Catching Up is Always Hard to Do

As you know, it was a crazy week for us. Not only did we have something going every night, but Paul ended up getting three calls (for those of you just joining us, my husband Paul is a funeral director) during the week. So, that had us rearranging our schedules.

The highlight of the week was the wedding that took place yesterday that Zoe was the flower girl in. The wedding had a harvest theme & was held outside. I was a little sceptical at first about the site, but I do have to admit that it was probably one of the prettiest weddings that I've ever witnessed. It helped that it as in the low 80's with a light breeze. The decorations were gorgeous! I apologize but you are going to have to wait until tomorrow to see pictures of Zoe, the bride & groom, decorations, etc. I accidently left my memory card reader at school on Friday so I have no way of uploading my pictures.

Zoe also had a great first piano lesson. She was thrilled to have Lyndsay spend a half hour with her showing her where to put her fingers on the piano & explaining to her about using both her right & left hands. Immediately when we walked in the door from her lesson, she went straight to the piano & started practicing. I know she's only 4 & is very excited, but we haven't had to tell her to practice yet. So far, she practiced every day at least once a day.

Today was spent trying to get everything caught up around here. Not only laundry, but there was mail to go through, phone calls to return, e-mails to answer, etc. Seemed like everytime I turned around, I was adding two more things to my "To Do" list. It's hard to get caught up when there's so much to be done.

Paul & I received an e-mail from Half the Sky, the organization that provided Zoe's nanny while she lived at her orphanage in China. Anyway, we try to do some type of fundraiser each year with 100% of the proceeds to be used specifically for Zoe's orphanage through Half the Sky. Well, this year we held a golf tournament & raised over $4000. Now Half the Sky wants to feature our fundraiser on its website. So, in the next day or so, I have to get an article together along with a picture of Zoe & e-mail it to them. We're pretty excited about it; hoping it will inspire others to host their own type of fundraiser for the children living at orphanages world wide.

Speaking of inspiration......our little friend, Gunner Gillespie, is really having a tough time right now. Gunner is suffering from an inoperable tumor on his brain stem. The type of tumor he has is called a pontine glioma. It is highly aggressive, highly malignant, treatment resistant and recurrent. It is an exceedingly rare form of terminal cancer that mostly affects children between the ages of 4-10 years old. Please keep Gunner & his family in your thoughts & prayers.

Did you know that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month? You might have, but most people do not. Why? Because there is not much about it in the media. According to an article in the New York times, “Cancer is the No. 1 disease killer of children in the U.S. ...We tend to talk about it in hushed tones instead of screaming for help. But scream we should.” The article goes on to say, “The funding for pediatric cancer clinical trials has gone down every year since 2003, and is currently $26.4 million. By comparison, funding for AIDS research was $254 million in 2006; funding for breast cancer topped $584 million the same year.” Pretty unbelievable, huh? I can't imagine the frustration & dispair these families must feel. Will you help promote awareness to this devastating disease? Together we can bring it to the fore front.