirts go to our team donation to St Jude. This year in addition to our t-shirt, we plan to offer a team logo hoodie and sweats and a baseball style cap.

IF ANYONE OUT THERE HAS ANY ITEM (NEW) THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO DONATE TO OUR TEAM FOR OUR SILENT AUCTION TO BE HELD THE NIGHT OF OUR TEAM DINNER (12-3-10) PLEASE CONTACT ME BY EMAIL. We had a great success with our Silent Auction last year and it added some fun and excitement to our evening. I'll list some examples of some of our items: handmade quilt, several really nice "goodie" baskets ( A pamper basket filled with a luxury robe, bubble bath, bath salts, lotions, etc.) A Gentlemans St Jude themed basket with a Man's St Jude logo watch, tie, pen/pencil set and more. A Ladie's themed basket. A St Jude Bubble Gum Machine, gift certificates and lot's more. It does not have to be St Jude logo. Any item you can get to Memphis is welcome. This year, I hope to have more items and some really nice items that anyone would be proud to be taking home. All proceeds from the donated items for the silent auction go to St Jude.

Our team dinner will be at the same place again, we will be serving up a night of Pasta! Be making your plans to attend the dinner. As it gets closer to time, I will begin to ask for RSVP's so I can plan for the proper amount of food. YES, we will have our coveted Team Cake with the raspberry filling too.

Wanted to remind you of a few very important things. One, when making your travel plans, make sure you allow time to go to pick up your race packet. This is held at the Cook Convention Center downtown, so you will need to allow time to go get it before our dinner starts at 6:30. This year they WILL NOT BE DOING MORNING OF RUN PICK UP. This is always a great time to shop for items that are normally carried in the St Jude Gift Shop. They do have booths set up at the Packet Pick Up.

Also, if you have not already confirmed your room at our "Official" team hotel, please get this done as soon as possible. I want to make sure I have blocked enough rooms for everyone. Our special price (half price) is 89.00 per night.
Here is a copy of a past post regarding hotel info:

Our block of rooms are set up and they are ready to begin taking your calls to confirm your room accommodations for the Marathon Weekend. The hotel is the same as last year, Holiday Inn & Suites * 2751 New Brunswick Rd. * Memphis, TN 38133. When you call to confirm your room on your credit card, you must ask to speak with Sybil Sides or Gina Porter. These are the only ladies who can make sure you are getting in the right block of rooms and getting our very special team rate. Tell them you are a member of Team Believe for the St Jude Marathon. Call them diectly at 901-266-1952. I have a limited number of rooms that I can block at this time, so there again, I would not wait on this. When you call in to confirm your room, you will give them your credit card information, but you will not be billed until after your stay the weekend of the marathon. They will be forwarding me a list of the team members who have reserved a room, so I will keep an eye on it and do the best I can to make sure everyone gets a room.

One last thing for now... If anyone is interested in a private team tour of St Jude, please let me know by email. I will set this up again this year if there is enough interest. We have done this on Friday early afternoon in the past. No one under the age of 16 is allowed to participate in the tours. St Jude rule.

Rock On.... Keep praying and keep believing. It's going to be a wonderful year!!! Looking so forward to Reagan's family being with us again. I love to sit and talk to Barbara, she keeps us all in stitches laughing so hard!!! Natalie and Nicole and their family will be with us again. Of course, Jordan and his family will be here! You just never know who is gonna show up....

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Mardecia
rebelmom528@aol.com

Good Morning...

2010-09-14T06:29:00.002-05:00

Good Morning, what a GREAT day God has made! It's a little early to be enjoying it already. It's been rather busy around our house this past week and weekend, but it's been really nice. A weekend full of baseball, surprising?

hummmmm.. I have been typing away here and covering the last part of last week and Monday and all of the sudden.... POOF!! It was just gone! I must still be asleep and not hitting the proper keys.

Let me try to remember what all I had just shared with you. The boys last week, Trevor & Jack both had great appointments with great news. Then on Friday, it was girls day. Ariel and Morgan were both in for their check ups and (Ariel) treatment. Morgan had another wonderful check up, her labs looks the best she has had. Praise God for this wonderful report! She looks absolutely beautiful and healthy as can be. She had her very sweet boyfriend with her. He was a very nice young man. Preston had to go inpatient last week for fever, so Morgan and Theresa were able to see him through the bubble window, but were able to meet and talk with his mom and his Ma. I know this was good for all of them. Theresa will be a wonderful friend to Renee. I know that she will always be there to help answer questions or just let her know some of the things they are going through are "normal". Please continue to pray for Preston, he is supposed to begin his process for Transplant today. With the fever he was running, I am not sure if it has changed any of the plans or not.

Ariel had a good visit, she looks beautiful too. I was so happy to see all of the Reynolds women! Mom brought them, Amber got to miss a day of school and come to! I wanted to share with you the BIG PLAN that Ariel and Amber are organizing on their own. With the support of their parents of course. I love these girl, I wish you could see their faces as they shared their plan with me. As you know, they are seniors in high school this year and truly enjoying their year. They have come up with the idea and have a very detailed and laid out plan to host a county wide "CAPTURE THE FLAG" game between the different schools in their area. There will be an entry fee, each school will have their own t-shirts to identify their team which will be part of their fundraiser, concessions, prizes and lot's of fun. They have their plan worked out for signs and advertising. It's a pretty huge undertaking, but they have done their research and have a very laid out plan. I think it will be a very successful fundraiser for St Jude and a total blast for the kids who participate. What a way to help support Team Believe and St Jude. Their parents are also planning a Chicken Plate sale coming up pretty soon. That will be another fundraiser for the team. WAY TO GO REYNOLDS FAMILY!!!

Natalie came in yesterday for her 4 month check up! She got the ALL CLEAR too!!! Goodness, can we ask for a better week for our kiddo's at the Jude? I did not get to go down to see Nat, I was tied up with Booster Club bookwork, and was hoping to meet up for lunch after their appointments, but with her now a college student, they stay on the run and busy, so they had to get back for an event on campus. I am just not to sure about "my" kiddo's growing up and getting so busy they don't have time to slow down. Honestly, I am just so thankful they are healthy and able to live their lives to the fullest and just like every other teen who has not had to fight the same battle they have. I am so very happy for all of the kiddo's.

I also got to visit with Heather and Leah on Friday. She was in for her weekly visit and treatment. She is doing well. She had been through a LP so she was trying to wake up from sedation and was a bit nauseated but after taking some meds she was beginning to perk up. She is just so adorable! I got to play Strawberry Shortcake with her :) You must keep in mine, I have all boys so playing with Strawberry Shortcake and brushing hair with teeny tiny little brushes was just not in my daily activities. I was loving every minute of it! Keep praying for her success. She has one more "big" round of chemo to go. At the time, she will have approximately 2 more years of treatment to go.

I plan to visit with another new face around the Jude. I was able to meet her mom last week, but she was in ICU following surgery. She is another teen and I hope to meet her and get her connected with another teen who happens to live in our area and fought the same diagnosed battle. I LOVE match making!!! When things settle a bit more with them and I get to visit with them, I will ask about permission to post her CB site and name. You can still be praying for her, God will know who you are talking about.

As you can see, so many are fighting and being affected by THE BEAST! I will ask you again, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider a donation to St Jude through our Team Believe. It is so easy to do. Just go to the top of this blog and look over to the right, double click on the "Donate to St Jude" link and it will take you straight to the online donation page. THANK YOU!

TEAM BELIEVE: Hotel rooms are filling up, make sure you get your room in our block of team rooms confirmed. I am working on the t-shirts and the design is almost complete and we will begin taking orders for the shirts soon. Anyone can order a team shirt, you do not have to be a team member to proudly wear and support our kiddo's and St Jude! I hope your training is going great! Our fundraising could really use a boost! This is the slowest we have ever been. Please be praying for our success in meeting our goal.

Have a GREAT day! Always remember....

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Second Post For Today... see WooHoo right before this one

2010-09-10T00:27:00.003-05:00

The week just keeps getting better! Just found out tonight that Ariel and Amber got here tonight for a quick checkup in the morning, then a quick trip back home tomorrow for a big rival football game at school! These girls stay sooo on the go busy! I am so thankful that they are able to do so! I'll try to get some pics of them and Morgan so I can update you.

Wanted to post a few pics so you can see how well little Trevor and Jack are doing. I forgot to take my camera, so these were made with my cell phone. Not the best quality, but you can see their sweet faces!

Trevor, all smiles and feeling great!

Me getting some sweeeeet sugar off of the Trev!!! I love this little guy!

Sweet Jack! Just out of recovery following his MRI. Still a little groggy, but all smiles!! So thankful for the blessing of another ALL CLEAR FOR JACK!!! Love me some Jack!

I'll fill you in on the girls tomorrow. All boys today all girls tomorrow!!! Got a new family I have met, they are actually friends of one of the new couples on Team Believe. At this time since I have not yet ask permission to post anything about her, I am just going to ask for you to please keep her and her family in your prayers. She had surgery at The Jude on Tuesday evening and was taken to ICU. Pray for a full recovery for her. As soon as I have a chance to get permission to post name and CB site, I will do so. God will know who you are praying for :)

I'll be taking Preston his handmade quilt tomorrow that was made for him by my sweet friends. I am anxious to give it to him. I will also be introducing him and his family to Morgan and her family. They share the same diagnosis. Hopefully this will be a great benefit to Preston and family as they begin the same journey that Morgan has been through.

Hope you have a great day! I have had a wonderful full past few days at The Jude! So many hugs, smiles and thanksgiving!

Bless this hospital and all of those who are employed there who do their part to fight and save these precious children.

DONATE... BE A PART OF THE CURE!!!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

WooHoo!

2010-09-09T17:51:00.004-05:00

A quick update! I just got home and am about to have to run out again. I have had two very fun days at The Jude with Jack, Little Trevor and Preston's family. Morgan will be here tomorrow for her check-up, I'm looking forward to seeing her. It's been awhile since she has been here.

On the news front...

JACK IS ALL CLEAR AGAIN!!! Thank you, praise to our AWESOME God for another NED for Jack! He was so adorable! I have a few pics from the past two days that I will post in the next day or so.

Trevor did not make it in on Tuesday due to the weather in Texas, his flight was cancelled. He did make it in late last night, was held up today awaiting EKG results, so he did not get to begin chemo until late this afternoon, so he will not make his flight home tonight. They will return home tomorrow. He will be back on the 21st and have his big scans and test on the 22nd that he did not get to do this week because of the flight cancellation. So keep praying for good results for him on his big scans.

Preston is back. He has been very busy the past two days with scans and port/line removal/replacement. He should have everything done and be ready to check in to the transplant unit on Tuesday of next week to begin actually transplant process. Keep him and his family in your prayers for successful transplant. They are such a sweet family, just like all of our other families.

Pray for safe travel for Morgan and mom tomorrow and for excellent results for her.

I'll have a more detailed update including pictures as soon as I can SLOW DOWN!! Between marathon plans, hospital visits, and baseball booster club activities I am hopping pretty good right now.

We do have some new team members that have signed up in the past few days. I will recognize all of our new members in an upcoming update soon. I CAN NOT TELL YOU HOW EXCITED I AM WITH HOW OUR TEAM IN GROWING!!! Let's get the money coming in now!!!

Love to each of you! Thank you for being such wonderful and awesome prayer warriors.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

A Few Changes In This Weeks Schedule

2010-09-07T22:18:00.004-05:00

Good evening. I just wanted to let you know about a couple of things. First, Jack is here for his big scans and check-up. He is supposed to get started in the morning. Remember to keep Katie, Ryan and the other family members back home waiting to hear the reports in your prayers. Pray specifically for their peace as they await the results. Pray specifically for the results to show Jack remains CANCER FREE.

Trevor was to get in to Memphis tonight, however due to a flight cancellation, he will not arrive until tomorrow afternoon. So his MRI and other scans have be rescheduled for the 22nd. He will come in tomorrow and will have his treatment on Thursday and return home Thursday evening. Pray for their safe travel. Pray for their peace as they now will have to wait a couple of weeks longer for his scans to see if the current treatment is still being effective.

Preston will be in (I just realized what time it is now, so it is now today instead of tomorrow :)) today, to begin his process of transplant. Prayer specifics for him are for him to handle the treatment he will have to take to receive his transplant, and for the transplant to be successful. Pray for an easy journey for him.

Big Trevor now has a surgery date for his knee scope. It will be on Monday September 27th. Does this date sound familiar to you? It should :) It is the 100% Profit Day for Chili's! Keep those two things in mind and let one be a reminder for you of the other one. Plan now to eat a Chili's on the 27th. That is a way that you can help support St Jude from where ever you are.

I am very excited about a fundraiser opportunity to raise some money for Team Believe. My favorite Wolfchase Chili's has agreed to do one "Give Back" night each month during October, November and December. THIS IS HUGE! If you are not familiar with this program, Chili's will create a flyer for our team, we are responsible for passing it out to everyone we can to let them know if they eat at Chili's on that specific night AND present the flyer to their server, Chili's will donate a percentage of all meals served that night where the ticket is attached to our flyer. This can really add up depending on how many people show up to eat and turn in our flyer. They will do this one night each month through December for us!!! Have I told you how much I appreciate this particular Chili's location? I love what they do for our kiddo's! Guess what, Team Believe members, I bet you have a pretty good chance of getting your local Chili's to do the same for you where ever you live. It does not hurt to ask. Our first one is set for October 5th I believe.

I pray that each of you are enjoying your week and looking forward to a blessed weekend.

Keep those prayers going up!

DONATE TODAY - Any amount is WONDERFUL!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Big Week

2010-09-06T11:17:00.003-05:00

The Hero's Program has a new button this year! I LOVE it! I have a supply of them for our team members. If you would like one, send me an email with your address to send it to you. Show your HERO pride!

www.rebelmom528@aol.com

Happy Labor Day! I hope that each of you are enjoying the same type of beautiful weather that we are having here in Memphis. It is absolutely perfect! After all of the extreme heat and lack of rain we have had all summer, this is such a welcome relief! I could just stay outside all day and into the evening. God's nature and beauty at it absolute best!

This week is a big week around the Jude. Join me in prayer for safe travel for all of the families who will be coming in for scans and check ups this week. Also, our little new guy, Preston will be returning on Wednesday to begin his transplant process. I'm excited to see them again. My "quilt lady" friend and her husband have a beautiful hand quilted quilt all ready for him. I picked it up this week, it is so beauitful! Preston loves Thomas the Train and this quilt is all about trucks, trains and planes! I think he will really love it. For anyone new to this blog, I have a precious and dear friend and her husband who hand quilt a quilt for each of the kiddo's that I have the pleasure of "adopting". They have a label they put on each one with the child's name on it and a little message. They are just priceless. Last year, they did one that we placed in the Silent Auction at our Team Dinner the night before the marathon. I can tell you, it was a big hit and we have folks really bidding to get it. Well, for those of you that will be back this year, they are doing another one for us for our Silent Auction!!! Their love for St Jude is amazing, and their dedication to our team and our St Jude kiddo's is awesome. I want to give a thank you and shout out to them. Thank you, we appreciate you so much... Mike and Pru McBride.

Prayers for great reports from scans and test this week, for little Trevor and Jack. They will both be back here tomorrow. Prayers for Preston as he begins transplant.

Prayers for TEAM BELIEVE as each one is preparing to come to Memphis and run/walk to help fight the beast these kiddo's are fighting. Prayers for our team as each one is working to raise funds to help us reach our goal. Again, if you can not be here to be apart of this, please consider making a donation of ANY amount to the team to help us in that way. That is just as important to St Jude as you being able to be here. For anyone new, the cost to operate St Jude Children's Research Hospital for JUST ONE SINGLE DAY is OVER $1.4 MILLION DOLLARS. That is A LOT of money, and it comes from people like YOU. Thank you so much for your consideration to help these doctors, the kiddo's and their families. I am so blessed and thankful for the four healthy children I have, but I do realize this could effect ME just as quickly and easily as it has effected the families of Jack, Preston, Trevor, Alex, Elizabeth, Mary Kate, Reagan, Mallerie... and the many others that you have all come to know and love through this blog. Please help TEAM BELIEVE make our goal a reality so that we can proudly present the funds that we can raise this year to help keep St Jude going.

I will be spending most of the rest of the week at The Jude, so I will keep you posted on everyones test and progress. Please keep them and their families in your constant daily prayers.

GO TEAM BELIEVE!!!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Time To Raise Some $$$$

2010-09-02T07:39:00.002-05:00

Good morning! I hope that today is a wonderful day for each of you. If any of you, I know of a couple, are on the east coast in the path of Earl, we are all praying for your safety! Please do what they tell you that you need to do. If they say get out.... then GET OUT! My house is always open if you need a place to escape to! Seriously, prayers are with you.

Ok, as of this morning TEAM BELIEVE is officially 42 strong!!! Wow! I am so amazed and so excited. It is wonderful how each year we get bigger. What an amazing power house! When we put on our team shirts and show up on the streets of Memphis in December, people do see us, people do know that this is a group of people who want to do our part to fight the beast and support the kids and St Jude!! I have had some amazing opportunities each year to represent the Hero's program and TEAM BELIEVE. I have already had the opportunity to emcee the Hero's Kick Off Reception back in June, and have had a few other speaking opportunities where I have been able to tell the story of how our team was formed and why we do what we do. I have another opportunity on the 22nd of this month to speak to all of the employees and managers of one of the largest fitness gym chains in the city of Memphis. The owners of this chain of gyms lost a daughter to the beast some years back, they are really getting involved in the work of raising funds for St Jude. They own 11 gyms in the city and have launched a contest between each of their gyms to see which one can raise the most money. I have been ask by the ALSAC Hero's Director to speak to this group. So, once again I will get to share our TEAM BELIEVE story and hopefully get this group all pumped up to help raise some major money.

Ok, speaking of raising some money.... we have at this point 42 team members, a goal of 20,000.00 with 2,000.00 of that amount raised at this time. I really challenge each of you to just try to raise at least $500.00 each. It is truly not that difficult. If you just ask your friends and family to support your efforts, you will be surprised how the love for this work shows up in donations. Also, if you are not on the team, can not make the trip to Memphis, you can still raise money and donate it to the team. We have had people do bake sales, yard sales, Chili dinners, different things in their local area then donate the profit to our team. There are many ways you can help TEAM BELIEVE without making the trip to Memphis. Please pray about it, do what you feel you can do to support these kiddo's and help give them a chance at life. A CHANCE TO LIVE TO BECOME AN ADULT. I promise, if you only have an extra $5.00 that is a much needed $5.00 to St Jude! You can go to our team page (there is a link you can click on on the left side of this blog page right under the title of our page, it says donate to team). Just double click on that link and it will take you to our team page. Or if you want to make a donation to a particular team member, go to team page, as the list of names scrolls down the page, when you see the name of the Hero you want to make a donation to their page, just click on their name as it scrolls and that will take you directly to their page. At that time you can click on DONATE NOW an orange button, and make a secure online donation. It is sooooo very easy. PLEASE consider a donation of any amount. Maybe a little each month between now and the first of December if that fits your budget better.
Ok, so we have a great team... let's take our fundraising out of PARK and put it into DRIVE today! Over the past 3 years, this team has raised over 60,000.00 yes I did say OVER SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for St Jude. We can do this 20,000.00 if we set our hearts and our minds to it. Set up your personal goal page. If your a facebooker, put it on your facebook page. Write a letter, include why you are doing this and tell about our sweet Jordan that we are running in honor of this year, mail it out to everyone on your Christmas card list and friends in your neighborhood and church. I'll give you a little tip... when you mail out your letter include a self addressed envelop with it to make it easier for the recipient to put a check in there and mail it back to you. Give others an opportunity to be a part of this great effort.

OK, pump up cheer session is over for today :)

No news on any of the kids today. They will all be in here for scans and checkups next week. Be in prayer for great checkups and clear scans for each of them. Be in prayer for Preston and his donor. Your a wonderful group of prayer warriors and I know God hears our cries to him.

I did want to ask you for prayers for one of our prayer warriors and new TEAM BELIEVE members, Nan. Her father passed away this week. Please include her and her family in your prayers at this time. She will be traveling to be with her family, pray for safe travel also.

I know I will be in trouble for this one, but I did want to put as many of the names out of our sweet angels that have been a part of our lives over the past few years. I know I will leave some out, so please forgive me, and help me by reminding me of the ones I may leave out.

In remembrance of: Ethan, Maddie, Sully, Elizabeth, Reagan, Alex, Clay, Mallerie, Christian, Dax, Mary Kate, Mikey and James. There are so many many more but I know these are some of the ones this group embraced and prayed so hard for. Pray for their families.

Enjoy your holiday weekend, be safe!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Half Marathon is now SOLD OUT

2010-08-31T00:18:00.002-05:00

Ok, the Half Marathon is now sold out. I do think they may have a few spots left if and only if the person signs up to be a HERO. The other runs typically are not to far behind the half in filling up, so if you have plans or know of anyone who is considering registering, please let them know... IT'S TIME.

I do not have any real news from the kiddo's. Jack will be coming back for his scans in a week or so, as will little Trevor. Preston will be back about the same time to begin his treatment in preparation for his transplant. Please be praying for all of these kiddo's. Also, please continue to pray for Ryan. Pray they find a donor SOON.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

GOOOOOO TEAM BELIEVE!!!!

Hotel Information for Marathon Weekend

2010-08-28T21:46:00.001-05:00

Several have ask about the hotel information, so I am re-posting the info for you. Please call and get your room confirmed as soon as possible so we are able to make sure we have enough rooms for everyone. We can always add more rooms this far out, but the closer we get to the date, the less likely we will be able to add rooms. Just a reminder, the price per night they have arranged for us is half of what the room charge is normally. So I really would hate for anyone to have to pay full price if you don't get a room in our reserved block of rooms. Let me know if you have any problems getting your room confirmed.

I encourage you to get registered and get your page set up as soon as possible. Our goal for this year is $20,000.00. I have no doubt WE CAN MAKE THAT GOAL! As you know, each year if you raise at least $1,000.00 by a certain date, you received a free ticket to the St Jude/Alsac Pasta Party. Some of our members have accomplished this but not all so, we have had our own dinner so we could all be together. One of the changes for this year is they have set the amount you must raise to get a free ticket to the Pasta Party hosted by St Jude/Alsac to $500.00 raised by November 26, 2010. Team, $500.00 IS NOT THAT MUCH TO RAISE! I want to challenge everyone on our team to raise that $500.00! Set a goal for yourself, keep in mind those kids that depend on these funds, and see what you can do with it!

Our block of rooms are set up and they are ready to begin taking your calls to confirm your room accommodations for the Marathon Weekend. The hotel is the same as last year, Holiday Inn & Suites * 2751 New Brunswick Rd. * Memphis, TN 38133. When you call to confirm your room on your credit card, you must ask to speak with Sybil Sides or Gina Porter. These are the only ladies who can make sure you are getting in the right block of rooms and getting our very special team rate. Tell them you are a member of Team Believe for the St Jude Marathon. Call them diectly at 901-266-1952. I have a limited number of rooms that I can block at this time, so there again, I would not wait on this. When you call in to confirm your room, you will give them your credit card information, but you will not be billed until after your stay the weekend of the marathon. They will be forwarding me a list of the team members who have reserved a room, so I will keep an eye on it and do the best I can to make sure everyone gets a room.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. How's your fundraising going?

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Don't Hesitate

2010-08-25T23:40:00.002-05:00

Just a quick note to let you know that as of yesterday August 24, 2010 the Half Marathon for the December St Jude run is now 76% full. They have been saying all along that they predicted it to be completely sold out by Labor Day. Looks like they are pretty much right on. If you plan to participate in the Half Marathon, I would get registered NOW. The price goes up in a few days, so people are going to be getting registered to beat the price increase. I don't want you to miss out. We still have some of our "regulars" not registered yet, I hope that you do plan to come but have just not had time to get registered.

GO TEAM BELIEVE!! Let's raise our 20,000.00 for St Jude with PRIDE!!!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Yesterday, Sweet Tears and Smiles!

2010-08-18T11:09:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I had the honor of being the delivery lady for the Dunfords. Michelle had ordered cupcakes to be taken to St Jude to the different departments where Elizabeth was treated during her stay at The Jude. Yesterday marked one year since sweet Elizabeth went home to heaven. The family wanted to show their very deep appreciation to St Jude for everything done for Elizabeth. This is so like them, always thinking of others even in their time of pain and sorrow. Say an extra prayer for them and for the staff at the hospital. It was very apparent by their reactions yesterday that they too were hurting during this very sad milestone.

I want to introduce you to Preston. He is for sure a cutie pie! Those big dark eyes just make you smile.As I got to the hospital yesterday, with 80 gigantic beautiful pink cupcakes, I ran into Preston, his mom and his Ma. As you can see, he enjoyed a cupcake too! He loves Thomas The Train, so I had found a really neat travel play set that I took to him yesterday... so he was a happy camper yesterday. Giant cupcake and Thomas! He made me smile! My oldest son, Tyler was with me, so he got to meet Preston too. Tyler has such a heart for these kids and he is just a kid magnet anyway. I think Preston thought it was cool to have a big guy picking at him too. They still do not have a definite date for transplant, so please keep that specific prayer on your list. Pray for the donor to be able to give them a harvest date, and that all will go smoothly and they can get this process started soon.

Pray for all of those hurting and suffering pain from the loss of their loved ones. Please include specifically Dina. She is really struggling over the loss of Mikey. Pray that she can find some peace.

Team Believe... how's your training coming? Let's see those dollar signs going up on our team goal page!!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Welcome Gabriella and Mia

2010-08-16T18:42:00.002-05:00

There are two new beautiful baby girls in this world this week. Dr Sara and husband, Tom, welcomed their beautiful twin girls into their lives. Everyone is doing great! I think Sara is a bit overwhelmed, and understandably so! Who would not be? Sara and Mia went home on Saturday, Mia had to stay a couple of extra days, but she was supposed to go home to be with her family today. I am trusting that did happen. These baby girls just do not have a clue how lucky they are to have Tom and Sara for their parents. I certainly hope they stay around Memphis for years to come so we can watch them grow up. Prayers of praise for two beautiful healthy baby girls.

Michelle was in town this weekend. It was so good to see her! Tomorrow is the 17th, one year since sweet Elizabeth earned her wings. The pain has not gotten any better, but MIchelle is steadily putting one foot in front of the other and trying to take each day as a blessing. She commented today that there were small simple things in life that she sees and believes that they are small reminders and signs from Elizabeth to her and others around. She said she feels those little things were probably always there anyway, but now her outlook on life brings attention to even the smallest things that we take for granted. A big lesson we can all learn. Things happens around us everyday, but we do not think anything of them or even notice them. However, when life gives you a jolt, like losing a child, you tend to take each day moment by moment and see everything. Truly SEE everything. Please say some extra prayers for DJ, Michelle, Charlie and Andrew tomorrow as they face a very emotionally tough day. If your out and about, stop by and pick up a balloon, pink if you can get one, and send it up to heaven to celebrate Elizabeth's life. Take a few minutes, leave a word of encouragement and let DJ and Michelle know that Elizabeth is not forgotten and that you are with them in thought and prayer. If you send up a balloon, let them know you did that too! I think on such a dark hard day, that will bring a smile and comfort to them. No one ever wants to think their loved one has been forgotten with time. Tomorrow I will be doing a favor for DJ and Michelle, it's an even bigger honor for me to get to do it. Michelle has ordered 80 light pink cupcakes with hot pink hearts on them for me to deliver to the hospital to the medical staff in the different departments. I just thought that was the sweetest thing for her to do, and I am so honored to be able to be the one to take them up for them.

So, Team Believe members and supports.... how's your fundraising going? Don't forget that the cost for registration goes up at the end of this month.

Hope your week has gotten off to a great start! Pray for the kiddo's!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Update on Ariel

2010-08-13T21:29:00.005-05:00

Ariel's scans were great!! She remains CANCER FREE! The spot is still showing on her lung, but there is still no change in it. Hopefully just some type of scar tissue. She and her family were headed to Alabama for a Weekend Youth Retreat with their youth group from church when they left Memphis. Pray a prayer of praise and thanksgiving for her continued good health and also pray for safe travels for them. She is really enjoying the beginning of her senior year. She and Amber are both off to a very busy start to a very busy year. I am so thankful that she is doing so well and able to finish out her high school career with all of her classmates and her twin sister.

Have a great weekend. Keep your eyes on the Lord, and your heart in love with His word.

Pray for all of the St Jude kiddo's, their families and the medical staff there. I would also ask for you to pray for those who through their generosity keep the doors open and the research going at St Jude. I think of the widow's mite, she did not have very much, but it was the world to the one that it mattered the most too. Please make a donation to Team Believe. No amount at all is to small or to big. Speaking of Team Believe, Ariel and her family will be joining our team this year!!! WooHoo!!!

New Kid On The Block

2010-08-12T16:46:00.002-05:00

Good HOT HOT HOT afternoon!! I really hated to see summer break come to an end, but if summer is going to be over, I'm ready for this heat to be over too! Today it has topped out at over 100 degrees, with a heat index of around 117 degrees. WAY TO HOT!

Gonna make this quick... I have to leave to go meet up with Ariel and family for dinner.

I got to officially meet the new family today. PRECIOUS little boy! I will post his Caringbridge link with "Our Friends" please go check him out, follow him along this journey. As you can imagine, it's all new to them, very overwhelming at times and they can certainly use your prayers and your words of encouragement in their guest book. His name is Preston, he has Aplastic Anemia and will be undergoing a transplant in the next few weeks. Please be praying for him and his family.

I also have another child for you to please add to your prayer list. He is 7 and is in ICU at LeBonheur. He has had a major brain bleed, has undergone brain surgery and is currently in a coma. This little guy is from my hometown area, he is actually the child of one of my cousins, cousin on her dad's side of the family. I visited with them at the hospital today, the situation is not the best, he really needs all of the prayers he can get. He needs a major miracle. His name is Joshua, he has a twin brother and a little 4 year old sister. Please be praying for him and his family. This has just happened in the past few days, I shared with them today about Caringbridge, so hopefully they will be able to have someone set up a page for him soon. If they do, I will give you his CB page and you can follow him too. As of this afternoon they have given them a diagnosis of Mayo Mayo (sp?????) It is very rare and most often found in children between the ages of 6 and 15 and found mainly in the Asian population. He is in a coma and on the vent at this time. Please be on your knees in prayer for him and all of the other children we follow.

I'll update more info as I know it. Just be praying!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Jesus Loves ME

2010-08-09T20:22:00.002-05:00

I just had to pass this along to you. I received this in an email today from a sweet friend, much younger than I am. I'm not sure if she was trying to say I am old or what, but I don't care, I am so glad she sent it. I never thought about it, but it is in our mature years that we can truly appreciate some of the simple things meant for our children. Sing it loud, and sing it with heart, YES, JESUS LOVES ME!!

> While watching a little TV on Sunday instead of going to church, I watched a church in Atlanta honoring one of its senior pastors who had been retired many years. He was 92 at that time and I wondered why the church even bothered to ask the old gentleman to preach at that age.
>
> After a warm welcome, introduction of this speaker, and as the applause quieted down, he rose from his high back chair and walked slowly, with great effort and a sliding gait to the podium. Without a note or written paper of any kind he placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself and then quietly and slowly he began to speak....
>
> "When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50-odd years of preaching. I thought about it for a few days and boiled it down to just one thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all my trials. The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heartbreak and pain and fear and sorrow paralyzed me... The only thing that would comfort was this verse...... .....
>
>
>
>
> "Jesus loves me this I know.
> For the Bible tells me so.
> Little ones to Him belong,
> We are weak but He is strong.....
> Yes, Jesus loves me....
> The Bible tells me so."
>
>
>
>
> When he finished, the church was quiet. You actually could hear his foot steps as he shuffled back to his chair. I don't believe I will ever forget it.
>
> A pastor once stated, "I always noticed that it was the adults who chose the children's hymn 'Jesus Loves Me' (for the children of course) during a hymn sing, and it was the adults who sang the loudest because I could see they knew it the best."
>
> "Senior version of Jesus Loves Me"
>
> Here is a new version just for us who have white hair or no hair at all. For us over middle age (or even those almost there) and all you others, check out this newest version of Jesus Loves Me.
>
>
>
> JESUS LOVES ME
>
> Jesus loves me, this I know,
> Though my hair is white as snow
> Though my sight is growing dim,
> Still He bids me trust in Him.
> (CHORUS)
> YES, JESUS LOVES ME.. YES, JESUS LOVES ME..
> YES, JESUS LOVES ME, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO.
>
> Though my steps are oh, so slow,
> With my hand in His I'll go
> On through life, let come what may,
> He'll be there to lead the way.
> (CHORUS)
>
> When the nights are dark and long,
> In my heart He puts a song..
> Telling me in words so clear,
> "Have no fear, for I am near."
> (CHORUS)
>
> When my work on earth is done,
> And life's victories have been won.
> He will take me home above,
> Then I'll understand His love.
> (CHORUS)
>
> I love Jesus, does He know?
> Have I ever told Him so?
> Jesus loves to hear me say,
> That I love Him every day.
> (CHORUS)

To love others and to be loved the way Jesus loves us is such a wonderful gift. Let's not take it for granted. If there is someone in your life that you love, make sure you tell them today and everyday or every time you have a chance to talk to them. There is not a greater feeling on this earth than to know you are loved.

Please add to your prayer list our little Ryan. He really needs a miracle, but more specifically right now, please be praying for a donor to be found. They are trying to get him to transplant, which will be his third, but right now if they find a donor he is a candidate for a 3rd transplant.

Don't forget, if you plan to register for the St Jude Marathon in December, the prices on registration go up September 1st. Our team is looking good, there is always room for more! We have set a goal of $20,000.00 for this year. If you can't join us, please make a donation. You can do it online by clicking on the link in the top left corner of this blog page or if you would rather mail a check, email me and I'll give you and address to mail the check. All checks must be made payable to St Jude Children's Research Hospital. Please consider any amount, a $10.00 donation, the cost of a lunch plate will make a huge difference for a child fighting for his/her life. Will you really miss that 10.00 at the end of the week?

Stay safe, have a blessed week.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!

Mardecia
rebelmom528@aol.com

Beautiful Start to a New Week

2010-08-08T13:00:00.004-05:00

I just got this and wanted to add it to today's post. This was so powerful to me... It's a msg from Lori, Trace's mom.

Just wanted to let everyone know we are home and Trace is doing great. I apologize to all of you who sent concerned texts and got no response...I did not have my cell phone with me; however, I knew you were praying and for that, I am forever grateful. Headed to bed so we can make it to church and give a testimony to the Power of Prayer...thanks again. Much ♥...Lori

********

I don't know about where you are, but here in Memphis it is absolutely beautiful today. Now, do not confuse beautiful with mild temps. It is so hot you can cook outside, and I'm not referring to the grill. More like the patio table top or the sidewalk :)

I'm sorry I did not do a better job of keeping you posted on Trace, he was able to come home from the hospital yesterday. This accident was so scary but it is yet another incident where God has shown his mercy and his grace and his power to make whole again. Trace came off of the vent with no problems, his lung is healing. He will remain on some antibiotics and anti seizure meds for now. Praise God for answered prayers.

This week will be a busy week around the Jude. Ariel will be coming on Wednesday. This will be her big week of test. Please pray for her to get clear scans and great results on all of her test. Prayers for safe travel are always appreciated.

Little Trevor will be in this week for his chemo too He past few times that he has received his treatments, he has had some problems afterwards for a few days. Please pray for him to feel good after this round and for him to have safe travel too. HIs mom and dad have been enjoying a much needed vacation. They celebrated their anniversary this month, so they went to Cancun for a honeymoon getaway! It's so wonderful they were able to get away for a little bit for some mom and dad time.

The new little guy (Preston) will be coming in this week to begin the process of his transplant. I believe his first clinic visits begin on Wedensday. This is the little guy I mentioned in an earlier post that has Aplastic Anemia. Please be in prayer for him and his family. This will be a long stay here in Memphis once they get started. Dad will be staying home to work, mom will be here with him. I'll give you more info and a CB page once I meet up with them.

Prayers requested also for the families of those who have lost their babies this year. Regardless of age, they are the babies to their families and loved ones. Not to go into any personal details, but there are a couple in particular that are really in need of prayer. God knows who they are and what their needs are, but if you can lift them up and pray for God's comfort on them and for God to lead them in decisions they are having to make at this time. Please pray for their marriages and their relationships with all of those that love them so much. Sometimes, when one loses someone, the anger and pain of the loss can really take a toll on those that love them the most.

I pray that each of you will have a very blessed, safe and wonderful week. Keep Christ in the center of each day, it definitely makes a huge difference.

Support Team Believe in our efforts to raise money for St Jude.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Urgent Prayers Needed

2010-08-04T22:24:00.003-05:00

UPDATE ON TRACE:

Received this from Lori early this morning:

Yesterday, Trace had a near drowning experience... EMT assessment and X-ray were normal... Went to inlaws for observation, 20 min into a nap, he had a seizure, vomited, and aspirated. 911 called and transported to LeBonheur. Found left lung collapsed. Put on vent and sedated but now weaning off both. Thanks for your prayers and please continue. Will try to update often.

Please continue to pray for the Bolton Family. I'll let you know as Lori is able to let us know. She is a friend of all of the Team Believe (Memphis Chapter) members.

*************

Prayers are being requested for a sweet friend of mine here in Memphis tonight. The Bolton family is a very sweet young family with five precious children. Their youngest, Trace, is a special needs child in need of prayer. Details right now are rather sketchy, I don't want to give out incorrect information so for now I am going to give the basics as I have them. Late this afternoon the family was swimming and there was an incident where one of Trace's water wing floaties came off, Lori got to him and got him out. I am not sure what happened at that point, but he is now in LeBonheur. The info we have is that his lungs were clear, but he began having seizures and throwing up. Not sure what is going on, hopefully we will have more details soon. Prayers have been requested, so I am passing this on to the best group of prayer warriors that I know. Thank you so much!!

Next week, Ariel will be coming back for her big check up. They will be doing all of the big test and scans. Keep her in your prayers that all will be clear. Little Trevor will be coming back for his chemo.

I have received an email about a new patient that will be coming to St Jude this next week for a transplant. He is a precious little 2 year old boy with Aplastic Anemia. This is the same diagnosis as Mallerie and Morgan. Please be praying for him and his family. I believe he is an only child. As I have more contact with them, I will give more info and post his CB page. They do have a donor, it is a non family 7 out of 8 match. Please be praying for a successful transplant.

Also, this is a biggie... please keep Dina in your prayers. She is really struggling right now. I can not tell you how desperately she needs your prayers and your encouragement. While she is not updating to much on Mikey's CB page, she is reading the comments. PLEASE, go to his page, double click on his name listed under "Our Friends" and PLEASE leave her a message of encouragement in the guestbook.

Please join Team Believe in our efforts to raise much needed money to support St Jude Children's Research Hospital. If you can not come to Memphis and join us, please make a donation of any amount to our team. You can click on the link in the top left part of this blog and it will take you directly to our team page where you can make a secure online donation. We have set a goal to raise $20,000.00. WE NEED YOUR HELP!! Thank you so much!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Target House Special!!

2010-07-31T17:25:00.002-05:00

I had the best treat today. Three years ago when Jordan was a patient at St Jude, his aunt and uncle would come from Texas some of the weekends to visit. They were very impressed with St Jude, the Ronald McDonald House and Target House. They heard about groups coming from all across the states to cook a meal to serve to the families living at the houses during their child's treatment at St Jude. The went back home and told their friends and church family about how amazing this hospital is and they wanted to start some type of ministry to help out families at St Jude. Today, I had the honor and pleasure of meeting up with them for their third annual trip to feed the families at both the Ron Mac House and Target House. The first year they came, they brought about 8 people to cook and serve. They do fundraisers at home to raise the money to purchase the food to come cook for the families. This year, they came with over 30 people and they chartered a bus to get here. As you can see this ministry has really grown. Today they served the most amazing pork chops, dirty rice, baked beans, macaroni cheese, fresh fruit, salad and some really awesome desserts!! They decorated in a Hawaiian theme to make it fun and festive for the kiddo's. Oh yea, they had burgers and hot dogs for the littles ones too. They really did an outstanding job! The sauce on the pork chops was the bomb diggity!!! However, I was never able to get the recipe from them for their "secret sauce". It was so wonderful to get to go and be with them, Jordan has the most amazing family and they are so wonderful to do such a great work to help payback the kindness shown to Jordan, Patricia and Chance while they were here. They were already talking about next years trip! Some of this group may be coming to join us for the marathon this year. I certainly hope they can make it, I want you all to meet them too. Amazing and wonderful people.

The group stopping for a photo before heading back. We did miss a few for this picture.

The group that served at the Target House, half went to Ronald McDonald

Sitting for a bite of lunch after serving all of the kiddo's and families.

I'd like to ask you to please keep Dina in your prayers. She is really having a very difficult time right now. She can certainly use any encouragement you can offer. You can leave messages on Mikey's CB page. Thank you for any prayers or support you can offer.

I'm not up to date on anyone else right now. I hope that all of you are enjoying your weekend. I am enjoying mine. I have a houseful of baseball players staying here while playing in a tournament in Memphis this weekend. They are a wonderful group of young men and Charles and I certainly enjoy them when they are in Memphis. So far they have had a great tournament. They will be playing again tonight at 8:30 for the semi-final. If/when they win tonights game, they will play for the championship tomorrow afternoon. Lift up a prayer for their safety as they play. This heat has really been tough but they are doing great.

Team Believe, don't forget to get your confirmation for you rooms in. I know already that I am going to have to go back and try to get some more rooms in our block. Please don't delay, I need to get this taken care of and turn my attention on to working on some other things for the weekend. I also do plan to set up a hospital tour again this year. We have many new members who have never been to the hospital and many of Jordan's family who have not had the opportunity to go. I will need to hear from you if you would like to attend the tour of St Jude. These groups are limited to a certain number so it will be first come on this.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Good Morning...

2010-07-28T12:00:00.003-05:00

I trust everyone is having a nice week. We have finally had some very much needed rain. Now, the grass needs to be mowed again. But we are certainly not complaining, we needed the rain to keep the grass growing.

Little Trevor comes in today. He will have his chemo tomorrow. When Trevor comes to town, you never know what all we will get into. I'm not sure yet what plans are on the agenda. Our list of things to do when they come is getting longer instead of shorter. I am just thankful that he is here and he feels great, and is always ready to go get into some thing fun. After he gets home from this trip to Memphis, they will be going to register him for kindergarden!! I can't believe that he is now ready for kindergarden, however, I'm so very thankful that he is here and able to go. He has been fighting the beast since he was two years old. Thank you Lord for all of the answered prayers sent up on Trevor's behalf. I'll try to remember to take my camera so I can get some updated pictures for you.

Heaven gained yet another precious angel this week. I know many of you followed Robert Cunningham. He was friends with a couple of the kiddo's we have followed here. Robert was a very sweet and amazing young man. He was absolutely determined to not give up, to fight this, to beat it and go on. However, for reasons none will ever understand, he has earned his wings and gone home to be with the other buddies gone on before him. He passed away on Monday evening. Please pray for his family as they face the next few days of his visitation and service. Keep the other St Jude families who are mourning the losses suffered in the past two weeks. It's been tough. I want to ask for you to also remember to include the doctors and medical staff at St Jude in your prayers. This hits so hard and way to close to home for them too. Robert and Mikey both had been around the Jude for quite sometime.

I had a wonderful moment yesterday afternoon. A couple of my guys (my very own that I birthed :) ) and I were at the mall shopping for back to school and for an upcoming cruise, while sitting at the Food Court taking a break Tyler noticed Vivian L. along with a friend coming through. She came over to our table and we got to visit for a bit. I wish I had gotten to know her better when she was in treatment. She is such an amazing young lady. She lives here in the Memphis area, and goes to one of the high schools that our school actually competes against in sports. Now that she is back in school, I hope to get to see her and keep in touch during sporting events. She promised us to come out to the baseball games when our schools play each other. As we were visiting yesterday, she was just telling me about her day out shopping with her friend, they both absolutely looks adorable and beautiful. If you just saw her, you would NEVER know how sick this young lady had been just a year ago. She looked as healthy and beautiful as any other person there. As she shared her goals for her future ( college and career) I was just so amazed at her maturity and the person she has become. She admits that her experience has changed her and given her the opportunity to basically be a spokesperson for St Jude. The awesome part is that she is willing and wants to share her story to help others. That is a very admirable trait. Some (and I do not blame them) choose to not be reminded of their time while sick and choose to put it behind them and go on. That's okay too. Everyone handles life's stresses differently.
As she walked away, I just had a big smile on my face. She has overcome this beast, and is living her life just like any other young lady her age. I am so very thankful to God for His blessings on Vivian. Lord, You are an awesome God, thank you.

At last count, we had 17 registered for Team Believe. I know Jordan's family is working on getting registered. I know many of our "regulars" have not yet registered but I can see how our AWESOME team is just continuing to get bigger each year. I love it!!!! I have realized that we do have 2 team members that will be doing the full marathon!!! WooHoo!! Don't forget to call the hotel and confirm your room. It's time to start seeing the $$$$ coming in. Get your fundraising shoes on :)

It's hump day, I hope that each of you have a blessed downhill part of the week and enjoy a wonderful weekend. My weekend will be blessed with a houseful of baseball players! The team that Tyler plays for out of Hattiesburg, MS will actually be playing in Memphis this weekend. He has about 6 players that will be staying in our home with us. They are some awesome young men, we are very excited to have them here. So say a little prayer for good luck and safety as they play this weekend. If your in the Memphis area, they will be playing at the USA Stadium. GOOD LUCK TO THE HATTIESBURG BLACK SOX.

Some of the players at dinner the last time they played in Memphis.

I just received a phone call from Lenzy. She said that Brenda is in the hospital having lots of pain and some breathing issues. They have transferred her to Baptist in Little Rock to run further test. At this time, they have not been able to determine the source of her problems. They are asking for prayers to figure out what is going on and also pray for them to be able to keep her pain under control.

Also, Brenda had mentioned to us that Lenzy had to go to the doctor for some further testing on a questionable pap smear. She will be having surgery on August 16th to remove 3 different spots that have tested positive for cancer. She was very upbeat about it, she said she is not worried about herself. Her doctor feels he can remove the places and no further treatment will be necessary. She is more worried about her mom than herself. Please keep Lenzy in prayer as well as their family. They are really being hit hard and their faith is really being tested right now. Lift them up in prayer.

I will go ahead and mention a prayer request for a praise prayer. Many of you (Team Believe) have met my friend Laura. She participated in the marathon with us last year and will be on the team again this year. Her mom is my sweet friend from Alsac that sets up our hospital tours for me. Anyway, Laura's husband, Mike, had surgery yesterday for prostate cancer this week at Vanderbilt. The doctors were able to successfully remove the prostate, which the cancer was contained, no spreading had occurred and all lymph nodes were clear. The best possible report that could have been expected! PRAISE GOD, OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD! At this time doctors do not anticipate any follow up treatment to be necessary. They will be coming back home to Memphis either today or tomorrow. Pray for safe and comfortable travel for them to come home.

This beast seems to be hitting hard in so many places, not just in our babies. Please, help us help the cause and the research. If you can not participate as a team member, PLEASE MAKE A DONATION TO OUR TEAM TO HELP FURTHER THE RESEARCH TO FIND A CURE TO SLAY THIS BEAST!!! I BEG YOU TO OPEN YOUR HEARTS AND YOUR WALLETS TO HELP THESE PRECIOUS CHILDREN AND ADULTS WHO ARE HIT WITH THIS EVERYDAY!! I am so reminded that it could be any one of us just as easy as it is someone we read about. $5, $10, $50, $1,000.00 it does not matter. Anything you can do will help. Consider making a monthly donation to our team between now and marathon time. A little each month, the cost of a dinner or night at the movies out each month, will not be missed but can do so much to help. Just $10.00 a month between now and December will add up to $50.00. $60.00 if you include July :) Please, help us! It is very simple to do right here online. At the top of this page, there is a link to Donate To St Jude Team Believe. Double click on that link and it will take you directly to our goal page where you can make a safe and secured online donation. Thank you so much!!!

LET'S GO TEAM BELIEVE

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

YES - You Are On The Correct Blog Page

2010-07-23T20:54:00.002-05:00

I spent all morning getting the Team Page and my Personal Goal Page for the St Jude Marathon set up. So I guess when I came to this page to give an update on Marathon Information, I just got a wild hair and decided that this page needed a new "do" too! I hope it does not throw anyone off.

Well, we are up, running and ready to go raise some money for St Jude!! Team members, we need to get registered!! At the Hero's reception on Tuesday night, we were given lots of information regarding this years Marathon Weekend. It just keeps getting bigger and better every year! One important bit of information we were given, they anticipate the half marathon to be sold out by Labor Day. So if this is what you plan to register for, I would not procrastinate to long. I am really excited about this year. We already have several new first time team members, we welcome them! We even have one who will be doing the full 26 mile marathon! WooHoo!!! We welcome any new members. If you are reading this blog but have not been a member before, YOU ARE WELCOME TO JOIN US! We are a fun, very close group from all across the United States that come to Memphis this one weekend every year to help fight the beast. It is the most rewarding experience I have ever been involved with. I invite any of our members to go to the comment link and leave any messages regarding your experience about coming to Memphis for this event so others can get an idea about how wonderful it is. Also, I want to try something new this year. Beginning in another week or so, I will be posting a date and time for all team members and anyone interested in becoming a part of this to join us in the chat room (scroll to bottom of this blog and you will find the private chat room box) for a Cyber Team Meeting! I think this will be a great tool for communicating with each other on questions, ideas, etc. I will set up an evening and time and post here and on my facebook page so you all can join in the Team Meeting. *Note - you must have free Java download on your computer to log in to the chat room. If you don't have it, it's free, just go to java.com to download it.

Ok... well I now have the team page set up as well as my personal page. I will spend some more time and figure out how to get that link to the team page for this year back up on this blog. In the mean time if you wish to view it, you can get to it through my page mystjudeheroes.org/mardecia

I encourage you to get registered and get your page set up as soon as possible. Our goal for this year is $20,000.00. I have no doubt WE CAN MAKE THAT GOAL! As you know, each year if you raise at least $1,000.00 by a certain date, you received a free ticket to the St Jude/Alsac Pasta Party. Some of our members have accomplished this but not all so, we have had our own dinner so we could all be together. One of the changes for this year is they have set the amount you must raise to get a free ticket to the Pasta Party hosted by St Jude/Alsac to $500.00 raised by November 26, 2010. Team, $500.00 IS NOT THAT MUCH TO RAISE! I want to challenge everyone on our team to raise that $500.00! Set a goal for yourself, keep in mind those kids that depend on these funds, and see what you can do with it!

Our block of rooms are set up and they are ready to begin taking your calls to confirm your room accommodations for the Marathon Weekend. The hotel is the same as last year, Holiday Inn & Suites * 2751 New Brunswick Rd. * Memphis, TN 38133. When you call to confirm your room on your credit card, you must ask to speak with Sybil Sides or Gina Porter. These are the only ladies who can make sure you are getting in the right block of rooms and getting our very special team rate. Tell them you are a member of Team Believe for the St Jude Marathon. Call them diectly at 901-266-1952. I have a limited number of rooms that I can block at this time, so there again, I would not wait on this. When you call in to confirm your room, you will give them your credit card information, but you will not be billed until after your stay the weekend of the marathon. They will be forwarding me a list of the team members who have reserved a room, so I will keep an eye on it and do the best I can to make sure everyone gets a room.

Well, I have posted some pictures of our special HERO that we will be honoring this year. Mister Jordan James. His family is very excited about our team honoring him in this years marathon. I also want us to all remember the other children that we have walked for and the children of families that we have grown to love that will be joining us too, We will be walking in honor and memory of these children to! I have an idea that I am working on to include some of these children to, if I figure it out, I'll share that with you.

I do not want to put you into info overload mode, so I will stop here. Be watching this blog page, I will be posting lots of Marathon info here as I get it. It will be here before we know it. Be creative, see what you can come up with for fundraising ideas in your area... share them with the rest of us in our Cyber Team Meeting coming up soon!

Jordan, running down the middle of the marathon route shouting... "I runnin, I runnin...look at me runnin" This was the highlight of my day!

Jordan and Dr. Scott the day of his 2 year post transplant checkup.

Jordan and myself playing around at one of his clinic visits.

OUR HERO - MISTER JORDAN JAMES

That just about wraps it up for today! I hope that each of you has a wonderful weekend and I pray for a safe weekend for you. Keep praying for all of those in need.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

What Will They Say About You?

2010-07-20T20:38:00.002-05:00

Mikey's Celebration of Life service today was beautiful. There were several different ones who spoke about Mikey during the service. The one common thread that you heard over and over was about Mikey's smile and his gentle kind heart and true love for his friends and family. I realized as I was sitting there, that Mikey's service was written by none other than himself. The way he lived his life, loved his Savior and his family and friends, was what was on everyone's heart and what they wanted to tell about Mikey. Makes me really think about how I live, how I treat my family and friends and even those I do not even know, am I living a life that there will be anything good to say when my time comes. We all have good days and not so good days, we have our highs and our lows... it's how we deal with the "not so goods" and the "lows" and other times in our lives that present trials that are writing the story of our life for all around us to read and see. Stop and think about it... what are you writing about yourself today. No one can control the pages of our lives but us.

Prayers continue for Dina and the family and friends. There are going to be some really difficult and trying days to come in the next few days/weeks, please keep Dina and family in your prayers as they work through these times.

I had the honor of being the "Mistress of Ceremonies" tonight for the Kick-Off Hero's Reception here in Memphis. It was a wonderful and informative evening. It was all put together by Christopher Beck, he did an outstanding job. The room was standing room only this year!!! I got some new info that will really help with our Marathon experience this year. There is a great deal of info and some really neat opportunities to tell you about for this year. I'll share those in another post. There is a big new change in the Pasta Dinner that is sponsored by the Hero's Program that I want to share with you and get some feedback from you on. More on this later....

Services for Natalie and Nicole's grandfather & Sandy's dad will be tomorrow at 10:30. Please keep them in your prayers as they get through this sad day.

I'm gonna cut this here... I've got a baseball game to get to tonight. Tyler is pitching, so proud mom needs (well wants) to be there!!

GET REGISTERED FOR TEAM BELIEVE.....

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

More Prayers Needed

2010-07-18T15:30:00.003-05:00

UPDATE #2

The arrangements for Mikey's services are now set. Visitation will be Tuesday from 10:00-12:00 with service immediately following.

I wanted to let you know about the passing of Neil Hardy. I know this name is not familiar to you, but his family is. He is the grandfather of one of our St Jude sweethearts, Natalie. For those who have been on Team Believe you all had the opportunity to meet and spend time with Natalie, her twin Nicole and their parents, Michael and Sandy. Mr. Hardy is Sandy's dad. I spoke with Sandy earlier, she said they are doing well. It has been a very difficult 10 days. Keep them in your prayers. I know many of you are facebook friends with Nic and Nat, you can leave messages there for them and her CB page is still active. You can get to it by double clicking on her name under "Our Friends". Let them know they are in our prayers. At this time, she thinks the services will be on Wednesday. I'll update with that info when they make final arrangements.

No final arrangements as of yet for Mikey.

Hug your babies, hold them tight. Life is just to precious to miss one minute or one opportunity to let those around you know you love them.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Mikey is in Eternal Peace

2010-07-17T14:08:00.002-05:00

Mikey's smile is forever in our memories and hearts. He is in his home, with all of his beloved St Jude buddies who were waiting for him. Heaven has welcomed a new angel this morning.

Keep the family and friends in your prayers. Arrangements are being made now. Messages can be left on Mikey's Caringbridge page.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/michaelranderson

If you have trouble going to his page from this link, just go over to the "Our Friends" section on the left side of this page and double click on his name. That should take you directly to his page too.

Mikey, will be missed and his memory cherished by so many.

REST IN PEACE MIKEY~

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

2010-07-17T00:09:00.002-05:00

Well, I know that first you want to know about Mikey. God love his soul, he is still fighting and hanging on. Dina and his family, friends and medical staff have all told him everything is okay, it's time to go home. Go be cancer free, pain free and at peace with God.

Let me go back and cover a few things that I neglected to let you know about during this past week.

Little Trevor came in on Wednesday evening for his bi-weekly chemo. I picked them up and we went to a burger place called Kookey Kanooks for burgers and s'mores. Some of you from Team Believe will remember this place, it's the little place downtown that we had lunch at after the marathon the first two years we participated. It used to be called Big Foot, but they have now changed the name. Trevor had a really good time, he enjoyed all of the animals on the walls and especially the little fire pot and making the s'mores. After dinner we took a horse drawn carriage ride around downtown, Trevor REALLY enjoyed that. He talked to the driver the entire time. Afterwards, we did a little walking tour through the Peabody lobby and around the area there. Team Believe members will recall this is the area for the starting line up for the marathon. Then we drove down by Beale Street, it was Bike Night on Beale and Trevor wanted to see all of the Harley's. He had his treatment on Thursday and was back home in his own bed by Thursday night. It was a very quick trip. He looks great and all is wonderful with him.

Ariel came in for a VERY quick trip. She and her mom drove in, they arrived around 4 am this morning and were back out around lunch time. She has been away at church camp this week, so they left camp, drove up, had her clinic appt. then drove back to camp to get back for "skit night". Last night of camp week is always a very special night, I can understand her wanting to get back. She was excited and had some good news. For the first time since she started her treatment, he had a weight gain!!!! WOOHOO for Ariel!!! She had gained a whopping total of 2 lbs!! That is a huge thing for her. Hopefully this trend will continue. She needs to be going up instead of always a loss. Now, for me.... I need to be doing the opposite!

That is about it as far as I am aware around the Jude this past week. Dr. Sara is hanging in there. She is doing well, still on bed rest while awaiting the arrival of the girls. She is going to be the most amazing mommy. Remember to keep her and the twins in your prayers. Be praying for them to hang on a little longer and then have a safe delivery.

Back to Mikey. I nor anyone can imagine what he is holding on for, but he is. This is a very difficult time as you can only imagine. He is getting weaker each day. I got to spend a little time with them this evening, they are holding up as well as you could imagine. They are all exhausted, but keeping a constant circle of love around Mikey. Mikey is such a wonderful young man. This earth is being robbed of a very fine young Christian man and such a great example to so many people. Heaven is gaining one of God's finest. One thing that I will always have in my bank of memories is his soft and loving smile. I don't know how to describe it, but I posted some pictures hoping you can see what I am talking about. It's not just a smile, it is so full of love. I have said, Mikey can walk into a room, totally fill it with so much love without even ever opening his mouth. Just his simple sweet smile. Ma and I were looking through a photo album tonight, and as she looked at his high school pictures, she commented that even in his pictures you can see his sweetness and his innocence. He has always walked a very close walk with God and lived a very Christ like life. It is so hard to keep in mind that he is only 27. He is so wise and mature beyond his age. A very special person to so many. I did want to share a few pictures that were made only 5 or 6 weeks ago. This was the day that Jack, Katie and Ma were packing up their Target House apartment to go home. Mikey and Dina came by to say their "so-long's" before Jack left. Even though Mikey was not feeling the best, you can't tell it from these pictures. He was there for Jack.

Mikey and Jack helping me finish up washing the last few dishes to be packed.

One of Jack's favorite things to do... Target shopping cart rides in the hallway at Target House. Mikey was more than happy to push him all up and down and around. Jack loved every minute of it.

Dina and Jack. Dina was trying to slip in a little kiss there!!

Please continue to pray for Mikey, Dina and all of the ones who love them so much. Pray for Mikey to go home in peace.

Let's continue to keep all of the kiddo's fighting so hard in our prayers. If this touches you like it touches me, please join me and the other members of Team Believe for the St Jude Marathon this year. If you can't come to Memphis to participate, please consider making a donation to Team Believe for St Jude. I will be posting a link on this page next week where you can go directly to the website to register and also to the site where you can make an online donation. Let's support the work being done there. Cancer is taking to many and these kids are being taken much to early in their sweet young lives.
PLEASE PRAY ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP FIGHT THIS CAUSE.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Urgent Prayers Needed

2010-07-11T22:30:00.014-05:00

UPDATE - # 10 Friday 1:40

Mikey was moved from the hospital to his home under Hospice care yesterday evening. At this time, there is no change. He is peaceful and surrounded by family. Let's continue to lift them up in prayer and pray for Mikey to have a peace as he makes his way to his heavenly home.

UPDATE - #9 Wednesday 10:33pm

Mikey is still fighting. He is surrounded by all of his family and a host of friends and St Jude friend/family. The hospital is now being very accommodating to Dina and the visitors. He is not at St Jude, so this is a big change for them, there is not another hospital that treats a family like St Jude does! I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE - #8 Wednesday 10:12 am

Mikey made it through the night. They put him in ICU last night but this morning they are moving him into a private room so everyone can stay with him. What an amazing fighter. Thank you for continuing to lift them up in prayer. Your such a wonderful group of prayer warriors, I am thankful for you guys. God bless you.

UPDATE - #7 - Tuesday night/Wednesday morning 1:25 am

I am so sorry for not getting this updated a few hours ago. Mikey and Dina landed around 10:30 pm. He did survive the flight, and made it to the hospital. HIs family and close friends were at the hospital to meet them. All I can ask at this time is for all of you wonderful prayer warriors to please be in prayer for Mikey, Dina and the family. They truly need your faithful fervent prayers to get though the hours they are facing. He is home, fighting hard and surrounded by his loved ones. Pray and pray some more.

UPDATE -#6 Tuesday 8:00 pm

MIKEY IS IN THE AIR NOW!!! PLEASE BE IN PRAYER

I have just been able to get to the computer, but Mikey is in flight now. They left around 7:30ish and he should arrive in Memphis around 10:00pm. Please be on your knee's in prayer for him to make it to Memphis. His family and friends need this so much. I honestly think that he has held on for the past two days to get back here to his family and friends. He definitely has a strong will to fight. He has been a fighter and is still continuing to fight! Mikey is loved by so many people, he is one of those young men who is just so easy to love. You know him, you love him. I do not have to tell you how much and how hard they have all worked and fought to get him back to Memphis, THANK YOU LORD for getting him airborn and on his way. Amen.

UPDATE - #5 Tuesday 11:32

They were not able to get all of the paper work signed last night, so the last call I got was about an hour ago saying Mikey was still with us but getting weaker. They do now have all of the paper work signed. First call was that his condition was declining very rapidly and that they were not going to get him here, then in a matter of a few minutes, it changed to they were getting everything ready to get him on a plane. This has been such a roller coaster for all of them. Like I said, about an hour ago, Dina thought they would be in the air within the hour. I'm still waiting to hear that they are in flight. I just pray that they can get him here.

UPDATE - #4 Monday 9:48 pm

I just realized after I posted this, that I have a skip in the events of the afternoon. While Katie, Ma and myself were out to lunch, Dina called and said that they were going to flight Mikey back this afternoon. They were working on making arrangements and everyone was sitting on ready to find out what time they were leaving and where they were going to take him when they got here. St Jude is out, LeBonheur was questionable and Methodist Hospital was a possibility. Then the call came around 6:30, which is the part of the update that follows:

The last update I got was around 6:30 tonight, it did not look good for getting Mikey back to Memphis tonight. It had not been ruled out, but was not looking to promising. They were awaiting Dr Boop to finish up in surgery here in Memphis, for him to sign papers to accept Mikey back here as his patient. The thought process was that it would most likely be to late to get arrangements made with Angel Flights that late in the evening. Mikey's condition is not good, Dina is doing everything she can to get him back to Memphis for his final part of this journey. Ma and Katie got here around lunch time, we had lunch and got to spend some time together. Pam V. was on her way in tonight too. Keep lifting them up in prayer.

UPDATE - #3 MONDAY 11:34 am

At this time, Mikey is not considered stable enough for a life flight back to Memphis. I do not have any details right now. Katie Bruce and Ma are arriving in Memphis any minute now to be here, I am getting ready to go meet up with them. I'll keep you posted as I know, just keep lifting everyone up in prayer, PLEASE! As hard as it is to type this, I know you know just from what I have told you already that this is the end of the road for Mikey's journey unless God has a different plan not yet seen to us. Please pray for peace and for God's mercy and comfort on Mikey and everyone who loves him so much. Praying for God's blessings on them.

UPDATE - #2 MONDAY 9:57am

Mikey made it through the night. They have contacted Angel Flight and are hoping to get him on a flight back to Memphis at any time time now. He is non responsive, but is breathing on his own. Please keep praying for him and for Dina and family. Please be in prayer that he can make it back to Memphis. This is very important to them. Several St Jude friend/family are on their way to Memphis at this time to be with them. Please keep them in your prayers for safe travels. Our weather here today is not that great, we have had passing thunderstorms all through the night and they continue this morning. Please lift everyone up in prayer today. I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE #1 - Last Night
Mikey is in ICU in a hospital in Orlando, FL. He had gone down with Dina and her daughter for July 4th to visit with his mom and go to Disney. I talked to him yesterday, he told me that he had a really good day on Friday and that he had slept most of the day yesterday. They were due to come home to Memphis tomorrow. I got a call a little while ago, that he had slept most of the day today, and woke up not himself and with a really sever headache in the back of his head. They rushed him to the ER and he went directly into surgery with a brain bleed from his tumor. Things do not look good at this time, he is not awake and not in pain. Please be praying for him and for Dina and his family. He is not stable enough to life flight him back to Memphis tonight, they will reevaluate tomorrow and see if he is able to come back to his doctors here. Please be praying for Mikey. Pray for his family, St Jude family and friends too. He is such a sweetheart and has touched the hearts of so many of the kiddo's at St Jude.

I will keep you updated on him.

DEAR LORD, PLEASE BE WITH MIKEY AND HIS FAMILY AT THIS TIME. WE PRAY FOR HIS HEALING IF IT BE YOUR WILL. WE PRAY THAT HE WILL NOT HAVE ANY PAIN OR DISCOMFORT. BE WITH THE DOCTORS WHO ARE CARING FOR HIM. GUIDE THEM TO MAKE THE BEST DECISIONS FOR MIKEY. WRAP YOUR LOVING AND COMFORTING ARMS AROUND EVERYONE WHO LOVES AND CARES FOR MIKEY SO MUCH, COMFORT THEM AS ONLY YOU CAN.

IN CHRIST NAME, AMEN

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Wow... have I been absent that long????

2010-07-07T22:31:00.002-05:00

I really do apologize for a total lack in posting. I did not realize I had not posted since June 18th! It has been so busy around our place since school has been out, but that is just not a good excuse. I don't know about you, but summer is just flying by, it seems we just got out of school and now our summer break is almost half over.

I want to give a shout out to my youngest son Garrett... today has been his 17th birthday. He and his oldest brother are on a double date tonight enjoying one of his birthday presents, tickets to an Eric Church (country music) concert. I have to tell you, its now that Garrett is getting to his older teen years that he is enjoying a "different" relationship with his oldest brother, Tyler. There is an eight year difference in their ages, so while Garrett has always been a big fan of Tyler, he has always been the "little brother" until now. It is really neat to watch how their relationship is developing. Happy Birthday Garrett!

Well, a update on our kiddo's as I know it...

Jack and family are enjoying a wonderful vacation on the beach. Jack is absolutely having the time of his life according to Katie. The weather has been good for them, and they have their entire immediate family with them. This is such a wonderful vacation for all of them. Much needed and very much being enjoyed.

Mikey, Dina and Dina's daughter are on a get away to Florida to visit friends and Mikey's mom. Please keep them in your prayers. They have some pretty tough decisions to be making during this time. Mikey is a fighter, not ready to give up, so they are exploring options and doing research on their own for new trials and studies. Please pray for them for safe travel too.

Heather is in Memphis now. If you have read her CB update, you have seen that she got another ALL CLEAR CANCER FREE report yesterday!!! Way to go Heather! Regina Rushing got to come up and spend a few days while Terri and Heather are here and we all got to go out to dinner last night. We had a really good time and a great time to just talk and catch up. Heather is getting so grown up! She is 13 now and such the teenager. She is a beautiful and sweet young lady. Pray for her to continue to be cancer free forever. Keep their safe travel in your prayers too as they fly back to Florida tomorrow. She will return sometime around the first of December for her next appointment. Hopefully they will be able to work it out like they did last year and be here for the St Jude Marathon. That is their goal.

Little Trevor was here last week, everything went well except for their trip back home. They were trying to fly into Houston for a layover, but Houston airport was being closed due to the hurricane coming in. Read her CB page about the pilot they met that helped them out. It is so heartwarming to hear about kind hearted people who go above and beyond to help others out. They will be back next week for another round of chemo. Trevor is just getting so grown up right before our very eyes!

The teens have had some fun times this summer. Morgan has had a wonderful trip to New York, Natalie and her twin Nicole have been to North Carolina to visit a friend and have now returned home. This was their first big airplane trip just the two girls.... no adults! They had a really good time.

Joseph, the young man from my hometown that I told you about, got his initial MRD back since his transplant and he is CANCER FREE! Way to go Joseph!!! He is still here, but hopefully he will be able to go home soon. So far so good, no signs of organ damage or GVHD. Keep him in your prayers for a smooth recovery from transplant.

Ryan is really needing our prayers right now. He has had such a difficult time. His family is really in need of prayers and direction. They had their hopes up that MD Anderson in Houston had a new trial for them, but after two trips down there, very difficult trips that left them very weary and upset, MD Anderson has now told them that Ryan does not qualify for the trial there. Needless to say, they are upset and and feel like they have been given a run-around. Please keep them in your prayers. They had brought Ryan home from Houston accepting that they would just stop trying to treat the cancer and just enjoy what little time they have left with Ryan, however their doctor back home has called them and has started the process to possibly bring them back to St Jude for a possible 3rd transplant. There are many MANY factors that have to go just right for this to happen, but they once again have hope. Pray Pray Pray for them and for peace for clear decisions.

Julie and Austin Locke, Dax's parents, have found out that their expected baby is going to be a girl! They are so very excited. She does not know exactly what her name will be, but she does know that she is going to name her Elizabeth after our sweet Elizabeth Dunford. That is such an honor to the Dunford's.

The Locke's recently help a Birthday Bash in honor of ^Dax's^ 3rd birthday. It was a huge success, and they raised quite a bit a money for St Jude. Michelle Dunford and her boys were able to go up and celebrate with Julie and Austin. They had a wonderful time and it was such a beautiful way to remember both ^Dax^ and ^Elizabeth^.

The Denton's are preparing for a birthday celebration in honor of ^Alex^. They too are doing this to raise awareness and money for St Jude. Pray for their success with this and for a wonderful day for them and so many others to remember ^Alex^ on his special day.

Another big HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to a very special young man.... MR. JORDAN JAMES!!! HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY TO HIM!!!! He turned 3 on July 3rd. What a wonderful miracle little boy he is becoming. You guys all need to sign up and plan on coming to Memphis for the St Jude Marathon so you can meet this amazing little boy and his precious family! If you have not heard, our team is running in honor of Jordan this year. We will have other families joining us again this year and I think it is going to be an awesome time for us to all come together and run/walk for all of the kiddo's that we have supported and loved. I know I have heard from Reagan's grandmother, they are planning to be here and walking to Remember Reagan. I am so delighted that they will be here and be walking for Reagan. Regina is planning to be back, her plans for a possible team for Mary Kate are unsure at this time, but they will be with us at the hotel and dinner as will Reagan's family. I do not know at this time who all will be joining us but it will be a treat, I can assure you of that!!!

SPEAKING of TEAM BELIEVE... we have got to get busy with getting registered and begin our fundraising! I will be having the annual lunch fundraiser at the Tea Room again this year. I hope to add a few others things this year that are still in the works. I heard from Svetlana, she is planning a garage sell with their money raised going to St Jude! That girl is always doing something!!! I love her heart and her spirit to do what she can for St Jude and the kids. Let me know if you have any ideas or plans for fundraisers in your area to go towards our team goal.

GET REGISTERED AND BEGIN YOUR FUNDRAISING EFFORTS NOW :)

I hope I did not ramble to much... thank you for continuing to come to this site and lift up these sweet children and families in prayer. Remember to leave messages on their CB pages often too. It means so much to them. Please continue to lift up the families that have given up their children to this awful illness. Each day has it's own struggles for each of them. While they try to carry on, they still have big empty holes in their hearts and empty arms. There is not a day that goes by that they do not miss their sweet angel very much. Keep praying for them.

Hug your own babies, and do something special to make a memory today. Take pictures often, and never take a day for granted.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Busy, Busy Week

2010-06-18T23:24:00.002-05:00

Sorry for such a long lapse in posting... As for my house, we are trying to bring our summer baseball season to an end, one of my sons moved to Nashville and we are just trying to stay cool and dry. It has been in the mid 90's with a heat index of 105 for over a week now and the forecast calls for the same for next week. If you live out west, mid 90's is not so bad because they have low to no humidity. If your so lucky to live in west Tennessee, the humidity is unreal!!! Enough complaining.... it's hot here and that is all there is to it !!!

Lot's of action going on around the Jude. Little Trevor has been here this week for his MRI and treatment. All went well. His tumor is stable and everything is going just fine. We were able to make a trip out to our favorite Wolfchase Chili's, Toys R Us, and Dulin's Sports Academy where my son Tyler is working. It's a really neat baseball training facility and Trevor enjoyed seeing all of the ball players working on their game. He will be back in 2 weeks.

Alex V. is here, I have not had a chance to see them yet, but I hope I am able to catch them before they get out of town. I hope that her scans and checkups are going well. Be praying for her to get great results.

Ariel was in and out yesterday and today. Everything is going well with her. Counts and everything were great. She left here going to Pensacola Beach for a mission trip with her youth group from church. Please keep this group in your prayers for a successful and safe trip. Continue to pray for her to continue to do well with her treatment. She will be back on the 16th of July.

I had the opportunity and pleasure of meeting a new patient and his family this week too. They are asking for your prayers for Joseph. He has leukemia and underwent a transplant on Wednesday of last week. This past Wednesday, one week post transplant he celebrated his 16th birthday. He is a very sweet young man, really bummed out to be 16 and having to spend it in the transplant unit. He would much rather be out getting his drivers license and hanging out than in a hospital bed. Please pray for him and his family. They are just beginning this journey and need some prayers and encouragement. He does have a CB page. www.caringbridge.org/visit/josephjohnson
Please visit his page and leave him a message. So far, he is doing okay. He has not felt very well the past few days, and does not have any desire to eat. Pray for him to feel better. I became acquainted with this family through one of my cousins in my hometown of Tupelo, MS. My cousin called me and ask if I would please check on them, Joseph's grandmother is a nurse at the Tupelo hospital and took care of my cousins son when he was in the hospital after an accident recently. She was an excellent nurse and took very good care of my cousin's son, so she wanted to return the favor by doing what she could (calling me) to check on them and help them out. The connection has been made, and I look forward to spending more time with them. Joseph's mom has given me permission to post his link and his info here, she would love and very much appreciate any prayers you have to offer.

Big Trevor will be coming in next week for his big set of scans and check up. He has not been feeling well lately, pray for him to feel better and for him to get great results on his test.

Mikey has had a busy week. Dina has gone home to pick up her daughter now that school is out and I have checked on Mikey for her and for Ma and Katie Bruce... He came out with us to one of Tyler's baseball games then out to dinner one night, then I went and visited for a bit and took some food over for him to have to nibble on. He is doing well. He was to undergo a biopsy procedure this coming Wednesday but after some further talking with the doctor and listening to his inner voice, he has decided to not proceed with this. He feels the risk outweigh the benefits, at that point he feels it is not in his best interest. Please keep him in your prayers for peace in his mind regarding the decisions that he is having to make during this time and in the coming days. Dina will return to Memphis next Monday. Please pray for safe travels for her and her daughter.

Tonight is a big night for Jack and his family. They were participating in Relay for Life in his hometown. At 7:30 tonight they were walking a lap in Jack's honor. I pray that they will be able to raise lots of money and awareness for cancer by participating in tonights event. Jack is still loving on the new puppies! Katie has texted me some of the sweetest pictures of Jack with his beloved puppies. I really appreciate her keeping me posted and sending pictures along the way. I will tell you, I certainly miss seeing his little smile around the Jude.

I hope I have not left out anyone who has been in and out this week. I do have another family that I would like to share with you, I visited with them tonight as their daughter was in having an MRI done. I have not ask for their permission to share with you yet, so I will have to wait but I will ask you to please keep Audra in your prayers and pray for the doctors to be able to see clearly what is going on with her and know how to best treat her. Be praying and I'll share more with you as I have permission to.

Also, there is another young girl that I have not met, they are not at St Jude but through a friend I have been following her. She is in her final days. Please keep Ellie and her family in your prayers for that miracle if it be God's will. www.caringbridge.org/visit/elliepotvin
Ellie's mom is a wonderful example of faith and letting her light shine for Christ.

I hope everyone is getting ready and registering for the St Jude Marathon!! It will be here before we know it. Don't forget the half marathon sells out first, so don't get left out if that is the one you want to participate in. I pray for a great success for Team Believe this year!!! Help us make that happen!!! Be a part of the team!

I hope that each of you have a wonderful weekend. I'd like to wish all of the wonderful daddies out there a very Happy Father's Day!!!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Prayers Have Been Answered Yet Again!

2010-06-08T16:57:00.002-05:00

Thank you Lord for Your almighty gift of the avenue of prayer. You hear us, You move heaven and earth to do what is best for us. You love us, You give us mercy, grace and peace. THANK YOU LORD.

Just got a call from Katie, JACK'S SCANS HAVE COME BACK ALL CLEAR ONCE AGAIN!!! He has fought this battle with the beast yet again, and WON his fight AGAIN! God love Jack! Jack will be getting his line pulled out tomorrow and going home for the summer to be an all rough and tough mud lovin, fishing, playing in the dirt healthy little boy!!! I bet he will even find a few worms and who know what else to play with. I know he will be enjoying helping his momma dog raise her 5 brand new puppies that were born this past week. What a FUNTASTIC summer Jack and his family have in store for them this summer! Rejoice and celebrate with them! Sign his CB page and let them know your celebrating with them and continuing to pray for them. They will return for check up in 3 months. Please keep praying for Jack to remain CANCER FREE for many many many more years!!!

see.... BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~~~~

What a Difference A Week Can Make

2010-06-03T01:21:00.003-05:00

This week has not brought the good news hoped and prayed for, but there is still so much to be thankful and grateful for. I want to ask each of you to be be in prayer for Mattie Powell's family. Mattie had gone home on hospice with no others options a couple of months ago. Today, Mattie went home to be with Jesus and her other St Jude friends who have gone before her. Please keep her family and the extended St Jude family in your prayers.

Also, another request... Please keep Mikey and Dina in your prayers. Mikey had his scans today and found out that the tumor has returned. They will be making some very tough decisions in the next few days, I ask that you please pray for them and for God's healing on Mikey. Please pray that they will have clear guidance for the decisions they make and also that they have a complete peace with their decisions. This news has been very devastating to them as well and many of their very loved St Jude family. I would also like to encourage you to please click on his link on this page and please leave them a message of encouragement and let them know you are praying for them. This is a much bigger thing than you can possible realize. Thank you.

LIttle Trevor and Morgan both come in tomorrow for check up appointments. Please be in prayer for their safe travel and for excellent reports.

Jack will be coming back on June 7th for his final scans. Please be in prayer that these scans will still show no evidence of disease.

I want to ask you to please be in prayer for Ryan. He was to begin a new protocol for his cancer that has relapsed this week, however he is not feeling well, running a low grade fever and seems to have a cold and pink eye. They have returned home to wait for him to get over this sickness then return to begin his treatment. Please keep them in your prayers.

This weekend is the St Jude Remembrance Weekend at St Jude. Please keep all of the families that will be attending this event in your prayers for safe travel and also keep them strong as they face a milestone in their journey. This is a wonderful weekend of special events for families who have lost a child while a patient at St Jude. It is yet another thing that St Jude does to help families, but it is a very emotional time for the families to come back and get to visit with the doctors and nurses that took care of them. Please keep them all in your prayers during this emotional yet wonderful weekend.

I know there are so many more out there who need our prayers. Our God is so good, He can hear all of our prayers and has the power to answer all of them. God is in control and we must learn to let Him be at all times.

Don't forget the registration for the marathon. We all can be a part of helping in our own way to find a cure.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Great News This Week!

2010-05-26T00:48:00.002-05:00

A few quick updates...

Ariel had her check up last Friday. She had great reports, everything looked perfect! She was feeling good and looking great. When she finished up in clinic, she and her family followed me to Pickwick where we all stayed for the weekend. They were supposed to go to the beach but decided that was not the best idea considering the oil spill in the gulf. Everyone had a great time at Pickwick and they got to just get away and relax and meet some of the prayer warriors that have been praying for Ariel and their family. That is always a good thing!

Natalie had her 4 month check up on Monday, and she got another all clear, still CANCER FREE report too! She also looks great and is feeling great. She and her twin just finished up their freshman year in college and are looking forward to a fun filled summer and another fun college year in the fall.

Trevor was in and out for a check up. All is looking good for him. Today is his 17th birthday. Happy Birthday Trevor!

Jack went in for labs this morning and got the ALL CLEAR boot them out of here report!!! Much to their surprise, the doctor said he was looking so good and his counts could not have been better, so get your apartment packed up and GO HOME HOME!!! I went down and helped them out and said my "so longs" and they are now officially back at home and finished with treatment! What an amazing little boy and a true fighter! I got some cute pics from today, I'll post later.

Yesterday ^Mary Kate^ would have celebrated her 10th birthday. She is one very loved and missed little girl. Please keep Regina and Alyson in your prayers as they face very hard days like this. Pray for their peace and comfort to get through these times.

I saw Mikey today too. He came to hang out and "play" with Jack before Jack left. Mikey has his scans coming up June 1st. Please be in prayer for good results. He is really having some difficult days.

I am probably leaving something out but I can't think of anything right now. I hope and pray that your week is going well. Please keep these families and all of the other families that you follow in your prayers. Continue to pray hard for a cure for all of this.

DON'T FORGET TO GET REGISTERED FOR THE ST JUDE MARATHON COMING UP DECEMBER 4, 2010! DON'T LET TIME SLIP UP ON YOU! YOU DON'T WANT TO BE LEFT OUT. I DO NEED TO GET AN IDEA OF HOW MANY ARE COMING AND HOW MANY ROOMS I NEED TO GET RESERVED. LET ME HEAR FROM YOU SOON PLEASE.

Believe Prayer Works~

No Mo Chemo- Jack Fought Back - No Mo Cancer!!!!

2010-05-15T09:34:00.007-05:00

Jack and Katie both had a BIG day yesterday. Jack celebrated his NO MO CHEMO party and I must say he had the time of his life! This is one child that knows how to laugh, see the bright side and enjoy every minute of a day! Not only did HE have something to celebrate, so did his mom! Yesterday was her birthday. Can you imagine a better birthday present than having your child taking his last (prayerfully FOREVER) chemo treatment and to get to see him laugh, have an awesome time and most of all be here to give her hugs and kisses!! Jack has the silicone bracelets like so many of the St Jude patients do that say... "Jack Fights Back". Of course they are John Deere yellow and green!! I read his bracelet when I look down at my arm and now I say... "Jack Fought Back, and HE IS A WINNER"!!!! Thank you Lord for the beautiful day that you gave to Jack, his family and his medical staff at St Jude. They were all so happy and proud for Jack yesterday. I LOVE No Mo Chemo parties! Katie's camera broke at Jack's first one, she had made the comment that they needed to do it again so she could have pictures, well not really what she wanted... but Jack did have another one after his relapse and there were multiple camera's there to make sure they got pictures, this will hopefully and prayerfully be the last one! Please pray for Jack to remain CANCER FREE for the rest of his long life. What a testimony to God's healing power. Maybe you can get an idea of how happy everyone was yesterday by looking at some of the pics! I told you that I had a surprise, I had been to the bakery and had a birthday cake ordered for Katie and a No Mo Chemo cake made for Jack! Jack's reaction to the cakes and the joy and mess they brought to him was absolutely PRICELESS!!!

Katie, Mardecia & Jack. Jack was just as proud of Katie's cake as he was his. I told him while he was finishing up his last bit of chemo that I had a secret. I ask him if I told him, could he keep it a secret. He said with his big brown eye's just popping, "YES". So, I whispered in his ear that I had a birthday cake for him to give his momma. He got this HUGE smile on his face and whispered..."it's our secret". In about 3 minutes after that, Jack looked at me with those same big eyes and ask "where the cake?" LOL So much for him keeping a secret!!!

Jack & Mardecia holding a giant poster picture of Jack with "his boys" the baseball team from Bolton High School. This picture was taken on the teams visit/tour to St Jude where they had the honor to meet Jack. They took pictures and gave Jack a baseball signed by all of the players. They all had a big day. The baseball team requested for a poster picture of that shot to hang in their locker room and we hung one down on the ticket booth at the gate on our field as well. I took Jack a copy of it to his party. He was so proud of it.

Jack's cake

The song and the confetti! This is just such a huge deal to these kids and their families. At first Jack seemed a little concerned about the mess being made on the floor, but that concern was very short lived... he thought it was hilarious!

This was a PRICELESS Kodak moment!! Jack did not know about his cake, when we brought it in and handed it to him, he looked up at me with those great big eyes and ask "can I eat it?" his mom replied "You can do anything you want to do today" with those words being spoken, a big sparkle came into his eyes and before anyone realized what was about to happen, Jack leaned over and took a huge bite out of his cake!!!! This was just totally precious! That boy can really bring on the laughter.

All done with Chemo, this is Jack's chemo nurse detaching his line and flushing his port for the final time!!! Jack helped with the flush... so cute!

Happy Jack and Birthday Mom with both of their cakes. Smiles and cake for everyone.

Big Trevor is really having a hard time right now. He is still inpatient in the affiliate in Baton Rouge, but he will be transferring to Memphis on Monday. He is having some skin problems that they are trying to get a handle on. He is very uncomfortable and now being treated like he has radiation burn. Keep him in your prayers and pray that they can find the source of this and he will be able to treat it and get out that that hospital!

Ariel comes for her check up this week. I am not sure yet what day they are coming, but I think it may be tomorrow. Pray for their safe travel and for a good check up for her. School is getting out soon for her and Amber, so some of the stress will be lifted and hopefully they can enjoy a great summer! I'll let you know how her appointment goes later.

That's about it for now. I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend. Don't forget... TEAM BELIEVE is now open for registration for the St Jude Memphis Marathon, half marathon and 5K! Come and join us!

www.stjudemarathon.org

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow...

2010-05-12T22:55:00.006-05:00

I want to give you a quick update on a few prayer request. I'll fill in more as soon as I can.

Update - Part II
I have another WONDERFUL prayer of praise and prayer request to share with you that I did not find out about until after I had posted this last night.
For those of you who followed my friend Angie who was pregnant with a Trisomny 18 baby back during the time we were following Ethan this update is for you. As you remember, Angie delivered ^Poppy Joy^ the morning of the marathon while we were out running/walking. ^Poppy Joy^ left this earth and went "home" by the time we had finished up that morning. I have shared Angie's book that she has written about her experience with this journey with many of you as well as many of the St Jude mom's that I adopted. Angie and her family are a true example of trust and faith in our Lord. I am so excited to share with you that yesterday she heard the heartbeat of a new little baby that will be born in December. God is so AWESOME! Please keep them in your prayers, pray for a great pregnancy and that this baby will be born healthy. Many of you met Angie, her husband and her two girls last year at our marathon dinner. She ran as a Team Believe member last year, but looks like running this year is just not in the picture! We'll give her this year off :)

First of all, a huge prayer of thanks and praise for Jordan. Jordan came in this week for a check up with neurology because they took him off of his very last medication while he was here back in early February. That med was for seizures, and thankfully he is showing no signs whatsoever of any seizures. That is a wonderful thing, therefore he will continue to remain medication free!! The picture is Jordan with Dr. Scott. I know that you all remember me talking about Dr Scott so much back when Jordan was here and going through transplant. This visit will be the last time that Dr. Scott will see Jordan as his doctor. Dr Scott will be leaving sometime around the first of July to move to Pennsylvania to begin his career there. He was a fellow while here at St Jude and fellows come and do a three year rotation with the option of signing on for an extra year. He and his wife have opted to move back closer to home so he will be leaving St Jude. This is a very sad thing for many around the Jude. He is a brilliant doctor and one of the best when it comes to "bedside manners". The kids love him and the families love him. If you do not know the story... Dr Scott's very first shift on duty at St Jude was the night that Jordan was brought in to ICU at the Jude. A little trip down memory lane.... Ethan was in ICU. Jordan was born on July 3rd and he was brought into ICU on July 4th. As I said this was Dr. Scott's first day at St Jude. I got a call from Ben that he had just met a young girl with a newborn in ICU and the mom who had just delivered the baby the night before by C-Section was being told that her baby most likely would not survive through the weekend. This was on a Friday. Looking back now almost 3 years later, how blessed Jordan and Chance were that Dr. Scott was on duty. I get so tickled listening to him tell the story of that night. Jordan and Dr. Scott will forever have a bond. Dr Scott told me at the time this picture was made on Monday, that he had better get an invitation to Jordan's kindergarten graduation, High School graduation, College graduation and his wedding!!! He may just end up being the best doctor man at his wedding!! Jordan has no clue right now about the major role Dr Scott has played in his life, but in the future HE WILL DEFINITELY KNOW. With a little prompting from yours truly... he did tell Dr. Scott "thank you for saving my life" during our visit on Monday. I think I may have spotted a little water in the good doc's eyes :)
We love Dr. Scott and St Jude will miss him greatly! I may have him convinced to come back in December for the marathon! It's okay to say a little prayer for that to happen!

Next... big Trevor is inpatient at the Baton Rouge affiliate of St Jude with a fever. He has been running some pretty high fevers since Saturday night and they have not yet been able to pin point the source of these fevers. Please keep him in your prayers that one) the fevers will go away and two) that they will find the source of these fevers. At this time he is being treated in Baton Rouge but I guess there is a possibility that if this continues they may bring him back to Memphis.

Next... tomorrow is a BIG day for Jack. In the morning he will be having his VERY LAST CHEMO TREATMENT!!!! PLEASE BE PRAYING THAT THIS IS THE VERY LAST CHEMO THAT HIS PRECIOUS LITTLE BODY WILL EVER HAVE TO ENDURE!! That means tomorrow there will be one big celebration with a NO MO CHEMO party!!!! Shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I have a little surprise for him :) I'll tell you later! For those of you who know me, you know I LOVE surprises!!!! Tomorrow is a very happy day for Jack and his family, but it also comes with a bitter sweet. Leaving and going home can be a very nervous time. Pray for their peace as they go home and begin to live a cancer free life. Pray for them to be able to enjoy being home and not have that constant thought in the back of their minds about the "what if's". This is a normal thing, it's so hard to get past. Our prayer is that Jack will be CANCER FREE for many years and if I calculate it right he and Jordan should graduate high school one year apart!! I'll should be able to make it to both graduations!

This ended up being longer than I anticipated when I first sat down to type. I will give you more details in a later post as soon as I can.

Don't forget, the marathon registration is now open and it is predicted that it will fill up much sooner than even last year. There has already been a record number of people already registered for this early in the registration process. To join our team, simply go to www.stjudemarathon.org select which run you want to participate in for the December 4, 2010 Memphis Marathon. When it ask if you want to be a HERO, click on "yes" and then when it ask what team... type in TEAM BELIEVE. That's it!! If you have any questions or problems, you can leave a comment at the bottom of this post and I will try to answer it for you. Just a reminder, this year we are running in honor of Jordan. Let's show a huge appreciation to St Jude for the work they do by raising a record amount of money this year!

I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

Psalm 52:9

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Happy Mothers Day

2010-05-08T22:45:00.003-05:00

One mother and grandmother who have every reason to celebrate mothers day, Jordan's mom Chancelly and grandmother Patricia. This photo is of the front cover of the St Jude Promise magazine that I received in the mail today... our very own Jordan (whom Team Believe will be running for this year) is the feature patient for this issue. If you receive this magazine, make sure you read the article about Jordan and his experience. They did an excellent job of explaining his exact diagnosis and treatment. It's a great article along with some great pictures.

I want to wish each of the very special mothers who come to this blog a very HAPPY MOTHERS DAY. For those of you who I know personally, each of you are wonderful and incredible mothers. I say a special prayer for those wonderful mothers who have special angels in heaven that they were honored to be their mom while they were here on earth. I have had the most wonderful weekend with a few of those special moms. ^Mary Kate's^ mom and sister (Regina and Alyson), ^Dax's^ mom (Julie) and ^Elizabeth's^ mom (Michelle) have all been in town this weekend. It was under very sad circumstances. Beverly, one of the wonderful nurses from St Jude passed away this past week, the services to celebrate her life were held Friday morning. I do want to ask you to pray for this family. Beverly was a very special nurse at St Jude. At the age of 15, she was diagnosed with cancer and became a patient at St Jude. After being treated and being pronounced CANCER FREE, she went on to graduate from high school, college and then nursing school and went to work at St Jude as a nurse. Last year, she was once again diagnosed with cancer, this time breast cancer. At the age of 30, she leaves a husband, a three year old daughter and a 15 month old son. She worked in the Medicine Room up until becoming to sick to work any longer. Please keep this family and all of the St Jude family in your prayers. It was very heart warming to see the St Jude staff who came to show their love and support to this family. When you see families traveling to come back to Memphis just to be here for this family, it tells you just how special she was to the families of her patients.

I have been blessed to share this Mothers Day weekend with Michelle, Regina and Julie. It was so nice to be together again and talk about so many memories about the special children that each were blessed to be mom to. Each had some places that they wanted to go to, (stores, restaurants, etc) so we hit the road and tried to get to each one. I think we did more eating than anything beside talking. I am very grateful for the time we had together. We even spent the day today at ^Elizabeth's^ bubba's track meet! That was my first experience at a track meet, it was alot of fun. The weather could not have been more perfect. A beautiful sunny day, not hot and not cold just perfect. At the end of the afternoon, there were some very pink noses and cheeks but some great laughs, hugs and special memories made. It probably goes without saying, we ended up the day having dinner at the Wolfchase Chilis!!! Thank you to our special Chili's who supports the families and St Jude in a tremendous way. Again, I will ask you to support your local Chili's anytime you can and if you find yourself in Memphis please support the one at Wolfchase. Hummmm, just a thought, why not go to Chili's tomorrow to celebrate Mothers Day :)

To recap this past week, little Trevor was here this week for his check up and treatment. They had some extra time this trip, so we were able to get to Wolfchase Chili's for dinner one night and then Melinda and Trevor came out to our house for a cookout along with Michelle, Charlie and Andrew Dunford and Regina Rushing. Mr Charles cooked up some good burgers and hotdogs and we did what we do best.... eat!!! Little Trevor had a good check up and his chemo went smoothly. He will be back in a couple of weeks.

Big Trevor was at St Jude for his surgery this week. Everything went well and he was back home on Friday. Pray for this surgery to be successful and for Trevor to be relieved from the pain he suffers.

Jack did really well recovering from his last treatment. Well enough that he got to go home-home for the week and will be returning to Memphis tomorrow (today now, I just noticed the time). He will have his last treatment coming up, please be praying for it to be successful and for him to tolerate it as well as this last one. Pray for his next set of scans and test to show that he remains CANCER FREE.

Jordan will be coming in on Monday for a check up with the Neurologist. He was taken off of the last medication that he was on which was an anti seizure medication during his last check up. They want to bring him in just for a check up to make sure all is well without this medication. If he is doing great, he will be medication free along with being CANCER FREE!!!! This will be a quick trip, in around noon, appointment around 2:30, then back to the airport for a flight back home around 7 pm. It will be a quick and busy day for them. Pray for a good report and a safe flight.

Okay, it's 12:19 pm and I am ready for bed. For all of the mom's, enjoy your day with your family. For any dad's, treat the mom in your life like the queen that she is. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

A Prayer Request...

2010-05-03T07:28:00.002-05:00

Good morning, I hope each of you have had a nice but most importantly a safe weekend. Our area has not had the best of weekends as far as the weather is concerned but the sun is shining now and God is with us. I do want to ask for your prayers on a different behalf today. Please be in prayer for all of the Flood victims in the Memphis, Nashville and entire North Mississippi and West Tennessee area. The sever weather began in Memphis on Friday evening. After a night of tornado sirens going off all night long we were awaken on Saturday morning to floods like this area has NEVER seen. The tornado sirens continued to go off most of the day on Saturday and again most of the night Saturday night. We were blessed in the Memphis area to not have any tornados touch down but this entire area has sustained tremendous flooding. We still have roads closed, schools in some areas closed and water still standing in many area. There has been loss of life from these storms, please pray for those families. The Nashville, TN area has sustained much the same flooding that Memphis and all areas in between have. We have several TEAM BELIEVE members and prayer warriors in that area also. Please keep everyone in the path of this storm covered in prayer for safety and minimal damage to their homes and property. I do realize that home and property are just items, and each can be replaced. I am so thankful that everyone involved with this group is safe and as far as I can tell has not had any major damage. Thank you God for bringing us through yet another storm in our lives. I have posted some pictures that I took from my driveway and front porch of what we could see from our home on Saturday morning. We were all fine, no water got into our house but 3 of the 6 right here around me were not so fortunate. I would like to ask you for special prayers also for the Taube family. They are two houses down from me, their home had about a foot of water inside the entire house. That in itself is awful, but Mrs. Taube is home on hospice in her final days of her battle with cancer. Fortunately for them, many of their family members have been here with them the past couple of weeks to help out so they have had help. This is a great burden for them to have to deal with at this time. Please keep them covered in your prayers.

As I am typing the local news is on... they just announced that in areas (mine for one) the water is still rising in the creeks which are already over their banks and spilling out. Also, they just said at this time there have been 17 deaths due to this storm. Prayers!!!

Front yard... our road is out there just on the other side of those big trees and between the "lake" on the other side of the road. That "lake" is the yard for our neighbors across the road.

This is the road out in front of our house. This car tried to go through and at one point the girl driving it was sitting on top of her car waiting for someone to come and rescue her. She was able to get out and someone was able to get her. Another car on down the road a little bit had another girl trapped in it and our firetruck from our little fire station right down from us was swept off the road and flipped over on it's side trying to get to the trapped girl. The firemen were able to get out and on top of the floating firetruck where they waited for over an hour for a small boat to get to them to rescue them. I NEVER knew a huge firetruck could FLOAT!!! Each of the people involved were safe. The county was able to get another truck out to our little station by the next afternoon.

One big "lake" from our yard across to our neighbor's yard and small pond with the gazebo. Can you figure out where the small pond really is??? That's like Where's Waldo??

Can you find the driveway?

Several of our special St Jude families live in the path of this storm and have had sever flooding in their area also. Please pray for them. I have talked to the Craven's and they are all okay. Mallerie's family, Brad, Tina & Heath as well as Garrett Hearn's family are all in the same town as the Cravens. I will check on them today.

I chatted through text msg with Katie Bruce about 5 am on Saturday morning. The families at Target house had been awaken about 3 times during the night to move to the basement during the tornado warnings. They were quite worn out by morning but thankfully the people there at the Target house go to great lengths to protect the families there. I think the kids thought that was a very exciting night. Jack has had a very good weekend. He has tolerated his next to last treatment very well. Thank you Lord for this. He has ended up in the hospital after each of the other treatments but not this time!! YEAH JACK!! He has one more FINAL treatment to go before getting to go home CANCER FREE! Please keep him in your prayers.

Big Trevor will be coming in to St Jude today for his surgery this week. Please keep him in prayer for a successful surgery.

Don't forget, be making your plans to get registered for TEAM BELIEVE for the St Jude Memphis Marathon. If you are registering and joining us for the first time, to join our team, you need to sign us as a HERO on the registration form and when it ask for team name, simply type in TEAM BELIEVE. It's very easy!!! I am already getting SO excited and many of our team members have already registered!!! Let's make this year another record year for us in our fundraising!

Stay safe, have a great week. I will leave you today with two scriptures to take with you as you face this week.

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified... for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:6

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Surprise! It's Registration Time Again Already!!!

2010-04-29T21:09:00.004-05:00

You could have knocked me over with a feather today when I saw that the registration is now open for this years St Jude Marathon! This is the earliest that I have seen it! I am happy to say that I am now officially registered for the Half Marathon this year and I hope that the rest of TEAM BELIEVE will begin to register soon for which ever run you choose to do. This year we will be running for Jordan James. Jordan will be 3 years old in July. He was born with leukemia and was is transplant with Ethan and Sully whom many of you followed while they were at St Jude. Jordan had a bone marrow transplant when he was 7 months old (on Valentines Day) and has now been CANCER FREE ever since he went into remission at 3 weeks old. If you were a part of Team Believe and at our team dinner this past year, you KNOW Jordan! He is just so precious and we are honored to honor him and the great work that St Jude has done in Jordan's healing! Jordan and his family will be joining us again this year. I will give more info on Jordan in a later post. I just wanted to let you know registration is open and it is anticipated that just like last year, it will sell out again. I will try to get the link posted on this page for a direct link to go to the registration page. I'll work on that this weekend.

Last night was a great night for some really special people. Jack and his mom and Ma joined us for a night of baseball at our youngest son's High School baseball game. He was just so precious and everyone had a great time. Jack even got past a little of his shyness and went around with our Diamond Darlings to collect donations for St Jude. I must say it was our biggest night of donations all season! I told you earlier how the baseball team challenged the softball team to see which team could raise the most money for St Jude during this ball season, they have done a great job so far. When it is all over, I will post and let you know how they have done. This has truly been a wonderful thing for this group of guys on the baseball team. They have just adopted Jack and love him so much. Jack got to the field last night and wanted to know immediately where the guys were. He went out on the field and gave the team a pep talk before the game. It was the most precious thing. I wish I had a video of it. Jack has been feeling really good this week and has enjoyed being outside most of the days this week. He has one more round of chemo to go. They plan to be home by the first part of June! Please pray for him to continue to do well and remain CANCER FREE! Keep Katie and the rest of the family in your prayers as they prepare to go home. This is always a tough thing to do even though you want it so bad. There is that comfort in being close by St Jude just in case you think you might need them.

I have posted a few pictures from last night. How could ANYONE resist this darling face???

Jack showing off his "gangster" look!! How adorable is this???

Coach (Tyler) Sutton, Jack and Garrett Sutton hanging out after the game. These guys have become big buddies!

Jack proudly showing off the donation jar! He did a great job. Could you pass up on putting a buck or two in his jar?

Jack getting a donation from one of the mom's at the game.

Your Bolton Wildcat's Baseball team and coaches with Jack. I just love how Jack is laying over and propped up on Garrett! Bud's!

It was announced over the PA system that Jack and his family were our special guest for the evening, then they told a little bit about Jack and how thanks to St Jude he is CANCER FREE, the crowd gave them a standing ovation! It was so awesome. There were some tears and lot's of chill bumps! So glad that they could come out and join us for a night of red blooded american baseball and hotdogs! Keep praying for Jack!

Jack and his family are very close to another St Jude family who really need our prayers right now. Robert Cunningham is a wonderful 15 year old young man who has relapsed. Because of damage to his heart from treatment, he is not eligible for transplant. The prognosis is rather grim at this time, but with prayer and with God this is always subject to change!!! I am asking for each of you to add Robert and his family to your prayer list and to please put them on any other prayer group list that you may be a part of. BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!!!

Big Trevor will be coming to Memphis on Monday for his surgery to repair damage to some of his bones and joints. I am not real sure what this process is, I am sure Pam will explain it better so I encourage you to check in on his CB page. Just please be praying for this surgery to be a success and for him to have relief from the pain he has been experiencing.

Click on the link for Ellen Taylor's CB page and read the most awesome story that recently happened for Ellen and her family. This story is what true love and servanthood is all about. It will bring chills and tears to your eyes! See what a difference ANYONE can make in someone else's life.

Tomorrow Jason, Tabitha, Hannah and little Max will be taking a van load of brand new donated toys down to St Jude in memory of Sully's upcoming 3rd birthday. You may remember that they did this last year to celebrate his birthday and they are doing it again this year. I had lunch with her today and she said they have had almost as much donated this year as they had last year. They are so excited to be able to do this, however it is a bitter sweet for them. Please say a little prayer for them as they celebrate another birthday for Sully without him.

Remembering all of our families with empty hearts today! Much love to them all and prayers for each family for God's peace.

Have a great weekend..... START MAKING PLANS TO GET REGISTERED AND BRING A FRIEND ALONG WITH YOU! Let's make this year even better than last year! That will be hard to beat, but I know this group can certainly do it!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

The Calm After The Storm...

2010-04-24T17:23:00.003-05:00

Addition to todays post - I neglected to share some not so good news with you. Ryan has relapsed for the third time. You can go to his link and read Kim's update regarding this devastating news. She is really torn right now and searching for the best solution to help Ryan. Please read her post, be praying really hard for her to find the peace and answers she needs. Pray for Ryan and for his healing.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Have you ever noticed how beautiful the sky is and how green the earth is after a raging storm? Last night and up until about 2:00 this afternoon we have had one Tornado watch and warning after another one. The sky has been so dark with wicked looking clouds... now at 5:25pm just a few hours later, the sky is the most beautiful blue without a cloud to be found. The grass is so green and what is left of the blooming flowers are incredible!! I absolutely love the feeling of complete peace after the storm. Funny how life, our day to day struggles, can be so much like a thunderstorm. We have trials in our life, but I feel God blesses us with a beautiful peace after our storms when we lean on him and rely on our faith to get us through our storms. No matter what our troubles or pain involve, God is always with us. "Be with us Lord, we can not live without thee."

Well, it's been rather calm on the SJ home front as far as I am aware with the kiddo's we follow here. Jack just finished up a cycle of his chemo and he has done really well so far with it. If you are following his CB site, you know that he only has one more cycle to go and he will be finished!!!! YEAH for Jack!!! His scans are all clear, he is finishing up and we just need to keep him in our prayers that he remains CANCER FREE. He will certainly me missed around the Jude but I know how much they want to be home and get on with life enjoying their family. Keep praying for Jack and his sweet family to hang in there just a little bit longer until they get to go home for good.

Little Trevor came in this past week for his chemo treatment and an MRI. The preliminary reports showed basically that his tumor is stable. I have not heard back from Melinda yet on the final report. Hopefully they will get that report by Monday. Please keep praying for Trevor and his family. They are doing great, but the travel back and forth every other week does really wear them out both physically and emotionally. When Melinda comes here to bring Trevor, she has to leave Morgan, little sister, back home. Morgan misses her mom and big brother and Trevor misses Morgan very much when he is away from her. They are very close. Please keep praying for his final report on the MRI to show that his treatment is doing it's job!!! We did get to go to Chili's for dinner while they were here. That is such a big treat for Trevor! He is the "main attraction" at Chili's when he is there. Everyone in the restaurant knows Trevor before they finish up their dinner!! He is such the cutie pie!

Ariel will be coming in on Monday for her check up. I am pretty sure this is the visit that she will be having her MRI too. Please be in prayer for the results from this MRI to show that her treatment is doing it's job too. She had a small spot of concern on her lung in the last one, pray that this spot will not show up at all on this MRI. It could have just been nothing at all, and that is what we are praying for. She has been a very busy young lady the past few weeks. She and Amber came to Memphis to attend the St Jude Prom, then this weekend she is very busy speaking at two different Relay For Life functions and also she and Amber are involved in their high school musical of "Grease". Pray for their safe trip to Memphis and for good reports.

Big Trevor has had some really great things happening in his life. He has been the recipient of a couple of awesome honors in the past few weeks. I don't want to get them wrong, so I will just refer you back to his CB page where Pam explains them much better than I ever could. I am very proud of him and his accomplishments. He is still awaiting surgery coming up the first part of May. Please keep him in your prayers.

I think I shared with you on a past post about Dr. Sara being pregnant with twins. She is doing great, the twins are doing great! She and hubby now know that the new bundles of joy will be girls!! They are very excited. On the subject of babies... if you have not yet heard, I can now share with you that ^Dax's^ mom and dad, (Julie & Austin) are expecting a baby! Congratulations to them and prayers for them and for a healthy beautiful baby. ^Dax^ will be such a sweet guardian angel over his momma, daddy and little brother or sister.

Please continue to pray for all of the families at St Jude and other families at other hospitals who have children fighting childhood cancer. Keep praying for them and doing what you can to help raise the money necessary to fund St Jude and the research needed to find the cure. We are approaching the end of April, the time to begin registering for the 2010 St Jude Marathon will be here before we know it. I believe if I remember correctly last years registration began at the end of May. Be talking to your friends and family and see if you can bring someone else with you to join our team this year. More info on the 2010 Team Believe Team will be coming out soon.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday and a great start to a new week. Be vigilant in your prayers... Prayer Works!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

The Knots Prayer...

2010-04-11T22:32:00.002-05:00

The Knots Prayer
Author Unknown

Dear God,

Please untie the knots
that are in my mind,
my heart and my life.
Remove the have nots,
the can nots, and the do nots
that I have in my mind.

Erase the will nots,
may nots, and
might nots that may find
a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots
would nots, and
should nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all, Dear God,
I ask that you remove from my mind,
my heart and my life all of the am nots
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough.

In Jesus name, amen.

I ran across this prayer and just wanted to share it with you. There are times when I feel my life is full of knots and this just seemed to speak to me. I think when there is something that I do not accomplish... it is usually connected to a "not". Praying for those "nots" to be removed from my life and replaced with the willingness to do, to work to do God's work to make a difference in someone else's life.

This will be an exciting week at St Jude for the teens. This is the week of the St Jude Prom. They do such an incredible job of making this event so special for the teens. Many of the teens who we have followed will be coming back to Memphis this week to be a part of prom. I am also reminded of last years prom. It was a beautiful and special night for Mallerie. She was inpatient and could not go, so with some help we brought prom to her. She was so beautiful and had such a great time that night. I can't tell you how much I miss her. I know that each one involved this year will be beautiful/handsome and that Mal will be smiling down, she will be at prom this year.

Yeah for Jack! He finally got out of the hospital! Please keep him in your prayers that his counts will recover and he will begin to feel great soon. The weather here is so beautiful, I know that he is ready to get outside and enjoy being a little boy! Pray that he will stay out of the hospital!!!

Read Rylee's CB page, she has been struggling with some problems recently and has another laser procedure on her hand coming up. Please keep her in your prayers.

Keep all of our families in our prayer! Hope your week is absolutely beautiful and full of God's grace and blessings.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T23:16:00.003-05:00

Happy Easter to everyone! I hope that each of you has been able to enjoy the day and spend it with those that mean the most to you. I am reminded that so many of our sweet families have gone through the day today with an empty seat in their home and a heavy heart. I have prayed for each of you today, I pray that God will help you see the beauty in this day and give you the peace that you need to face days like today. I can only think about those we are missing and wonder just how perfect the big Easter Egg Hunt in heaven must have been. I just visualize all of our St Jude angel's having a big Easter gathering together. Please keep these families in your hearts and prayers. This time last year, I had a car load of Easter baskets that I was trying to deliver at St Jude to these precious angels. What a difference a year can make.

I think this has been the longest that I have gone without posting since I began this blog page. I do apologize and I thank those of you who sent messages to check to make sure things were okay. Things have been great, just busy. As I shared with you, my oldest son Tyler had a wreck 2 weeks ago now that totaled his SUV. He was perfectly fine, I told him that God definitely had him wrapped in his arms and protected him. He did not even have a scratch on him. I have said a prayer of thanksgiving for this everyday since the accident. However, his SUV did not fair so well. As I was reminded by one of our sweet mom's... vehicles can be replaced. I had a sweet message from Mallerie's mom Tina, and it really put things into perspective for me. Thank you Tina! This past week, in between baseball games, Tyler and I hit the road and covered every dealership in a 75 mile radius and finally on Friday, the big purchase was made. Tyler is back behind a wheel now! Hopefully this week will not be as crazy.

I am including a few more pics from the birthday party for Ariel and Amber. I made all of the pics I am posting today on my Iphone so they are not that big, but maybe you can see them. Ariel's appointments here went well. She is doing really good and will be back in a few weeks for another check up. Keep praying for this chemo to rid her body of this cancer forever!

Amber and Ariel, Happy 17th Birthday! They celebrated their birthday here in Memphis at the bowling alley with a group of friends from the youth group at Great Oaks Church of Christ. They looked beautiful and had a wonderful time.

Garrett, Mardecia, Ariel, Tyler and Amber. Celebrating!!!

The Bolton Wildcat's Baseball team pitched in and put together an Easter basket for Jack. On Saturday afternoon, my son Garrett and another of his teammates also named Garrett, went down with me to The Target House to take the basket to Jack. He had the biggest and sweetest smile on his face when the boys walked in. He is such a sweet little guy. He waned to go out for a bit to play ball with the bat and ball that was a part of his basket. He played for a bit before getting tired and ready to ride his cool dude bike for a bit. After playing outside for a little, he was very kind and showed Garrett and Garrett the Shawn White room in the Target House and also the Play Room. As you can see from the pics, Jack and Garrett and Garrett all had a pretty good time cooking in the kitchen in the Play Room. It was so sweet to see those two 16 year olds playing kitchen with a precious little guy. I think Jack has these two big boys wrapped around his little finger!

Garrett C.. Jack and Garrett S. Cooking up some yummy dinner in the Kid's Kitchen in the play room at The Target House.

Garrett C, Jack and Garrett S with all of the loot the Baseball Easter Bunny brought to Jack!

Jack and his REALLY cool bike!

Jack had to go back inpatient today for a fever. Please pray for this fever to go away quickly. He is having such a difficult time having to be in the hospital so much. What little child or adult for that matter wants to spend so much time inpatient!!! Please keep him and Katie in your prayers that he will be fever free and hospital free too!!!!

Alex V was at The Jude this past week too for her check up. Everything went really well for her. Her MRI shows NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE! WOO HOO.... NO CANCER!! She does have some complications from the cancer and the chemo that she has had that is causing some problems for her, but hopefully they will find a good solution to help her with this. I only got to see her and her mom, Joan, for a really short visit. Long enough to get some good hugs and see how wonderful they both looked! Keep them in your prayers.

I don't know of any of our kiddo's that will be coming in this week for checkups. I could be wrong, but I am not aware of any.

Keep praying for all of them. I really do need to try to catch up with the new patient I shared with you... Leah. I will try to visit with them this week.

Have a great week. I heard a saying yesterday that went something like this..."In our deepest and darkest times is when we see our real faith and trust" None of us like to find ourselves in our deepest or darkest time, but it is such a comfort to know that we do have a faith and a trust along with a wonderful and powerful God that will get us through it. Keep your faith and trust. Love the Lord with all your heart. Be His child at all times. Seek to do His work, gain his favor. When you reach out and give to others, SO MUCH MORE COMES BACK TO YOU! Each morning I try to look at what is going on in my life, pray about it and put my worries and concerns in my "back pocket" then go on and about my daily business. Most days, by the end of the day... I see once again how I truly DO NOT have any real problems. I have decided there must be a hole in that "back pocket"!!!

Love to each of you!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Busy Week Again!

2010-03-26T00:47:00.002-05:00

Let me see where to begin...

Heather and Terri were here the first part of the week and I am very happy to report that Heather went back home with an ALL CLEAR! WooHoo! I got to meet up with them along with Michelle Dunford and Dr. Sara for lunch before they had to go home. Heather selected Outback Steak house and I must say she had excellent taste in her choice of restaurants. Our lunch was delicious. Michelle and her family had just returned from a trip to Texas for Spring Break. Her boys are busy boys, involved in running track and school. They keep her pretty busy. Dr. Sara, I don't think I have told this yet, but it is definitely not a secret anymore... found out that ONE of her Two babies she is carrying is a girl. Yes, she is going to have a baby... two babies in fact!!! One was not in a cooperating mood, so she was only able to find out that one is a girl and the other is keeping it a secret for now. She and her husband are so excited. I can't wait to meet the new twins, but we have to wait a while longer. Congratulations to Dr. Sara!

Little Trevor came in on Tuesday night, I was able to pick them up after they arrived and make a late trip to Chili's for dinner and fun with the Chili's gang. As always, that was a really fun time for Trevor. He had his treatment on Wednesday, it was late by the time they got started, so they had to stay over and go back on Thursday. He is doing great! Your prayers are working, so they ask that you keep them going up. He will be back in two weeks.

Jack got to spend a long extended weekend at home-home and returned to Memphis yesterday. He will go inpatient tomorrow for his last FINAL round of big chemo!!!! WooHoo, way to go Jack!!!! I know they are so excited to get to this point. He had a CT scan today and it was ALL CLEAR! He had a Pet Scan too, but those results are not back yet. Please be praying for that to be an ALL CLEAR as well. Please pray that his last round of chemo goes well with no major side effects.

Alex V will be coming in on Sunday for some test and check up. Check out her CB page, Joan explains what is going on right now. She can use our prayers, she is having quite a bit of pain and has been having some test run to try to determine the source of the pain. She will also be going to Shepards Center in Atlanta for some rehab. You can get the details on her page. I don't want to mis-quote. Please pray that she will begin to feel better and be able to make the trip to Memphis on Sunday.

Ariel and the Reynolds Clan will be coming in on Monday for Ariel's check up and appointments. She has not felt to good the past few days, hopefully she will be feeling better soon. She and Amber will be celebrating their 17th birthday on Monday, March 29th. Please go to Ariel's site and leave them a happy birthday message. We plan to go out for birthday dinner after they get here on Monday evening. Happy Birthday Ariel and Amber!!!

I just looked back up at what I have typed and realized how much eating is going on in this post!!!! And I am trying to lose some weight!!!! Oh well, it's great to be able to visit with everyone.

Thank you for your prayers and very kind words through text, calls and messages for Tyler. God is good, he is perfectly fine after his auto accident this past Saturday. While the body shop is telling us the car is a total, we have not yet heard the official word from the insurance company. Therefore, we are just waiting and most likely will have to spend the week next week shopping for a vehicle. Prayers of praise and thanksgiving for God protecting him and the other people involved in the accident.

That is about all I know for today. Thank you for checking in and keeping up with the St Jude kiddo's and their families. Please continue to keep the prayers and messages going.

I do want to say that (yesterday now) was the one year anniversary since sweet ^^Mary Kate^^ went to heaven. My heart has been so heavy all day today for Regina, Alyson and their family. ^^Mary Kate^^ is certainly missed and loved even more today that yesterday, Our prayers are with Regina and Alyson.

Enjoy your weekend. Spend some time in prayer :)

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Quick Update

2010-03-21T22:49:00.002-05:00

This will be a busy week at St Jude for our families. Heather and Terri will be coming in tomorrow for Heather's check up. Prayers for a safe flight and a GREAT check up!

Little Trevor will be coming in on Tuesday for his treatment. He and his sister Morgan have both celebrated birthdays this past week! Happy Birthday to Trevor and Morgan!!!! Prayers for a safe flight for Trevor and Melinda.

Jack went home to visit family over the weekend, he will be back to continue his treatment. Prayers for a good week for him!

Ariel is doing well. She is planning to go back to school this next week. Mom and Dad will both be returning to work as well. Pray that they will have a smooth transition back into their normal routines. Ariel has done very well with her at home chemo. She is such a trooper and an amazing young lady. Prayers for each of the Reynolds Clan.

Spring Break is winding down for our area and many of our friends and families are traveling back home. Keep each one in your prayers for their safe travel. I hope that each of you have had a great weekend and are ready to face a new week.

Brenda has had her first round of chemo and she has done very well with it. She was not sick, but very tired for a couple of days. Pray for her to continue to do well with her remaining treatments and for this to rid her body of the cancer forever!! I believe she has 6 more treatments to go.

I will post more as the week progresses and let you know how the check ups are going for our kiddo's!

Pray for our country. Pray that the people will not forget that GOD IS IN CONTROL. Pray for wisdom for each of us to know what is best.

Have a blessed week!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!!!

Starting The New Week in Prayer, What A Great Way To Start It!

2010-03-14T13:54:00.005-05:00

This past week brought a really awesome experience for a group of young athletes and a precious little boy.

As most of you know, my family is a baseball family. Our youngest son, Garrett, is a member of the Bolton High School baseball team. A little while back, his coach came to me and talked to me about taking the team down to St Jude for a tour. I was delighted to set this up for him. This past Thursday we were able to take that tour. The guys all dressed in their game jerseys and loaded up at the school and off to St Jude we went. They divided into 2 groups and went on their way to tour the remarkable hospital. While they were touring, I went upstairs to visit with Jack as he is back inpatient. After the guys returned to the lobby from their tour, after clearing with the nurses, Jack, Katie and Ma came down to the lobby for a visit with the team. The team members and coaches had each signed a baseball and presented it to Jack. Sweet little Jack was so proud of his baseball. The guys were so touched by getting to meet Jack and make pictures with him. Katie sent me a text and told me later that Jack had gone back upstairs and had shown his new ball to all of the nurses. That just made my day to know those guys had brought a smile to that little guy. Seeing him and his smile just made the day of each of those big old manly baseball players. After our visit and picture session with Jack, the guys all loaded back into the cars to go back to the school. It was a very somber and realistic ride home. The first words spoken by one of the juniors riding with me went something like this.... " I will never complain about baseball practice ever again" I knew this group of young scraping athletes lives had been touched.
When we arrived back at the school the players and coaches went into the locker room for a meeting. When they came out, coach came over to me and told me that when they "broke huddle" instead of saying... "one, two, three, GO WILDCATS" they said "one, two, three, GO JACK" Chills and tears!!!!! What can I say. Then the players came out and ask me if I could get one of the team pictures with Jack blown up to a poster for them to hang in their locker room. More chills and more tears!!!! Not only were they touched by this little boy, they saw a need and have the desire to do what they can to raise money for St Jude. So they have decided to challenge the girls softball team to see which team can raise the most money for St Jude during their 2010 season!!! The softball coach accepted and the challenge IS ON!!! The coaches will determine the "reward" for the winning team. Each team will have a donation jar at the concession stand at each home game during the season, and each person making a donation will get a ticket. A winning ticket will be drawn at the end of the 5th inning and the winner will receive a free hamburger and a drink from the concession stand. Our season begins tomorrow.... may the best team win!! St Jude is the real winner here!!!

Ariel got to go home before they got to do the tour, but they also signed a game ball for her. She and her family were able to come out to a pre-season scrimmage game the day before they left to go home. Hopefully it will work out for her to come to more games as she comes back for checkups. The team does plan to have a St Jude night and have some of the kids come out to the game. We will be working on that to make it a special event for some of the kids.

Jack and your 2010 Bolton Wildcat Baseball Team

Jack and the guys showing everyone exactly who is #1

Katie, Jack and Garrett
Keep praying for Jack, he is in a lot of pain, but is such a tough little cookie! Pray for his burns from radiation to heal and him to be fever free. Did you notice his cute little doctor pj's and the tight grip he has on his baseball?

I finally got a chance to download some pictures from a few weeks ago. I think I told you about the outing for Ariel and her mom to go get their hair done. I wanted to share a few of the pictures from this day with you.

Ariel with her new hair cut. Beautiful girl!

Ariel showing off her purple streak in the underneath back part of her hair. She was so proud of it.

Ariel and Mom.... mom is still in process but she looked very beautiful sporting her new much shorter hairdo when she finished. Two new women!!!

Please keep praying for Ariel and her family. I am not going to go into alot of details but I just ask you to read the post left today on her Caringbridge site. Just go to her name listed on the left of this page under the category "Our Friends". Click on her name and it will take you directly to her page. This is such an outpouring of emotions that gives you such a real view of what each of these families face and go through. There is nothing I can say, she says it all and you will see the prayer needs that they have. Please read and keep them in your prayers.

The following is a poem that Ariels twin sister Amber wrote during the first days of their stay at St Jude. What insight this young 16 year old girl has. She is just as amazing as her twin. I did not ask for permission to reprint it for you, so I figure I will ask for forgiveness rather than permission.... I do not feel that they will mind one bit at all or I would not have copied it. I just wanted to have it here for you in case you did not go to her page and read her journal entry today. Pray for The Reynolds Family.

TITLED: COLORS
Everywhere I look I see people...kids.
Here everyone has the same problem;there is someone sick,
someone grieving, someone emotional and someone scared.
All these people are red, yellow ,black and white.
All here for the same thing; all having the same problem,
and all different colors.
You look here, and there, and everywhere, and all you see is colors...
The people, the walls, the buildings and halls.
The walls they're red,blue,white...
they have seasons, and tell stories about life and fun times.
Here, there are so many colors...
inside as there is out.
People here, people there, people everywhere.
Things things things.....
Hopes and dreams.
You soar, you fly, you scream and cry.
People look, people stare, and most don't even care.
You don't care because you aren't scared anymore
you have friends and family, and best of all God.
He knows your life and death
he is your beginning and end
he is alpha and omega.
You are never in this alone
whether you're a patient, parent or a sibling
or even just a friend
you will always have someone there for you.
It's always a fight to survive
but you can never lose,
it does not matter whether you live or die
you win from how many people you save
by being a friend
or having a good attitude
you can always win by that
so be colorful and shine bright
in this even more colorful world.

written by Amber Reynolds

Prayers for a great week for everyone. Prayers for all of those traveling during the spring breaks that so many of our school kids are on during this time of year. Prayers for all of the families missing their angel everyday. God, we pray for a cure to be found to wipe out this beast! In Christ Name, Amen

Have a great week!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

MAKE IT A WONDERFUL DAY FOR SOMEONE ELSE

2010-03-10T07:28:00.004-06:00

Good Morning! Well today is not the best weather wise, but it is a GREAT day! Things have been rather busy around our household. Baseball season is in full swing for the high school, so you know I am on the ball field and loving every minute of it. Ariel, Amber and their parents were able to come out Monday afternoon for a game. It was a beautiful and almost hot day to enjoy being outside. The baseball team had all autographed a game ball for Ariel. They are a great group of guys and the signed ball brought a big smile to a sweet face. Speaking of the guys, the team.... they will be going down to St Jude tomorrow for a tour of the hospital. They will be taking a few surprises along with them for a few of our friends. I am so thankful that the coach wanted to do this tour with the team, I think they will be amazed at what they see. Hopefully this will bring on some new fundraising for them too :)

I am very excited to tell you that Ariel finished up the first part of her treatment protocol. She is done with the everyday chemo. A big WOOHOO for that!!! She did so absolutely amazing. This is one very tough young lady with a wonderful and tough family behind her. I admire them all so much. While the completion of the first part of this journey is over, the second part has now begun. Ariel and family will be waking up this morning in their own beds at home HOME. The finished up in the clinic yesterday and were released to pack up and go home!!! I miss them already. This is the "not so good" part of this for me, I get attached, then they get to go home. Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful that she is doing great and back home. They will be back about once a month for the next few months for check ups and to monitor her progress with the chemo she will be taking from home. She will be giving herself a shot once a week for the next 47 weeks at home. She went in yesterday before going home for a lesson on how to mix and give herself the injection. She did great! She was very proud of herself and so she should be. Mom said she did not even get an orange to practice on... just mixed it and shot it right into her own leg. She is an amazing young lady. I have to say, like our other set of St Jude twins we have all come to know and love, Ariel has the most amazing and supportive twin, Amber. Amber has been such a trooper and a huge part of the support system for Ariel during this journey. I guess there is nothing closer than the bond between twins. This set of twins, also like the other set, has some of the best and most supportive parents. This entire family stopped everything and came to Memphis to go through this journey together as a family. Very touching! I wish them the best now that they are back home. I know they will be back into the swing of things soon. Pray for Ariel to do as well on this second phase of treatment as she has during the first part. Pray for her to be CANCER FREE for many many long years to come. I know that God has a great plan for her. Visit her CB site and let them know your praying for them. While they are back home, it is also a bit scary to be away from St Jude. There is comfort in knowing you are right there if anything needs to be checked out. Pray for mom and dad and for their peace and comfort during this new phase of treatment.

Ariel and Amber have had the opportunity to become friends with big Trevor during their time here. Trevor was in town for his check up last Friday. I had picked up the girls for girls afternoon and evening at the movies, out to eat and then their favorite Sheridian's Frozen Custard. Their mom and dad had a wonderful date night out. On my way back to drop the girls off at the Ron Mac house, they wanted to go by the hospital and catch up with Trevor in the Med room. He was getting his treatments so he was stuck there for a few hours. From the picture, you can see how that visit went!! Yes, that is a rubber surgical glove on Trevor's head!! He is such a clown. You just have to love him. He is doing great. He does have some damage to some of his bones from the treatment he received to save his life from the leukemia and will have surgery the first part of May to repair as much of the damage as they can. Keep him in your prayers, he is in pain at times with this problem. Pray for this surgery to be easy on him and to take care of the problem. Pray for a speedy recovery. It's hard to keep Trevor down for long.

Friday was a fun day around the Jude, Ariel and Amber also got to meet Morgan and her mom that day. Morgan was up for her check up and I am very happy to say that she is doing fantastic and all of her counts were the best they have been. What a great blessing to be able to sing God's praises for His healing power over Morgan. Pray that special prayer of praise for Morgan. She just looked adorable as always and is so full of life again. Pray a prayer of praise for St Jude too!

Jack, all smiles with his John Deere handmade quilt from my friends that make the quilts for all of our kiddo's.

Thank You Lord for the end of the radiation for Jack!!!! Bless his heart, he is such a trooper! He has now finished up the everyday radiation that he has been going through. One step closer to being finished up with his treatment. He has some burns and skin breakdown that is painful for him, please pray for this to heal quickly and for him to be pain free. He is just such the cutie. His mom and Ma have been such a wonderful example to others. They always greet you with a huge smile and they have certainly kept Jack as happy as you can possibly keep a little guy going through what he is going through. Please keep them in your prayers. Pray that when his treatment is complete, that all of his test will show him CANCER FREE. One thing I just totally love about this precious kid.... when you see him, you just have to smile. You can't help but smile!!!

Go check out the other kiddo's CB sites and offer up your prayers for each one of them. Prayers for all of our families! My heart rejoices with the good news from some, but the pain from the loss of some of our sweet angels is still very real. Please do not let up on your prayers for these precious families. Each day is another day of emotions to work through. Pray for them.

I want to introduce a new patient to you today and ask for your prayers and encouragement for this new family. They have been at St Jude for about a week now. I was able to meet up with them and spend a little time visiting last Thursday evening. They are from my husbands home town and we are still trying to figure out if there is a family connection here. Their last name is Scallions and there are some Scallions on Charles' side of the family in the same town. We will get it figured out. They have a precious 2 year old daughter, just diagnosed with ALL. I will add her link to "Our Friends" list. For anyone new to this site, just click on a name on the left side of the page and it will take you directly to that person's Caringbridge site. Go check out Leah and leave them your words of comfort and encouragement. This is such a scary time for new families. Their world has just been turned upside down. Please pray for them and for Leah to be healed.

Find someone in need, and give them a helping hand today :)

Love to you all

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Prayers For The Davis Family

2010-03-04T23:30:00.002-06:00

I am truly heartbroken to share with you that one of our very special prayer warriors Grannycad (Carol Davis) lost her battle to cancer last night. She and Poppy D have been such a steadfast part of our prayer warrior group until the recent months when her cancer began to take its toll on her. Our hearts and prayers go out to Poppy and the family. As you know, they are family to Garrett Hearn, one of the St Jude kiddo's that we have followed for several years now. You may remember that Garrett finished up his three years of treatment just recently. He is doing great. He and his mom will be traveling to Little Rock to be with the Davis family this weekend. Please keep all of them in your prayers.

RIP Grannycad, we will miss you and love you. Take care of all the sweet little St Jude angels in heaven for us.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

WELCOME, MR SUNSHINE

2010-03-03T15:53:00.003-06:00

Good afternoon. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying hopefully some warmer weather and sunshine in your area. It has been beautiful here in Memphis today. The sun is shining and it is cool but not to bad. I just got home from St Jude and it was such a beautiful day to walk around the campus there today. I did not see Ariel, she had already finished up her treatment for the day and had gone back to the Ron Mac house for her afternoon nap. She will have a full day tomorrow, so I will see her then. I can not believe that she has been here, had surgery, began her chemo treatments and now is one week away from going home. It has gone by so fast! She will continue with some form of treatment for one year, but she will be doing it herself at home, coming back for check ups about every 3 to 4 weeks. She has done great! I will miss the family being around, but I am very happy that this part of her journey is almost over and the next phase will be starting. Prayers are with her and her family for a very long happy CANCER FREE life. If you have not had a chance to read up on her CB site, take the time and read her journal. This is an amazing family with such a sweet spirit and love for our Lord. They have really been a blessing to many patients around them. I just love the way this works out, families taking care of each other. In a short 5 weeks, they have touched so many people already. They will be missed around here!

I got to see Jack for just a bit. I took him his special John Deere handmade quilt, made by my sweet friends Mike and Pru. He was not smiling to much today, but he did manage to smile when he saw the quilt. Katie said he woke up in a "not so good" mood and the day had just continued on that status. It's like I told her, he is totally entitled to have days like that! Please pray for him to feel better and to have a really good evening and much better tomorrow. He did test negative for the RSV virus, so thank goodness he is now out of isolation. This is really a big thing for a little guy. Check his site, he only has about 8 or 9 radiation treatments left now!!! WooHoo for that!!!! Please pray for him and for the burn and pain involved with this radiation treatment.

Big Trevor will be coming in at the end of the week for his check up. Praying for excellent results on his labs and test.
Heather will be coming in toward the end of the month for her 3 month check up. Pray for safe travel for both Heather and Trevor and their mom's and for the ALL CLEAR for both of them.

Little Trevor's MRI showed no growth in his tumor!!! It is still stable. That is great news! He will continue with his treatments and pray that the next MRI will show that the tumor is actually shrinking or that it will be gone!

Spring Break will be coming up for all of the school kids in the next few weeks. I know several of the families have really nice trips planned. I hope that each of you will enjoy this time with your families whatever you end up doing. For us.... the time will be spent on the baseball field! The story of our life, but I LOVE it. I pray for safe travel and fun times for everyone.

Hugs your babies today, regardless of how young or how old they may be. God bless you, have a very blessed day!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

2010-02-23T13:15:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to give you an update on our team member, Brenda Bradley. Her lab results came back from the 10 lymph nodes that were taken and sent off for testing. The report showed that all 10 of the lymph nodes were cancerous. They have decided to not do a mastectomy at this time, but rather put in a port tomorrow and begin chemo treatment as soon as possible. I spoke with her yesterday and she was pretty down, I can only imagine... Several of you have asked about her address to mail her cards and care packages. I have her address, but I am not going to post her home address on the internet. If you would like to have her address to send something to her, please email me and I will email it back to you.

Let's continue to pray for her and for her family as they are all dealing with this news. Let's rally around each of them at this time.

Ariel is doing well. This begins her 3rd week of treatment. So far, other than a few hours each day of not feeling so well, she is doing really good. She has her family here with her, and they are fighting this fight together. Keep her in your prayers for this to go smoothly and quickly for her. After two more weeks of chemo each day, she will then begin a different protocol where she will be able to give herself a shot at home, and come back to Memphis once a month for the next year. I know they look forward to getting this everyday stuff behind them. I just might have to find a reason to keep them here, I will miss them greatly when they return home.

Keep the prayers going up for Jack. He is out of the hospital, and will be pushing this week's chemo back to next week to give him a little break before having to go back in. At this time, he is still in isolation so include in your prayers for this RSV to clear his little body so he can get out of isolation.

I hope that each of you are having a good week. Bless you, your the most awesome group of prayer warriors!!!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

rebelmom528@aol.com

The Little Things

2010-02-18T14:33:00.003-06:00

Not to much change around the Jude.

Jack will be getting to go outpatient today. As of now, he is still in isolation, so they will be going to an isolation unit at the Griz House. Keep the prayers going up for the RSV to clear so he can get out of isolation. I know they are just ready to get out and be able to move around.

Ariel has had a good week. They manage to stay really busy, that is great and it helps to make the time pass a little faster. Keep lifting her and her family up in prayer for her to feel well during this time of treatment. Her twin, Amber returned to Memphis this week, so they are very happy to all be back together again. They are very blessed to be able to be together during this journey.

Brenda had surgery this morning to remove some lymph nodes from underneath her arm, they do appear to be cancerous from what the surgeon thinks, but they will be sent off and tested for confirmation on this. Keep her in your prayers, her attitude is AWESOME, she is not letting this get her down. She will most likely be facing another surgery for a double mastectomy and will be having chemo treatments. She will know more tomorrow. She is on Facebook, but her computer has a major problem right now, and with everything going on has not had time to worry about getting it fixed. Hopefully soon, she will be able to be back online. Send her a friend request and let her know you are keeping her covered in prayers. Brenda Bradley

Tomorrow is Friday, this week has really gone by fast! It has been a busy week for me, but I have been able to get a great deal accomplished that I have been needing to do. Take some time for yourself and take the time to do something that you have been meaning to do for a long time. It will pick you up and make you feel GREAT to accomplish something you have been putting off :) Call a friend that you have not had a chance to talk to in awhile. Send a card to someone that could use a smile. It's the little things in life that makes each of us a better person.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

God Is In Control

2010-02-15T19:21:00.003-06:00

God didn't go halfway when he went to work on my behalf He did it all. Even when I couldn't feel him, even when I couldn't sense him, even when I wasn't holding on to him anymore. God worked on my behalf. He didn't need me to do a thing.

When I faced far worse than my worst imaginings, something unexpected and wonderful happened. I realized that God is in control and God is good- even when bad things happen in our lives.

Even though I didn't know what I might have to go through next, I could rest and accept it. Because now I knew that when I let go, I would fall into the strong hands of God.

Text written by Jan Dravecky

This is one of the quotes that surfaces quite a bit amongst our team members. GOD IS IN CONTROL. At times I think we forget to just turn lose and let him have the wheel, we try to keep one hand on the steering wheel too.

Thank you for your prayers for Brenda. She had more test done today, she did find out that the cancer is contained to the one breast and possibly one lymph node. They will schedule surgery tomorrow to remove the lymph node and do further testing. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

For our kiddo's...

Ariel is doing well. She finished her first full week of chemo this past week and began her second week today. She and Regina (mom) met up with me and we had a beauty salon day! They both got new haircuts and some new highlights. They looked great!!! Ariel was tired and not feeling to well by the end of the afternoon, but she had a good day up until the late afternoon. Maybe after some rest and getting her meds down, she will be feeling better soon. I took some pictures at the salon, I'll post them soon. I warned them that they would be going up on the blog!!! :) They had a full and busy weekend, I am so thankful she is feeling up to getting out and doing things in between treatments. This is such a wonderful and sweet family. They went to church with us on Sunday and then out to Jim and Nick's for lunch. Keep the prayers going for her successful treatment and for her to feel good.

Jack is still inpatient, but thankfully he is beginning to feel better. He had lots of family come to visit for the weekend and that really perked him up. I know that had to help Katie feel better to see him better. His counts are coming up, so keep praying for him to get better and for the next test for RSV to show that it is gone! He needs to get out of isolation soon. Keep the prayers going up for him and for the family.

Little Trevor was in last week, he was not feeling very well even before treatment. I have not talked to Melinda since they returned home, so I am not sure how he was feeling after treatment. If I remember correctly, when he comes back next, they will be doing another MRI to see how his tumor is responding to the chemo. Please keep him in your prayers for the MRI to show definite reduction in the tumor. This should be in the next week or two.

Jordan was in all week last week for his 2 year post transplant check up. I am so very thankful to say "Thank You Lord, we give every single ounce of the glory to You Lord for another CANCER FREE checkup!" Jordan is so amazing, he is growing up so fast. I can't tell you how much fun it was to spend the week with him and Chancelly. He is just an amazing little 2 and half year old. One of the highlights of the week, was getting to watch him with the camera guys. He is going to be the featured patient in the next issue of PROMISE magazine for St Jude. They met up with Chance and Jordan a couple of times to get photo's to use in the magazine... he ate it up!!!! He is definitely quite the social one. Please pray a prayer of praise for the miracle that Jordan received. Pray for God to continue to show his mercy on Jordan and that he will remain cancer free. Chancelly graduated from the University in December, please include her in your prayers for her to be able to find a job. She is an awesome young lady, very talented and definitely a hard worker. Pray for her to find a job soon where she can have good insurance and provide well for herself and Jordan. They truly deserve to be happy. Jordan was able to meet Ariel, they hit it off. He bought her a teddy bear for Valentines Day.... I did remind her that he is MY VALENTINE!!!! LOL Let's see, she is 16 and he is 2.... he was so cute trying to say her name. She enjoyed seeing him be quite the comedian. Good medicine for both of them.

Happy belated Valentine's Day to each of you. Praying for all of the families of our sweet Angels in Heaven. Each of you are loved so much and missed terribly.

If you are on Facebook, look up Cherish Every Moment and join this group. This is a page dedicated to Dax to raise awareness and money for St Jude. Austin and Julie's goal is to raise enough money to run the hospital for one day in Memory and Honor of Dax. This is a wonderful goal and I know with the help of everyone passing the word and making a donation regardless of how large or small, they will be able to accomplish this goal. CHERISH EVERY MOMENT!!!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Prayers Needed

2010-02-11T21:55:00.003-06:00

Brenda and Lenzy

Our friend, sister prayer warrior, and Team Believe member Brenda called me today to let me know the results from the test she has been undergoing for the past week had come back. The news was not what we had hoped to hear, but test show that Brenda has Breast Cancer. She will be having more test run on Monday to determine if and where it may have spread and if it involves the lymph system. I have talked with her several times, she has a really good attitude and spirit. She says she has complete trust in her doctor, and is ready to face whatever comes and ready to fight this. We stand behind and beside Brenda. We will walk with her and her family through this journey. I ask that you join us in prayer for Brenda. Our immediate prayer request is that the test on Monday will show that this cancer is contained and has not spread anywhere else or into the lymph nodes. Pray for Brenda's peace of mind and comfort, pray for her doctors and their wisdom to make the best decisions in her treatment. Thank you for supporting her. She is very much a part of our lives and has been with Team Believe from the beginning. She has made several trips to Memphis and to St Jude to visit some of our kiddo's in the past. She loves this prayer family very much and we love her. I will keep you posted as she gets results.

I will make an update post about our kiddo's from this week sometime tomorrow or Saturday morning. I have some pictures to post too. I just wanted to let you know about Brenda tonight.

Please pray for Jack He is very sick at this time. I saw Katie today, she looked so tired and worn down. Please pray for Jack, Katie and Ma. Check his CB page for more info.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

God's Best Surprises

2010-02-08T10:01:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday sweet ^Elizabeth Grace Dunford^! The angels are having a Pink Party with beautiful yummy heavenly pink cupcakes today. Elizabeth would be 3 today. Please keep her family and her St Jude family in your prayers today. She is so loved and so missed.

Sometimes when you least expect it, God sends us the most beautiful reminders that He is in our lives. This morning was one of those mornings for us. We went to bed last night expecting rain today.... this is what we woke up to early this morning

Later after the sun came up... this is the beauty around us. Thank You God for the surprise gift you sent to us today.

Take every opportunity to find God's beauty all around you. It is everywhere every day. Some days it is just more apparent than others. In the south, days like today are few and far between so we do get really excited about them. Yes, it's true what you hear... all of the people rush to the stores and buy up all of the milk and bread and bottle water on days like this. At my house, we stock up on hot cocoa and stuff to make snow cream!!! Enjoy your day whatever you find yourself doing, give God the praise and the glory for His beautiful day.

Lot's going on this week around St Jude. Ariel is back in Memphis after a weekend at home with her family and friends. She begins treatment today. Please keep her in your prayers. It's always tough the first week since you have no idea what to expect. Pray for her peace and an easy time with the treatment. Pray for no sickness.

Little Trevor and Jordan will both be coming in tomorrow (weather permitting). Trevor has his treatment, Jordan begins his week long process of the 2 year post transplant check up. Please pray for safe travel for both of them. Pray for another ALL CLEAR NO CANCER for Jordan!!!

Jack will be braving the elements to get back and forth for his radiation treatments this week. I would love to have seen his face this morning when he saw all of this snow!! Pray for him to have a good week with his radiation.

Pray for all the St Jude kiddo's and families.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

2010-02-04T10:51:00.003-06:00

Ariel and Mrs. McBride with the handmade quilt
Mrs. McBride and her husband are the sweet couple that make the handmade quilts for our "adopted" St Jude kids. Wonderful couple, and they get so much joy from doing this for the kids.

All praise and glory to God for a good report from Ariel's pathology reports. There is no sign of cancer in any of the tissue that was sent off. Thank You Lord! She will now begin a Clinical Trial with chemo treatment everyday for the first 4 or 5 weeks, then it will be more spread out over the next year. At this time, it looks as though they will be here at the Ronald McDonad House during the time of daily treatments. I will know more as they go along. After a few test today, she will get to go home for the weekend, then return to Memphis on Sunday to begin outpatient treatment Monday. Please continue to keep her in your prayers and add her to the prayer list at your home church and among your prayer groups.

Jack is having a rough time, let's lift him and his family up in prayer for him to feel better soon.

Keep all of the kids and their families in prayer, and leave messages to let them know you are praying for them. God is AWESOME and does hear our pleas.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Great Day - New Friends

2010-02-01T23:50:00.003-06:00

Amber, Gage, Lindsey, Cody, Ashley and Ariel

Good Evening! Today has been a really awesome day. School was closed again today for the ice/snow, so I was able to take some of our wonderful kids from our youth group with me to "The Jude" to visit Ariel. They got a double treat because they also had the privilege to meet big Trevor. I think I am in a little bit of trouble with Trevor because I did not ever bring them down with me when he was here...:( I'm so sorry Trevor, I will do my best to make it up to you. The kids all seemed to hit it off and enjoy being together. Ariel and Amber are very sweet and do not seem to meet a stranger. They are very friendly and outgoing. Hopefully these kiddo's can get together more while Ariel is here for treatment. Trevor got to meet up with Ariel and Amber too, I know they will be St Jude buddies now and Trevor can really show them "the ropes" around St Jude. I love to see new friendships forming!! No pathology reports for Ariel yet, hopefully soon. Keep praying for those excellent reports.

Big Trevor had his MRI done today, they will not get any of his results back until his appointments tomorrow. As with each check up, they are on pins and needles, so to speak, until the results come back. Pray for his ALL CLEAR.

Garrett Hearn, family member of our Grannycad from the prayer room, will have his FINAL CHEMO treatment tomorrow!!!! What an awesome thing for me to get to type!! I can only imagine how excited Garrett and his family are. I hope to get by the Med Room to give him a hug, and join some of the No Moe Chemo party. Pray for Garrett to remain CANCER FREE forever!!!

Jack is doing great and feeling great. He will go inpatient tomorrow for his next round of chemo if there is room for him inpatient. The hospital is full right now. That is not a good thing :( Pray for Jack as he goes through this next round. With it on top of his radiation, this will be a hard week for him. He is just to dog gone cute to not feel good! Pray that he will do well and continue to feel good.

I got a message today from a friend in Mississippi, she is asking for prayer request for a young teen girl involved in a car accident recently. She is in The Med here in Memphis in ICU in very critical condition. She really needs all of the prayers she can get. I told her that we sure had the prayer warriors to send up prayers on her behalf. I am asking you to join me in praying for Rikki Thompson and for her full recovery. I will check to see if the family has set up a caringbridge site for her.

I hope you all have started off the week with a wonderful day. Enjoy your week!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Wanna Smile...

2010-01-31T12:46:00.004-06:00

Today, as I look outside my windows, these pictures show what I see. This says to me... God is with me, God is all around me, God loves me and shows his power and his love in so many ways. This morning the sun is shining, it's very cold, but the sun makes the trees just glisten from their ice coated branches. Everything is white and pure. God's love is pure. Even the blue in the sky seems more of a vibrant blue today against the white blanket on the ground. In the south, this beauty and this picture is not to common. When we are blessed with these beautiful pictures, it is usually here today and gone tomorrow. We just enjoy it and take pictures when we can to help up remember it. Unlike the snow, God's love for us is here today, and it will be here tomorrow. I want to share some words from Max Lucado, "Mark it down: God loves you with an unearthly love You can't win it by being winsome. You can't lose it by being a loser. God will not let you go. He has handcuffed himself to you in love. And he owns the only key. You need not win his love. You already have it. And, since you can't win it, you can't lose it. Others demote you. God claims you. Let the definitive voice of the universe say, "You're still a part of my plan."

I think, that so many times in life we get down. We get down on ourselves and we get down from the things happening around us. This is normal. Some are going through illness, some have recently had surgeries, some have recently lost loved ones...these things make our hearts hurt and some can get us down to the point that we feel we can't "do this" or can't "take anymore of this". I remind you, God is here with each one of us. With Him, we can get through ANYTHING!!! Look around you, you may not be looking at a beautiful snow fall out of your window today, but you are looking at God and His works. Stay strong, cherish God's love and His power to heal your body and your soul. Don't ignore Him or push HIm away. HE WILL LIFT YOU UP, always has and always will. His love is unconditional for us. Love those around you with that same unconditional love.

Today is ^Mallerie's^ 18th birthday. She is celebrating it in heaven with all of our sweet St Jude angels. I was talking to her mom earlier today and she said "Mallerie is really shining down on her Birthday and sparkling with the snow!" I agree with her 100%! I actually told her that I thought Mal had sent us the snow. Please say a prayer for Brad, Tina, Heath and the rest of the family today as they celebrate this day for Mal.

How can this sweet face not bring a HUGE smile to your face????

This is Jack, playing in the ice/snow at Target house earlier today. He is showing off his New York hat we brought back to him from NY. This child is totally amazing and will keep you in stitches!!! His treatments are working, so your prayers are being heard and answered. Keep the prayers going up, praying for a cancer free Jack for many many years to come!!!

Praying for all the kiddo's fighting the beast today. There are several traveling to St Jude this week for check ups and treatments. Keep them in your hearts and in your prayers. Remember to keep praying for good pathology reports for Ariel. They hope to have these results back in the next day or two. Keep this sweet family in your prayers this week and also pray for the doctors to make the best decisions regarding her treatment to ensure this beast stays away from her body forever.

I love you all with the love of the Lord!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Seeing God's Beauty Today All Around Us

2010-01-29T20:19:00.002-06:00

Good evening! Memphis has been hit with a beautiful yet messy winter storm. Early this morning, the big bridge over the river out of Memphis was closed down as was two of the main interstates that take you out of the city. I live out in the country, we had a thin layer of ice, then a couple inches of snow, then a couple of inches of sleet on top of the snow. They are still calling for another one to three inches of snow on top of the mess we already have. The city is rather in shut down mode tonight. I feel bad for a couple of the St Jude families, they had planned to go home for the weekend, but this weather has changed their plans.

I personally have loved it! It's been quite a cozy, comfy, very lazy day at our house. I have chatted with Jack's mom a few times and they were disappointed not to get to go home for the weekend before Jack checks back in inpatient on Tuesday for his next round of chemo. I did tell her that if they did not get the snow like we have out here, they can bring Jack out to the house to build a snowman. They mainly have ice in the city. Please keep Jack man in your prayers. He has radiation every morning, and he still has three more rounds of chemo to go. Check his CB site. He is doing really good so far. He looks great and has certainly not lost his love of life and humor! He is the funniest little guy I have met!!! Keep praying for him and the family.

Ariel was doing really well when I went to visit yesterday. She was up and walking around, opening what looked like Christmas in her hospital room. It is so wonderful to see some of these kids being remembered by people from back home in such awesome ways. I love to see the smiles on their faces as they open up care packages from back home. Ariel has been doing her own posting on her CB site, that is great that she is able to do that now. From what she said, they will stay in Memphis over the weekend at the Griz house, then move to the Ronald McDonald house on Monday. Her twin Amber, had 7 moles removed this week too, so she has been pretty sore from that. It's like they have two patients to recover this week. Both are very sore, but doing well. Kevin (dad) said they were somewhat better today. Keep praying for them to recover from their surgeries and also prayers for good pathology reports for Ariel.

Allison is still in the hospital, I have not been able to talk to her, so I am not positive on how she is doing. I think she is doing ok, but having a really tough time. Let's keep her in our prayers for a good recovery. Pray for her to have the strength to do what she has to do to get back on her feet and back to normal.

Ryan Madrid was in this week for his check up and I am happy to report he got another good check up with another all clear. He looks great!!! His hair has all come back and he certainly has a thick full head of beautiful dark hair! I think he has grown a few feet since I last saw him too! He really does seem to be doing very well!

Big Trevor and Little Trevor both are supposed to be here this next week. Big T for his check up and follow up with his tummy issues and Little T for his bi-weekly chemo treatment. I hope we all get to go to Chili's while they are here. Keep them in your prayers for good check ups and safe travels.

Jordan comes back the second week in February for his 2 year post transplant check up and scans. This is the big one that takes all week. Can you say... Mardecia is excited to have him here for a whole week!!!!!! I can't wait to get to spend some time with him. Keep him in your prayers, pray for a great check up and another ALL CLEAR at the end! Another prayer request, Chancelly (mommy) graduated from the university this past December, she has applied for a job in her field at St Jude. This is something that she said she wanted to do back when Jordan was inpatient going through transplant. I am asking for you to please pray about this job opportunity and if this is where she is supposed to be that God will open the doors for her. I have promised her free babysitting if she comes to Memphis!!!!!! My fingers are crossed and it's on my prayer list!!!! Call her St Jude, please call her!!!!

Enjoy your weekend, say a prayer for all of those in the path of this winter storm. Many are without power, pray for them to have a safe place to go until it can be restored.

If you did not see the letter that was written to Barbara (Reagan's grandmother) by the mother of the young lady who collapsed and died after crossing the finish line during the half marathon here at St Jude this year, please go back a few days and read that letter. It is really a wonderful letter allowing you to get to know more about Molly.

Prayers for all the kiddo's fighting the battle!!! Prayers for all the parents and families missing their babies!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

We Serve An Awesome God

2010-01-26T23:30:00.002-06:00

Wanted to let you know that both Allison and Ariel had successful surgeries today. We give God all of the glory for the great things He has done today.

Allison is in a lot of pain from the surgery, but according to reports she is feeling relief from the pain she was having that needed to be fixed. Pray for her to have a restful night and be on the quick road to recovery.

Ariel's surgery was successful in getting the remaining cancerous tissue around her mole site, removing other moles on her back, removing the lymph nodes in question and placing a port for the doctors to access for her future treatment. It took about 6 hours, but she did great. I spent the day with her family, a very sweet and loving family, and I know Ariel will be just fine with all of the love and support from her friends and family. She now has a CB page set up and I have posted he link to it under the list of "Our Friends" on the left side of this page. At this time, they are playing the wait and see game. They will be waiting for the pathology reports to come back to determine what treatment they will be doing. Pray that she has a restful night too and that she will get good results from the pathology reports.

Gonna be short and sweet tonight.... I'm tired :)

Oh.... I do have to tell you, I saw Molly and Garrett Hearn today. Garrett is a family member of Grannycad from our prayer room. He has been undergoing treatment for leukemia for 3 years and Molly told me today that he has ONE MORE TREATMENT TO GO!!! He is doing great, his treatment has been a success and he will be DONE this time next week. They are looking forward to a huge "NO MOE CHEMO" party next week. We pray a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to God for this successful journey for Garrett!!

Ok... I hope each of you have a wonderful night and a great day tomorrow!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Big Day Today, Keep Your Prayers Going Up!

2010-01-25T22:37:00.003-06:00

This is an early post for tomorrow.... Tuesday is surgery day for Allison (Team Believe member) and Ariel, new patient at St Jude. Remember to keep them in your prayers for successful surgery and for good results from both.
Also, pray for James' family as they go through his funeral mass on Tuesday too. This is just not what parents of young children are supposed to have to go through. Keep them in your prayers and the other St Jude families that have such heavy hearts at this time too.

Back during the St Jude Marathon this past year I posted and told you about a young lady, Molly, who had collapsed and died after crossing the finish line after completing the half marathon. One of our team members, Reagan's grandmother, Barbara Key reached out to Molly's family recently and received a letter back from Molly's mother. Barbara would like to share that letter with all of us. It is so very touching and tells us a lot about this young remarkable lady. I am so touched that Barbara reached out to them the way she did. I must say it does not surprise me that she reached out, she is an amazing lady that we all came to love very much at the marathon this year. No wonder Reagan was so special, look at her family!!! Thank you Barbara for sharing this letter with us.

From: jan trauernicht
Date: January 24, 2010 3:07:06 PM CST
To:
Subject: Molly and Reagan

I received your very nice letter and wanted to let you know how much I appreciated it. You have my greatest sympathy. Reagan was a beautiful little girl and had a great smile. I have two granddaughters her age, one born 5/5/04 and one born 6/29/04. I can't imagine losing either one of them.
I would like to give you a little history about Molly and me and her family. Molly was born 10/25/77, the second of triplets, 2 minutes after her brother, Sam, and one minute before her sister, Katie. She also has a younger brother named Patrick. My husband, Lee, and I feel we have been blessed with such a wonderful family. It was rather unusual to have healthy triplets 32 years ago. Mine had absolutely no problems when they were born. All of my children were in the gifted program at school. Sam is a chemical engineer, Katie is a nurse practitioner, and Patrick is a dentist. I am a pediatric nurse working at Children's Mercy Hospital in KC. My husband is in sales. Molly had her master's in accounting and had a job she loved in St Louis. She never married but was a wonderful aunt to her 4 nieces and one nephew. She always thought she would find a wonderful man to marry and have children. She would not lower her standards just to get married. Because Molly wasn't married, we got to do so many more things together. We rarely went more than a month without seeing each other. We talked on the phone at least 3-4 times a week. Not only was she my daughter, she was one of my best friends. We went to Memphis together, arriving on Friday. It was a very ordinary trip but very enjoyable. We did some sight-seeing, watched the ducks march at the Peobody Hotel, did some shopping, and ate dinner with her friend and her husband. She paid for my dinner because this weekend was supposed to be her birthday present to me (my birthday was 12/1). Molly had a problem with her heart where the top chamber, the atrium, was beating too fast last January. The doctor performed a procedure and corrected the problem. She saw him twice and another cardiologist once after that. She was cleared for all actvity with no restrictions. I was told by her friend, who was with her, that she felt so good that she ran for a short time to cross the finish line. She had her medal and hugged her friend. Then she just collapsed. She had medical care immediately but could not be revived. We are still not sure exactly what caused her heart to stop beating.
Our losses are similar in so many ways and so different in so many others. Both of them were loved dearly. They both died way too soon, yours so much younger than mine. They both had so much more living to do and it is so hard to understand why they were taken when they were. All of us cry every day and hope that at some time, it will hurt less. I see children every day I work with such a variety of health problems ( I work in the recovery room). I cannot imagine the heartache those parents must feel when their children are sick and suffering. The only thing I can think is that God has a plan and, even though it doesn't make sense or seem fair, we must accept what He gives us. You had Reagan for five years so you have five years of memories to sustain you. Luckily, I had Molly for 32 years. Because of Molly's death, I have been in contact with so many wonderful people. It makes me feel good to know how giving and loving people can be.
My family plans to go to Memphis again this year and participate in the races. I walked the 5K last year and may have seen the signs for Reagan. You are so right when you say the people at St Jude are wonderful. I hope that with the continued efforts of the people doing the marathon, half-marathon, and 5K that there will be a cure for so many illnesses and other families will be spared the sorrow.
I know this is long but I really wanted to let you know that I appreciated hearing from you. The pictures you sent of Reagan were beautiful. We both have angels in heaven now. Jan Trauernicht

We have so much to be thankful for today, and so much to pray for too. I will post with updates and reports from both of the surgeries as I hear. Lift them up in prayer. GOD IS IN CONTROL!

BELIVE PRAYER WORKS~

2010-01-25T14:54:00.002-06:00

Sorry for posting this so late in the day, but our electricity has been off most of the day after an auto accident took out a light pole with the transformer to our area on top it. We are back in business now!

Prayer night tonight in the room at 9:00 for Allison before her surgery tomorrow morning. She will be having a procedure done that hopefully will repair the damage in her back and she will be back on her feet and her normal self soon. She is very nervous and so is Brenna. Let's join in together to pray them through this.

Heaven got another precious baby yesterday. James passed away around 9 am. Visitation is today and service is tomorrow. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers and leave them a msg to let them know you are lifting them up in prayer.

Ariel will be having her surgery tomorrow around 10:00. Please be in prayer for her and her family. Our specific prayer can be for them to be able to remove all cancerous cells and tissue and for there to be no sign of cancer in her lymph nodes. I will let you know as soon as I hear about results.

Keep praying for Jack. He seems to be doing so well and is responding very well to the chemo. Praise God for that, keep the prayers going up, they are working!!!

Jordan will be coming in a week or so for his two year post transplant check up. Start praying for their safe trip and for him to get another all clear on his scans and test. Specific prayer request, pray for another CANCER FREE report.

I know we keep the kiddo's and families in our prayers at all time, but let's remember to do so at this specific time as they all hurt so much and hearts are opened again each time another child goes "home". Please keep all of the ones who have been touched by this pain in your thoughts and prayers even more so at this time.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!!!

2010-01-22T16:51:00.002-06:00

We had a wonderful prayer evening this past Wednesday. We had some new prayer warriors to join us, we are very grateful to you for joining in, I hope you will join us each Wednesday at 9:00 (Central Time) for group prayer. Everyone is welcome.

I got to visit with Mr. All Smiles Jack yesterday. He is just the cutest thing, I could just totally squeeze his cheeks and eat him up!!! He is such a cutie. He was sleeping when I got there, so I got to visit with Katie for a little while before he woke up. At first it looked as if he might not be in such a great mood when waking up, but after just a few minutes he was all smiles and seemed to be in a great mood when I left. Go to his CB page and leave them so some notes of encouragement that you all are so good about doing. These messages mean alot to them.

I was able to speak to Ariel's dad by phone a few times yesterday. They finished up some preliminary appointments late yesterday and were able to go home for the weekend. They will return on Sunday for more appointments on Monday and her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday morning. It appears at this time that it will be a lengthy surgery. They will be removing more of the area around the mole and also taking some lymph nodes from underneath both arms. After the pathology reports comes back on these, they will decide on a protocol for her treatment. I plan to be with them during her surgery and I will find out if they have had a chance to set up a CB page yet or not. I will let you know. Please be praying for Ariel, her twin sister and her parents. I am not sure if there are other siblings or not. They are in the whirlwind of mass confusion right now and need your prayers for peace, comfort and specifically that this cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes.

Please be praying for James and his family. He is getting weaker and it appears that he may be getting close to his journey's end. Please keep them and the St Jude families that all love him so much in your prayers.

Please keep the people of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers. If there is a relief effort going on in your area, please try to be a part of it. If there is not one and you want to contribute in some way, contact me. We have direct contact with a lady by the name of Roberta who has about 30 children in her home that she takes care of on a daily basis in Haiti. Some have already been to check on her and the children and make sure they are okay. She did have one little boy that lived with her to lose his life when a wall surrounding their home fell on him. Everyone else is okay and trying to help others as best they can. The Haiti relief team here will be sending necessary items and money directly to her for her to help get to others and take care of the children in her home. Please keep this situation in your prayers.

Have a wonderful and blessed weekend!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!

Put Your Prayer Caps On...

2010-01-19T22:29:00.002-06:00

Just a quick prayer request and a note or two...

First of all, Prayer Night in the prayer/chat room tomorrow Jan 20th beginning at 9:00 pm. We have several new ones that really need our prayers and others that we need to be praying for as well.

Allison, one of our Team Believe members is having a great deal of back pain and is awaiting back surgery. We will have a special night of prayer for her before her surgery, I will let you know about this date and time. Please keep her in your prayers for relief from this pain.

I have had two phone calls this evening regarding two new patients to St Jude. I am going to try to meet up with them tomorrow. One is a 16 year old girl from Hattisburg, MS. She will be having surgery in the next day or so. I do not have alot of information regarding her diagnosis yet.

The other is an 8 year old from Malvern, AR. She is friends with our Team Believe members Lenzy and Brenda. She will be having test and scans run tomorrow to try to get a definite diagnosis.

Please keep both of these girls in your prayers. I will meet up with them and talk with the parents regarding posting more info on them for you. I do not know if either has a CB page at this time. Please keep them and their families covered in prayer.

If anyone else has any prayer request, please either leave them as a comment on this post or you may email them to me at
rebelmom528@aol.com

Join us for a prayer session tomorrow night at 9

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!

Hello Again...

2010-01-19T13:57:00.002-06:00

Hello! Thank you Marcella for updating for me on our trip. We had a wonderful time in New York City and we were so blessed to get to visit with Marcella and her mom while there. Marcella has been one of St Jude kids prayer warriors since the beginning of this group. The trip was great, I was traveling with one of our other St Jude Kiddo's ( all grown up now) Natalie and her twin and their mom. Busy city, but just awesome. I will say, New Yorkers ARE some of the sweetest and nicest people.

I returned home late Sunday evening just in time to watch my youngest son play in a basketball game in a tournament that his baseball team was hosting over the weekend. They were short one team, so the baseball players formed a team to fill in. That was quite interesting to see him playing basketball again!! Yesterday, on Monday we had the conclusion of the tournament. The day of championship games and I had to do my part of work for the tournament. So I put in an 11 hour day yesterday at the basketball gym working the tournament. Needless to say, I am just now joining the ranks of the living real world today!!!!

I will get busy tomorrow and get caught up with visits and what has been going on with all our kiddo's while I have been gone.

I pray that each of you has had a good week and holiday weekend this past week. I will get back to business now!

Prayers for each of you and for all our St Jude families.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!

Pass the message along...

2010-01-14T20:01:00.003-06:00

Hello everyone this is Marcella. Mardecia is stranded with no internet. Although it's pretty chilly out there they are enjoying themselves very much. I've never seen anyone so excited to take the subway. In their two days being here I think those 4 know more about how to get around the city than I do! Infact they were more like MY tourguide today. Thanks you guys!

My theory is that after a few days in NY Mardecia will realize that it's her with the accent and not me (glad she has no internet and can't read that).

Mardecia mentioned that they saw a huge billboard of St. Jude kids at the airport and little Jack was one of them. How cool is that?

She also asked me to remind you all to keep checking Big Trevors caringbridge page for updates.

And of course don't forget to send prayers to all the families. Believe!! Prayer works!!

Good Things Come to Those That Love The Lord

2010-01-10T17:25:00.002-06:00

Hello from the deep freeze in Memphis, Tennessee! It is not supposed to be this cold in the south!! I do not mind the cold, but if we are gonna be this cold, then bring on the snow. It either snows but is to warm to stick or it's cold and there is no precipitation to go with it. This was kinda like a Christmas morning... when Santa does really come, but he just does not leave much of anything. The predicted arctic blast came, the predicted snow came.... just not enough to even cover the ground good :( So disappointing for us southerners.

I have not posted very much the last week or so. I was out of town for Dax's service last weekend, and then came home to a "sick" computer. After several trips to the Apple Store, I seem to be back up and running better than ever. I did not realize how slow my computer had gotten until I just got it back and it's on top of it's game again. I would like to say that I will do better now about regular post, however I am leaving on Tuesday to go to New York City with Natalie (one of our St Jude gals) and her twin and mom. I am looking so forward to this trip with them. At this time, I do not plan to take my computer with me. However, if I know of anything that I feel needs to be passed on quickly, I will find a way to get it to you. Just check each caringbridge site and you will know what is going on.

Praise and glory to God for the work He is doing in little Jack!! From his test and scans, there is no evidence of his cancer!!! THANK YOU LORD!!! He will be continuing with his treatment, we continue to pray for a CANCER FREE JACK FOREVER!!!

Mikey got a good report to. His tumors are responding to the treatment, he will be able to continue his treatment and our prayers are that he too will be CANCER FREE again really soon.

James continues to do okay, but is getting weaker. Please keep him and his parents in your prayers. This is such a difficult time. I honestly do not know how a parent copes with this other than with God's hands holding them up. Pray for God's arms to be around each of them.

I have a prayer request to share with you. Andi Webb is a 19 year old college girl from Mississippi who was in a car accident about 2 weeks ago. She is the niece of a friend of mine from my hometown in Tupelo. Andi's prognosis is not very good, but there are signs that God is working on Andi. Our prayer is that God will heal her brain injuries. Her mom is a very strong person in faith and has some most inspiring posts. I would like to ask for your prayers for Andi and her family. I think you will be blessed by following her mom's post too. caringbridge.org/visit/andiwebb

God has been so good to each of us. He blesses us over and over again. Just take a few minutes to look around you and your world and see where there is a place that you can make a difference in someone else's life. Some of the most simple, silent, unknown to others, acts of kindness can make such a huge difference in the lives of those around us. It's actually fun to be sneaky!!! If you are living in an area effected by this frigid cold weather, look around and see if there is something you can do to help out. I saw on the news yesterday that a lady in the Memphis area took it upon herself to try to get some people to help collect sleeping bags for those with little or no heat.... she got the word out to a few of her family and friends and collected hundreds of brand new sleeping bags from several different states in a matter of 2 or 3 days. They were all delivered to one of the temporary homeless shelters and some families with homes, but insufficient heat. A simple idea, with a few calls to friends and hundreds have been able to stay warmer during this bitter cold. Good things come to those who love the Lord and follow His example.

Little Trevor will be in this week for his chemo. Keep him and his family in your prayers as they travel and also that this chemo will continue to show that it is working against his tumors. God is an AWESOME God!

Have a great week!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

A Week of Beautiful Rainbows From Heaven

2010-01-06T21:59:00.002-06:00

Our Father, How Great Thou Art!

Several of our kiddo's have been given good reports this week. To God be the glory, great work he is doing. His love and His power are evident to us.

Natalie got the all clear - Cancer free again! Thank You Lord.

Morgan got all good reports and has been cleared to resume some more of her nornal activities in life as a teenage girl.

Jack's MRI showed NO TRACE of the tumor in his arm!!!!! They are still awaiting the results regarding the lymph nodes, but everything so far looks great! Continue to pray for the lymph nodes to be clear as well.

In the storms, at times we see beautiful rainbows. Thank You Lord for these rainbows.

I received a package of beautiful pictures and memories of Reagan from her Mameow (Barbara) today. One of the things included was a beautiful Christmas Poem that she wanted to share with me. I am going to share this with you...

"My First Christmas In Heaven"

I see countless Christmas trees
Around the world below
With tiny lights, like heaven's stars
Reflecting in the snow.

The sight is so spectacular,
Please wipe away the tears.
For I am spending Christmas
With Jesus this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs
That people hold so dear,
But the sounds of music can't compare
With the Christmas Choir up here.

I have no words to tell you,
The joy their voices bring.
For it is beyond description
To hear the angels sing.

I know how much you miss me,
I see the pain inside your heart;
But I'm not so far away.
We really aren't apart.

So be happy for me, dear ones.
You know I hold you dear
And be glad I'm spending Christmas
With Jesus Christ this year.

I sent you each a special gift,
From my heavenly home above.
I sent you each a memory
Of my undying love.

After all, love is a precious gift
More precious than pure gold;
It was always most important
In the stories Jesus told.

Please love and keep each other,
As my Father said to do.
For I can't count the blessings
Or love he has for each of you.

So have a Merry Christmas
And wipe away the tears
Remember I'm spending Christmas
With Jesus Christ this year!

This was written by Ben, who, on December 14, 1997 at the age of 13, died after a 4 year battle with a brain tumor. He wrote this and gave it to his Mom before he passed away.

Barbara wrote to me "I felt compelled to send this to persons who loved Reagan so dearly, from her for Christmas, hopefully to make us all feel a little Christmas Spirit sent from our "Angel Reagan's Love". This is just so special to me. I want to thank Barbara for sharing this. I can just hear Reagan's sweet little voice repeating these words in this poem. On our trip up to Peoria, we talked about the kids who have passed this year and are spending their first Christmas with Jesus. What a Christmas celebration that must have been. I just can't imagine how beautiful.

Thank you to all who joined in the evening of prayer tonight for all of the children and families and for the hospital and staff at St Jude. I will post when the next prayer night will be, but remember, you can join in the room and ask for prayer request and prayers at any time.

God bless each of you and keep you in His loving care.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!