Prayers needed...

I don't typically post my CaringBridge posts on this site...but this one is an exception because our need is great. 

We need your thoughts and prayers for Braden.

Braden has not made counts for ABT-751 (his chemo) for 35 days. That is pretty unheard of for him. He's missed a week here or there but never for this long. It's only his platelets...everything else is ok.

The problem is this...suppression of platelets can mean disease in the bone marrow.

I've been breathing...his HVA/VMA have been low (but they can remain low in a relapse and not be elevated to indicate new disease).  And he's feeling good and happy...none of his usual "I have cancer" signs.

Until today. He missed counts again yesterday. I emailed Philly and asked what the plan was...would we do a bone marrow biopsy.

Dr. Mosse said that a few patients on ABT-751 developed a toxicity for the drug and that is evidenced in a drop in platelets. They give the patients 42 days to recover in counts before scheduling a bone marrow biopsy to check for a relapse of disease.

Next Thursday we are at day 42.

The plan is that we go in for counts and if platelets are at 75,000 (they were at 64K yesterday and have been uncooperative in moving for weeks), we will go home. IF platelets are NOT at 75K, we do a bone marrow biopsy that day.

It just got real again.

TOO real.

DAMN cANCER!!!  

SO...we need positive thoughts and prayers once again...lots of them. Every individual, every group, every single person you can think of...we need you.

We need the mountain to move.  

I pray and I cry to God to please allow Braden to stay....and at the same time I thank him for the time we have gotten. We should not have had these past 2.5 years...he medically should not be here.

We were given a gift and we have made the most of it. I feel extremely blessed and very selfish in wanting more time.  

I used to pray that he would get to have firsts...and he has had many. SO many of our friends have not been this blessed so I feel a little (okay a lot) greedy in hoping for more.

BUT...I DO...I HOPE and PRAY for more firsts!!

AND...I'm incredibly grateful for what we have been given.

We need you..I believe there is power in the army's positive thoughts and prayers...and I am calling on you to help us move that mountain.  

I will update next week on Thursday after counts come in and let you know what the next step is..hopefully it will be that we are on our way home and there is no need for a bone marrow aspirate.

And I feel the need to say this...I do NOT believe this scare and any potential relapse is the work of God. PLEASE do not blame Him.  I believe there are two forces in the world and this is definitely the work of the other guy.  The God I serve is loving, caring, and compassionate not this. He does not make us worry, fill us with fear, and sadness...that's not his M.O. in my mind and heart.  He will see us through this...no matter what the news is on Thursday.

HOPE...PRAY...BELIEVE!!

The mountain MUST move!!!  No other option is acceptable...I believe in miracles because I live with one...and I believe the mountain can move!

And...please keep our friends the Bennetts and Grindels in your thoughts and prayers as well. Paul Bennett died on Monday due to a heart attack. He was quite possible the most amazing man I have EVER met. His generosity, love of his family, positivity, generosity, and capacity to do good in the world are unmatched. 

With HOPE, love and thanks!

Deliece :)

The Short Bus...

Yes, if Braden rode a school bus, it would technically be what some people call “the short bus”.

I stopped being upset by that term years ago, but I still don’t like it. It doesn’t build people up…it does just the opposite.  

It’s just like the word “retarded”…I don’t get why people use that to be derogatory when it is so hurtful to people with children with low cognition.  

Not cool.

Braden had his “three year re-evaluation” and annual IEP a few days ago.  That’s always a big meeting because every three years, they have to “prove” that he still needs special education services and then target his new needs from the growth (or lack thereof) he has had in three years.

The report was sad because it pointed out so many things Braden Hofen is not good at, but it also is happy because it shows how far he has grown.

As a teacher and then Principal, I used to get frustrated when parents would act like the severe deficits we were showing them were no big deal and just more news. It felt like they were choosing to not accept the fact that their kids had those big deficits as they focused on “all the growth they have made”.

Well…

I get it now.

Hearing those deficits didn’t crush me;  I merely ignored them. I did read the report.

Most of it.

Sometime I got tired of hearing how bad things were and how poorly he scored, so I skipped those pieces after the first couple of sentences.

I get it…

He’s very delayed.

Extremely delayed.

And it’s their job to provide those data to show where he is currently functioning. Our team is FANTASTIC and I admire and value each and every one of them. They don’t mean any harm or to be negative or mean at all, just as I didn’t when I was in their shoes.

BUT…the Braden Hofen I know can do so much more than those tests showed. It’s just that we measure ability and strengths in one way…standardized tests and informal tests…common element of “tests”.

When he was three years old, when he was trying to say “mama” he would say, “ma…. And I would literally slowly count to 10…then came the second syllable….ma”  Now he talks non-stop at an appropriate pace!! AMAZING!!

He’s very delayed from his peers, I am not ignoring that and I’m not kidding myself but from when he started to where he is now…holy smokes!!  Just AMAZING!! 

I choose to focus on that!

I choose to focus on the gifts he brings….and I do get the deficits…but I want to make sure everyone else gets the amazing growth. Those deficits really ARE no big deal!

I “GET” it parents of mine from all the years I was in the Principal/Teacher seat. 

And I’m sorry I didn’t “get it” then!!

So much of what Braden knows is in his brain…it really is in there but his brain has a hard time outputting that information on a test.

And every time a parent used to tell me that I thought to myself, “You are in denial.  I appreciate that you believe in your child but we don’t see the same levels of functioning here that you are describing. Please listen to us when we tell you how far we have to go.”

So as I approached this meeting, I prepared for it.  I assumed they would roll their eyes, smile, pat me on the back and send me on my merry way. Which is kind of what happened.

Complete role reversal. 

Total 180 for me. And I had to laugh at the irony.

I had specific examples…so when they said that they were going to work on word problems with addition and subtraction and what a stretch that would be for him and how hard it was because of his delays and things that are not strengths…

I pulled out the book we had read the night before. One of the pages had three bowling pins lined up and one had fallen over.

Braden stopped me from turning the page and said “MOM!! Look!  There are three bowling pins, one fell over so take it away. How many are left?  Use your touch math!” 

Shock and awe…all around the room, well except for the three that knew him the best who just smiled and shook their heads in agreement.

Much of it is in there. 

I’m a realist, not everything is “in there”…but a lot more of it is there than we think.

The trick with autism is finding the way to unlock it to let it out so WE can see it.

Three years ago at his last re-eval meeting, I didn’t care what his goals were or what they wanted to do because I didn’t think he was going to live to see first grade. The words on that page didn’t matter.

I still don’t know that he’s going to be here for his next annual IEP or three year re-eval BUT…since he IS here and is in remission right now…we are hoping for it.

And we are continuing to search for ways to unlock all of that stuff and get it out.

He’s a bright boy. And we have a team that believes that he IS bright and capable and they won’t give up on him.

A mom can’t ask for more.

So no short bus for my B-Man….

I think he should have a stretch limo…

because to his momma,

he’s kind of a big deal!

TAKE THAT cANCER!

TAKE THAT cANCER...

That's the title of my new book...yup...a BOOK!! Unbelievable!

TAKE THAT cANCER...A Mother and Son's Journey to HOPE

Mrs. Schmeller, my high school English teacher is laughing right now. I could never get an "A" on any work I did for her...I'm pretty sure this book wouldn't be an A but it comes from my heart. :)

It's the story of our dual cancer fight, about how you have to fight with your gloves off, and about hope and faith in a God who loves us more than anything.

It's 5 years wrapped up into 110 pages. That was no easy feat...

As you can see...I like to type...words flow...too many words :)

So I had a co-author, her name is Maureen Rank and she was a gem. She helped me get things into a structure so I could feel what I really wanted to share and what really was important. I have thousands of pages of writing over the past five years and every page was important to me.

I'm not good at "thinning" :)

Once she had the format worked out, I could then write and literally feel what I wanted to say. I had no plan...I just wrote from my heart.

Hopefully, the book will give you courage and uplift you. It will probably make you shed a tear or two and I hope you fall over laughing at times too!

I expected to have a book when I was done, but I did not expect for the process to change me and help me grow. It did.

In so many ways, I feel like I have been able to wrap that package up and put it closer to a shelf. I'm not sure it will ever make the shelf...I don't think cancer fights work that way...but it is in a package, with a big bow!

Five years of battling, crying, laughing, detouring, living....

What a blessing to be able to write this book and have a story that is continuing for now!!

BLESSED!!

If you are interested in seeing the book and reading the back cover description please visit www.BradensHope.org and click merchandise. The book is $11.99 and we will ship it out to you right away for $2.00 extra per book.

If you live in Kansas City, you can pick a copy up at Outside The Box Gifts in the Rosanna Shopping Square in Overland Park 11616 Metcalf Avenue (right beside Mardel). You don't have to pay S&H that way AND we will have them for you at the HOPE Walk on June 8 at Frontier Park in Olathe. :)

They are on Amazon but if you purchase them from our website, we get to keep about twice the profit as apparently Amazon likes to have a big old share! :)

I hope you enjoy the book should you purchase one.

It feels so empowering to be able to write this story and put the past 5 years in that box...with the big bow...

TAKE THAT cANCER!! :)

Flower Gardens...

Memorial day has always been a weekend that my family meets up and goes out to decorate gravesites.

There have been several years that we haven't joined them because Miranda is buried in Iowa while my mom and other lineage are buried in Holton, Kansas and the surrounding area.

From the time I was little, Memorial Day has been a big deal in our family. We would travel to Holton, Kansas to spend the weekend on the farm with my grandparents. My grandparents lived in a very old farmhouse. They had running water but they also had a cistern well on the porch that we used for water needs that didn't involve cooking. I LOVED cranking that cistern well!! It was SO much fun to watch the wheel and cups go around and come back up with water to dump into the spigot.

We drank our water out of cleaned "Archie and the Jugheads" jelly jars that had turned into glasswear, we had bread and butter on the table at all times that we ate with every meal, lava soap near the sink to wash with, chicken and dumplings that Aunt Kate made every year, Grandma's apple pie (and I got to eat the extra crust pieces she baked with cinnamon and sugar on them JUST for me), and I got to be a total tomboy all weekend in the out buildings and pastures and ponds.

At night, we slept in beds that we had to "air out" to make sure there were no mice in them...and we used chamber pots in the middle of the night. Really!!  We even had bowls and pitchers upstairs for sinks to wash our hands and faces in.  The cellar was filled with canned fruits and vegetables they had grown. They had one black and white tv with rabbit ears that got one channel in very fuzzy after it took about 5 minutes to "warm up" although I don't really remember watching tv there because we were way to busy playing outside.

I have great memories of being at my grandparents' for the weekend!! As we grew older, and so did our parents, we often got to stay in town at a hotel to avoid those mice in the bed, but it was never the same. It was also air conditioned and that wasn't all bad either! :)  PLUS..the lobby of the hotel had a COLOR Television that had Charlie's Angels on it..and Fantasy Island. We couldn't get those shows on our television in the country at our house so it was a HUGE treat!

Well, this year, we had just been to Miranda's grave in Iowa so we elected to go to Holton. We began our tour de cemetery with the Holton Cemetery were my mom and many other relatives are buried. The cemetery is always beautiful on Memorial Day weekend. The flags are just stunning as you drive down the aisles lined with them.

As we drove into the cemetery, Braden said, "Oh...the flower garden!!" I loved that!! Yes...it IS a flower garden this time of year and it's such a happier way to look at a cemetery!! Smart boy!!

We stopped first at mom's gravesite and the boys put flowers on her grave. We always tell her thanks for watching out for Braden and taking care of Miranda. I admit, visiting gravesites with Braden is a little strange because every time I wonder if next year we will be visiting his grave.  It's a very sobering, eerie feeling.

Decorating graves was very important to my mom and she instilled in us an importance of making certain that we continued this tradition long after she was gone. We have done so. I know mom is smiling about that. I'm much to afraid to not do what she asked! LOL!!

We stopped at the graves of some of our relatives that I never knew. The latest they died was in the 50's...and I'm not quite that old. ;)  One of the graves is that of Leah Johnson. Now I know they have told me about 100 times how she is related to us, but I can't remember.

Anyway, her nickname was "Bone Crusher" and I hear she was a spunky one! I think I would have liked her and it's highly possible I got some of her DNA. Okay...a lot of her DNA. My brothers said that she used to have a big electric vacuum broom and she would give kids rides on it. She was a spinster as far as they can remember and she sounds pretty awesome to me! :)

Leah once told my mom to never, ever put artificial flowers on her grave. Ever! :)  My mom used to put them on her grave every year just to be ornery. Well...every year mom would cut her finger on the flowers somehow. She would always say, "Now don't poke me this year" before she put them in the ground and it never failed...she always drew back with blood on her hand. The boys told me the last two years she decorated her grave, she didn't get pricked. They thought Leah was giving her a break! :)

All I had was artificial flowers.

There was NO WAY I was going to put them on her grave. Not me.  BUT...the boys did it. I looked up at the sky and chuckled and said, "Okay Miss Leah...just remember that I was NOT the one who did it!" :)  And then I moved back a few steps from the boys incase lightning struck; they were on their own.

We then went to the Circleville Cemetery which is where my dad's side of the family is buried. I do enjoy looking at the graves that are really old to try to figure out the history. There are so many infants and children buried in those old graves. Well..beside one of the graves of a relative was one of those graves. Charlie who died when he was 2 years old in the 1880's. I asked if anyone knew who he was and they thought he was related somehow but couldn't place him exactly.

So Braden and I went back to the truck and got flowers and we decorated Charlie's grave. We have several older graves of little ones we decorate that are near our family plots even though we don't know exactly who they are. We sort of adopted them. No one else in my family puts flowers on their graves, I suppose because they didn't know them in person but they are family and they are kids and they need flowers. Period. (and yes...they look at me like I'm strange for doing that....whatever silly people!!)

Then we went to Olive Hill...it's a VERY small cemetery in the middle of no where but near our family farm.

Olive Hill holds the grave of my great Aunt Kate and her family.  Aunt Kate didn't like artificial flowers either so each year my brother and sister in law pick flowers out of her flower garden at the farm and take them to her. I still remember picking daisies, iris, roses, and smoke from her smoke tree to make bouquets every year at memorial day. She and my Grandma would carefully cover tin cans in foil and we would take a bucket of water with us to pour in the cans with the flowers after we carefully carved out a small round indention to fit the cans in beside the graves.  We also spent quite a bit of time picking gooseberries and wild strawberries for pies later in the summer!! It was a lot of work but sooo worth it! :)

Aunt Kate's sister, Ella, who died in the late 1800's and was only 5 is buried next to her so we put our pink flowers on her grave. And then we went to visit my favorite grave of all time.  This grave is of someone I don't know and she's not a relative but I go visit her every year we are there and giggle with her. I wish I could figure out how to turn it so you don't have to cock your head...but it's worth it, trust me! :)

It seriously cracks me up.  Maybe she was bitter or maybe she was just getting even...don't know but I still giggle!! You GO Marva. Chester...wonder what YOU did!! :)  LOL!!

After we finished, we went back to my dad's house and visited for a bit. Dad was having a great day and we had a really good talk.  Dad has alzheimers but was clear as a bell. He was able to tell stories about family members and knew what specific flowers we needed to put on each grave. This is a picture of my dad and the boys! :)

We headed home but stopped in Topeka to eat at Red Robin and got a Salted Carmel Shake to split between all of us. It was AWESOME!! :)

Memorial Day is about honoring those that died for our country, remembering those we love that have earned their angel wings, and detouring.  We accomplished all three!!

Oh...and visiting the flower gardens.

:)

Cupcakes...

I don't know exactly HOW I got so lucky to have so many truly wonderful friends.  Honestly...I don't.

My last blog was about female drama and in it, I told you that my friends just don't "do" drama and that is 100% true.

Every one of my besties is special for individual reasons...today I'm going to tell you about one of them and what she did tonight.

Her name is Jenn.

And she is AAAAA-MAZING!!!

She is extremely intelligent and beautiful. Like model beautiful on the outside.  BUT her real beauty is something that comes from the inside!

She is a fashionista. She ALWAYS has the most adorable outfits on. She is one of those people who could wear a potato sack and make it look good as she accessorized it with an adorable belt, self-made beautiful jewelry...and heels.

And oh my GOODNESS does this woman have the most amazing shoes!! I have little shoe love affair and I'm telling you that her shoes are the CUTEST.

AND...she wears them to water her garden.

Not kidding! :)

When you see Jenn, your initial impression is that she is so gorgeous that she knocks your socks off. You are left with your jaw dropping open because she is ripped, is dressed to the nines, has beautiful golden locks, and a smile that would stop traffic for miles and miles!

When I first saw Jenn, I thought there would be no way that someone so gorgeous would ever want to hang out with this redneck neighbor of hers. LOL!

I was SOO wrong!! She is HILARIOUS and SOOO smart!!  She absolutely cracks me up with her wisdom and wordplay. She's down to Earth and real and we became the best of friends very quickly!

She just rocks!  And we live across the street from one another so we see each other quite a bit. We always talked and giggled but...

one night...we had wine.

A LOT of wine!!

While sitting in her kitchen.

And since that night, after she walked me home...the whole 50 steps... :)  she has been one of my closest, bestest friends in the entire world.

I admire her SO much!!

Her heart is as big as Texas...no...bigger...the universe...that's almost big enough.  She would do anything to help anyone!!  She is as loyal as a friend could be and is always there no matter what.

Jenn is one of those people who would drop EVERYTHING to do ANYTHING to help a friend!  No questions asked other than, "what else can I do?" at a moment's notice.  Selflessness is one of her best traits.

She took me to the Mac Makeup counter (I didn't even know Mac made makeup in addition to computers...LOL) and helped me purchase my first set of "enhanced" eyelashes for Art Bra! :)  And we had a BLAST doing it!

Girl drama and gossip?? She would have NOTHING to do with stuff like that!  I LOVE that about her!

Her sense of humor keeps me laughing every time I'm around her. Most of the time, I come home with a tummy ache from laughing so hard!!  And she's one of those people who finds the silver lining in any cloud.  I LOVE that!

She reads me like a book and all it takes is for one "Hello" to be even the slightest bit off for her to call or text to find out what is wrong.  She is so intuitive.

And just tonight, was one of those nights. It was her littlest one's birthday and they invited us over for cupcakes. We couldn't go and when she found out that we weren't going to be able to make it over, she appeared at our door with cupcakes for everyone! :)

Seriously!!!

Come on now...who even thinks of that!!?  WOW!!!

I have a lot of friends who do things like that for so many people!!  It's just incredible!! I wish I was that good of a friend...I don't even think of that stuff until the opportunity is long over! :)

Sadly... :(

But the real inspiration in this is not that she delivered a cupcake.

It was never about the cupcakes.  She brought cupcakes over to have a reason to check on us and make sure we were okay.

Okay...the cupcake was pretty yummy! ;)

THAT is the kind of person she is and that is what what true friendship is about.

I wish everyone had a Jenn in their lives. And I'm lucky and I have THE Jenn in mine!! Everyone should have friends that are always there for you, allow you to be there for them, love you unconditionally, lift you up, call you our when you are wrong while holding your hand to support you...

and...who will bring you cupcakes!

And somehow, I have an entire group of friends like this...I'm one lucky girl!!!

If you don't have a Jenn...re-evaluate your friendships. I've learned to move forward from friendships that weren't on this level and have found so many ladies out there who are awesome and inspiring that I want to be just like when I grow up.

If I grow up...that's still in question.

I love each of my friends and am grateful beyond words to them for blessing me with their lives, lessons, patience, grace, wisdom, and love!

This is what friendship is all about!!

Love you girls!! And Jenn...you ROCK!!!

I'll probably be blogging about more of my friends along the way. Did you feel that slight movement of the Earth's surface...that was the axis readjusting after they all gasped at the same time and said, "noooo!" ;)

Crapola...

Zach came home from school the other day and told me that one of his friends “shunted” him.

I was confused.

So I asked a few probing questions to try to figure out what that word should be… or to figure out if maybe I was missing some new 2013 colloquialism…LOL!

He said that he was at lunch with his group of buddies and that he was talking to one friend when another told him that he was “shunted” because he was talking to “him”.

It became clear…”shunned” was the word he intended. 

Ahhhhh….got it.  J

But I didn’t “get it”. I wondered why he had been shunned.

(And I wondered if this new friend had been watching The Amish Mafia on TLC because that is just not a word you hear that often, especially from a ten year old.)

So…..I asked him why he had been shunned for talking to his buddy. His friends ROCK…I love them, the “shunner” was fairly new to the group.

He said that the shunner was mad at him because he didn’t like his buddy and since he was talking to his buddy, he had been shunned.

I asked him what he thought about that and he said that he didn’t think it was right. That he shouldn’t have to not be friends with his buddy just because his new friend didn’t like his buddy.

I then asked him how he handled it. I was nervous…”What Would Zach Do?”

He said he told the new friend that he didn’t have to stop being friends with his buddy and that if he wanted to “shunt” him, that was okay with him but he wasn’t going to stop being friends with his buddy just because he didn’t like it.  He told him that he wanted to be friends with both of them, but if he didn’t like it he was sorry. 

I beamed with momma bear pride!  YESSS!!!!!

It was one of those moments that you sit back as a mom and think that you must have done something right. 

Since then, all is well and the boys are all friends again. That’s the beauty of boys! J

It made me think about ladies near my age group.  Reality TV is filled with grown up people showing behaviors like that every day. And it’s also in real life too!

It starts when we are kids, just like it started with Zach.

Girls spend much of their time proclaiming their coolness by putting down others, snubbing, judging, labeling, and spreading rumor and gossip about those outside of their group.

Okay…I actually think they even do that within their group, which is equally sad. 

We survive that life phase, but many of us are forever changed because of it. It shapes our personalities and, for some, defines our self worth. 

I remember believing that once I was a grown up, it would be over and wouldn’t happen again.

Wrong!

Apparently, those social patterns are solidified for many. And then our actions as an adult, reflect those learned behaviors and patterns.

So at 47, I still encounter mean females and drama. People worried about if I was talking about them behind their backs…did I do this or did I say that or because I did this that must mean that, or because I am friends with someone that they don’t care for, then I must not be their friend.

Seriously????

I don’t understand it, but it exists.

Wouldn’t it be easier if we could all just cut the drama and gossip???

I’m not sayng I don’t mess up, I do. And if and when I make a mistake that hurts someone, I apologize profusely (and mean it), and then work to repair the friendship.

The people I hang out with ARE that way. None of us “do” drama and we have zero tolerance for it. Not everybody likes me…and at my age, I’m now good with that. I used to not be good with that…but things change when you hit 40….and beyond. J 

I don’t have time for drama. Life’s too short…just too short to fill it with that kind of crapola, negativity, and nastiness.  And I feel very sad for those that don’t “get it”.

I was so happy when I found out that my son feels the same way and then acted on it.

SOOO very proud!

It’s one time that as a mom, I actually patted myself on the back.

My prayer is that he continues to hold those beliefs and back it up through actions, all his life.

Be kind, be loyal, and be fair.

It really is that simple.

Sporting KC Detour...

We had an AMAZING detour on May 14!

Our foundation, Braden's Hope For Childhood Cancer, www.bradenshope.org, and Sporting KC www.sportingkc.com hosted our photo shoot for our 2014 A Year Of HOPE Calendar! This calendar features 12 childhood cancer heroes and 12 Sporting KC stars have their pictures taken by DeCloud Studios and the resulting calendar is going to be AMAZING! It will be available in September.

(In August, we will do our photo shoot with the KC Royals and it will be available in September as well.)

This year, we are doing the photo shoots at the stadiums (WOO HOO) so we headed out to Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas for a day of fun.

First, I have to tell you that my friend, Jenny Grindel, did an amazing job of organizing everything. The Sporting KC contact we worked with was also absolutely incredible!

Jenny and I spent the entire morning with the photographers and in the stadium setting things up and it was rather surreal. We felt like we were welcomed as if we were in someone's home. It was simply unbelievable and very cool.

We had the BEST volunteers working that day to help with the photographers and families. They made it SO very special for everyone! We really can't thank them enough!

At about 1:00, the heroes and families got to the stadium and then the players arrived and it was a PARTY!!

I cannot adequately describe the smiles, laughter, and silliness.  It was PRICELESS!!!

And the cuteness...off the scale! The photographers got some amazing shots.

Each of the players spent quite a bit of time with the heroes and their families. Siblings were invited to be a part of the calendar shoots too because we believe that when a child gets cancer, the whole family deals with it and it's especially tough for siblings. They are ALSO our heroes! :)

And we took a family shot for them to have as well! Those won't be in the calendar but we want them to have a shot for their own use.

The players were so very gracious. They sat and talked and giggled and played with our heroes. How cool is it to be able play soccer with some of the BEST soccer players in the world on their own field??  Now THAT is a memory the kids and their families will have forever! TAKE THAT cANCER!!!

This day is about much more than just getting pictures for the calendar. It's about the EXPERIENCE!

It's about the chance to watch Graham Zusi sweetly pat the head of his little hero Calin, Aurelein Collin sweeping away the hair that the wind was blowing in Jenna's eyes, Jimmy Nielsen autographing Joseph's bald head, Seth Sinovic playing soccer with a big group of kids, CJ Sapong dancing with the heroes in the cafeteria, Benny Feilhaber sitting across the table from his heroes chatting for a long time, Chance Myers playing basketball with Ciara, Kei Kamara being so much fun and so silly that a very sweet and shy Aspen couldn't help but smile, Teal Bunbury making Isa giggle during their press interview room shoot so hard I think she had a tummy ache, Mikey Lopez making Tabby's dream come true,  Matt Besler and Isaac kicking around a ball, and Jacob Peterson taking a personal interest in his hero's talents!

The biggest smile of the day was mine because I know that as much as this meant to our families, and as much  fun as our heroes with the players...the guys had about a million times BETTER time with the kids!  And they learned about childhood cancer and WHO it affects.

And they CARE!! They honestly care about these kids!!!

THAT is what these photo shoots are about.

The calendars are a really nice thing...but I WISH I could adequately describe the fun these kids have during those shoots.  Imagine having an all access pass to personalized time with someone famous!  THAT is what these kids got thanks to the amazing generosity and kindness of Sporting KC and their players!!

I took my camera and took a few pictures and I have some pics that were posted that weren't mine and I will share them with you! I'm not a real photographer so they are not all that good but it will give you a little sneak peek at some of the faces you'll see. The REAL photos are 1,000,000,000,000 times better!

(I was also in mom role so I didn't get to every shoot and there are a lot of pics of Braden. ;)  I'll apologize now! LOL!)

This day ROCKED!! Say it with me..."TAKE THAT cANCER!!!"

And here is a video link of the shoot that Sporting KC made...it's BEAUTIFUL!! Please share it if you agree!! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UAX8cr0kVM