Thursday January 17th, Action News 5 Crew Braves The Dismuke House!!

We had extra special company this evening and the kids loved it!!  We met Joe Birch from Action News 5 at the St. Jude Heroes Pasta Dinner the night before the race and enjoyed getting to talk to him.  I think he was impressed by the girls raising so much money for Ingram and St. Jude not to mention being given the "Hero Among Us" award.  Plus, I suspect he was intrigued by Ingram running around the stage like a crazy man while Craig was at the podium.  He and Craig have stayed in touch since and Mr. Birch invited him to a St. Jude meeting.  At the meeting, he asked if he could do a story on Ingram's journey at St. Jude, the girls raising money, and Team Ingram.  Mr. Birch is a very big proponent of St. Jude and has been for over two decades now.  He met Danny Thomas early in his career and seems to have caught "the vision" like everyone else Mr. Thomas came in contact with!

When we were first asked about this, I was a little nervous about how the kids would act; I mean, they're good kids for sure, but they are WILD!!  Dan, Mr. Birch's cameraman, came to the house around 6pm and he was met by Beau outside and then by Madison and Ingram when they opened the door.  Lindsey was still at the kitchen counter doing homework so she stayed put; out of all nights for them to come over and spend time with us, this was a very homework heavy night!!!  Lindsey had a spelling test, a reading story test, a pronoun test, a division fact test, and a division using multiplication test.  I'm not sure if we got it all, but we tried and hopefully she'll do well.  Madison had math homework, social studies homework, science homework, and language arts homework and fell asleep at 10pm trying to finish her work after the crew left.

While the girls were doing homework, Ingram was making the biggest block towers he could make.  He did this over and over again, but the best part of making the towers is always knocking them down.  And tonight he did it in style...with a baseball bat!  The blocks were flying all over the den and Craig had the foresight to have him put his back towards the TV so that we wouldn't have to replace the TV (again) due to Ingram the Destroyer, I mean Ingram the Conqueror!  Of course the girls had to get in on the action and it was teamwork to build and destroy as many towers as possible.  Beau was even inside for one of the demolitions and gladly helped pick up the blocks and then tried to take off running with them.  Unlike the kids, Beau was not the least bit camera shy!

After more homework, it was time for another break and the kids made pizzas!  Lindsey had the pizza crusts trying to throw them as high as the ceiling and so Ingram followed right behind her.  Nothing hit the floor, but I would probably venture to say the health department would not be impressed with us.  Lindsey and Ingram were in charge of the sauce and Madison was in charge of the cheese and they ended up being really good.  Mr. Birch even sat down at the table with us for dinner and had some pizza too.  You can imagine the noise level of all three of them trying to talk to him at one time; we're used to it so it's not that bad, but his kids are older now and probably know how to take turns when it comes to conversations. 

After dinner, the girls hopped up on the bar stools in the den and Mr. Birch started interviewing them.  I was in the other room with Ingram trying to keep him quiet and Craig was in the kitchen watching them.  Next up were the two of us and Ingram and it was quite comical.  Have I mentioned that Beau is in his crate and he's trying to talk to us from the office??  Of course, as crazy as Ingram had been the whole time they were here, once he sat down for the camera he turned shy!  That little stinker was literally bouncing off the walls then went to giving one and two word answers.  He talked mostly about getting poked and the treasure box afterwards; of course we have our own treasure box called the gift shop where I let him pick out a piece of candy (he still thinks Raisinets are candy and gets those every time) each time he gets poked since it's harder to do now that he doesn't get poked on a weekly basis.  But at least he did say "I love St. Jude" and also said that they helped take his tumor away. 

Craig and I were next and honestly I was really nervous!  Craig's on camera all the time with work and I was on once in New York, but Marlo Thomas was carrying the interview and I just had to answer one or two questions.  This time, I had a little microphone on and Mr. Birch asked me several questions for what seemed like forever!  It was definitely fun and once he started talking, I wasn't nervous anymore; the questions he asked me were mainly about the shock of everything, parenting through this, and how our faith in God helped us through the toughest times...you know, the easiest questions of all.  Craig got the tough questions but he didn't seem to squirm around like me!  He also asked about the kids names and I think I laugh every time I hear him talk about Ingram the Destroyer verses Ingram the Conqueror.

The kids did a great job and I'm pretty sure that the craziness of our family showed through, as well as the love the girls have for Ingram, and our whole family's determination to do anything we can to raise awareness of childhood cancer and for St. Jude.  It was a late night for sure, but it was fun to experience a news team from our community interviewing us, a local family, talking about our local hospital and all the community support we have been given.  We were told that it will most likely air in the first week of February, but we will keep you posted on the specific date and time.

The Girls Being Interviewed By Joe Birch! 
Dan, The Best Camera Guy Around, Was Definitely Entertained
By Our Kids During His 3 And A Half Hour Visit!
And Yes, Homework Was Still Out On The Counter Because We Weren't Done Yet!
 
Joe Birch, From Action News 5, With Madison, Lindsey, And Ingram!
He Was Definitely A Good Sport With All The Chaos Of The Kids!
 

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