June 10, 2007

School is officially over! I have had two whole days of summer vacation. This past weekend we have been busy.

On Friday night we attended the Bremer County Relay for Life. We all had a great time. This year the event started at 6 PM and lasted until 6 AM, so unlike last year when Chris had a team that walked the entire twelve hours (while Leah and I were in the hospital), this year we just went as a family and Leah walked the Survivors Lap -she was the youngest one participating in that- and we stayed for the luminary ceremony. Leah and Chloe both had a great time. What a difference a year makes! They ended up walking/running three and a half miles. We didn't get home until almost 11 and slept in on Saturday. Of course the real reason for this event is the need to raise money for cancer research/finding a cure. Pediatric cancer does not receive much of the actual money raised at this event, which is the one drawback for me. While I don't want anyone to have to suffer through cancer, after spending a lot of time on the pediatric cancer floor and watching Leah suffer I would especially like some money to be sent that direction. I remember reading a newspaper article shortly after Leah was diagnosed about how 80% of childhood cancers are cured. Well, that may be true, sort of. Leukemia is highly curable, but there are so many cancers that are not. We know far more parents that have lost their child to cancer than have survived. There have been no new cancer drugs introduced for children in over twenty years. The federal government has proposed to cut funding for pediatric cancer. The list of statistics like this could go on and on. I remember many years ago when the only person that I knew very well that had cancer was my grandfather- and then not until he was 78 years old. Now not only has my child had cancer, but I can list many, many people that I know personally that have had to deal with this disease. This year's Relay for Life was very well attended, and it is receiving much more attention than ten years ago when Chris and I participated and walked by ouselves around the W-SR track waiting for our team members to take over for us. We hope next year's event draws even more people to it and that awareness continues to increase- along with money being raised - to help fund research for this disease.

On Saturday we attempted to do a quick clean-up of our house and then waited for our friends, the Vitts, to arrive. My high school friend, Sarah, and three of her kids made a trip up from Kentucky to see her family and friends while her husband is in Iraq. It was great to see them again and the girls liked playing with them. We ended up making hot dogs and s'mores over a fire Chris made in our back yard.

Today is another beautiful day. We have been outside a bit, had a picnic, rode bike/trike and are looking forward to visiting my parents sometime today. Cleaning should be on the agenda and it is once again time for me to drag out my scrapbooking stuff.

The Iowa City visit is approaching again. I hate the lead-up to these visits as I dream of AFP numbers each night. Please continue to keep Leah in your prayers - for continued good health, low AFP numbers and clean CT scans, as we hope to enjoy a lot of fun times as a family this summer and she gets ready to start kindergarten.

Leah has informed me that she has not blogged in a while, so wants to add a few words, too:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 i can writea book just wait and see.
LOVE LEAH and CHLOE