Amazing Friends

Saturday was the Brooklyn Wine Social at the Passalacqua Winery. We were completely a game-time decision Saturday morning on whether we were going to take all the kids or not. Kayla had a fever all day Friday, so the girls and I had to miss Braden's game Friday night, but right before she went to bed, it was gone. Talk about the power of prayer!! However, I was nervous because when I went in to check on Brooklyn at night, she was at about 100, so I didn't know if we would be going to the hospital or what the night would bring. Everyone woke up feeling fine in the morning though so we all got to go! The kids were thrilled! Our good friends from college own the winery, so we've been there before and they always have so much fun running around and playing. We told Brooklyn we were going to a party for her and she was so excited and said, "A party to meeee?" :) We met up with some friends for lunch and had a great afternoon relaxing and catching up. I just found out this morning that apparently the world was supposed to end last night right when the event was beginning. It clearly didn't, and although it wasn't Heaven, I would have to say that the evening was pretty perfect. The weather couldn't have been better and the Passalacquas have such a beautiful setting, and to be surrounded by so many people that came specifically to show us their support was overwhelming. We really want to thank the Zureks and the Passalacquas for all the work they did to put together such a special night for us. My parents and aunt and uncle came along with us, and they all commented on how wonderful it was to have such an amazing group of friends. People traveled from all areas of California, but some also came in from Oregon, Idaho, and Arizona just to let us know that they have been praying for us and wanted to do something to help. We were simply amazed to have such an outpouring of support. We really have been amazed throughout this whole 4 months though. People locally are still making meals for us, people from farther away have sent gift cards and we still get cards and letters in the mail for Brooklyn every week. We also know that so many people continue to pray for Brooklyn and our whole family every day. We feel so blessed to have so many good friends and it is such an amazing thing for our children to see the community of people who care so much for our family. We are meeting with the Oncologist in the morning, and I have a list of questions for him. I am so excited that it is summer time and that we will get to do more stuff all together and be outside more, but everyone else will be doing that too. I need to find out if we can be in public places when they are crowded, if we can go to parks that have water features, if she can go to the dentist...so many questions about stuff that seems so ordinary. I also want to ask about when the best time would be to switch her Broviak to a port. A port is completely under the skin so it would make swimming and showering so much easier and chance of infection would be less as well. The down side is that she has to get poked with a needle every time she has blood drawn or gets chemo. It's hard because we don't want to make the wrong decision, so it will be good to talk to the doctor and find out what the next round of treatment involves and how often she will be getting poked. Thank you all again so much for the support and the prayers, we can see them working every time we look at Brooklyn and see her happy smile.