Ingram the Conqueror: Wednesday and Thursday April 10th and 11th, Pollen, Rain, And Mud!

Wednesday we cancelled our Speech appointment at St. Jude and opted for a little downtime instead since Ingram has been battling some crazy allergies. I guess chemo and radiation took away Ingram's ability to battle the yellow film that has covered everything in Memphis. We also took advantage of the beautiful day and went running with Mrs. Shanda and Beau. Ingram started out running and so did Beau; I think they were trying to race each other but once Ingram got in the jogger, Beau settled down a little too. Once we were finished, we spent the rest of the day at home and even stayed there the rest of the day! Wednesday is our only day to do nothing after school and we love it! A home cooked meal at the table, Lindsey practicing the guitar, and Madison reading a book completed our night. The funny part about Madison is that she was on the "scary" part of her book and asked Lindsey to sleep with her; of course Lindsey said yes because she loves sleeping in Madison's bed too!

Thankfully during the night and early morning the rain came!! It poured starting around 10pm Wednesday night and didn't stop until about 3pm Thursday. When we got to the car and the yellow layer was gone, we were so excited about the possibility of Ingram's allergies getting better. After a fun day at school for all three of the kids, it got even better! Ingram had swimming lessons and "pinky promised" me that he wasn't going to cry at swimming lessons. He held up his end of the promise and I gave him some Raisinets as a treat. He was soooo proud of himself and told everyone we saw that he was such a big boy! Lindsey got to play at Madison's Ultimate Frisbee party with one of her friends Elizabeth Smith and they were loving the mud; did I mention it rained for about 17 hours straight? Madison was extra excited because Daddy was coming to her Ultimate Party to play in the mud with her! A bunch of other parents were there too and they played along with the rest of the Fifth Graders. All the Dads played against the boys and the Daddies "whooped" the boys (Craig's words) but they "let" the boys win the second game(Craig's words again). The girls played with the Moms but there weren't enough for a whole team so they just mixed in with them. At the end, it was basically a free for all and everyone had a blast with the parents and kids playing against each other!! Ingram loved it and even found a new friend to escape to the playground with too. Before we headed home for the night, we went into the school to see their artwork since it was "Fine Arts Show!" even though all four of them were filthy from all the mud and dirt. Long hot showers were a necessity as soon as we all got home followed by a second night of no soccer and a home cooked meal for everyone.

A year ago on April 10th, I was at The Trolley Stop with a handful of girls who are my dearest friends; they had come to the hospital to "make" me go to lunch with them while Craig took care of Ingram in the hospital room. Craig called while we were eating lunch and told me that we were being discharged from LeBonheur that afternoon and that our paperwork was being sent to St. Jude to get the process started. I remember breaking down into tears because it was even more real that Ingram had cancer, but those girls held me up and prayed for all of us right in the middle of the restaurant's busiest time. We went back to the room and packed Ingram up to be greeted at home by his girls as they were getting off the bus and they were more than excited to have their little brother home and to be able to sleep under the same roof! On April 11th last year, we woke up with Ingram on his little bed beside us after what was the best night's sleep in over a week. It seemed our house was a revolving door with friends and family coming over to check on all of us and make all three of the kids feel special. I know I've said it before, but the way people have surrounded us and prayed for us and lessened our load has enabled us to focus on Ingram and the girls and for that, there aren't enough "thank you's" in the world!