Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday December 19th, 20th, and 21st Friends and Family Time

Over the past few days, we have been lucky to have friends and family come around us and just show us old fashioned love.  Not only have they been supportive and understanding of our emotions, but they have also been comforting and loving when we don't really know what we're supposed to be doing with our feelings.  Cancer is really hard and when it hits children, it's exponentially harder in our eyes because the children haven't even had a chance at living their lives.  So as we've been trying to navigate through the days and figure out how we're doing after losing another friend to childhood cancer, we've been getting text messages, emails, phone calls, and people stopping by just to check on us.  We can't even count the number of people that have told us they're praying for us and for all the other families and that's not taken lightly by us.

With the holidays here and the kids out of school, there's not a lot of spare time to sit and "sulk;" we have to keep going and doing for Madison, Lindsey, and Ingram.  We've had dinner with friends that we haven't had time with in a long time and the kids all played with each other (all seven of them and nicely for the most part) while the adults just sat and talked for hours.  We had lunch with the Whelan's so that Collin could show Ingram his new haircut that he did for him; and Collin had a lot of hair too before he shaved it!  Then we also had dinner with two families from school that were also on Team Ingram and are very good friends with our girls and Ingram.   Sometimes its good to just have a pajama day and make the house a wreck while we wrap presents, watch TV, make homemade chocolate chip cookies AND eat them all before making dinner. 

Although regular Christmas stuff is getting done, we're realizing or rather our kids, are realizing that its not really about the presents under the tree.  Don't get me wrong, they're going to get presents and probably too many presents at that, but they're understanding Christmas is about Jesus and what he did for us in being born as a baby but more importantly as a man when He died on the cross.  Each time one of our friends have died from this nasty monster called childhood cancer, one of the first comments they say is "they're cancer free now" and "at least they're in Heaven with Jesus now" and they get it!  They understand how it all works and what it's all about.  They're not happy about it at all, but they get it and "getting it" for them is one of the best presents possible.

Taking A Break At St. Jude Wednesday After Lunch.
We're Debating Busting Through The Rope And
Eating Either Peppermint Sticks Or Graham Crackers!

Jack And Ingram
Boys Will Be Boys Fighting As Super Heroes And Villains!

Ainsley, Madison, Abby, Lindsey, And Ann Claire
And Girls Will Be Girls Putting On Plays In The Den!

Collin And Ingram
Almost Matching Haircuts!

Lindsey, Abby, Sarah, Megan, Madison, Ingram, And Cooper
Our House Was Full Of Love And Laughter!

Lindsey And Abby
Can You Tell Which One Had TOOOO Much Chocolate??
Here's A Hint...It's All Over Her Chin!