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Camp Sunrise!  A place to shine!

Our family got to go to Camp Sunrise at Trout Lodge for the entire Labor Day weekend.  The American Cancer Society sponsors families of children with cancer and sends them to camp for the weekend.  A doctor and several nurses are there as well, just in case.  The whole purpose of the camp is to let kids with cancer be kids, and let families in similar situations be together.

We had a ball!  We arrived at Trout Lodge late Friday night, and we were on the go the entire time.  While we were there, we did so many different things.  One of the favorites was feeding this fish.  The fish were HUGE!  We would go to the end of the deck and throw food to them.  Ally would throw a handful at a time.  Benjamin would throw just one piece at a time.  We played Blazing Paddles (ping pong to you and me) - I would put Ally on the table and help her hit the ball back to Brad.  Benjamin was content to hold the paddle and sit and watch while lounging in the stroller.  There’s a playgound…lots of swinging and teeter tottering - a huge hit!  The camp has an arts and crafts center.  We spent about a hour and a half there.  The kids both painted a ceramic piece, colored/glittered/painted on paper, and made tie-dye T-shirts (my favorite).  Ally was the first to make her shirt (with some help from daddy).  Benjamin kept saying, “I squeeze!  I squeeze!” - He wanted to squeeze paint onto a T-shirt too, so we let him make one also.  We did LOTS of walking around the grounds…Ally went on a pontoon boat ride.  She liked it until a group of older kids threw water balloons at the boat.  That scared her, so she cried the rest of the ride.  — They both loved the “camp room”.  We all stayed together in the lodge/hotel room.  It actually worked out really well.  Benjamin slept in the pack-n-play, and Ally slept on a mattress on the floor beside our bed.

We all had a great time together as a family!  Ally keeps saying she wants to go to camp again.  Hopefully we get another opportunity!

Benjamin’s adoption is finalized!  Everything went really well.  Benjamin got to sit on my lap while I took the stand during the proceedings.  He played with a bag of Lego blocks the entire time.  It didn’t take him long to discover the microphone…he kept grabbing for it.  He’s finally a legal member of our family and a citizen of the United States!

Yes, it’s been a while…We have been very busy people these last few weeks. Allyson is back in school full-time, and I am back to work full-time as a new school year has started. Ally has been doing very well. She’s jumped right back into her routine and is enjoying being back with her friends.

Tomorrow is a BIG day in the history of our family. Benjamin’s adoption finalization is tomorrow afternoon at 1:30. He will become a member of our family in every sense of the word after the court hearing tomorrow. He also becomes a citizen of the United States of America! (We want him to continue to learn about his Korean heritage as he grows up though. We feel it is important for him to know that part of his life as well.) We are so excited that this day has finally come. We are all going to spend the day together to celebrate as a family!

Here’s to Benjamin Ferrol Seung Yoon Verdigets!!

It’s all good!!!  Ally’s tests came back clean which means we have officially moved to the maintenance phase of her treatment.  Thank GOD!  What a relief!!! I waited all day for that phone call, literally all day.  We didn’t hear from the doc until 4:30-ish.  I was distracted all day waiting for the news.  Needless to say (but I’m going to anyway), we are thrilled!!  We feel such a sense of relief right now, you can’t even imagine.

Benjamin and Allyson really love each other.  It is so cute to see how excited they are to see each other first thing in the morning, and when I pick them up in the afternoon.  Benjamin follows her around, watching everything she does.  Allyson takes care of him - checks his “ouchie” everyday (a little scratch on his face)…carrying his drink outside for him…making sure he has a book when he’s in the car…requesting his favorite song on the CD…making sure he has his woobies to sleep with at night.

It is a good night in the Verdigets’ household.

It’s over…Ally’s last backpack weekend is over!!!!! In true Ally form, she cleared the chemo in record time, so we were able to unhook her from the rescue drug and fluids this evening. She is such an amazing little girl…she really is. At four years old, I marvel at her strength and the way she takes everything that has happened to her with such grace. She reminds me of my mom…

She’s worn out though. Tonight, once she got unhooked and de-accessed, we bathed her. After her bath, she climbed right into her bed. I crawled up next to her; she snuggled right in and fell asleep. I was sitting there watching her sleep thinking, you know, there’s nothing like snuggling up next to your mommy. A mom is someone that always makes things better…makes you feel safe and comfortable. All I could think about was how amazing it is that I can do that for her…

We wait for the results from Ally’s procedures…Dr. Bob said we’d probably hear tomorrow afternoon. I can’t imagine we’ll hear anything but good news. She’s done so well with her treatment…we’ve been so vigilant with her medications…we’ve tried so hard to keep her healthy…we’ll hear good news, I just know it.

The neighbors brought over their new puppies yesterday.  Mac, one of the puppies, absolutely LOVED Benjamin.  It was so cute.  Mac just went crazy when he saw Benjamin, and he kept giving him little puppy kisses.  Mac’s tail just wagged and wagged when Benjamin would come up to him and pet him.  Ben did such a good job of being gentle.

Before I put this post to rest, I must say this…Go USA!! I’m a huge Olympics junkie, and I just watched the men’s US swim team win the gold medal.  They were not expected to win at all.  Too cool!