Birthday, MRI, and Making Wishes Come True!

Sheesh what a week!  Doesn’t it seem sometimes that life is like drinking from a water hose? That’s been the case lately! We are in a crazy busy season but we’re trying to have a good time in the process!

Havyn turned 6 on Tuesday, and this family LOVES to celebrate!!! She was laying in bed on Monday night, restless, when she looked up at me (Tammy) and said, “Mommy, I just don’t know what it is going to look like?” She was talking about how the kitchen table would be decorated when she woke up. She finally fell asleep and we got things ready. We made sure to set up the wall of streamers, too. (Thanks to my friend Kat for the fun inspiration!) Havyn had so much fun running through the streamers and then we proceeded to enjoy a special breakfast.

Later in the day, Mamaw and I went to school to surprise the girls at lunch. Their faces were priceless!!!! I had the opportunity to help teach a couple of Jr. Achievement lessons with my friend Tara in Havyn’s classroom. God love all teachers. To do that all day every day is a sweet gift and we are super thankful that you do it with such patience and joy!!! Havyn was super excited to pass out yummy cookies to her friends in class. They sang “Happy Birthday” to her and she even got to take the first bite of her cookie. So much fun!!!! After school, a couple of her friends joined us for fun at Chuck E Cheese. Havyn LOVES this place!!! She was surprised to see her sweet friends Lizzie and Treasure once she got to Chuck E. Cheese. They had SO MUCH FUN!!! And the new “All you can play” at Chuck E. Cheese is pretty cool. Steve and I were totally helping the kids take full advantage of their hour of play. Arlie had a baseball game, so we didn’t even have time to spend all the tickets the kids earned. We’ll plan a trip back there soon to stock up on spider rings and Fun Dip.

Havyn’s other request was to have dinner at El Caporal (our favorite Mexican restaurant) with the family. After a quick trip to school to see the kids art at the art show (which was amazing) Havyn enjoyed chips-and-salsa heaven.

Thursday brought a routine follow-up MRI. Havyn did SO WELL — she was a rockstar! She barely cried and didn’t freak out like she has in the past. To say she is getting used to this is sad, but we are grateful she is doing better with these scans.

And the great news… the MRI showed that her tumors are stable! We’d love to see them just disappear, but stable is A-OK with us. It was great to see the ol’ gang (Hope, Autumn, Linda, Vicky, Jessica, and Dr. McGowan) down at the oncology clinic. … we miss you guys! And Spencer – we’re sorry we missed you!

Okay… the Walk for Wishes is coming up next weekend. This is the annual fundraiser for Make-A-Wish. Our whole family will be taking a walk around Kentucky Kingdom next Saturday (May 18) and doing our part to help raise awareness and funds for this INCREDIBLE organization. Make-A-Wish was so good to us and we want to see more kids get wishes granted. If you’re able, we’d love to have you join our team and walk with us! You can sign up or make a donation to our team (WonderHavyn) here.