Prayers...

In April, 2010, when Andrew was 2 1/2, a tumor was discovered behind his eye. The tumor was removed, but it was found to be an aggressive cancer. He endured seven months of chemo and six weeks radiation. In December of 2010, the day after his last treatment, he was rushed to the ER with an almost fatal bacterial infection. He survived.

He is now seven-years-old!! I don't visit here much, because during the ordeal, this is where I dumped everything--my rage, my fear, my sadness, my ugly, my hope, my everything. But I want all of you who supported and prayed for us to hear his updates. You helped me survive, and I am deeply thankful. Every once in awhile, I will check in to let you know how he's doing. Please continue to pray that cancer will never return to his body. Thank you.



Monday, March 21, 2011

Lemonade


"I wanna help!" he says,
and without waiting for a response,
he comes running.
Wrestling a chair from the table,
he pushes it
(like I hate)
across the soft wood floor.
I hold my critical breath
and watch.
Smiling at his earnest determination,
I grit my teeth at the screeching (and scraping)
coming toward me.

Banging into the cabinets,
he parks the heavy piece of metal 
against the counter.
He scrambles up, looks down,
and surveys the lemons already sliced
in two.

Despite his prop
I still stand taller
and cannot resist
kissing
his blond little head.














"Which one can I do?" he asks.
I give him half a lemon
and he presses down
with all his strength,
and peers over the side,

to watch it happen.

Voila!

Proud,
he sticks his finger in the juice he made,
licks it,
and shudders.

"Silly!" I say. "It needs sugar!"
His smile twinkles,
as if he knew that.

I lean over
and smooch
his swirl of blond
again.

(see all that sweet hair!)














And again.

And again.

It is often in the unexpected,
simple moments of life
when I notice
the sweetest blessings.





















Simple BPM

15 comments:

  1. I love that you kept your mouth shut when he pushed the chair. Because really? Do scratches in the floor really matter? I need to make the decision to keep my mouth shut more often.

    And lemonade from scratch?! You're more ambitious than I!

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  2. Look at that hair! It's beautiful. :)
    My kiddos like to make lemonade from scratch too. Yum.

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  3. I would, actually, lick His hair ;-)... but that's just me, silly, different, weird... me....

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  4. I loved watching him create in the kitchen. My son is into chair dragging too.

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  5. so precious. I hate how my kids push the chairs on the floor too, but I guess it's worth it to see them learn be excited about life.
    Send some lemonade my way por favor!

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  6. I LOVE this post and can relate to it all (the pushing of the chairs especially). It isn't easy to keep your mouth shut but at the end of the experience it's all worth it, isn't it? I just really enjoy the writing in this post, beautiful.

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  7. "I hold my critical breath and watch" -- isn't so much of parenting like that?

    I love Andrew's hair!

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  8. I can't think of any better response than a great big smile! :D

    Love all that hair!! And that lemonade sounds pretty good too!

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  9. Love the hair, he's adorable!

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  10. I bet seeing that swirly hair is even sweeter than tasting the lemonade. =>

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  11. I don't think I could resist kissing that blond swirl, either.

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  12. Oh, you made my heart do a little dance when you described kissing that sweet blond swirl. I know those kinds of moments -- the ones where gratitude just overcomes your whole heart for something so simple, yet so complex.
    This is a lovely simple moment, giving us such a beautiful glimpse of the bigger picture. Thanks for sharing it!

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  13. hahahaha, the schreeching chair is a well known sound from my house, too! You captured every aspect of a toddler learning and growing and wanting to help mom. Loved this.

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  14. LOVE this post, Julie! I wonder...do you know just how amazing you are? You are a great Mom!

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