We have had a wonderful start to our summer. We spent Memorial Day weekend in Raleigh with Jason's brother and his family. It was nice to be there to celebrate my nephew, Brayden's, birthday. The boys (Chase, Brayden, and Walker) are so great with Samantha and Josh. While we were there we found a strawberry patch. Below are some photos of the kids picking strawberries...
Joshua continues to grow like a weed! He started walking right before Memorial Day and I have had a hard time keeping up with him since then. He is in to anything and everything he can get his hands on. Below are some photos of him helping me to unload the dishwasher...
Josh loves being read to and playing outside, especially being pulled in his blue roadster, and going in the pool. He is still a great little eater and eats just about anything I put in front of him. While he enjoys the independence of walking, he still from time to time comes over asks to be picked up, pats me on the back, and then lets me know it is ok to put him down again. He is so sweet. I love those little moments.
As I'm sure some of you know, we recently celebrated Alli's birthday. We have been working on a project at home, in addition to the monthly floral arrangements, for her. One of the women in the grief support group I attend talked in one of our sessions about some beautifully painted rocks that she admired on a neighboring headstone (I know - it is morbid). Anyway, it is a Jewish tradition to leave a rock at the gravesite to let others know that the deceased has not been forgotten (an abbreviated explanation). So, I thought it might be a fun(?) art project for Samantha and me to paint rocks that we could occasionally leave at Alli's headstone. If you know me at all, you know that art is not one of my strong suits, but it was a fun project for Samantha and me to work on together. I did the research online (thank God for pinterest!), picked up some art supplies from Hobby Lobby (love them!), and painted to our hearts content. Below are some photos...
On Alli's birthday we celebrated with a few friends by having dessert and releasing a few balloons and a paper lantern with messages to our sweet girl. We had visited the cemetery the night before and brought her July flowers. All in all it was a special time of remembrance and something I hope we can repeat each year. Below are a few photos...
On Wednesday, after Samantha's last swim lesson, we packed up and headed to Michigan. Samantha and Joshua were troopers, as we drove straight through without stopping overnight. Both kids are excellent travelers. They enjoy their movies, books, naps, and other activities in the car. The highlight of the journey for me, aside from arriving back home, was a stop in Dayton for dinner. Those of you who know me well know that the University of Dayton is one of my favorite things. I loved my time there and have such fond memories and made some wonderful friends. It was great to drive Samantha around campus and show her where I lived. I am starting the brainwashing at an early age :)
We are planning to be up north until the end of July. We are going to spend a lot of time with family and friends. Jason will join us in Chicago toward the middle of the month after he helps his parents get settled in our house. It has been two years since I have been home and it is wonderful to be here with the kids!
As a side note - we have set up a page on the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta website. The donations made on this page will support the Palliative Care program at Children's. We started the page to help facilitate donations that will be made by Deloitte employees during the month of July as a part of their "Casual for a Cause" program. However, anyone can make a donation through this link. As you may have read in an earlier post, the Palliative Care Team (PACT) was invaluable to our family. We have come to learn more about them over the past few months, most importantly that they receive a very low rate of reimbursement from insurance for their services - close to $.25 for every dollar of cost incurred. Therefore, their service is largely funded by private donations and the hospital. The donations do not have an administrative fee taken out of them, therefore, every dollar donated directly benefits the needs of this team. They are currently working to develop relationships with outpatient hospice programs to help facilitate pediatric hospice care, as well as to broaden their service within the hospital. The only way they can do this is by adding additional staff. They also have a fellowship program that helps to train future practitioners. Any money raised directly helps them to accomplish these goals. Many of you made donations to the hospital already. We have asked that those donations be directed to the Palliative Care program and the foundation is working on making that happen for us. Below is a link to the webpage. It is also on the right side of the blog.
Also, here is a link to the Palliative Care Team at CHOA, if you want more information about them :) They are amazing people!
No comments:
Post a Comment