countdown to a cure

Only 6 more to go!!!

We are so excited even though every month/ day he is filled with these toxic drugs and we continue to pray for his good cells to be miraculously protected! God has worked out perfectly the doses for Braveheart's chemo, as He knows just how much of it he needs and we are so grateful!

BLOOD DRIVE!!!

Heads up to all of you out there on a blood drive going on next week. Here is just a small excerpt from a friend at IC who's son just relapsed and is in the bone marrow unit preparing for a bone marrow transplant.

"He vomited so hard that it popped a vessel in his eye. So now he has this very red spot in his eye. They decided due to that, that he should have platelets. Well, then they found that there were only 4 units of platelets total in the WHOLE hospital and since he wasn't actively bleeding they needed to save for more critical cases, of course! They told me a new shipment was scheduled at midnight and he was on the list to get some then. Again, I remind you, please please please donate blood, if you are able, if you are not able, please at least help spread the word- platelets are in great need right now!"

We are having a blood drive at our church, so please call me or email me for details and to schedule a time. Send me a note here if you don't have either of those! Please make time in your schedule as this is bigger than any assignment or trip to the bank. (don't skip your bible reading though :)

SUPPER IS INCLUDED!!!

Thursday
November 5th
2-6 PM

Please remember that this is an integral part of cancer therapy for many people including these many, many kids!! You don't have to donate platelets if you don't want as they can use them from several whole blood donates too!!

BRAVEHEART had a great visit to clinic yesterday! Mom drove us up there. We love it when family can go too. We were in and out fairly quickly and his counts have been averaging out on the low but steady side. They were hoping to increase his dose but saw that it may just knock him down to play with it much. I mentioned too that he has gone for blood work nearly every week all year long and they had mercy on him and said they would see him next month!! Yeah! They can't access the port when they give blood here in town.
WBC 2000
ANC 1150
HGB 11.6
PLT 160,000

Braveheart went for his PT eval and they gave him some exercises to do at home and we are working at getting him to do more push ups etc...to strengthen him up. His appetite hasn't been the best but I am working on giving some scrumptious home grown, cancer killing foods like broccoli and yesterday I baked him one of our butternut squashes from the garden..mmmmm.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Please don't stop even though we haven't been in any serious admission/illnesses type crisis, your prayers sustain us and help in all ways of our daily lives. Special prayers went out from some friends of his at church which resulted in such a great visit! Thanks kids.

God is good...all the time...we give praise to Him above!!

chemistry is fun!

A local college holds an annual chemistry open house for young children to come and watch and interact with all kinds of fun experiments and explosions! We fell upon it by accident many years ago and it has been awhile since we last went, so we were thrilled to take the family there again. I am sure damsel was too little to remember when last we went. This is only a small example of the very many cool experiments going on. The free candy near the entrance was a plus too. :)

Notice the Milky Ways on the right there next to the oozing bucket of liquid nitrogen? They became Milky Chunks...

Liquid nitrogen ice cream!

A balloon twist on baking soda and vinegar.

You know that goo that comes in those games for kids? Did you know it was an accident and my kids got to make some?? Eeeeeee.......
Isn't it cool that God is a God of even chemistry and He has orchestrated all it's interactions and purposes and it thrills me to see, interact in and show my kids His awesome creations.

fall photos

after the frost

keep'er altering

The girls met this morning for their keeper's of the faith meeting.

Today's project: altered books

what does this entail?

old books with painted pages
lots of fun pretties
glue sticks and glue guns
treasured girly items






Good job girls!

chocolate pilot

This is one of our read alouds for our WWII adventures. This story is based on a the real life of a young girl in Berlin after the war, while occupied by Stalin. (he really was a very greedy, communist man) We especially love plane stories since our grandma is a pilot! This was an endearing story about a very generous man that started a huge mission to bring some very sweet joy to these poor little kids. The illustrations are lovely. We even learn a little about what happened when the girl grew up. I won't give the whole story away, since you can read for yourself. This is a fairly quick read too, so make sure you add this one to your list.




mercedes and the chocolate pilot
by

margot theis raven

soft lovely progress...

Well, I finished my next crazy crochet blanket and I love it but I can't show it to you quite yet since it is a gift and that person could, possibly be watching this. However, I will show you my latest small finished lovely. Tada!


I got this 100% lambs wool at a thrift store for 88 cents. It is so sweetly soft and lovely. I like making hats for their traveling ease. The blankets get way to big and bulky you know.

My mom and I did some modeling for you. That was fun bonding time. :)


My secret agent boy has been wondering when I am going to start his blanket and I have had to put it off explaining to him that I needed to find more colors before I could start a crazy blanket for him. Finally I have acquired enough yarn that I have started it and he is elated! I let him chose what colors he wanted and I must say, he picked a strange mixture, but that is the fun of crazy blankets because they often end up looking really cool every time!! So here is a peek at his very crazy crochet blanket!!

home grown popcorn

We usually try to grow some sweet corn in the garden each year, just a small patch, but this year we grew popcorn! It came with a special pack of kid friendly seeds. We have never done this before. We can't believe how well the stalks grew and how much popcorn just a few cobs supplied! Look how fun and fluffy those popped kernels are!!
And yes...they do pass the oh so yummy tastey test!! Mmmm....

group violin brain massage

You must be wondering why I gave that title? Hang on..I will tell you.

The teacher's lovely teenage daughter leading the group by example.

Very intense concentration. She has graduated to playing two notes and several rhythms right along with more advance players!! Isn't that amazing?

This is mainly the younger group here. Some of the moms are learning too. (I wish I could) There is even a piano accompaniment. Very fun, very organized, measured tasks for helping each level learn and improve. Always, they start from beginner on up to more experienced practices.
Do you see that pink string with candy at the end dangling, right there on the above photo on the right? Look carefully now. That is just another clever little scenario devised to help the littles point their violin correctly.
I am amazed. I am impressed. I am inspired! As I sit there watching, humming along, learning with her I am feeling tingly in my brain! It's true. That is why I called it group violin brain massage. Even with the littles playing, it is astounding how lovely they sound. I just close my eyes and relax.
The oldies play with them, for them and in response to their requests as they learn notes, pitch, bow length. Did I say how much I love this Suzuki method? Did I say how much I love this teacher and how she teaches? Did I say how grateful I am for us to be here?
Have a great weekend, play some music and massage your brain!!

tennis is fun

I thought I would tease you by putting up photos from a beautiful sunny day a couple weeks ago. Our coop group had a lovely tennis lesson. I love capturing their faces as they focus on their task.