Immediate need of prayer

UPDATE (7:30 pm)
Boston is on hold - possibly indefinitely. Please pray for clarity in the doctors decisions. It is not easy by any stretch to have the plans for your baby's care change so frequently!


UPDATE (11:43 am)
Stellan will be airlifted to Boston. This is good news in that he can still be sent. It is bad news in that it means he cannot be cared for here any longer. Please pray for a safe trip and clarity for those who will care for him during the trip and once he arrives!

Stellans family has been called to be by his side. Now more than ever, if you pray, or even if you do not, please hold this sweet boy and his family in your hearts and prayers!

I pray this is only a hurdle, and not Gods will.

I call on you all - Stellan is very very ill

And is in dire need of your prayers! He is not taking to new meds well, and is under threat of ventilation.

I could go into great detail here, or send you directly to Jennifers blog.

Please, if you have it in you, pray for this sweet little boy that has worked his way into our hearts and lives. It has been a long hard struggle since before birth. His heart is in need of peace and healing!

If you are in the mood and have the ability, join in the WEAR ORANGE FOR STELLAN MONDAY MOVEMENT started by the My Charming Kids Community as well!

BlogFrog users, you can join the prayer chain here. If you are not a BlogFrogger, but want to join in, you can register under the My Charming Kids community.

Why I Relay

I was asked this afternoon: "with all the other projects you work on, why do you also Chair Relay For Life? Isn't it a lot of work?"

My answer: "yes it is, but would you step up and do it if I didn't?"

His answer was: "no, I already have too many irons in the fire, and it just isn't something that I feel I need to do"

Something that gets to me much more than most things is people who rush in and complain about all of the things they had to do today. All of the places they had to go and how much time it took them. I typically do not do this for one simple reason... I am a volunteer. I do not do it for the notoriety. I do it because I care about people, I am passionate about causes, and most often, the things I volunteer for enrich my life more than just sitting on the sofa flipping channels (which trust me, I do plenty of!).

I imagine that if I walked into a crowded room and tossed a stone I would hit someone who has been touched by Cancer. Most of us have. If you have not, you are so very lucky and should cherish that - I envy you.

I have been touched by Cancer. I lost my mother to Cancer 8 years ago. I have watched 2 of her sisters fight the same form of Breast Cancer.

I have been touched by Cancer. I am a 5 year survivor of non HPV Cervical Cancer. Tomorrow I am having a suspicious lump examined.

I have been touched by Cancer. I have lost friends to Cancer - some younger than me. I have lost neighbors, and family, and acquaintances. I have watched children battle the disease and mothers leave their children when their battle was lost.

I Relay not because "they" don't have the time. I Relay because I want to have more time. More time here with my family and friends. I want my children's losses to end. To lose their grandmother before she got to spoil them isn't fair. Mantha was the light of my mothers eye's. Jadon was her dream (he was born 12 months and 9 days after she died).

I Relay because I want them to have more time. They have a 50% chance of carrying the same gene I carry. I don't ever want them to know how Cancer feels. I want a cure before there is ever a chance for them to have a diagnosis.

We need research to find a cure. Research costs money. Money isn't growing on the tree out back, so that means someone needs to raise it. THAT is why I Relay!

I live in a small town in a small county. A county of less than 14,000. A county that is number 1 in the Midwest for funds raised (per capita) for Relay For Life for 5 years. A county that has been in the top 5 in the nation for funds raised (per capita) for Relay For Life for 5 years. Next year our little county will have raised over 1 MILLION DOLLARS for Relay For Life. I would not miss that for the world!

Ok, so I do like to toot our horn a little... but remember that statement about doing something that enriches my life a little more than watching tv? Can you top knowing that you have been a a part of something that is not only amazing, but also helping the people you know and love survive a horrible disease?

THAT MY FRIENDS IS WHY I RELAY!

And I will be Relay'ing all night long on Friday! (so will my city pally Kim in case you wanted to know!!! THAT is the cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the ice cream!)

MckBrunch Photo!

Tell me this doesn't look like the "it" spot to be! Look at all those smiling faces! Seriously, the smiles are not fake - that is how awesome everyone was!! Sadly there were a few people that missed the big picture...

Because I talk about her all the time, I feel I need to introduce everyone to my friend Jennifer aka MckMama - she is in the long skirt on the left side. Jennifer's beautiful sister Hilary is standing next to me in the red - I was so excited to have her recognize me in the sea of faces and get excited when I weeded through all the people to give her a hug!

If you if live in Minnesota, or get the chance to visit, you have to make a trip to the small town of Waconia (I guess when I lived in the cities it was a "town", now it is a small suburb) and dine at the Green Room. It was incredible.

Thank you again to all the lovely ladies who came together to spend an amazing (and beautiful weather) morning.

forty five

Its not really ironic that I have been experiencing a lot of 45 this weekend. In fact, for the most part 45 was planned for this weekend!

Throw a little irony in just for fun, and you have a wonderful weekend of 45!

Today was MckBrunch day! How amazing were the 45 women who I was lucky enough to spend 2 hours and 45 minutes with! (we were scheduled to be together from 10-1, but I left at 12:45 - not on purpose - I just followed my table mates out!).

Friday and Saturday I spent the majority of my time creating 45 bracelets. Orange bracelets to be exact. MckMama's favorite color for sure. For 45 ladies.

I arrived this morning - you guessed it - 45 minutes early. I spent the first 20 minutes driving around the town we were going to be dining in as it had changed immensely since the last time I had been there. The last 25 minutes I sat in my car waiting for another early bird to arrive. I couldn't be the first to arrive now could I?

I sat at a table with not 45, but rather 8 very sweet and kind women - women I had never even visited blogs of before (sans one who I visited once), but women I am excited to talk to again very soon! Two who are expecting their third and sixth babies within a week of each other, the beginning of next month.

There was a new Target to the small town we had brunch in, so I decided to wait out the arrival of Mantha from her dads wandering its aisles. For about 45 minutes (ha!) I shopped - casually - unrushed - and ever so often, I ran into two of those table mates I spent a wonderful morning with!

Can you guess how many minutes I waited for Mantha and her very lost father in the parking lot of Target? Yep. You guessed it!

45.

I did not however spend $45 at Target. I only spent $40...

To my table mates... Tina and Amy - I wish you much luck with healthy deliveries! You can bet I will be checking in on you! Jessica, I will be praying for a miracle to bless your family! I hope to hear wonderful news soon! Amy, while I didn't attend the same highschool had I known I would have met you - well, you know - we could have graduated together!), have a blast at your 20 year reunion!

Oh, speaking of almost graduating together... Jessica and I DID graduate from the same school in the city. She two years behind me - which means she graduated with my brother and Mantha's step mother. Amy and I would have been in the same class as we grew up not more than a mile from each other.

Amanda, I will be checking in on you more frequently, and hope to some day get to try one of those tasty cookies I missed at the MckPicnic! Your baby was ADORABLE!!!

Kerry and Yvette, while I didn't get to talk to you much, I am really glad that we all share a mutual friend in Jennifer (MckMama), and hope to get to know you both more in the future! Kerry thank you for making copies of the blog and email lists for all of us! That rocked!!!

To all the other ladies in attendance, thank you for the sweet compliments on the bracelets! I am glad you liked them, and hope you enjoy them!

Cami, thank you again for organizing a wonderful event!

45 thank you's to end my 45 post!

Watch this week for a photo of the gang! It was worth the wait!!!

What trouble looks like when it brews...

So remember a few weeks ago when I showed you what a storm looks like on the prairie? Well that was nothin!

Tonight while loading cars full of Relay T's because no one showed up to the meeting - could it be that they got the wrong date on the email that my friend sent? Um, possible...

Or maybe they knew THIS was coming (and we didn't)...

I took these pictures as I was driving home - with sirens, and lightening and bears (ok, not bears) oh my!

This was what I saw as I was pulling away from the building I was ignorantly hiding out in. This wasn't night approaching ladies and well, whoever actually comes here to read... This was clouds.

Like waves in the sky they were. it was a might bit freakish.


This is what had the nerve to head towards my little family at my little house on the prairie...


This was what I saw from the end of my driveway.

So that my friends is what a storm looks like on the prairie.

In case you wonder if I am still here or not, well, this "storm" was more bite than bark. We are still comfortably located in SW Minnesota and not in Kansas.

Or Maine... where it has rained non-stop for 3,972 days straight. ME and Hallie, I will take a few of these over THAT!

Pally, I promise that you will be residing in the safest room in the house when you come! I also promise not to invite any of these little disturbances while you are here!