Florida--Day 7

Disney delivers once again. This time at Hollywood Studios.

The started out the day with a horseback ride at GKTW. One more way this amazing resort allows kids every opportunity imaginable.

After a very sad moment of not being 'chosen' for the Jedi Training Academy (yes, there is such a thing), Joshua lit up with a chance to meet some more characters.

"Hey, Buzz and Woody I just rode your awesome ride. I scored 12,000 points!" Michael and I loved this ride. We begged Joshua to ride it over and over. A little backward, I know.

Joshua has been spending lots of time at home pretending to be High King Peter and Reepicheep. So, when Joshua got to hold Prince Caspian's sword, he made Narnia proud.

Sharing a chocolate covered banana. Such sweet siblings.

This one of several Playhouse Disney characters we saw. Quincy was so very kind and gave Joshua big hugs.

This is the highlight of the entire day, maybe the week. Back at GKTW, Mayor Clayton came to tuck Joshua in for bed (a service offered to any Make-A-Wish kiddo). It was as if his best friend had come over for a sleep over. He was thrilled. 

Florida--Day 6

Sea World. We made it!

This is at the Shamu show, "Believe." Not too sure about the theological positioning of the Sea World organization, but man can that whale jump out of the water. Joshua wanted to make sure he sat as close to the front as possible so he could get wet. Notice I took the picture of the splashing from much farther back. Michael was the one to brave the splash zone.

This is Andi at the dolphin show. She was trying to set her arms like the acrobatic dancers. It was a sweet little girly moment.

I don't think it is even possible to explain how much fun Joshua had at the splash park. The pictures barely do it justice. It was just so great to see him go from a hospital bed to dancing in the water. What a joy!

Once again, the Make-a-Wish button does the job. This time we were able to be at the front of the line to feed the dolphins and were handed 6 trays of fish. It was as if the dolphins knew and came to lay down in front of us. The absolute best moment of the day.

This is two seconds after we all got in the car.

Florida--Day 4 and 5

Well, this is where the sadness set in for our trip. Everything was great the first two days, just like the pictures showed. Then on Saturday night, Joshua got a fever and we had to check into the hospital.

You can read Michael's account of what happened that night here. Suffice to say, we were really sad and Joshua was disappointed.

But the Lord was good, as He always is, and Joshua's counts came back up quickly. He felt fine, and we actually had some good moments in the Orlando Children's Hospital.

Add to that the fact that the Lord engineered some circumstances that made us all the more sure of His constant care and control. You can read that story here.

We left the hospital after 36 hours, headed back to Give Kids the World, and got ready to his Sea World the next day.

Florida--Day 3

Animal Kingdom. This park was among our favorites. It was cool and laid back.

The morning started early with a character safari breakfast. Here Michael and Joshua decided to be goofy with Goofy. Get it? Ha.

This was also one of Andi's bravest days. You may have noticed her cries of terror in the video we posted of Joshua meeting Donald Duck. Here she is touching a crocodile. Go figure.

Next was the Kilimanjaro Safari. We saw tons of animals. Unfortunately, the only pictures we took of them were with Joshua's disposable camera.

Another brave moment for Andi. Here she is talking with Pocohantas.

Another of our favorite thing at all the parks were the playgrounds. Each one had a corresponding theme with lots of great slides and tunnels. We spent at least an hour of each day exploring them.

The best show we saw all week was by far the live Lion King show. It had great singers, dancer, acrobats, and guys walking on stilts (very impressive). To make it even better, Joshua's Make-A-Wish button got us front rows seats without any lines and early seating in the air conditioning. Not too shabby.

Joshua's proudest moment of the entire trip. He won this red dragon by throwing a ball into a cup. I actually teared up when he finally won.

Florida--Day 2

Magic Kingdom. We couldn't wait to get the day started.

It was a little anticlimactic when the kids realized we had to ride a boat to get to Disney World, but it was pretty great watching that castle loom ever closer...

Here we are on "It's A Small World." Yep, still boring. Even Joshua noted toward the end, "Why is this taking so long?"

Andi couldn't get enough carousel action. We rode everyone we saw, including the one that was on site at Give Kids the World. we counted - we rode that merry-go-round 23 times.
Here's the tea cup ride - the very same one Michael and his brothers made their poor mother sick on when they were kids. Joshua really wanted to do the same thing.

And Andi? Well, she was tired. So she took a nap. At Disney World.

Joshua got to meet Buzz Lightyear and promptly showed Buzz his new gun. Buzz was maybe our favorite character all week - he took the gun shot imaginary aliens with Joshua, then gave it back. Great costume, too.

I love this picture. At one point during the day, Michael told me that he knew this was the last vacation that Joshua would be able to ride on his shoulders. He carried him around all day like this. Michael loves his little boy.

Here's Pluto and Chip and Dale to round out the day. Because we were a Make A Wish family, all of us had buttons on. And the staff at the parks were so great to look for those buttons. For the characters, they would hold the line and let Joshua straight up to the front, creating a good experience but a completely unrealistic picture of how long you have to wait at Disney World.

Then that night, back at GKTW, it was pirate and princess night - right up our ally. Look closely and you can see Joshua's pirate goatee. Great day. Great day.

Florida--Day 1

What a fantastic trip we had! We want to share all the details with you. So, here goes....

Make-A-Wish sent a limo to drive us to the airport early Thursday morning. I'm not sure if it was cool or a bit over the top, but Joshua loved drinking orange juice out of a champagne glass in a big shiny car.

When we arrived at the Give Kids the World resort, we were treated to the first of many free meals and ice cream cones. On this day, it was Boston Market. Yummy! The ice cream was wonderful also. Friendly's any way you wanted it.

This is Mayor Clayton. He is the mascot of Give Kids the World and Joshua's new best buddy. This is not the last time you will see him.

This is a picture of the villa we stayed in. It was a duplex with all the comforts of home.

Every night there is a theme at GKTW. Our first night was Christmas. Complete with Santa, decorations, music, and presents for all the kids. A great first day.

Tomorrow, Magic Kingdom!

Back To Vacation!

Great news - we're back at the Give Kids the World village. And Joshua has been sleeping off his hospital stay for the past 2 hours. but we're clear, ready to start the vacation again.

And we're going to stay an extra day just to stick it to leukemia.

Tomorrow, we go to Sea World. And we're pretty thankful for it.

Thanks, friends. More soon...

Joshua's blood counts are dangerously low right now. To give you an idea, at his last appointment two weeks ago, his ANC was around 4,000. Today the ANC came in at 150. Usually the doctors like to see these come close to 500 before we are cleared to enter life outside the hospitals walls, but they're working with our docs at Vanderbilt to see what's the best course of action for us. 

In the meantime, here's a video of Joshua with Donald Duck at the Safari Breakfast at Animal Kingdom. 

Sad Vacation News

First the good news. Disneyworld is amazing, and Joshua doesn't know what to do with himself. He's met all the characters, ate gallons of ice cream, and had an absolutely wonderful time.

Now we're sitting in the Orlando Children's Hospital. Joshua got a fever last night, and we are being admitted.

He doesn't seem to feel bad other than the fever and there's no sign of infection. But his counts have dropped to be really low. If you're familiar with the terminology, he's neutropenic. And also disappointed, just like we all are.

He got to do everything he wanted to do so far except go to Sea World. We were planning to do that today. Right now, our flights have us leaving here Wednesday evening, so we haven't given up hope for Sea World yet. 

Would you please pray with us very specifically, that Joshua's blood counts would rebound quickly? That he might still get to go to Sea World while we're down here? And in the meantime, please pray for Jana and I as we try to explain why we're in the hospital to him, and that he would be able to battle the disappointment as well as a 4 year old can.

More soon...

Party! Party!

We're going to Disneyworld on Thursday for Joshua's Make-A-Wish trip. We couldn't be more excited. And the celebration started a little early. Even though Joshua's wish had already been revealed, Make-A-Wish wanted him to have the chance to celebrate with all his friends. So we had a big party at Pump It Up to start off Joshua's wish. Here's the rundown of the evening, starting with our arrival:

Here they all are. Joshua's sweet friends!

Joshua and his pals went nonstop.

There were some serious moments of competition between some of the big kids, too.

Now, we are off to Disney World this week. I can't wait to share all about the happiest place on Earth with you.

The Big Reveal

Shelbyville High School raised over $16,000 for Make-A-Wish. In order to make this amazing feat even more special for them, Joshua was invited to a pep rally to announce his wish. I'm not sure that Joshua's reaction was as big as they would have liked, but we sure are thankful to Shelbyville High for helping make Joshua's wishes come true.

Knee Update

I spoke again with doctor yesterday. The results of the MRI were not alarming and not surprising. Basically, it showed significant wear, but nothing major. After over 200 miles of training, that came as little surprise to me. There is no need for surgery. He even said that I could SLOWLY (his word stress, not mine) work my way back to running as long as I wear my knee brace and continue with the physical therapy exercises he gave me. He did, however, say that if the pain persists, he would want to try an injection or "go in" and see where this specific pain is coming from. I go back in 3 weeks to see if the clicking has gotten better.

As I sat there, I felt like I could have pushed him to say how slow is slow and would he be willing to do an injection now. But I didn't even try. After lots of talks with Michael, we decided this isn't really the time to push the issue and this isn't my last chance. More than anything, I have no desire to further jeopardize my chances to run around the playground with my kids.

What I hope is that I will be able to come back, when Joshua is completely finished with treatment, raise the money for LLS, run the miles, and tell his story all over again. 

What's So Great About It?

9 times out of 10, Joshua comes home from a clinic day and recounts how great it was. Michael and I rarely share his sentiments because we are acutely aware of everything going on around us and in his little body. But today, as we did the routine all together, I decided to chronicle why Joshua loves clinic day so much.

Because he's, um, getting chemotherapy, we indulge ourselves a little on these days. So here we are at Fido, a great local coffee house getting breakfast together. Michael and Joshua decided on a mad dog face first.

Then we go to the clinic, or more accurately, the stocked toy room of the clinic.

And Joshua is also quick to point out that the TV says, "Do not change the channel." So he gets to watch some superhero shows he doesn't usually get to.

We finish off the day at Jason's Deli where he gets ice cream.

We do what we can to make chemo days special. All in all, not a bad today.