We had a very busy weekend but I am going to keep the update short because I have something else more important to talk about. Before I get to that though....Friday night we had Tony, Tommy, and Danielle come and stay with us for the Chilli Cook off on Saturday. We did not camp out or enter this year due to my brother still recovering from knee surgery. He is usually the cook for this thing. We still got up Saturday and all of us went for the day! It was a lot of fun as usual and the girls truly enjoyed it. Makenzie loves to people watch and there were definitely a variety of people there. It amazes me though that so many different types of people can be in one place and yet seem like they all belong. Of course we saw many people that we know as this is a huge thing for our area and it was nice to catch up with people we hadn't seen in a while. Saturday evening everyone came to our house for the Georgia vs Alabama game. We will not even go there about the score. It was fun despite our disappointing performance. Sunday morning was cleaning day to get ready for Ron who will be here today. My brother called Sunday also and said that he was coming over because he had something for Kylie. It turns out that while driving down the road there was a turtle crossing the street and since Kylie is my reptile lover he thought she would like to see it. You have to understand that ever since I can remember, my dad was always catching snakes and such and we would hold them and keep them for a day and then let them go. I have always done the same with Kylie. We have rocks around a flower bed that on any given day in the summer you can find at least 1 or 2 snakes under them and sometimes we have had as many as 10. Kylie loves snakes. She knows the rules and that is that she cannot touch one or pick it up until she tells me and I make sure it is one that she can pick up (I am quite versed on the snakes in GA and can identify most or at least tell if they are poisonous). This rule also goes for daddy (Rian) since he is not so much the snake guy. He always comes and gets me to remove them or he will kill them and he knows I don't like that. Anyway, so back to the turtle thing. Knowing that Kylie loves snakes, we thought she would enjoy the turtle. We were kinda wrong on that one. She was not too sure about it. She loved looking at it but was not about to pick it up. I found it quite funny that our snake girl is a little afraid of turtles. I do have to say though that she has never seen one up close like that. They are definitely not as common as our snakes.
On to my next and more important topic. I wanted to get the word out about the month of September. Not many of you are aware that September was National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Not many know that a gold ribbon represents Childhood Cancer Awareness. It's not your fault. Not many people in the country know. What we do know is the pink ribbon. We know October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. We know because it is everywhere. You can furnish your entire kitchen from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Target in nothing but PINK appliances. You know because Delta flight attendants are wearing PINK this month and sky miles are being donated for breast cancer research. We know because it is EVERYWHERE!!! Did you see any GOLD ribbons? I fully and whole heartedly support Breast Cancer Awareness and Research. Please do not get me wrong but did you know that every school day 46 children are diagnosed with cancer, 2,300 children will die each year, only 2/3 of children diagnosed will survive! Helen Jonsen, Forbes.com senior editor and mother of a child who recently underwent treatment for osteosarcoma, stated in a September 12th article, “Cancer is the No. 1 disease killer of children in the U.S. ...We tend to talk about it in hushed tones instead of screaming for help. But scream we should.” The article goes on to say, “The funding for pediatric cancer clinical trials has gone down every year since 2003, and is currently $26.4 million. By comparison, NCI funding for AIDS research was $254 million in 2006; funding for breast cancer topped $584 million the same year.” For the past year I have been following the stories of several children with cancer. Most are the ages of my children. Many have died, leaving their parents with a whole in their heart that will never mend and their arms aching to hold them again. One particular boy named Coleman I have been following since the beginning. He was diagnosed at the age of 2.5 with Medulloblastoma after a tumor was found in his brain the size of a tangerine. Coleman is now 4 years old and has recently relapsed. Their options are limited and the statistics are not in their favor. This little boy has a twin brother who has been more effective medicine than any doctor could give him. This family's Faith though gets them through each day with a smile on their face and love in their hearts. What they have been through, I can only imagine. They need your prayers, our prayers. So many children do. So many families do. It just doesn't seem right that the children who will one day be the leaders of our country, some day be mothers or fathers or doctors or teachers may not have the opportunity because we don't deem their cause important enough to let everyone know what a GOLD ribbon means! I challenge you today to help us take a stand and make gold ribbons as well known as pink and to help us make a difference! I am a mother, not a mother of a child with cancer, but a mother with a goal that God forbid that day to come I hope that the statistics that are given to you today will be different and I am doing my part to make that change. Are you willing to do the same for your child, your niece, your nephew, your grandchild?
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