Festival of Hope October 20, 2007

We had a great time in Raleigh with our friends from the SE Chapter, here's a picture in case you missed it. Final fundraising total is not back yet. We had a great time, the boys played with Eric Lowden for a little while, check out the whole album on our picture page. I will be working on getting cookbooks to those that have preordered in the next few days, however Wendy is having sinus surger tomorrow so I will be busy taking care of her!

We have moved the date of our Cookie Walk/Bake Sale to Nov 10th, more details to come. Also be on the lookout soon for a fundraising event being sponsored by the CVS store at Hwy 73 and Shiloh Church Rd.

Touched by an Angel

Have you ever thought that you may have been touched by an angel, just for a second? You get goosebumps and a big shiver down to the bone, but you realize it is a good feeling not bad? I get that feeling every time I watch Brandon and Jeremy interact with their swim teacher Amy. She has a knack of knowing how to get the kids to be comfortable with her and have fun, yet still teach them about swimming all the while making sure they get exercise. Well most of the time anyway! I know she reads this blog and she will deflect the praise, that's just the way she is, but words can't begin to express how thankful we are to have her making memories with our boys.

Consistency is important

OK, Halloween costumes have been purchased. We are not the make it yourself types. Both boys are the same thing this year as they were last year. Brandon is a ghost or character from Scream, whatever, never saw the movie. The one that kills me is Jeremy, this is the 4th time in 5 years that he has been a Red Power Ranger. Always a new costume and different generation of Power Rangers, but ALWAYS the Red Ranger.

We are getting excited about some BDSRA happenings. The 2nd annual Festival of Hope is coming up on October 20th in Raleigh, NC. 10 am – 4 pm At New Community Church
9621 Six Forks Rd. Raleigh, NC (at the intersection of I-540 and Six Forks Rd.)Danielle Lowden is putting it on and our whole family will be attending and manning the Batten Family Table. We will have our cookbooks available beginning that day. If you have preordered from me already please hang tight until after the 20th, I will begin to ship them out after this event. You can email us with questions or Danielle at HopeForBattenDisease@yahoo.com

Also, mark your calendar for November 3rd from 5-8pm at the Moss Creek Clubhouse we will be having a Cookie Walk/Bake Sale. Children's crafts and face painting will be provided along with a 50/50 cash raffle and a raffle to win a $1000 Belk's shopping spree. Please email us at chawk328@ctc.net or call 704-262-9396 for more information.

For those unfamiliar with the cookie walk concept it goes like this. Purchase a box at the door and then walk through the baked goods picking what you want. Fill up the box with as little or as much as you would like as long as you can get the lid closed. We hope to have all donated baked goods to keep our costs down so let us know if you can help! We also plan on having whole pies and other items priced separately.

A big thank you to Gabrielle Carneglia of Heidi Hines Realty, our Laurie Ave neighbor, for sponsoring the event!

Also check out the front page of this blog, I have added a way to donate directly to the SE Chapter of BDSRA through http://www.sixdegrees.org/. Pretty neat.

What is normal?

I had a conversation with a friend at work today that really encouraged me and he probably didn't even know it. He asked how I was doing and I answered with my usual "I'm here."

But then I realized that I am more than just here, I am having a great week and I learn more about myself and how fortunate I am almost every day. I have a wonderful wife, two beautiful boys and a dog(who thinks he is a cat as you can tell by the picture).

He encouraged me by just acknowledging the fact that my family goes through alot more than other families(or do we?) on a daily basis and validated for me that it is OK for me to have bad days. I think I try to put on this front that everything is "just peachy" all the time when it really sucks sometimes, and I realized today that it is OK when I am having a bad day to have a bad day.

Normal to me is alot different than normal is to virtually everyone I know, but it's still normal to me and I wouldn't have it any other way.

By the way, I am disappointed in all my friends and family out there who can see the bald spot on the back of my head and have never mentioned it to me. When I started to become bald I will never know, oh well........