I said to Levi last week that I needed to play “CATCH-UP” with all the pictures he and I have made lately.  “KETCHUP,” he said?  Lulu, I don’t think my Mama would let me play with ketchup!!!”

No, I’m sure she wouldn’t, but today, I’m going to play ‘catch-up’ all by myself.   We have had such a busy, busy fall…with lots going on.  And, it’s not over yet!  But I’d better get caught up, cause the next post will be a doozy!

A few weeks back, we visited the fire station….actually his kindergarten class did.  Suzanne was unable to go, so I did the chaperone thing that day….his class below

His good friend, Lydia

Of course, you know there is more than one way to walk in a line…

Full of fun…

His teacher, Mrs. Parrish, with Laney Brooke…

Two friends who he dearly loves…Lydia and Laney Brooke…

Taking it all in…What fun he had at the fire station…seeing our community helpers at work.  Then he came over to my house for the afternoon.  We had lunch and rested a while then he took a spin on his Razr…

Maybe, he’s still just a little tired…

Another day, he was with me…he came to me with his arms full of every single little pumpkin I had decorated with and said, “Lulu, let’s make me a pumpkin patch.”  And so we did.  Right on the table where he always eats!

Here he is at another pumpkin patch.  He visited here with his Mom.

And, here are the pumpkins Levi painted with his Mom and Dad at his house.  I’d tell you who they are, but I’d get it wrong.  Just know one of them is named Mike…

We did manage to get one more swim in before fall completely moved in on us…he did, I watched!

Levi and John Thomas had an art day planned for the fall season and Joy and I sat in the garage and let them go at it!  The weather was perfect.  They painted with different kinds of brushes and their fingers and made some lovely sunflowers on canvas.  Then we showed them how to make a pumpkin using fabric and stuffing and sticks from the yard.  They may not be exactly akin to pumpkins you have seen, but they were made with a whole lot of love to distribute to everyone they loved!  A few more projects, and we called it a day!  The boys are not able to be together as much as they would like, but they make up for it when they are!

Levi also picked out his costume for Halloween…and has modeled it endlessly!  I’ll wait to reveal the full effect with mask!

I have been painting a bench for a sweet friend of mine.  I have to work a while and rest a while.  But, the boy thought he should have a bench to paint while I was working.  This is the closest thing to a bench that was a good size for him.  He has been quite diligent working on it, if not particularly neat.  Each section is a separate color and it is all his work!

Last week, it was time for his kindergarten trip to the farm…what fun!  All 4 kindergarten classes at his school went to a farm just outside of town.   It was just lovely!  The weather was more than perfect and every child had a ball!  They learned about the chickens, saw goats and donkeys and horses and cows.  They had a little pumpkin patch with a pumpkin for every child.  There was a fabulous hayride, delicious snacks, and 4 classes of the cutest 5 year olds anywhere!

Chicken coop…

He stuck a chicken feather in his pumpkin…

With sweet Laney Brooke…

Feeding apple slices to Blue, the horse…

His class…

With sweet Suzanne…

Posing on the porch…

My favorite…

On the hay ride…

What a beautiful day!  I was so blessed to be able to attend with Suzanne and Levi.  I sat on the big front porch in a rocker while I waited for him to return from the hay ride.  If I had had a paper and pen with me, I could have written a book about the goodness of God.  Such glorious scenery!  He gave us the most beautiful world to enjoy.  Delightful animals that bring laughter and joy.  Families sharing times together.  A school dedicated to teaching each little child that God is our Maker and Designer of all.  He is the One we are to please and serve…and, such amazing children…full of fun and questions and energy and boldness…behaving just like a 5 year old should!  Oh, but God is good.  I thank Him for putting all this in my life to enjoy and teach me.

Levi had a good friend stop by to say ‘hello’ at school one morning…sweet Ty.  They wanted a picture,too.

And, because the bananas were just too ripe…he and I made banana bread…

As it cooked…I took the opportunity to show him what real fun is!  Painting with shaving cream.  I planned to limit it to the orange tray, but that didn’t happen.  At first, he thought I was crazy…but then he got his fingers in and began sculpting mountains and roads and towns.  It is great to create with unusual things for a change.  He made me promise we would do that again.

And, the month of October has come to an end.  How fabulous it was…so ‘octoberry’ in every way!  In the early days of November, Levi’s parents took him to The National Peanut Festival.  They ate good things, and rode fun things, and saw sweet friends!  He had a ball!  But, alas, I can’t get the pics off my phone to show them to you.  Just take my word for it!

We had one…just one …visitor to our house on Halloween…can you guess his identity?

And a Halloween visit to sweet Laney Brooke for some special trick or treating fun!

And, we are nearing Nov. 8…this is the kick off to our big family adventure!   We are going to Disney World! So probably, I will have lots of pictures and stories to tell when we return.

Enjoy this wonderful Season of Thanks!

(Sorry this is such a long post, but I wanted to document several of these events and I have a touch of the ‘procrastination’ in me!)

Today the kindergarten students learned how to draw 3 simple leaves.

Pretty simple for us, but not so much for little fingers.  They worked hard and made some very admirable art!  We then had the fun of coloring them by blending chalk into the watercolor paper…with our fingers of course!  Oh what fun!  Even though some used waaaay too much chalk…it was so fun to blend it around, they just couldn’t help themselves!  I certainly get that…don’t you!

We had a great chance to talk about how every leaf is different.  They are not supposed to look the same because every artist sees them differently.   Same with our pumpkins last month.   It’s so important to accept the work that a child does in art just as it is.  His creative mind is stimulated by putting on paper what he sees in his mind.

We should never change it or add to it because in their minds, its perfect.  Praise, acceptance and acknowledgement are wonderful tools to encourage more art.

Then, they practiced their skill of cutting out their leaves!  All that cutting angles and curves took a little while…but they were diligent and got it done.  They then chose the perfect spot on the tree for their leaf!

(photo bomber…Ms. Allison)

Stop by and see out beautiful fall artwork in the lobby.  Your children are so amazing!  Compliment them on the magnificent job they did in producing such fine works of art!

Levi told me he was ready to do an art project.  Hmmm!  I didn’t have anything in mind that day.  So I suggested we go on a walk outside and see if we came up with a good idea.  He loves to walk down to the  wooden bridge that covers a small creek on the road to our house.  It’s a perfect place for a little boy.  And he has loved it since he was able to walk.

We found the beginnings of fall laying on that bridge.  Leaves beginning to turn, acorns, sticks, a great rock that rolls.  He put it all into his bag.  We came back to the house and poured it out on the paper.  Then we began to touch and explore them.  UH! OH!  We discovered that some of the ones he picked up were crackly and dry.  They fell to pieces in his hand.  He said that’s because all the juice had gone out of them.  Which is a pretty good way to explain it I think.  Some were a little crinkly around the edges and some were nice and supple.

I unrolled a nice piece of clear contact paper, and took the backing off.  ( You can find the clear contact paper at Michaels or HL and even Wal Mart).  We took the leaves and laid them face down on the sticky paper.  He worked carefully arranging the leaves to his liking.  Even though he was so certain he could add the rock into the design, it jut wouldn’t hold it.  He ended up making 3 collages.  One for his tree here, one for his tree at home, and one for his Mia and Papa.

We added another sheet of the sticky paper to the top and then he commenced to rolling them as flat as he could. We used a hard rubber brayer, but a rolling pin would work, as well.Also, be sure you leave a large enough margin around the leaves that you can get a good sealed edge when you add the top layer.  It’s necessary to seal those edges well…just rub top and bottom margins  together with some force. There will be some space that won’t stick around the leaves.  That’s OK.  As the leaves dry, the paper will flatten out.   Then we punched a hole at the top…he had to tell me which was the top…and then he chose cord to make a hanger.

How nice they look!  They would also look pretty just hanging in the window!  Depending on how you cut the contact paper…you can make lots of shapes.  They make great book or Bible markers.  You can always add in some words or a Bible verse.  Or write on it with a Sharpie.

Levi and I did this same project a few weeks ago…before the leaves started turning.  We hung them in the window in the studio and watched them as the color in the leaves faded day by day.  These all started out green…with one white flower.  This is about 2 weeks later.

What is so neat is that now he can really see how the veins in the leaves give it its shape.  We call these leaf skeletons.

A little later on we’ll talk about that big word ‘chlorophyl’.  [Another Lulu/Levi project]

I remember the day we got the news that Adam , my only child at the time, had cancer.  I said to my self, “Yesterday. everything was fine.  Today..nothing is fine.”  I can still feel that anguish inside my soul that was screaming, “Not my baby.  Not my baby. ”  I had not even heard of that many children having cancer.  Most people had not.  Even though I had graduated nursing school, it was most uncommon to hear of.  And, I was only 25 years old.  What did I know about caring for a child that may die. Everything I thought I knew about the life my husband and were planning to live was out the window.  I was scared.

Our pediatrician told us that morning at his office that he felt there was a tumor in his belly.  Sent us straight to hospital for a 24 hour urine collection to be sure.  That was 38 years ago.  I suppose they have more sophisticated tests to tell right away by now.  But, by the next morning we knew that he had neuroblastoma. I knew this was a highly aggressive cancer.  Most children are diagnosed before age 2.  Adam was 3 1/2.  Later we found out it had an additional type of cell…so he actually had ganglianeuroblastoma.

This pic, above, was made about 2 weeks before his diagnosis.  No signs, no symptoms.  A round little tummy that we all joked was holding too many cookies.  Never thinking it was holding something so monstrous.  His tumor was on one of his adrenal glands.  Life changed for us in more ways than one…within 2 days he was being operated on…and, for the next 9 years, we were at Children’s hospital as much as we were home.

He was about 5 here and we took a little trip to 6 Flags before we went back for more surgery.  He never looked sick.  Except for the time he spent in ICU, you could not convince folks he had cancer.

He was a scared, brave little boy and had to endure many, many extremely painful things.  Tests that they put kids to sleep for now, they didn’t even consider doing that then.  Horrible days..horrible memories.

NEUROBLASTOMA…

Q: What is neuroblastoma?

A: Neuroblastoma is a solid tumor cancer of the sympathetic nervous system that originates in the nerve tissue of the neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis, but most commonly in the adrenal gland.

Q: What is the average age of children diagnosed with neuroblastoma?
A: 22 months.

Q: What is the incidence rate of neuroblastoma?
A: Approximately 8 children per million under the age of 15 are diagnosed with neuroblastoma.

Q: How common is neuroblastoma?
A: Neuroblastoma accounts for 8 to 10 percent of all childhood cancers. It is the most common cancer in infants.

Q: What is the mortality rate of neuroblastoma compared to other pediatric cancers?
A: Neuroblastoma accounts for 15 percent of all childhood cancer deaths.

Q: How many children per year are diagnosed with neuroblastoma?
A: Approximately 650 to 700 children per year are diagnosed with neuroblastoma in the United States.

Q: What is the survival rate of neuroblastoma?

A: Neuroblastoma is a very aggressive form of pediatric cancer and almost 70 percent of patients have advanced stage disease at the time of diagnosis.   The survival rate of high-risk children is approximately 40 percent.

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We were in the old Children’s hospital in Birmingham.  A small 6 story building stuck in a row of other buildings.  It was nothing like the wonderful facility they have now.  Actually when we were in about 4 years they did some renovations and it was better, but at the beginning…it was an old, dirty looking, scary place to be.  Their policy was that when a child went to surgery or ICU or anywhere overnight, you gave up your room.  So, when Adam went to surgery, we had to take all our things and store them in our car.  and, we were sent to the waiting area.  If I had to draw a simulation of hell…it may be this room.  Long and skinny with no windows.  Light entering only from the door which led off a dingy, dark hallway… bare lightbulbs in the ceiling.  There were old chairs like you see in every institution …no comfort, just a straight chair.  Approximately 15 down one side, 5 across the back, 15 down the other side, and a table and coffee maker along with a low table stacked with newspaper and magazines from 20 or so years back at the other end.  And a telephone.   And down the middle of that skinny old room, was another row of 15 chairs…each facing opposite from the one beside it.  Many people had suitcases and clothes with them because they did not have a car.  So all there possessions they needed in the hospital had to go under their chair.  Or beside them in the aisles.  Wherever you sat, there were folks staring you in the face.  Some who wanted to know everything about you and your family and why you were there, all about your child’s illness and then thought you needed to know all about them.  They were lonely and scared just like I was.  But, I preferred to try to read.  We all had to sign our name on a pad beside the phone.  When the phone rang, whoever was closest would answer and call out a name.  And, the room would get quiet while you talked.  No privacy.  No cell phones yet.  But, the worst part of this experience was that of the 60 or so people in this room everyday…50 of them were chain smokers!  This was before people had laws against such.  There was no smoking laws at all.  The air in the room was saturated with tobacco smoke.  It lingered on the low ceiling and swirled around and under every chair.  It filtered through whatever we were wearing and it settled there.  It gave me migraines.  I wore it everywhere.  But I sat there to be close as I could to my baby.  There was no where else to go…unless you went to the bigger lobby downstairs, but they would not call you in that lobby, so you were cut off.  This is where you ate if someone went and got food.  And, even worse…this is where you slept.  A lucky few got blankets and pillows sometimes.  This was as close to hell as I’ve ever been.  I hated to walk back in, if I left to go to the cafeteria or the bathroom.  But, that’s what all us parents did as long as our child was not in a regular room.  We suffered in our own way while our children were healing.

Adam ended up having 5 surgeries due to his cancer.  And, we held our breath anytime anything was out of the ordinary.  His pediatricians were very cautious and diligent with his care.  Eventually, we got to the place where we only had to go back to Birmingham for testing every 3 months…then every 6…then, every year for 5.  And, the day finally came when we were told we didn’t have to come back at all.

We lived a miracle.  It was hard.  It was terrible .  It was the hardest thing I’d ever faced.  But, we got our miracle.  Adam got to live.

And he got to grow up and meet the girl of his dreams…

And, he got to have a son of his own to raise…

And, he spends his days working as a Paramedic in Dothan and Ozark…rushing to help those in emergency situations.  We are so proud of him.  He loves the Lord and he and his family are very involved in their church life.  We are proud of them all.

I am thankful…so thankful.  God reached down and touched Adam and he made it through.  But, why?  Why us?  We were not any more deserving than the friends he saw die in rooms down the hall.  We were all in the same boat.  Our children sick and dying.  And, we parents, learning way more than we ever wanted to know about their diseases.  We all prayed the same prayers.  “Please heal my boy.  Please, God, heal my little girl.”  We all would  do whatever it took to make them well again.  Just as the parents facing this right now in 2016 would do.  We would do anything anyone asked if they would just tell us what to do.  But, no one ever says ‘this is definitely what will make him well’.   Because they don’t now.  The doctors and the nurses, the techs, and the scientists…none of them know.  They are looking and searching.  They are squeezing every dollar that comes in for research as far as it will go.  But, there’s so many cancers.  And, they all need their own protocol.  Advances are being made, some cancers have found their treatment.  Great!  If your child gets that one.  But, there are so many other sick children, and sad families, and sibling who don’t understand.  When a child gets cancer, so does the whole family.

Yes, we were blessed to watch our son grow up.  But, my heart grieves for every parent I hear of who doesn’t.  I wish I had words to explain it.  I wish I had words of comfort.  I wish I had millions to give to research.  I wish I never heard of cancer.  I wish no one did.

I can not end this without giving credit to God for his amazing grace.  In His wisdom, He chose for Adam to live his life.  His ways are not our ways.  His thoughts are not our thoughts.  In His hands the sick children of the world are held tenderly and thoughtfully.  He sees their tomorrows and promises to guard them and protect them.  He loves each of them.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.  And, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”   Phillipians 4:6-7

But not all are healed.  And, it breaks my heart, and, if I am to be honest here with you, it makes me thankful all over again.  And, then I feel guilty, because I know losing your child to cancer must be the most awful thing to live through.  Perhaps, though, if we really believe that God is the Master and Guider of the universe, we can find a place to make sense of it all in our hearts.   I’m not sure healing comes down to great faith.  We are not all in the same place on our own journey through life.  I think it is God’s providence.   Frankly, I don’t understand God’s thoughts and His decisions.  And, I am not ever going to understand.  A very dear, very plain spoken pastor told me one time at the very beginning of Adam’s journey, when I asked him to pray that God would heal Adam , “I will do that.  I will ask God to heal Adam.  But, you must realize that means ‘healing’ by whatever means He decides.  Perhaps it is healing here on this earth and he continues to live with you…but perhaps it is the ultimate healing by going to Heaven to live with Jesus and wait for you to join him there.”  And, so I believe God heals all children with cancer…in the way He chooses.  Remember, He can see down the road…He knows what they will face tomorrow and next week and next year.  We only want our child with us.  I thank God that He is the decision maker and I can trust and know in my heart of hearts that He loves my child more than I do and that He will do the best thing.  I know that I know that I know this is true.  Still, my heart and soul grieves for those whose walk through this terrible journey did not end as ours did and I agree with you in prayer for your child’s healing.  God Bless All Children With Cancer!

There was just the teeniest touch of fall in the air…still hot, but with a smell of the cooler temps to come.  Don and I picked Levi up from school and went out to eat.  Then, per Levi’s direction, we headed to Landmark Park.  He loves this place.  Don and I have not been in quite a while…but Suzanne and Adam take Levi there quite often.

We visited all the little buildings and then headed to the fabulous playground.  Just an ordinary day…nothing to cause it to stand out any more than any other day.  But, it was a beautiful day…a God-given respite in the middle of the stress of everyday life.  Actually, it is well worth remembering…so enjoy some pics I managed to snap!

Are you as happy as I am when I have an ordinary day.  So many of our days have a moment when something startles us…we have an accident… we get bad news…we have to do something we really are not comfortable with…someone is unkind to us…someone doesn’t behave in a way that we agree with.  And, from that point on, the day goes down hill.  Nothing can rescue it and turn it back into an ordinary day.  It is marred by circumstances.

But, all along there are also plain, ordinary days.  The sun still shines, or the rain pours…but it doesn’t matter.  Nothing is ruffling our feathers.  No bad news…no accidents, we can do whatever makes us happy, everyone one we meet either ignores us or is kind…but no one gets in our way or causes us one bit of stress.  These are the days that generally come and go and we think them unremarkable.

But, oh! what joy there is hidden inside those days.  There is time…there is fun…there is play…there are smiles and there is laughter.  There is room to explore and time to stop and give thanks for the days when ‘nothing happens’.  And, when you lay your head down on your pillow at night, you think to yourself, “What a great day!”

And, those are the days you treasure and keep in a safe place.  It was one of those days.