For the second year in a row, our church is sponsoring a free family-friendly event called Celebrate Christmas Together. It is a wonderful event that includes things like train rides, an outdoor ice-skating rink, inflatables, snowball frenzy, crafts, musical performances, carolers, live nativity, storytelling and many other fun things to do and see, and all of it is free! It really is a unique event and helps set the tone for a wonderful time of year as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. If you are in the Louisville area, we strongly recommend you check it out! (the event runs nightly this week (Dec 10-14) from 5p – 9p and 5p – 10p on Friday).
As great as this event is, it is not something we imagined we would get to enjoy this year because of Lizzy’s ongoing treatments. She is in the middle of back-to-back 5 day inpatient treatments (the most recent of which was supposed to start this past Friday but got postponed) and those treatments just wreak havoc with her blood counts and thus her immune system. We have tried very hard to keep Lizzy away from any sort of crowd or situation where she would be exposed to a lot of germs.
To put this in perspective, since December of 2017, there have only been 3 months where Lizzy wasn’t in some sort of quarantine or isolation. That’s 9 months of very little social interaction, no crowds, no big events, no hearing the roar of the crowd, or group laughter or applause or any of the other sights and sounds that come along with being in a crowd. It’s just too risky and we can’t take that chance.
So, with that as a backdrop, once again God showered us with a blessing that is almost impossible to put into words. Long story short, what started as a text message to my friend Steve turned into a night of fun, laughter and relaxation for our family. We were able to play and act like kids (all of us!) and for 2 precious hours, not think about cancer, or chemo, or isolation, or transfusions or any of the 100’s of other things we’ve had to think about for the last year. For just a brief moment, we could just be a family doing family things. Laughing, teasing, jumping, smiling, listening, watching, hugging, enjoying and the list goes on and on. I can’t even begin to say thank you enough to Steve and Rhonda and a whole host of volunteers who made this happen. But if any of you all who were involved are reading this, please know that from the bottom of my heart, I give you the most sincere Thank You – Thank You for providing a priceless moment for my family at a time when our stress level was pretty high. Thank you for sacrificing and going out of your way to accommodate us. Thank you for loving the way Jesus loved. And as Lori said in her FaceBook post – We Love Our Church!!
To give you a small glimpse of our fun evening, take a look at these photos:













Lizzy started a new 5 day admission Monday, so that just made this night even more of a special event. We are so blessed.
I am speechless!!! Our God is so good, seeing this experience through your family’s eyes makes it even more special. Thank you for your posts, I know you will never know this side of heaven the impact they have. Daily in my thoughts and prayers
My family and I were so happy to be able to be part of the ice skating Sunday afternoon. Lizzy and Treasure were both doing such a great job skating. It was so much fun watching them having fun together and seeing them smiling and laughing. My prayers are continuously for your family and for complete healing of Lizzy. Thank you for letting my family be part of your Christmas memories this year.
Love this!
❤️❤️❤️
So thankful for our church and the church family who continue to prove God’s love is real. Love our family!
What a beautiful post—and a precious time of memory-making for your family. You are much loved by our family at Southeast! Sending love and prayers to you!
So fabulous the whole family was able to forget the stress and tension caused by cancer for a fun and enjoyable time. God’s angels are in our midst.
Prayers still coming your way for sweet Lizzy and the family. Your mom is so special I k ow she is a lot of support.
Awesome! Thank you for sharing.
This experience gives true meaning to what being a part of the body of Christ is all about! What a beautiful expression of love to your family. And your love back to them with a heartfelt thank you. ❤️
She looks so happy in these pictures!! I was so thankful to have met Lizzy a few weeks ago at Norton’s. She is absolutely precious. God bless!! Love and prayers ❤️