Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well, Andrew turned 3 yesterday! He had a great day filled with Toy Story, pirates, friends, cake, and fun. He tells everyone now, "I am 'free' (three) and I am going to Disney World." We had some dear friends over last night for dinner and the first celebration of many. These are friends that are blessings from above that showed up with meals and goodies many times during Andrew's cancer. They are friends that we never met before Andrew got cancer, but did have mutual friends that talked about them. They have 4 lovely kids about the same age as ours and they are truly angels in our lives. We were able to hug and share tears and stories last night with them as dinner was being made. The kids played so well together and didn't want to say goodbye when they had to leave. I still stand in awe of how this friendship came to be and how God provided more than food and treats for both Rick and I through this family. One of the little boys walked in carrying a life size Buzz Lightyear balloon for Andrew. I immediately wanted to burst into tears because this is the same family that sent a life size Elmo balloon to greet us when Andrew's surgery was over in March. It flooded my mind with memories and reminded me of our journey once again. It touched some painful memories, but also the reminder that we didn't walk this journey alone. Anyway, it was a special, meaningful birthday evening with this family and our little boy.

 Today we have another great celebration with some kid friends and their families at the park and then we pack our bags for Disney. We will be leaving tomorrow afternoon to drive to Northern Va to celebrate with family and then jumping in the limo Monday morning!! We are all very excited. We don't know what to expect, and as Rick wrote in his last blog post, we are not sure what emotions will arise. We made it through a tough year and now we get to celebrate. We plan to play hard, sleep less, eat lots, and enjoy each other as a family to the fullest.