Thanks WSU!

I have been neglectful about posting something for a while. It has been on my list for a while, but I was kind of waiting to see how things turned out.

Much to my surprise, I opened my mail a few days ago, and there was a check for Ally's Army for $3230.00. The amazing amazing people at Wright State decided to have a fundraising soccer game with Ally being the honoree and benefactor of the event. The wonderful part of this event is that the whole thing was done out of the generosity of their hearts. Noone had to do it for us, but they did. I hope that they trusted Ally's Army would do something worthwhile with the funds they have raised. The Men's soccer coach, Bryan Davis, was the leader of this event with NINE sororities and fraternities who also unanimously voted to make Ally's Army their charity of choice for the Fall quarter. They all did various things to raise money. THE ZTA girls were especially nice to our daughter Ally and came out to paint her nails right before we left for CA. They also made her a Build A Bear, brought us dinner the night of the game, and one AWESOME ZTA, Renai Bowers, spent an entire day making orange Ally's Army ice cream sandwiches for the event. She had never even met Ally. Who does that?? Well, Renai did (and now we love her and she also babysat for us Sat night, thanks Renai). And our friend Dr Bamberger, his son plays soccer for WSU, had an entire wine tasting lunch to support our cause at Jay's Restaurant. Thanks Brent.

We also had a quite a few of our friends and family attend the soccer game. It is so nice for Ally to see that support and we were quite grateful to all who attended.

At this time of the year, when sometimes things are stressful, I must remember that the spirit of the season lives in all of us. I have seen it evidenced over and over and over again by complete strangers.

So now we will pay it forward to two worthy organizations. I am going to split the money and donate it to two organizations near to my heart: A Kid Again (providing events for kids here locally) and A Special Wish, who funded Ally's wish to go to California. I will keep working for these organizations, both somewhat small and both who need our help to continue to better the lives of these sick kids.

Two prayer requests for today. My Dad is going into the hospital tomorrow to hopefully get his heart "shocked" back into rhythm. He has to go under general anethesia for this. He has been miserable for SEVEN weeks while waiting for his blood to get to the right thickness so they could safely do this. Praying praying that it works.

Also, starting to get anxiety about Ally's upcoming spinal tap. It is next Friday (17th). She has a few stray bruises and one weird rash all on her belly. Any little thing like that can heighten my alert and prayers. I just pray for spinal fluid free of all leukemic cells and that we can enjoy this holiday in the peace of our own home.