Small Blessings

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am writing a post on blessings. Yes, we have so much to be thankful for this year. Joshua finished treatment. What a blessing. And while he relapsed, his bone marrow and spinal fluid were/are clear of leukemia. It's the small blessings. We have made it through 25 weeks of treatment and Joshua has remained leukemia as well as fever free. It's the small blessings. Adam and Noah are doing well. While Noah has pushed every button we have with his social phobias in school and sports, he has pushed through and is now enjoying every minute of karate. It's the small blessings. Adam has no sign of cancer and is smart as a whip. Another small blessing.

There are so many small blessings in our life. Other than the ones I've mentioned above, we are thankful for our friends this year. The old friends who have continued to be apart of our life and the new ones who have chosen to become a part of our journey. We are so thankful for you. Without your love and friendship, I don't know if Jeff and I would have been able to keep going. When Joshua relapsed, we could have fallen apart. Instead, we were lifted up by our friends and family. We have continued to lean on you for support, understanding and a loving hand. Yes my friends, these are the small blessings we continue to count.

You see, although our life is far from the norm and we could easily question God and the path that he has put us on, we are counting our blessings. We are enjoying life, living each day for what it's worth and thankful that God is a part of our life. We are thankful and blessed this holiday season. We pray that your families are as equally blessed and that you remember to look for and be thankful for those small blessings. Believe me, those are the ones that really count!

I Relay for...

Joshua of course. But I also participate in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life for my dad who is a survivor. I relay for my aunt, and my grandfather who lost their battle. I relay so that one day we won't have to relay. Last year our team, "Joshua's Journey" had a pirate theme. We had a HUGE ship built and sold pirate loot bags. We had swords and games but most of all, we had a blast. The heat was unbearable but we were there for a purpose. Even when the thunder and rain took away our chance to walk all night, we knew that we had did our part. Our team raised over $3,000 and I am so thankful for those who gave, participated and supported us. NOW, it's time to do it again.

Once again, Joshua's Journey will be making it's way around the track to fight back against cancer. The theme of Relay this year is "Wiping Out Cancer," a beach party theme. It will be held on June 13th-14th at the Kent Island High School. Please consider coming out and joining us. I can't tell you how much fun you will have and how rewarding it can be. If you are interested in joining our team or donating to our cause, please visit our team website at http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=12852&team_id=360884
If you register before January, the registration fee is waived so go ahead and sign up to help us "Wipe Out Cancer!"

Teeth, The Karate Kid and Chunky Monkey

Whatever could my title of this post mean? Well, a lot has happened in the Czorapinski household over the last week or so. First off, our man Noah lost his first tooth on Wednesday. He came home from school and when he smiled I noticed the tooth was missing. I knew it was really loose but didn't think it was quite there yet. Well, I asked Noah about the tooth and he didn't want to talk about it. We had already talked about it falling out soon and the tooth fairy coming but I think he was still unsure. Our conversation when something like this.

"Oh Noah, your tooth fell out. How exciting. Now the tooth fairy can come."

"Uh, huh."

"When did it fall out."

"In school."

"Did you tell your teacher?"

"No."

"Where is your tooth?" As I'm checking his backpack.

"It fell on the floor."


Only my kid...


But, we do have BIG news for Noah. He FINALLY participated in karate. It only took many soccer games and about 5 karate classes before he finally went out and had fun. Thank God!

And for the chunky monkey part of the post. Joshua is an eating machine. He will finish eating a ton of food, get up and tell me he's hungry. I swear he has put on at least 10 pounds in the past week alone. His little belly sticks out and he is so heavy when I pick him up. I hate to guess how much weight he will put on during this month long steroid round. We have ourselves a little stay puff marshmallow man!

I do have pictures of all of these events. The toothless smile, the karate kid and the chunky monkey but since Jeff is clearing off the computers he hasn't let me download them from the camera yet. But they're coming I promise.

Steroids

I would update more often and tell you all about our life but we're too busy fixing grilled chicken for breakfast and steak the rest of the day. Oh and throw in the treats, cookies, cereal at 11 pm, goldfish and juice.

That Cancer Kid

That Cancer Kid. He's anything other than what you would expect. We went trick or treating with other kids from our neighborhood. Noah, Adam and the rest of the gang visited the houses on our street and were finished. They were ready to call it a night. Who wanted to keep going? Who said "I'm not done, my bag isn't full?" Yeah, you guessed it. That cancer kid!

Jeff and I are so happy that Joshua is doing so well with chemo this time around. So far, we have made it through 23 weeks of therapy without fevers, setbacks or issues. He did have to have another echo today because the one last week showed some differences than the one before but we aren't sure if that is just from the blood he got prior or from the chemo. We'll see, but overall we feel very blessed.

The end of the weekend was great. Thanks to Jeff's parents, we were able to escape from the boys for a while and enjoy a relaxing anniversary dinner. We laughed and talked about how 6 years ago when we said those I do's we never imagined this roller coaster ride of a life that we are living. But, we are fast to remind ourselves that we have three beautiful children and a strong marriage. I guess if it weren't for the children and this roller coaster ride we're on, we wouldn't know just how strong our marriage is. God has his ways of letting us know that he's in our lives.

And now for the news of the day. No, it doesn't have to do with the election. It's that last night Adam ran a fever. He's been a complete beast for about 2 weeks and I knew that we were headed for a sinus infection. I may not have a medical degree but I darn sure am close to becoming a doctor. So a sinus infection as well as an ear infection. Ten more days of antibiotic. This always causes bathroom issues with Adam so I'm all so excited to get started on that. Add that to the fact that Joshua starts his next phase of chemo today which includes a month of steroids and let the fun begin.