*** Contest for Abbie ****

As many of you know, this Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of little Abbie's death. In memory of our sweet little girl, our other daughters are having a contest - to see who can raise more money for the Light the Night walk (for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) on September 20th (although for Rae it may turn out to be the Light the Night crawl!). If the girls raise $250 each in the months of July and August, they will be awarded a $15 gas card. Since they are too young to drive, we will pass that gas card on to two lucky recipients! For each $25 donated, your name will be placed in a hat. At the end of the month, we will draw for the lucky winners. Below are the links to donate to the girls and
we look forward to awarding those gas cards!
Raelyn's site: www.active.com/donate/ltnClevel/2475_raelyn
Eliana's site: www.active.com/donate/ltnClevel/2475_elianamorgan

funnies....

This past week I have been helping out at a backyard Bible club. As usual - kids version of their memory verses can be rather entertaining. Here are a few (two of which are Eliana's):

real verse: If God is for us, who can be against us
kid version: If God is for us, who can be a princess

real verse: You shall have no other gods before me
kid version: You shall have other gods before me

real verse: The LORD preserves all who love him
kid version: The LORD deserves all who love him

Those make me keenly aware the difference one little word can make ;)

Mosquitos...

Eliana (sobbing): "I can't walk!"

Mom: "why can't you walk?"

Eliana: "Because I have mosquito bites on my leg!" (still sobbing)



One year ago.....



Mom (crying)

Eliana: "why crying?"

Mom: "Because my heart hurts from Abbie going to heaven"

Eliana: "mosquito bites?"



I am guessing that Eliana thinks mosquito bites are pretty darn dangerous.....

9 month sigh

Abbie was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 9 months old. During her entire battle with leukemia, Raelyn was growing in me - growing in life the entire time Abbie was fighting for hers. Rae was born just two months after little Abbie went to heaven. She was a healthy little girl, she has funny little webbed toes (her 2nd and 3rd toes on both feet) but otherwise she is seemingly a normal little girl. She rolled over late, sat up late, and crawled late - just like all of my other little ones. Yet, there loomed over me the 9 month well visit. Despite speaking the truth to myself that leukemia is not genetic, that Rae showed no sign of head bumps (Abbie's first symptom), that she seemed perfectly normal - there was still that part of me that held a little bit of anxiety over the 9 month well visit. Despite knowing it was highly improbable, there was part of me that was anxious the dreaded word "leukemia" would be spoken again. I breathed a sigh of relief as we walked out of the doctor's appointment after Dr. Pizza said "She's fine, she just needs to gain a little weight". I don't think she had any idea that the words were like music to my ears... fine but she needs to fatten up? That is easy to deal with!

I scream for Ice Cream!!!

Recently in Amish country visiting Grandpa and Grandma Morgan:

Eliana: I want pink ice cream (strawberry)
Grandpa Morgan: They have strawberry cheesecake flavor....
Eliana: I don't wan't cake I want ice cream ;)

And the answer is...

Raelyn, Eliana, and then Abbie.

Thanks to everyone who played along... especially those who left comments :)