WHEW HOO! AWESOME! & CONGRATULATIONS!

This week has been filled with some wonderful reasons for our family to celebrate and give thanks. I thought I might share some of our special moments with you. Big cheers of congratulations and words of praise go to...

1) Amanda for good lab counts! She and I visited the CBCU this morning and we are happy (and thankful!) to share with you that no transfusions of any kind were needed. YEAH!

2) The CFS Lady Knights placed 2nd at their state tournament - their highest placement ever! Way to go girls! Amanda was thrilled to have been able to travel to the tournament with her team. She had an awesome time sharing a room with some of her favorite 11th grade friends and of course...cheering on the Lady Knights. An added bonus was the surprise visit to the tournament by her dear sister & brother-in-law, Matt & Haley. It was so very thoughtful of them (we love you guys!) and such a treat for Amanda. What a great few days it was for her and we are still so thrilled that she was able to attend.

3)And, speaking of sisters... Anna gave blood for the first time today in honor of Amanda. I was so proud of her. I was there with her and I can tell you, she did awesome. She was so brave and very excited to be able to do this. (She had a cold when we did Amanda's blood drive and so was unable to participate at that time.) Abby had planned to give with her today; however, was participating in a state competition with her Enviorn-thon team as part of her FFA activities. They had won 1st at Districts and placed well again today. Congratulations to Abby and to all of her FFA friends who were honored at a banquet this evening. It has been a wonderful year of accomplishments for both Abby and Anna and it is hard to believe that their high school days are just about done. Their graduation ceremony is at the end of the month and we couldn't be more proud of them both.

4)I can't leave out our boys...Joshua, Caleb and Matt all give us more reasons to be proud. Joshua and Matt each have just one semester left before they graduate from college. Matt's last day was actually today (way to go!) and although Joshua has some finals left, he was happy to let us know that he has just completed his GRE testing to apply for his Master's work after he graduates. That's awesome. Caleb continues to enjoy playing on his select soccer team and it was fun for Amanda, Anna and I to get to see him play over the weekend. And of course...he too is counting the days until his school year comes to an end and he (and Amanda) will finally wear the title of "Senior". :-)

5)The Vellek family made a wonderful visit to our home and brought with them the check from the 5K Run/Walk. Just over $15,000 was raised (they tell us there are still a couple of donations that we are waiting on) and will applied toward the cost of Amanda's leg. What a gift. I don't even know enough ways to say thank you. We are so grateful.

We can never forget that one of our precious children has cancer. That we have no guarantees for what tomorrow might hold. But then, isn't it even more important to celebrate the moments and the glories of each day. You who read this blog and stand with us on the hard, hard journey are the very ones that I want to share with when we smile as well. And we truly have reasons - many reasons - to smile.

Thanks for letting me "cheer" for a bit.