Turkey Waddle Anyone?

Yes, this picture is from 2 years ago but I just love it. It was taken at the 1st Turkey Waddle which was held at Harmon Elementary School. Since then the Turkey Waddle has been a new tradition for my family and many others. This year will benefit 2 amazing young ladies. Natasha is a mother of 3 who has been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. She is only 33 years old and has such a remarkable outlook on life. A true rock star!!! Hana is a young student at Combs High School who is in need of a heart transplant. Being a teenager, I can’t imagine going through that. What a fighter!!! 100% of the money raised will go to these two families. So come on out and run/walk a few miles before your Turkey dinner. I promise it will be worth it. http://www.turkeywaddle.com/

Summer is Over

Well the summer is over and school is back in. Time just keeps racing by us. We had a great summer with lots of swimming, camping, summer movies, hanging out with family and thankfully no ER visits. Troy is always healthy in the summer and for that I am so grateful. The dude loves to swim and I do enjoy watching him jump in the pool saying, "Cannonbunga". It just never gets old hearing that. We did find out that Troy now has 1 year from August 13th left of treatment. I never thought the time would come but I am so ready for the down hill part of the 3 plus years. Sometimes it feels like yesterday this whole journey started and sometimes it feels like forever ago. Either way I will feel a lot better when he is done. I look forward to the day he doesn’t need to take medicine every day and go to the clinic. But for now we will keep doing what we have been doing and keep being grateful for every day. Troy started Kindergarten and couldn’t be happier about that. He loves going to Abby’s school and even more he loves being in his cousin Vinny’s class. (Yes, Troy has a cousin named Vinny.) The school has been so wonderful about Troy’s whole illness and is working with us to keep him as healthy as possible. I will keep my fingers crossed for the fall and winter which are always harder on him. Thanks for all the continued support and concern for our family. We are doing great!!!!

Cousins camping

Tired from swimming



Troy and his cousin Vinny on the 4th of July



Pre-school graduation

When you WISH upon a star.....

When Troy was asked what he would wish for if he could get or do anything in the world he wished for a new car. Not a car to actually drive but a play .97 cent car. We knew we needed to think a little bit bigger for his Make-A-Wish so we decided as a family to go on a Disney Cruise. Never would we be able to afford that so we thought that would be fun and it turned out to be the BEST VACATION EVER!!!! Here are some of the reasons why we love Disney and Make-A-Wish:

Killer send off party at Amazing Jakes. Here is Troy with his Wish Team. Most of our family was there and it was a PARTY!!!

A limo took us to and from the airport. Yeah, we felt like rock stars.

Safety drill before the boat set sail. I always think this looks so funny when everyone has these life jackets on.

The kids loved the pools on the boat. One had a slide and two Mickey Mouse ears that Troy thought were jacuzzi's.

View from our rooms. Ahhhh, I want to go back.

Dolphin encounter which was Troy's favorite part of the whole vacation.

Cruises usually have great service but nothing can compare to the service you get on a Disney Cruise. First class all the way!!!

Disney has it's own private island and we were able to ride bikes around the island, eat a wicked good BBQ, snorkel, and just hang out on the beach. (This was my favorite day!!)

Pirate night on the boat was so fun. Too bad it was at 10:30 at night so the kids were beyond tired and grouchy but my dad and I had a great time. Can I just say they had a firework show off the boat. It was pretty amazing to see that.

Every time we got into our room there was a little something for Troy from Make-A-Wish. Just something a little extra for him and our family. One day they gave us gift cards to use at the arcade on the boat.

By the way, we stuffed our faces the whole time. 24 hour ice cream, soda pop, and room service, pizza till midnight, fruit galore, just food, food, food. I was in heaven!!!

All good things must come to an end. This is the limo ride home and Troy still had a smile on his face.

I knew we were going to have a fun vacation but both Chris and I said it was the best vacation ever and we will never be able to top it. Everything was over the top amazing from the shows every night to the kid play centers. I wish our whole family could have come and shared this experience with us but I am grateful my parents could go. We had so much fun with them there.

If and when we ever make a lot of money we are donating to Make-A-Wish. I love the idea of Make-A-Wish. We were able to have fun as a family and forget about leukemia for a short while. Memories were made that we will never forget thanks to Make-A-Wish!!!

It's Over!!!

I hope you all enjoy this slideshow. I think it pauses too long on each picture so just click through them if you like. ENJOY!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Well London’s Run/Ride was once again an amazing day! We had shirts made this year for all of our friends and family that would be there. It was so cool to have so many Team Troy members. I wish I had pictures of everyone that was there but just know we thank you for sharing this inspiring event with our family. Troy had no idea why we all had shirts on that said his name but one day he will understand. I am proud to say that I finished the race and didn’t stop at all. I sure wanted to stop at about mile 10 but then I saw a picture of Lorrin Merkley that made me want to keep going. He was a grown teenager lying across both his parents laps. It was just such a fun picture that made me want to keep going. Pictures of Troy were posted along the course that I wasn’t expecting to see. I knew they had pictures of him last year but I didn’t know they would use them again. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least. After I came around the corner to finish, my dad was there and ran with me into the finish. Then I saw Heather Solomon (London’s Mom) and she gave me a big hug and I just started crying. I didn’t think that I would be emotional but it was such an accomplishment for me. I can honestly say I am considering running it again next year. This event takes many many volunteers and I am grateful for the people that plan this entire day. Thanks to all our family and friends for your support and lets do it again next year!!!

Londons' Run 09'

London’s Run is only 1 week from tomorrow and I am very excited/nervous. I have been training for the ½ marathon and I am so ready to just run it already. Our family will be running 2 water stations so look out for them as you run by. If you haven’t signed up yet it is not too late. The 2 mile fun run/walk is sounding really great right about now. Even if you don’t run they have all the same activities going on like last year. Here is a list of the events:

Saturday Jan. 31, 2009
7:00 am — On site registration and packet pick-up.
8:00 am — 1/2 Marathon begins.
8:10 am — 10k Begins.
8:20 am — 2 mile fun run begins.
7:00 - 11:00 am — Silent Auction
7:30 - 10:30 am — Pancake breakfast (for purchase)
10:30 - 11:30 am — BBQ lunch (for purchase)
8:30 - 10:30 am — Kids Corner Activities (parents must supervise)• Rock Wall• Bouncy• Face Painting• Crafts• Toddler races• Mechanical Bull Riding (for purchase, parents must sign liability waiver for minors)
9:30 am — Awards Ceremonies.• 9:30 am — 2 mile run, top tree finishers only• 9:45 am — 10k• 10:00 am — 1/2 marathon to finishers, additional awards given as runners finish
8:00 - 12:00 pm — Blood Drive (see qualifications below)

This is such an amazing event and I am so grateful to all the organizers. I’m sure it is a TON of work and yet they do it every year. What awesome people!!!! I hope they raise a lot of money for the children’s hospital and the Merkley family. So come and run or eat or just hang out. It will be an incredible day!!!

www.Londonsrun.org

Andrea's Closet

In the very beginning when Troy was diagnosed with leukemia Andrea's Closet was something I had never heard of before. After his IV was put in at the hospital he was able to go into a room full of brand new toys and pick any one he wanted. Then came his first bone marrow aspiration and again he was able to pick out of the closet. This repetition continued with each new procedure and soon Troy looked forward to (in a way) getting poked because he knew he could pick a toy from the closet. Andrea’s Closet has made a HUGE impact on Troy and how he deals with getting poked all the time. He knows that if he gets a “beep”, as we call it, in his chest he gets to pick out of the closet. The moment he gets to pick out of the closet he forgets about the pain of the poke. I love, love, love Andrea’s Closet. On their website they say, “A toy is only a small gift, but it can go a long way to help a sick child get through a painful medical procedure. That's why Andrea's Closet was created. When children face frightening medical treatments, such as procedures to treat cancer, burns or other life threatening illnesses, Andrea's Closet brings them comfort and distraction from their pain by allowing them to choose a special gift from a toy-filled closet.” If anyone has 6 minutes to watch a video about Andrea’s Closet here is it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LRqO55Dk7g&eurl=http://www.andreascloset.org/&feature=player_embedded They say it so much better than I could.

So, this year for Christmas our two families decided to buy a whole bunch of toys for Andrea's Closet. This was such a great way for our family to help out and seeing the pile of toys grow was truly humbling. We continue to be blessed with the most amazing family we could ask for. Thanks to everyone for the toys and for thinking of this idea to help out other sick children.