John's tree dedication.

Hello all, John's tree dedication went well. It was hot, but the ceremony was short and very sweet. Here are a few pictures.

This is the tree, the plaque is of course glared with sunshine but it has a picture of John as well as the cub scout badges he earned.

This one is of me after I removed the cover from the plaque. You can almost see the plaque in this one.

The scouts that were present during the dedication, and helped with the planting.

I do believe John would be pleased with the dedication. He loved nature and scouting. The tree is behind the scout building at our local park. There are 4 ball fields, a public swimming pool, community buildings that the people of our fine community can reserve and use for different activities. A 1 mile walking track is also there, and along the track are benches to sit on and also a pond to relax at. Of course, though we are a small town here, we still have juveniles that like to try to trash some of these things, but with the boy scouts and girl scouts and stuff like that, the place stays real nice. We are all blessed to have a place to go for exercise and fun, and except for a small fee to swim (which helps with the upkeep of the pool and fees for a life guard) it is free for all of us.

The family is doing well, and my husband is dealing better now than he had been in the past. I am proud of him. He went to the dedication with me, as did my mom and dad. He also started going through some of the toys of John's and was able to give them to a friend and his wife, they have been approved as foster parents and now they have the beginnings of toys for when they have foster children in their home. They are great people and I am proud to know them as my friends. John may not be here in body, but I know he is in spirit, and in our hearts, and I think my husband is starting to realize this. John wouldn't want his stuff just sitting here collecting dust, he would want another child to benefit from them and play with them.

B.J. is still dealing in her own way. She doesn't like going to the memorial type stuff for John, or even the cemetery since his burial. But she said that she will always have him in her heart and that she will remember him by when she grows up and decided to have a child, if it is a boy she plans on naming it after her brother, at least the first name. I think she is dealing with his death, just in her own way.

Well, enough babbling for now. May God bless and Keep you all!

Until next time,

Judy

John

Well, it seems to have helped.

The last post, I mentioned that I was going to make chore lists for around the house. Well, it seems to have helped a lot. B.J. now knows what she needs to do on a regular basis, and we also talked about the fact that even if it is not "Her Chore" or not on her list, if she is asked to do it or she sees it needs to be done, she is to do it. I don't have to ask her as much to do things around the house, and even though she wasn't too happy with it at first, she is using this tool well, and now I don't have to ask "Do you have your work done?" every day. She knows that if I see it is not done, she need not ask for friends to spend the night, or to go to her friends houses, because I will say no. So that seemed to work better than I thought.

Tomorrow, the local Cub Scout troop is dedicating a tree in memory of John. They found out that before John had to have his transplant, he was in the cub scouts, and had made it to the bear cubs. He had also earned an Environmental badge, so they planted a tree in his memory and the dedication will be at 2:00pm tomorrow afternoon. I think it is so nice for them to do that. It will be outside the local scout building, and will have a plaque and picture of John as well as a small fence around the base of the tree so that dogs can't mark the tree and stuff. I will try to remember to take some pictures and post them later in the week.

We are doing okay, but a friend from Vanderbilt Children's who had a BMT about a month before John died is having a rough time right now. They think that his leukemia is coming back and they are quick tapering him off of his immunosuppresents trying to get a GVHD flare up started but managed so that they can get the cancer in check. It is a very scary time for them, and they need our prayers so if you read this, please life up Matthew Litchfield, http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/matthewlitchfield , in your prayers. And if you have time visit his caringbridge site that is the link I just posted. He is only 15 years old and is getting discouraged, as is normal with all he has been through. More information on him is at his site. Please, please lift him and his family up to God in prayer, they really need it right now.

Until next time, may God bless and keep you all,
Judy

Hello All!

Hello all! I hope this post finds you all doing well. We are doing okay here. Today is the first day since school has been out that we haven't had to go anywhere. I can tell you this much, I am enjoying not having to leave the house for a while. B.J. had friends over last night, but they had to go home and do their work there, so we are here and just relaxing for the time being. Little does B.J. know, it is about time to get to work. I am fixing to do a chore list for her to hang in her room, and when I do, she will not be allowed to do anything else until the list is done. I feel like she is old enough that I shouldn't have to do a list, but since I have to keep repeating myself every day about what she is to do, and when to do it and all that stuff, well let's just say that if she is going to regress and act younger than she is, I am going to treat her that way too. She may not like it, and may get mad at me, but my job as her mom is to teach her how to do these things, and not to just be her friend. So, if she gets mad at me she will just have to get over it I guess. So, wish me luck, it is time for me to reverse some of the spoiling that my husband did while I was gone. I have been trying to do it real nice for over a year, now it is time to get tough!
May God help us both!
God Bless and take care,
Judy