Will you pray?

If you read this blog fairly frequently, you remember this picture from about a year ago.  This is my friend Harmony.  And I am asking you to pray for her.

Harmony is my hero.

She's not my hero because she fought to recover from a car accident that would have made lesser people take a permanent spot on the disability list.
She's not my hero because she decided to return to teaching, even though she lives with constant pain.
She's not my hero because she kept her sanity through a difficult divorce.
She's not my hero because she faced down cancer and fought it with all she has, making it through chemo and infusions and sickness and hair loss and heart problems.
She's not my hero because of how incredible a mother she is to her four-year-old daughter through everything, even when it would be easier and everyone would understand if she decided to stay in bed everyday instead of being a parent.

Harmony is my hero because of her unwavering faith in a God that has never let her down but has held her up through every obstacle, every heartache, every crappy diagnosis, every struggle, and every rough road.  She refuses to lose her spirit, and she refuses to blame God for all of the bad hands that she has been dealt.  Instead, she clings to the hope that can only be found in Him, and in the process has become an amazing witness of the unstoppable love of God to her friends, her family, her students, and her co-workers.

Harmony is facing an unltrasound next week on a suspicious lymph node near her right breast. In the meantime, she waits.  She waits with hope.
And she prays.
And I pray.
And I am asking if you will join us in praying.

Will you pray with and for Harmony?
Will you pray that this week before the test will go by quickly?
Will you pray for her mind to be put to ease?
Will you pray for strength in her body and her spirit?
Will you pray for her to have peace in the midst of this latest storm?
And, most importantly, will you boldly pray that Harmony will be healed, that the test results will be negative, and that the word "cancer" will never again have to be part of her vocabulary?

If you fast, please consider fasting for my friend.
If you light candles, please consider lighting one for my friend.
If you believe in God at all, please pray for my friend.  Because prayer changes everything.  I believe that and so does my hero.

Thank you for your prayers.

Ready, set, trike!

It was a beautiful day for a Trike-a-Thon!  All of the kids lined up and got ready to do their laps to raise money for their school.  You could feel the excitement in the air...

...and they're off!!

Micah was very intense and totally focused on riding fast.

 

Chasing after his friend Giancarlo, who big-wheeled it.  And tell the truth: wouldn't all you adults just love to ride a big wheel again if they came in our size??

Taking the turn, and trying not to take out spectators in the process.

This was taken on his last lap, when Micah's focus had clearly shifted to the juice on the Trike-a-thon sidelines.

Micah and his buddies Jake, Nicholas, and Lincoln, with a post-thon celebratory drink.

I couldn't get him to smile for the camera, but at least you can see Micah's shirt clearly in this picture.  He even wore his monster garbage truck t-shirt to match his "Recycle Bicycle"!

We think he did about 20 laps in all.  Whatever the final number, we were really proud of him.  Way to go, Micah!

The Trike-a-thon is tomorrow!

The annual First Presbyterian Preschool Trike-a-thon is tomorrow and Thursday!  The kids are asked to decorate their bikes in some way for the big event.  For Micah, who pushed his bubblemower in last year's 'Thon, this is a big deal, as he's now speed racer.
He decided that he wanted to decorate his bike like Toy Story, then changed his mind and decided that he wanted it to be a trash truck and/or recycling truck.  So here it is - Recycle Bicycle.

Note the use of newspaper clippings for the streamers, an aluminum can with a recycling logo attached, plastic bags taped to the bars, and the trash truck tied to the front.  The theme is strong.

We even made a bow tie out of an old Cheerios box for his helmet, although that might look girly so who knows if it will make the final cut.

We purchased the bike and helmet second-hand a while ago, so the only thing that we purchased new for this project was the "Recycle" license plate.  But if you turn it around you have...

...a "Micah" license plate!  So even that can be recycled!

We will post more pictures tomorrow after the Trike-a-thon takes place.  Here's hoping we don't get rained out!

We got a bouncy house!

Thanks to the generosity of some friends, we are the proud owners of a bouncy house!  They actually gave it to us several months ago and we haven't had a chance to use it until now.  But the boys love it.  Love. It.  They play "Ring Around the Rosie" and just generally smash into each other and it's all puffed out fun.

It was a trip to watch Liam learn to walk in the house and once he did, there was no stopping him!

Do you think Micah was having a good time?

If the last picture didn't convince you, this one probably will.

Even Daddy got in on the action.

It's a great energy release for two very energetic little boys!

Stupid things that mean the world...

In the previous post, I detailed Liam's new Buzz Lightyear doll and how much he loved it.  Sadly, Buzz Lightyear's time with our family has come to an abrupt end after only a few short days.  Tim wrote about it on his blog and I have reposted that entry here.

The day after my wife posted a wonderful blog about our son, Liam, wanting a doll, I encountered a scene that concluded with a great deal of frustration.  Upon returning home from a church meeting with both boys in tow, I discovered that our separation anxiety-ridden dog had dismantled Liam's Buzz Lightyear doll to the point of unrecognizable mutilation.  I do hope, for those of you into the CSI shows, that Buzz had dental records.  As my boys sifted through the polyester insulation that once filled Buzz, it was like watching a horror flick where the tantalizing lure of the stuffing helped them see right past the present reality.  Poor Liam never even saw the carcass.

My response was less playful.  And I must apologize to my dog, Heinz.  He was obviously frustrated that we had left him all day and were home for a quick dinner and then left him again.  But through my rage, I wasn't seeing things from his wounded perspective.  I was fightin' mad.  And I'm confident Jesus says, in a number of ways, don't take revenge, but he had hit me where it hurt.  And I don't care, quite frankly, whether it's a doll or anything else--Liam loved that stupid thing--and my stupid dog took that stupid thing away from him and I was as enraged as I can ever remember.  The worst part was that the dog did not know why.  Human logic would tell me that his cowering at my rage was because he knew why he was bad, but Cesar Millan will tell you that dogs just aren't that good at putting the sequence together.  They respond to our emotions.  Well, Cesar, I agree--but why was he cowering before I even stepped in the room?

Needless to say, if there is a realm called Infinity, Buzz is finally beyond it.  Because we love our children and because we continue to try and show this love to them in tangible, meaningful ways, we won't succumb to the temptation to go out and buy every single gift we think we should.  But this one, because of the need for healing, will likely be replaced in the near future.  As Liam was placed into his crib he started to say, "Buzz. . .Buzz. . . "  Thanks, son.  Break my heart a bit more, please.  I had to tell him that I was going to look for him and see if I could find him.  I knew where to look. . .somewhere beyond infinity.

 We love you, Liam.  And we will always do what we can to show you so.  As for you, Heinz?  Not so much right now.  Talk to me in the morning.

AND I PAID RETAIL!!!!

Liam wants a doll, Liam wants a doll

When I was little, there was a song off of the "Free to Be You and Me" soundtrack that was called, "William wants a Doll", and it was all about exactly what the title says - William wanted a doll. All the other little boys around him wanted bats and balls and trucks, but William wanted a doll that he could love and hug and hold.  And ultimately his brilliant grandmother bought him a doll, against his shortsighted parents' wishes.  She gave him what he wanted and taught him it was okay to be a nurturer and a boy at the same time.
When Micah was little, we let him pick his own stuffed animal from Disney World that was his very own.  He picked Mickey and still loves his Mickey.  While we were there with Aunt Heidi a couple of weeks ago, we let Liam pick a stuffed animal.  He picked this pleather Buzz Lightyear doll.  I was opposed to him getting it - not because it was a doll, but because it was pleather, and I thought that he should have something soft and squishy.
Early this week, Liam would not stop biting the fuzz off his fuzzy blankie that he had to sleep with each night.  It was time to make the transition to a stuffed animal.  What did I ask Tim to get him?  The pleather Buzz Lightyear.  Because our Liam, like the William in the song, deserves to have the toy of his choice to love and hug and hold.  Or, in the case of this picture, watch over him to make sure he eats his sloppy joe and corn.

St. Patrick's day - a little late

Liam's teacher gave me these pictures when I picked him up at daycare today.  Our little leprechaun!

Green jello was on the snack menu.

There's a jello shot joke in here but I refuse to stoop that low!

Look at the ham smiling right at the camera! 

Just a little Video

Here's a fun ride to enjoy with your morning Sunday coffee.  Or lunch at noon.  Or whenever.

Micah's Mecca

We found it.  Micah's Mecca. It came in the form of the Model Train Convention that was held at the Tampa Convention Center this morning - and I have to give a shout-out to my friend Harmony for telling us about it.  See, Harmony, something good came out of all that TV you watched in the hospital!! :)  $10 for Tim and me to get in, and the kids were free.  Micah could not get enough and cried when we went to leave.  But here are some fun pictures from our time there.
Your entry fee included free rides on Thomas the tank engine.  Despite Tim's urging, Liam refused to ride, and Micah only rode once.  Figures when it costs $2/kid/ride, they want to ride numerous times.  But when it's free, they want nothing to do with it.

Micah made it one time around.

I had no idea there were so many different types of model trains - and that there were so many people interested in the model train world.

Diligently watching for this train to start again.  This was the one that was closest to what both of his grandfathers have.  I think the only thing that could have made this experience better was if Micah had gotten to use the controllers.  But alas, they have professionals for that at this convention!

Here he is reading some literature on that particular train.

There was a running model train set made entirely out of Legos.  Even their drive-in movie theater.  If you look closely at the sign you can see that it says: Now Showing Young Frankenstein - and it really was!!

More of the Lego train world.

They even constructed downtown Tampa out of Legos!

There were also lots of cars and trucks for sale.

Towards the end of our visit, we found an area where kids could build their own train tracks.  Micah immediately set up the train platforms and got to work on his train.

Liam did what he normally does, which is stand on the tracks.

Micah was pretty happy with his finished product.

Liam was pretty happy with the engineer hat that someone gave him.  He refused to take it off until he got in the car.

 

On a sidenote, the other large group taking over the convention center today was comprised of high school thespians from all over the state of Florida.  A few blocks up the street was the St. Pete Times Forum, which is where some of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament is being played.  So as we're walking back to the car, we saw all sorts of people. It's not often that you see drama people, sports fanatics, and model train enthusiasts walking the same streets together!

Aunt Heidi's visit

We did more than lock Grover up while Aunt Heidi was here.  We took her to all of Micah and Liam's favorite places to do all of their favorite things.  We went to the Magic Kingdom and rode the tram and the monorail.

Liam sat with me for the tram ride.

 They rode the train at Downtown Disney.  The first ride was in the caboose.

Going 'round and 'round.

Liam with two of his favorite people - Aunt Heidi and Buzz Lightyear.

Liam turns two in May and he would like this complete monorail set from Disney.  Start saving now!  And yes, he is definitely wearing a shirt that says, "Hello my name is Trouble".  We got lots of comments throughout the day about it!

Because one train ride is not enough, they rode again, this time in the engine.

Micah stunned us all by getting on his bike and going all the way around the block by himself.  We knew he was riding bikes at preschool and daycare, but when we've had him on his bike at home, he hasn't had much interest in it.  Aunt Heidi must have inspired him to go!

She went with him as he navigated the block.

We went to the beach to run in the sand,

and build sand castles,

and have Aunt Heidi show us how it's really done.  Sort of. :)

Thanks for the really fun visit, Aunt Heidi!