New York - Day Three

Ok, this was so much fun! On Wednesday morning we went to the Statue of Liberty. It was a beautiful day to ride on the boat over to the island. We were given passes to go to the observation deck. There is limited spaces for that every day so we were blessed to get to go up. Josh was not amused however, because he thought we could go all the way to the crown. They are opening this up but not till July and then only 20 people a day. It was still so cool to go there. We went through the museum and the kids really loved seeing liberty's face. I had to yell at them because they wanted to pretend to pick her nose in the picture. Luckily, they stood still when I actually took it. After we got back we took the Staten Island Ferry to the island and met my cousin Steven Faust and his wife Nancy. They were so great and it was fun to meet them. They are artists and it was incredible to see such talent. If I could have fit some in my luggage I would have brought something home. Anyway, I really love meeting family and this was a real treat. It was the perfect end to a great day. A ride back on the ferry and the subway back to the hotel and the kids slept like babies!

New York - Day Two - The Afternoon

Ok, you would think that all that fun at Random House would be enough but - No! We are like the energizer bunny, we just keep going. The first picture is the boys cruising in the limo. ( We really loved the limo) Then we got some cute shots in the carriages in Central Park. It was cute to be so dressed up for that ride. After that we got changed and went on a Duck tour. You get in this boat that is very tall and ride through Manhattan and then you actually get in the water and truck up and down the Hudson River. Way cool. After dinner we went to M&M world. The kids were high there. So much chocolate, so little time. It was a very full day and we had fun. One of the neatest things was that we were doing things we had never done before all day long. Well, get some rest and then we will tell you all about day 3. You would think we had done enough but there is more great stuff to come..............

New York - Day Two

What an incredible woman! Mary Pope Osborne and the crew at Random House were wonderful and gracious and so good to us. It was clear that Mrs. Osborne was delighted to meet Joshua and he was overwelmed by her. They spent a lot of time pouring over the books Random house had for Joshua. As a special treat her next novel, not yet published was given to Joshua in 8 1/2 by 11 form. He is the first person to read it other than the editoral staff. She signed everything she gave him. As you can see by the pictures she had no trouble getting down and relating to the kids. The close up of Joshua is very neat. If you read the book cover behind him Random house had it printed just for him. The title says Joshua's adventure at RHCB with Mary Pope Osborne. How neat is that! They are shipping everything and I can't wait to get the box and go through it all again. When your life changes little everyday things make so much of a difference. Books matter so much to Josh, when he is tired he reads. When he needs to forget what is real in his life he gets absorbed by a story. Meeting this wonderful woman has really made him feel that he was special and I know he will read even more now. I could not ask for more for my child and I know my other little ones will follow in his footsteps. It is so neat to see them old enough to get caught up in a discussion about the books they are reading. Thank you, Thank you to Mary Pope Osborne for opening her heart to my children. She will always be in my heart for doing that. Also, Thank you to Random House, we had a wonderful breakfast and the desserts were terrific. The children loved being there and there is no greater gift than a book! PS. The last picture is Gordon with Miriam and Rachel and I added that just cause he doesn't get on the floor too much and it was so cute!

New York - Day One

I am planning to post every day till I have shared all the wonderful memories we made in the last week! It was so wonderful! We were a little tired on the plane but as soon as the limo showed up at the airport everybody woke up and was ready to go. As you can see from the first picture my kids acted like they were born to ride in limosines! After we got settled in the hotel we took the subway down to Chinatown. The kids loved walking the streets and seeing the vendors. They didn't enjoy the food quite as much as I did but they found new uses for the chopsticks and had a blast anyway. I especially loved Dorothy's kissy lips. After dinner we walked back to the subway and rode back to the hotel. I had forgotten all the people who go to NewYork and make their own way. The kids loved when people on the train or in the terminal sang or played instuments. Gordon was very freaked out about all the crowds, he was so worried about losing someone. At first I thought he was over reacting but they are so small and people move so fast there that we ended up holding very tight to everybody while we were on the street. I am glad to say that the children did not seem to notice and had a blast everywhere we went. Miriam could have made us some money on the subway. Crowds listened to her and loved all her stories as we sped along. Anyway, it was so much fun. Enjoy todays pictures and tomorrow you can see Joshua with Mary Pope Osborne!

The Summer of Joshua

The summer of Joshua has begun. We spent the day at a park with a splash pool and merry go round with Gordon's work to celebrate the end of tax season. It was the perfect kick off to the summer. Joshua also got his Bear award in cub scouts last week! W are so proud of his hard work to make this goal. He worked even when he was very weak so it was an extra effort. The last pictures are from his end of treatment party. It was so much fun. We want to thank everyone who contributed, either helping with the day or with the wonderful Webkinz we collected. I am so proud to say he reached his goal of 250. We actually got 252!!!! We took them to the hospital and Joshua gave a few to the kids in rooms that were not feeling well. The rest we left with the staff to give out as needed. It was so great to see the kids that were feeling bad smiling. Also, I can't tell you how nice it felt to tell those moms to hold on, there was an end and they could make it. We truly plan to enjoy every day now and do as much as we can. We are leaving this week on Josh's Make a Wish trip. We are going to New York City to meet Mary Pope Osborne, the author of the Magic Tree House book series. I will put lots of pictures on when we get home.

Party

Don't forget to come to Joshua's "End Of Treatment" party if you live close enough to. It is this Saturday from 3pm to 5pm at our church. 3311 SouthFork , Pearland Tx. We are really looking forward to having a fun afternoon. I am so proud of all my children for the tough year they have survived. I am extra proud of Joshua for his project. He is collecting Webkinz to donate to the children still in treatment. He set a goal to collect 250 for the children. So far we have 90 that we have collected. I am extra proud of Miriam and Teddy. They used their birthday money to purchase Webkinz to donate, and that was without any prompting from me.

Let me explain why Josh wants to do this. During treatment there are many rough milestones. Radiation, first time for new chemo drugs, MRI's, and various tests. It is so hard for these children to do such scary things that as a parent you look for anything to get them through. Couple that with all the time they are either confined to bed or to weak to go outside and Webkinz become really great. It is a stuffed animal with a code attatched. You can register your Webkinz online and play with them in a virtual world. It is a safe site for kids and they have lots of educational games. We gave Josh a Webkinz for each milestone and it helped. He would focus on that toy and not what they were doing to him. They are not expensive and the stuffed animals are pretty darn cute. (they can go into an MRI machine!) Anyway, we are proud of him for thinking about others now.

Anyway, We are looking forward to a big blast Saturday and hope everybody close can come, it will be great to eat cake and relax and celebrate. We are calling this the summer of Josh and taking every chance to party. We got a call from Make a Wish and on the 18th we fly to New York to get Josh's wish (meeting his favorite author) In June is scout camp and cancer camp. We will figure out something for July and August and then in September we are hoping to go to Maryland to see my family. Come join us for the kick off of a great family summer if you can. Please remember that your prayers helped get us here.

Fun, Fun, and More Fun (and some news)

The children had such a good time! They rode bikes and had lunch and were the hit of the day. Everybody seemed to find just the right fit for them. Ted was on that bullet 3 wheel bike and the girls looked so cute in the side cars. The best thing about the day was the money raised for brain tumor research. It warmed my heart to see people from all over come out the help our children. It is proof that so many good people live in the world. We also learned more about the kids. They all had fun, but Ted threw up afterwards. (Bike sick) and Dorothy, well , you never saw anything like the gleam in her eyes. We might have to send her to my sister Susan and her husband Rich to be raised, they are bikers and that would be a dream come true for her. Oh, and Joshua got to draw a raffel ticket and the winner got a new motorcycle! It was a great day.

As for other news, Josh had an MRI of that spot on his back and it has not enlarged so that is good news. He gets tired alot but seems to be ok right now and we are living large. I will post later in the week about his party, but just to remind you, it is this weekend and we are getting pretty excited about it. Love you tons...........