Birthday celebrations
Good evening all,
It is our sincere hope and prayer that this note finds you in the loving embrace of God and those you love.
I want to start this update by wishing Christine and Mia a very happy birthday. I promise that we will be together soon and will celebrate as a family. In the meantime, know that we gave Mia a wonderful day, her favorite meal, and a great celebration. I think back to 6 years ago today and the birth of number 4 of the sensational six and it reminds me yet again of just how blessed I have been as a husband and father and how wonderful God has been to us as a family. Not only do we have each other, but we have all of you to share our struggles, celebrations, minor blessings, miracles, and ultimately our triumphs.
So many of you have been so supportive with your prayers, caregiving, financial support, and your response to our updates on Catie’s journey, that we could not recount all of the outpouring of support. However, 2 recently received gifts especially touched our hearts and we wanted to share them with you. Our cousins, Ginny, Patti, and Marian sent each of us a t-shirt that reads, “Catie’s Team”, (Catie’s reads, “I’m Catie”). When the kids and I went to the pool Sunday, we proudly wore our shirts and they were a big hit. We are thinking of having a t-shirt designed with Catie’s picture and “I am on Catie’s Team” and make them available…what do you think? We are so thankful for the thoughtfulness and creativity of my cousins who have always been there for me.
Last night, Christine received a bracelet with a Miraculous Medal, (the Miraculous Medal is a medal depicting the Blessed Mother sending her motherly love to the world, and the saint who received the vision and had the original medal cast was St Catherine Laboure, the saint that we named Catie after). For those of you that know our family, the closeness we feel to Mary as our heavenly mother is very important to us, so you can understand how this gift touched Christine’s heart. To make the gift more special, the person who sent it to Christine had recently been to Rome and the pope had personally blessed the medal. As if that were not enough, as the person was deciding whether to part with the bracelet, (it is very special to her as well), the medal fell from the bracelet in a clear sign that she should send it along to Christine in Memphis . Christine received it with awe and wonder and is very grateful. I am grateful as well, because it gave her the special birthday that because of the distance between us, I could not.
Catie had a good day, and when I spoke with her tonight as we were singing happy birthday to Mia and Christine, she told me that she was eating her SECOND helping of spaghetti, thank you all for your prayers or her to regain her appetite, even if only shows up once in a while. Each day, we put another radiation treatment behind us and get closer to bringing them home. I miss them. Every few days, I call the home phone in Mechanicsburg to talk with Christine and have to hang up quickly, because she is not there. There are still times when I am busy and not thinking about all that has happened and then it hits me that Catie is sick and they are away from us and the sorrow envelops me. Thankfully, it lasts but a moment until I reflect on all of the good that has already blossomed from this journey and for the blessings that you have brought to our lives. Without a doubt, we are a better family already having gone through what we have so far. Thank you for not only joining us on this journey, but for providing the life vests.
News flash –
Just called Christine to read her the update and get her approval before I hit send, and she was not in the room. When I reached her on the cell, she informed me that she and Catie had to vacate room 408 because the air conditioner had quit and the temp had risen to 85 degrees. They are temporarily relocated next door until the a/c can be fixed tomorrow…….and so it goes.
May the good Lord continue to bless you and keep you.
God bless,
Christine and Kevin
