You're Awesome for Keeping Up with Us

Sunday morning and we're about to go over 76,000 hits. Don't you people have anything else to do? :-)

I KEED! I KEED! You're awesome for keeping up with us and we feel so supported even by just that number continuously rising.

The "Living With Cancer" Lisa Nichols Richardson Memorial Dinner went very well and at last count, we had a very rough total of over $1000 raised for Charlotte! Thanks so much to everyone involved especially Tina Adkins and Ann Mattio for asking us to be a part of it, constantly treating us as if we were doing THEM a favor. Rarely have I seen CJ overwhelmed by attention! :-)

A band called Fat Skippy played and they were pretty decent. Good party band if anyone is looking. Fatskippy.com (I think)

We had a very nice breakfast this morning at Cracker Barrel and Charlotte, as usual, had people literally gawking at her cuteness in her "Bald Chicks Rule" t-shirt, Ariel skirt, and Tinkerbell hat. The real finisher, though, was her pair of sunglasses. She started pulling this diva attitude thing that would have been really annoying normally but had us all in stitches this morning. It was like she had no time to be bothered with answering questions with anything other than perfunctory grunts. The princess had become a rock star.

And darn if the only ones who could get her to acknowledge them were the cute college boys in the rocking chairs out front as we were leaving! I need to make a trip to Green Top soon (to get my shotgun!).

Mommy went a little nuts (in a good way, I'm sure Dear) and cleaned the downstairs in a whirlwind burst of energy. All except for CJ's living room domain that constantly remains in a state of destruction. We'll get there on that. Looks good.

I am working on RNR stuff and updating the website (as you can read). For those of you with Facebook, please go to one of our sites to see what other events are coming up. I'll get more stuff up tonight.

Obama's 100 days parallels CJ's experience so we'll be marking the occasion at the hospital with methotrexate, vincristin, zofran, and poup. (Not sure of the spelling of any of those.) 100 days of diagnosis...wild.

At the benefit dinner yesterday, I had a profound realization of CJ's physical limitations when a bunch of the remaining kids, including Charlotte, went to play on the playground. I saw children younger and smaller than CJ running around on the equipment and throwing themselves around like nobody's business while at the same time, Charlotte, who still had a tremendously good time, had to move more cautiously. The best example was the slide. The steps were great and designed in such a way to be very easily navigated by everyone but the slides themselves were a different story. They had a handle at the top so children could grab it, swing under, and drop down the slide really fast. I saw several kids do this including the very young ones I mentioned before. Then as Charlotte got up to the top, it was a challenge just to sit down and get her to push herself over the edge.

I had gotten so used to the way she is, and have been so impressed by/proud of how far she has come, that I lost sight of how far there is to go. What's funny (odd) is that it didn't make me sad or feel sorry for myself or anyone else. Just kind of blew my mind in the way realizing the surreal nature of our lives tends to do. It also made me re-determined (real word) to help her improve physically as much as I can. As I've said, she's come so far already, I can't imagine she can't come that far again.

That's my mushy diatribe for the day. Get away from the computer and go enjoy the sunshine!


Well here I am at Romp n' Roll....(get ready for some FUN???) [Yeah, that's a little in-joke for all you die-hards out there!]

It has been a very good weekend after a very stressful week. Saturday was just an amazing series of events and everything worked out well. Roger already filled you in on the major details. I am very appreciative to Anne Mattio, Tina Adkins, and everyone else who helped to put the fundraising dinner together as well as everyone that came out to support it (and us).

Now I'm working on "stuff" at Romp n' Roll and trying to tie up a bunch of loose ends before the week begins. I keep jumping all over the place but at least I'm slowly moving forward.

Here are some ways that you (Charlotte's greatest fans) can help this week:
o I am still looking for someone who would like to design a simple poster or display board that we could take to fundraisers and events centered around Charlotte. It doesn't have to be fancy but it would basically have a few pics of Charlotte (we can supply those), a summary of her story, diagnosis, and treatment path, and then a place to display a calendar or list of other upcoming events. I'm thinking maybe something covered in fabric (?) and then we can use velcro to tack stuff up and trade out info. I would also love to use the board to promote great organizations that have already helped us like ASK, Connor's Heroes, Care Connection, etc. Anyway, if you have skills in this area (craftiness, graphic design, etc.) let me know. I did have one person with graphic desing skills offer up her services if someone was willing to help her.
o Register your child for a summer of fun (or birthday party) at Romp n' Roll! Yes, summer registration week is upon us and Roger and I will be busier than usual. A lot of you who follow us on this board are regular customers and we appreciate everything you do for us! One of the best ways you can continue to support us is by supporting our business or spreading the word. (Shameless plug, I know.)
Some other "official" fundraisers coming up towards the end of the week:
5/3: Qdoba Burrito Eating Contest at Willow Lawn. Register to enter the contest OR come out and EAT that night. Funds raised go towards Charlotte's health care expenses.

5/3: Need a bathing suit? Everything But Water at Short Pump Town Center will be donating 10-15% of proceeds from sales from 4-7 PM towards Charlotte. Go buy your bathing suit and then come to Qdoba!!

5/6: Glen Allen Golf (on US1 between Ashland and VCC) will be hosting an evening for Charlotte from 7-10 PM. Batting cages, mini golf, driving range...all with a portion of sales going back to help Charlotte. I think there will also be a longest drive contest and a closest to the pin contest.

So that's enough for now. I've got to get back to work and then go home.Thanks to everyone for your continued support and driving energy. You are really helping Roger and I get through this (and Charlotte too!!).

We are almost to round 3 which means that we will hopefully be near the halfway point of this marathon.

Happy day!Rachel