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Saturday, December 30, 2006 4:13 PM CST

Will is doing good. We had a WONDERFUL Christmas:) The children got too much (of course) and I have been busy finding a place for all their new stuff, along with all of the old, forgotten stuff. As you can see in the new slide show, Will was excited to find a new PSP and BB gun from Santa. Emma Kay and Ben were so funny on Christmas morning ~ they liked each other's stuff better than their own. Ben couldn't ride his new four-wheeler Christmas because it rained all day but he has made up for that since then ~ that is all he wants to do.

Will danced on stage with LeAnne Rimes yesterday at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. He had a great time and actually danced some:) I hope some of you were watching and saw him ~ I hear that they zoomed in on Will and that it looked great. Will took his friend Reed with us and they had a lot of fun. Reed came back to our house and spent the night. They had a really good time.

Will is feeling so much better now that all the Dex is gone. He is almost back to normal! He did go to St Jude last Tuesday and his counts were PERFECT ~ 1,100. Hopefully they will hold right where they are. We will go back to St Jude on Tuesday for chemo again.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will! We feel so fortunate to be looking forward to another year with our family. In March it will be 2 years since Will was diagnosed and we sure look at each new year differently now! We are planning on spending tomorrow night with friends and letting the children shoot fireworks. I'll update with more picutres!

We wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Love,
Ali

Sunday, December 24, 2006 9:12 AM CST

*New photos in Photo Album*

Just wanted to update really quick ~ Will has had a really bad last couple of days. On Thursday, the Dex really kicked in and just went from bad to WORSE in just a couple of hours. Needless to say, it was the worst day I can remember on Dex. We finally had to call St Jude and the told us to quit giving him the Dex and continue with the Ativan. After 4 Ativan he finally went to sleep around 7:30-8:00.

Friday, he just felt YUCK along with some of the Dex still in him. We took him to St Jude to check his counts, which are 1600, and were told to NEVER give him Dex again. I am relieved to say the least. Of course, we always worry when something in his protocol is taken out or changed but we know that the doctors know best.

They told us that since Dex goes straight into the brain and spinal fluid, when given with Vincristine, it helps fight the Leukemia. He will still get Vincristine every 4 weeks, just not the Dex. Now on to the pain Will has been in.

The Vincristine has really done a job on his legs and jaw this time around. He is taking 2 codeine at a time and still not able to get much relief. We do have morphine but he hates the way it makes him feel. He has been up the past two nights soaking in hot baths and using the heating pad on his legs. This chemo peaks at a week and it will be a week on Tuesday. Let's pray it doesn't get any worse ~ especially since it is Christmas.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will and the sweet messages! We wish you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas. Please stop and pray for all the families spending Christmas without their children this year. Thank God for your family and healthy children.

Love,
Ali

This is a poem I received in my email this week that I thought I would share with all of you.

Twas The Night Before Christmas
For Childhood Disease

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
But some children’s stockings were missing this year

Children were nestled all snug in their beds
Some parents cling to memories dancing in their heads
These children all fought their battles so strong
Why oh why God did disease have to come along?

Whether Cancer, Leukemia, Brain tumors or AIDS
These children all fought for each precious day
From needles to transplants to losing their hair
These angels still found a smile to share

Their memories live on…these precious little ones
Disease has taken so many of our daughters and sons
Children should not have to go through this fear
Please oh please God…can you send us a cure?

Star after star after star they came…
Heavenly lights displays each precious name
Each angel a story, a family forever changed…
As we read each childs star…name after name…

Stanton and Emma Grace and Jake and Allie…
There’s Christal and Ben and Shae and Zoie
Their stories all told, and memories held dear…
These children are spending Christmas in heaven this year.

The sky is twinkling their stars do shine
So many hearts touched especially mine
A bundle of joy…missed so sadly will be
Their memories will continue on…for all to see

Their eyes how they twinkled, their smiles were so bright
Just like their stars that now light up our night
Shattered lives, futures changed, a puzzle incomplete
The meaning of life…these parents now seek

God went right to work, and spoke not a word
These children are now..as free as a bird
God brings comfort and strength and has plenty to share
The burdens will be eased with his loving care

God is caring and strong, and needed so much
And they smile in God’s presence so graciously touched
God filled each stocking with faith…hope…and love
God blessed us all…and back to heaven He rose

Please hold us all close Father…let us feel your love
Take care of the children up in Heaven above
Send each parents love to their angel in the sky
Until we are united in Heaven…and can understand why

Childhood disease is so present today
We can’t ignore it…we must find a way
To cure these diseases too many to name
Please pray for a cure in Jesus’s name

Disease can happen anytime…anywhere…to anyone
We must not quit until the battles are won!
Lets make 2007 the year
For a better cure.

Merry Christmas
Jeff, Tina, Hayden and Angel Stanton

Thursday, December 21, 2006 9:49 AM CST

Thanks so much for all the messages to Will. He has already been on the computer this morning looking at them. Will is feeling OK. The Dex is definitely in his system now. He has the circles around his eyes and is a bit "antsy" to put it nicely.

We did have a surprise visit from Santa last night and the children enjoyed that. Well, all except Austin who was scared to death of him. Ben even liked him this year. They all sat on his lap and told him what they wanted.
Afterwards, Will just wanted me to hold him so that is what I did while I listened to Ben and Emma Kay scream to be held also. I think that I should clone myself so that during Dex weeks I have enough mommas to take care of everyone:) I did finally have to give Will Ativan to get to sleep. This morning he is just wandering around the house.

His last dose of Dex will be Saturday night so hopefully by Christmas day he will be feeling better. Thanks so much for checking in on Will. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful support group! I'll update again soon ~ Hope you enjoy the new slide show:)

Love,
Ali

Sunday, December 17, 2006 4:51 PM CST

***Update: Tuesday night ~ 6:30pm. CLEAR SPINAL FLUID! Thank you so much for all the prayers that we KNEW were going up for Will. His ANC is 1300. He has started the Dex and we can already see the Dex "monster" emerging. I'll update more tomorrow ~ we're TIRED:) ***


Will has been doing pretty good. He has been going to school and seems to be enjoying it. Of course, we did have half days Thurs. and Fri.:) He was invited to a friends house Friday and really enjoyed himself. He was going to try and spend the night but was home by 9:00pm. I told him that was OK though.

Today we went to church, came home, and worked VERY hard on a gingerbread house.

It is still standing but with Ben around I don't know how long it will last.

Will is not going to St Jude tomorrow. He is going to his Christmas party at school and then to a birthday party. Tuesday morning we will head to St Jude bright and early for a procedure. Will will be having a spinal tap. This spinal tap will check to make sure that Will is still in remission. I am more nervous this time for some reason. I think it is because in the last 4 months there have been two boy, ages 6 and 9, that are on the same protocol as Will and have the same diagnosis that went in for this routine check and found out that they had relapsed. That would be our worst nightmare. I probably won't sleep until it's all over with and may be a little on edge so just bear with me:)

I will update Tuesday to let you all know how he does and what the results are. Please pray that everything is still great with Will and that he makes it through his procedure without any problems. He will be put to sleep for this. He will also get his chemo, Vincristine, which is the one that makes him hurt all over. He will start Dex Tuesday also. Hopefully it won't be too hard on him with Christmas around the corner.

I also want to ask for prayers for one of our BEST St Jude buddies, Allen. He is in the same week of treatment as Will so he is also having procedures this week. He will have his on Monday and his counts have been higher than Will's so I am sure they are nervous also. Thanks so much for checking in on Will. We really appreciate your prayers and support. The holidays seem sort of sad this year ~ I guess the more children we see lose thier battle the harder it gets during the holidays. I am going to list some of our friends that need prayers in case you may want to add them to your list.

Also, Will says that nobody leaves messages anymore. He checks everyday to see if there are messages and to see how many days til Christmas. If you have time ~ please drop him a note. Thanks!

Love,
Ali


www.caringbridge.org/

visit/katehrischuk
visit/spencerboyer
visit/michaelconger
ms/brentnason
la/allensmith
visit/colehardy

Monday, December 11, 2006 6:25 PM CST

Hello to everyone!

Will had been doing good. He has been busy showing off his pictures from his trip to Texas. Everyone is amazed at how big the Wildebeest is and it just thrills Will to see everyones expression and reaction when they see the pictures. They called us and said that the meat would be here tomorrow. Greg jokes with us and says that we should invite everyone over for a "feast on the beast". I think that we will have plenty for everyone ~ they are sending 100 pounds of meat to us!

Will has been trying to get back into the swing of school. It is so hard for him to go. I just don't know what to do to make him want to stay. I think that he feels "behind" everyone so it makes him nervous. We just keep on trying:)

Will did go to St Jude today. His counts were 900 last week and are now 3800. Dr Howard said that we won't panic and worry until they are that high again next week. So... let's pray for good counts ~ we'll take anything around 1,000 or 1,500. Not too low and not too high!

Hopefully Will can make it through this week and the one half day they have next week. Then it's Christmas holidays. They children were upset that we didn't have any gifts wrapped under the tree so I finally wrapped some. Don't you know that Ben proceeded to open one ~ it was Scottie's so we just tapped it back up. He was so disappointed that he couldn't open all the presents.

The children also received an elf last week that watches what the do and goes back to tell Santa every night. When we wake up in the morning, he's always in a different place. Will LOVES it ~ he can't wait to see what room the elf is in every day. They named him Freddy:)

Thanks for checking in on Will. We appreciate you all!
Love,
Ali

Please pray for:
www.caringbridge.org/

visit/carmenwhite ~ Carmen passed away Saturday night so please pray for her family. She had ALL also.

visit/katehrischuk ~ she has been fighting so hard! Her tumor is progressing.

and all of our St Jude friends!

Monday, December 4, 2006 4:51 PM CST

Hello to everyone! Well, Veo and Will are back home. It is so good to have everyone here. Will has so much to tell me that he just doesn't even know where to start. He had SOOO much fun! We are so thankful to Hernando Outdoors Team, their guide Denny, and Spiral Horn Ranch/Mark Hedley. I am putting some pictures up but there will be plenty more to come.





We are going to the Christmas parade tonight so I will update more tomorrow.

Will will also go to St Jude tomorrow HOPEFULLY get his treatment since he hasn't gotten chemo in over two weeks due to the chicken pox. His chicken pox are all gone so let's pray that he is on the right road now and can get back into the swing of things:)

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please pray for a good report tomorrow!

Love,
Ali

Sunday, December 3, 2006 7:23 AM CST

UPDATE: 9:00AM SUNDAY MORNING ~ I just talked to Will and he had to shoot the wildebeest TWO more times this morning but he has it! He is so excited and says he is going to hang it over his bed:) We will defintely be able to say that we have something that probably no one else in Senatobia has!

Will and Veo are having a BLAST on Will's hunting trip. Will says it is cold but not TOO cold. After missing the 9 point buck, they decided to let Will hunt on an exotic ranch. Will was able to see alot of different animals and then he SHOT and HIT a Wildebeest. If you don't know what that looks like, I am going to try and post a picture from the ranch they are hunting on. The website is www.spiralhornranch.com.



So, after Will shot the Wildebeest they went to find it. Well, the guide with them had to shoot it again because Veo says that it is huge. It was so dark and cold that they had to go back to the lodge. They will go back to find it this morning. They are supposed to call me as soon as they find it. Veo says that the owner of this ranch was with them and gave Will the OK to shoot this animal. It is a $6,000 animal! I will let you all know when they call.

They will get back tomorrow around lunch. It has been quiet around here but I think I am ready for everyone to be under the same roof.

Thanks for checking in on Will!
Love,
Ali

Thursday, November 30, 2006 7:14 AM CST

UPDATE: Friday night 6:15pm I just talked to Will. He is having a BLAST! They had just got in from hunting. He had shot twice at a 9 point but missed. Maybe he has his "jitters" out now and can get one in the morning. He says that it is really nice out there and COLD:) I'll update again tomorrow. Please pray for their safety ~ Ali

Hello! Sorry I haven't updated in a while ~ we've been busy getting ready for the BIG hunt:)

Since I last updated, we have made many trips to St Jude so they could check Will's chicken pox out and check his counts. Everything has been good but he still hasn't been able to start his chemo back. We did start his night time oral chemo back Monday night. They did give him the go ahead for the trip!

Friday night Will was asked to drop the puck at the RiverKings hockey game. They were raising money for St Jude. It was really neat and he had lots of fun.








Veo's dad, Pops, just left with Veo and Will for the trip. Will has been up since around 4:00am because he is so nervous. This is the longest that he has ever been away from me so we will probably both have a hard time:) It will be so good for him and we are so thankful for the Hernando High School Outdoors Team for doing this for Will! Thank you again!!!

I will update when they call ~ they should be getting into San Antonio around 11:00am today. They won't actually hunt until tomorrow so I will probably wait until they go out and hunt to update. Hopefully I will be able to report a BIG buck.

Thanks so much for all the messages to Will. He has been reading them everyday and fussing at me to update!

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, November 22, 2006 4:54 PM CST

Will went back to St Jude for his counts to be rechecked. His counts have actually gone up! We couldn't believe it ~ it must be all the prayers that are going up! His ANC is 1,500 where it was 1,000 yesterday. He hasn't had any fever and seems to be feeling good except itching every now and then. I covered all his spots this morning with itch cream and it has worked pretty well so far.

Since he seems to be doing so good ~ we don't have to go back tomorrow. We will go back on Friday as long as he stays feeling OK and doesn't have any fever. So... we still need prayers for no more spreading of the spots, no fever, and high counts.

When I asked Will what he was thankful for today on our way home from St Jude ~ he said he was just thankful for EVERTYTHING. He also remembers last year at Thanksgiving when everyone told him in the guestbook what they were thankful for ~ so if you have a little extra time Will wants you to leave a message and tell him what you are thankful for.

We are so thankful for all of you that have helped us through this with Will. It seems that we are always asking you all for something. We couldn't make it without all of you! We hope that everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving. Don't forget to be thankful for all of your blessings ~ even the small ones!

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, November 21, 2006 2:58 PM CST

Well, I would like to say that we are having a GREAT week but Will has the chicken pox. Can you believe it? We went today to St Jude and they confirmed he does have chicken pox. They checked his blood work and counts. Since his counts were 1,000 they decided to let us come home on "fever watch".

We will go back tomorrow for them to check him again and then we will go from there. PLEASE pray that he doesn't get fever and have to go inpatient. We want to be at home on Thanksgiving:)

I'll update later and let you all know how it's going ~
Ali

The Best Things in Life Are Free

When we count
our many blessings;
It isn't hard to see
that life's most valued
treasures are the
treasures that are free.
For it isn't what
we own or buy
that signifies
our wealth.
It's the special
gifts that have
no price:
our family,
friends and health.
Author Unknown

Thursday, November 16, 2006 1:34 PM CST

Hello to everyone! I know that I have been slow in updating so I have finally MADE myself sit down to update. Will has been checking his messages everyday and is really into this guestbook entry that was left by a "friend of a friend". He really thinks that I know who it is but I don't.:) He just doesn't believe me.

Will has been having a good time lately. He has had fun dressing Suzie up ~



He also enjoyed Emma Kay's Nutcracker this weekend. She was in it Saturday and Sunday. We went out to eat after Saturday's performance and I finally got them to sit next to each other long enought to snap a picture. Doesn't Emma Kay look different with her "ballerina bun"?



We celebrated Grandparent's Day on Monday at school so Will didn't go to St Jude on Monday. He enjoyed entertaining his Mimi and Pops and Grammy at Grandparent's Day along with getting them to buy him stuff at the book fair.



Will's visit at St Jude went well on Tuesday. His counts are FINALLY GREAT! His ANC is 1800 ~ right were it should be. He will start Dex next week ~ right in time for Thanksgiving. They always seem to find a way to ruin every holiday around our house. It always seems that Will is on Dex everytime we are going to be around family. Everyone just needs to be prepared. They can see us on Thanksgiving and excuse Will's behavior or we can just stay at home ~ there is just no other option.

Will is at school right now ~ without me! Major milestone here:) This is the first time in a LONG time for him to stay after I leave at 12:00. I am sooooo proud of him!

We have started taking Will to a different doctor that can hopefully help him "deal" with his life better. We really like this one and pray that he can help Will. I'll keep you all updated on that as well.

I want to say Thank You to everyone that has sent Will cards lately, left him guestbook entries, called and checked on him, and brought us food ~ MHS and Rachel Jackson. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You ~ We just couldn't make it through this without everyone.

I'll update soon~
Love,
Ali

Tuesday, November 7, 2006 9:09 AM CST

Well, I know that everyone is waiting for an update so I won't leave you in suspense any longer. Will's ANC was only 400 BUT Dr Howard decided to go ahead and give him his chemo and but him back on his 6mp ~ night chemo. Will's counts have been going up ~ slowly ~ but up over the past week so that is why he decided to go ahead. We still need Will's counts to climb up some so please keep praying. He is feeling OK this morning but is having some stomach issues. Maybe from the medicine he hasn't had in so long ~ who knows.

Emma Kay had dance practice at the DeSoto Civic Center for the Nutcracker that she is in this weekend. Will was excited because I let him go. He hasn't really gone anywhere in about 2 weeks. He is going to try and go to school some tomorrow ~ we are out of school today:) He is very anxious about going. Hopefully all will go well and he will want to go back!:)

I will update later in the week and let you all know how things are going. Thanks so much for all the messages and prayers!

Love,
Ali

Saturday, November 4, 2006 10:52 AM CST

Just a quick update on Will ~ He did go back to St Jude yesterday for a check-up. His counts are 200 so he did not receive chemo. They thought at first that he would get it but in the end decided not to. He did get a flu shot which he was not to happy about. He will stay inside this weekend and then go back to St Jude on Monday for another check of his counts and HOPEFULLY chemo.

Will has not had his chemo in 2 weeks now so we really need to pray that his bone marrow will kick into high gear this weekend so that he is able to get back on track with his chemo. Little baby blood cells are forming and they don't have anything in there to keep the cancer away so please pray for good counts on Monday. We will update on Monday to let you all know what is going on. Thanks so much for checking in on Will and for all the prayers!

Love,
Ali and Will

Wednesday, November 1, 2006 5:07 PM CST

WE ARE HOME!

They let us go around 2:00pm today. Will's ANC is still 100 but he hasn't had fever since yesterday morning. We will watch for fever, give him his antibiotics, and go back on Friday. We were going to have to go back tomorrow but they decided to give his counts an extra day to come up so maybe he could get chemo. They don't fool around up there ~ chemo, chemo, chemo:)

I am going to add some pictures and then go love on my babies that I have been missing SOOO much. Thank you to all of you who have helped out since I have been at St Jude with Will. I just don't know what we would do without our wonderful family and friends!



Everyone on Halloween at St Jude



Trick-or-Treat



Will and his "pharmacy buddy" Shane at St Jude



Will and Nurse April right before we "checked-out" of St. Jude

I'll update tomorrow if anything changes.
Love,
Ali

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 6:32 PM CST

Happy Halloween from St Jude! Will has not had any fever since around 9:00am this morning when it went up to 102.1. They gave him tylenol to get it down and so far it has not gone back up. Hopefully we will get to come home tomorrow.

Last night, Rebecca, Alison, Kendal, and Mimi came up to visit. We had a good time walking around and looking at all the decorations all the stations had set up for today's trick-or-treating. Today Veo brought Alison, Kendal, Emma Kay, and Ben up to see us and to trick-or-treat. I wanted to see them dressed up in their costumes and they had a great time. Steven Segall was even here! Ben and Will were pirates, Emma Kay was Sleeping Beauty, and Alison and Kendal were 80's girls. They all looked really cute and I will post pictures once I get home.

Alison was the 100,000 visitor to Will's site. He says she rigged it also, but I have faith that she just loooooooooooves Will sooooooooooo much that she always checks it 20 times and hour:)

Will is also finished with his Math-A-Thon since it is due tomorrow. He raised $1,000.00! I am so proud of him for going door to door and asking EVERYONE he saw for donations.

Well, hopefully I will update tomorrow saying that we are headed home. It will probably be in the afternoon if we do get to go home. They have to get all his meds ready. He will be on an antibiotic that I give him through his port every 8 hours for 10 days.

Thanks so much for checking in and all the sweet messages!
Love,
Ali

Monday, October 30, 2006 10:16 AM CST

*Update Tuesday morning 8:00am
Will's ANC is 100 but he has fever of 101.5. He is pretty upset but his buddy April is his nurse today so that is good. We are just waiting on the doctor to say what they are going to do. I'll update later.
Happy Halloween ~ Ali



*Update Monday night 7:10pm
Will is feeling better and hasn't had fever all day! I have been trained on how to give Will "ready meds" at home through his port so hopefully we will be home sometime tomorrow evening. Trick-or-treating is from 12:00-2:00pm here so he will still do that here. Will wants you all to remember to sign in if you are the 100,000th visitor.
I'll update tomorrow morning with his counts - it should be early since they draw labs at 4:00am! There's no "night time" here:)
Thanks for all the prayers ~ we feel them!
Love,
Ali

Good morning from the Jude! Will's ANC is holding at the big 0 this morning. He had stomach issues all night that have continued on into the morning so we have earned another night here. Maybe tomorrow his counts will be coming up some. His fever is going up and down but hasn't gone over 100 since last night so that is good news. His knee looks great so the antibiotics are doing what they should. His cultures haven't grown anything and that is good news also. So right now he needs for his fever to go down and his counts to go up along with his stomach issues to settle down.

He is in OK spirits. Veo is coming up this afternoon with Emma Kay so that I can go shower at the Grizzly's House so he is looking forward to that. Veo is also planning on bringing Ben and Emma Kay up tomorrow to trick-or-treat here so that I can see them all dressed up. Hopefully all plans will be able to happen. We just never know what will happen.

Thanks so much for all the guestbook entries. Will has read them all. He is amazed at how many friends Ms. Harriet has!:)

Please continue to pray for Will as his body is recovering from whatever is going on in it.

Love,
Ali

Sunday, October 29, 2006 7:09 AM CST

****UPDATE Sunday 1:00pm
Will is now inpatient at St Jude with an ANC of 0, fever, and a swollen knee. They are treating Will with antibiotics while we wait on cultures to grow. He has had a reaction to his antibiotic which benadryl fixed. He also had to be stuck in his arm for an "extra" blood test but a nurse that was helping hold him down accidentally contaminated the blood so we couldn't use it. They decided not to stick him again since it was so traumatic. They have told us that he will be here for at least 48 hours. He was upset at first about Halloween but they go all out up here for Halloween so he is OK with it now. I'll update later if anything changes. He is in room 2013.
Love,
Ali
PS Will wants to know who the 100,000 visitor is to his page so check when you visit and let us know in it the guestbook if you are number 100,000. Thanks!


Sunday 7:00am
Will went back to St Jude on Friday to recheck his knee and mouth sores. His counts had dropped from 1300 on Wednesday to 400 on Friday. They felt his knee was more swollen than before but not as red. His mouth sores were not any better. At first, they wanted to send him home on a sidekick antibiotic. It is a little pouch that he hooks to his side and the antibiotics go in through his port. Well, that did not go over well at all with Will. He doesn't like to come home with his needle in. So they called the Infectious Disease people and talked to them again and they all agreed to let him come home on just his oral antibiotics if he promised that he would tell us if his knee started hurting any more. We made a deal and we were out of there.

Will was surprised to see the country singer Trent Tomlinson walking the halls of St Jude.



Will got a picture with him and an autograph. Will really likes him and his songs.

Will also got to meet Carlos Conteras, a Bush race car driver, and Kenny Wallace. Will and Kenny Wallace talked for about 30 minutes about all kinds of things. He was really nice.


Will and Carlos Conteras



Will, Emma Kay, and Kenny Wallace

Will is in a great deal of pain this morning from the Vincristine he received last Monday. This chemo will reach its peak at one week, which will be tomorrow. He has been soaking in hot baths and using the heating pad a lot this weekend. He did go to the movies last night with Mimi to see Flicka which he enjoyed. We also spent a good deal yesterday getting goodies together for his Halloween party at school. Hopefully he will feel well enough to go to it. Maybe he can transition back into school this week some. I won't plan that far ahead though, we have to make it through today first:)!

Happy (late) birthday to Alison ~ she turned 12 yesterday! We love you Sissy!!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please pray that things start looking up for him.

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 7:04 PM CDT

Well, sorry for the delay in updating. I was hoping things would get better for Will so I could have a "happy" update but they aren't looking up so I decided to update.

Will has been very sad the past week and half. He is having trouble staying at school also. He went Monday for his treatment at St Jude and his counts were 1200, which is good. He got chemo (Vincristine), started Dex, and came home. He did have sores in his mouth on Monday but Dr Howard felt like the Dex would help clear them up so Will continued his 6mp. Tuesday was bad for Will and he left school by 10:00am. Then today (Wed) we went to Dr Narayanan's office to talk to him about some of Will's "emotional" issues. He feels that Will is having extreme anxiety along with just being sad over the past year and a half. Dr. Narayanan did want to consult a friend of his who is a psychologist. Then we headed to St Jude to have Will's mouth sores looked at because they are worse and to have a sore on his knee looked at. They called in Infectious Disease's and they are worried that Will may have a staph infection on his knee. His mouth sores are so bad that they have called off any more 6mp and stopped the Dex because they don't want it to "mask" any infection going on in his body. SO..........

Will will go back to St Jude Friday at 9:00am if nothing changes. Hopefully his knee won't get any worse because if it does, he has to go back. They did swab it to see if it is a certain strand of staph. If it is, he will have to be on IV antibiotics for one week.

I think that this week has shown us that we are pushing Will too hard. I think that we have felt "pushed" somewhat also, to try and make Will like other children his age. But Dr Narayanan told me today that the other children his age don't go to St Jude every week and take medicine all day long; they don't worry about infections and tackling and getting hurt ~ so why should we expect Will to do all the things that they do. It is so easy to get "caught up" in everything around us that we don't see what is happening right in front of us. For so long we have replied when asked how Will is doing with "Great" without really thinking about HOW he is REALLY doing. Sometimes we forget what Will goes through. We are re-evaluating some things right now to remove some stress from Will, and hopefully from our family.

We have received so much support from everyone. I just can't thank you enough. As always, we ask for your prayers. Thank you SO much for checking in on Will.

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 7:02 PM CDT

Will went to St Jude on Monday for his weekly chemo and blood count check. His counts have dropped form 1800 to 700. We will not worry and check for fever until they drop lower so I guess we are pretty happy with everything this week. He got his chemo after a pretty long day. He has been really tired the past couple of days but we sometimes forget that Will is sick and push him too hard to be "normal". I think that he has just been over-doing it and needs to slow down. It's hard to remember sometimes that he is sick when he looks SO good and healthy.

Today Will stayed at school until 2:30 when I had to check him out. We were asked by Make-A-Wish to do a pre-recorded interview on FM 100. I am really glad that it was pre-recorded because once you get in there with a microphone in your face ~ it's hard to think of things to say:)



Will did good and I know it is hard for him to talk about being sick so I am SO proud of him. As for me and Veo, I am sure that we sound like the hicks from the sticks but if it helps Make-A-Wish raise any money, then I will be HAPPY! Will met Steve Conley and of course, I took their picture. In the picture is Veo, Will, Amanda (from Make-A-Wish), and Steve Conley.



It was a really neat experience and we even saw Joe Birch from Channel 5 news.

I am also posting some pictures of Will, Emma Kay, and Ben from this weekend. We got them each a little pumpkin to paint and they had a lot of fun. Take note of their lovely "painting" clothes they have on!







Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please continue to pray for his healing. We are halfway through!

Love,
Ali

PS Will says to tell you all that he is at $830.00 in his fundraising for St Jude through the Math-A-Thon. He's almost to his goal!

Thursday, October 12, 2006 5:39 AM CDT

*New pictures in the VIEW PHOTOS page*
~New slide show coming!~

Hello to everyone! Sorry it has taken me a "little" longer to update. We did go to Hardy, Arkansas for the lond Fall Break weekend. Then it was back to reality on Tuesday ~ we spent all day at St Jude.

First, we were very sad to lose a friend, Jake Owen Rayborn, before we left on our trip. Jake has such an AMAZING family and we know that he is now cured and like a 4-year old should be. We send lots of prayers to Staci and Don.

We left on Saturday for our "big trip". Emma Kay was so excited. I think she may have thought we were going on another Disney Cruise:) They kids had so much fun just exploring around Neal and Mandy's house ~ THANK YOU to Neal and Mandy for letting us use their houe there. We did drive up to Bull Shoals and take them to a cave which they really thought was neat.


We also went to Mammoth Spring and saw the spring there and where it feeds the river.


We also ate out ALOT so we are now all fasting so we can wear our clothes!


We also let the children take their shoes off and walk around in a little water fall by the house.....


until Will fell and was all wet:)




We cooked hot dogs and marshmallows on the fire and Will also fished some while we were there.



He didn't catch anything but he sure did try hard.

Then back to St Jude on Tuesday. Will's counts are finally looking like they should! It sure made me feel better to get a good report. He is continuing to have the rash so our last resort is to take him off of his Septra for a week. This medicine he takes 2x a day on Mon, Tues, and Wed. to keep him from getting PCP (type of respiratory problem). They have not seen this in St Jude kids for 20 years and now have 2 children on ventilators with it. SO, Will will only be off of it for a week to see if the rash improves. If it does then they will try switching him to another medicine for PCP. If it doesn't, then I guess we will just get used to the rash.

Will is doing good. He's going to school like he should and trying to be normal. We have a new friend at St Jude, Anna Marie McArthur.



Veo and I went to school with her mom, Heather Scott McArthur, and they live just a few blocks over from us. We visited with them on Saturday and then again on Tuesday. I am trying to think about things that they need to know right now. I also remember how I felt and I think that Heather is doing such great job and Anna is being such a big girl ~ she is only 3. Her site is visit/annamariemcarthur and she has ALL like Will.

Well, I have rambled enough for a couple of days! Thank you all for continuing to check on Will. Will is working hard to raise lots of money for St Jude through Math-a-Thon. Our address is at the top if you would like to donate. It all goes to St Jude:) And it's worth it!

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, October 4, 2006 12:58 AM CDT

I am so sorry for the delay in updating. Things have been so up and down with Will and then everyone else's schedules on top of Will's ..... just too much to do and not enough time!

Since my last update, Will's counts went up to 800 but his white cell count dropped half of what it was ~ then he went back to St Jude on Monday, and his ANC was 5,200 and his white counts had sky rocketed to 9.1. This is just crazy ~ for 3 weeks we prayed for high counts and now they are TOO high. So, the doctors feel sure that these crazy high counts are coming from being off of the medicine for so long so Will is now getting his full dose of 6mp at night and also got his chemo (Methotrexate) on Monday. He has been hurting a good bit from the chemo he got last week, Vincristine. It has always given him trouble with the bone pain and this time it was bad. He went to school this morning and is still there:) Maybe he will make it all day!

Will is still on cloud nine thinking about his hunting trip. I catch him looking at his new gun all the time.



Veo took him out to Greg's this past Sunday to shoot it for the first time. Will says that it is "so awesome" and Veo said he didn't miss the mark once so I guess it is a good gun ~ those of you who know me well know that I don't have a clue when it comes to hunting, guns, etc. Veo took some pictures while Will was practicing shooting.





Alison had a Pep Rally yesterday for the PeeWee football team that she cheers for and they did great. Will enjoyed it and has figured it up that he should be off treatment and have his port out by the time for him to be on that team.



Will has also been busy raising money for St Jude through the Math-A-Thon. He has been going to everyone he can think of to get donations. He has set his goal at $1,000.00. If you would like to donate, you can email me and I'll let you know what to do. You can see his Math-A-Thon website at www.mathathon.org. Go to Math-A-Thon Wired and type in Magnolia for his school, click Magmolia Heights, Senatobia and then click on Will. It will take you to his page where you can see all his donations and his own "message" to everyone about why he wants to raise money. Thank you so much to everyone who has already helped Will get closer to his goal ~ he's at $380.00 right now.

Well, hopefully Will's counts will even out soon and life can get back to "semi" normal. We are leaving Saturday for Hardy, Arkansas for Fall Break. The children are excited and it will be good to get away. Will will go back to St Jude on Tuesday.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will,
Ali

Tuesday, September 26, 2006 8:05 PM CDT

Will got a REALLY BIG surprise today. The Hernando High School Outdoors Team surprised him with a Hunt of a Lifetime. This means that he and Veo will get to travel to San Antonio, Texas and hunt on a ranch there right outside of San Antonio. The club also gave Will a new gun, a camo bag full of hunting goodies, a new tackle box, .... the list just goes on and on. I am adding their website link to the bottom of the page. Please visit the site to see all the donors that made this possible for Will. We told Will that he was going to speak to this group because they had been raising money for St Jude. Will even did some of the speaking today. We did our talk and then they told him about the hunt and gave him all the presents. Needless to say, Will was just shocked! We are just so thankful to this group for all their hard work and dedication to this project. Their group leader is David Spencer and he really has worked hard to pull this all together. Will is on cloud nine tonight and has called everyone he can think of, with Greg at the top of his list. He actually had Greg come over tonight to show off all his goodies:) THANKS SO MUCH HERNANDO HIGH SCHOOL OUTDOORS TEAM!













Then Will went to St Jude to have his counts checked and get chemo. Well............his counts are still 100 and his rash is worse! I just can't believe that his counts are still down. So ~ they gave him his chemo since this week was Vincristine and started him on his lowered dose of Dex. Hopefully the dreaded Dex will help boost his counts. They called the Infectious Disease people to come look at his rash and they think that it is some sort of allergic rash. They have given him two creams that we have already started. We will go back on Friday to recheck his counts and hopefully get to start back on his 6mp (night time chemo at home). Will is still getting pretty tired and of course we have to keep an eye out for fever. I am going to try and send him to school as much as possible. The mornings will probably be enough for him but at least he will stay in the habit if going and not get SO far behind.

Will says that this morning's surprise makes up for his counts still being down:) See ~ something good always comes around over something bad!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please continue to pray for his counts to rebound and for him to remain fever-free.

Love,
Ali

Sunday, September 24, 2006 6:15 PM CDT

**PLEASE CHECK OUT THE LINK BELOW FOR THE ST JUDE MARATHON. WILL IS FEATURED ON BILLY PEACOCK'S PAGE AS A REASON TO SPONSOR HIM IN HIS RUN TO RAISE MONEY FOR ST JUDE. PLEASE SPONSOR HIM IF YOU CAN!!THANKS**********


Hello from HOME!:) Will got discharged yesterday (Saturday) around 12:00 and we hit the road home in a hurry. I guess that it has been so long since he has had to be in the hospital that it was really hard to be inpatient~ for us both! He did feel good enough on Saturday morning to goof off at the jukebox on the 2nd floor. Here he is "surfin' in the USA".



Then when the nurse came and told us that the dischrage papers where FINALLY finished he was ready and saying "Bye" to everyone there.



Will has continued to feel better over the weekend. He was very "achy" when he went in the hospital. His fever has stayed down and his ANC was 100 yesterday. Hopefully it will be even higher when he goes back for a recheck on Tuesday afternoon at St Jude. He does have the mysterious rash again. I told him that maybe he was allergic to the hospital:) None of the doctors really have an answer to the rash so we just don't know!

Will will be able to return to school on Wednesday as long as his counts have gone up some. He is still getting pretty tired as you can see from this picture I snapped. It is of him when we pulled up at home from the hospital yesterday.



Thanks so much for all the sweet messages that you have been leaving Will. He has read them all since we got home and Alison read them to him Saturday morning over the phone since he was still in the bed:) We appreciate your prayers more than you know!

Have a great week,
Ali

Will is wanting to type something himself.
Hey everyone I am so glad that I am home thankyou for all of the messages you have sent me I love them alot I like to get on the computer and read them all the time. Thank you for all that you have done for me:)

by: will moore

Friday, September 22, 2006 3:08 PM CDT

*UPDATE 10:00 am Saturday morning *
My doctors are letting me come home today I will see you all when I get home from the hospital my counts are 100 today I miss everyone

by: Will Moore


Well, Will is in the hospital as of 10:00am today. His counts are still zero and he has had a fever that has come and gone. His blood pressure was low when he got here this morning but is now better.

They did draw cultures from what seems like every part of his body. These cultures will grow for 24 hours which means we have to be here for that long. After 24 hours, and IF the cultures don't grow, and IF he stays fever-free, we will get to come home. SO... we are hoping to be home some time tomorrow. We'll just hang out here in the Jude and see!

I'll update if anything changes. Thanks so much for checking in on Will and praying for him.
Love,
Ali

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 3:36 PM CDT

*UPDATE* Friday 11:00am Will is going inpatient at St Jude. He has been running fever and has a low blood pressure. They have drawn cultures that will grow over the next 24 hours. I'll let you all know how he's doing after we get settled "upstairs" at the Jude.


Will went to St Jude on Monday and his counts were 300. Since they were still going down, he did not get any chemo. He did go to school yesterday (Tuesday) until 12:00. It is Homecoming week at school so everyday the students and teachers can dress up according to the day's theme. Tuesday was mismatch day~Will and Emma Kay fit the part!


Then today was Redneck day, and he had alot of fun with that and so did Emma Kay.


Ben played with Will's wig ~ it's a mullet~ the other day and I just had to snap this picture.



Will went back to St Jude today to recheck counts and to hopefully get chemo. No such luck, his counts are ZERO! So... he won't be going to school tomorrow and nobody knows why they keep going down. Will has not had his at home chemo ~ 6mp ~ since LAST Monday and still has not been able to get this weeks' chemo at the hospital. He has also been running a low grade fever. PLEASE pray that his fever does not go up ~ he'll have to go in the hospital if it does:(

I'll update if anything changes! Thanks for checking in on Will:)
Love,
Ali

Saturday, September 16, 2006 7:06 AM CDT

Well, since I last updated a lot has happened so I will start with last weekend.

We went to St Jude Sunday afternoon and had Will's port accessed and blood drawn for the next day. Then we stopped by Conger Park in Hernando and the children played some and had a good time.








Then on Monday, Veo took him for his treatment and his counts were only 500. He did get his chemo (Methotrexate). Then we met up at the counselor's office in Germantown and Will had a very good session with lots of opening up. His therapist says that Will's feelings of being sad about all of this have stayed "inside" so long tha they have turned into feeling of mad and Will has a hard time expressing them in an "acceptable" way. It very hard to hear that your child feels this way when you see all these other healty children running around at school makeing plans with each other. I know that one day we will be there but it can't get here fast enough!

Tuesday, Will said that his throat hurt and kept on saying it so we took him for a Strep test, and of course, he had Strep. He started on an antibiotic and stayed at home but went back to school on Wednesday. His voice started getting hoarse late Thursday and got worse as the day went on yesterday, along with a headache. We took him to St Jude to get his counts checked and they are now only 300. He has one more dose of antibiotic to take today and then we will just see. They drew enough blood for three cultures to see if anything else is going on in his body along with another Strep test. These cultures will grow over the weekend and they will call if anything "suspicious" shows up. Will has an appointment for Monday morning at 10:00 and hopefully his counts will have gone up and he can get chemo. He has been off of his at home chemo, 6mp, since Tuesday.

So... this is where we are right now. Emma Kay is going to cheerleader camp this morning but other than that, we are hanging out at home so that Will can rest and recover. Please pray for good results on Monday.

Have a great weekend,
Ali

PS Jake Rayborn is having tough time right now and his family is struggling with some news they received yesterday. Please pray for them all. la/jakeowen

Sunday, September 10, 2006 7:17 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Will has been doing pretty good this week. His counts did go down on steroids which is really strange. They also put him on a different kind of medicine for his rash that he STILL has. It is helping ~ some. I feel like his counts have probably dropped more because he has been extremly tired the past few days ~ or either he is pushing himself way to hard to be like the other kids.

Will had two friends over Friday after school and they went to the ballgame with us. Here's a picture of Reed, Will and Eli.

They were all super sweet and got along GREAT. Will is excited that he has a friend now:)

He also went to a birthday party yesterday at Emily Cockrell's house. They swam and played. He had a really good time as you can see~

Sliding fun!

Will and Mary Gracen playing chicken ~ and they won!

Will and Carly

Birthday cake time!

Will on Walker's shoulders playing chicken ~ they also won!
Then he came home and crashed!

He's still fast asleep but will have to get up soon for church. We are also going this afternoon to get his lab work done at St Jude. He will come home with his port accessed (needle in his chest) and then go back in the morning to find out what his counts are, see the doctor, and get chemo. We are also going to his counselor tomorrow after St Jude so it will be a busy day.

Thanks so much for checking in and I will update to let you all know how his day tomorrow goes!

Have a great week,
Ali

Monday, September 4, 2006 7:11 PM CDT

Hello! Well, since I updated last, Will has survived another spinal tap and another week of school! YEAH:)

Will did good last Tuesday with his spinal tap, his counts were good and he hasn't had too much bone pain. He has had some, just not as bad as it could be. He also started with a counselor last Thursday and it went well. We have decided to continue it and hopefully we will see good results.

We went to the football game Friday night and Will and Emma Kay enjoyed themselves. Veo was at the firehouse so I left Ben with my mom. He's hard to keep track of so I took the easy way out:) Here's a picture of Will, Beck, and Emma Kay from the ballgame.

After church on Sunday, Will went dove hunting with Greg and came home with several. YUCK was what Emma Kay and I thought of them! Ben wasn't quite sure what they were and why Will was actually touching them:)

Today (Monday), Veo and I took them to the zoo. It was beautiful weather and it wasn't too crowded.

We were able to see the Polar Bear exhibit and we even were there to see them get fed.

The children were also amazed with the Panda Bears. Ben will probably try to ear bamboo after watching them!


Ben also got to experience Dippin' Dots for the first time and this was his reaction. Will says that Ben is just too crazy!


Will has an appointment tomorrow morning at St Jude for lab work and chemo. Please continue to pray that his counts will stay just right and that his feelings of "belonging" continue so that he can enjoy school and playing with friends.

Thanks so much for checking in ~ also, please keep our good friend Allen Smith in your prayers. He is in the hospital right now ~ you can check on him at la/allensmith.

Have a great week,
Ali

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 5:07 AM CDT

Sorry for not updating sooner but we have been so busy with school and everything else.

Since my last update, Will has been doing a little better with wanting to be at school. He hasn't been coming to me as much but still has the feeling that he doesn't fit in very well. We have found a conselor to help him work through some of the problems he is having and we will start with her on Thursday.

We also celebrated Pops' birthday and the children were so excited to give Pops a St Jude sweater vest that actually fit:) Here is a picture of them all with Pops on his birthday last week.


Will did not go yesterday for his treatment. He is going today for a spinal tap and then his treatment. He will not get any chemo in his spine, they will just take some spinal fluid out and make sure there aren't any leukemia cells trying to come back. Please pray for CLEAR spinal fluid. Veo and his mom, Grammy, will take Will today. This will be the first time that Will has been put to sleep without me there. I am trying to let Will rely on other people since he is having these seperation problems with me, but it is SO hard to not be there today.

He will also start Dex and get Vincristine. They are going to try a reduced dose of Dex since the past time was SO BAD. He's already having problems with making friends that I really hate for him to start a medicine that makes him so mean. I know that it is hard for the other children to understand that it is his medicine that makes him act that way.

Will is really excited that he will start baseball lessons on Wednesday. To help him feel better about not being able to play football in the city league, we have found someone to help Will with baseball once a week. Hopefully this will help him have something to look forward to:) We are trying everything to help him at this point!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. I will update later with results from today.

Love,
Ali

*Make sure that you check out the link below for the song, "Halls of St Jude".

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 2:12 PM CDT

Well, since I last updated on Friday, Will has been to St Jude twice. Saturday morning he woke up with his mouth hurting. He had an ulcer on his gums where he had lost a tooth. Since his counts were down, the doctor wanted to see him. We spent all day in the medicine room getting the ulcer swabbed for several different cultures and getting his counts checked again. His counts came back at still 400 so they took him off of all his 6mp until Monday, gave him some mouth wash and some medicine and let us come home. Will was so good about having to spend his day off from everything at the hospital.


We went to church on Sunday, school Monday morning, and then off to St Jude for his chemo yesterday afternoon. His counts have THANKFULLY gone up to 1200 so he got his full dose of methtrexate(chemo through his port) and is back on his full dose of 6mp at night. We were so disappointed that we didn't get to see Anne Raegan on her birhtday - Happy Birhtday Anne Raegan! We were also sad that we didn't get to see Allen and Amie Smith, even thought they were SO sweet to leave Will a "happy" since he has been having some "down" times lately. Thanks so much Amie and Allen! We did get to see a new family at St Jude that we have talked to before and Will really took well to their son, Zachary, who is in his fourth week of treatment for ALL also. I try to fill his mom in on the things that she has to know right now about the treatment, I don't want to overload her:) Here's a picture that Emma Kay took of Will and Zachary.

Back to school this morning we went. Will didn't come to me AS much today wanting to leave but is still have problems with being there with all the other children. I think that if we stick to it, then it will get easier. A bigh THANK YOU to Mrs. Jackson, his teacher, for putting up with us. I know it has to be hard. Here's a picture I snapped this morning. Can you tell who likes to go to school by looking at this picture?!:)


I just had to include a picture of Ben since I haven't posted one in a while. He doesn't like having his picture made right now so he won't look at the camera. Of course, his favorite food is Doritos, especially in the morning!



Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please continue to pray that Will is able to find some peace in his life and that this ulcer clears up soon.

Have a great week,
Ali


NEW LINK!!!!

Friday, August 18, 2006 4:49 PM CDT

Will is doing good this week with school starting back. He (or you could say we) decided that he didn't have to wear his mask since it made him feel different. He has had a hard time getting back into being around all the children at school. Here is a picture of his first day at school with his teacher, Mrs. Rachel Jackson.



Mrs. Dees was nice enough to take this picture of Alison, Rebecca, Kendal, me, Will, and Emma Kay all on our first day back at MHS. I told everyone that once Ben gets there, we will have the whole family there:)



I also had to snap this picture of Will and Emma Kay in front of the BRAND NEW library that we have at MHS. We are all enjoying the new school SO much. Emma Kay can't wait to get to go to library with her class.



Emma Kay really did good her first day also. Here is a picture of her and her teacher, Mrs. Britt Emerson.



Will still has the mysterious rash that he has had for a while now. I know that it must be some sort of heat rash because of how it flares up after he goes out to recess. Like I said before, he is still adjusting to being back at school. He told me today that he just didn't think that he belonged there. Of course, when I picked him up and all the other little boys in his class were loading up in a limo and he hadn't been invited, we both cried and I knew then why he had had such a rough day.

We are looking into some help for Will in the way of someone to help him sort through some of the feelings he has going on right now. We just ask you to pray for him physically and emotionally. Like I always tell everyone, you never know when you will wake up and YOUR child will be sick so don't take a day for granted!

Thanks so much to our MHS family for making us ALL feel so good about coming back!

Thank you all also for checking in on Will. Have a GREAT weekend. I will update Monday after his visit at St Jude. Pray for high counts:)
Love,
Ali


If you haven't watched the slide show below, it's worth watching! Just click the link and follow the directions. I have to watch it at least once a week:)

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 6:56 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Will went to St Jude yesterday for his treatment. Veo and his mom, Grammy, took Will for me since I had to start school yesterday. Will's counts are down to 400 so he is wearing his mask. Will's doctor is giving his rash one more week to "settle down" and then he promises to try something other than the cream that we are using 3 times a day. Since Will's counts are down he received half of his chemo treatment yesterday and will take a reduced dose of 6mp at night. The doctors have also decided that when Will is scheduled for another round of Dex, he will only get half of the dose. Hopefully this will work! We have to have faith:)

Will really enjoyed Grammy going to the hospital with him yesterday. He likes to show his family what he does when he goes up there. They also hit both giftshops and brought back lots of goodies:)

We also have a new member in our family. Her name is Suzie Q.

Greg found her about 2 months ago on the side of the road. She was hurt but is all better now after staying at their house. Will is loving taking care of her and playing with her. She is a great dog and is really good with the children.

I think that it is helping Will to have something to take care of every day.

We had Meet-the-Teacher last night at our school. Veo took Will and Emma Kay since I am an Assistant this year in Susan Bouchillon's room. I will only work until 12:00 everyday so I will still be able to take Will for his treatment on Mondays. Hopefully Will is going to feel more "secure" in staying at school all day since I will be there some. Will's teacher is Rachel Jackson this year and he is really excited. He has such a great class with lots of his friends in it. He took his supplies last night and saw his room. Emma Kay will be in 4K this year and is in Britt Emerson's room. She also has a wonderful class and is getting excited about going to school.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please pray that he doesn't get fever with low counts and that he is OK with wearing his mask to school on Thursday for the first day of school. Also, please pray that Will has a great school year and can feel like he actually "fits in".

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, August 8, 2006 9:18 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Will had a good visit yesterday at St Jude. His counts have rebounded to 1800. They are usually alot higher after Dex but we have to remember that Will was not able to finish the Dex last week. He still has a rash that is really bothering him. We have tried everything. His doctor gave him different kind of cream that will hopefully work. We have been putting it on him since we left the hospital yesterday but it hasn't helped yet. Dr Howard assures us that by the time Will is scheduled to start Dex again (3 weeks) that they will have come up with a game plan for the remaining weeks of Dex left in Will's treatment plan.

While at the hospital yesterday, Will and Emma Kay got to meet some of the wrestlers that were wrestling at the FedEx Forum last night. Here is a picture I got of all of them.

They have on doctor coats because their "costumes" were a little inappropriate for a children's hospital. It was really kin of funny to see them walking around in those jackets. The kids just kept looking at them trying to figure out why they had the coats on:)!

Emma Kay and Will also enjoyed playing doctor while we were waiting on Dr Howard.

Emma Kay loves to go to the hospital with us but sometimes gets a little impatient. She did a lot better yesterday.

We shopped for school supplies yesterday and sorted through those this morning. Emma Kay is really excited about school. I really wish I could say the same about Will. I guess he may be a little excited. I am going to be working part time at MHS this year as a teacher assistant. I am hoping that this will help Will stay at school more and feel more comfortable with school. Emma Kay will be in 4K this year so she will just be there half day like me. They both start school next Thursday.

Veo and I had a great time on our trip to the lake this weekend. Several couples from the fire department went. Will told me that I wouldn't be sore if I hadn't tried to "be a kid" and ride an intertube:) He says that we are going back and he is going with us so that he can see me do that again!

Well, we are off to finish getting uniforms together for school next week. My goal is to finish up school stuff today so that we can enjoy what little time we have left here at home.

Thanks for checking in on Will. We appreciate you all SO much!
Love,
Ali

Thursday, August 3, 2006 10:55 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Just a quick update on Will. He started the Dex on Monday and it did not go good AT ALL. We struggled through Monday and Tuesday but finally had to call his doctor yesterday. He was having a horrible time controlling himself and just felt YUCK. After talking with each other, his doctors decided to take him off of the Dex. They said that if he is having this much trouble this far into treatment they were going to try taking him off and they will re-evaluate the situation when it is time for him to be back on it in 4 weeks. I do not know if this will have any effect on his prgnosis since Dex is a major part of his treatment protocol but we have to live in the "now" and do what is best for Will. I am concerned about taking him off because we were hoping the steroids would boost his low counts but once again, I have to trust his doctors in their decisions.

Will is doing better this morning and has gone with Sam to Como Creative to paint pottery. I can hopefully get everyone's stuff packed for our weekend "get-a-way" that Veo and I are going on. We are leaving tomorrow and Veo's parents, my mom, and Sam are "on call" with the children. I am so looking forward to some relaxation and adult conversation! Of course, I always have a hard time leaving the children.

Please pray for Will and his doctors as they make such important decisions for Will. We do know that Will is getting the best care that we could ever get for him and are so thankful for St Jude. Thank you so much for checking in on Will. I will update if anything changes ~ if you don't hear from us this weekend you'll know that everything is going as planned:)

Have a great weekend!
Always Believing,
Ali

Tuesday, August 1, 2006 8:10 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Will has had a pretty good weekend. He rode with Veo and Neal on Saturday while they played in a golf tournament and then spent the night with Pops Saturday night. They went and ate fish and then picked beans in Pops' garden. Will had a really good time. Sunday we went to church and then headed to the pool. We swam all day and Alison taught Will how to dive. Then Will rode some more on the golf cart to watch the end of the tournament. So, Will was able to do lots of his favorite things this weekend.

Before we left for St Jude, we dropped Emma Kay off over at Kate's house to stay with her and Sam. Kate LOVES Will and I had to snap this precious picture of them.

Yesterday, we went to St Jude. We were disappointed to find out that his counts still have not recovered. His ANC is only 600. Dr Howard thinks that Will's bone marrow is tired and is just not working as well as it should. He never mentioned the word relapse so we will not even think that way. Will started Dex (his steroid) yesterday and also got Vincristine. The Dex should help his counts come up at least a little. Will will remain on a reduced dose of 6mp(chemo I give him here at home) this week just like he was on last week. Please pray that nothing bad is going on in Will's little body. He just looks so good and wants to do normal, little boy things.

Hopefully we will be able to swim some more this week. Veo and I are taking off on Friday for a MUCH needed escape from ALL children. We are going with some other couples to Hardy AR to stay in their cabins. We will return on Sunday. I just worry about Will and pray that he doesn't get sick while I am gone.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please pray for his bone marrow to get the boost it needs and for him to feel GREAT!

Before I sign off, I have to share this picture of Ben. He was being SO silly, as usual, with his "bubba" teeth in:)

Love,
Ali

Thursday, July 27, 2006 7:00 AM CDT

*New photos*


Good Morning! Sorry for the delay in updating. We have been busy and I just haven't been able to find enough time to sit down and update. I promise to do better.

Will's visit on Monday to St Jude was OK. We were disappointed to find out that his ANC has now dropped to 500. Last week it was 600. We are not doing the mask because of emotional issues Will is already dealing with and Dr Howard felt the mask would just add to the issues. So... we are watching everything he touches and does like hawks! Mom and Alison went with us on Monday and we visited the Memorial Park at St Jude where Alison and Will threw pennies in the fountain and made wishes.

Veo and I were able to speak with Dr Howard alone since Mimi was there to help if Will needed her. We dicussed many of Will's behavior issues along with some physical. Veo and I are very pleased with the answers we got and are working on some of the suggestions that Dr Howard gave us already. We are going to get Will the help that he needs to be at peace with his life so that he can enjoy everyday like other 8 year olds.

On Monday we were able to visit with Amie and Allen Smith, Brandi and Anne Raegan, and Jake Owen Rayborn. It was a good day for visiting as the hospital was 2 hours BEHIND. The giftshop had a sale so we went over and left Veo to listen for Will's name and shopped. I got several good deals and even got some Christmas presents.

Tuesday we (me, Mimi,and Beck)took Will, Emma Kay, Ben, and Alison to Tunica to the Aquatic Center. They had a lot of fun playing. Will practiced his diving board skills while we were there. This one is called the "can opener".

Emma Kay and Ben also had a great time in the smaller "play" pool. Here is Emma Kay in the water tunnel.

Ben enjoyed foating around in "his level" water. He was so amamzed when we first got there. He would just look around at everything and just smile:)

Alison also enjoyed the diving boards and even came over to help Ben play in the deeper water. She is such a sweet "sissy" as all my children call her.


Yesterday I took all three of them to the Country Club to swim. Will went with Veo to play golf when I decided it was nap time:) Then last night we did our nightly ritual of eating popsicles with Lilly Grace while watching Will practice his pitching skills with Jeremy. What will we do when it turns cold outside!

Well, I hope to have time to update more often. Please pray that Will's counts go up ~ Dr Howard said that they need to be at least 1100 by next Monday. We need his bone marrow to start working better. Also, please pray that he doesn't get fever with such a low ANC and that he can find peace and happiness during this time.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. We appreciate your support more than you will ever know.

Love,
Ali and Will

Sunday, July 23, 2006 9:53 AM CDT

Good Morning~

Will has been doing "fair". We can't really complain of any specific physical problems but his mood is much to be desired and he isn't even on Dex! We are starting to see a "trend" each month as to when his counts go down and then comes the irritability. I will just have to say that it is VERY hard to tolerate and it is getting VERY old and FAST. I hate to complain when I know that it must be even worse for Will to go through and that many of our St Jude family are going through even worse but I just have to say how it really is. So, if you see one of us and were are not in the best of moods, now you will know why:)

We have been swimming ALOT and Will wants me to share some picutres of him playing in the pool. The first one is of him going off the slide, which he LOVES to do.

Then he tries to make BIG splashes off the diving board and I actually caught his big splash on camera.

If you look hard you can see those big orange goggles through the splash:)
Then I have a picture of him just relaxing. Check out that great tan he has going on:) I think that he has the best coloring of any child I know.


Well, he has an appointment tomorrow at St Jude starting at 9:30am. Hopefully all will go well. I do plan on dicussing his "problems" with his doctor but I fear I will not get any real answers. I will update tomorrow night with the results of our day. Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please pray for a better week for us all!

Love,
The Moore's


A Mother's Wish
Music and lyrics by Renée Austin

When people ask me what I wish for
I find it hard to say
There are so many things I dream of, hope for
On any given day

I wanna be an NBA star,
Wanna have my own rock band
I want to act in movies, star on TV
Hold the world in my hand

But if you ask my mom about
Just what she wants for me,
She'd smile and sigh, with a tear in her eye
And this is what she'd say to me...

I wish for you a long life,
Happiness and little strife
Healthy legs to take you where you want to go
Strong eyes to see the whole world
Strong heart to find the right girl
And a promise that God will help you live the life you're meant to lead

My own dreams are simpler
I tend to focus on the fun
Eating candy, watching TV
Not answering to anyone

Maybe I'll be a doctor
And find the cure to all disease
Maybe I'll be the president
And work to keep our country free

But if you ask my mom about
Just what she wants for me,
She'd smile and sigh, try not to cry
And this is what she'd say to me:

I wish for you a long life,
Happiness and little strife
Healthy legs to take you where you want to go
Strong eyes to see the whole world
Strong heart to find the right girl
And a promise that God will help you live the life you're meant to lead

I heard my mother praying
In her bed the other night
She said "God, please help my baby
Please make him alright."

She wished for me a long life
Happiness and little strife
Healthy legs to take me where I want to go
Strong eyes to see the whole world
Strong heart to find the right girl
And a promise that God will help me live the life I'm meant to lead
That's a mother's prayer...
A mother's hope...
A mother's wish...

Wednesday, July 19, 2006 9:03 AM CDT

Good Morning! I know that you are all shocked to see an update:) We have been so busy, mostly with swimming, that I just haven't had a chance to sit down long enough to update.

Last week Will just had a great time at baseball camp at Ole Miss. The last day was Thursday and Veo and Pops went to see what all Will had learned.


Will received the Gatorade "Will to Win" award.

It is given for hustling, being a good team player, and so on. Only one camper received it and Will was the one! We were so proud of him. Of course, Ms Robin got a picture for me and sent it to me. I don't know what I would have done last week without Robin and her camera:)

Then this past weekend, the Fire Department granted the wish of a little boy, Blair Moody, from St Jude. He has ALL just like Will and is just a few months behind Will in his treatment.

The Fire Department used the money it raised from the golf tournament to grant the wish. Blair and his 3 brothers along with his parents will travel to Disney World in September. It was just a great day for us all.



On Monday, Will had his appointment at St Jude. We were disappointed to find out that his counts are down to 600. He is feeling OK, but we can tell he is wearing down faster than usual. Of course when Will gets tired, he doesn't go to his room and rest, he gets mean. It is so hard for him to understand that rest will make him feel better. He is asking questions more and more lately about why he is sick and why he can't be "normal". He is at a hard age to understand stuff that we as adults have a hard time understanding.

Well, I will try to update more regularly. Sorry to Rebecca that I didn't have any pictures to put of her on the website. I will try to snap one of her to share with you all:) Have a great week and please remember to pray for all the children at St Jude as they fight cancer.

Love,
The Moore's

Wednesday, July 12, 2006 3:20 PM CDT

Hello everyone! I know you are impressed by another update since I know I have been slacking lately.

Will is doing pretty good. He is REALLY enjoying baseball camp. Here is a picture of him and Tucker from yesterday before they left to go.




Yesterday Will worked on pitching and today they worked on sliding and some more batting. Tomorrow Will says they are going to work on bunting and he is thrilled because he has always wanted to bunt. He is really doing good at camp. He keeps up will all the other kids and isn't going to let them beat him without trying. I told him today how proud I was of him for working so hard. I know it is hard for him to keep up with the other kids but he is doing a GREAT job. I don't even know if any of the other kids know he is sick.

Well, Robin is so sweet to take picutres this week for me with her digital camera so I can share them with you all. We only have ones digital camera and Veo has been using it with work this week so Robin is responsible for the photography you are enjoying. Here is one of Will and his coach from earlier this week.



Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please continue to pray for him. I know this heat is hard on him and he already getting a little hoarse. I'll keep you posted of how his last day of baseball camp goes tomorrow:)

Love,
The Moore's

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 7:53 AM CDT

Good Morning! Will is doing so much better today:) He did go to baseball camp yesterday at Ole Miss. He had a GREAT time and loved it! The coach that he is working with actually knows Scottie and Rodney and Rodney even coached him so Will (and I) feel really comfortable with him. He has gone back today with Ms Robin and Tucker. I think that he will be working on pitching today. Yesterday they worked mostly on batting.



After camp yesterday, we headed off to St Jude for Will's treatment. His counts were 5300, they are so high because he was on steroids last week. So he got his chemo like normal.

We got to St Jude about 5 minutes after Tiger Woods left but we did get to see Faith Hill. She was wearing a ball cap and glasses so Will didn't want his picture taken with her. So we just stood there and stared at her! She seemed really down to earth but did look alot different than she had the night before at the concert. Veo and I went to the concert with Neal and Mandy and had a blast! It was great but now Will is driving me crazy to take him to a concert.

We were able to visit with Anne Raegan and Will taught her how to spit. Sorry Brandi! We finally got home after a very long day at 6:30 and we crashed! Will slept better last night than he has in a long time.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Hopefully this will be a better week for him and he can continue to enjoy baseball camp.

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, July 5, 2006 9:46 AM CDT

Good Morning! We hope that you all had a good 4th. We ate at Pops and Grammy's yesterday and Will and Emma Kay enjoyed playing ball and swimming. Then Grammy made them drinks with Sprite and cherries. They have already been asking me to go to the store to get them some cherries for their sprite.



Then we came home and did our own fireworks show. We all lined our chairs up and watched as Veo, Will, and Greg shot the fireworks for us. They did a good job and Ben would clap for each one as Emma Kay held her ears:)



Will had a good visit on Monday at St Jude. His counts are exactly what they want them to be ~ 1500. He did start Dex on Monday and also got Vincristine. YUCK! The Dex has already hit and it is not being nice to Will. We have been up all night the past two nights as Will just can not sleep. He wants to be held and then gets frustrated and gets up and then wants to be held again and so on. It is so strange how sometimes we can barely tell that he is taking the Dex and then other times are just BAD. He will take his last dose on Saturday morning so he should be feeling better by Monday for his baseball camp at Ole Miss.

On Monday we had the chance to visit with Amie and Allen Smith and Brandi and Anne Raegan. I took this picture of all three of them. It is just too cute:)


Well, please pray for Will to find some sort of "peace" during this round of Dex. Also, some rest would also be nice:)

Thanks for checking in on Will,
Ali

Friday, June 30, 2006 6:52 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Will has been feeling better the past few days:) He is still complaining of not feeling good a little but seems to be on the right track ~ thank goodness. Will had some friends to the movies on Wednesday to watch Superman for his birthday. It was really fun and the movie was great ~ long, ~ but great.



After the movies we went by Grandaddy's to pick up Will's b-day present. Grandaddy can make the neatest fruit baskets and this one he made Will had Will's name on it.

It was soooo good! Will loves fruit (and the rest of us too) so this was a great present. It also had some money hooked to it which was just an added bonus:) Will is quite the "money man" lately. He is saving and saving ~ he wants to buy some new baseball stuff for camp ~ I think he should buy some new uniforms for school! Just kidding:)!!!

We also got to enjoy visiting with Scottie and Austin at Pops and Grammy's house. We ALL played baseball in Grammy's back yard. Austin and Ben were so cute running around, picking up bases, and sliding. We had to call the game when it was tied so it will be continued ~ I'm sure~ if Will has anything to do with it. I did get this picture of all four of them. It was not easy to get them all to look and not cry!:)


All three of the children will run in the Optimist Club races tonight at 6:30. Ben and Emma's is just a short "fun run" but Will is in the 1/2 mile run for ages 6-9 years. I think Veo may run along with him ~ I'll post pictures as soon as I can. We also will head off to Arkansas tomorrow for a family reunion of my dad's family. We are excited to get to go and see everyone.

Have a great weekend and thanks for checking in on Will!
Love,
Ali

Tuesday, June 27, 2006 7:46 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Soory for not updating over the weekend. I have had strep throat but am SO much better today. I was already better yesterday but can already tell this morning that I am on my way to being myself again:)

Will did go to St Jude yesterday. They checked him out good after last weeks' scare at camp. His counts are 1100 so they are right where they are supposed to be ~ which it is about time that they were "right"! The only concern that Dr Howard had was the excessive drinking that Will has had since we picked him up in Nashville. He just drinks and drinks. So to be on the safe side, they are doing a urine test and some extra blood tests. Sometimes some of Will's chemo, Vincristine, can cause different things to go wrong. We never heard anything yesterday after getting home and as they always say at the Jude, "no news is good news."

Will is still complaining of just not feeling good. So we just take our days hour by hour and sometimes minute by minute. Sometimes it seems so unfair that he has to go through all of this but he just keeps going so we do to:) He did get his doctor to sign his form for baseball camp at Ole Miss. He asked for money for his birthday to pay for a 4-day baseball camp at Ole Miss. This camp is NOT an overnight camp, thank goodness! It is the week of July 10 and Tucker was really nice to tell us about it, well really Ms Robin but Tucker is going so Will is just too excited. We are mailing it off today since he racked up enough money to pay for it just through his grandparents.

We did make a cake for Will on Friday and our family came over to sing to Will and eat cake. This is a picture of how Ben behaved - all because he wanted to use the candles to get the icing off of the cake:)



Here is a picture of Will blowing his 8 candles out!





Thanks so much for checking in! Will wants me to say a BIG thank you to Allen Smith for the camera you sent him a at camp and the "cool" basketball game you sent him for his birthday. Allen ~ You are such a good friend to Will! Also, thank you to the Copeland's for the donation made in Will's name to St Jude for Will's birthday ~ what a good idea:)

We will talk to you all soon,
Ali

Friday, June 23, 2006 8:29 AM CDT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!

Good Morning ~ we are at home! On Wednesday, Lizzie, the St Jude nurse that was at camp, called to tell me that Will was running high fever and she was about to take him to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville. So.... I call Veo at the firehouse, he comes straight home and we hit the road to Nashville. It was the longest 4 hours of driving ~ Lizzie was so good at calling me from the hospital to let me know what was going on and that helped callm my nerves ~ a little!

Anyway, once they got to the hospital, Will's fever would go up and then down, up and then down. They talked to Dr Howard and an antibiotic was started and blood was drawn for cultures and counts. By the time we got there, his fever had been down for a while and we persuaded them to let us leave! It was a great hospital but just not St Jude:) It was really late so we slept there in Nashville and headed home yesterday. Will was feeling OK yesterday morning but as the day went on, he started feeling yucky again. So far he hasn't had any more fever but has taken stomach medicine already this morning and says he just doesn't feel good. So... we just wait and check for fever. His counts were 1000 when they checked them in Nashville so I am guessing they are still good, who really knows.

Today is Will's 8th birthday. I just have to say that I am so proud of him. To be only 8, he has been braver than I could ever be. I am also SO proud of all the good comments that we heard from the camp counselors and director about Will's behavior and how mature he was. I took some picutres this morning of Will opening some presents from us ~ they are all still in their PJ's:)





Will received lots of mail while at camp and I want to thank you all for doing that. They are sending all the mail that he gets with Lizzie to St Jude on Monday so don't worry if you sent something that he hasn't gotten.

Thank you so much for all the prayers during this recent "scare". We are so thankful to have such a wonderful support system ~ please continue to pray for him to feel better and stay fever free.

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 1:51 PM CDT

UPDATE!!!!!!!

Ali and Veo just recieved word from Will's camp that he is running a high fever and that they are in route with him to Vanderbilt Hospital. Lizzie, the nurse on staff at the camp this week from St. Jude, is riding with Will and will stay with him until Ali and Veo get there. Veo was at work at the Firehouse but is leaving and he and Ali will be on their way. This will be an extremely long 3hour drive for them. Please start praying now for Will's fever to go away and for Ali and Veo to have a safe trip!

I will update as soon as they get there and let us know what is going on!

Rebecca

Monday, June 19, 2006 10:26 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Well, we got Will all settled in at Camp Horizon yesterday. We got there (Kingston Springs, TN) around 2:15pm. We checked Will in and saw Daniel who was a volunteer at St Jude and Lizzie who is a nurse at St Jude who also went to New York with us at Thanksgiving. I felt ALOT better about leaving him there after we talked to them. We went to Will's lodge, #7, and met his counselor Adam. One of Will's room mates was also already there. He is 7 years old and his name is Logen. He is from Kentucky and I am not sure what kind of cancer he has but he seemed really sweet. Here is a picture of Daniel, the volunteer director of the camp, Logen, Will, and Adam, Will's counselor.



Logen's parents were leaving and Will told me and Veo to go. I thought I would just die as we were driving away. I cried and cried and Veo just laughed and laughed at me! I am doing much better today but I keep wanting to call him and ask him what he is doing.

Here is a picture of the camp sign and Will's lodge.





Well, I will update later if anything exciting happens or if I hear from Will. Will can only call us if he is sick. Will's 8th birthday is this Friday, June 23. We will pick him up on Saturday morning at 8:00am. Will's camp address is listed at the top of the page in case you want to drop him a note:)

Love,
Ali

Sunday, June 18, 2006 6:26 AM CDT

Good Morning!

First of all, Happy Father's Day to Veo and all those dads out there! Veo is such a good daddy to our children. When Will first got sick, he was so mad that he couldn't fix it. I guess dads are supposed to "fix" everything. Through all of this, he has been so strong for us all ~ letting me cry or have a fit when I knew that was what he wanted to do. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Will's visit to St Jude on Friday went good. His counts are 1900 so off to camp he will go today. Everything looked good and it was a quick day, which is somewhat unusual:) We visited Anne Raegan through her window. She is inpatient with ulcers and low counts. She looked so sweet through her room window~ just sitting there smiling and waving. Hopefully she can "break out" of the Jude soon!

When we got home from the hospital, they all wanted to swim. It was really hot! They had fun and then a thunderstorm popped up and we had to run for cover.







Yesterday we had Emma Kay's dance recital. She did SO good:) Will was such a good brother to sit there with ALL those girls and clap for his sister.





Then he gave her some flowers for doing so good. She got some other flowers and happies which she has put in her room because she says the are HERS:)!



Will is getting nervous about camp. We are leaving here this morning around 9:00am to take him. Don't forget his camp address at the top of the page. Maybe if he gets lots of mail, he won't get so homesick! Hopefully he will stay:) I'll let you all know.

Thanks for checking in on Will. Our family appreciates your support more than you will ever know!

Love,
Ali

Thursday, June 15, 2006 6:50 PM CDT

Hi everyone ~ sorry that it has been a couple of days since our last update. I have been so busy getting everything ready for Will to take to camp!

Will seems to be feeling OK. He is a little moody which usually means his counts are going down. We will see tomorrow when we go to St Jude if that is what is wrong. His appointment is tomorrow morning at 9:15. He will have his counts checked and then get his chemo that he will be missing due to camp. Hopefully everything will go well so that he can continue on with his plans of leaving for camp on Sunday. I have listed his camp address above in case you want to send him a letter. If you do send him something, mail it early in the week or even this weekend to make sure that he gets it. He is excited about being able to get mail so I already have letters ready to mail:)

I think that he is getting nervous about camp. He is really excited about going but has mentioned several times that he hopes that he doesn't get sad at bedtime. That will be when he misses home. I can say that I am REALLY nervous about him being away for so long. We will just take it day by day. If he wants to come home, I will go get him. If he wants to stay, then I will be the first parent there Saturday morning to pick him up:)!

Will had a good time today at Graceland. This was his first time to go. Rebecca took him, Alison, and Kendal. Angie Archer, Morgan, and Maddie went also. I have this one picture to post because Rebecca took the picutes on the wrong setting of our digital camera. I will post more when she gets hers developed. Will said that it was really cool at Graceland.



Well, thanks for checking in. I will update tomorrow to let you all know how his visit goes at St Jude. Please pray for high counts!

Love,
Ali

Monday, June 12, 2006 5:23 PM CDT

Hello everyone! We hope that you all had a good weekend. We tried to stay cool but it was hard to on Saturday at Will's ballgames. I thought the 9:00am one would be a little cooler but I was wrong. His team won that game so we had to go back at three to play again. It was REALLY hot then. His team lost that game so they were out of the tournament. I do wish that they had won for the boys but I am also glad that we didn't have to sit out in the heat yesterday. Here is a picutre of Will in the dug-out during the game drinking on his gatorade.



On Sunday, Will wasn't feeling very well. We did make it to Sunday school and church. He then tried to fish some with Greg but he said it was just too hot. So they went to the golf course but Will was too hot there also. I think that the heat is just getting to him. He came home and rested. The little ones were driving him crazy so he went to Mimi's for a while to get a "break." He has been up during the night every night since Wednesday to take codiene for his legs.

Will's visit today went fine at St Jude. His counts are high because of Dex. He got his chemo and we were home in time to take Emma Kay to dance. I will take him back to St Jude on Friday to get his counts checked again and to get the chemo that he will miss next week while he is gone to camp. He will leave on Sunday for camp as long as he keeps up the nerve to go:)

Jim Taylor, Veo's former fire partner, has told Will that he would pay him $7 a gallon for some of our blueberries so Will has been picking blueberries this afternoon. He finally got a gallon and is now inside resting. I had to help him reach the high ones. We have learned that we should trim the bushes and they also need to be seperated. We are learning though! My children love to go out and pick blueberries. I am thinking that I could cut our grocery bill down if I planted some more produce out back!:) Here's a picture of Will picking the blueberries trying to stay cool.



Well, I have one last picture to share with you of all three of the children.



The are all looking so I thought I would share it with you all.

Please pray that Will starts to feel better and will be able to enjoy some fun "summer activites" now that ball is over. Also, please pray that he will be well enough to go to camp on Sunday. He is really looking forward to it.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Don't forget to drop him a line in his guestbook so he will know you were here:)

Love,
Ali

*These two families really need your prayers for peace ~ fl/jacob and ky/will.

Friday, June 9, 2006 10:36 PM CDT

Well, it is late but we had Relay for Life and then a ballgame so I cannot sleep! We had a great time at both and the children were all worn out:)

Vacation Bible School is officially over. I feel like it was a very successful week and have heard of several children that were saved this week during VBS. Everyone had such a good time but I think that everyone was worn out!

Will did have to go to St Jude this afternoon. He was having some cramping in his side that has been getting worse since Wednesday. They x-rayed him to make sure it wasn't anything with his lungs and thankfully it wasn't. His counts are climbing on the Dex but he slept all the way there and then most of the time we were at the hospital.

All the sleep must have helped him because he played an awesome game tonight. His team won and it was their last game. They will play in a tournament starting tomorrow morning at 9:00. Yes, I know I need to go to bed:) He did get a trophy tonight since it was their last game. Here is a picture of him and his team.



Here is a picture of him and his coach, Pat. Proudly showing off the trophy.



And here is a picture of Will and his daddy.



The Relay for Life was also a good time for us all. Will walked in the survivor lap and then our family followed in the caregiver lap. Here are some pictures from the Relay. The first one is of Will and his teacher, Susan Bouchillon. Both of them are survivors:)



The rest are of Will and his "fan club".









Everyone came out to cheer him on in the Survivor Lap and then watch as he played games, ate, and just had fun!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Hopefully his belly will feel better and his weekend will be great. I will update to let you all know how it goes! Maybe his team will even win in the tournament.

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, June 7, 2006 6:55 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Will had another great day at VBS. They are having so much fun and learning so much up there. He was singing a song that Kristina Bozeman has been teaching them in assembly and he knew all the words already. There are so many little boys there for him to play with so he is happy and enjoying himself.





Emma Kay and Ben are also enjoying VBS. Here is Ben with his girlfriend, Lilly Grace. She is also our neighbor and he just loves her. They were walking down the street holding hands the other day:)



The doctors did increase his steroids some and we can already tell but we will deal with it. He had a ballgame last night. They won by one point. It was a really good game and all the boys played good, I thought:) We had the "bad" ump again and he had at least one bad call again. Maybe we will let him borrow some glasses next time!



Emma Kay also had a ballgame last night. She got two balls and also hit pretty good. They are so silly on their team and are really more worried about all their pink gloves, helmets, and bats (yes, all pink). Here is a picture of Emma Kay and her friend Belle with their pink gloves.



After all the ballgames, Dalton and Averi Hardison came home with us and spent the night. Dalton and Will played playstation while Emma Kay and Averi decided to put make-up on each other. Ben would just watch Will and Dalton and then watch Emma Kay and Averi. Then he decided he wanted some make-up and Veo quickly put it up!



Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please continue to pray that these steroids don't ruin Will's week at VBS, his last game on Friday, and also the Relay for Life on Friday. I want him to be able to enjoy every minute of his summer. We plan on swimming today and hopefully that will help ease some of the muscle stiffness and pain he is already having.

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, June 6, 2006 6:33 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Will has had a good weekend. We went to church Sunday. He was so sweet to help his sister go to children's church for the first time. You have to be 4 and she is now the magic age where she gets to go:) They love it!



After church, we let Ben come home for a nap with Veo and we took Will's friend Tucker swimming with us. They had so much fun. They really enjoyed the lobster float that Scottie bought Will.



Emma Kay enjoyed it also. Here she is with "baby Kate".


Emma Kay loves babies and wants to take care of them whenever she can. Needless to say, Kate did not want Emma Kay pulling her through the water though:)

We started VBS at our church yesterday. Will invited Dalton and Averi to go with him and they had a blast. Emma Kay liked her class also and of course, you know Ben had fun since they had snacks. Here is a picture of Ben in the car right when we pulled out of the parking lot. They wore him out!



Will's visit went good yesterday at St Jude. His counts are TOO high though. For some reason, his are either too high or too low lately. They are 3400. He started Dex last night so they will be really high when we go back next Monday. He also got Vincristine which causes the bone pain that he is TOO familiar with so please pray that it doesn't bother him this time.

Will has a ballgame tonight at 7:00 and Emma Kay has one at 5:30. His last game will be on Friday at 8:15. The Relay for Life is also on Friday night and Will is looking forward to walking in the survivor lap again this year:) Rebecca is still taking donations and orders for the luminaries that line the walkway. You can buy those in momory or honor of someone. Her number is 562-6275. Please help support this WONDERFUL event and fundraiser!

Thanks so much for checking in!

Love,
Ali

Friday, June 2, 2006 9:03 AM CDT

Good Morning!

I took this picture this morning of Ben. His shirt says "I have decided to put myself in charge." Sounds like something Ben would say if he would talk that much:)


I am new at this putting pictures in my journal entry so I hope that it works. Amie Smith (Allen's mom) was so sweet to try and teach me all these tricks!


Will and Alison headed out for the last day of basketball camp this morning.


Alison ended up spending the night last night after Will's ballgame.

Will's team won last night, 14-8. That makes his team 9-3. They are really improving but Will was so tired last night. He struck out and has NEVER done that before. He was really upset but handled it good. I could tell he either wanted to throw his bat or cry but he didn't do either. This week has been hard on him trying to do basketball camp and then play ball all week too.

Rebecca took Emma Kay to her game last night so that I could go with Will. Veo was at the firehouse so we were short one parent:) Grammy went to Emma's game and Pops came to Will's. I don't know what we will do when Ben gets old enough to play! Rebecca and Grammy told me that Emma Kay did really good and hit the ball great.

Well, Will is feeling OK. He is on all his premeds for next weeks' Vincristine and Dex. Hopefully it will be a smooth weekend and we can relax.

Here's one of all of them this morning. Note that Emma is still in her nightgown but Ben is already eating Doritos! Only in the Moore household:)



Have a great weekend,
Ali

*Don't forget to leave Will a little note to let him know that you checked on him:)**


OK, so the pictures are a little on the large side! Amie, if you see this, let me know how to make them "normal" sized!

Wednesday, May 31, 2006 8:49 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Will's visit yesterday at St Jude was good. His counts are sky high from being off chemo for several days. Hopefully they will come back down to "normal" after this week of getting back on schedule. His mouth sore tested negative for the Herpes virus so there is no treatment for it. It is better but there are several small ones now. It doesn't seem to be bothering him as much as it was so they decided to press on and give him his chemo. It was 6:15 before we got into the medicine room so we didn't get home until around 7:30 pm. Will's cough and stuffy nose is not better but they decided to give him another week to get over it and then they will x-ray his sinuses and chest next week if it doesn't seem to be any better.

Will had a great time at basketball camp yesterday. He said that it was hot ~ they do have air in the gym I just think they are too tight to run it:) He really enjoyed it and bought lots of popsicles from the concession stand with Alison's money. He had a $5 bill and told Alison that he didn't like to break "big money" so he would just use her money. Needless to say, he has ones and quarters today and instructions to buy Alison popsicles today:)!

Everyone is doing good. I am working on getting Emma Kay's room painted and decorated. It is something that was supposed to have happened a LONG time ago. Her room is green right now and she wants it pink. She told me this morning that she just doesn't know why God gave her a green room!

Will has a baseball game tonight, Thursday night and Friday night. Emma Kay played last night and will play again Thursday night. I am tired of ball:)!!! It will all be over with soon though. We are all looking forward to VBS next week at our church. I just love VBS! I know that the children will have such a good time.

Will received his acceptance letter to camp the other day. It has all of the stuff that he will need to take with him along with their daily schedule. I almost cried just reading the letter ~ I don't know how I will ever leave him there for a whole week! Veo will have to drag me away:)

Don't forget Relay for Life coming up on Friday, June 6. Rebecca's cheerleaders have a team and would love any donation you can offer ~ remember that it is going to a GREAT cause!

Please pray for a friend Jake Rayborn. He really needs it right now, along with his family. You can visit him at la/jakeowen.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will!
Love,
Ali

Saturday, May 27, 2006 3:18 PM CDT

Hello everyone~ Will went to St Jude yesterday to recheck his counts and to get chemo. His counts had gone up to 700 BUT he has an ulcer/mouth sore so he couldn't get his chemo. They swabbed it to see if it is the herpes virus, which they can treat. We will have to go back on Tuesday and they will have the results and hopefully it will be well enough for him to get his chemo. It is hurting him when he eats and he just hasn't felt really good. He also has a horrible cough which the doctor says probably goes along with the ulcer. SO..... we want to pray for his mouth to heal fast, his cough to improve alot, him to be able to get his chemo,and his counts to continue to climb.

Will is looking forward to basketball camp next week. It will start on Tuesday and run through Friday. He will get to go on Tuesday but will have to leave a little early in order to make it to his appointment. He also has a baseball game Monday night at 7:00 and Thursday night at 5:30. Those early games are HOT:)

Emma Kay's birthday is on Monday so we are hopefully going to cook-out with family. She will be FOUR years old! I cannot believe it. She should still be little like Ben.

The children have been enjoying the warm weather in the swimming pool. I hear cheers right now from the living room as Veo tells them to get ready to swim. Ben loves the pool and the slide:) He just laughs and laughs. Will has been swimming some but I have been careful about him getting his head under too much with this cough he has. Hopefully he will improve soon so that he can enjoy the water as much as the little ones.

We hope that everyone has a great holiday weekend!
Love,
Ali

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 3:03 PM CDT

UPDATE: FRIDAY ***NEW PHOTOS****

Hello everyone!

Will's visit went OK yesterday. His counts are down ~ ANC 300 and WBC 1.6. I knew they were going to be down because of the way he had been acting over the weekend ~ very moody and tired. Hopefully he won't get any fever and we can stay at home. Due to the holiday next Monday and his doctor being out of town on next Tuesday, we will go back to St Jude on Friday to have his counts re-checked. If they are on their way up then he will go ahead and get next weeks' chemo. This plan will also allow him to participate in basketball camp which runs Tuesday - Friday.

Will is also having some trouble out of one ankle. This could be caused by the chemo he gets every fourth week called Vincristine. If it is the chemo, it should be starting to improve by Friday due to when he received the chemo. If it isn't better then they may look at it further. We will just see!

I had to take Ben and Emma Kay to the doctor this morning. It is like they plan to be sick the week that Will's counts are down:) They both have sinus junk going on and Ben has the start of an ear infection. Hopefully they will start to improve soon so we can start enjoying summer.

I did take Emma Kay and Will swimming Sunday after church. Will was so anxious to jump off the diving board. It is the first time to jump off the diving board since BEFORE he got sick. He said that it felt "so good"! The water was still WAY TOO cold for me, but they enjoyed it. Emma Kay told me that she had a good day at the pool when we were on our way home.

Tomorrow we will head up to the Fed Ex/St Jude Golf Classic at South Wind. Last year we were invited to a family's house there at the golf course and they have invited us back again. They always provide a few St Jude families with lunch, snacks, and goodies for the children. Will also enjoys sitting in the St Jude tent getting autographs from all the players. Then on Thursday I will speak to around 250 FedEx employess and sponsors about Will's journey and thank them for all of their work throught the years. I guess I need to get to work on what I am going to say:)

I almost forgot ~ there is only one new picture because of us trying to get to the doctor on time this morning. More to follow.........:)

Thanks for checking in,
Ali

Saturday, May 20, 2006 6:17 AM CDT

Good Morning! Well, we made it home Thursday night and it was so good to be home. Now, I will miss the room hostess, the food servers, the wonderful chefs but... I did miss home:) Everyone had a WONDERFUL time. Will felt pretty good the whole trip. He tires out faster than most children but other than that he did everything that he could while we were gone.

We stopped in Nassau on Monday and that is where Will swam with the dolphins. They were really big when you got close to them! Emma Kay wasn't sure about the dolphin and just rubbed it ~ the rest of us got to dance with it, hug it, kiss it, and even feel its teeth. It was really neat!

On Tuesday we stopped on Disney's Island, Cataway Cay. There we just spent the day on the beach swimming and building sand castles. It was really nice also. Then on Wednesday we just spent the day at sea on the boat. Will and Emma Kay did some of the "camp" like sessions and then we headed to the pool(s). They had 3 pools on the ship. Everyone enjoyed just relaxing and getting some sun. Veo got a little TOO much sun so don't slap him on the shoulder when you see him:) He is really RED!

We also have good news that Will's MRD came back negative so he remains CANCER FREE:) He will continue to get chemo through his port every Monday until 2008 but no more chemo in his spine. We are so fortunate to be at St Jude where the best doctors are!

Will will return to St Jude on Monday, yes, back to real life. He will get Methotrexate and have his counts checked. This is usually the week that they go down so lets pray for "normal" counts so that he can play ball and swim:)

Sorry that it took me so long to update. I had to take myself to the doctor yesterday. I have a horrible sinus infection. At least I didn't get sick while we were gone:) Thanks so much for checking in on Will. We will post pictures probably tomorrow. Veo is at the firehouse today and you know I don't have a clue how to do it:)

Have a great weekend,
Ali

**Thanks to Rebecca for keeping you all updated while we were gone. I am going to keep her post about the Relay for Life below. I hope that you all will be able to make it ~ Will is going between his ballgame that night.

Relay for Life will be Friday, June 9th at Gabbert Park in Senatobia. This is the event where teams collect money for the laps walked, sell items, auction off items, play games, EAT, etc. All the money raised goes to the American Cancer Society! Last year was my famliy's first time to participate and it was AWESOME.

This year Rebecca is coaching the MHS Jr. HIGH CHEERLEADERS and they will have a team participating as well as performing. If anyone would like to make a donation, please let Rebecca,one of the Cheerleaders, or Alison or Kendal know. They are all busy collecting money. They set a team goal of $1600.00 and they would love to meat or beat that goal!


*Don't forget to check out the link below to see the video of Will and his friends at St Jude.

Thursday, May 18, 2006 8:11 AM CDT

Good morning!

Yesterday afternoon I answered my cell phone and heard a little voice saying "HA HA I am on the big boat and you aren't Beck!". Needless to say it was Emma Kay. I talked to her for a few minutes and found out that she had been having alot of fun.....getting her hair wrapped, having tea with Wendy ( from Peter Pan), and dancing with Snow White. Yesterday was some type of Camp Day on the ship so there was alot of activities planned for the little ones.

I talked to Will and he said he was having a good time, but that he was ready to come home. He said the glass bottom boat ride was really neat!

Ali said that everyone had been having a good time, but she like Will was ready to come home. They are all really ready to get their feet back on land and see Ben. Their plane is suppose to arrive in Memphis sometime around 5:00 this afternoon.

I asked how Will had been feeling and she said ok. I know she will update when they get home and that they will have lots of new pictures to post!

Ben is back with Momma and Alison and I went with them to eat last night. He is soo silly. He is really starting to talk. I know he will be soo happy tonight! :)

Hope everyone has a great Thursday!

*** I am going to make a plug for the Relay for Life coming up in Senatobia.......Relay for Life will be Friday, June 9th at Gabbert Park in Senatobia. This is the event where teams collect money for the laps walked, sell items, auction off items, play games, EAT, etc. All the money raised goes to the American Cancer Society! Last year was my famliy's first time to participate and it was AWESOME.

This year I am coaching the MHS Jr. HIGH CHEERLEADERS and we will have a team participating as well as performing. If anyone would like to make a donation, please let me,one of the Cheerleaders, or Alison or Kendal know. We are all busy collecting money. We set a team goal of $1600.00 and we would love to meat or beat that goal!

Thanks~ Rebecca :)

Thursday, May 18, 2006 8:11 AM CDT

Good morning!

Yesterday afternoon I answered my cell phone and heard a little voice saying "HA HA I am on the big boat and you aren't Beck!". Needless to say it was Emma Kay. I talked to her for a few minutes and found out that she had been having alot of fun.....getting her hair wrapped, having tea with Wendy ( from Peter Pan), and dancing with Snow White. Yesterday was some type of Camp Day on the ship so there was alot of activities planned for the little ones.

I talked to Will and he said he was having a good time, but that he was ready to come home. He said the glass bottom boat ride was really neat!

Ali said that everyone had been having a good time, but she like Will was ready to come home. They are all really ready to get their feet back on land and see Ben. Their plane is suppose to arrive in Memphis sometime around 5:00 this afternoon.

I asked how Will had been feeling and she said ok. I know she will update when they get home and that they will have lots of new pictures to post!

Hope everyone has a great Thursday!

*** I am going to make a plug for the Relay for Life coming up in Senatobia.......Relay for Life will be Friday, June 9th at Gabbert Park in Senatobia. This is the event where teams collect money for the laps walked, sell items, auction off items, play games, EAT, etc. All the money raised goes to the American Cancer Society! Last year was my famliy's first time to participate and it was AWESOME. \

This year I am coaching the MHS Jr. HIGH CHEERLEADERS and we will have a team participating as well as performing. If anyone would like to make a donation to our teams total amount collected, please let me know. We set a team goal of $1600.00 and we would love to meat or beat that goal!

Thanks~ Rebecca :)

Tuesday, May 16, 2006 7:52 AM CDT

Good morning!

I know everyone is wondering how the Moore's are so I thought I would give a quick update.

Saturday after they boarded the plane, they were delayed for about an hour. Once the crew realized who Will was they got the royal treatment. The kids got to go in the cockpit and they were even moved up into 1st Class for the trip.

After arriving in Florida and checking into their hotel for the night, they visited DownTown Disney.

Sunday they boarded the boat and have been sailing since! Yesterday they went swimming with the Dolphins. Will said that it was COOL and Emma said that the Dolphins kissed her and loved her! Imagine that!??!?! :)

Today they are suppose to go on a clear bottom boat ride. Will is excited about all the fish he will see. Greg tried to get him to sneak along a fishing pole, but Ali wouldn't let him! hahah

As we each are talking to them for brief updates, we all hang up with the same impression.......it is all something that none of them have ever done and it sounds like they are having a ball! I think they should have taken all of us too! :)

Ben is here and going between Grandma's. He is doing really good. I know he will be glad when they get back. When he is at Momma's and can look across the street and see his house and both the cars in the driveway, I know he wonders where everyone is. I think he and Mrs. Twinkie may go to Cleveland today to visit Scottie and Austin.

As I hear more, I will update! Have a great Tuesday!

Rebecca

PS.....The first time Emma talked to Momma after getting on the boat she told her that the water looked like it had shampoo in it. ( I guess from how clear and blue it is with all the bubbles) . She is crazy! I can't wait to see what she has to say about it all when she gets home!

Friday, May 12, 2006 10:09 PM CDT

Well, we are all ready for Will's Make-A-Wish (I think:)) Will went to St Jude today and got his chemo that he will be missing while we are gone on the Disney Cruise. Everything went fine. His counts are still high because of the Dex that he is on. We still do not have the results of Will's "big" test ~ the MRD. Hopefully we will get those on Monday.

Will played ball tonight and got a home run (on the other teams errors) but it was still a home run. He was so excited! They did end up losing by one point but it was a good game.

We leave in the morning and will be back on Thursday. I will try to keep you updated ~ maybe I can get Rebecca to update and let you all know how things are going. The children are so excited that they just about can't stand it!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms! I know that our family couldn't make it without our moms and all they do for us!

Love,
Ali

Before I was a Mom

Before I was a Mom I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom - I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom - I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

Thursday, May 11, 2006 1:42 PM CDT

Hello! Sorry it has been a couple of days since my last update.

First of all, Will did great with all of his tests. The MRI showed no change in his brain which is great. Also, the preliminary results of Will's bone marrow test look good and we are just waiting on the results from the MRD (the BIG test). Will has to go back tomorrow for chemo that he will miss while we are gone on the cruise and hopefully they will have the results. He is feeling OK but has been having some stomach issues. He is at home today because the stomach virus and chicken pox are both going around! Ben and Ms Twinkie have both been sick with the stomcah virus but are feeling better now. Let's hope that nobody else gets it since we are only a day and half away from CRUISE time!

Will and Emma Kay are so excited about the Disney Cruise. I think that I will be excited about it when I finally get everything together:) I feel like I am running around crazy trying to get packed and make sure we have everything.

I have added a new link that you all just HAVE to look at. It is a video of some of our friends at St Jude and includes Will in it. Our wonderful friend, Amie Smith, put it all together and then the man that does it wouldn't even take her money for it! See, there are caring people in the world today ~ anyway, just click the link below, and then click on "latest news" and it will take you right to it. It's a tear jerker ~ I'm just warning you:)
THANK YOU SO MUCH AMIE ~ I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY DVD OF THE VIDEO! YOU ARE SO SWEET TO THINK OF ALL OF US ST JUDE MOMS:)

I will update after Will's appointment tomorrow and before we set sail!

Love,
Ali

Monday, May 8, 2006 10:34 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Today is Will's MRI. He is scheduled to go back at 2:00pm. So... we are trying to keep busy so that we won't think about food! I won't eat until he can and it is a hard thing to do:) After his MRI, he is scheduled to go to Assesment Triage and get his labs drawn for tomorrow. He will come home with his needle in so that he won't have to be stuck again tomorrow. Then tomorrow we are on schedule to meet with his doctor at 10:00 and then his bone marrow test will begin at 11:00. When he leaves recovery from that, he will go to the medicine room and get Vincristine and start his Dex. He has been taking his pre-meds so hopefully the Dex won't be too bad. It is going to be a long two days so the cruise will be a nice break from all of these appointments. Please say a special prayer for good results for Will. Also, our friend Allen Smith (la/allensmith) is having the same procedures as Will on the same days this week.


Will went to Millington this weekend with Scottie to watch Delta State play baseball. He was gone pretty much the whole weekend and says that he had so much fun. I am sure that it was nice for him to have a break from all of us but I really missed him. How will I ever make it when he is gone for a week at camp?!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Remember to pray for him during these tests ~ I know how hard it is on me, I can't imagine if I was actually having to have the tests done ON me. I will update to let you know any news that I get:)

Love,
Ali


***Will wants to say a few words:

I am having SO much fun playing baseball. My coach is Pat Hardison and my daddy helps him. and I have a lot of friends on my baseball team. and My team name is the Atlanta Braves. I got to eat with the Delta State baseball team this weekend and I got to sit by the first baseman his name is Hunter that's all!

have a good day!!!!!!!!
Will Moore #8

Wednesday, May 3, 2006 8:12 AM CDT

Good Morning! Sorry for the delay in updates. Things are just crazy around here:) A good crazy though!

Will is doing good. His counts were really high on Monday, ANC 2600. That's a big jump from 400 the Tuesday before. He has started all his pre-meds for next week. He will have a big week next week. On next Monday, Will is going to have a MRI of his brain to check for any brain loss activity. The last one showed minimal loss due to the intrathecal chemo he gets in his spine when he has spinal taps. Then on Tuesday Will is going to have a bone marrow aspirate. This will check to make sure that he is still in remission. If (and when) this shows continued remission, he will no longer get chemo in his spine every 8 weeks! He will only have spinal taps every 4 months to check his spinal fluid. He will still get chemo through his port every Monday but no more in his spinal fluid. It will be so nice to say that we have finally reached the point where we are able to cut some of his treatment out! We will have a preliminary report either Tuesday or Wednesday but the "big" report, the MRD, won't be back for a week. We will be gone on our Disney Cruise when they get the results back. On Tuesday Will will also start Dex and get Vincristine. We pray that this doesn't cause any problems since we will leave for his Make-A-Wish on the following Saturday.

Will is getting so excited about the cruise. We will leave next Saturday morning, May 13, and return the following Thursday, May 18. He has been saving up all his dollars to help him buy all the goodies that he knows he will just HAVE to get! I am getting a little nervous about being out on the boat with no St Jude close by in case of an emergency. I am sure that we will all have a good time and we are all so grateful for Lausanne Collegiate School for making this happen for Will.

Emma Kay was supposed to play ball for the first time last night and it started raining right when the game was about to start. She was so sad and cried a little. Her next game is tomorrow night at 5:30 and it is supposed to rain again! Will is also scheduled to play tomorrow night at 5:30 and Friday at 8:15.

I have to say happy birthday to Mandy today! She is OLDER than me:) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MANDY!

Alison broke her arm yesterday at Bounz at her end of the year party. She fractured it in her growth plate of her wrist. They splinted it at Baptist DeSoto and she will get a cast as soon as they can fit her in somewhere. We pray for fast healing since it is her right arm and summer is here. This is the same arm that she broke when she was almost 4 one day when I was being a good aunt and had taken her to the park. We just don't have the best luck around! I guess if it wasn't for bad luck there wouldn't be any luck at all:) Bounz is the same place that Emma Kay's end of the year party is scheduled for next Thursday. I may re-think us going now!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. He has been reading all the messages and loves to check his guestbook:)

Have a great day,
Ali

Friday, April 28, 2006 6:17 AM CDT

Good morning!

Will had a ballgame last night and they lost. The score was 13-12. It was a really good game. They were tied the entire game right up until the end. He had a great time. He has already been up this morning for stomach medicine abut is back asleep right now. I just hope that he isn't pushing himself too hard.

Will has been having a good time at school. His awards ceremony was good. Dudley and Penny Taylor have donated an award for any child raising $1000 or more for St Jude through Math-A-Thon. The plaque reads "In Honor of Adam Taylor and Will Moore". For those of you who don't know them, their son Adam who is in 6th grade now, is a survivor of Leukemia. His nurse Ben, who is also Will's nurse at St Jude, came and presented it. It was really nice. Adam is a really great young man and I can only hope for Will to come through this and be like him.

Everyone else is doing good. Ben took his golf ball and a carrot bat to the field last night and hit the ball all night long. He is left handed! Emma Kay hung out with the big girls, Alison and Haley, most of the time. She thinks that she is as big as they are:)

We hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 5:16 AM CDT

Good morning~

Well, I would love to say that Will has high counts but he doesn't. His counts were 200 last Thursday and are now 400. Nobody really has an answer to why his counts have not rebounded. His monocytes are coming up so it looks like his counts are trying to come up so they did give him chemo and put him back on his night time chemo. We got the OK to try school and baseball as long as Will doesn't push himself too hard. So, we will just take one day at a time. Will has an awards ceremony this morning at 8:30 that I am going to and he will stay for school after that. His stomach hurt some last night but I don't know why. He is on Prilosec now instead of Zantac so hopefully that will help.

Ben was so silly yesterday on his birthday. Every time we would ask him if it was his birthday, he would shake his head no and say no. Then he would start laughing:) We played baseball and golf in the yard when we got home from St Jude and he is going to be left handed. It is so funny to see him try to hit the golf ball with his new plastic golf clubs which are, of course, right handed.

Hopefully the rain will let off today and the ball fields can dry out for Will's game tomorrow. He plays at 7:00 on Thursday and 5:30 on Friday.

Thanks for all the messages. Have a great day!
Love,
Ali

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 9:40 AM CDT

Good Morning! First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN! Baby Ben is two years old today:) Ben was only 10 months old when Will was diagnosed and sometimes I feel like he has, in some way, been left out. You would never know it by being around him though. He absolutely enjoys everything and is still at that age where everything is wonderful. On Sunday, when we sang happy birthday to him, he just laughed and laughed and then made a huge sticky mess with his cupcake. It was so sweet.

Will is doing good. His mood is OK one minute and then bad the next. I am not sure why he is moody unless he is just getting bored. His appointment is today at 1:00 at St Jude and hopefully his counts will be back up so he can get back to school and baseball.

We had the fire department golf tournament yesterday and it was really nice. Everything went smoothly and everyone seemed to have a good time. The money was raised for several different charities and I am not sure exactly what they are but I know that the fire department will make good use of it.

I will update tonight and let you all know how today goes. Hopefully I will have high counts to report:)

Love,
Ali

Saturday, April 22, 2006 10:07 PM CDT

Hi everyone!

Will is doing good despite his low counts. He hasn't had any fever and seems to be feeling a little better every day. All of his problems that he has been having seem to be going away so hopefully we are on the right track. We won't go to church in the morning because of his counts being so low. We just can't take the chance of him being exposed to something. Will was upset that he had to miss baseball but they have two games next week that he will hopefully get to play in. We heard that his team lost Thursday night and I told him it was because they were missing him:) He is anxious to get back into playing. He has been resting alot so I feel like his counts will go back up next week with him being off of his chemo at home (6mp).

Ben will be two on Tuesday so we are having our family over tomorrow for a very small celebration. We have cupcakes and candles ready for Ben to blow out. Emma Kay says that everyone gets a candle on their cupcake:) She doesn't really understand that this is not a big birthday party.

Well, I hope that you have all had a great day and we will update soon to let you know how Will is doing. He doesn't go back to St Jude until Tuesday.

Thanks for all the sweet messages you have left Will. We all really appreciate your support.

Love,
Ali

Thursday, April 20, 2006 6:31 PM CDT

Well, I have good news and bad news. I'll give the good news first. We FINALLY got new pictures to download on the site so be sure to check out the new pictures. Also, Will and his team won thier first game Tuesday night. The final score was 16-4. Will did great and hit the ball every time. He plays second base.

The bad news is that we just got in from a visit to St Jude. Will was not feeling well so they told me to bring him in for them to check him out. His counts have dropped from 1100 on Monday to 200 today. So.... no school, no baseball, no 6mp. Hopefully being off his night time chemo, 6mp, will help his counts to rebound. He is having some more belly issues and a few other unmentionable issues but please just pray that they all resolve themselves and FAST! If he gets fever with this low ANC, we will be right back in the hospital. They let us come home tonight with some meds and stuff and told us that they would call first thing in the morning to check on Will. He is very tired due to the low counts and is somewhat "moody". He did sleep the whole way to St Jude which did help him feel a little better.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. I know that he would love to hear from you all:) I'll let you know how he feels tomorrow.

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 8:19 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Will's visit went fine yesterday. His counts did not go up as they should on Dex. They actually went down from 1800 to 1100. He does have an ear infection. They did put him on an antibiotic for it so maybe that will keep him from getting fever with it. He is also having some belly issues that hopefully will be resolved soon. We also told the doctor about Will's eyesight. We are going to go ahead and get his eyes checked again by his eye doctor to see if his prescription has changed and if so, how much since his last visit. If anything seems to be out of the ordinary, then St Jude will look into it. So... we need to pray for Will to not have any fever with this ear infection he has. You know, fever puts you back in the hospital and we DO NOT want that!

Will has a baseball game, his first game, tonight at 5:30. He is so excited. He is number 8. He is also student of the week this week in his class and his daddy and Mr Neal are bringing the fire trucks today to show the class. He is really exxcited about that also:)

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. I promise that we will post new pictures soon. We did try one day and lost all the pictures that we were trying to post ~ something has been wrong with that part of his site. Hopefully that is all worked out now! I will let you all know how the first game goes tonight:)

Love,
Ali

Sunday, April 16, 2006 9:26 PM CDT

HAPPY EASTER!

Will is doing good. The Dex seems to be wearing off and he is feeling OK. His ear is bothering him again. It is the same ear that keeps giving him trouble so I am anxious to talk to his doctors tomorrow about it. Will is also complaining about his eyesight. I am hoping that his prescription has just changed but we will talk to the doctors about that tomorrow also. We just had his eyes checked not too long ago when he got new glasses and his eyes were still the same so we will see. His appointment at St Jude tomorrow is at 1:00.

We have had a good weekend. Will spent most of Friday and Saturday with Scottie watching Delta State play baseball against Christian Brothers in Memphis. Delta State won and Will had a great time. We have hunted eggs and sorted through all of the children's Easter happies this afternoon and now they are all asleep ~ finally:) They were all dressed up in their Easter outfits this morning and I did take pictures but Ben wasn't really into taking pictures ~ he wanted to ride his new toy that Mimi gave him as an early birthday present. Ben will be two on April 25.

We feel very blessed to have been together this Easter. Last Easter we were living in the apartment in Memphis and were not able to be with everyone because Will was sick so we have really enjoyed today. My family and Veo's family all got together at Veo's parents house today and ate and ate and ate.... we also watched the children play and hunt eggs:) It was really nice.

Please continue to pray for good days. Will has his first baseball game Tuesday night at 5:30. He is really excited. They will get their uniforms tomorrow. He is on the Braves team.

Our friend Anne Raegan (ms/anneraegan) continues to battle fever. Please keep her in your prayers, along with all the children at St Jude.

Thanks for checking in and we hope that you all had a wonderful Easter:) I will update after our visit tomorrow to let you all know how it goes.

Love,
Ali

We walk in FAITH, hang onto HOPE, and BELIEVE in miracles as we CELEBRATE LIFE with lots of LOVE and PRAYER!

Thursday, April 13, 2006 8:51 AM CDT

Good Morning! Will is doing OK on the Dex. His mood is somewhat to be desired but it has been worse so I can't complain much. It is like he really has a hard time controlling himself when he is on the Dex. I think that after week 100 or so in his treatment that he won't have to take Dex anymore. He is on week 44 or 45 I think. His treatment is around 148 weeks so I try not to count them this early:)

Will had a good time on his field trip to the IMAX yesterday and Veo made it also! That was Veo's first field trip to go on. He probably has a greater respect for teachers now! Will's egg hunt is today. We are leaving the school at 11:45 and I am going to it with him. Ben has an egg hunt at Ms Phyllis' today at 3:30 and I can't wait to see if he even shows any interest in it! Emma Kay is going with Ms Twinkie to Cleveland to Austin's egg hunt. She is my go-go girl. She likes to be in the road all the time. Maybe we can just all rest this weekend and wait on the Easter bunny:)

Will has a practice game tonight and he is really excited about it. They will have their first game on Tuesday of next week. We don't know the time yet. They are getting their uniforms sometime this weekend. We are going to all try to go to the practice game tonight and hopefully Ben will not run out on the field! He is just so silly:)

Thanks for checking in on Will. Please continue to pray that the Dex doesn't get any worse!

Love,
Ali

Monday, April 10, 2006 9:09 PM CDT

Hello everyone! Yes, we are still here, I just haven't had a minute to update.

Will's visit was good today at St Jude. His ANC was 1700 so it is holding right around what it was last week. He got his chemo, Vincristine, which is the one that causes bone and joint pain but hopefully he won't have any trouble this week. He also has started his Dex so we will just pray that his mood doesn't go downhill. He was so tired tonight and was really cranky but maybe after a good nights sleep he will be better. His stomach is bothering him a little bit and hopefully that will be better tomorrow also.

We visited Anne Raegan today and she was getting packed up to go home:) They were really ready to break loose from the Jude since they have been there since last Thursday. Her counts are still down but she was feeling much better and her ulcers are starting to clear up. We also got to see our friend Allen Smith. He brought Will a stuffed rabbit that is holding a baseball. Will loves it and we have decided his name will be A.W. for Allen and Will. Thanks Amie and Allen for thinking about Will. They were waiting on their flight back home. We will see them again in a couple of weeks.

Will is very excited about his field trip to the IMAX on Wednesday. Veo is going with him so that I can go to Emma Kay's Easter egg hunt at her preschool. Will's egg hunt will be on Thursday and I will go to that with him. We will be ready for a break on Friday after this busy week. Emma Kay goes to the dentist tomorrow for a follow-up visit from her dental surgery. Maybe she won't scream this time:)!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. We really appreciate you all so much ~ please leave Will a message to read. I will try to update more often this week.

Love,
Ali

Friday, April 7, 2006 6:37 AM CDT

Hello everyone!
Will is continuing to feel good. He is continuing to take all his pre-meds for next weeks' nasty round of chemo. I really hope that they work since he has a busy week next week. He will go on a field trip to the IMAX next Wednesday with his class and then on Thursday they will have their Easter party. We will have an Easter egg hunt tomorrow at our church that he and Emma Kay are also looking forward to.

I have been trying to teach Ben how to hunt Easter eggs but he has NO desire to hunt them. He would rather stand in the the yard and hold the water hose in hopes that some water will come out of it. Every now and then there will be some water left in it that will drip out and he loves it! He is so silly. Ben has also gotten where he wants to leave with anybody that comes over. It makes it hard for anybody to just come "visit".

Ben and Will went shopping with Grammy yesterday in Southaven. I am sure that Grammy is ready for a long nap after that. Then they went to spend the night with Grammy and Pops. Will is determined that Pops is going to take him to school this morning. Emma Kay and I had a girls night. We painted her toenails and she was thrilled. Of course they are pink:) I am trying to spend some extra time with Emma Kay. She has been saying stuff about Will's sickness lately and I think that she has missed out on some of the attention that she needs. She is, of course, eating it up!

Thank you so much to Sally Pippin and Jana Powell for bringing us dinner this week. My shingles are continuing to improve and hopefully the hard part is behind me now.

Brandi Sanders, Anne Raegan's mom, called me late yesterday and little Anne Raegan is inpatient at St Jude. Brandi said that Anne Raegan is very sick and they are running lots of tests to try and figure out what is wrong with her. Please keep them in your prayers. It is so hard to be inpatient when you are used to being at home with all of your children.
Her site is ms/anneraegan but I know that Brandi has a hard time updating while they are inpatient with Anne Raegan being so small it is hard to leave the room even for a second.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. We hope that you all have a great weekend!

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, April 4, 2006 9:04 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Well, Will and Veo did great yesterday at St Jude. Every department was running on schedule so they had a fast and easy day. Will's counts were 1800 ~ right where they should be so he received his chemo and they were on their way home. Will starts his pre-meds this week for next weeks chemo which is the dreaded Dex and Vincristine. It seems that he gets this yucky combination every time before a holiday! Hopefully the pre-meds will take care of most of the side effects and he will be able to enjoy Easter. You know, we were not home last Easter. We were living in the apartment in Harbor Town and Will was so sick that day. We spent the day in the Medicine Room at St Jude last Easter so I missed Ben's first Easter. We will make up for it this year:)

Will is excited about the opportunity to attend a camp sponsored by St Jude for children with cancer. He would spend the night away for a few nights and have a wonderful time. We are still "discussing" this but I think that it would be good for Will. He would be just like all the other children there.

I have been having a hard time with my shingles. I have been in some pain and just felt YUCK! Veo got all Will's homework done last night and even missed his fire meeting so that I could just go to bed! Hopefully things will get better in the next few days. I am not a very good patient since I like to be in "charge" of everything so this has been trying:) So many of you have sent me messages and cards and I really appreciate it!

Thanks so much for checking in on us ~ we love to read your messages even though I have been so bad about updating every day! I'll try to do better:)

Love,
Ali

Friday, March 31, 2006 2:02 PM CST

Things are going good for Will this week. He has been to school everyday this week and they are officially finished with Achievement Tests! I know that the teachers are as happy as Will was this morning to have that behind them all. Will has complained a little with his ear but seems to be making it OK. He has been so sweet to me and has been helping me since I have been a little out of commmision with my shingles. When I told him that I couldn't go back to St Jude until they were cleared up and that his daddy would have to take him, he said," I just don't know if we can do that." I have faith in Veo to be able to handle Monday and then hopefully I will be able to go back the next Monday.

Will is still counting down the days until the Disney Cruise. He has a calendar that they gave him and he wakes up every morning to go straight to the calendar and marks off another day. Emma Kay also asks every day if we are going to the beach that day. She just doesn't understand time!

I have been having good days and bad days with my shingles. Maybe I should say good hours and bad hours. The pain seems to come and go. Yesterday was pretty good for me but today has been different. I am just so tired today even though we all slept good last night. The spots are spreading some and I feel they will make a complete circle around me before it is all over with. Thank you to Sheila Brownlee who let Will pick out a candle for me. It smells great and Will was so excited to give it to me:) Hopefully this shingle thing will all be over with before long and then we can get ready for our next "hurdle", whatever it may be!

Thanks so much for checking in on us! We hope that you all have a good weekend.

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, March 29, 2006 10:22 AM CST

Good Morning ~

Will is continuing to do good. He went to school yesterday until around 1:00. We really want him to get through these Achievement Tests. He wore his mask some and today I told him he didn't have to wear it as much. I just think that the benefit of him being at school outweighs the whole mask issue. His ear seems to be feeling a little better or either he has just stopped complaining. He is suffering from a runny nose and cough but hopefully that will clear up now that he is on the Zyrtec.

For me, on the other hand, I have Shingles. I knew that hadn't been feeling well and then yesterday I broke out with a really painful rash on my back. I went to the doctor this morning and they are sure that it is the Shingles. I called St Jude and by looking at some of Will's bloodwork they feel that he is going to be immune to it from the shots he got for being exposed to the chicken pox a while ago. I cannot go back to St Jude until all the blisters are cleared up so it looks like Veo may have "Jude duty" next Monday if I am not better. This is probably caused by stressed ~ can you imagine, me being stressed?:)

Please just pray that the pain gets better for me and that Will doesn't have any complications from me ~ I would just feel horrible if I caused him any problems. Thanks so much for checking in on Will!

Love,
Ali

Monday, March 27, 2006 3:26 PM CST

Well, we are home from Will's treatment. Will's counts are down ~ ANC 300. I really expected this because this is the week in his treatment plan that his counts have been going down. He did get his chemo but his doctor has reduced the amount of chemo that he will get at home. Hopefully this will help his counts rebound and get back up. The doctor also started Will back on Zertec and gave him a decongestant for his ear. Hopefully this will also help him to start feeling better. Will does have to wear his mask but will return to school tomorrow for his Achievement Test. He may just not stay all day. He is nervous about his friends seeing him with the mask so... if your child goes to school with Will, please make sure they know he will be wearing a mask some and that he CANNOT make them sick. It is the other way around:)

He is also worried about what the children on his baseball team will say when they have practice so I am going to try and get Coach Pat to talk to them beforehand. I think that it is just easier on Will when he knows that everybody else knows he is wearing a mask.

We did get to see some of our friends today. Anne Raegan was so full of herself and cute as can be. We also saw Madelyn (tn/madelyn) and met a family from Nesbit. I am glad today is over and hopefully the rest of our week will be calm!

Thanks so much for checking in on our family:)
Love,
Ali

Saturday, March 25, 2006 9:20 PM CST

Well, everyone is asleep so I decided that I better update! Will is doing OK. He stayed at school on Friday until around 1:00. He came home with an ear ache and was just tired. He did make it to Lexi's birthday party and had a good time. He slept late this morning and seemed to feel some better. Will was up a lot last night just crying and after a little codiene he did finally rest good. He is battling a cough and runny nose now along with a sore ear so we will just see what Monday brings. He has stayed fever free so far so hopefully he will make it through one more day without fever. We are planning on going to church in the morning as long as our night goes well.

Will did get out some today ~ with his ears covered from the wind. I felt like everyone needed a little fresh air after being in all week with the rain and cold weather. He seemed to enjoy himself and played. Veo is at the firehouse so I am "soloing" it. I figured I better get them all worn out pretty good:)

As for our mouse, he is gone. He obviously had something wrong with him and stared me and the children down this morning as we stood on the couch screaming while we waited on Veo and the other fireman working with him today to get here to get him OUT! Looking back, I think that we scared the mouse so bad he must have had a heart attack! It is funny now but was not so funny this morning. I knew the mouse would come out when Veo wasn't here ~ I am just glad that he is gone and I hope he hadn't invited any of his friends in!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will! Have a great SONday tomorrow~

Love,
Ali

Friday, March 24, 2006 9:32 AM CST

Well, we have had a horrible morning. Will did not want to go to school. We couldn't get him in Rebecca's car so Veo said he would just take him. We couldn't get him in Veo's car and by then Will was going to have to be walked in because it was so late. So I finally convinced him to get in my car and we went to MHS. He started to cry when I got him in the room so Mrs. Bouchillon came out in the hall and talked to us and Will finally went in the classroom. Who knows how long he will actually stay there!

Will's ear is still bothering him but I just don't know what to do. He wants so badly to go to Lexie's birthday party today so I know if I call St Jude and if they make us come up there, that Will could possibly miss the party. I wonder if his counts are going down and he just doesn't feel good. I guess I will just wait and see what happens as the day goes on.

Will did have baseball practice last night and loved it! I had him wrapped up like an eskimo because it was so cold but he wasn't going to miss it. He has it again on Monday night and thier first game will be the week of April 17.

Well, I will let you all know how the day unfolds. You never know~ it could go uphill or downhill. Oh, I almost forgot~ we woke up to a tiny little mouse in our kitchen so please pray that Ben doesn't get caught in the mouse traps:)

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 9:05 AM CST

Good Morning!

Will is doing good. His counts did not go up on the Dex from last week as we had expected. His doctor says that maybe he has something viral going on since his ear is bothering him and to just watch for fever. That means that we need you all to pray for NO FEVER! He is at school but has called with his ear hurting. He is going to try some codine to see if it will stop. He got his chemo on Monday and is continuing his 6mp here at home every night.

Emma Kay did great yesterday with her dental procedures and is at school this morning also. She couldn't wait to get there to show off her silver teeth. They are in the back of her mouth so her cheeks will be sore from pulling them back to show off her teeth. She ate up the attention and got lots of goodies for being so good. She got a new baby with bottles from Mimi which we have already had to dress and undress and dress.... She also got a shirt and flowers from Renee, Jeremy, and Lilly Grace. For those of you who don't know, Emma Kay prays over her flowers when she gets some! She is so silly:) She also enjoyed some popsicles and banana pudding from Beck and Alison ~ can we say spoiled. Speaking of spoiled, Ben was quite spoiled after a night and day with Pops and Grammy!

Well, I will really try and update better. These past two days have just been SOOOO long. Hopefully everything will slow down soon! Thanks so much for checking in on Will:)

Love,
Ali

Monday, March 20, 2006 11:19 AM CST

Good Morning! As usual, no news is good:) Will is feeling good and has gone to school this morning. He had a great Spring Break with just a few break downs from the Dex. His ear is bothering him so I hope they can help us with that today when we go to St Jude. His appointment is at 1:30 so that is good because he can stay at school longer but bad because it will be later when we get home. Hopefully his counts will be up from the steroids and his ear will get better soon. He was so good to work on some of his make-up work over the weekend. He also worked VERY hard on his Soil and Water Conservation poster. It is good but I had to stress several times that he can't always win.

Will is excited because we got a call last night and they drafted ball teams last night. He is on Pat Hardison's team and they are called the Braves. It seems only fit that he should be on the Braves team because he is so brave!:) They have practice this week and he is thrilled.

Emma Kay's dental procedure will be tomorrow at 9:00. We have to be at LeBonheur East Surgery Center at 8:00 am. Please pray that all goes well tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in and I will update on how our day goes.

Love,
Ali

Friday, March 17, 2006 7:09 AM CST

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY KATE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENDAL!!!!

Well, I am actually updating two days in a row:) First of all ~ Happy birthday to Kate and Kendal! We love you both and hope that you have a great birthday ~ we have a present for both of you and my children are wanting to give them to you or open them themselves! Also, Happy St Patrick's Day ~ don't forget your green.

Will is doing good. We went to Memphis yesterday for Emma Kay's pre-op visit for her dental procedure. She will have her surgery next Tuesday at 9:00am. It will probably take a few hours and I am already getting nervous. I never have to leave Will for that long when he is put to sleep! She was loving being the center of attention yesterday with the nurses checking her out and not Will. She told me the other day that she wished she was sick like Will. Wow ~ I didn't know what to say. She just sees him get so much attention.

Will is having some jaw pain but it isn't slowing him down. He is eating in spurts. It isn't the usual Dex eating ~ it just comes and goes. Just goes to show us that every time is different. He is still asleep which is unusual for a week on Dex ~ go figure:)

Will couldn't find any golf shoes yesterday to fit him so he spent some of his money on a new baseball bag. I was really proud of him for picking out something that he really needed. Of course, Emma Kay spent her money and a couple dollars of mine on a Dora castle. Poor Ben doesn't have any money yet(like me:)!) but he has plenty of stuff.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Let us know that you were here:) Have a great Friday~

Love,
Ali

Thursday, March 16, 2006 6:08 AM CST

OK~ I know that I promised to update more but we have been so busy. Will has been having a good Spring Break. The highlight so far has been spending the night with Tucker and Canan at Tucker's house on Tuesday night. Ms Robin is very brave. He had a blast:) On Tuesday I also took Will and Emma Kay to the ComoCreative where they paint their own pottery. They both loved it and we will pick up their pottery on Friday. Yesterday we took them all to the zoo. Ben LOVED it. Emma Kay said she wanted to go inside. She is so prissy:) Will was OK ~ just not in the best of moods. I think it was a combination of being tired and on Dex.

Today we will go for Emma Kay's pre-op visit at LeBonheur East Surgery Center. Emma Kay will have her teeth worked on next Tuesday. I am getting nervous about how she will handle it all. We are just so used to it being Will who goes through everything and now we will deal with Emma Kay being put to sleep. Hopefully after this, she won't have to go through anything else. This is the same place where she had both of her ear surgeries so we are familiar with them and like them.

All in all, the Dex hasn't been AS bad as it has been in the past but it is not the "usual" Will. I believe that Veo and I are both in desperate need of a break but there is not one in sight. You might need to pray for our patience and strength!:)

Will got his itinerary from Make a Wish yesterday and we are all getting excited about the cruise. They sent him a calendar to count down the days which will help him understand that it is a while until "cruise" time.

Thanks so much for checking in! Just because I haven't updated doesn't mean we haven't checked his messages. I just haven't had a chance to sit down for a couple of minutes and THINK about what to say:)

Have a great day,
Ali

Monday, March 13, 2006 2:26 PM CST

We are already home from St Jude:) We checked in up there at 7:45 this morning and Will was in procedures by 9:00. Of course, it was 10:00 before he was asleep and it took ALOT to get him to sleep. It seems that they have to give him more and more sleepy medicine each time to get him to lay still. He did great but didn't want to wake up in recovery. He was even snoring! Once he was awake we ate lunch with Amie and Allen Smith in the lovely St Jude cafeteria and then they were calling Will to the medicine room for his chemo. We were out of there before we were scheduled to be ~ that's a first. His counts were just where they like them to be. His ANC was 1100. Just right:)

Will's back is sore but he hasn't missed a beat. Emma Kay did great spending the night with the Webb's last night. It really helped out this morning. Ben was going strong with Mimi this morning when we left at 6:45. He then went to Phyllis' and I am just waiting on him to wake up from his nap to go get him. So.... I hope that Will doesn't get sick from the sleepy medicine this time like last time. We'll just keep our fingers crossed.

Alison and Kendal are having a great time at Disney World. They finished up their cheerleader competition last night and are just enjoying a day at Disney today. They will head home tomorrow. Rebecca will probably need a vacation after this:)

Veo had a great b-day yesterday but says that he feels OLD ~ I know what he means. He is coming home tonight instead of staying for a full 24 hour shift at the firehouse ~ just in case things start to go downhill here. I just have to say thank you to everyone who helps our Mondays go smooth. We just couldn't do it without everyones help. Mondays are so tough but knowing that we have such wonderful people here to help really helps us.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. He is so lucky to have such a wonderful support group. I promise to update more often ~ I don't think I have ever gone a whole weekend without updating:) Please pray that the Dex and Vincristine don't ruin Will's Spring Break. I hope to do some fun stuff with the children.

Love,
Ali

Friday, March 10, 2006 2:54 PM CST

Will is continuing to do good. He had a good time at his banana spilt party yesterday despite the bad weather. He said that they had to go into the hallway twice for tornado warnings and that he was scared! He enjoyed the bananas and peanuts more than the ice cream. That is one thing that has definitely changed since all the chemo started ~ sweets are not his favorite. Emma Kay and Ben eat enough sweets to make up for him not liking them though:) Will would rather have a popsicle or a cup of crushed ice. He will just crave either one of those.

I have heard from our traveling cheerleaders and they are now in Orlando and on their way to the Magic Kingdom. I THINK that they will perform tomorrow and Sunday. I am sure that Alison will call me and let me know for sure tonight. She has already called me twice since they left this morning. Kendal did not make cheerleader at MHS yesterday but is doing OK. She is such a trooper! I am so proud of her and how she handled it ~ Rebecca and Alison too! We were all disappointed but there is always the dance team and of course, the SGA Stars. I know that they are going to do great competing this weekend ~ Go Stars!

Will is really enjoying the pretty weather and has gone to "work" with Greg. I am not sure how much work they are doing ~ more playing and being the silly "boys" that they are. We planted some flowers in some of our pots today but Emma Kay had to come inside because she was "too hot". She is so silly and spoiled:)

We should be getting all of our stuff for the cruise soon. I do know that we are going to be stopping on two islands and on one, Will and Emma Kay will be doing something with the dolphins. I am not sure if it is swimming with them or just petting them. Either way, I know that they are going to enjoy it. The other island is Cast a way Cay which is Disney's island and we will take a glass bottom boat tour and then just spend the day on the beach there. It is not until May 13 ~ but we are all starting to count it down. Will is just so excited!

We hope that you all have a great Spring Break. Will is excited about Carly's b-day party tomorrow. It is skating so let's pray that he doesn't break anything:) His spinal tap will be early Monday morning and then he will get Vincristine and Dex. Please pray for clear spinal fluid, and no side effects from his chemo. I really want him to be able to enjoy his spring break. I am hoping to take them some places during the week.

Thanks for checking in and all the sweet messages. WE ALL appreciate them and love reading them:)

Love,
Ali

Thursday, March 9, 2006 8:11 AM CST

Good Morning! Sorry I didn't update yesterday but it was a BIG day and we were exhuasted when we got home.

The day started with us going to Lausanne Collegiate School where the middle school children had raised money to grant Will's Make-A-Wish. He thought he was going just to help them with a talent show and at the end they told him that they were granting his wish of a Disney Cruise! He was a little embarassed but SO excited. We will go May 13-19. The children put so much hard work into raising money for his wish. Thank you so much Lausanne:) They also had goodies for ALL of my children and Emma Kay even said to me that she got something too! She has watched Will get so much over the past year that it was good for her and Ben to get "happies" too. Mickey and Minnie were there and Ben was scared of them. We finally found something that scares Ben into sitting still!

Then we headed off to St Jude where Will went to his clinic to tell all of his nurses that his wish had been granted. He also wanted to show them Ben because Ben is way to active to ever take with us for Will's appointments. Then we surprised Emma Kay with getting to see Dora and Deigo! They were in town for their show this week and made a stop at the hospital to visit the kids. They read stories to the children and sang with them. They loved it and of course Ben sat still because he was scared of Swiper:)

It was a long day but a good one. Now Will can count down until the cruise. We have never been on anything like this and probably would never have been able to, so we are really excited for Will and are looking forward to it.

Anne Raegan and Allen both made it through their surgeries and are doing great. We saw Allen at the hospital and he was showing off his new "swimming buddy" as he calls his port. We also saw our friend Cole and he looked good with his chubby cheeks from all the Dex he has been on.

Will has started to lose his hair again. He was upset at first but then said he wanted a buzz for baseball anyway. We haven't buzzed it yet but it is getting thin in some places.

Well, I am off to get ready for Will's class bananan split party they are having today for reaching 1000 points in Accelerated Reader. Way to go!

Good luck to Kendal and all the girls trying out for cheerleader today. I am so nervous for Kendal but I know she will do great. We are all excited that she will be joining the MHS family next year. GOOD LUCK and we love you Kendal!

Also, the SGA Stars are leaving tomorrow morning to go to Orlando to compete. Good Luck Alison and Kendal! We will be cheering for you all here:) They may be on ESPN ~ I'll let you all know when I find out when.

Have a great day and thanks for checking in on Will!
Love,
Ali

Tuesday, March 7, 2006 5:56 AM CST

Sorry I didn't update last night. It was after 5:00 when we got home and Veo had a fire meeting so it was wild around here. Will's counts are way up! Yea~ a week off chemo really helped him. So... he will go back to school today. He has been really clingy lately so I hope that he is as excited about school as I am for him. Everything was fine yesterday. His doctor thinks that the itchy rash he has is due to heat and his sensitive skin. Will has always had sensitive skin and now it is just more so.

Next Monday, Will will have a spinal tap to test his spinal fluid and inject chemo into his fluid. We will have to be there at 7:45. What a way to start Spring Break.

We had the chance to see several friends yesterday and even made a new one. Will also got to see Jonathon, his child life specialist who has been busy covering other parts of the hospital. He was excited to see him.

Will got his poster from the Soil and Water contest back yeseterday along with a check for $100. I told him that I would have to take out a loan from him now:) He wants to go cash it today but I told him that some of it HAD to go into his savings account. He wants new golf shoes so I will let him keep enough out to buy those. He is so ready to play some golf. He and Veo have been out hitting golf balls so watch out when you come around our house!

Tomorrow Will has to go to Lausanne Collegiate Middle school. I can't really tell why yet but Make A Wish has asked him to be part of a show they are doing. It should be fun;)

Thanks so much for checking in on us. Please remember Allen and Anne Raegan as they both have surgery this morning. Both their moms are getting nervous and I know exactly how they feel.

Love,
Ali

Sunday, March 5, 2006 1:24 PM CST

Well, we made it through yesterday which happened to be a great day for Will. To think that last year we were in the hospital hearing those horrible words that Will had cancer. He played and played all day yesterday! Our family came over(and Sam ~ who is "family" to us), Will had three friends over and Emma Kay also had a friend over. I took pictures of everyone here for his scrapbook so that he could remember it. I'll get Veo to post them as soon as he gets home from the firehouse. By the end of the day, the boys were dodging the camera and Emam Kay and Belle were posing! Ben had a great time also, trying to keep up with the big boys.

Will is feeling good. He is still battling a cough but no fever so we are doing great. His appointment is at 12:45 so we need to all start praying for high counts so he can return to the "public" world:) He is excited that his class is having a banana split party on Thursday and really wants to go. Surely a week off of chemo helped his counts climb way up!

Please continue to pray for the Whitesides as visitation for Shan is tonight and the funeral tomorrow(Monday). His site is ms/shan. We also have two buddies that will have surgery on Tuesday ~ Anne Raegan (ms/anneraegan) and Allen (la/allensmith). The are both very close to our family so we will pray that it all goes without a hitch.

We really appreciate all your sweet guestbook entries to Will. You are all so special to our family. Thanks so much for all you do ~ keep praying for high counts:)

Love,
Ali

PS Alison and Kendal want me to let everyone know that Will now has his own cell phone ~ thanks to Rebecca and Greg. He thinks that it is the neatest thing ever!

Saturday, March 4, 2006 8:32 AM CST

We are so sad to hear that Shan Whiteside lost his battle with Leukemia this morning. We are all just heartbroken for Gayle and his three children, along with Russ. Please remember to pray for the Whitesides ~ Shan's site is ms/shan. We need to keep them in our prayers.

Will is feeling OK. He is still staying tired but other than that, I think that his counts must be coming back up. His color is better, to me at least.

Today marks one year since Will was diagnosed. We always have such great hope for Will to stay cancer free and then we hear of someone like Shan who couldn't beat it. Cancer is just so horrible but it can't take certain things from us. Some of our family is coming over today to celebrate Will making it throug a year of treatment and his continued remission. I am so proud of Will and how he has handled everything this past year. The things that I have seen him go through... I don't think that I could have done it. I also don't think that any parent should have to watch their children go through some of these things. We are all so happy for Will today as this is a very special day ~ now only two more years to go!

Thank you all so much for what you have done for Will and our ENTIRE family over the past year. You have all made it easier to handle with your prayers, gifts, donations, meals, and most of all ~ your prayers. We will forever be thankful for all that you do for us! We couldn't do this without you:)

We hope that you have a great day and we plan on thanking God today for all he has done for Will over this past year. I will post pictures of today with Will celebrating with his "fan club" so that you can all see how GREAT he looks!

I saw where the St Jude special that Will is on with Amy Grant will be on tonight at 8:00. Isn't that neat how is comes on tonight, the one year anniversary for Will.

Love,
Ali

Cancer is so limited.....
It cannot cripple love,
It cannot shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot eat away peace,
It cannot destroy confidence,
It cannot kill friendship,
It cannot shut out memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot reduce eternal life,
It cannot quench the Spirit,
It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

Thursday, March 2, 2006 6:25 AM CST

Will is continuing to do OK. He had a small rash on his arm yesterday but after talking to his doctor, we decided to put some medicine on it and see what happened. It almost went away so hopefully we won't have to go up there until next Monday. He continues to be tired but doesn't like to rest. He was fast asleep by 8:15 last night, even with us all talking and the little ones running around. We did enjoy some outside time yesterday and I think it did us ALL good to get out and play.

Will does have another sore in his mouth along with the ulcer on his lip. The doctor said that as long as he is eating and drinking good and isn't having any fever we will just watch them. So... that is what we are doing:)

One year ago today, March 2, Veo and I took Will to Dr Narayanan's office because he had been running fever and not feeling well. We didn't come back home ~ after a blood test they sent us straight to Lebonheur. That is when this all started. I remember Will being mad because I made him take his backpack because he would go back to school that afternoon. He thought he was going to get a day out of school:) Little did he know, he was going to get a YEAR out of school! I remember how scared Veo and I were and Will was scared too. We knew it was bad because when we got to Lebonheur, they were waiting on us at the door ~ those of you who have waited for hours in their emergency room know how unusual that was. Oh well, it is all history now and look how far we have come ~ stuck in the house with low counts ~ will it ever end?:)

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Thank you also for all that you have done for our family over the past year! We feel that we can never thank you all enough. Have a great day and continue to pray that Will remains fever free!

Love,
Ali

Last 3 of the 10 Guidlines from God:

8. BE PATIENT:
I managed to fix it so in just one lifetime you could have so many diverse experiences. You grow from a child to an adult, have children,
change jobs many times, learn many trades, travel to so many places, meet thousands of people, and experience so much. How can you be so impatient then when it takes Me a little longer than you expect to handle something on My to-do-list? Trust in My timing, for My timing is perfect. Just because I created the entire universe in
only six days, everyone thinks I should
always rush, rush, rush.

9. BE KIND:
Be kind to others, for I love them just
as much as I love you. They may not dress like you, or talk like you, or live the same way you do, but I still love you all. Please try to get along, for My sake. I created each of you different in some way. It would be
too boring if you were all identical.
Please, know I love each of your differences.

10. LOVE YOURSELF:
As much as I love you, how can you not
love yourself? You were created by me for one reason only -- to be loved, and to love in return. I am a God of Love. Love Me. Love your neighbors. But also love yourself. It makes My heart ache when I see you so angry with yourself when things go wrong. You are very precious to me.
Don't ever forget......

Wednesday, March 1, 2006 6:19 AM CST

Good morning~

Well, Will is feeling OK. He is getting so tired that his mood is somewhat to be desired. He did go to his Upward Awards Night last night. He wore his mask right at the beginning but he said everyone was staring so every time Veo and I looked up to the front of the church where his team was sitting ~ no mask! Ugh ~ it seemed that every child in Tate County was there so we will just pray really hard that he doesn't come down with something. I just cannot believe that he didn't wear his mask. The Awards ceremony was nice, just LONG:) The award they got was a basketball with all the chilren's autograph on it and Will really likes it.

He decided to go home with Pops, Grammy, and Austin. I think that he and Veo had had all the together time that they could stand! I am going to pick him up this morning while Emma Kay is at school with the hopes of getting some schoolwork done. Hopefully Ben will cooperate with us as we try to "school".

Will does have an ulcer that has come up right on his lip. This is probably what is causing his counts to go down. I am hoping that he doesn't have anymore to come up. He says that it hurts and I am sure that it does.

Thanks for checking in on Will. The new pictures at the top show Will the first week that he was at St Jude with his first nurse Regan and then Will this past Monday, almost one year later, with the same nurse. He looks healthy now:)

Love,
Ali

Next two of the 10 Guidlines from God:

6. HAVE FAITH:
I see a lot of things from up here that you can't see from where you are. Have faith in Me that I know what I'm doing. Trust Me; you wouldn't want the view from My eyes.
I will continue to care for you, watch over you, and meet your needs. You only have to trust Me.
Although I have a much bigger task than you, it seems as if you have so much trouble just doing your simple part. How hard can trust be?

7. SHARE:
You were taught to share when you were
only two years old. When did you forget? That rule still applies. Share with those who are less fortunate than you. Share your joy with those who need encouragement. Share your
laughter with those who haven't heard any in such a long time. Share your tears with those who have forgotten how to cry. Share your faith with those who have none.

Monday, February 27, 2006 3:34 PM CST

Well, we are already home from St Jude. No - they weren't just really on the ball today - Will's counts are way down. His counts are too low for chemo, school, etc. The mask is back and he is NOT happy. So... looks like we will enjoy a week of watching for fever so we don't have to go spend the night in the hospital and being together - ALOT! I really don't like weeks of being stuck here in the house but I do know (from experience) that things could be worse - they have been:)

Will's Upward Award's Night is tomorrow night at the church. He will have to wear his mask if he goes. I haven't even approached the subject with him yet. He can't stand to wear the mask and I really don't blame him. I am sure that I can talk him into going with the mask. I know that it will be something that he won't want to miss. I just know that some of the children, especially on Will's team, have never seen him with the mask on. He is always a little embarassed to wear it around new people.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. PLEASE pray that he will stay fever free. I love St Jude but I don't want to have to go sleep on that couch "thingy" they call a bed in the patient rooms:)

Love,
Ali

Monday, February 27, 2006 8:06 AM CST

Good Morning!

Will went to school this morning. I will pick him up right after his lunch to head to St Jude for his treatment. He has been really tired this weekend but it hasn't really slowed him down. I am hoping that his counts will still be up so that he can continue going to school this week. We'll keep our fingers crossed. Hopefully today will not be as long as last Monday or you may see me on the news throwing a fit:) Just kidding ~

Will has had a good weekend. He played some with Tucker yesterday and then went to Team Kid at church last night. He is always so excited about things that they do in Team Kid. He just loves going to it! He is still saving his points that you get each week but said that he just had to spend some last night on a sucker that he had already eaten when I picked him up!:)

Well, I will update later with the results of our day. Please pray for high counts and a quick day!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will:)
Love,
Ali

#4 and 5 of the 10 Guidlines from God:

4. LEAVE IT ALONE:
Don't wake up one morning and say,
"Well, I'm feeling much stronger now, I think I can handle it from here." Why do you think you are feeling stronger now? It's simple. You gave Me your burdens and I'm taking care of them. I also renew your strength and cover you in my peace. Don't you know that if I give you these problems back, you will be right back where you started? Leave them with Me and forget about
them. Just let Me do my job.

5. TALK TO ME:
I want you to forget a lot of things.
Forget what was making you crazy.
Forget the worry and the fretting because you know I'm in control. But there's one thing I pray you never forget. Please, don't forget to talk to Me - OFTEN! I love YOU! I want to hear your voice. I want you to include Me in on the things going on in your life. I want to hear you talk about your friends and family. Prayer is simply you having a conversation with Me. I want to be your dearest friend.

Saturday, February 25, 2006 2:47 PM CST

OK I promise to do better with my updating:) Time flies when you have three wild children running around!

Will has had two FULL days of school. Thursday and Friday he stayed all day and seemed to have a good time ~ as much fun as you can have at school. He was up early this morning complaining of his legs hurting but it seemed to get better after a long soak in a hot bath. We need another bathroom just for Will with his own hot water heater so the rest of us can have some hot water!

He did play basketball today. He did good but not as many goals as last game. It was his last game and now I guess we will get ready for baseball. He was a little worried last night because he has heard all his buddies talking about the competitive teams they are playing on but after a call to Mr Brad (Lance) he felt better. He was just worried that he wouldn't know the boys playing this year but he will after all! I told him that we were going to enjoy this summer with a little of baseball and alot of being a seven year old boy that can SWIM ~thanks to his new port!

We've been hearing alot from Make-A-Wish. We hope to be able to update a little more on that when the "cats out of the bag" for Will:) He's going to have a blast is all I can say right now!

Emma Kay and Ben have been a handful with all the painting we have been doing. The living room is finished ~ finally! These projects I am hoping to finish soon are things that have been put on hold for a year now - since Will got sick. I have decided that things have got to resume now that we are almost at our year anniversary. One week from today will be one year since Will was diagnosed. I just keep replaying the week(s) that led up to us finally taking him to the doctor. I will probably be an emotional wreck this week. So many things going through my head right now.....

Well, I won't bore you any longer. We just have big praises for the last few days and hope many more will follow:)

Thanks for checking in ~ I will post the second and third part of the Guidlines from God below! Have a great weekend:

Love,
Ali

PS HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TO HALEY WEBB. I DIDN'T UPDATE YESTERDAY TO WISH HER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY ~ SHE IS OFFICIALLY A TEENAGER NOW:)


2. PUT IT ON THE LIST:
Something needs done or taken care of. Put it on the list. No, not YOUR list. Put it on MY to-do-list. Let ME be the one to take care of the problem. I can't help you until you turn it over to Me. And although My to-do-list is long, I am after all... God. I can take care of anything you put into My hands. In fact,if the truth were ever really known, I take care of a lot of things for you that you never
even realize.

3. TRUST ME:
Once you've given your burdens to Me,
quit trying to take them back. Trust in
Me. Have the faith that I will take care of all your needs, your problems and your trials.
Problems with the kids? Put them on My list.
Problem with finances? Put it on My list.
Problems with your emotional roller coaster?
For My sake, put it on My list. I want to help you. All you have to do is ask.

Thursday, February 23, 2006 6:21 AM CST

Good morning!

Sorry I didn't update yesterday. Will went to school in the morning but came home at 12:00. He said his stomach was hurting but I really think he could have stayed. He is going to try for all day today. He has GOT to get back in the "groove" of going to school. He does seem better about getting his work done ~ he told me that he can write almost as fast as the other children so I do think (hope) he is on his way back to "normal". If there is such a thing for a seven year old boy!:)

He wants everyone to know that he scored 7 goals at his game on Tuesday night. He did so good! He was really excited. He went to church with Pops last night for supper and RA's. This is something that they used to do together and hopefully he can start going again on Wednesday nights. He went to choir on Tuesday but has decided that he doesn't want to sing in choir, just ring handbells. So I guess he will go on Tuesday's for a 15 minute practice of handbells. He can sing really well so I don't know why he doesn't want to stay for choir.

Will is also really excited because Noah Thigpen sent Will his Flat Stanley from his first grade class in Jackson. So Stanley will be going around with us and taking some picutres of what Will does ~ school, firehouse, St Jude, etc. ~ and then heading back to Jackson. Will did Flat Stanley in first grade also and it is fun. He was so surprised when he opened the mail and found Noah's Flat Stanley. Thanks Noah ~ we are taking good care of your Flat Stanley!

I am trying to get some painting done here at the house. I guess it is going OK. It just doesn't happen as fast as I want it too!

Today is our friend Allen Smith's one year anniversary of his diagnosis. Please drop by to visit them and leave them a message. I can't imagine what emotions his mom Amie and dad Brad have going on this day. They are wonderful people. We lived with them at the RMH. His site is la/allensmith.

My friend Millie emailed me the best email~ it is the 10 guidelines from God. It is kind of long so I am going to try and list one or two of the guidelines each day or update.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. He loves to check his messages:)

Love,
Ali

Ten Guidelines From God

Effective Immediately,
please be aware that there are changes YOU need
to make in YOUR life. These changes need to be
completed in order that I may fulfill My promises
to you to grant you peace, joy and happiness in
this life. I apologize for any inconvenience,
but after all that I am doing, this seems very
little to ask of you. Please, follow
these 10 guidelines

1. QUIT WORRYING:
Life has dealt you a blow and all you do is sit
and worry. Have you forgotten that I am here
to take all your burdens and carry them for you?
Or do you just enjoy fretting over every little
thing that comes your way?

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 6:03 AM CST

Good morning!

Well, we got home last night at 8:00 ~ yes, 8:00. Why? I really don't know why they were running so far behind but I do know that I was about ready to leave and tell them we would be back today! We were the only ones left in the waiting room and what seemed like to us, the whole hospital. I think that someone in our clinic was "behind" on faxing our orders to pharmacy to make Will's chemo but I won't point any fingers!

Will's counts were up from the Dex ~ 2600. They have decided to put him on Zantac to help his stomach so let's pray it works. Will did have a good time playing with Cole, his Bubba, and Anne Raegan. He had a really hard time going to sleep last night. His legs were bothering him a good bit and I think that it had just been a long day. I am going to let him sleep in and take him to school late so maybe he can stay till the end of school and do some of the stuff they do in the afternoons.

Will has a ballgame tonight in the place of practice. This is to make up one of the two ballgames that were cancelled due to all the wonderful weather we have been having on the weekends. Veo works the firehouse today so I am on my own.

Thanks for checking in on Will and all the messages. I catch Will in here on the computer reading them and leaving his friends messages.

Love,
Ali

Monday, February 20, 2006 6:22 AM CST

Good morning!

Will has treatment today at St Jude at 1:00. I am expecting his counts to be high from the Dex that he has been on. He is still having a deep sounding cough but seems to be feeling better. He went to the movies yesterday and saw Pink Panther. Then he went to Greg and Rebecca's and spent some time out there. I think he was tired of being stuck in our house. We all need some warm, dry weather so that we can get outside.

Emma Kay spent the night with the Webb's last night. I am sure that she is in heaven with all the big girls around. Miss Linda will need a break before she goes crazy!

Hopefully Will will continue to improve this week and can get back into school full time. It seems that each week I think that but something always happens. We will see!

Thanks so much for checking in on us. I will let you all know how our visit goes today.

Love,
Ali

Saturday, February 18, 2006 6:57 AM CST

Good Morning! I woke up to ice hitting our bedroom window and to Veo running out to a rescue on the interstate. Let's pray things improve!

Will only stayed at school until 10:30 yesterday. I was really upset with him because I figured he just didn't want to stay. Then we came home and he took a 2 1/2 hour nap. He must have really felt bad so I now I feel bad! This medicine is just too much to take ~ it just makes him feel yucky plus the cough that he is battling.

Thanks to Grammy and Pops, Veo and I got to go out to eat last night and then come home and watch a movie. We watched a "chick flick" so Veo was asleep within 10 minutes of it starting but I really enjoyed watching something that wasn't a cartoon and watching it from beginning to end without anyone needing me. They all three spent the night at Grammy and Pops' house so I am sure that they need a night out now:) I slept really good which is something that I have been having problems with so I feel like a new person.

We haven't heard anything about Will's basketball game today but with the weather it will probably be cancelled. They were also cancelled last week because of the snow so it looks like we will be having some make-up games. Basketball will all be over with just in time for baseball. Will really wants to play baseball, those of you who know him well, know that this is his true love! Emma Kay will play t-ball at the church this year and is ready with her pink ball bag, pink helmet, and pink bat. She might not be able to hit the ball but she will be the most stylish one on the field:)

Well, I hope that everyone has a great weekend. Stay warm and be safe if you have to get out. Thanks so much for all you prayers.

Love,
Ali

Some of Will's friends:

Shan Whiteside~(really needs prayers right now) ms/shan

Anne Raegan~ ms/anneraegan

Allen Smith~ la/allensmith

Cole Hardy~ visit/wesleycolehardy
(Cole is inpatient again for the second time in a week and is having a really hard time right now.)

Friday, February 17, 2006 8:33 AM CST

Good morning!

Will is still battling the dex. It just makes him feel bad all over. He is also coughing a lot which also bugs him. He stayed till around 12:00 yesterday and went back to school this morning to see how long he can make it. We all just dread these weeks on steroids because you just never know how it will make them act. I would probably act up too so I just try to remember that. Will has wanted me to hold him alot the past two days and it reminds me so much of how he got during the summer when he was so sick and I had to hold him all the time.

We are hoping that we don't get lots of ice this weekend. I don't know if we could all be stuck in the house all weekend without being able to go somewhere. Patience is running thin in our house:)

Ben is adjusting to his haircut that Veo gave him ( and I am too). I know his head will get cold this weekend with the cold temps! Thank goodness he likes to wear hats:)

We hope that you all have a great weekend! Thanks for checking on Will. Please continue to pray for Shan Whiteside(ms/shan), Will and all the other St Jude children. They really have to go through alot and I think that sometimes we forget that!

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 2:16 PM CST

Good afternoon!

Well, the Dex has hit! Will's attitude or maybe I should say mood is somewhat to be desired. He is irritable and cranky when things go a little off the desired road so we are on pins and needles around here. Hopefully he body will adjust soon to the steroids and he will mellow out some!

He had a great time at his Valentine's party yesterday. I remember last year at his Valentine's party how he didn't feel good and kept telling me how cold he was. This year he was one of the healthiest looking children there! I think back now to so many times when Will didn't feel good and I just brushed it off but he was really sick.

One of our friends that we lived with at the Ronald McDonald House passed away on Sunday. His name was Dalton and he had fought cancer for 5 years. He was 10 years old when he passed away. I just feel so sorry for his family ~ his mother was very sweet and had such a strong faith.

Also, please continue to pray for Shan Whiteside. He was placed on a ventilator this morning so we really need to storm heaven with prayers for their entire family. His website is ms/shan.

Thanks so much for checking in ~ we'll update soon. Please pray for Will (and us all:)) to make it through this round of steroids.

Love,
Ali

Monday, February 13, 2006 10:17 PM CST

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Will's visit today was good. His counts are down from 2100 on Thursday to 1300 today. It's probably because he has had a little cold over the weekend. He started Dex tonight so that will boost his counts since it is a steroid. He also got Vincristine today. We got home around 5:00 and everyone was WILD! I have really gotten to where I dread Mondays ~ Hopefully I won't feel this way for the whole two years Will has left:)

I have everyone's Valentine's happies set out for them to see in the morning. We got Emma Kay some roses and of course, they are pink! She has been wanting some flowers so I am sure she will be excited:) I am helping with Will's party tomorrow at school so he should stay all day since the party is at the end of the day.

Veo is in the doghouse right now for buzzing Ben's head. Will has more hair now than Ben. It made Ben look older and it just breaks my heart! He likes it and laughs when he looks in the mirror ~ silly Ben! Hopefully Veo will get new pictures on here and I will get him to post one of Ben and his new hair cut.

Please continue to pray for Shan Whiteside. His site is ms/shan. Also, our friend Cole Hardy is inpatient with fever and low counts. His site is visit/wesleycolehardy. He is in ReInduction 1 which was very tough on Will so we can really sympathize with them. You all should check out our sweet Anne Raegan's page to see her beautiful Valentine's picture. She is just too cute and we love seeing her on Mondays ~ ms/Anneraegan.

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please continue to pray for a good week on Dex and Vincristine. I just got through fixing Will's meds for this week and he takes at least 14 pills everyday this week ~ ugh!

Thanks to Ms Audrea for the Valentine happy that Will got in the mail today. He thinks that his shirt is TOO cool!

Have a great Valentine's Day! You are all so special to our family and we love you all!!!
Love,
Ali

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.


The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full . . They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded with a unanimous . . . " YES!"

The professor then produced two cups of black, liquid coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the space and saturating the sand.

The students laughed.

" Now," . . said the professor, as the laughter subsided . . .

" I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things . . . God, family, children, health, friends, and things that if everything else was lost
and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter . . . like your job, house,and car, things that make your life fulfilled.

The sand is everything else . . . the small stuff."

" If you put the sand into the jar first," . . he continued . . . "
there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, the sand, you will never have room for the things that are important to you."


" So . . Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness . . play with your children.

Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18 holes.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.
Take care of the golf balls first . . the things that really matter.
Set your priorities . . . the rest is just sand."


One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.
The professor smiled .

" I'm glad you asked . . . it just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem . . .
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Sunday, February 12, 2006 6:36 PM CST

Well, Will's stomach is SO much better! Thanks so much for all the prayers and to St Jude for the great meds ~ it all worked.

Will has had a great weekend. He LOVED the snow. We all went out and made a snowman Saturday morning. Ben liked to eat the snow, Will liked to throw snowballs, and Emma Kay wanted the best looking snowman. We had a great but cold time outside. We then went to a little Valentine's dance/party and they had a great time there also. We went to church this morning and then Will went to spend the afternoon with Ron Archer. Will said he had a great time ~ his best friends are adults ~ go figure:) He went to Team Kid tonight and just informed me that he has 92 points at Team Kid. He says that he is saving his points for some kind of camo t-shirt that they have ordered.

Veo and Will finished up his car for the RA Pinewood derby races. The race will be this Wednesday and he is looking for more sponsors. His car looks like the Dukes of Hazzard car:) It is really good. I only had to sand the car a few hundred times until he got the paint just right!

Will will go to school in the morning and I will pick him up in time for his appointment at St Jude. He gets the bad combo of Dex(steroid) and Vincristine(chemo) this week. Let's pray that once again the pre-meds work.

Veo has been working hard at some home inspections that he got this past week. A big thanks to everyone who has helped get his name out. I am linking his "official" website at the bottom if you want to check it out. Spread the word!

Please continue to pray for Shan Whiteside who is now in ICU at Baptist East. We need to pray hard that he doesn't have the bad and dangerous bacteria. This is something that we have heard alot about through Will's treatment ~ the reason we had the new air put in and we also take other precautions here at home to TRY and keep this away. It is a nasty one so we need to keep praying for Shan and his whole family.

Thanks so much for checking in ~ I'll update tomorrow night and let you know how Will's appointment goes:)

Love,
Ali

Friday, February 10, 2006 5:53 AM CST

Well, I couldn't sleep so I thought I would go ahead and update.

Will did go to school till around 12:00 yesterday. He called with his stomach hurting again:( We called the hospital to see what they thought and of course we had to go up there. They checked his counts which are still the same ~ high. He has lost another pound since Monday. This makes four pounds since the beginning of the month. His belly is really bloated though. So.... they THINK that this pain is from a really hard time he had with his stomach last June. They are trying him on some medicine to see if they can clear it up. I won't go into all the details but let's just pray that it works! They also took him off the chemo I give him here at home at night until Monday. He looked at me yesterday and told me that he was sick of his stomach hurting and I am too!

Hopefully he will be able to go to school today for a while. We'll see.

Please pray for Shan Whiteside. He is in Baptist East and on the verge of pneumonia. His website is ms/shan. He has such a beautiful family and three adorable children. It has to be very stressful on them.

Good luck to our little friend Lilly Grace who will have tubes put in her ears and her adenoids out today. Emma Kay had this done and it worked wonders but we know that it is scary for parents to go through.

Thanks for checking in and I will update if anything changes.

Love,
Ali

Thursday, February 9, 2006 9:44 AM CST

Well, Will's day yesterday was not as good as Tuesday. He did finally go to school around 9:00 and then called around 12:15. When he got home he was running a low temp ~ 99.4. Then around 2:00 ~ he was fine. No temp and just a little belly ache.

He went to RA's last night and they will race their cars next Wednesday night. Will's car is all painted and just waiting on Veo to help Will put the wheels on and whatever else they do to make it go fast. Will is really excited about racing it.

Will did go to school this morning. He didn't get sick this morning so maybe today will be better. He had Art this morning with Beck so I am sure seeing her will help him make it through the day. If he doesn't see her, then he seems to call earlier to come home.

The children are excited again because they saw the weather and the possiblity of snow tomorrow. I wish they wouldn't even put that on the weather since it just seems to lead to disappointment. I told them we would do a "snow dance" tonight:)

Thanks for checking in!
Love,
Ali

Wednesday, February 8, 2006 8:15 AM CST

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY BABY AUSTIN! Today is our nephew Austin's first birthday ~ we have you a present Austin and it makes LOTS of noise! I have always told Scottie that pay back would be bad for all the noise-making toys she has given my children:)

Will had a great day at school yesterday. He stayed all day and was excited about everything they did yesterday. He had basketball practice last night but only three were there. He is really missing Tucker ~ we hope you feel better Tucker!

Then this morning, Will threw up! I think that it is from the chemo, probably the one that I give him at night. He is letting his stomach settle and then he going to go to school. He feels fine now so I am sure that it is not a virus that he is going to spread to anyone. I have heard of a lot of sickness going around right now. We are just going to pray that he doesn't get any of it ~ I just have to send him to school every day or he won't want to go after missing.

Emma Kay did OK at the dentist yesterday. They didn't do anything but look. We are waiting on our insurance to tell us how much they will pay on the work she has to have done. We will take here to LeBonheur East to be put to sleep due to the extent of the work. She has quite a few cavities that need work. I took her to my old pediatric dentist and he is super sweet and I trust him with her.

Hope you all have a good day:) Thanks for checking in on Will.

"EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY; OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.

One of the best things to hold onto in this world is a friend."


Love,
Ali

Tuesday, February 7, 2006 6:21 AM CST

Well, we had a long day yesterday so I wasn't able to update last night.

Since Will has been having so much stomach trouble we had to have a chest x-ray and an ultrasound of his stomach before he could get chemo yesterday. Everything turned out fine so he did get chemo but we didn't get home until after 5:00. Dr Howard thinks that Will has picked up a virus and hopefully will be getting better within the next few days. His counts were unusually high. Will is also starting all his pre-meds for next weeks' vincristine and Dex. He will be taking around 11 pills a day and I just don't see how he gets them all down but he does.

He will go to school this moring and maybe make it all day. Veo and I have to take Emma Kay to the dentist. She has never been and we know she has cavities. She went to bed last night saying that she wasn't going so this should be FUN:)

Thanks for checking in on Will.
Love,
Ali

"Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you're not willing to move your feet."

Sunday, February 5, 2006 9:11 PM CST

Sorry for the delay in updating. Things have just been crazy ~ good, but WILD:)

Will had a great basketball game on Saturday. He missed Tucker being there but did score THREE goals before the game was over. I was so proud of him. He was really excited.

He is still having belly pain. I have no idea what it is coming from. He wanted to eat at The Ranch Friday night so Mimi kept Ben and Veo and I took Will and Emma Kay to eat. It was really the first big meal he had eaten since being so sick after his MRI on Wednesday. He seemed to have a good time and ate pretty good but then around 1:30am, he woke up and threw up everything. Now he doesn't feel sick at his stomach, he says that it just hurts. Hopefully we will get some answers tomorrow at his appointment but I am not holding my breath. We will probably just hear that it is normal but I just don't see how he can go two(plus) more years feeling like this.

Everyone else is doing good. Of course, they are all praying for snow tonight but I don't think that they REALLY believe that it is going to snow. Maybe we will get to see a little of the white stuff!

Will's appointment is at 12:00 tomorrow. He is going to try and go to school until 10:45. Hopefully all will go as planned:)

I will update tomorrow night and let you all know how it goes. Thanks so much for checking in on Will. Please pray that his stomach issues will be resolved ~ FAST:)

Love,
Ali

*Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke? *

Friday, February 3, 2006 8:16 AM CST

** Results from Will's MRI are in and there are no AVN spots on his hips AND the ones on his knees look like they are healing themslves! We are so blessed:)****

Good morning!

Will seems to be feeling better and has gone to school today. He is going to try and make it all day, we'll see:) We have enjoyed listening to the St Jude Radiothon on Kix 106. It is on again today. Thanks to all who have called in ~ we know of: Neal & Mandy Copeland, Ron & Angie Archer, The Webb's, and Loretta Lucius. Will did talk on the radio yesterday morning and so did Veo. We heard Alison this morning but Will had just stepped out of the car to go into school so he didn't hear it.

I will update later if I get the results from Will's MRI. I am sure that everything is fine though!

We hope you all have a great weekend. Will looks forward to playing basketball tomorrow now that he is feeling better.

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, February 1, 2006 8:32 PM CST

**Listen to Kix 106 today(Thursday) for the St Jude Radiothon. Become a Partner in Hope and help save a life!*******If you call in, please let us know in the guestbook. We are trying to listen to it but you know with 3 kids running around....:)


Well, today was a hard day for Will. He woke up from his MRI when they got him off the table and I could hear him crying for me. He wasn't really awake, just in and out of sleep. I walked beside him as they rolled him to recovery and we were able to get him back to sleep to try and sleep off some of the "sleepy medicine". Then we got home and he just hasn't felt well. He hasn't been able to keep anything down, just some sprite. He is fast asleep right now and we will pray that in the morning he will feel better.

The MRI "sleepy medicine" is different from the medicine that he gets for his spinal taps. It is stronger. Mimi went to the store and got him lots of sprite tonight and took Ben to her house so I can take care of Will.

Ben was so funny though ~ he had watched Will get sick so then he went and held on to the side of the bath tub and acted like he was throwing up. He is so crazy. Will wanted to feel good and play but it was just a hard day.

The results of the MRI will probably be back tomorrow afternoon. We hope that all his AVN spots are gone and that there are no new ones. I will update when I get the results.

Emma Kay went to church with Sam and enjoyed her Mission Friends class. She really loves Ms Jana and Ms Melissa. Thanks to Sam and her teachers. I just couldn't have done it without everyone tonight. Veo is at the firehouse so he feels helpless when he is there.

Congratulations to Kendal for getting second place on her story board today. We are very proud of her for working so hard:)

I will update tomorrow and let you all know how Will is feeling. Please pray for a good day.

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, January 31, 2006 8:00 AM CST

Good morning!

Will had a good visit at St Jude yesterday. His counts are high, ANC of 1600. Go figure! This is usually the week that they go down. His hemoglobin was down about 2 points which could be causing the paleness and tiredness. Dr Howard also thinks that just the increase in activity could also be causing the excessive tiredness. One good thing is that when Will was diagnosed they tested his blood for everything in the world. Well, Dr Howard looked back to that blood work and Will has already had mono ~ so he can see Sam! Mono is like chicken pox, you can tell if you have ever had it or been exposed to it. Evidently, Will had already had it when he was diagnosed in March. I also found out that it is better for your child to get mono when they are little because it just comes across as a cold and not all the bad symptoms that you get when you are older. Anyway, my children got to see Sam last night and are feeling much better after getting to play with her for a while.

Emma Kay goes today for her thyroid check. Her appointment is at 10:45 in Memphis so back on the "big road" as my children call it.

Thanks for all you messages! Will is at school today and going to try and make it all day! Go Will:)

Love,
Ali

Monday, January 30, 2006 6:31 AM CST

Good morning!

Will seems to be feeling a little better. He has just been really tired. I haven't even woken him up for school yet. He will go today until 10:45, then I will pick him up and we will go for his treatment. He finished his Hero poster and is excited to take it to school today. He did his on Danny Thomas. It looks really good and he is proud of it. He also went to Team Kid last night at church and had a great time. Mimi took him and Tucker to the movies Saturday night and they had a great time. Mom said that they laughed until they were sore!:) I am just glad to see him enjoying something.

Emma Kay and Ben are doing good. Just wild as ever! Emma Kay goes tomorrow for her thyroid check and I have some issues that are going on with her that I am anxious to discuss with her Endocrinologist. Ben is trying us with his behavior. He will do something he knows is wrong, get in trouble and then he goes around to everyone and hugs them and cries. That gets Emma Kay and Will to telling us not to get onto him. He is just the BABY!

Will also has an MRI on Wednesday to check his AVN spots. Please pray that they are all gone and that the leg pain is just from the chemo. He is upset because his class is going to Senatobia Elem. that day to do a "Body Walk" and he will miss it.

Thanks so much for all your messages. Have a great Monday!
Love,
Ali

PS My children are really missing Sam who always keeps them. She is sick with Mono. I think that Emma Kay is in full withdrawals!:) Get better soon Sam!

Saturday, January 28, 2006 12:36 AM CST

It's Saturday:)

Will did not feel well enough to go to his basketball game today. He said that he just didn't think that he could run up and down that court. He asked if it was OK if he missed and since he usually doesn't want to miss out on anything but school, I figured he must really not feel good. He has gone to watch Alison's ballgame with Mimi just to get out of the house while I clean! He continues to be pale since his stomach bug so maybe it is just taking him a while to build back his strength.

Yesterday at school, one of the children told Will to stay away from him because Will might make him sick. He told Will that Will was sick and just to stay away. Of course I want to tell Will to be mean but we are trying to learn a lesson ~ all of us! So.... I explained to Will that this little boy just doesn't understand what cancer is and that you can't catch it. I,of course was hurt for Will but Veo told me that it would happen one day, it was just a matter of time. Oh well, I am sure it will happen again and it is just one reason why being a kid with cancer is just no fun!

Well, I will probably not update until after his visit at St Jude on Monday unless something happens ~ which lately, is very possible:)

We hope you all have a great weekend!
Love,
Ali

Friday, January 27, 2006 2:21 PM CST

Will is feeling much better. He went to school until 12:00 today. He didn't call, I just went and got him. He said that he had a great day. He is still having a few stomach issues but I feel that he is about to get over what I think is a little virus that he picked up.

Emma Kay had a good time today. I took her to visit Beck's three year old class. They were having a fairy tale day and got to come to school dressed up. Emma Kay wore her Cinderella outfit and ate cupcakes and all kinds of goodies. She thought it was a lot of fun.

Will has a basketball game tomorrow at 1:00. Hopefully it will be a quiet, uneventful weekend! I am looking forward to some rest since next week will be a busy week. Will goes to St Jude on Monday for treatment and then on Wednesday for his MRI checking his AVN spots. Emma Kay has her thyroid appointment on Tuesday and Veo will go back to the neurosurgeon on Thursday. I am like a shuttle bus to the doctors office!:)

We hope that you all have a great weekend!
Love,
Ali

Thursday, January 26, 2006 9:14 AM CST

Well, as always, back to the real world of a sick child. Will made it all day at school yesterday but when I picked him up I noticed he was a little pale. He said he was just tired, came in, and rested in the chair. We went to get Ben from next door and Will threw up. We came right home and took his temp ~ 98.8. Then last night he ran a low grade fever all night. This morning he has been in the bathroom all morning and his head is hurting really bad. He isn't running any temp this morning ~ thank goodness! He is just resting and isn't even wanting to play. We are going to try and wait it out for a while before I call the doctor. Hopefully he will improve and I won't have to call. I guess I just pushed him too hard.

Thanks for all the messages congratulating Will. Hopefully we will be able to get his poster back for all to see. He drew that poster when we were having to live in Memphis at the apartment so it has been a while. I really don't remember exactly what it looks like!

Talk to you all soon,
Ali

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 9:54 AM CST

Good morning!

Will's play went great this morning. It was so cute! Will was a great puppy dog but got a little hot in his furry costume. We left him at school with the hope that he will make it ALL day. He wants to go hunting with Chris Powell this afternoon so he can go if he stays:)

Will got an exciting phone call while we were at school. Mrs. Louise McKellar called to let him know that his Soil and Water Conservation poster had won first place at Nationals! We are so proud of him. There were only two winners from Mississippi. Hopefully we will be able to get his poster back so everyone can see it. He was thrilled and of course wanted to know how much money he had won ~ a true Moore:)

Will also lost a tooth this morning before school so it looks like the tooth fairy will be visiting our house tonight. He can whistle really good now but needs to learn that he doesn't whistle for me to come to him!

Well, that is all for now. Thanks so much for all the messages and for checking in on Will. Hopefully everything will keep looking up for him and we will have good days.

Love,
Ali

Monday, January 23, 2006 3:58 PM CST

Will had a good day today at St Jude. All his test results from last weeks spinal looked great. He is still having alot of leg pain, some of what we contribute to the vincristine chemo and some to the Avascular Necrosis spots that he has from all the steroids. He has a MRI scheduled for next Wednesday to see if they have gotten worse.

He did go to school this morning for a couple of hours before we had to leave for his appointment. He only called twice in two hours!:) His class play is on Wednesday and he is excited about that.

We got to see our friend Anne Raegan and her mom Brandi today which was nice. With all the holidays we haven't gotten to see them much. Brandi is battling cancer with not only her child but with her sister who did not get a good report at her last visit. Please pray for them as they are such a sweet family that is going through alot right now. You can visit them at ms/anneraegan.

Well, that is about all for now. Oh yeah, Will wants you all to know that he scored a goal at his basketball game this past Saturday:)

Love,
Ali

Friday, January 20, 2006 9:22 PM CST

Well, I updated earlier but I see that something happened and it didn't make it to Will's page.

He had another OK day at school. He is just having such a hard time adjusting to not being with me all the time. He wants to be there but then he wants to be with me. I know this will soon pass but it is so hard right now. Everyone at MHS has been so good to Will trying to get him back in school. I know that he is probably driving them crazy wanting to call me and see me but they are really working with us all. I don't know what we would do without them:)

Tomorrow Will has a basketball game at 12:00 that he is really looking forward to. Maybe he will even score this time. He missed practice on Tuesday because of his spinal but he has a great coach that is really understanding about these kind of things.

Everyone is doing good. They are all just wild. Emma Kay wants to go to Wal Mart tomorrow and buy lipstick and glitter to put all over her body. She is so silly. Ben is trying his best to talk but since we don't understand most of what he says, he just grabs our hand and points at what he wants. He is just growing up too fast!

Will's class play is on Wednesday. All the boys are dogs and all the girls are cats. I got to see some of the practice today when I went to pick Will up and it looks like it will be really cute. Thanks to Tammy Holden for loaning us the dog costume. It is perfect and Will looks adorable in it. He is excited about it and knows his part really good. Hopefully he won't get nervous and mess up ~ it will be great even if he does:)

Will was excited that he said his 0 and 1 multiplication facts today at school. He is almost caught up in his school work. Just some spelling tests to make up and he will be done with make-up work! Yea!! He is also looking forward to doing a project that is due in a week. He has to do a poster and report on his hero and he has chosen Danny Thomas to do his on.

Will was also on TV again tonight in the St Jude special. You could even see Emma Kay and Alison. They were sitting around Amy Grant as she sang at St Jude. I am going to have to try and tape it next time it comes on.

The new country cares pictures are up on the St Jude website so the link is at the bottom. You just click on the smaller images and it will bring up bigger pictures showing Will and some of the other patients. They are really good.

We hope that you all have a great weekend. Will has loved reading all his messages!

Love,
Ali

Thursday, January 19, 2006 8:12 AM CST

Good Morning!

Will's visit at St Jude on Tuesday went well. He was VERY sleepy after the spinal tap and slept in the wagon until time to go into the Medicine Room. Everything else looked good, his ANC was 800 but will go up since he is on Dex this week.

His body is adjusting to the steroids. His cheeks are rosy this morning and he is starting to get the dark circles under his eyes. Now his eyes will look like mine:) His behavior has been OK since starting the Dex. It's not what we would like for him to behave like but we have experienced worse!

He did have a great time yesterday in Jackson getting his award for his Soil and Water Conservation poster. Now the poster has been sent to Maryland to be judged at Nationals. Tate County has only had three national winners in the past so we aren't holding our breath. He was just excited that he won first place all the way to State. He got a $100 savings bond and a certificate yesterday.

He is at school today until 12:00, hopefully. I had his doctor talk to him about how he HAD to go to school. He is just so nervous that he isn't going to know something that they already know so we studied ALL afternoon and night to get him ready for today. I told him that tomorrow he can try to stay until 1:00. The doctor said to try to build him up to staying all day so that is what we will try.

I am going to end with a poem that Alison (Will's cousin that he calls Sissy) wrote for him. She wrote this at school and brought us a copy this moring. It is SO sweet!

St Jude
Dedicted to St Jude patient Will Moore

St Jude is a miracle that happens to you
It helps sick children when they're blue
When you walk through the door
It is beautiful things from the floors
All colors on the walls
Then you see happy children and
doctors walking down the halls
When you need a cure
Your at the right place for sure.
By: Alison Hardison

Thanks for checking in on Will. Please leave him a message to let him know you were here ~ he checks EVERYDAY!

Love,
Ali

Thursday, January 19, 2006 8:12 AM CST

Good Morning!

Will's visit at St Jude on Tuesday went well. He was VERY sleepy after the spinal tap and slept in the wagon until time to go into the Medicine Room. Everything else looked good, his ANC was 800 but will go up since he is on Dex this week.

His body is adjusting to the steroids. His cheeks are rosy this morning and he is starting to get the dark circles under his eyes. Now his eyes will look like mine:) His behavior has been OK since starting the Dex. It's not what we would like for him to behave like but we have experienced worse!

He did have a great time yesterday in Jackson getting his award for his Soil and Water Conservation poster. Now the poster has been sent to Maryland to be judged at Nationals. Tate County has only had three national winners in the past so we aren't holding our breath. He was just excited that he won first place all the way to State. He got a $100 savings bond and a certificate yesterday.

He is at school today until 12:00, hopefully. I had his doctor talk to him about how he HAD to go to school. He is just so nervous that he isn't going to know something that they already know so we studied ALL afternoon and night to get him ready for today. I told him that tomorrow he can try to stay until 1:00. The doctor said to try to build him up to staying all day so that is what we will try.

I am going to end with a poem that Alison (Will's cousin that he calls Sissy) wrote for him. She wrote this at school and brought us a copy this moring. It is SO sweet!

St Jude
Dedicted to St Jude patient Will Moore

St Jude is a miracle that happens to you
It helps sick children when they're blue
When you walk through the door
It is beautiful things from the floors
All colors on the walls
Then you see happy children and
doctors walking down the halls
When you need a cure
Your at the right place for sure.
By: Alison Hardison

Thanks for checking in on Will. Please leave him a message to let him know you were here ~ he checks EVERYDAY!

Love,
Ali

Sunday, January 15, 2006 9:26 PM CST

*** CHECK OUT THE NEW LINK AT THE BOTTOM "MOTHERS WISH".********


We had a great time at the Radiothon event. As you can see by the new pictures, Will was able to meet a lot of neat people who treated him VERY good:) I just love the picture up top of him with Carrie Underwood. It was all fun on Friday night when they did a photo and video shoot of the children with the stars. Then on Saturday, Will and I sat in front of around 400-500 radio station managers and DJ's which was pretty scary at first. Then once I saw how supportive they were of all of us it was easy to talk to them and let them see how important their work is to all of the children at St Jude. Will did great answering questions about what he liked to do and how they treated him at St Jude. Then I was able to tell them about our experiences there at the hospital and all that they do for Will. I wish I could have shared more but there were three other families sharing. You could tell by the tears that were flowing that we had all touched them.

Will is having some behavioral issues. We are trying to figure out what is going on. Maybe it is the pre-meds for next weeks chemo?. Who knows ~ He goes on Tuesday for a spinal tap so maybe we will know more then. I am thinking that the pain medicine is making him really tired and I know that I get pretty grumpy when I am tired so .......again, who knows!

Will is going to go to school tomorrow and hopefully be able to stay all day. He has worked ALL day on his Science project that is a Solar System and is really proud of it. He will take it tomorrow to turn in since he will miss on Tuesday, which is the day it is due. He has also been working really hard on some of his make-up work and I am so glad to be able to send some in! Still some Spelling tests to make up but we are making progress!

Thanks so much for checking in on us. Talk to you all soon!

Love,
Ali

Friday, January 13, 2006 7:19 AM CST

Good morning! Will is continuing to do good. He is having some trouble staying at school. We're thinking that he is just not real secure in being there, especially being away from me. He is going to stay here and school at home today since we have the Radiothon event this afternoon at the Peabody Hotel. He will start fresh on Monday at school and after a long talk we had yesterday, hopefully he will be able to make it longer.

On Tuesday, Will will have procedures at St Jude. He will be put to sleep for a Spinal that involves checking his spinal fluid for any recurring leukemia cells and also injecting chemo into his spinal and brain fluid to keep the bad cells away. It has been awhile since Will had this procedure so we are praying for good results and a smooth day.

On Wednesday of next week, we will hopefully travel to Jackson for Will to receive an award for his Soil and Water Conservation poster. He has won first place! He is excited about this and hopefully will be feeling up to it after his procedures on Tuesday.

I took Veo to meet with the neurosurgeon yesterday and he does have two bulging disk in his lower back. They are not bulging enough to pinch the nerve which is great news. He will start Physical Therapy on Monday here in town and the doctor feels that this will take care of the problem. Veo is having a hard time adjusting to the fact that he isn't able to do some of his "projects" that he had started around the house. We have gotten pretty good at just going with the flow around here:)

I am getting nervous about tomorrow's Meet the Patient Panel that Will and I will sit on for the Radiothon seminar. Please pray that all will go well and we can get these people motivated to raise LOTS of money for St Jude. The radiothon will air the first week in February.

Thanks so much for checking in. Will loves to read his messages. We will let you all know how this weekend goes.

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, January 11, 2006 8:54 AM CST

Good Morning!

Will had a great day at school yesterday. I picked him up at 12:00 but today he wants to see how long he can make it. He left this morning excited about going again with homework in hand. He even got one sheet of make-up work done yesterday ~ it's a start! Will also had basketball practice last night and enjoyed it as usual. He was up a good bit during the night with a stomach ache and then he said he was just aching all over. I think some of it may just be his body adjusting to getting back into the swing of things. Hopefully all will go well and he will be able to go to school all week.

On Friday night, Will is going to the Peabody to meet with some singers that are helping to kick off the St Jude Radiothon. He and three other patients have been asked to come up and have a photo and video shoot. We don't know who the artist will be until we get there. I am sure it will be fun but there is always a catch! On Saturday, Will and I will sit on stage for a patient panel and share our story and experiences with St Jude with all the DJ's and station managers from around the country. I am getting a little nervous even though they did send us a list of possible questions they may ask me and Will. Veo says he is going for moral support:) Anyway, I am sure it will make for a fun weekend for Will and hopefully get all the radio stations pumped up to raise LOTS of money for St Jude.

Everyone else is doing good. Veo's back is still bothering him some. He went for an MRI last Friday and they found some herniated disks and one that is bulging ~ whatever all that means. He will meet with a neurosurgeon tomorrow at 12:00 but they feel like they will be able to hopefully treat him without having to do surgery. That's good news!

Thanks for checking in on Will. We appreciate you ALL so much!

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:02 AM CST

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBECCA!

Everything went well yesterday. His counts are coming back up so he got his chemo and they put him back on his medicine I give him at home. He had not lost any more weight and had gained 2 ounces. Next week he will get Vincristine and Dex so he will also start his pre-meds this week. Next Tuesday he will go for chemo and a spinal tap. They are taking Monday as a holiday.

Will has gone to school this morning. He was a little grumpy about it when I woke him up but once he got his belly full he was excited about going back. Hopefully he be able to make it a part of everyday this week. I don't expect him to be able to stay all day but we will just see how it goes:)

Thanks so much for checking in ~ we all love to check his messages! Have a great day:)

Love,
Ali

Sunday, January 8, 2006 7:14 AM CST

Good Morning ~

Will is coninuing to do good. He seems to be getting very tired but I think that is just part of it. He had a good time at his ballgame yesterday. He was a little sad that he didn't make any goals but I was just proud that he was able to go and run up and down the court! We then went to Alison and Kendal's game at our church and he had a good time watching them also.

We go to St Jude at 12:00 tomorrow for blood counts and hopefully chemo. I am ready for him to get back on track with his treatment. I am also hopeful that his counts will be high enough to get back into school next week. I think it will be good to get back on some sort of schedule. He needs the socialization that he is missing out on with other children his age. Mrs Bouchillon is so good to let Will just jump back into school when we are SO far behind on his work. We will catch up, I hope, one day:)

Thanks so much for all your messages. We really appreciate you taking time out to check on Will. I know that the pictures need to be changed, hopefully soon I can get some new ones on here.

Love,
Ali

Friday, January 6, 2006 8:41 AM CST

Good Morning~

Will is continuing to feel good and be fever free! He actually slept all night long in his own bed:) Now he needs to talk to Emma Kay and Ben and tell them how he did it! He has gone to the chiropractor right now with Veo. Veo's back is hurting so bad he can hardly walk so we will deal with him right now. Will is looking forward to his basketball game tomorrow. He missed practice because he was in the hospital but his coach is so sweet to still give him his star for being there. We are really lucky to have such support for Will. Will has to go back to St Jude on Monday and hopefully everything will be OK to start back his chemo. I have felt strange every night not giving him his 6mp (chemo at home) but it has been nice. I haven't had to wake him up to give it to him.

We are trying to get Will to eat. He had lost 4 pounds in a week but finding something that tastes good to him is hard. The only thing I have found is a thin, half cheese and half pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut and a strawberry slush from Sonic. So.... they know us now at Pizza Hut very well:)

Talk to you all soon. Have a great weekend!
Love,
Ali

Thursday, January 5, 2006 6:47 AM CST

**New Link at the bottom to see Will and the Beach Boys at the Liberty Bowl.

Good morning~ we are home!

We were able to come home yesterday. Will's ANC was 500 but all his other counts (his white and red counts) are all headed down so he did not get his chemo this week. Hopefully having a week off chemo will help his body rebound from whatever he has had. He is feeling OK but still has a stuffy nose.

Emma Kay is doing good and she and Ben both were glad to see us home. Ben has been just sitting in my lap loving on me:) He seems to have grown up more in just two days!

Thank you to Stacey Young for coming a taking Will's needle out. We forgot to get it out while at St Jude and they were nice enough to not make us come back but let Stacey do it ~ it's nice to know someone who has a needle bin!

I have pink eye in both eyes! Can you believe that?! Hopefully no one else will get it ~ I guess I picked it up during our stay at St Jude.

Thank you so much for checking in on us and for all your prayers while Will has been sick.

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, January 4, 2006 8:54 AM CST

Good Morning! I can say that this morning because it is amazing what a shower and a "real" bed can do for a mom:)

We both slept like rocks last night. Will's fever was at 99.6 when we went to bed but this morning it is back down. Hopefully that was the last of fever. He will have his blood drawn at 12:00 and then around 1:00 we will know what his counts are. If they are still 500 or up then I am thinking that they are going to give him his chemo that he missed. Then we will be on our way home IF things go the way I want them to!

Will's port didn't want to act right yesterday and he had to get the needle taken out and then put back in. He does not like the fact that he is walking around with a needle in his chest but is getting a little more used to it. Hopefully it will work the right way today and after he gets his chemo he will be able to get the needle out.

Emma Kay is feeling much better. I haven't heard about Grammy this morning but I think last night she was feeling a little better. I haven't heard of anyone else that is sick in my family this morning but I have become used to getting that kind of news! I am ready to come home and see my babies ~ pray that we will get to come home today!

Love,
Ali


PS Anne Raegan and Brandi ~ thanks for coming to check on us. Will enjoyed his sucker that Anne Raegan gave him:)

Tuesday, January 3, 2006 11:37 AM CST

OK ~ they are going to send us to the Grizzlies House. Will's ANC is up to 500, it was 200 yesterday. His fever is holding normal with the help of Tylenol so they want us close in case it comes back up. He will come back to the hospital in the morning to have bloodwork and possibly chemo.

It is probably best that we aren't getting to go home today ~ Emma Kay and Ms Twinkie have the stomach virus. Actually, Emma Kay is feeling better but I don't think that Grammy is. Let's pray that Ben, or better yet Veo, doesn't get it. Veo works the firehouse tomorrow so we are laying out game plans for everyone. Mom will be able to help tomorrow but has a very busy day today at work. I am sure that it will all work out!

Thanks so much for checking in on us. We will let you all know how it's going:)

Ali

Tuesday, January 3, 2006 8:06 AM CST

Well, we are still in the hospital. Will's fever went up to 103 last night so we will probably be here through at least tomorrow. They have already taken blood for his counts but it will be about an hour before they come back. His ANC was 200 yesterday. His head continues to hurt really bad. The doctor said we may not even find out why he is running fever ~ alot of times they never find out. Oh well, I really don't care why as long as it just goes away so we can come home!

Thanks so much for checking in on us. We hope that this is not the trend for the new year! What happened to all those black-eyed peas we ate on Sunday?:) Will even ate two!

I'll update as soon as I know anything different. We are just holding tight at the Jude!

Love,
Ali

Monday, January 2, 2006 12:40 AM CST

Will is inpatient with a fever of 102.3 and an ANC of 200. We know that he does have an ear infection and they have cultured every part of his body to see if anything else is going on. I do know that we will be here tonight but it is just a waiting game. He feels really yuck and hasn't eaten anything since last night. He has slept all morning.

I will update if anything changes.
Ali

Saturday, December 31, 2005 4:47 PM CST

Well ~ you all did not get to see everything but at least you got to see a little. Will had a great time. He met the Beach Boys and lots of the officials. He said that the football players were REALLY big! Emma Kay also enjoyed the game. We left after half time, which the Beach Boys actually sang two songs but they only aired one. Will also did get to go out for the coin toss. They even called out his name!

Will is still running a low grade fever but says he doesn't feel too bad. It is all a waiting game. Please continue to pray that his fever doesn't go up any or we will have to call them. Pray for no fever and high counts PLEASE!

Thanks so much for watching Will today. It means so much to all of us. Oh, Mimi had a great time and can now say that she has seen the Beach Boys and her grandson all on stage together! Next time we will beg for two tickets so Grammy and Pops can go somewhere ~ who knows what else Will will get to do:) Of course, we would rather him not get to do any of it considering the circumstances.

We love you all and Happy New Year!

Love,
Ali

Friday, December 30, 2005 9:20 PM CST

Hi everyone ~

Just a quick update to remind you all to watch the Liberty Bowl tomorrow (Sat) at 12:00. Will is feeling a little under the weather tonight and his temp has gotten up to 99.8. If it goes much higher I will have to call so lets all pray for the fever to go down so that he can go for the coin toss tomorrow and the Beach Boys!

Will is very excited about tomorrow so I hope he is feeling up to it. My mom is going to get to go after all. We had one extra ticket. Grammy and Pops were very nice not to fight for it:) Maybe we can talk Mimi into dancing on the field with the beach Boys the way they "used to" dance!

Well, I hope that you all get to catch a look at Will tomorrow. If you don't see him you will know that we are at the hospital. Please pray for Will to feel better FAST!

Love,
Ali

Thursday, December 29, 2005 10:21 AM CST

Update Friday: Please pray for our friend Matt Warren. He is inpatient again and has the flu. He is one year ahead of Will and his mother has been so sweet to me in letting me know what to expect in each phase of treatment. His page is wa/matt. Thanks!


Good Morning!

Sorry for the delay in updating. I have been sick with what I guess was a virus. I felt like I had the flu and have been in the bed since Tuesday night. Veo has been great and took care of the children and even washed all the laundry and put it up. I could get used to that!:)

Will's counts dropped from 2700 to 1200 even after a week on steroids. He had lost a few ounces also which is also strange since he was on steroids. No one has an answer and we get the "we'll watch and see" as usual. He is feeling good and enjoying his motorcycle. We will just continue to pray that nothing bad is happening in his body. His next Spinal is on Jan. 16.

We did get an exciting invitation yesterday from ALSAC, the fundraising arm of St Jude. We will attend the Liberty Bowl on Saturday and Will is going to go on the field with the CEO of ALSAC and flip the coin for the game. Then at half time he will get to go out on the field with the Beach Boys. Needless to say, my mom is jealous and is trying to find a way to go:) Veo and I along with Emma Kay will go with him. He is excited but really doesn't understand that he will be on TV and in front of TONS of people. You will all have to watch for him. Hopefully he won't catch what I have had!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. You are all so special to our family! If I don't get to update before the New Year, we pray for you all to have a Happy New Year! We know that we will have a great 2006 ~

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 6:25 AM CST

Good morning~ we hope that everyone had a great Christmas and is catching up on lost sleep over Santa.

Our children all had a wonderful Christmas. Santa was very good to them. Will's big Santa gift was a razor American Chopper motorcycle. He loves it! Emma Kay got a Dora four-wheeler that she has lived on for the past two days. Watch out if you come to Tim St. because she is a very wreckless driver:) Ben got a tricycle that looks like a motorcycle and make noise. He thinks that he is as big as the others as he pushes it down the street with his feet because he can't peddle. They are all too funny when they are out riding. I have gotten some much needed exercise chasing them down the street:)

Will has been very tired the past few days. He is still having some leg pain. We went to church Sunday morning and he had to leave because he was sick at his stomach. He held in though because it was his first time to have the Lord's Supper and he really wanted to take part. He's a trooper!

Will wants everyone to leave him messages telling him what all his buddies got for Christmas. He doesn't get to see everyone much and he is really missing all his friends. We rode down to see Tucker yesterday but he wasn't there. Tucker~ Will's missing you:)

We have to be at St Jude at 12:00 today. Rebecca and Alison are taking us so that my car can get some much needed work done today. It will probably be a late day since all the usual Monday patients will be there along with the regular Tuesday patients. I will update and let you all know how it goes.

Have a great day!
Love,
Ali

PS Will was on TV last night. I had no idea he was going to be on. It was a St Jude special on Channel 5 called Fighting fo Life. I am glad Ms Pugh was watching!

Saturday, December 24, 2005 9:41 AM CST

Good Morning! Just a quick update. Will is feeling pretty yuck. He is having a lot of leg pain. Right now he is in the tub for his second hot bath of the morning to try and ease the pain. He's up and down alot during the night so I hope that Santa can find a second to sneak in tonight.

We have already started our Christmas with family. We are spacing it out this year and it is going alot smoother. The children aren't as stressed and neither am I:) Will gets pretty tired too so spacing it out is working well with that also.

We hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas! We love you all and are so thankful for everything you have done for us!

Love,
Ali

Thursday, December 22, 2005 9:37 AM CST

Sorry for the delay in updating. Things are getting really hectic with Christmas getting closer.

The Dex has hit and Will is VERY moody and irritable. He just has these nervous fits and can't calm himself down. I am not sure why the pre-meds didn't work this time. I will have to say that it is not as bad as it has been in the past but it is pretty bad. I just pray that it subsides so that his Christmas isn't ruined.

Santa came to visit last night and Ben and Emma Kay were scared of him but Will sat on his lap and talked to him. We had lots of family and friends over and even with Will's mood swings, had a great time visiting with everyone. The kids roasted marshmallows in the fireplace and played. It was really nice. I did get some pictures and will get them posted when Veo gets home from the firehouse tomorrow.

Thank you so much for remembering our friend Anne Raegan. If all goes well, she will get to go home today. You are all so sweet to leave them messages and pray for her. We went to see her on Tuesday and visited with her through her window. I think we had her crying to leave by the time we left so I am sure Brandi is real happy with us:)

We hope that everyone has a great Christmas. Enjoy all the time with family and have fun with your children. Mine are so excited they are about to jump out of their skin. We are so thankful for all of you!

Love,
Ali


IF YOU LOOK FOR ME

If you look for ME at Christmas
you won't need a special Star
I'm no longer in Bethlehem
I'm right there where you are.


You may not be aware of Me
amid the Celebrations
You'll have to look beyond the Stores
and all the Decorations.


But if you take a Moment
from your List of things to do
and listen to your Heart, you'll find
I'M waiting there for You.


You're the One I want to be with,
You're the Reason that I came,
and You'll find ME in the stillness
as I'm whispering your Name.

Love, Jesus

Tuesday, December 20, 2005 7:08 AM CST

Good Morning!

Yesterday was a pretty good day at St Jude. Emma Kay went with us and I am so glad that she doesn't have to go every time. She was good but sometimes Will gets tired while we are there and there is NO resting with Emma Kay around. Will's counts are unusually high. It is really strange but sometimes if your counts are too high that can be just as bad as them being too low. Will's were 2700 yesterday which is pretty high. Dr Howard said that they will just watch the trend over the next couple of weeks. They will probably be really high next week because he started Dex yesterday.

As I have been telling you all, Will's legs are really giving him a lot of trouble. Dr Howard is convinced that it is side effects of the chemo. Most likely, it is probably tendonitist(sp?) caused by the Vincristine~(which he got more of yesterday). If it is tendonitist then the steroids (Dex) should help this week. If it doesn't improve then they will do an MRI to see if the AVN spots that Will had on the last MRI have gotten worse. I'm not really sure which one we would want it to be but I do know that some chilren have had to be placed in leg braces and I told him that we did NOT want to do that. Will has given up way too much already, I do not want him to have to do that. Anyway, it is something that we will just pray about.

Will is up to 11 pills a day this week. I hate giving him alot of meds. He does so good to take it all and never complains. We are going back to the hospital today to see Santa's Elves. It is something that Will wants to do so he has talked me into it. We are also taking Alison, Kendal, and Emma Kay because the Memphis Grizzlies Dancers are going to be there. I am sure that they will all enjoy that. I think Sam is going as my reinforcement with all these children!

Speaking of Grizzlies ~ as we rounded the corner to the St Jude parking lot, we looked up at the side of the Grizzlies house and there was Will! It is the picture of him and Shane Battier that has been used for some of their advertising. It is so good and really big. I took pictures of it and will get Veo to put it on here soon.

We also got to see Penny, Dudley, and Adam Taylor yesterday at St Jude. They were there visiting some of the nurses and doctors that Adam had when he was there. It was so nice to see someone familiar. Will got to show them how his port works since they had never seen one. How times at the Jude have changes since Adam was there!

Well, sorry this is so long. I also want to ask you to pray for our friend Anne Raegan Sanders. She has been inpatient since Friday. I talked to her mom last night on the phone and she has been running fever for four days and her counts are ZERO! Please pray for either her fever to stop or her counts to rise (better yet~both) so that they can be home for Christmas. Her page is ms/anneraegan.

Thanks so much for all the sweet messages ~ talk to you all soon.

Love,
Ali

Sunday, December 18, 2005 5:01 PM CST

OK ~ I know, this is the longest I have ever gone without updating! The children are keeping me so busy and driving me CRAZY!

Everyone is getting so excited about Christmas that they just about can't stand it any longer:) Every day they are asking how many more days and when they can open a present. I think we are starting Christmas around Thursday to try and spread it out so that we can all enjoy everything!

Will is feeling good. He still is coughing some but it seems to be better. He is still having the leg pain, alot in his ankles. He will go tomorrow for blood counts and get his chemo ~ Vincristine this week - ughh! He will also start Dex tomorrow. He has taken all his pre-meds this week that have been working in the past so we will just continue to pray that they will work. I want his Christmas to be as wonderful as possible. He has missed out on so much that I don't want him to miss out on this time of year.

This year we will be missing two family members. It is so hard to believe but I know that we will all make it. It makes me think of the families that we have met the past nine months. Some of them know this will be their last Christmas with their children, some are in the middle of the fight like us, and some will spend Christmas without their children for the first time. We are so lucky to have our children with us this year and we will make the most of it!

I think back to last Christmas and how focused I was on making sure I got what I wanted. I remember wondering how I could ever "buy" all the presents I wanted to ~ to show everyone how much I "love" them. Well, I guess you could say that this year is so much different for me. We have so many things to be thankful for and I have really been trying to tell my children, especially Will, what Christmas is really all about. Of course, he is just like all the other children about what toys he is going to get but I do think I am kind-of getting through to him. Hopefully!:)

Well, please pray that Will has a fever-free, healthy week so that we can all spend Christmas together. I know so many will be stuck in the hospital and please remember them also. Pray for HIGH counts tomorrow so that Will can visit with everyone over Christmas:)

I will update tomorrow and let you know how everything goes.

Love,
Ali

Thursday, December 15, 2005 6:41 AM CST

"Often, in the midst of great problems, we stop short of the real blessing God has for us, which is a fresh vision of who He is".Anne Graham Lotz

Good morning to you all~

Will is doing really well. He is still having some unexplained leg pain. I am guessing (hoping) maybe it is just him becoming more active. He is really enjoying practicing for Upward Badketball. We got his schedule and they play every Sat. in January and February. He is on the same team as his long time buddy Tucker.

His cough seems to be getting a little better so we will keep our fingers crossed that it continues to improve ~ and a few prayers wouldn't hurt in that area also. I know he is tired of being in the house but I am just so scared he will pick up something if I let him go "to public". I just want everyone home at Christmas.

Thank you to Ms Robin and Tucker for the delicious fudge. I never knew Ms Robin was so talented in the kitchen:) It is delicious. I called Veo at the firehouse and told him I wasn't going to save him any since he he got to eat out at the firehouse. :0)

I don't have much else to report on Will. He has started all his pre-meds this week for his chemo he will get on Monday. Of course he will be on Dex and get Vincristine the week before Christmas. I am praying that his mood will stay tolerable and his legs won't hurt any worse with this nasty round of chemo. Just our luck that his schedule falls this way. I know that it will all work out just fine!

Thank you so much for leaving Will messages. When he is stuck here away from the "real" world, you are his only connection to other people.

Love,
Ali

Some of Will's friends:
visit/wesleycolehardy~about to start new round of treatment
ms/anneraegan~just got outpatient because of the same cough Will has
la/allensmith~wondering if his chemo is not stong enough because his counts are too high

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 8:49 AM CST

Good morning~

Well, Will's counts are up some from last week. He is still coughing a really deep cough. Even though his counts are up some, I don't think he will go to school. I hear the kids are "dropping like flies" with fever and even the flu. We want to stay away from that! What might make a "normal" child absent for a couple of days could make us spend Christmas in the hospital and we sure do NOT want that. So we are going to play it safe and camp out here at home!

Yesterday was not as long as the past Mondays have been until we got on the Interstate. We sat at a dead stand still for more than 30 minutes! I thought I would jump out of my skin. Will slept most of it, thank goodness!

Thanks so much for all the messages! This seems to be our only connection lately to the "real world". We miss seeing you all everyday but we know things will be back to normal one day..............

Love,
Ali

PS We hope Ms Robin's fudge turned out OK. It sounds yummy:)

Sunday, December 11, 2005 1:22 PM CST

Hello to everyone!

Will is feeling OK. He is still battling this horrible cough. I am tired of hearing it so I KNOW he is getting sick of it. Will will have his counts checked again tomorrow and get his chemo. We SHOULD be home mid-afternoon, but the key word here is SHOULD:)

We did go to Breakfast in Bethlehem this morning at church. Will played the part of Joseph and I will post pictures as soon as I can. They all did a great job. We decided to risk the exposure since Will was so excited about it. He also is singing and ringing handbells tonight. This is the first time he will be doing this since he got sick. He is excited also about this.

Many of you have heard that Veo was in an accident yesterday in the fire truck on the way to a rescue. It tore up both vehicles involved and the other people were injured but not badly. Thank goodness Veo was not injured. He was just really shaken up (me too!) I think the firemen had been wanting a new rescue truck so Veo was just going to help them along:) Everyone has been so concerned and we appreciate it.

Will is the fetured patient for this month on the Country Cares website. You can click on the new link below or get to it through the St Jude website. He thinks he is just too cool!

I will update tomorrow night after we get home. Please pray for a speedy day. I don't know if I can take another LONG Monday. I am beginning to dread Mondays.

We have been getting lots of Christmas cards and are really enjoying all the pictures. I think we are starting to get in the Christmas spirit.

We hope everyone has a great day and week! Thanks for checking on Will:)

Love,
Ali

PS I didn't tell you this but tomorrow (Monday) is Neal Copeland's 30th birthday. He's hoping everyone forgets ~ maybe he won't be too mad at us!

Friday, December 9, 2005 7:40 AM CST

Hello! Sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days. Things have just been so crazy around here!

Will is feeling ok. He is still battling a cough that kept him up a good bit last night. The night before he was up with his legs hurting all night. He has been really tired and somewhat grumpy. I am anxious to get his counts checked again to see what is going on. He just is not "himself" lately. All the other parents I have talked to that are ahead of us in treatment told me that once we started this part of treatment that I would be able to see some sort of "trend" as to what Will would feel like and what his counts would do for the rest of treatment. Well, let's hope that this will not be the trend!

I did take Will, mask in tow, to make gingerbread houses yesterday afternoon with his class. He really enjoyed that and is very proud of his. He didn't really interact with any of the children and I don't really know why. It might have been the mask.

Last night we also had some sad news around here. One of Will's turtles, Frankie, got caught between his rock and the side of his container and died. Will has one turtle, Franklin, that he has had since he was 2 and 1/2 years old. Frankie was found on the day of my grandmother's funeral so he had only been with Will for about 7 months. Will was sad but at least he has Franklin left. I thought turtles only lived for a short while but Franklin seems to be holding on quite well:)

Will also had something exciting happen last night. He lost one of his front top teeth. He looks too cute! He was so excited:) I will try to get a picture posted as soon as I charge up the batteries for the digital camera! Of course the tooth fairy came and let's pray he doesnt' get an infection since his counts are down.

Thanks so much for all you messages. Will reads them daily even if I don't get the chance to update. Stay warm!

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, December 7, 2005 8:41 AM CST

Good Morning!

Will spent the night with his Pops last night. It was a much needed break for me and I think Pops needed some company since Grammy is out of town. Speaking of Grammy being out of town, I have really enjoyed using her car. I didn't get a new car to those of you who have been asking, just Pops taking pity on me in the cold weather:)

Will is still battling this cough. It just sounds horrible. He did go to choir and handbells yesterday with mask in tow. I "hear" that he didn't do much wearing it! He said it was hard to sing with it on which I do understand. He didn't go to basketball practice. Pops was going to take him but the Coldwater parade was last night so we decided that they might have to battle too much traffic. I was kind of glad since I knew he wouldn't be able to practice with the mask on but really needed to wear it. I just know that next week will be better and everything will be back to normal.

Will really thinks that he is going to see some snow so let's all keep our fingers crossed. You know how children get all excited even when it is only a 10 percent chance:)

Everyone else is doing pretty good. Ben is just wild as ever and Emma Kay has slept like a rock since her visit to the chiropractor. Her lip is still somewhat "drawn" from the fall she took the night before Thanksgiving but it is getting better. Hopefully she can stay clear of the dogs at Pops & Grammy's and not have anymore falls!

Thanks for all the prayers sent up for Will and his low counts. Keep them going and next week his counts will be super high:)

"I will keep on hoping for you to help me; I will praise you more and more. I will tell everyone about your righteousness. All day long I will proclaim your saving power. For I am overwhelmed by how much you have done for me." Psalm 71:14-15

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, December 6, 2005 7:20 AM CST

Good Morning~ It is SO cold outside!!!

Will's counts are way down so his mask is back:( His ANC (ability to fight infection) is only 500. It was around 2400 last week so this is a big drop. They are pretty sure that he must have picked up a virus last week somewhere. He also has a really bad cough. Thank goodness he was able to ride in the firetruck last night n the parade or he wouldn't have been able to go. He said that he had a great time honking the horn and Santa rode on top of the fire truck he was in. The rest of us nearly froze to death but had a great time also.

Sunday night we had a wonderful time at the Christmas musical. It was just so good. They all put a lot of hard work into it and it showed. Will has Breakfast in Bethlehem on Sunday. He has been chosen to be Joseph. Emma Kay calls him Jonah ~ she is really confused on her Bible stories but at least she is trying. She seems to be getting a little "life" back into her after we started her thyroid meds back. Hopefully it won't be long until she is back to the "old" Emma Kay.

Thanks so much to Patti Gordon for the wonderful soup she made us last night. It was so nice to come home after a long day at St Jude to a home cooked meal:) Thanks Patti! Patti also ran in the St Jude run this past weekend and ran in honor of Will. She gave Will the medal from it and he was just thrilled!

Well, that is about all I have to report. We are just to watch Will for fever this week with his counts being so low. PLEASE pray for NO fever. I just do not think that I could go back inpatient, much less how Will would feel about that.

Love,
Ali

Sunday, December 4, 2005 8:03 AM CST

Good morning~ Just a quick update before church.

Will is doing pretty good. We had a good time at the cheer competition. It was long but the girls all did great! We were so proud of them all:)

We are headed off to church this morning. Emma Kay is having Ryan over after church for their last playdate. Ryan is moving to Mobile, AL and we will miss them so much! Just an excuse to go over there huh?:) Then we are hosting a table at the Christmas musical tonight. I think lots of our friends are coming tonight and I just know that it will be great. Tomorrow Will's appt is at 10:15 so that we might get home earlier since the Christmas parade is tomorrow night. This is something that my children look forward to every year. I think that it is supposed to be really cold too ~ maybe it will help get everyone in the Christmas spirit!

Please continue to pray for Will. When we are around big groups of children it is sometimes a slap in the face that Will continues to struggle with issues from his cancer and the treatment. I can't wait for him to be like other children. He hasn't felt just great the past several days and hopefully that will pass soon.

Thanks so much for being our support group!
Love,
Ali

Friday, December 2, 2005 6:20 AM CST

Good Morning ~ I know I am up way too early. I have been up with Ben since 5:00 and of course he is back asleep and what am I doing?!

Will didn't have as good of day yesterday at school as the day before. He was home by 10:30. I am not even sure if he will go at all today. It is just so cold and he has been coughing alot. He has also had a little upset stomach. I am trying to figure out if it is nerves, medicine, or a bug. I think it is one of the first two choices but not sure which one. I hear him coughing as I type so he probable won't go to school. I really don't want to chance anything.

We are planning to head to Tupelo this afternoon. We are going to watch the Stars cheerleaders compete. We have so many we are going to see that we just say we are there for ALL of them! We are going tonight because we found a hotel with an indoor pool. The competition starts in the morning at 9:00 so they will swim tonight. Will didn't get to swim all summer like the other children so we are trying to find any way possible for him to do that. When we were in New York the water relaxed him and just made his body feel better. Hopefully everything will work out this time also.

He is also really excited to get a birthday invitation to a swimming party in Tunica for next weekend. He opened and immediately said, "I get to go to this one!" So Braden, we are RSVPing:) He will be the first one there!

I will try to update this weekend when we return from Tupelo. Veo will be here since he has to work at the Fire House. He's always working somewhere. It's funny how he was so worried about not having a job but everyone has found plenty for him to do. He has a waiting list for painting but I'm thinking that he doesn't want to be a painter for the rest of his life! He did get his Home Inspectors lincense in so maybe we can get the ball rolling on that now that he is "official"!

Thanks so much for your support. All the emails, messages, and prayers help us to get through all the bumps that come along! Everywhere we go, people are always so concerned for Will and we appreciate it SO much!

Love,
Ali

Thursday, December 1, 2005 9:15 AM CST

Good Morning! Happy Birthday Ms Angie:)

Will is at school again today. He stayed all day yesterday. This was the first time for him to stay all day. He was SO tired so I'm not sure if he will make it that long today. He has already called for codeine for his head. Other than that he is doing good. His mood is good and his leg pain has gone away.

The kids insisted that Grammy needed a birthday cake so we made her one and she came to dinner last night since Pops had musical practice. Emma Kay even made us put pink candles on her cake and they took turns blowing the candles out.

Everyone is doing good and we feel semi-normal. I hate to say it because I might ruin it but it does feel good:)

Talk to you all soon,
Ali

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 8:38 AM CST

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Good morning!

Will is at school right now:) He was ready to go and take his teachers the chocolate he bought them at Trump Tower. Sorry Mrs. Bouchillon that he is so far behind ~ maybe over Christmas break he will be able to catch up! He is feeling good. He is having some trouble sleeping. I am not sure why.

He had a great time at basketball practice last night. He is playing Upward through the church and he was really excited about it when he got home. He even has a Bible verse to study. And of course he was very excited that Tucker was on his team! Veo said he did good so hopefully he will stay as excited about it as he was last night.

Emma Kay's speech meeting went well and she will start speech on Monday. She seems to really like the speech teacher, Courtney Hicks. Ben has started hanging his head down and pouting when I get on to him. Talk about a guilt trip!

Thanks for all the well wishes yesterday on our anniversary. All of your emails really help and seem to come right when I need them.

Don't forget to check Will out on the Grizzlies website. The link is at the bottom of this page. Talk to you all soon. Keep praying for these "semi" normal days:)

Love,
Ali

PS OK they called me from the school and now they don't need me. Maybe I'll try for another day but thanks for everyone's well wishes for me!

Monday, November 28, 2005 8:37 PM CST

***Check out the new link at the bottom of the page to the Memphis Grizzlies. Will is on their website!****

Will had a good visit today at the hospital. His counts are really high from being on Dex last week. That should come down some this week and the following. He has an ear ache which Dr Howard contributes to our COLD trip. The price he must pay to be a celebrity!

He also went to have his teeth cleaned today. Last week he went and got checked for cavities and was in the clear. Today they saw that he had broken a tooth sometime since last Monday so they had to cap it today. He did GREAT! He was just so brave and even impressed the dentist. This was the first dental work Will has had done other than just his regular cleanings so I was really proud of him.

He got his chemo but of course the Medicine Room was running behind so we didn't get home till after 5:00. I have just come to hate Mondays because they are so long and it just makes everyone in a bad mood. Oh well, it could be worse.

Emma Kay's endocrinologist called yesterday, yes ~ on Sunday. So.... you guessed it, she's back on her thyroid meds. She had ZERO thyroid levels in her bloodwork. I knew it would be that way just by her behavior and how cold her hands and feet have been. He told me to give her a pill yesterday and then start back regularly every morning. She will never be able to get off of it. They are convinced now that she REALLY does not have a thyroid at all ~ which this is what they told me when she was born so go figure! Anyway, hopefully she will be back to her old self soon:) I am also meeting with her speech teacher tomorrow to go over what they will actually be working with her on.

Ben is doing good. He is just as sweet and as bad as ever if that could even make sense! He can love you one minute and then throw something at you the next.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is mine and Veo's anniversary. We won't do anything special ~ Will has basketball practice at 7:00pm. I guess we could say our trip was for our anniversary but I don't ever recall even having the chance to talk to Veo while we were there. Things are just way to hectic aren't they?! Oh well, he says it is just another day but it will always be special to me. I would have never thought on the day we were married that our life would turn out this way. I guess that is a good thing that we don't know what is to come so that we will actually follow our plan. If we knew what was to come, we probably would get off our "course" in order to avoid the hard times.

Thanks for all your messages! You are all always there when we need a quick pick me up and we love you all~
Ali

One of the most wonderful things about knowing God is that
there's always so much more to know, so much more to discover.
Just when we least expect it, He intrudes into our neat and tidy
notions about who He is and how He works. -- Joni Erickson Tada

Sunday, November 27, 2005 12:06 AM CST

Hello to everyone! We had a BLAST on our trip but I will have to say, it is SOOOOOOOO good to be back in Senatobia.

We can tell by all the calls and messages that Will had many fans watching Friday morning. I was so proud of the way that he behaved. He had been up since 4:00am that morning. The van picked up at 4:50am and they were off to film the shopping clips you saw. Then Emma Kay and I joined them for the live shoot. It was just unreal! There is really no way for me to describe the whole trip.

After the filming, Marlo decided to take the children on a real shopping trip. She bought Will a playstation game, a Nintendo DS and a game to go in it! She just walked us into the store and let him pick it out and then just checked out right in front of the LONG line of people that had been waiting all morning. Then she took us all to a little diner in the mall and of course, they just cleared everyone out for all of us to eat. Will ate at Marlo's table right next to her. She tried to get Emma Kay to sit with her but I think Emma was a little scared of everything so she just stayed at the table with me and Veo. Once we ate we all parted ways with Will giving Marlo a big hug. I have to say the Marlo was SO nice to the ALL of us.

Then we were off to the city! It was like the Grizzwold's in NYC. We had so much fun but it was SO cold! The taxi rides are still very vivid in our minds and I don't think any of us will ever forget them! Just ask Will about all the honking and fast driving. We went to the NYC Fire Museum and Will traded patches with a fireman there and got lots of goodies. It was really neat. They had a memorial to 9-11 there and it was so sad. Then we headed to FAO Schwarz which they really enjoyed~ Veo and I did too! Then to Central Park, the Ice Skating Rink, Trump Tower, and the Empire State Building. We also ate at Angilo's Pizza above the Tonight Show on Broadway. Will was just too tired to do anything else but I think we had done enough! We didn't go out to the Statue of Liberty because of the cold but Will did see it when we were landing. On Saturday morning, we went back over to the Garden State Plaza Mall to let them look around since everything was so rushed Friday morning.

Will really enjoyed the trip and both of the children were SO well behaved. I was so proud of them! It was just a wonderful trip and it was so nice to just get away but now back to reality. Will has been having a lot of leg pain and back pain. I am hoping that it is the Vincristine he got last Monday and it will soon pass. He is just exhausted also so he slept in this morning. Hopefully he will feel well enough to go to TeamKid tonight.

Thanks for all you messages and prayers while we were gone! We will post pictures hopefully tonight. I am on my way to Wal Mart to pick them up now ~ and I am so ready to get in MY car and drive MYSELF slowly to the store:)

Will is just dying to type something now so here he is:

FAO Schwarz was SOOOOOOOOOOOO cool!and they even had a piano in the floor! Trump tower was SOOO cool too. the taxi cab was so crazy and they even honked when nothing wa there. Marlo was so nice she even bought me a Nintendo DS and 2 games:) Yesterday I bought Dukes of Hazzard playstation game with my own money. The fire museum was so cool too~ WILL MOORE

here's Emma:
ooiuepqewhr yyyyyyyytyurtttttyy5riihrju jurtu90tyyt

See you all soon,
Ali

Wednesday, November 23, 2005 10:33 PM CST

Well, I think I have finally got everything packed. I am sure I will remember more once I'm on the plane but oh well!

I don't have much to update. Will is doing good on the steroids. Hopefully he will continue. He is on some meds to help him so maybe this one will be smoother than some in the past have been. He and Emma Kay are both just so excited. I have already cried about leaving Ben but I know he will get stuffed with turkey by both his grandmother's so he will be better off!

I will call Rebecca and have her update when we get up there in case any of you will be checking in. I know you will all be sleepy after eating all day:)

I know this is short but I am so tired so I am off to bed to try and sleep a little. We will leave our house around 6:00am in the morning. They really make you check in early at the airport! Our plane takes off around 8:40am.

We do want you all to know how thankful we are for ALL of you. You are what we are thanking God for this Thanksgiving. So many of you have even come by today and brought Will "shopping" money or cameras ~ just all kind of stuff! I don't know how our family could have made it without you all and we want to tell you a big THANK YOU!

We love you all and Happy Thanksgiving,
Ali

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 6:25 AM CST

Good Morning~

Everything went good yesterday. Will had his procedure and all his other appointments. He did really well with them accessing his port for the first time. He was crying when the nurse got the needle out and then looked down to see that she already had the needle in and he had not even felt it. I have numbing cream that I put on it before we leave the house so he doesn't even feel the needle going in. Then the anxiety of getting the needle out came so the line nurse was of course so sweet to come to the Medicine Room and talked Will through the whole thing. His chest is still sore and he has a bruise right under the port from the surgery so she said it would feel better next time. I don't have any results from his spinal fluid or his EKG/Echo so I will let you all know when we do. I don't forsee any problems with any of the tests he had yesterday.

He also went to see the dentist and NO cavities! They are going to clean his teeth next Monday. They were very sweet and Will really liked them.

Our tickets for New York and papers with our schedule on them weren't ready when we left so they will be FedExed to us today. I do know that they are taking us out to dinner on that Thursday night to go over what Will will be doing.

We were able to visit with many of our friends at St Jude yesterday. Will saw Foster(ga/fosterboster) who is now in ReInduction 2 and doing great. He of course visited with Anne Raegan(ms/anneraegan) who was very full of herself:) and of course she looked cute as could be. I was able to visit with Amie and Allen Smith(la/allensmith) during Will's procedure. BUT the best story I have about yesterday was seeing Sebastian(va/sebastian) and talking to Andrea. They were here for scans last week and he is tumor free! They had the biggest smiles of anyone there yesterday. It is just nice to see happy things happen there.

Will loves all the messages you have all been leaving. He wants me to put what he is thankful for ~ on Sunday night he said he was thankful for his parents(he better have been, huh?), and then last night he was thankful for his church. I have to tell you what Emma Kay said she was thankful for~ she was rambling that she was thankful for everyone in our family (she listed them by name) and then she said she was thankful for St Jude and love in her heart. She is just so sweet sometimes. How many other 3 year olds do you know that even know about St Jude?

Well, this is long enough. Sorry I have been overloading you all lately with my long journals. We have to get ready to take Emma Kay to the Endocrinologist to have her thyroid levels checked.

Talk to you all soon,
Ali

Sunday, November 20, 2005 8:09 PM CST

Hello to everyone!

Will has been feeling really good. His potassium did get kind of "off" to say the least. For those that don't know, your potassium affects your mood so you can imagine what kind of couple of days we had. He is much better now but still very impatient. It's kind of like anxiety, it is really hard to describe. He just will kind of say whatever comes to his mind and alot of times it's not the nicest thing. I am thinking that some of his frustrations come from being bored and not like everyone else. I know that it won't be long before he is back into the swing of things:)

Tomorrow is going to be a long day for Will(and me). His day will start at 8:15 ~ which means we will LEAVE our house around 7am to get there in rush hour traffic. He will be put to sleep tomorrow for a spinal tap, go to the St Jude dental clinic, have an EKG/echo, and get chemo. So........we are scheduled to leave St Jude at 5:00pm. We'll see!

I am also going to get some more of our New York travel plans tomorrow. Hopefully I will have more to share with all of Will's fans tomorrow night. That is, if I can stay awake long enough to update!

Also, Emma Kay goes for her bloodwork on Tuesday to see if she can stay off of her thyroid meds. There is only a 10percent chance she will be one of the ones that can so again, we will see.

Thanks so much for all you do for us. We are so thankful for each one of you. Something neat we thought we would get you all to do is leave Will a message and tell him what you are thankful for this Thanksgiving. It doesn't even have to be about Will, just whatever you feel most thankful for~ we do this at night sometimes and it really helps put things in perspective. Just something fun to read also! Will is looking forward to reading them:)

Please say a little prayer that all goes well tomorrow and as always please pray for all the children going through this horrible battle.

Talk to you all soon,
Ali

Friday, November 18, 2005 9:07 AM CST

Good Morning!

Well, our travel plans have changed again. Now, they have invited the rest of our family to go to Ney York also. So, Ben is going to stay here ~for those of you who know Ben closely, you know why he is staying here. Veo and Emma Kay are going with us. We will still fly out on Thanksgiving morning at 8:45 and will leave New York on Saturday at 4:00pm.

We do know that on Thursday night they will take us out to eat and go over what will happen during the filming. Then on Friday morning from 6-9am they will film for the Today Show and it will be aired that morning sometime during the Today Show. Then we will be through and can just do as we please until Saturday afternoon. We are all really excited and I feel SO much better about going now that Veo is going also. A special thanks to DeWayne Ross for switching fire shifts with Veo so that he could go with us!

Will did not go back to school today. We removed his dressing yesterday and I just didn't feel good about sending him. On issues like this, I just let my motherly instinct tell me what to do so he is here again today with me. The incision looks good but is just bigger than I thought it would be and there is still some swelling so better safe than sorry.

Next Monday Will has a busy day at St Jude. We have to be there at 8:15am! Yuck!!! Then Will will have his port accessed for the first time and is VERY nervous. We will meet with the doctor and then Will will have a spinal tap. This is where they put him to sleep and inject chemo into his spine, stand him on his head so it will go to his brain, and also test his spinal fluid to make sure he hasn't relapsed in his central nervous system. THEN... he will go to the dentist when we leave recovery. THEN... he will have an EKG/Echo done. THEN.... he will get his chemo in the Medicine Room which is Vincristine. We are scheduled to get through at 5:00. So, Monday will be a long day for Will.

Emma Kay goes for her Lab check on Tuesday and I am so anxious about that also. I can't wait to see how her thyroid levels are doing. Ben continues to do good after his visits to the chiropractor.

Well, I guess this is a long enough journal entry for a few days. Sorry, I don't know how it got so long!:)

Thanks for everything,
Ali

Please visit pa/ilovezachary. It will really give you something to be thankful for if you do. Sometimes we forget how lucky we all really are!

Thursday, November 17, 2005 6:25 AM CST

Good Morning!

Sorry I didn't get to update yesterday. Things around my house had just gotten so "behind" so I was washing clothes and cleaning, all the yucky stuff. Emma Kay also had a field trip to the movies to see Chicken Little yesterday so we had to do that also. She had a good time.

Will felt really good yesterday. Tuesday night he had a good deal of pain, more like soreness. I am just scared about sending him to school today so I think we will just give it at least another day. He accidentally bumped into the door facing yesterday and it really hurt him where he is sore so I am just really nervous about him being around that many children right now. I know how "acitve" he is so I think he will stay at home for at least another day. I also get to take the dressing off of his chest today so we will actually get to see it what it looks like today. He can't go under the water until next Wednesday.

I know many of you have already heard that the trip is back on. HOPEFULLY, we will leave Thanksgiving morning. We have a direct flight to NY at 8:45 that morning. We will have Thursday to do some sight seeing and whatever. Then on Friday morning they will start filming at 6:00am. They will film till around 9:00. It will air that day sometime on the Today Show. So, it will be semi-live.

Supposedly, Will and the two girls that are also going will be coming out of stores that they have been shopping in with Marlo Thomas covered in bags - of course they are coming out of the partner stores that participate in the Thanks and Giving Campaing to raise money for St Jude. Then Marlo will talk and the kids will be there with her. Who knows what they will really do, but this is what they have told me so far.

We will also have the rest of the day on Friday to look around since they will finish taping that morning. We will also have a nurse that will travel with us and her brother lives up there. He is an Investment Banker and is trying to get tickets to the Lion King for everyone that Friday night. We will then fly home on Saturday.

Hopefully this will all go as planned this time. They also told me that our hotel will have an indoor pool so Will will get to swim. I hope that they are right. I don't have the name of the hotel yet but it is actually in New Jersey. The mall that they will film at is about a mile from the hotel and is called the Garden State Plaza Mall. I will let you all know of any new news!

Thanks so much for all the messages and well wishes for Will during his surgery! We couldn't ask for better friends:)

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, November 15, 2005 2:25 PM CST

We are home! Will did great with his surgery. They had a little trouble getting the port "just perfect" but finally finished. He is a "liitle irritable" from the meds but is happy that it is over with:) He is just so brave!

Thank you so much for all the prayers. You are all so special to us! Mr Wayne - the prayer in the guestbook is so sweet ~ thank you!

Also, thanks to Rebecca and Angie for the food for tonight. Thanks to Stephanie Billinglsey for all the hamburger helper. We all know that it is Will's favorite!

I better go get Will situated:)

Love,
Ali

*The New York trip sounds like it MAY be back on ~ we'll probably leave on Thanksgiving Day. More details to come.....

Dancing With God

When I meditated on the word Guidance,
I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.

I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.
When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.

When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back
or by pressing Lightly in one direction or another.

It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.
The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.

When I saw "G": I thought of
"God, "u" and "i" dance."
God, you, and I dance.
As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life.
Once again, I became willing to let God lead.


Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.

And I Hope You Dance!!!!!!!!

Monday, November 14, 2005 10:39 AM CST

*** Update ~ Monday Night:
Everything went well today at St Jude. Will's counts are good so he will have surgery tomorrow. We met with the surgeon today and he explained everything to me and then the Child Life Specialist met with us and explained it to Will. I understood her alot better too!

Anyways, Will is nervous and so am I. We have to be there between 8:00-8:30 tomorrow morning. His surgery is scheduled for 10:30. He may go in earlier if any surgeries are cancelled. The surgery will last around an hour depending on if they are able to place the port where his line was inserted. This would be the best way for the surgery to go. If they aren't able to do it there, they will place it on the opposite side (his left side). Will will be able to come home tomorrow afternoon as long as everything goes good. They will put an IV in during surgery because they will be taking his line out and they have to have some way of keeping him asleep. This is the only part he is "ify" about. He remembers how bad the IV's hurt that he had when he first go sick. After he is feeling well and is able to get the IV out, we should be on our way home! I'll let everyone know how things are going. Please say a prayer tonight and tomorrow for Will and this surgery. Thanks:)

Good Morning!

We have been to Grandparent's Day at the school and are now about to leave for the hospital. Will will get chemo today and we will meet with the surgery clinic for his pre-Op visit.

As you can tell by the picture, Will did kill a deer this weekend. (Notice the blood on his hands - YUCK!- and he is taking the picture to show his doctor ~ hopefully he won't notice the blood - he'll flip!) He finally got one late yesterday. Greg says that he shot it himself and was actually shaking he was so nervous. Will was so proud! I don't really get into the whole hunting thing but if he enjoys it..... Anyway, I have always said in my house if you kill it, you eat it so they cleaned it last night and Greg will have the job of cooking it. I didn't kill it so I don't have to eat it OR cook it!

The Gradparent's program went really well this morning. Will had all his grandparents there and was excited. He's eating a quick snack to hopefully make his stomach feel better before we get on the road to St Jude. Hopefully traffic won't be bad ~ I can't stand to drive in the rain!

Our surgery visit isn't until 2:00 today so I will try to update as soon as I know what time his surgery will be tomorrow. He's says he is getting nervous. Thanks for all the messages and all the sweet prayers you send up for us. Everyone is always so caring towards us and especially Will. You will never know how much that means to our family!

Love,
Ali

Friday, November 11, 2005 9:34 AM CST

OK Ms. Mary, here's your update!

Will is doing good. He has been very sick to his stomach this week. I am pretty sure that it is the 6mp that he takes at home at night that is doing it to him. His head has also been hurting him some but I think that might be the weather and just the stress of getting back into the school grove. He only made it until 10:00 yesterday so we will see how long he makes it today.

He plans on going hunting tomorrow with Greg and then going to Lilly Grace's first birthday party tomorrow afternoon. He will go to school on Monday morning but will leave right after the Grandparents' program they are doing. He will get chemo and have his pre-Op visit on Monday and then we will know what time his surgery will be on Tuesday. Please pray that everything goes as planned for the surgery. He wants this so badly!

My mom, "Mimi", has some sort of stomach bug so we are trying to stay AWAY so Will doesn't catch anything. Hopefully she will start to feel better soon. It's hard to keep the kids away from her when we're right across the street:)

Ben and Emma Kay are doing good. Ben is actually doing GREAT since he started the chiropractor. I'm thinking Emma needs to go OR they need to put her back on her thyroid meds. She is an EMOTIONAL wreck. I'm not sure if we can wait until the 22nd to get her labs done!

Also, Will is scheduled for a Spinal Tap on Monday, Nov. 21st. He will also start Dex that week along with getting Vincristine. We better start those prayers now for smooth days!

Thanks so much for checking in on Will. We may not update every day, but we do check the messages. Hope you all have a great weekend! I'll let you all know if Will gets a deer tomorrow:)

Love,
Ali
Ali

Wednesday, November 9, 2005 9:22 AM CST

Good morning!

Will went to school this morning. He has been very tired and is a little sick at his stomach but is doing good otherwise. I feel that it is the 6mp and methotrexate that is causing his stomach to hurt. I hope that he isn't coming down with something.

He is enjoying school. They are learning cursive and he LOVES that. He has been wanting to write in cursive for a while. He also had to do a dinosaur poster and really enjoyed painting on it and decorating it. He has such a great outlook on his trip being cancelled. He says that now he can go hunting Saturday morning. Last year he got a doe on youth hunt weekend. He says he's going for a spike or buck this weekend. I hope he gets something!

Everyone is doing good and we are somewhat "normal" this week. It feels good! I'll update if anything exciting happens! Hopefully we will just stay normal this week.

Talk to you all soon!
Ali

Phillipians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion, speed bumps called Friends, red lights called
Enemies, caution lights called Family. You will have flats called Jobs.


But, if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called
Perseverance, insurance called Faith, a driver called Jesus, you will
make it to a place called Success.

Monday, November 7, 2005 6:47 PM CST

Oh how our life changes drastically..... the New York trip is off. We even had our flight today and then poor Ms. Jennifer from ALSAC had to call and tell us that the Today Show couldn't do it. She felt so badly and told Will that she was going to find him the coolest thing to do for St Jude. I assured her that we understood that it was not her fault and what a horrible job she had calling the families that were going.

Anyway, we had already met with surgery and they decided to do Will's surgery next Tuesday. We will just stick with that and go with it! I told Will that maybe it has all happened this way for a reason. He was VERY upset but is better now. I promised something very special next week when he has his surgery. (Any ideas?:))

One the positive side, Will's counts looked good so he will go to school tomorrow and hopefully a good bit this week. He is still struggling with a cough so we will just continue to watch that.

Thanks so much for all your messages and continuing to check on us! We appreciate your support so much!

Love,
Ali

PS Ben had an ear infection in both ears on Friday. We took him to the chiropractor and he is SO much better now. He went back today and did good. His nose is not even running anymore! Thanks to Zander and Stephanie for telling us about the chiropractor. I would recommend it to anyone!

Sunday, November 6, 2005 7:49 AM CST

Well, how things can change in a second. Friday was great with Laurie and Jonathon from St Jude coming and speaking to the 2nd grade about Will and Leukemia. It was so good and the kids all really enjoyed it. Then.......

ALSAC, the fundraising arm of St Jude, called right when we left the school. They invited me and Will to New York City! Can you believe it? We will leave on Thursday and come home on Saturday. Will and two other children will be shopping with Marlo Thomas for a special that will run on the Today Show. It will air on the Friday after Thanksgiving to kick off the Thanks and Giving Campaign for St Jude. How cool is that?! Will is so excited. He has always wanted to go to New York (so have I) and now we get to go AND help raise money for St Jude!

So.........Will probably won't get his port on Tuesday. We don't want him to be sore for the trip. We will meet with the Surgery people tomorrow and talk about it, but I feel like we will just reschedule. We have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at 9:15. Will will get methotrexate again and more 6mp, the chemo he takes at home.

I will update tomorrow when I know more about if we will reschedule the surgery and what our exact plans for our trip are!

Love,
Ali

PS Thanks to Renee and Jeremy for showing us Will's picture in the Commercial Appeal. It was in the Wednesday sports section for the Memphis Grizzlies House. It's him and some other children with Shane Battier. I can't believe no one else saw it!

Thursday, November 3, 2005 10:21 AM CST

Will did great at school yesterday. He didn't make it till 1:00, they called around 12:00 ~ he was tired. I told him that was fine. We came home and he rested for about an hour and then we worked on some schoolwork. He went to RA's last night and then slept like a rock. He was so tired! It took a while to wake him up this morning:0) He went back to school today. He was having some leg pain this morning so I gave him codeine before he went and told him to just see how long he could go. I talked to Rebecca while he was in her room for art and she said he was doing good. I think he is just tired.

Tomorrow Will's Child Life Specialist, Jonathon, and a teacher from St Jude will come to MHS to talk to Will's class. They will talk about exactly what is wrong with Will and what his restrictions are. They will also talk to the children about how he may look different and not be able to do the same things he used to be able to do, but he is still Will. I think it will be great for all the children and I think they will get to play some games too! Will is excited.

A special thanks to Mrs. Bouchillon for all she has done for Will. She has worked extra hard to keep him caught up with the class and has just been GREAT! Will loved her yesterday and said she was very sweet and fun! Imagine that, school fun?!

Everyone else is doing great. Ben is trying so hard to talk and even said Beck last night. Won't Greg be jealous? We won't teach him to say Greg since Greg put VASELINE under Veo's door handle Halloween night. Any ideas on how to get him back are welcome:) (I'll let Greg tell you what Veo did to start the war!) We're such a loving family!

We all slept good last night after the 100 pound weight was lifted off after Veo passed his test! Anyone needing a home inspection, call Veo!

Talk to you all soon~
Ali

Wednesday, November 2, 2005 8:42 AM CST

****UPDATE~ I just got the WONDERFUL news that Veo has passed his Home Inspectors test! I knew he could do it:)!~*********

Good morning!

I just left Will at school. He was excited and nervous(me too!) but was doing great when I left him. The other children in his class were so sweet when we were getting his stuff out of his bag, they were showing him where stuff goes and what to keep at his desk. It was really sweet and made me feel a lot better about him fitting in again. One little boy told Will that today was a good day to come because they go to PE today! I am going to pick Will up at 1:00 if all goes as planned. I don't want him to wear himself out on the first day.

Emma Kay's appointment went good yesterday. Her doctor has decided to take her off of all her thyroid meds and see what happens. He said that 10percent of the children with congenital hypothyroidism can stop taking there medicine around the age of three. So.... there is a 90 percent chance that she will have to start taking it again but at least we will know. She goes back on Nov. 22 for labs to see what her levels are doing.

Emma Kay's nurse yesterday told us that her son had ALL when he was two and is now nineteen! Isn't it ironic that she is now Emma Kay's nurse. She and Will just talked and talked about his treatment and all the things that are different now.

Well, I will let you all know how Will's day goes! Thanks for all the messages ~ Will was in here at 8:30 last night reading them. He was nervous about today and couldn't sleep:)

Have a good day,
Ali

Tuesday, November 1, 2005 7:32 AM CST

Good morning~

Everything went well at St Jude yesterday. Will's counts are still holding good. He received his chemo and took his x ray for the dentist. Instead of seeing the dentist yesterday they sent us to surgery clinic to talk about Will getting a port. He will see the dentist later on in the month.

Will is scheduled for surgery next Tuesday. It will take about an hour to an hour and a half. They will remove his line and then make a small incision to place a port in his chest. They will be able to access this port when he needs chemo, blood, etc. They put numbing cream on it since they do access it with a needle. The good thing about a port is that 24 hours after it is accessed, he can be emersed in water. He will still have all the other restrictions that come along with a line, but can get wet. We won't know the time of his surgery until next Monday when we go to meet and sign all the consents. Will is excited and nervous about getting his port. Veo and I feel the same way. I'll just be glad when it is all over with. It will be a very long hour/hour & half for us.

Will had a blast at the hospital trick or treating. Alison went with us and they had so much fun. All the hallways were decorated with different themes and everyone was dressed up. It was very crowded (that's why I didn't take the little ones) and wild but so much fun. Maybe next year Emma Kay and Ben will be big enough to go and not get scared!:) They also all had a great time at Trick-or-trunk last night at the church. Everyone looked so cute in their costumes. Of course I took lots of pictures and I'll get Veo to put them on here as soon as he can.

Emma Kay has to go to her Endocrinologist today for her thyroid check. They take her blood which should be a lot of fun:( For those of you who don't know, Emma Kay was born with Congenital Hypothyroidism (she doesn't have a thyroid). She takes synthroid and hasn't suffered any effects so far and is doing great. I'm sure all will go well today. Her doctors are so sweet, they always have her all kinds of goodies waiting when we go.

Sorry this was so long ~ I didn't know I had so much to say!

Love,
Ali

Sunday, October 30, 2005 6:45 PM CST

Happy (early) Halloween! I'm not sure if I will have time to update tomorrow with it being so busy.

Will has to be at St Jude at 8:15 tomorrow morning. He will have his bloodwork done, doctor's appt, x ray for the dentist, chemo, trick or treat, and then his dentist appt. What a busy day and then we will come home to do Trick or Trunk at the church! Tomorrow is Will's first visit to the St Jude dentist. He will have his teeth cleaned and then maybe we will see why he has only lost 2 teeth and no more are even loose!

Will's mood really "swings" from second to second. It is taking a toll on us all not ever knowing what he is going to do. I'm don't know what to really blame for the mood swings. He is coughing a good bit along with have a runny nose which could mean he is feeling a little bad. He also is coming off the Paxil which can be really serious. He also told me today the he just really hated his life. Hopefully we will be able to get him back in school this week and he will feel more normal.

We are all just worn out. The long days are starting to catch up with me and now we start back on another busy week. Emma Kay has to go to the Thyroid doctor on Tuesday so we will be up and out early again on Tuesday.

Please continue to pray for our family and all the St Jude families as our battles continue. It's sometimes hard to accept that this is life now and will be for a long while. We always try to keep in mind that God didn't promise us fair, did he?!

Love,
Ali

Friday, October 28, 2005 7:26 AM CDT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALISON-POOH!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Happy birthday to Alison(aka Sissy)! I can't believe she is 11 years old today! We can't wait to come to the Pep Rally and she her cheer today.

Will is doing good. We went to a hayride at Beck and Greg's house last night. Will and Emma Kay both had a good time. Ben stayed with Grammy and Pops. I didn't think a bon-fire and Ben really went well together! That's just a disaster waiting to happen:)

When we got home, Will took a shower and discovered that the little bit of hair he had left was coming out quickly. He asked me to buzz it to even it out and it all just came out. So... we can call him slick again! His head is very sensitive so please don't rub it ( I know, I want to touch it too!).

Hope you all have a good weekend. Will is battling the sniffles so please pray it stays just that and no fever decides to grace us! Thanks so much:)

Love,
Ali

Thursday, October 27, 2005 8:46 AM CDT

Good morning~

Everything seems to be going well this week. Will is feeling pretty good. I am continuing to wean him off the Paxil and it is going pretty good. He is still really swollen in his belly area but hopefully this will quickly work its way off.

Ms Carolyn came and helped Will on some of his schoolwork yesterday. They got a lot done and Emma Kay enjoyed playing with Ryan while they worked. Of course, Ben also enjoyed playing and terrorizing the girls!

If all goes as planned, I am hoping that Will will be able to return to school next week for a while and then hopefully for at least a few full days the next week. The only issue with this is of course picking up any unwanted germs and his central line at recess. Will is perfectly able to play but NOT tackle. So... we will just roll with it and pray for no disasters:)

I am happy to say that I am signing Will up for Upward Basketball today at our church. He is so excited and I think the physical activity will be great. The practices start soon but I don't think the games start until January.

Hopefully he will have his port by the time the games start and I won't be AS nervous. Dr Howard is scheduling Will to meet with the surgery department to schedule Will's surgery for his port. With a port, Will will be able to swim 24 hours after it has been accessed for chemo! He still can't tackle or play wrestle because the port can also be damaged and then float to other parts of the body, including the brain which sounds horrible! Anyway, the big thing with a port is being able to be emersed in water and no dressing changes:)

Thanks for all the messages! We will see most of you at the Pep Rally tomorrow. Alison is cheerleader for the day and it is also her birthday tomorrow! Yea:)

Talk to you all soon~
Ali

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 1:57 PM CDT

Sorry for not updating sooner but things have been very hectic!

The hospital was running VERY behind yesterday so what was supposed to be a 2 hour day turned into a 4 hour day plus the hour there and the hour back. Needless to say, it was very long! Will's counts were high (because of the Dex) so he got his chemo yesterday and also took his last dose of Dex yesterday. Yea! For the next three weeks he will receive Methotrexate as his chemo just on Mondays. He will start back on his 6mp, which I give him at home at night (2 hours after he eats). After three weeks of this then he gets Vincristine as his chemo and is back on Dex for 5 days. This schedule will follow us for what looks like forever! At least until 2008 and it is already almost 2006 ~ on look on the bright side huh?:)

Emma Kay had her field trip to Cedar Hill Farms today and we nearly froze! Will went and I seriously thought about calling for someone to come get him but he really wanted to stay. We left there to do some much needed grocery shopping and are now home and WARM! Will is wanting to go to choir and handbells so he will go at 3:00.

We did have a good time at the Harvest Fun Festival at the school last night. Will and Emma Kay both won goldfish and Will won a wonderful strawberry cake in the cakewalk. They both had a great time.

We will update soon and let you all know how Will does this week with coming off steroids and his Paxil. His counts will probably drop and with the cold weather I hope he doesn't get a cold. We will wean him off the Paxil that has worked wonders this time around on Dex and hope that he does OK coming off of it also.

Talk to you all soon!
Ali

Sunday, October 23, 2005 7:00 AM CDT

Good morning! I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. We are certainly enjoying the cooler weather - even though Ben doesn't understand what pants are and why they are on his legs!:)

Will is feeling a little better. The past two nights he has been up and down going to the bathroom but nothing has shown up when I test it for high glucose. He has also had to have stomach medicine the past two nights during the night so both nights I have ended up in his room with him in case he was to get sick.

He did go to the Pep Rally on Friday and Mimi took him and Emma Kay to the football game that night also. He said it was cold and all Emma Kay talked about was the pretty girls on the homecoming court. Especially Anna Kate with her shoes that the heel would light up when she walked. Emma Kay loved that!

We did put new pictures on. Will is really swollen, mostly in the belly area but you can see some in his face on the front page photo. We are so ready for him to be off Dex. Monday at lunch is his last dose for a while, thank goodness. Will does go for treatment tomorrow and to have bloodwork done. Hopefully all will go well and it will be his LAST day in Isolation.

The other pictures we added are of the children before church the day they fed Ben the beef jerkey, Will and Jeremy (our neighbor) the day they had their "car wash", Will in Isolation, our ENTIRE family at Chili's on the night we all ate there for St Jude, and Will and Gabe that night also (they were there eating also).

Well, I may not update in the morning unless something exciting happens. I will wait until we get home from the hospital. Have a great Sunday! Maybe we'll see you at church:)
Love,
Ali
**I also added a fun link that Mr Wayne sent us that Will has really enjoyed. The kids can carve their own pumpkin and then print it out. Thanks Mr Wayne:)

Friday, October 21, 2005 9:40 AM CDT

Well, as of right now, Will feels really YUCK! He got up around 7:45 and has been in the recliner with a blanket on him since. He doesn't have any fever, thank goodness - of course the Dex is really good at "hiding" a fever. Hopefully he will start to feel better since he is really looking forward to the Pep Rally.

Emma Kay is already in her cheerleading suit ready for the Pep Rally so I know she will go even if Will isn't able. I don't know how, but she will. My meeting with the speech people at SES is today at 1:00.

I will update later if anything changes. It is all a waiting game. One minute he can feel bad and the next he will be feeling better. We will just wait and see.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Ali

Thursday, October 20, 2005 2:55 PM CDT

Sorry for not updating this morning as I usually do ~ things were wild around here this morning.

Will continues to do OK. He didn't eat as much today because nothing tasted right. I even took him to Pizza Hut but it just didn't taste right. He is not violent like last time on Dex but his behavior is somewhat to be desired. He is very defiant to say the least. I was so embarassed by the way he acted in the checkout at Wal-Mart that I felt I had to explain to the cashier what was wrong with him. She was very sweet and understanding:)

After reading his guestbook entries, I will have to say that in regard to Mary's message, Will IS mature but I do think Will, Richie, and Jeremy are three peas in a pod! Oh well, at least he has friends:)!

Tomorrow I will meet with the speech department at SES in regard to Emma Kay's speech testing they did at her preschool. We have always known that she said things wrong and now we will be able to do something about it. We are just waiting for something to be wrong with Ben now. I joked with Veo last night that he will probably start growing another head or arm the way our luck seems to be going ~ just kidding!

Sam is planning on taking Emma Kay and Will to the Homecoming Pep Rally tomorrow since the meeting will take place during it. We already had plans to go before the meeting was scheduled so Sam has come to the rescue so Will won't be disappointed. Maybe my meeting won't last too long and I will be able to catch some of it.

Hopefully Will is going to be able to return to school soon. We will just have to see how everything goes.

Talk to you all soon!
Ali

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 8:30 AM CDT

Good morning~

Well, another day down at St Jude. Hopefully all will go well this week and we won't have to go back until next Monday. Will did GREAT with his shots and did not even cry! He is so brave. I told him that he does better than I do. He spent the day with Jonathon, his child life speciatlist. I think they feel sorry for Will being in Isolation. He would sit there at the window and look out at everyone making faces at them to make them laugh. He got a lot of schoolwork done, alot of which Jonathon did with him. Jonathon also really talked to Will about his cancer and explained it in such an easy to understand way. He also told Will that he could come to his class and talk to them and they would play games and lots of cool stuff. This is called their school re-entry program. They do this to help clear up any misconceptions the other children might have. I will be checking with the school to see if this would be OK. You never know what is going on in the other children's minds about Will. I am hoping to get him back into school SOON. I need this as much as Will does. I am just worn out!

The Dex has certainly hit this time. It is different this time. We haven't had any violent outbursts but he is SOOOO wild and a little mean. I know he is driving Jeremy and Renee crazy because he wants to stay at their house all the time. I think Jeremy is his new best friend:) They are so good to let him just come in any time. When I can't find him, I look down at their house and see his bike parked at their front door.

Everyone is doing good. Emma Kay is being as sweet as ever and I just don't know what to say about Ben. If he isn't eating the mulch out of the flowerbeds, he is eating the birdseed out of the bird feeder Ms Sheila gave the children. No wonder he is always sick!

Will spent the night last night with Grammy(aka Ms Twinkie). I believe they are working on Christmas presents that Will designs on her computer. She has all those "smart" sewing machines that can take his designs and make stuff out of them. Will just loves it and it is a much needed break for me:)

Thanks for all your messages! We both love reading them.
Love,
Ali

Tuesday, October 18, 2005 7:34 AM CDT

Hello everyone! Well, Will really caught you all ~ he hasn't had that many messages since his first week of diagnosis:) He checked last night and said , "Wow!"

He had a good report yesterday. His counts have dropped from 7000 to 2300 in a week but he has been off steroids for a week. His weight is up BIG time but we knew that from just looking at him. The doctors ASSURE me this will all go away once off Dex. He started Dex again last night and will take it through Monday at lunch. Everything else was fine. We go today for the LAST set of Peg shots!!!YEA!!!! Then, hopefully, all will go well and we will be done with ReInduction:) That means it will be just once a week (Mondays) until 2008 except for special tests and whatnot.

Mom, Sam, and I took Emma Kay, Will, and Alison to the Talent Show at MHS last night and they really enjoyed it. We had no idea we had so much talent hiding at MHS. It was really good.

Grammy was on call yesterday to shuttle Emma Kay from school, feed her, and then to dance. Then she got Ben and he tried to scare her by jumping out of the swing. His face looks ALOT better today:) He is SO wild, he just can't help it. I think he takes after Veo!

Veo's class is going good. He will be finished on Friday. Thank goodness! Then he will take his test and pass:)

Well, that's all to report this morning ~ thanks for all the messages! Please continue to remember all our St Jude friends.

Love,
Ali

Monday, October 17, 2005 8:28 AM CDT

Good Morning~ Will is still sleeping. I hope that it not a bad sign of how his counts will be today! We have to be there at 12:00. Will is scheduled for Vincristine (the one that makes him hurt) and to start Dex today for another 8 days. We have to be there tomorrow at 12:00 also for him to get his LAST Peg shots!!! Yea:) Hopefully all will go smooth this week and we can say we are done with ReInduction 2 - and we did it at home:)

Will had a good weekend. He really had a great time bowling with Thomas. Yesterday we went to church and Ben threw up all over the nursery. We thought maybe he had the stomach virus but he didn't get sick again and felt fine the rest of the day. My other children now admit to feeding him BEEF JERKY before church which I am sure helped upset his stomach. Like I have said before, there is never a dull moment around here:)

Veo is still in class and had to be there at 7:00 this morning. He will be in class until Friday and then I am not sure when the actual test will be.

Well, I will update later and let you all know how today goes. Will is now standing beside me and wants to know why he has so many visits to his page and only a FEW messages every day! He now wants to type something -

hey every body WILL
MOORE

Love,
Ali

Saturday, October 15, 2005 7:00 AM CDT

Good Morning~

I usually don't update on the weekend because it doesn't seem that anyone checks on the weekend but I didn't update yesterday. I am up early ~ I don't know why:) Veo started a class today in Bartlett. It will last today thru Friday, 8:00-6:00. This is going to help him pass him Home Inspectors test so that he will have a JOB! Yea!! Start praying now, please!!!

Will seems to be feeling good. He tires out easily so he laid around yesterday so he would be rested up for the football challenge last night at MHS. Will did OK. I guess he did good for him. His body just doesn't move like it used to, but I know it is only temporary. It's still hard to see your child different but he did fine and really enjoyed playing football afterwards with Tucker and T. We left and went to eat BBQ with Mimi. Ben decided to go to Mimi's last night, he told us he wanted to:) So.... we all slept fairly well.

Will is going bowling today with Thomas Robertson. He is SO excited. He has never bowled before so it should be interesting. I am just glad he is getting to get out and do stuff while he is feeling good. We never know what each day will bring so we try to jam-pack each day. I guess that is good advice for anyone:)

Well, not much else to report. Rebecca still has some hamsters if you want one. Better hurry, she is getting tired of them and they have lots of pastures out there, hint hint. I would hate to have to think about them running around out there!

Will has treatment on Monday and Tuesday so please continue to pray for him. He will also start Dex again on Monday. Talk to you soon!

Love,
Ali

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."
Ephesians 6:10-11

Thursday, October 13, 2005 8:45 AM CDT

Sorry for the delay in updates! I have just been so busy trying to get schoolwork and housework done. Not to mention that Will is eating us out of house and home since he started the steroids.

Will has been feeling OK lately. He woke up this morning with a really bad headache and feeling weak. I gave him some codine so we will see if it helps. I checked for fever but his temp is only 98.7, which is hig for him since his usual is only around 97.2. Hopefully it won't climb!

Will has now been off Dex since Tuesday at lunch. He will start back on Monday night for another 8 days. He will go for treatment on Monday and Tuesday.

I want to tell you about a little boy named Kyle that I have been following for a while. His mother is Jamie and is just super sweet. We have never officially met but have emailed before. Kyle was diagnosed with ALL in Feb 2004 so he is one year and one month ahead of Will. I always check on him to see where we will be in a year. Well, Kyle relapsed about two weeks ago. Then his father was diagnosed on Tuesday with cancer. They are like our family. Jamie had to quit her job to care for Kyle so the dad is the sole provider for their family. Please visit Kyle's site, tx/kyle. They actually live in Collierville now. I asked Jamie yesterday if I could mention them and she said that would be great so if you want to leave them a message, they'll know who you are:)

Also, Rebecca has 11 hamsters(is this how you spell it?) that have been dropped off at her house. They are FREE to a good home ~ you can let me know if you are interested. Greg says they are about the size of lemons right now and Alison says they are SO cute. One even looks like Stuart Little(who is a mouse - go figure!). Anyway, if you want one, just let us know ~ they have plenty!

Thank you so much for all your prayers! Rebecca seems to be feeling better and when we look at other peoples situations we can't help but be thankful that Will is doing as good as he is.

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 8:12 AM CDT

Will's visit yesterday went fine. We were in isolation which is a little like being in time out! We left the room one time and that was when he was walked over to the Medicine room for his chemo. I got a picture of him all dressed up in his yellow isolation suit.

Will's counts were good yesterday. We expected them to be since he has been on Dex, which is a steroid. His glucose level was up so they sent us home with Keto-Diastix which I will use to test his urine. If anything is off I will call the clinic. I have already tested this morning and everything was fine. Will once again did great with his shots and did not even cry. Alison was very impressed!

As long as Will does not get sick, then we will not go back to St Jude until next Monday and Tuesday. His mood is a little off but I hate to even complain since I remember VERY well how bad it has gotten in the past.

Will told me last night that this was all in his plan. I asked what he meant and he said that God had planned for him to have cancer and he was following his plan. I then asked what was the rest of the plan. He looked at me like "Duh!" and said that he was going to get well. Sounds like a good plan to me:)

Rebecca went yesterday to the doctor and they feel that she may be having panic attacks. I joke and say she may be worrying that something is dirty or out of place in her house! We all know how OCD she is about that kind of stuff! Seriously though, they gave her some medicine and hopefully it will help. She seemed to have picked up a little stomach bug somewhere and was sick at her stomach yesterday. Neddless to say, she has had a great fall break!

Thanks for all the messages and prayers. We need them and appreciate them SO much! Talk to you all soon:)

Love,
Ali

"You have never lived until you have almost died and for those who fight for it, life has a flavor the protected will never know."

Monday, October 10, 2005 6:51 AM CDT

Good morning~

Will had a good weekend. We really didn't do much. He did enjoy the Fire Dept Bake Sale and I think they did really good money wise. Veo and I took all three of them to pick out pumpkins. They really enjoyed that, especailly Ben. Then we just hung out around here.

We missed going to church. Hopefully by next week everybody that was going to break out with the chicken pox will have done it and we might be able to get back.

Will has to be at the hospital at 12:00 today. He will get Vincristine (the one that makes him hurt) and the two chemo shots. He will stay on Dex until tomorrow at 12:00. I will have to say, I think the Dex has hit. He just is so rough and the things he says are just sometimes very rude and disrespectful; just really embarassing if people are around and don't know that he is on this medicine. He will be off for 5 or 6 days and then back on it for 8 more days:(

Rebecca had another one of her "spells" Saturday night. Her blood pressure shoots up and her heart races. She thinks that she is having a heart attack when it happens. They took her to the ER and her potassium was low. She stayed on a drip most of the night. She will go to the doctor today and see what he says. Alison is going with us to the hospital.

Please continue to pray for our family. All of this HAS to end soon or I think we will all be crazy! We appreciate you all SO much:)

Love,
Ali

Friday, October 7, 2005 7:04 AM CDT

*******FIRE DEPT BAKE SALE SATURDAY MORNING 7:00am*******
Fire Station 1 on Front Street

Good morning!

Will is feeling really good these days. He had a good day with Grammy yesterday and Emma Kay and I did "girl" stuff. She said "no stinky boys". She's so silly! Ben seems to be feeling better so hopefully we are on the right track.

Will's mood is doing good with the Dex this time. He is on some new meds to help offset the mood swings and it seems to be working. He will be on Dex until next Tuesday at lunch. Then he will be off for 6 days and then back on for 8 days. Last ReInduction it was the last 8 days of Dex that did him in but we are going to keep our fingers crossed and pray that it doesn't happen this time.

We do have the fire department bake sale in the morning and he is excited about that. We will be baking all day. I actually started last night so I wouldn't be stuck in the kitchen all day:) Will hopes to see you there supporting our fire department!!!

We want to thank the facutly and students at MHS for your generous gifts yesterday. Will, Emma Kay, and Ben really enjoyed their toys and the money will certainly help out with travel expenses AND more! You are all a true blessing to our family. We are so lucky to be part of the MHS family! We love you all!

Gotta go, someone's crying!

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 8:43 PM CDT

Well, there is never a dull moment at our house.

Ben didn't feel good at all this morning. It was like a 3 ring circus until late afternoon when he started feeling better. Now he back to his old self and into everything. He feels so much better now. Mimi took him and got his first big boy haircut and he looks so OLD. He does look really cute!:)

We found out this morning that Will had been exposed to chicken pox over the weekend. He was actually in the room with a child that was contagious so.... I called the clinic and they said he would have to get some medicine to help prevent an outbreak. We head to St Jude around 3:30. We get there and the "medicine" turned out to be THREE shots. He was of course so good about it. I wanted to cry for him. He again wanted them all at the same time so he got two in one leg and one in the other. He took the single one in the sore leg. Since this medicine contains a live virus, we won't be able to go into the actual hospital until October 29. We will have to enter through the Isolation entrance and stay in the Isolation part while we are there. Yuck!

Also, if Will is exposed again, he has to get the shots again. So, if you know of anyone who has the chicken pox or of anyone who has been exposed to someone, please let me know. I don't want Will to have to go through this again.

Will hasn't realized yet that he will miss all his friends in the waiting room along with all the arts and crafts the volunteers do with them while we wait. Oh well, you know how our life goes:)

Will has been feeling really tired and even took a nap today. The chemo he got on Monday and the shots on Tuesday can just wipe someone out. He had to have been tired to have slept in our house today with all the wild children running around!

Thanks so much for all the messages and emails!
Love,
Ali

~On a funnny note, it took us all day to figure out how to remove the parental control that our CHILDREN set so we couldn't watch the news or any local channels. Only the cartoon and movie channels worked. It's sad when they out number us AND are smarter than us:~

Tuesday, October 4, 2005 8:39 PM CDT

Well, another day at St Jude over with:)

Will had his Peg shots today. He got one in each leg. He gets the nurses to do them at the same time. He says you don't know which one to cry about then. Of course he did a great job. I told him I would have screamed and cried more than he did! He hasn't had a reaction to them yet so maybe he won't . His right leg is VERY sore though.

Will's back was also giving him some trouble tonight along with just not feeling well. I think he was tired too. Everybody is already asleep.

Ms Twinkie, aka Grammy, took Ben to the doctor today and he has a sinus infection. Yuck! He already seems to be feeling better with just a little medicine in him. I'm sure he will be right back to the "old" Ben by tomorrow. It takes alot to get him down!

Will goes tomorrow to get his eyes checked and new glasses. His face has grown so much he needs some that aren't going to cut into the sides of his face:)!

Will's bone marrow test came back great! Zero percent leukemia found in his bone marrow. Remission continues ~ we will still wait on the "big" test, the MRD, to come back but it would be very unlikely that anything would come back wrong since everything has looked so good, so far.

Check out our friend Sebastian's page, va/sebastian. On his view photos page is a picture his mom took at the Marlo Thomas shoot of Will and Sebastian. Will really likes Sebastian and they are just really great people.

Well, I better go to bed so I can get up when one (or all) of them wake up. Veo's at the firehouse so I am holding down the fort alone:(

Love,
Ali

Monday, October 3, 2005 7:00 PM CDT

We're home!

They were running REALLY behind at the hospital today. Will's procedure was scheduled for 11:00. He had his bloodwork done at 8:45. We waited, and waited, and waited..... at 2:00 Will was finally put to sleep for his tests. He did good and woke up hungry:)

We then waited, and waited, and waited on the Medicine Room. We finally left St Jude at 6:00. Thank goodness he didn't end up having to get all the blood levels drawn! We are home and he is eating his thin cheese pizza.

We have to be at the hospital at 9:15 tomorrow. Will will get his shots. Dr Howard decided to wait until tomorrow to give him the shots so he could get a couple of doses of Dex in him. Dex is a steroid so it can help hold off any kind of allergic reaction he might have to the shots. So............back to the hospital tomorrow morning. Yuck!

Will's counts were up a little. His ANC is 800. That is better than last week. Will also got to visit with some friends today. We saw everyone come and go, and then more come and go. We also delivered lots of coke tabs to the RMH and then got home to find more on our porch. Jake Austin Smith had left us 2 bottles of them. We will happily deliver them!

We have results from the spinal fluid and it looks good. We will get results from the bone marrow tomorrow and then the MRD tests will be back at the end of the week.

Thanks so much for the prayers, emails, and messages today. We are tired and are going to enjoy a good night's sleep so we can start another day.

Love,
Ali

Sunday, October 2, 2005 5:38 PM CDT

Good Sunday afternoon:)

Will is feeling pretty good. We all were able to go to church. He was really good about wearing his mask and the other children are also really good about not making fun of him. He is at Team Kid at church right now. They are painting tonight so he wore his mask and went right on in. He won't be able to sing with his choir tonight. He has to eat by a certain time tonight and also eat ALOT so he will be full. He won't be able to eat tomorrow until after his procedures.

Tomorrow Will will have a bone marrow aspirate and a spinal tap. This will all happen as long as his counts are up. When he wakes up in recovery from these, he will take his first dose of Dex (yuck!). We will then wait on his chemo (3 different kinds including TWO shots). While waiting on his chemo, they will draw blood levels at one, two, four, and eight hours after he took that first dose of Dex. This is part of some kind of study. Will will get his chemo and then once all blood levels have been drawn, we will get to come home.

Veo is going with us tomorrow as you can see, it will be a long day. We should have some sort of preliminary results on Will's spinal fluid tomorrow and the MRD (which is where they take apart his bone marrow sample and do a very THOUROUGH test) will be back later in the week.

Please pray for high counts, continued remission, and a smooth day for Will. Last time he was VERY sick immediately after the chemo and christened the Medicine room! Thanks so much for all that you do for our family. We will never be able to repay you for all the cards and well wishes!:)

Love,
Ali

PS I am so nervous about tomorrow. I almost didn't write this but I hear all the time how strong I am. I have already cried today. I have no idea why I am so nervous about tomorrow. He has had this test before - who knows. Then I came across this devotional. Well, God really slapped me in the face with this one. I think he laid it right in front of me!

"When darkness overtakes the godly, light will come bursting in.
The LORD is generous, compassionate, and righteous.
Such people will not be overcome by evil circumstances.
Those who are righteous will be long remembered.
They do not fear bad news;
they confidently trust the LORD to care for them.
They are confident and fearless
and can face their foes triumphantly."
Psalm 112:4,6-8

Friday, September 30, 2005 7:28 AM CDT

Good FRIDAY morning to everyone!

Well, Will has had alot of leg pain. It started last night and it took 1 and 1/2 tablets of codine to get him eased enough to sleep. I am not sure if it is the AVN spots on his legs making them hurt or all of the physical activity he did yesterday. It might be a combination of both. It was a beautiful day outside yesterday and we spent most of it outside so he played pretty hard. Ben's shots went fine. He was actually due for three more shots so he got four total but did great. He is just such a mess. Dr Narayanan got to see one of Ben's throw down fits. He just laughed and told me that Ben was rotten!:)

Thanks so much to Will's class for the pumpkin poster you made him. I am going to try and post a picture of him holding it. He really liked it. Also thank you to Carolyn Wilmesherr for dinner last night. It helped me SO much. We have so many people that help us and we appreciate it more than you will ever know.

We will not be going to the Pep Rally this morning. Emma Kay probably wouldn't cheer anyway and I don't have the heart to leave Will here since his counts are down. So... we are skipping it.

So many of you have been sending us cards since Alex's death. It means so much to both of us that you would take time to do this. Everyone seems to be doing as well as you would expect and they seem to have a peace about them now. Thanks so much!

We hope everyone has a great weekend. Will's procedures on Monday will begin at 8:45 with blood tests. IF his counts are high enough, he will have a bone marrow aspirate(this checks to make sure he is still in remission), a spinal tap(this checks his spinal fluid for any leukemia and they inject chemo into his spinal and brain fluid), and then he will go to the Medicine Room for regular chemo. He will get some pretty yuck ones that day and of course will be put to sleep for the bone marrow and spinal tap. This will be a LONG day for all of us. Please pray hard for high counts and continued remission!

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Hebrews 11:1

Love,
Ali

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck
(written after she found out she was dying from cancer).
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner." There would have been more "I love you’s." More "I'm sorry’s’."
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it . live it and never give it back. Stop sweating the small stuff.
Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what.
Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.
Let's think about what God HAS blessed us with. And what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally. I hope you all have a blessed day!

Thursday, September 29, 2005 6:44 AM CDT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIMI! :)

Good Morning!

Ben has to go to the doctor today is why I am updating SO early. He is getting his chicken pox shot. Will's doctors have decided that it would be better to just go ahead and give it to Ben since it seems to be going around. Hopefully Ben won't be the very small percent that actually get the chicken pox from the shot!

Will seems to be feeling good. He has been playing hard. He also has been sleeping hard! Ms Carolyn came and helped get some of his work done yesterday. It's good to have friends that are teachers:) Thanks Carolyn! Will really seemed to enjoy working with her. He has had some bad headaches but the codine seems to knock them out. He and Emma Kay are going to Grammy's this morning while I take Ben to the doctor.

Well, there's nothing more new to update. I guess that is a good thing. Thanks for checking in on Will. Keep praying for high counts on Monday so he can start ReInduction 2.

"Jesus looked at them intently and said, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible."
Matthew 19:26

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 8:28 PM CDT

Will had a pretty good day today. Since we are stuck in the house with his low counts, we were able to get some of his schoolwork done. I also got the MOUNDS of laundry done. Hopefully this week Will will be able to catch up on some work.

Since Will isn't able to eat fast food with low counts, Veo had to go to the grocery store so I can cook, cook, cook. I will have to say he did a pretty good job of getting everything I listed. I don't think it is something he enjoyed though! Oh well, he better get used to it with ReInduction 2 starting next week ~ Especially since we will be at home for the first week of it (and he will be on steroids!). Will has to have everything cooked for him and immediately served while going through ReInduction; same rules as with low counts.

Will started all of his meds that will hopefully offset BAD effects of next weeks meds. He is back up to about 10-15 pills a day. They are giving him a new medicine to help with the HORRIBLE mood alterations he had during ReInduction 1. Will was upset that he didn't get to go to choir and handbells today and he won't be able to go to RA's tomorrow night. These are really the only times that Will gets to play with other children and he has really come to enjoy them. Thomas did get to come over for a while after school today and they enjoyed playing chase and playstation.

Well, please continue to pray for no fever and high counts.

Therefore I live for today -
Certain of finding at sunrise
Guidance and strength for the way.

Power for each moment of weakness,
Hope for each moment of pain,
Comfort for every sorrow,
Sunshine and joy after the rain!
-Anonymous


Love,
Ali

Monday, September 26, 2005 4:20 PM CDT

Well, the mask is back! Will's counts are down, his ANC is only 200 and his white count is also down. He will have to wear the mask until next Monday. HOPEFULLY his counts will be at least 500 on next Monday so he can start ReInduction 2. He was not able to get his treatment today. They won't make it up, he will just miss this one. He also will not be taking his 6mp, which is a chemo I give him here every night. Hopefully him being off chemo for a week will help his counts rebound.

On a good note, Dr Howard did agree to us staying home the first week of ReInduction! Yea! Of course, Will has to keep the mask on and won't really be able to go anywhere, depending on his counts. Next Monday will be a long day but at least we will get to come home to our own beds:)

I guess today showed me that we can never plan anything. We are still going to Chili's tonight. Dr Howard said Will could go but had to wear his mask. We really love Dr Howard and Will's nurse Corey. They are so good to us.

Thanks for checking on Will. Please pray that he stays fever free this week! With low counts come fever and with fever comes a hospital stay - YUCK!

Hope to see you all at Chili's tonight!!!! Let Will know if you were able to eat there today!

Love,
Ali

Monday, September 26, 2005 8:50 AM CDT

Good Morning~

Will is feeling OK. His stomach has been a little upset since last night. Hopefully he isn't coming down with something! He is looking forward to eating at Chili's tonight. I think our entire family is planning on eating at the Horn Lake Chili's. Remember you can eat anytime today at ANY Chili's and all the money they take in today goes to St Jude.

We have to be at St Jude at 10:45 today. Hopefully all of Will's appointments will go fast and we can get back early. He will get Methotrexate today in the Medicine Room and it is just a quick push in his line. One week from today he will start ReInduction 2. I think I am going to BEG to get to stay in Senatobia during it and just drive back and forth. It's worth a shot to beg and plead with his doctor. I guess the worst thing he could say would be no:) With gas prices though, we may not be able to do that! We'll see.

I will update later today and let you all know how his counts are today. Pray for high counts so he can start ReInduction 2 on a good foot!

Love,
Ali

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."


This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up.

He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it".

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.



"Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once."

Saturday, September 24, 2005 11:10 AM CDT

Yea! Today is Saturday!! Veo and I are going to try our night out again so keep your fingers crossed. We are going to a wedding tonight for Veo's partner, Matt. I just love weddings.

Will has gone fishing with Vick Mayo today. They left around 7:00 this morning. It is Will's first time out on a boat like Vick's. I am SO nervous. I just keep thinking, "What if he falls out?" I know that won't happen but the kind of luck we have, you have to wonder!

Will seems to be feeling good. We went to the ballgame last night to watch Emma Kay, Alison, and Kendal cheer. Alison and Kendal did great. Emma Kay stood there and looked like she wanted to cry. I told her she still looked beautiful EVEN though she didn't cheer.

Veo put one of Will's baptism pictures on the page today. I think he looks like a little angel:)

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by! Will has treatment Monday morning and then we will eat at Chili's that night. Start making your plans now to eat at ANY Chili's ANY time on Monday. Everyone has to eat so you might as well eat at Chili's for all the kids at St Jude!

Love,
Ali

Thursday, September 22, 2005 9:49 AM CDT

Good Morning~

Will is doing good. He had some mood swing issues yesterday but I contribute them to all that has been happening lately. We all need to cry and scream every now and then. He did go to church last night to RA's. Then he went back to Pops and Grammy's house. I think he likes it there because Austin isn't big enough to bother him like Emma Kay and Ben are. Will doesn't have treatment again until Monday. Please start praying now that his ANC goes up before ReInduction 2. We have about a week and a half before we go back. I really dread it this time but I know it's our last time to have to go stay, thankfully. The only way we would have to go back for such a long time would be a relapse, but that won't happen! After ReInduction 2, Will will go every Monday until 2008. He will of course have other tests that will come up, but his treatment days will be Monday until then.

Ben is doing better. Emma Kay doesn't seem to be having any problems right now other than just being silly. She has been around some older girls and THOUGHT she would talk back to me yesterday but she has decided life isn't fun when you do that:)

Rebecca sent me an email where I had to email her back and describe her in one word. I did it and then sent it out to my friends where they had to do the same to me. It is so good to what others think about me. Even though you all had almost the same answer. I wanted to put laughing on Rebecca's because Will gets so mad at her for laughing all the time! She always tells him if she wasn't laughing she would have to cry. Will says Emma Kay and Rebecca are just alike.

Thank you all so much for your kinds words, thoughts and prayers since Alex passed away. They are all holding up and feel so blessed to be part of people that care so much!

Happiness keeps You Sweet,

Trials keep You Strong,

Sorrows keep You Human,

Failures keep You Humble,

Success keeps You Glowing,

But Only God keeps You Going!


Love,
Ali

Tuesday, September 20, 2005 9:10 PM CDT

Hello to you all! Yes, it is past my 8:30 bedtime:) I wish!

Will's visit today was fine. His ANC is only 700. After a week on Dex, which is a steroid, it would normally be higher. Oh well, nothing else has been going great anyway. We found out today that Emma Kay has been exposed to chicken pox and Ben was running fever when we got home. SO..... if you have bad news for us - Don't Call!!!! Just kidding!

We plan on resting tomorrow. Don't be shocked if you see us in our PJ's at noon. I am exhausted and I'm sure Ben won't sleep tonight.

Will did go to choir this afternoon and had a great time. He was really needing some "child interaction". He played kickball with Thomas and some of the boys before choir and just had fun. He is spending some much needed time with Pops and Grammy tonight, along with Scottie and Austin.

Thank you all so much for everything. I will update more later but am just exhausted. I am adding a new link at the bottom. Mary Ayers sent it to me in an email and I just loved it.

Love,
Ali

Monday, September 19, 2005 6:54 AM CDT

Well, once again you have all come together and supported us like we could have never expected. Today, Veo will bury his brother, Alex. I cannot believe this day is here. I feel like we all in some way held on to a small piece of hope that Alex would be able to win this battle with drugs. I hope that this tragedy can teach others a lesson. It shows us that no matter what kind of background you come from, you are not above something like this. Alex had so much given to him and was brillant, yet he couldn't resist the temptation of drugs and of course, his addiction just grew and grew.

Veo's parents had a pretty rough day yesterday but really enjoyed all the visitors they had. They talked about all the good times with Alex. I know today will be horrible for them. The visitation in at 2:00pm in the Welcome Center at First Baptist Church and the funeral will start at 3:00, also there at the church.

Will is feeling really well and handling this all really well. We found a stack of Alex's pictures and there were a ton of them in there of Will. Alex had written on the back of them all. Will just couldn't believe that Alex had saved them all. Will's treatment will be changed till tomorrow. We only have 2 weeks left until we have to go back. Yuck!

Please continue to pray for us all. Today will be a hard day.

Love,
Ali

Sunday, September 18, 2005 7:34 AM CDT

*****UPDATE: Alex's visitation will be at 2:00pm tomorrow in the Welcome Center at First Baptist Church with the funeral at 3:00pm in the Sanctuary at FBC.********************


Will seems to be feeling better. He and Ben spent the night with mom last night and Emma Kay went to Sam's. Veo and I were both exhausted after such a long day. Will took his last dose of Dex yesterday at luch so hopefully things will only get better from here.

Veo's brother Alex did pass away yesterday around 2:30. We were all there and are just so sad. He was only 31 years old. I just don't understand these sort of things but after yesterday and seeing what Veo's parents went through, I cannot imagine losing a child. Veo's parents are holding up. The whole family has received so much support already. We really appreciate it!

Something ironic that I want to tell you about is that yesterday Alex was at Methodist Central. Two of his doctors came walking out right after we had gotten there. There was a man and a woman. The man doctor looked very familiar to me but I thought maybe it was because I see so many doctors. Then he came back out and Veo and I both said that we just knew that we knew him. That doctor rotates to St Jude and had been Will's doctor one time over there. We talked to him about it and he was just super nice. Isn't that strange and what are the odds that that would happen?

Please continue to pray for their family. They will make arrangements this morning and I will post them when I know them. I am going to change Will's treatment to Tuesday hopefully. I feel that the funeral will be tomorrow.

Thanks again for all you do!

"He will rescue us because you are helping by praying for us."
2 Corinthians 1:11

Intercession is the practice of praying for the needs of others. It is easy to become discouraged if you think there is nothing you can do to help someone you care about. But in fact, the most important thing you can do for others (and others do for you) is to PRAY. In ways beyond our understanding, intercessory prayer is a channel for the love and power of God, as well as creating a deep bond of fellowship between human beings. Thus intercession is a vital source of HOPE.

Love,
Ali

Saturday, September 17, 2005 9:22 AM CDT

Please pray for Veo's family as Veo's brother, Alex, overdosed last night. Many of you know that Alex has struggled for many years and has probably now lost the battle. Alex is in ICU at Methodist Central. He is unable to breath on his own and has bleeding on his brain. Veo took his dad to the hospital last night but is now back at the firehouse. We will be leaving at 11:00 to go up there with Veo's sister Scottie who is coming in from Cleveland, MS.

Please pray for Veo's parents, Buck and Twinkie. Ms. Twinkie is flying in from Panama City at 1:00. She was teaching sewing classes there. I will update later to let you know how everything is going.

Will is a little better today. His throat was hurting some this morning but his mood is much better. He knows something is going on so he is a little nervous this morning. He heard the phone ringing all night and any shift in "normal" life really makes him nervous.

Again, please pray for Veo's family.
Ali

Friday, September 16, 2005 8:44 AM CDT

Good morning, thank goodness it's Friday, huh?!:)

Well, not much new to report. Will's jaws are hurting really bad. We are having problems finding stuff for him to eat. If it is soft enough for him to eat, then it doesn't taste good and he doesn't want anything hot. Yesterday we finally got a strawberry slush from Sonic and he ate the whole thing. Too bad they don't deliver!

His mood is a little better with the help of Paxil and Adavan which he will continue taking until the end of October. If just 4 days so far of Dex has done this, imagine what 16 days of it is going to do! Any volunteers to take my place in October?

All in all, Will just feels yucky. He did do a little schoolwork yesterday. I had to write most of it because his joints hurt. He was worried that Mrs. Bouchillon would get mad and I assured him that she understood. She is so great to work with us the way she does.

Veo is going in to the firehouse tonight to work for a buddy whose son plays for the Rebels so that he can go to the game tomorrow. Good luck Rebels! Will is hoping that the someone special that Whitney Brownlee was talking about is Michael Spurlock. Will is really stuck on him! He was VERY nice when he came to see Will.

Well, I hope everyone has a great weekend! Veo and I are hoping to go out to eat tomorrow night. We have all the babysitters lined up; the Webb's and Mimi. Grammy's off the hook because she is out of town. We'll catch her when she gets back and get another night out. This will be the second time we have gone out since March. Keep you fingers crossed nothing happens, I really need a break!

Thanks for all the messages and prayers! Also, thank you to Amanda Wilson and Stephanie Billingsley for the dinner they brought last night. Also to Angie Archer and Rebecca who brought it last week! You guys will never know how much it helps!

Love,
Ali

Thursday, September 15, 2005 8:48 AM CDT

Well, the Dex has HIT!

Will is very moody with calm times every now and then. He is angry and then sad. He is mean and then sweet. I am just enjoying the FEW seconds of calm and trying to ignore the rest of the "mood". I had planned on doing schoolwork today but I do not see how that will be possible. We are already almost two weeks behind.

I told mom yesterday that everybody needs to be around for these times. Everyone gets to see Will when he is happy and nice and they seem to think this treatment is a breeze. Well, those are the times we let you see Will. Be thankful!

The picture above is of Will and Shane Battier. He was SO nice to Will. He is also VERY tall:) I told Will that he made Will look like an ant!

Everything at the photo shoot of Will and Marlo Thomas went good, I guess. Mom and I never even got the chance to see her. Will had his own opinion of her but I am hoping it is the Dex talking and not really him so I am not going to share it with you:) HAHA I will have to say that Shane Battier was very friendly to the parents and appreciative of us bringing them up there. Oh well, everyone has a different way.

Please pray that the side effects of Dex will soon pass. He wasn't able to sleep at all last night either. We just have to keep remembering that this is not REALLY Will.

I did read his messages to him this morning and he thinks it is pretty cool that the Dallas Cowboys coach's wife sent him a message. He also received a really cool email from Whitney Brownlee that had a picture of Michael Spurlock on it. Thanks to you all!

Love,
Ali

On the Wings of a Prayer

Just close your eyes and open your heart,
And feel your worries and cares depart.
Just yield yourself to the Father above,
And let him hold you secure in his love.

For life on earth grows more involved,
With endless problems that can't be solved,
But God only asks us to do our best,
Then He will take over and finish the rest....

So when you are tired, discouraged and blue,
There is always one door that is open to you,
And that is the door to The House of Prayer,
And you'll find God waiting to meet you there.
And The House of Prayer is no further away,
than the quiet spot where you kneel and pray.

For the heart is a temple when God is there
As we place ourselves in his loving care.
And he hears every prayer and answers each one
When we pray in His name - Thy will be done.
The burdens that seemed too heavy to bear
Are lifted away on the wings of a prayer.

by: Helen Steiner-Rice

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 7:44 AM CDT

Good Morning~

Our visit at St Jude went fine yesterday. They snuck some x-rays in on us that we weren't expecting, but Will did great. The x-rays were to see if the spots on his knees were big enough or deep enough to pick up on just x-rays and they were not. They also x-rayed his ankles which are giving him lots of trouble and they didn't find anything. They will just watch the spots for now. Will's ANC (ability to fight infection) is only 500 so no "real" school this week. Maybe next week they will be up.

Will started his Dex last night and I just have to make myself give it to him. Hopefully all the meds he took last week will prevent any mood changes or pain from the chemo.

Will did get picked yesterday to be in a film for the Thanks and Giving Campaign for the hospital. We were in the right place in the right time. He was also wearing a MHS shirt so we are now advertising for the Chiefs.:)

Today we will go to ALSAC, which is the fundraising arm of St Jude. Will is going to get to meet Marlo Thomas and be in a photo shoot for the Thanks and Giving Campaign. This is where certain stores donate money spent during this holiday season to St Jude. They encourage parents to be thankful for their healthy children while giving to those who aren't. I will try to get a list of the stores participating and post it for those of you who are interested. I am nervous about meeting Marlo Thomas. I let you all know how it goes.

Please pray for Zach Suddoth. He received burns last night while burning brush in his yard with his dad. I haven't heard anything this morning but I know they need prayers. For those of you who are our caring bridge friends, Zach is a high schooler who attends school at the school Will does. His family is so sweet and special to us.

'God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.
If God brings you to it, he will see you through it.'
~author unknown~

Thanks for everything!

Love,
Ali

My Beautiful Son


I watch you playing,
Without a care.
It's hard to believe
The cancer is there.

You look so bright,
So happy and well.
If someone new met you
They couldn't tell.

Your strength is amazing,
Your courage so strong.
You've fought this disease
So well for so long.

It's from your strength,
that I draw mine.
I know you will come through this,
It'll just take time.
Carry on smiling,
I will too.
Through the hard times
I'll carry you.

You are my world,
The air that I breathe,
I know in my heart
You'll never leave.

Keep strong my love,
The battle has begun,
But with your strength,
It will be won.

~author unknown~

Sunday, September 11, 2005 3:44 PM CDT

"Every time a child is born, a very unique and personal experience occurs with the parents that can not be adequately described. Incredible hopes and dreams overwhelm us and this child – a part of us – becomes our mission. To hold, to love, to lead and direct we will do whatever it takes to prepare them for what lies ahead."

Good afternoon!

Well, Will's baptism went wonderful. He did not even get his dressing wet. Dr Brent did a wonderful job. I was so proud of Will. I think that it was the proudest I have ever been of him. Then the choir sang such a beautiful song. It has been just such a great day. Pops prayed a beautiful prayer for Will and then we all gathered at Pops and Grammy's house to eat and visit. Emma Kay even got to flirt with her boyfriend, Mr Richie. Ben enjoyed eating and visiting with everyone. Everyone has been so supportive of Will and I want to say thank you. We saw so many at church this morning. Thank you for your words of encouragement that you gave Will.

Tomorrow Will is going to get Dex and Vincristine. The Dex is the main drug hurting Will's bones and it is the one that makes him so "moody"(to put it nicely). The Vincristine is the one that makes him hurt. He has been taking his preventitive meds that will hopefully help. We will just keep praying. Speaking of praying, Brent had a wonderful semon on praying this morning. When Will first got sick I was so focused on praying for his healing that that is all I prayed for. Since then I have learned alot. I now pray for his healing(of course) but also that God's will be done in his life. I can already see it happening, with today being a big step.

Thanks again for all your prayers. I(really Veo) will post pictures of the baptism soon.

Love,
Ali

Friday, September 9, 2005 7:01 AM CDT

Once upon a time, three angels were busily working in the miracle factory. They were responsible for wrapping up all the little miracles and sending them on their way. Normally they wrapped each one in bright, sturdy paper with big, shiny ribbons. They stamped it with a delivery date and away it would go to the parents who eagerly awaited its arrival. Things usually ran pretty smoothly.
One day, however, down the conveyer belt came a little miracle that made the angels pause. "Oh my," said the first angel "this one's uhm...well...different." "Yes, he is unique" said the second angel. "Well I think he is quite special," said the first angel "but I don't think he will quite fit our standard wrapping procedures." And the second angel added, "And we know he's special, but will everyone else?" "Not a problem," said the third angel "obliviously a special miracle deserves extra special wrapping; and of course we'll send him off with our most heartfelt blessings. Then everyone will see how special he is." "What a wonderful idea!" replied the others. So they searched the shelves high and low for their finest paper, and their most delicate ribbons.
When they were done, they stood back and admired their work. "Beautiful!" thay all agreed. "Now for our blessings," said the third angel "for it is time for him to go." "I will bless him with innocence and happiness," said the first angel. "And I will bless him with strength to face the many challenges that lie ahead" said the second angel. "And I will bless him with an inner beauty that will shine on all who look upon him" said the third angel. Before sending him off the third angel, who was very wise, gently tucked a note inside.

And it said:

Dear Parents,
Today you have received a very special gift.
It may not be what you were expecting,
And you may be disappointed, angry and hurt.
But please know that he comes with many blessings,
And, while there may be pain, he will bring you much joy
He will take you in a very difficult journey,
But you will meet many wonderful people.
He will teach you patience and understanding
And make you reach deep inside yourselves
to find a source of strength and faith you never knew you had.
He will enrich your lives,
And will touch the hearts of all who meet him.
He may be fragile,
But he has great inner strength.
So please handle him with care,
Give him lots of attention,
Shower him with hugs and kisses,
Love him with all your heart,
And he will blossom before your eyes.
His spirit will shine like the brightest star for all to see,
And you will know that you are truly blessed.



Will has been having good days. He is getting lots of sleep:) Too bad the little ones aren't taking after him. He went to a benefit golf tournament with his daddy, Mr Neal, Mr Richie, and Greg yesterday and had a blast. It was for Make A Wish and The Ronald McDonald House. They granted a wish while they were there and Will said it was really neat.

Emma Kay went to the Jr High football game last night with Ms Angie. She screamed for Ms Angie so she was nice enough to come get her for a while.

There are new pictures. The ones at the top are of Will with the MHS Chiefs after they gave him his jersey. There is also one of him on his bed with all the Dallas Cowboy stuff that a church in Texas sent Will. I told him he is one lucky guy. One the view photos page there is a picture of Will and his #1 nurse, Corey and a picture of him and Dr Howard. Dr Howard is Will's main doctor. He is really sweet and funny. They both make Will feel so good while he is at the hospital. They are really great! There are also pictures of Will and both of his grandmothers while we were at the RMH and one of Rebecca and all 3 in her art classroom at MHS. There are two of Ben on there because Will just loved both of those. Ben is going to be our "clown". He is so silly!

Well, we hope you all have a great weekend. Will's baptism is Sunday and I am nervous. It will be a little different than the usual baptism since Will can not get his chest in the water. The church is also taking precautions by cleaning the baptistry and we want to thank them. I believe some people volunteered to do that and we really appreciate it!

Keep praying!
Love,
Ali

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 8:16 AM CDT

Hello to everyone!

We had a quick visit at St Jude yesterday. Everyone was on time for appointments so it all went smoothly. Will even made it back in time to go to choir. He is not going to school today. He is going to school at home to get caught up from last week. All of his tests he had at the hospital last week put him behind on his schoolwork.

Speaking of his tests last week..... Will's MRI showed some spots on both knees. These spots are called AVN spots or Avascular Necrosis. These are caused by lose of blood supply to the bone due to the steroids he has been on and will start back on Monday. An Orthopedic group from UT will review Will's case and decide what needs to happen. This is really the first bad news we have gotten and I will say that it did scare me when they started telling me. I guess this just shows us that when everything is said and done, there are more things that Will is going to have to deal with after he beats cancer. I have added a link at the bottom for those of you who want to read more about AVN. It is really easy to understand and they explain it much better than I do. When you click on it you will have to scroll all the way up to the top of the page to get to the beginning. For some reason it pulls up towards the end - I am just learning all this computer stuff!

Other than the MRI results, Will had a good visit. His counts are down from last time but not too much. His weight is steadily going up and they have decided it is a delayed reaction to the Dex(steroid with chemo) that he got so much of during ReInduction 1. He starts Dex on Monday along with getting Vincristine(this is the one that makes him hurt). He will take Dex for 5 days. Then we will only have a couple of weeks left before ReInduction 2 where he will be on Dex for 16 days. I just try to not even think about it.

Will did have a good visit with some friends. He played with Anne Raegan of course. She is just too cute and we were able to see Foster who has been receiving his treatment in Chattanooga. He is back for ReInduction 1 so we will say extra prayers for him. Will enjoyed seeing him and playing GameBoy with him.

Well, that is all I have to report. Will's baptism is on Sunday and he is getting nervous. He did enjoy choir yesterday and is excited about RA's tonight.

I better go get his school work started. We have lots to catch up on:(!

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, September 6, 2005 7:43 AM CDT

Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for You are the one I praise."
Jeremiah 17:14

Good Morning! I hope everone had a good "long" weekend. Will has had a good one. He has been able to play with his friends and yesterday, Mr. Pat took him to his first Ole Miss football game. He had such a good time. He talked about Mike Spurlock and said, " he did so good Momma and I know him!" He couldn't believe how many people were there.

We have to be at the hospital at 12:00 today. He will get chemo and his counts will be checked. We will meet with the doctor and get the results of all the tests he had done last week.

Thank you so much for all the peppers. I have listed them above. I will leave them there for a while but we have written down all of them so he can see them.

Love,
Ali

I received this and it made me think of all of you who check on Will daily and have made our family part of your family. Thanks!

We come from somewhere special,
we’re sent here just for you -
Everyone has a guardian angel,
some folks even have two!
Although you cannot see us,
our presence you can feel -
We’re here to comfort and protect you,
we want to help you heal.
When you are feeling lonely,
or scared, or sick, or down -
You can count on your guardian angels,
we’ll always be around.
Forever we will care for you,
Our love will never die -
We’re always watching over you,
on that you can rely!
What we do is so important,
our job is never done -
We’re with you all throughout the night,
and with the first rays of the sun.
We have a lot of helpers,
who come in many forms -
To hug you tight and hold you close,
when the sunshine turns to storms.
We send these earthly angels,
when your spirit needs a lift -
Their presence in your life
is our very special gift.
So when things seem to all go wrong,
and no one seems to care -
You can count on all of your angels,
who vow to always be there.

Sunday, September 4, 2005 9:10 AM CDT

"No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down, he will never let you be pushed past your limit, he'll always be there to help you come through it...." I Corth. 10:13

Good morning!

Well, Will had a great time yesterday with Greg and last night playing with some of his friends at the Robertson's house. He slept soooo good last night. He complained some last night with his ankles hurting and they are still hurting him this morning. I am sure it has something to do with all the physical activity he has been having, which is very good for him. He is looking forward to going over to the Copeland's tonight. Good eating again! If Ms Mandy would get out of the bed and call or leave me a message, Rebecca and I would both know what to bring tonight! Hint, Hint Mandy:)

We are up and getting ready for church. Today is six months since Will's diagnosis. On the day he was diagnosed, he had been moved to St Jude the day before. It was Friday and they had done a bone marrow aspiration to pinpoint what was actually wrong. They told up it could be one of three things: A-Plastic Anemia, a bone infection, or Leukemia. My mom, Rebecca, Greg, and Veo were all in the room along with me and Will. Will was happily coloring a placemat one of the nurses had given him and I saw three doctors walk up to the door. I just had a feeling it was going to be bad. Up until that moment I had held onto a little thread of hope that they were wrong and Will just had a virus. I knew then that it wasn't a virus. It was almost an out of body experience. As the doctors told us they were certain it was ALL, I could see everyone in the room, including myself. Everyone had a horrified look on their face and Rebecca was crying. My mom looked so sad and I could tell Greg wanted to cry. Veo and I held hands and listened as they told us what was going to happen and who our doctor would be. It was like I was up above everyone looking down. Will realized something was wrong and stopped coloring and asked. I am not sure what we told him but he never got upset. He was brave and strong then like he is now.

Well, sorry I have rambled on this morning. Several of you have asked me about that day and I realized I had never told you all about that day.

Thanks so much for all your prayers and support. We appreciate it more than you will ever know!

Love,
Ali

Saturday, September 3, 2005 12:43 AM CDT

Good afternoon~ I just put Ben down for a nap so I can finally update. He is so wild and into everything it makes it hard to do anything with him around.

Will spent the night with Greg and Rebecca last night and went dove hunting this morning. He told his daddy on the phone that he only killed one bird. I hear there just weren't many doves out. Maybe the hurricane got them off course. Anyway, Will has had a great time and is still out there. I believe they are eating now. I know he has had fun and will be so tired.

We are going out to Thomas' house tonight to eat. Emma Kay has been asking for Belle all morning. I'm not sure how long Will is going to be able to stay up since he has been up since 5:00.

He has been feeling good and hopefully will stay that way. This month he is only scheduled to go on Mondays and no big tests are scheduled. Will's baptism will be Sept. 11(next Sunday). On Sept. 12, Will will begin Dex (UGHHH!) again but will only be on it for a week. Then we will return to the RMH for the month of October. That's the plan so far so hopefully everything will go smoothly with the Dex and September will be a good month for us.

Thanks to you all for all the cool peppers. You are all very creative. I am very impressed. Maybe one of you will get one of the $25 gift cards to Chili's. They give three away each week.

Keep praying and hopefully we will be seeing you all around!

Love,
Ali

GOD AND THE SPIDER

During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades.

Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.

As he waited, he prayed, Lord, if it be your will, please protect me.

Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen.

After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help me out of this one. Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.

As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave.

Ha, he thought. What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor.

As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. Lord, forgive me, prayed the young man. I had forgotten that in you, a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall.

We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to forget the victories that God would work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways. As the great leader, Nehemiah, reminded the people of Israel when they faced the task of rebuilding Jerusalem, In God we will have success! [Nehemiah 2:20].

Remember: Whatever is happening in your life, with God, a mere spider's web can become a brick wall of protection. Believe He is with you always. Just speak His name through Jesus His son, and you will see His great power and love for you.

Love is Stronger than Cancer

Friday, September 2, 2005 7:08 AM CDT

Good Morning! Happy Friday to everyone~ It's a long weekend so everyone should be happy. Of course, Veo works the firehouse Monday:(

Yesterday we had to go to the ALSAC building beside St Jude. Will was in a photo shoot with Shane Battier, #31 of the Memphis Grizzlies. It is for a new banner to cover the side of the Grizzlies House. It was Will along with about 5 other St Jude children. I have to say that he was one of the nicest people I have ever met, along with being the tallest! They took group pictures and then individual pictures of each child and Shane. I will be able to get copies and will post them when they come in. It was really cool (in Will's words). He even got his autograph.

Will has been feeling OK. He is just moody. I wish they would let him go to school more. I think he is bored so he just gets wild. All he ever does is play with Emma and Ben. He is going out to Rebecca and Greg's to spend the night tonight so that he can be there for the bg dove hunt in the morning. He is excited and I am excited that I don't have to get him up that early!

We also have been invited to Kim and Tim Robertson's house Saturday night. They are always so nice to include us in anything they have going on. Our children love to go out there and it is so nice to get out and visit. That has been on of the hardest things along with Will being sick. I guess people think that because Will has cancer that we don't want to have a "normal" life. Some make plans right in front of us and never ask. Thanks Tim and Kim, the children are excited also. Especially Ben who ate all of Tim's food last time:) BIG BEN

Well, today is 6 months since we took Will to Dr Narayanan's office. Sunday will be 6 months since Will's diagnosis. I can't believe that we have made it through 6 months. Only 2 years and 6 months to go, huh? I do hope it gets easier because lately it seems to just be getting harder. I remember Dr Narayanan talking outside Will's room at his office saying he was sending us to Lebonheur. Then he came in and explained that Will's counts were off and they would need to rule out Leukemia. I couldn't believe it. The next few days were a nightmare. So many unanswered questions as they tried to figure out what it was. Then they told us we would go to St Jude and I knew it was bad.

I'll write more later. My children are calling. Thanks for all the peppers. He really loves checking MY email to get his new peppers. I have listed more at the top. He got one that doesn't have a name. It is blue and red with sunshines on it. The code was 2898.

Thanks to you all for everything,
Ali

Wednesday at the hospital Will had lots of mail. He had two special cards, the kind that stuff falls out of (Will's words again). One was from Ms Susan McNulty and the other one was from Will's secret pal. He says he WILL figure out who that is:) Thanks to you all!

**By the way, we really like Scottie's idea of Pops taking us all to Chili's. Sounds good:)***We'll see what Pops says!**

Thursday, September 1, 2005 7:35 AM CDT

Hello!

First of all, Will is all into this pepper business:) He thinks this is so neat. He isn't up yet so he hasn't seen his newest ones. He knows how to get into my email (he's a computer hacker!) and he would go every few minutes last night to see if he had any more peppers! Maybe this will help you all to remember to eat at Chili's on September 26!

Everything yesterday went fine. He did have to have more "sleepy medicine" than usual. Every time they would get him in the position he needed to be in, he would move a little so they had to keep giving him more and more medicine. I didn't think he was ever going to wake up. He wasn't as moody last night as he was on Monday so maybe this time will be better. It is a different kind of medicine so we'll keep our fingers crossed! We will know something hopefully be next Tuesday, our next Dr's appointment. They aren't making him come next Monday, Labor Day.

Well, we hope that everyone got gas last night. We got gas coming into town yesterday and Will was fast asleep. When he heard us talking about the lines last night he wanted to go see, so we pilled up in the car and drove by all the stations. It was so strange to see all the pumps with signs saying "Product Sold Out" on them.

Will loves his messages along with all the creative peppers you have all been sending him. We have them all printed out. If you want to go to their website to see the ones that have been created for him you go to chilis.com, click on Create a Pepper, then enter the code (listed above) for the pepper you want to see. It's easy. Also, if you put the mouse pointer on Will's name under the pepper you can read the messages people have been leaving on their peppers.

Well, I will post any news I get from St Jude, if I get any. I always take it as "no news is good news":) Will has to be at the ALSAC building today at 2:00 for a photo shoot with someone really cool. I'll let him tell you all later who it is:)

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 8:16 AM CDT

~Good morning!~

I can say it is a good morning because Veo is finally home from the firehouse (until tomorrow) and I have some relief. Of course he is walking around picking up all the mess that we have created in the past three days!:)

Will had a good night last night. His day was filled with mood swings but last night he took some toys to the children at the shelter for the hurricane victims and he really seemed to have a good time. He talked about it all night until he fell asleep.

We have to be at the hospital today at 11:30. Veo is going with us. Will is excited about this since Veo doesn't get to go very much. Will's MRI lasts 1 hour and 15 minutes today. This is the longest he has ever been put to sleep. We should be home around 3:30-4:00. Key word is SHOULD. I hope Will will feel better tonight than he did Monday after being put to sleep. He really wants to go to church for the opening night of RA's. Please pray that this MRI will not show any damage to Will's bones from the chemo(Dex). We know many have experienced damage.

Well, I have to go get Ben out of the dishwasher. I guess he has given up the toilet as he play place and is now in love with the dishwasher. Emma Kay is already at preschool or I am sure she would be into something along with Ben. Will is still sleeping. Sleep is good for him, especially on days when he can't eat!

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Hebrews 11:1

Love,
Ali

Veo's Uncle Ed's memorial service will be today at 2:00pm at First Baptist Church.

**I put a link at the bottom of the page for Chili's resteraunt. Please read the info at the top about Chili's. You can go to the link below and create a pepper for Will or anyone else at St Jude and be eligible to win a $25 gift card to Chili's!

********UPDATE*********
When you create a pepper for Will, I guess you enter my email address mooreali@hotmail.com somewhere and Will gets to see the pepper and can print it off. He already has one from Ms Mandy. It's hanging on the fridge. He is going to put it in his scrapbook. It's really neat. Thanks Ms Mandy. Will thinks this is cool!

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 8:28 AM CDT

~Good morning~

Well, we are one of the few who do have electricity. I guess God knew I couldn't take much more. Will did fine yesterday at the hospital but after we got home, he just got mean. I finally ended up having to give him some Adavan and then he just acted like he was in another world. It made him dizzy and sad. He cried and cried and cried. Then he got sick at his stomach, so I gave him Ondansatron for his stomach. Then finally around 10:00, I had to end up giving him some Benadryl they had given me and it knocked him out. He did sleep all night but is pretty foul this morning. I cannot believe we have to go back tomorrow and do this again.

I also cannot believe that Veo has been at the firehouse since Sunday morning at 7:30am. I am so ready for some relief here. I guess things could be worse, we could live on the coast.

Of course, we all want to pray for the men from Senatobia Fire department that have gone to the coast. I am so thankful that Veo was able to stay close by. Senatobia is pretty much a mess today so Veo will be busy with trees down and who knows what else. As Will told Rebecca, "At least ya'll get a day out of school." Always look for the positive, huh?:)

Well, we will talk to you all soon. Please remember Veo's family as his Uncle Ed passed away yesterday. I still do not know of any arrangements. I do know that Earle, Erin, and Chris are all already here so I feel it will be soon. Of course this weather situation has put alot without electricty so we will just wait and see.

Thank you all so much for continually supporting us.

Love,
Ali

Sunday, August 28, 2005 6:41 AM CDT

~Good Morning!~

Will has been having good days since my last entry. All three of them had a great time at the Jr High Pep Rally on Thursday. It was just really hot! Then on Friday, we finished up some of his school work and went to turn it in. We also went to the High school Pep Rally that afternoon. We were surprised when the football team presented Will with a MHS jersey, which he immediately put on! It is so sweet of them to think of Will. Will felt like a celebrity, and he even got to take pictures with some of the players after the Pep Rally. We also went to the game that night, which they won. Will had a good time. He got a little upset when the children wanted to play tackle football so he wasn't able to play, but Sissy came to his rescue and he went "walking" with her and some of the older kids. She really looks after Will.

Will went to a birthday party yesterday and we have one today that all the children are invited to. They will be riding horses. I haven't decided if I will take Ben, aka Wild Man, or not. I have had nightmares of him around a horse!

Tomorrow, Will will have a spinal tap and his regular chemo. It will be a long day, with us having to be there at 7:30am. On Wednesday, Will will be put to sleep again for an MRI of his joints which can be affected by the Dex. Veo is at the firehouse today and may stay on for a couple of days because of the hurricane. Senatobia is sending out 8 men to help in search and rescue so Veo may cover some of the paid men's shifts. Bad timing but good money!:) Will and I will do fine by ourselves at St Jude, we're old pros now.

Will does have a cough and runny nose. I hope that this does not cause a problem with him being put to sleep this next week. Please continue to pray for him this week.

Also, Carrie (Sanders) Carpenter sent Will pictures of what she did to surprise everyone. Will was her inpsiration to cut her hair and donate it to lock of love. Isn't that neat?! Will really enjoyed reading her story she wrote him, along with pictures. We have even met some older girls that have wigs from locks of love so we really admire Carrie for doing that. We are sure that she is alot cooler now with her short "do"!

Love,
Ali

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.
If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.
He sends you flowers every spring.
He sends you a sunrise every morning.
Whenever you want to talk, He listens.
He can live anywhere in the universe, but He chose...your heart.
Face it, friend - He is crazy about you!
God didn't promise days without pain,
laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

Thursday, August 25, 2005 6:48 AM CDT

Hello everyone!

Will had a great day at school yesterday. MHS is so great to just let us come in when we want and totally disturb their day. Mrs. Bouchillon even lets us totally disrupt her class. Thanks to you all:) Will was so tired when we got home he didn't move all afternoon. He is still sleeping right now. We plan on coming to the Jr High pep rally this morning. I am even bringing Ben so everyone get prepared!

Emma Kay is so silly. Rebecca has signed her up for the cheerleading camp at the school so when I told her we were coming to the Pep Rally, she told me that she would be cheering. She is SO confused. She thinks that she gets to cheer today. Will and I finally just gave up trying to explain to her what was REALLY going on:)

Thanks so much to Ms Audrea for the huge box of candy. I'll send the children's dentist bills straight to you. Thanks also to Ms Eva and Gabe for the shooting toy you sent Will and the contribution to CaringBridge in honor of Will. He thought that BOTH were very cool. We are so blessed to have wonderful friends and family that are constantly thinking of us.

Yesterday was hard on me. I think the more we are around "normal" people that harder it gets for me. It is hard to see everyone living their lives like we used to. We will survive and be that way again, I know. Sometimes it is just hard. Please continue to pray for us all. Will is doing good, besides being a little angry also that he has to miss out on some stuff. The rest of us are hanging in there:)

Alison had an CT scan done yesterday to find out what is causing her headaches. She has also had a good deal of weight lose in the past 3 weeks. We feel it is probably allergies or sinus troubles. We pray for good results today and an answer to the headaches. Will said that his crazy Sissy (aka Alison) almost got him in trouble yesterday trying to give him a kiss:) What are we going to do with her?!

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, August 23, 2005 6:27 AM CDT

Hello~

Will had a good visit at the hospital yesterday. His counts are good so he was able to get his chemo. He was sick at his stomach last night but hopefully that will have passed this morning.

Next Monday, Will has procedures. He will have a spinal tap which will check his spinal fluid for any leukemia cells and they will put chemo straight into his central nervous system. We have to be there at 7:30. He will also receive his regular weekly treatment after the spinal tap. On Wednesday, he will have a MRI which will check his joints for damage caused by the Dex. If any damage is found they could change the dosage he takes of Dex. I would love that because we all know what the Dex does to Will emotionally. Now we will know what it has done to him physically. If his joints have not been damaged then they will at least have something to compare further MRI's of his joints.

So, next week will be pretty yucky for Will. He will be put to sleep for both of those. I don't feel he will do much of anything else next week but rest. We are hoping to make it to his open house at school next Tuesday.

He is planning on going to school tomorrow morning. I will stay at the school just in case something happens. Will really needs the socialization with other children his age. He's around adults so much I'm afraid he's going to forget how to be a kid!

Well, we will check in with you all later. Thanks for continuing to check on Will and leave him messages. He loves to check his messages:)

Love,
Ali


The Concert
When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing
Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage.
In horror, the mother saw her little
boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out
"Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star."
At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit.""Keep playing."
Then, leaning over, Paderewski reached
down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child, and he added a running obbligato.
Together, the old master and the young novice transformed what could have been a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience.
The audience was so mesmerized that they couldn't recall what else the great master played.
Only the classic, " Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
Perhaps that's the way it is with God.
What we can accomplish on
our own is hardly noteworthy.
We try our best, but the results aren't always graceful flowing music. However, with the hand of the Master, our life's work can truly be beautiful.
The next time you set out to accomplish great feats,
listen carefully. You may hear the voice of the Master, whispering in your ear, "Don't quit." "Keep playing."
May you feel His arms around you and
know that His hands are there, helping you turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces.
Remember, God doesn't seem to
call the equipped, rather, He equips the 'called.'
Life is more accurately measured by the lives you touch than by the things you acquire.

Monday, August 22, 2005 6:37 AM CDT

Good morning~

We have had a good weekend. We went to church yesterday and it was so good to be back at church. It seems like it has been so long since we were there. Will enjoyed seeing everyone and went to Team Kid last night. He has always enjoyed Team Kid. We also scheduled Will's baptism for September 11. (What a famous date, huh?)

Will has treatment today. We have to be there at 12:00 and are scheduled to be through around 3:15. It all depends on how things are going at the hospital. Mondays are usually crazy too so we will just have to see. I plan on getting some schoolwork done this morning before we go and also while we wait at the hospital. There's nothing else to do while we are there so he might as well get some work done. He is wanting to go to school Wednesday morning for a while. I will stay at the school just in case something happens. I think I would be too nervous to leave him there. Emma Kay goes to preschool on Monday and Wednesday which works out great because we go to St Jude on Mondays and then I can take Will to school on Wednesdays. Hopefully in January Will will be able to go to school more often.

Well, I will let you all know if something is wrong today when we go. I really don't think anything will be.

Thanks again for all you do:)

Love,
Ali

I really related to this so I thought I would share it with you:)

“The Strength of an Egg”

Parents of children with cancer are often referred to or viewed as having "strength like a rock". Albeit flattering it is not quite true. It is more like the strength of an egg. An egg you ask? Yes!
If you'll think about it, you'll see my point.

An egg has a polished, smooth outer appearance, with no cracks or weak spots visible. It seems almost inconceivable that the inside might not be
as smooth or solid.

Most children, at some point, are shown the famous egg trick. An egg set at just the right angle can withstand enormous amounts of pressure and cannot be cracked or broken. Yet the same egg, tapped gently at an even
slightly different angle, will break. The contents, once so neatly concealed, will come spilling out. The no-longer perfect shell will be crushed. It looks so fragile that it seems inconceivable that it ever held any strength.

A rock, on the other hand is solid all the way through. To break it is almost impossible. If you succeed, you will find that there is nothing inside but more rock. It takes a lot more than pure hardness to hold the "HAND OF HOPE".

Parents of children with cancer are not solid all the way through. We hurt, we fear, we cry, we hope. It takes a very careful balancing act to keep the shell from being shattered. "Balancing an egg" while running a household,
going for doctors' visits and hospital stays, keeping the family together, and holding on to the constantly unraveling ties of your sanity can be very tricky indeed!

Occasionally, the angle will be off and the shell will break, shattering hope and the neatly secured appearances of a truly fragile existence. Unlike Humpty Dumpty, though, parents of children with cancer will pick
themselves up and put themselves back together again.

Sunday, August 21, 2005 7:40 AM CDT

Good morning~

Will had a good day yesterday. We were just lazy yesterday morning and then he went and ran errands with his Grammy (Ms. Twinkie). Grammy and Pops also took him and Emma Kay out to eat fish in Sardis for Pops' birthday - which is today:) Will and Ben spents the night at their house and Veo is picking them up on his way from the fire department. I really can't believe that Will spent the night away from me. He is so attached to me lately.

We are coming to church this morning - hopefully nobody will be there that is sick:) We have all been missing church! Our church has done so much for us also.

Will had a great surprise on Friday. He got lots of packages from Texas that included a Dallas Cowboys jersey, two signed footballs, a hat, and lots of goodies. Harriet Sykes Wright got the goodies together with help from her Sunday School Class. They are so sweet to think of Will and it really brightned his day, actually he is still bragging to everyone! Coach Cliff told him not to go out in the yard and throw those balls:)

We would also like to ask you to pray for Veo's uncle, Ed Moore. He was in a serious car accident yesterday morning. Veo was working the fire house and was actually one of the first people on the scene. He was airlifted to the Med and has lots of injuries including a crushed hip, bleeding on the brain, and 8 broken ribs.

Thank you so much for your continued support! We love you all so much and are blessed to have you as part of our life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS!!!!!!

Love,
Ali

Friday, August 19, 2005 7:05 AM CDT

Good morning!

Will had another good day. I have noticed him getting very tired very easily. I do hope that this does not mean his counts are dropping. He slept much better last night but it might have to do with the Benadryl I had to give him. He got around a cat and it took only seconds for his eyes to swell up and he was miserable. It seems his allergy to cats is getting worse.

We have made it through the week and are getting adjusted to being back at home. Emma Kay and Ben are getting adjusted to us being home also. Yesterday Emma Kay told me that I was her babydoll's grandma and I had to take care of the baby. Can we tell that they have had to stay with Grandma's alot?!:)

Well, we will try to get some groceries today and catch up on the rest of Will's schoolwork. He is doing really well on his work and is just about caught up.

Thank you to everyone for helping make this an easy week coming back home.

Love,
Ali

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone,
From the beginning...to the end.
He noted that first came her date of birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.
(1934 - 1998)
For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth...
And now only those who loved her,
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own;
The cars...the house...the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard...
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what's true and real,
And always try to understand
The way other people feel
And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile.
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy's being read
With your life's actions to rehash...
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

Thursday, August 18, 2005 7:15 AM CDT

Good morning to everyone~

Yesterday was a good day. Will really enjoyed his visit to MHS. He had the chance to even participate in PE with the second graders. He had a blast. We worked on some schoolwork yesterday afternoon and he also sold some Sally Foster. Today I plan on trying to catch him up on his schoolwork so when he tries to go next week for a morning he will be around where the rest of the class is. Mrs. Bouchillon is so organized and has worked out a great way for us to keep up with the class. Will is even excited about getting some of the work done.

Emma Kay had a good day at school. She is just so crazy you never know what to believe that she says. Ben is just bad and into everything. Nobody at our house slept last night either. Will is even having trouble sleeping. It can be a side effect of the chemo and steroids combined. Hopefully tonight will be better for all of us.

We will talk to you all soon! We have been enjoying our days home and I am trying to get some sort of schedule going around here. Wish me luck!

Love,
Ali

Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name.

Blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name.

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say, blessed be Your name.

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005 6:15 AM CDT

Good morning~

Well, it is so nice to be home! Will and I are trying to get settled back into our house and not just living in a room. Will is doing good. He just seems to be getting very tired easily but I think this heat would do it to anyone.

He wants to go up to MHS today for a visit so while his counts are so high we will go see everyone. We started last night on some of his school work and he said that he missed doing school work but easily got tired and went on to bed. I will have to get some sort of schedule going for his school work. Emma Kay of course decided she needed to do some too. It will be easier when we all get used to it. Ben is so into everything. You try to get onto him and then he just smiles:) He is something else.

Thank you all again for all you have done for us to help these last four weeks go by smoothly! We appreciate you all so much and feel really blessed to have you as part of our life. We will talk to you all soon~

Love,
Ali

Ever wonder about the abbreviation A.S.A.P.?

Generally we think of it in terms of even more hurry and stress in our
lives. Maybe if we think of this abbreviation in a different manner, we
will begin to find a new way to deal with those rough days along the way.

*************

There's work to do, deadlines to meet;
You've got no time to spare,
But as you hurry and scurry-
A.S.A.P. - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

In the midst of family chaos,
"Quality time" is rare.
Do your best; let God do the rest-
A.S.A.P. - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

It may seem like your worries
Are more than you can bear.
Slow down and take a breather-
A.S.A.P. - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

God knows how stressful life is;
He wants to ease our cares,
And He'll respond to all your needs
A.S.A.P. - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.

Monday, August 15, 2005 9:04 PM CDT

Just wanted to let everyone know that Will's ANC was up today and he was able to recieve his chemo this afternoon. The best part is , is that he is now HOME! YEA! YIPEE!

They got home earlier tonight. They have to go back tomorrow morning and then will go on Monday's from now until reinduction 2 starts sometime around the first part of October. He will continue to take meds at home too.

I am sure Ali will update sometime tomorrow and give everyone a more detailed "plan", but for now the main thing is that they are home!

Rest well! Good Night~ Rebecca

Sunday, August 14, 2005 3:08 PM CDT

Good afternoon!

Well, we are still hanging out at the RMH. Veo and Emma Kay came up yesterday and left a while ago. Rebecca and Alison are taking her to her meet the teacher today. Emma Kay and Will got along good this weekend and it was so nice to be together. Ben was missing but I don't know if the RMH is built to withstand Ben for two days.

Will is feeling better moodwise. He has had some backpain and a very low fever (99.2). Hopefully it won't rise anymore. He took the last dose of Dex last night.

Last night we had the opportunity to worship together with some of the other families here. Lauren King Ministries came and fed the families and then held a worship service in the Meditation Room for the families that wanted to come. All 51 families came to eat and only seven came to worship. The man who led it lost a daughter to cancer several years ago and delivered a great message geared toward the way our lives are right now. Something I cannot get over is that he said he is pleased with how things have worked out in his life because he is now able to minister to all of us. That is awesome that he can say that. We sang and introduced ourselves and then had prayer time. It was wonderful.

Well, Will wants to type something.

Will's Corner:
hey partners what's up nothing up here thanks for all the stuff you have been sending me maybe i'll be home soon how are you doing today?
Cool Dude
Will

Thanks for everything!
Love,
Ali and Will

*Most of the time I only have time to update the page and haven't been checking my email. Sorry to everyone if you have been waiting on a reply. My time is limited on the computer here:)*

Friday, August 12, 2005 10:20 AM CDT

Hello-

Well, I would like to say we got great news today but nothing but bad news! Will's ANC (his ability to fight infection) is 0 - yes zero:( So... we cannot come home. He is very upset and this only adds to his anger. We are both very disappointed. I hope Veo will come up but with such low counts it is really not safe for him to have many visitors. The doctors have no explanation as to why his counts are so low even after the steroids since Monday. He takes his last dose Saturday night.

We will come back to St Jude on Monday for his counts to be checked again. Hopefully they will be up and we will be able to come home. If they are not, I have no idea what they will do. I have to watch him very closely for fever or stomach pains which can show an infection.

Please continue to send the prayers up for us all. We miss you!

Love,
Ali

Thursday, August 11, 2005 5:27 PM CDT

Hey! Quick update:

Last night we had to come to the hospital because Will got very violent. They gave him Benadryl and sent us back to the RMH. Today was about the same and around 3:00 he had just hit me all I could take and we had to come back. They are trying a mixture of two new meds that will hopefully help with the side effects of this horrible Dex. Please continue to pray for us all as I do remember the "old" Will and want him back! I know he would not want to be like this.

Veo is here to help me but will be coming back to Senatobia tonight to work his shift at the firehouse tomorrow. Hopefully all will be better.

Tired but still fighting,
Ali

The Lord of the Journey

Lord, I come before You tonight,
Heavy of heart and weary in soul.
This road we are walking together
Just seems to keep going on and on,
A continual, arduous climb.
I find my feet stumbling on the rocks,
My body crying out with exhaustion.
But each time I fall, You gently pick me up
And encourage me to keep climbing.
You hold my hand, pulling me over the roughest spots.
You carry me lightly when the path all but disappears.
I look up now and again,
Surprised at the heights which we have traversed,
Awed by the view of the great expanse.
The top of the mountain is yet wreathed in mists,
Hidden away from my eager eyes.
I know not how far or how steep
The rest of the journey will be,
But I know that even here on this tiny piece of cliff
That I can find joy enough to dance before You,
To raise a song of worship and of praise.
The very rocks themselves join in the chorus,
Singing forth the song that is older than they.
You are the Lord of the journey,
And I place my trust in You.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 12:44 AM CDT

Good afternoon!

We just got in from the Target Carnival at St Jude. Storm was there and Will and Alison got their picture taken with her. Will enjoyed it but just right now NOTHING suits him. He says that he hates me, totally hates me right now. I cannot believe that he will be on this medicine through Saturday night.

Last night he had a good time tye dying t-shirts and having a silly string war at the Target House. Of course, he didn't have enough silly string or someone sprayed him in his face. Tonight is wood working. I think he will enjoy it. They are making stuff and he likes that.

He is doing good as far as the shot(s) go. His legs look good so maybe he can tolerate it. He is ready to come home but I know when we come home the transition back into family life after living with just me is so hard on him.

Please continue to pray for our family. WE can tell that you all have been and thank you so much!

Love,
Ali

One fuuny story to show you how much he is like his Pops and Dad: The gift shop is having a sale and they have these really nice pewter pens that have cases that go with them. The pens are on sale for $1.00. Will spotted them and bought several with his stash of money. We had already left St Jude and were picking up some groceries and I could tell Will was thinking about something. He said, " I could put me upa stand here and sell those pens I bought for $2.00 and really make some money. I bet everyone would buy one." Now if that is not a Moore I don't know what is:)

We have been asked from several people if there is a fund set up for Will so I have put his information is a the top of the page.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 1:04 PM CDT

Hello everyone!

Well, we have had a long day so far. It really hasn't been that long, time wise, just activity wise. Will got his levels checked and his white count had gone up so they were sure his ANC would be up enough for chemo so we headed for the Medicine room. Instead of the "one" shot they kept telling Will about, it was actually one shot in EACH leg, given at the same time! Boy was he mad!!! Then we get the news, after chemo, that his ANC is only 200. So.... we have to come back on Friday for bloodwork again. It is just odd because Dex is a steroid that should boost counts. Anyway, we will just hold tight and see.

Right now we are just hanging out waiting to have his legs checked at 1:35. Hopefully everything will look good and we will be able to head back to the RMH.

Rebecca is bringing Alison up to spend some time with Will. We went to the Target House last night for a camp they are doing and Will loved it. He is really excited about going back tonight. The sports medicine people from the U of M were there doing physical activities with the children and Will loved it. Tonight is a silly string war and Tye Dying. Last night Will also got to paint a glass that is going to be auctioned off at the St Jude Beauty Pagent on August 20. His was of course beautiful.

Ms Twinkie gets the wonderful job of taking Emma Kay to get her school supplies. I know they will have a good time. They are both shoppers! I loved my message from Emma Kay. She is just so silly:)

Well, I think that is all I can remember right now. My mind just shuts down after a while:)

Love,
Ali

Monday, August 8, 2005 9:34 AM CDT

Good morning~

Will is in his psychological testing right now so I thought I would update while I had a chance. He seems to be feeling better today as compared to the past three days. His leg is not as red and his mood is better - at this moment. He worked all afternoon and night on a poster to enter into an art contest at the Target House and is very anxious to take it today and turn it in. The judging will be on Thursday night at the Target House.

All is still the same with the plan to give Will the "new" shot tomorrow along with Vincristine. He started his Dex this morning along with Potassium to help with any reaction he might have to the new shot. The Potassium should help the mood swings caused by the Dex. I was counting Will's meds this morning and he is now on over 20 pills a day. Unbelievable!

We had a great visit with Ben yesterday. Emma Kay was WILD as ever! She is just crazy. Mom and Beck took her on and let Ben stay with Veo so I could visit some with just him. He is so sweet but has learned that fits get what he wants. I think he might be learning from his sister:)

Good luck to all that start school this week. I love the first day of school! Next year Will will be there from the start:)

Love to you all,
Ali

Sunday, August 7, 2005 11:52 AM CDT

Good morning!

Good news - we are getting to go to the RMH! Will is very excited:) His cultures did not grow anything so they think that his fever was all due to the reaction that he had from the shot. His leg is still red and his ANC is only 100 so he will wear a mask and most likely we all will too - just to be safe. If he gets fever we will be right back in!

Will has to be here tomorrow at 9:00 for his pyschological testing and then on Tuesday for his "new" shot and Vincristine again. He will start Dex tomorrow to try and prevent any reaction to the new shot since it is a steroid. IF, and this is a big IF, he does good we may get to come home towards the end of the week since he will not get anymore chemo till next Monday.

Will's back is hurting a good deal due to the Vincristine that he got last Tuesday and now he will be hit again this Tuesday. He will probably be "uncomfortable" for a week or two. We will pray that his body heals quickly and he can get back to being a kid again. We will have reinduction again in October and after this, I don't care if September EVER ends:)

Veo put new pictures on the View Photos page. I love the one of Emma Kay, Will, Austin, and Ben. Ben looks like such a big boy. He is coming up with mom and Beck today. I have not seen him in a week and 1 day, but who's counting?! I am so anxious to see him. I have seen Emma Kay off and on, but not Ben b/c he was sick. He is into everything, but such a sweetie!

Thank you all for everything!
Love,
Ali

PS Will says to tell Ms Mandy he needs another casserole. We went to cook his and somebody else had already enjoyed it:( Will was not happy - the joys of community living! Hopefully we will be home soon and he can enjoy all the poppy seed chicken and hamburger helper he wants!

Saturday, August 6, 2005 4:22 PM CDT

Hello everyone!

It feels like forever since I have updated myself~ Veo is here so I got the chance to "escape" for a second. Hopefully they are going to let Will walk around in a little while to try and work out some stiffness. He wants to check his messages.

Yesterday Will complained with his leg hurting and I figured it was from the Vincristine (chemo) that he gets that has caused him leg pain before. His fever went up around 3:00, we called, they said to come in and they immediately gave him a bag of antibiotics. I see now why it is so important that we stay close when they say too. I won't be breaking the rules anymore. This is when we noticed the swelling in Will's right leg. This is the leg he got his chemo shot in on Thursday. He has had these shots since we started all of this but is just now reacting.

So... we are inpatient in room 2018. Yesterday his counts were 500, today 300. Dr Howard seems to think Will's counts will all the way bottom out. Who knows? Time will tell. We will probably be here for a few days. He has to be fever free for 24 hours (he has no fever now but they gave him steroids last night and that can "mask" a fever) and his counts need to go up over 500.

There is one more type of the chemo shot they are going to try. If he reacts to it, then he just will not get anymore of that type of chemo. I of course asked what this meant for his prognosis and they said they do not have enough info to base it on so... they really don't know. We will pray that he tolerates the new shot well and can continue on.

Thank you so much for all the cards and goodies you have all been sending. It helps so much for Will to know that he has all of you. Someimes I get overwhelmed by the kindness you have all shown~it is unbelievable how devoted you have all been to our family. We are so blessed to have you all.

Things at the RMH are fine. Will gets bored sometimes but he usually finds something to pass the time. I am not really sure now when we will be able to come to Senatobia. This next shot stays in their system for a while and he could react at any time (usually within a week after). Hopefully he will be able to get the new shot on Tuesday along with more steroids and Vincristine.

We will talk to you all soon! We miss you all and hope to see you all REALLY soon:)

Love,
Ali

New Pictures

Saturday, August 6, 2005 1:07 PM CDT

Hello everyone!

It feels like forever since I have updated myself~ Veo is here so I got the chance to "escape" for a second. Hopefully they are going to let Will walk around in a little while to try and work out some stiffness. He wants to check his messages.

Yesterday Will complained with his leg hurting and I figured it was from the Vincristine (chemo) that he gets that has caused him leg pain before. His fever went up around 3:00, we called, they said to come in and they immediately gave him a bag of antibiotics. I see now why it is so important that we stay close when they say too. I won't be breaking the rules anymore. This is when we noticed the swelling in Will's right leg. This is the leg he got his chemo shot in on Thursday. He has had these shots since we started all of this but is just now reacting.

So... we are inpatient in room 2018. Yesterday his counts were 500, today 300. Dr Howard seems to think Will's counts will all the way bottom out. Who knows? Time will tell. We will probably be here for a few days. He has to be fever free for 24 hours (he has no fever now but they gave him steroids last night and that can "mask" a fever) and his counts need to go up over 500.

There is one more type of the chemo shot they are going to try. If he reacts to it, then he just will not get anymore of that type of chemo. I of course asked what this meant for his prognosis and they said they do not have enough info to base it on so... they really don't know. We will pray that he tolerates the new shot well and can continue on.

Thank you so much for all the cards and goodies you have all been sending. It helps so much for Will to know that he has all of you. Someimes I get overwhelmed by the kindness you have all shown~it is unbelievable how devoted you have all been to our family. We are so blessed to have you all.

Things at the RMH are fine. Will gets bored sometimes but he usually finds something to pass the time. I am not really sure now when we will be able to come to Senatobia. This next shot stays in their system for a while and he could react at any time (usually within a week after). Hopefully he will be able to get the new shot on Tuesday along with more steroids and Vincristine.

We will talk to you all soon! We miss you all and hope to see you all REALLY soon:)

Love,
Ali

Friday, August 5, 2005 1:34 PM CDT

****UPDATE........5:30PM.......Will has started running a fever. He has been admitted to St.Jude as an inpatient. They have taken 2 cultures to see if he has a bacterial infection or a fungus infection. His leg where he has been receiving his chemo shots is swollen and they have determined that he is allergic to the meds. There is 1 more type they can try and they will try it the next time he is able to get chemo. His ANC level is down to 500 ( it was 2200 on Wednesday). They don't give you chemo if your level is 500 or below.

Veo is on his way up there. I will update as soon as things change!




Good afternoon! Will has been having some pretty "moody" and "painful" days lately. His legs hurt a good bit and his stomach has been hurting too.

Last night Linda, Sam, and Hayley went up for a visit and he enjoyed seeing some "fresh" faces. Everyone loves their Momma's but it can get old only seeing her 24 hours a day! hahah

Unless things change, Veo and Emma are going up tonight and going to spend the night tonight. They will go with him to the hospital tomorrow for his meds and they may stay Saturday night too. You just have to play everything by ear. You never know with little ones!

Ben has been sick, but seems to be getting some better.

Thanks to Whitney Brownlee for the pull tabs! She sent me a BUNCH that she collected at her work. I am going to send them by Veo and Emma tonight.

Keep checking, calling, writing, emailing, visiting, and PRAYING! We love you!

Rebecca

Wednesday, August 3, 2005 8:58 AM CDT

Good morning! I just got off the phone with Ali. She said that they had a pretty good visit. Will rested alittle until about 2:00AM and then was up till around 6:00AM complaining of back and leg pain. He is VERY moody and emotional right now too. This is similar to what went on when he was on Dex and Vincristine before.

After they finish breakfast, Veo and Emma Kay are going to head back to Senatobia. Emma is suppose to be going swimming with Sam, Alison and Kendal.

My Mom had Ben last night and he ran some fever. He has been on an antibiotic for his ears, but I am not sure it is clearing them up. She is trying to decide if we need to take him back to the doctor or just wait and see!

Will does not have to go to the hospital today unless something comes up. Ali says they have laudry to do and she hopes Will ends up resting some in his room. Right now he is in one of those "stages" when nothing makes him happy and everything is just "yucky". Hopefully it won't last long!

When there is more to tell, I will update. As always THANKS FOR CHECKING!

Have a good day! Rebecca

Tuesday, August 2, 2005 3:18 PM CDT

Good afternoon! Will has been back and forth at St. Jude today and I just recently talked to Ali. St. Jude has a VERy strict cell phone policy, so it is almost impossible to catch them when they are there.

Will enjoyed Miss Mandy and Carly's visit yesterday afternoon. However, he did not have a very restful night. Ali said he was up and down all night complaining with pain, mostly in his legs. This is from the vincristin medicine that he has been getting for the last 8 days. He got his last dose of it today and he won't start it back up for the next 6 days. He will still be getting other chemo and meds, just not that particular one. While he was at the hospital today he started having severe back pain and the doctors had to give him some codeine to help ease it. They have seen cases where the back pain signals the onset of shingles, but we are PRAYING for it not to be true in our case. I will keep you posted on that!

Emma and Mrs. Twinkie were going up today to check on everyone. I think Ali's nerves are about SHOT, to put it mildly! Veo is suppose to go up tonight and spend the night with them as well.


I guess that is about all for right now. I will try to post again soon.

Love~ Rebecca

Monday, August 1, 2005 9:16 AM CDT

Morning! The Moore's had a pretty good weekend. On Saturday they "snuck" to Senatobia for a few hours and Will was glad to be a home with his stuff for awhile. Scottie, Rodney and baby Austin came over and visited and Will couldn't believe how "tall" baby Austin had gotten.

Sunday Mimi wanted to go see the RMH so we took her up there for awhile. Will REALLY enjoyed playing pool and the playstation games with Greg. It was a good break for Ali too. He actually let her out of his site for about an hour! Any guys who are up to it, ought to stop by the RMH and see if they can beat Will at pool! He has lots of "ladies" in his life, but I know he loves to have male visitors too! hahha :)

Will doesn't get a shot today. Ali said they were going to stay at the RMH and catch up on laudry, etc. Mandy and Carly may go up today for a visit and I know Will would love it! It really makes the long day go by faster when people "pop" in.

Several people have asked what they need while they are there. They have a pantry there where they can keep food and then a spot in the fridge for cold stuff. There is also a pantry full of "snacks" that the RMH provides. There is a microwave and stoves for Ali to use too. Drinks are always good to have on hand. The ones there cost $1.50 out of the machine. Mandy said something about getting a small size casserole and taking it to them. I'm sure that would be a welcomed treat! Right now, Will is eating ALOT due to the steriods.

Ben stayed with Mimi last night and Emma was with Grammy. Veo was at the Firehouse. Ben is going to Miss Phylis's today and Emma is spending the day with Grammy. Emma is being such a big girl this go around. She is such a hoot! Ben is just a MESS who is into everything. Ask Mr. Buck the next time you see him why he put rubber bands all over there kitchen? hahhah

AS always, thanks for the cards, letters, packages, and emails. Sometimes when I am rushing around with "my life" I get busy and I think, I'll send one tomorrow, then I think about what all he is going through and how I would feel if I thought everyone was going on with life while I was stuck up there away from my friends, family, and toys and I get right on sending a note or something. It may seem little to us, but it is BIG to him! MANY THANKS!!!!!!!

**** KEEP SAVING THOSE PULL TABS****************

Update soon~ Rebecca

Friday, July 29, 2005 9:44 PM CDT

The girls and I just got in from the RMH. Alison and Kendal had been there throughout the week to keep Will company and I went up today. That was my first time up there and it is an amazing place. It is so neat to see what all people give of themselves to make a place like that oeprate. There has been a youth group there this week from NC. They have had all kinds of things for the kids to do and prepared food several nights. Tonight was tacos! :)

I turned in LOTS of pull tabs from the firehouse and told them more would be coming. I have gotten several calls and emails from people or groups saying they have some to turn in and I will call you back and make arrangements to get them. I brought home some flyers about the collection process to post around.

Will is somewhat "moody" from the meds, but wasn't "sick" while I was there. He is itching alot and they are afraid he may be having a reaction to something in the chemo shot. Ali had hoped they could come to Senatobia for awhile tomorrow, but they are going to have to wait and see how sick he is and how the itching is through the night and morning.

Will got more cards today and got a really "special" one from Carly! He is hoping that they stop by the RMH on Sunday when they come back from Arkansas. Visitors help pass the time! :)

Linda, Hayley and Sam came up late this afternoon and ate with us all. When we left they were going in to help Will pick out a movie to watch after everyone left. I hope they made it home! They weren't sure how they made it there! hahha

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for all you do and for keeping up with us!

Night! Rebecca

Thursday, July 28, 2005 4:02 PM CDT

Good afternoon! I just got off the phone with Ali and she asked me to update.

Will has been pretty sick from the chemo. He threw up alot last night and a good bit today, but at this exact moment seems to be feeling alittle better. He has absolutely no appetitte. They have given him some meds to take to try and help, so hopefully it will.

They are waiting on Veo, Emma Kay and Kendal to get to RMH. Emma had a doctor's appointment and Kendal was going to go up and spend the night with Will and Alison. Alison has been a real trooper this summer by catering to Will and he is really going to miss her when school starts!

Will has really enjoyed all the mail he has been getting. He loves the "sweet" treats that come in the cards from Tucker and the package from Renay Pugh today was a great surprise. Ali said that they put a note up saying that he had mail and a package and that he got really excited! Everyone has been so sweet to send things and PLEASE keep it up! :)

Will has to go to the hospital tomorrow for blood levels and a chemo shot. He is getting pretty tired of the shots and Ali says she sees now why they only do it every other day. I haven't seen Will since Monday night, but I think it is all taking a real toll on his body! His counts are down so he is back to wearing the mask.

Ali found out about the coke pull tabs. They can be collected and brought to the Ronald McDonald House. She said that the RMH gets alot of money for its services each year from the collection of tabs. If you or your class/group have any that you have collected and want to turn them in, you can contact me at 562-6275 and I will turn them in for you. You can put your name on the container and each year they publish a newsletter and list all those who contributed. I am sure that Senatobia can collect alot!

I will update again as soon as there is more to tell. KEEP PRAYING!

Love,
Rebecca

Thursday, July 28, 2005 4:02 PM CDT

Good afternoon! I just got off the phone with Ali and she asked me to update.

Will has been pretty sick from the chemo. He threw up alot last night and a good bit today, but at this exact moment seems to be feeling alittle better. He has absolutely no appetitte. They have given him some meds to take to try and help, so hopefully it will.

They are waiting on Veo, Emma Kay and Kendal to get to RMH. Emma had a doctor's appointment and Kendal was going to go up and spend the night with Will and Alison. Alison has been a real trooper this summer by catering to Will and he is really going to miss her when school starts!

Will has really enjoyed all the mail he has been getting. He loves the "sweet" treats that come in the cards from Tucker and the package from Renay Pugh today was a great surprise. Ali said that they put a note up saying that he had mail and a package and that he got really excited! Everyone has been so sweet to send things and PLEASE keep it up! :)

Will has to go to the hospital tomorrow for blood levels and a chemo shot. He is getting pretty tired of the shots and Ali says she sees now why they only do it every other day. I haven't seen Will since Monday night, but I think it is all taking a real toll on his body! His counts are down so he is back to wearing the mask.

I will update again as soon as there is more to tell. KEEP PRAYING!

Love,
Rebecca

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 11:50 AM CDT

Hello~

First off - his spinal fluid was clear from any leukemia blasts! Yea - remission continues:) We are so BLESSED!!

Well, yesterday after I updated I went back to Will in the medicine room. He started getting sick from the chemo and threw up a good bit. They got some meds for him and it took about an hour for it to help, but it did help.

We had about an hour before he had to get another blood level drawn and Veo had been moving us in to the RMH. We dedided we would run over with him and he could show us our room to pass the hour. We pulled out of the hospital and a lady turned in front of us and we had a wreck! Everyone is fine, just a little shaken up. It messed up the front of my car but thank goodness it is drivable. So... we spent our hour waiting on the police. We came back to the Jude, got his blood drawn, and THEN went to see our room.

We played bingo and did a scavenger hunt while we waited on dinner. There is a church group here and they played the games and even cooked dinner. This is their mission trip. After dinner we had to come back to the hospital to get his last blood level drawn.

Everyone slept good. Veo went back to Senatobia last night. He is at the fire house today. We will get to see him and Emma Kay tomorrow. She has her thyroid appt tomorrow in Memphis so we will meet up with them.

Will gets his first shot today and will get one every other day until this phase is over. He is nervous but is being so brave. His stomach is better today.

I have posted his email address and postal mail address (both for the rmh) above. He also still checks his mail at the hospital. He has already received some emails from Mimi and the Burris' and was very excited. Thanks!

Rebecca is doing better today. She is resting and is sore. Alison is with us and has really been helping me with Will. We spent the morning decorating his door to our room. All the children have their doors decorated and Will could not live a minute longer without his done!

Thanks for all the emails. We love reading them and they help keep us going. I can already tell that this treatment is going to be hard on him - please keep praying for good days:)

Love to you all,
Ali, Will, and Alison

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 5:18 AM CDT

Will's address for the next 3 weeks
CARDS WELCOME BOTH PLACES

Ronald McDonald House
William Moore
Room #27
535 Alabama Ave
Memphis, TN 38105
901-312-7427

*****UPDATE 2:00 pm Tuesday******
Will is getting his chemo right now in the Medicine Room with his daddy. He is doing good. His MRI results are back and the just show a mild change in brain activity which is to be expected. His bone marrow results are not ready yet. We will probably get one result today and then a more thourough test will be run which will come back in a few days.
His counts are down and we are told they will continue to do so. He has to wear a mask again and they do not want us to come home right now. It will be a day to day issue on us returning to Senatobia. I already miss my little ones just knowing I am not coming home tonight. Veo keeps assuring me it will be over before I know it.
Rebecca's test showed no blockage and she is doing as well as to be expected. She will hopefully come home today and the doctors will still have the job of finding out why her pressure stays so high.
I will update as soon as I get anymore news. We love you all and THANKS for everything~ Ali
Thanks for all the mail - Will read it as they were putting him to sleep:)

Good morning! Sorry I didn't get a chance to update yesterday. We didn't get home until around 5:00 and then I was packing, packing, packing,....

Scottie is coming today to help take care of Emma Kay and Ben while we are all out of pocket. Hopefully she is taking some vitamins and has rested up. I have a feeling Austin will be an only child after this:)

Will's MRI went well. We will have results today(hopefully). His bone marrow test will be started around 11:30 today. We have to be there at 9:00. He is very nervous about everything and is dreading the shots he will get every other day starting tomorrow. I am dreading the Dex and Vincristine.

Alison is here right now and is going with us today. Rebecca, Greg, and Mom had to be there at 6:00 for Rebecca's test. I will post results from everyone's tests as soon as I can.

Thank you so much for your prayers! We need them and they REALLY do help - keep them coming! Well, I will see you all sometime, hopefully soon!

Love,
Ali

oops, almost forgot - Will saw Santa yesterday at St Jude and he even got a present from him. He will also be back in December. Santa said that these kids were so special that he just had to come see them twice a year. It really made Will's day. Veo will post the picture as soon as things settle down.

Sunday, July 24, 2005 10:02 AM CDT

Good Morning~ We are up and ROARING this morning. Will is not having a good morning as far as his mood swings. They are just horrible. We know that it is the chemo and the stress of him being sick that has done this to him. It is a very common side effect but is just almost unbearable to live with.

Will's MRI is scheduled for 12:00 tomorrow. He has to be put to sleep so we will have to deal with him not being able to eat or drink until then.

I am going to spend the day getting some stuff together for our return to Memphis on Tuesday. Laundry is calling my name!

Please note the email address above where emails can be sent to Will at the Ronald McDonald House. I will post the postal address on Tuesday when we get settled. Emails do not need to be sent until Tuesday, which will be our first night there. Also, Will is planning on still checking his mail at the hospital. This address is at the bottom of the page. Just take your pick at one of his address to send him a note:)

Please pray for Will that his tests results will still show complete remission and his chemo will be easy to tolerate. Please pray for Rebecca that Tuesday's tests will go smoothly and she will have answers to her blood pressure issues.

Thank you so much for your continued support. We could never make it through something like this without you all!
Love,
Ali

Saturday, July 23, 2005 10:59 AM CDT

~My life is but a weaving between the Lord and me.

I may not choose the colors, He knows what they should be.

For He can view the pattern upon the upper side,

while I can see it only on this, the under side.

Sometimes he weaves sorrow, which seems strange to me.

But I will trust His judgment; and work on faithfully.

Tis He who fills that shuttle, and He knows what is best.

So I shall weave in earnest, leaving to Him the rest.

Not till the loom is silent and the shuttle cease to fly,

Shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needed in the Weaver's skillful hand,

As the threads of Gold and Silver in the pattern He has planned.


~Hello everyone! Sorry for not updating yesterday - things are just very hectic.
Thank you to Ms. Barbara Manning for the poem above. We have never met her, but she is one of Will's angels!

Will is doing good. He is very "hyper" and emotional- but that is to be expected. The anticipation of knowing a new phase in his treatment is coming up is causing us all to be a little moody.

Veo is at the firehouse today and everyone else is at the World Series watching or playing ball. Good luck to all the girls playing ball. Try and stay cool:)

Will enjoyed his trip yesterday to Ole Miss. We drove around and we went to the Rebel Shop. He bought an Ole Miss baseball and wants to see if we can get the baseball players to sign it. He has a football the football team signed and gave him but he doesn't have a baseball.

While at the Ronald McDonald House, Will can receive emails. The emails go to the directors computer and she prints them off and puts them in his mailbox. On these, please put Will Moore so that he is sure to get them. These do not need to be sent until Tuesday, which will be our first night there. He can also receive postal mail but I won't have our room number until Tuesday. I will post it then. He can also still get mail at the actual hospital. That address is below. The email address is at the top of the page. Take your pick of where you want to send something - he has lots of addresses:)

I want to say thank you for letting me "vent" on some of you when you call, stop by, emails, .... One thing I have found through all of this is I feel that I have to seem happy all the time, even if that is not how I feel. One of the mothers I have become close to at St Jude asked me how I stay happy all the time because she just can't be happy. Please know that not a single day has gone by since Will was diagnosed that I haven't cried. Not a day has gone by that I haven't wanted to scream and sometimes I do! But I do get through every day and start a new one the next day. One thing that frustrates me the most is people that don't think before they speak. They tend to make light of the situation. Will has more than a cold - I know that cancer is hard to accept, but it makes it easier when we all accept it and move on.

Sorry I rambled on and on today. I just know that next week will be hectic and I may have to let Rebecca update - hopefully she will feel like it:) Thank you again for all that you all do and say- you are our support through this and we appreciate you all so much.

Tuesday is a big day for Will and Rebecca. Please be in prayer for them both! Thank you!

Love,
Ali

Thursday, July 21, 2005 7:34 AM CDT

"Just For Today "

Just for this morning, I am going to smile when I see your face, and laugh when I feel like crying.
Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say how perfect it is.
Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play.
Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.
Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.
Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.
Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them.
Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald's and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.
Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born and how much I love you.
Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.
Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.
Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows.
Just for this evening, when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.
I will think about the mothers and fathers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting their children's graves instead
of their bedrooms, and mothers and fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly, and screaming inside that they can't handle it anymore.
And when I kiss you good night, I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer.
It is then that I will thank God for you, and ask him for nothing, except one more day..." ~author unknown~

~Good Morning~
Thank you to Robin for emailing the poem to me. I have seen it before and it is so true of things we "should" do. I know sometimes I become so obsessed with things needing to be perfect and on schedule.

Will had a good day yesterday. He got to go to Tucker's house for a while and play. He had a lot of fun. Then we went to Ole Miss to see Alison and Kendal. They are having fun and we hope that they slept more last night! You know how crazy camper girls can be about going to sleep:)

We are going to go back on Friday to watch the last day. Will was a little disappointed last night because he couldn't see the campus good so we are going to take our time over there on Friday and give him a tour. Emma Kay really enjoyed herself. She thinks she is just as big as those girls. Poor Ben didn't get to go due to him being into EVERYTHING! He is watching Action Bible Songs right now. It is the only thing that will keep him out of things - for a little while anyways:)

Thank you for all the birthday wishes yesterday. I did have a wonderful birthday. For those of you who asked, I am 28 now. Still pretty young, huh? I'll always be young compared to my OLDER sister! That's what's wrong with Rebecca - she is just OLD!

Well, the movie is over and Ben is running around again:)
Talk to you later-
Love,
Ali

Please check out our new friend's site - www.SaveBabyAustyn.com. They are a new family at St Jude we were able to visit with for about an hour. Their baby is precious!

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 6:52 AM CDT

Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return. So... while we have it... it's best we love it.... and care for it... and fix it when it's broken...... and heal it when it's sick. This is true. for marriage..... and old cars.... and children with bad report cards..... and dogs with bad hips.... and aging parents..... and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep. Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special..... and so, we keep them close!

Good friends are like stars.... You don't always see them, but you know they are always there. KEEP THEM CLOSE!

TEN THINGS GOD WON'T ASK ON THAT DAY.
1... God won't ask what kind of car you drove. He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation.

2... God won't ask the square footage of your house, He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

3... God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet, He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4... God won't ask what your highest salary was. He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.

5... God won't ask what your job title was. He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of your ability.

6... God won't ask how many friends you had. He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

7... God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived,He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.

8... God won't ask ab out the color of your skin, He'll ask about the content of your character.

9... God won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation He'll lovingly take you to your mansion in heaven, and not to the gates of Hell.

Good Morning~ I know - I am up way too early! Ben spent the night with Mimi and I know she has to go to work and will be bringing him soon. I didn't want her to stand at the door while I was snoozing away so I had to drag myself out of bed. At least Emma Kay slept better last night:)

Will had a good day yesterday. He has started his pain meds to get him ready for Vincristine and Dex next week. They make him tired so in turn he gets wild. Does that make sense?! It's true! He enjoyed getting some of his scrapbook done and Sam was nice enough to do some a page in Emma Kay's also.

We talked to the cheerleaders and they are having a blast! They picked some of the girls to be in a fashion show and Alison and Kendal both got picked so they are on top of the world! The SGA Stars also got the Spirit Stick Award last night. I bet it's HOT:) Glad it is them and not me:) We will go down for sure on Friday, but are thinking we may go down one night to see what they are up too.

Thank you so much for all the emails, cards, meals, messages, ..... we are so overwhelmed by everyone's thoughtfulness! It is amazing to live somewhere where everyone cares - THANK YOU!

Love,
Ali

Thanks to Kim Robertson for the email I posted above. I really like it - when you go through something like this you really do see what is important in life. That is something I have discoverd that all the families I have come in contact with at the hospital say - your whole outlook on life changes, and for the better!

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 7:18 AM CDT

Hello~ I have changed Will's important dates above. His schedule got changed yesterday. They decided that they did not want to put him to sleep twice in one day and the way they put him to sleep would not keep him that way long enough to do everything without a chance of him waking up in the middle of something which would be BAD. So, his schedule changes!

Dr Howard also told Will yesterday that he may get his line pulled after this phase and get his port-a-cath. The key word here is MAY. Will is excited because that would mean he could swim and play rougher, like little boys do. We just do not want to build him up too much for something that may not happen until January.

Thanks for checking in on Will. I will update soon about the Ronald McDonald house. I am still letting it all sink in and getting my thoughts together. It was just a long day.

CANCER is limited....

It cannot cripple love,
It cannot shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot eat away peace,
It cannot destroy confidence,
It cannot shut out memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot reduce eternal life,
It cannot quench the spirit,
It cannot lessen the power of the Resurrection.

Love,
Ali

Monday, July 18, 2005 8:09 AM CDT

My Son Grows Up
author: unknown

Life is fleeting, years rush past...
and little boys grow up so fast!
Let me take time out to be
thankful mine is still here with me.
And though I'm busy through the day,
let me take time out to play...
Let me take time out to smile,
to sit with him for just a while...
Let me take time out for walks,
for swings and sports and quiet talks,
for sharing giggles, tickles, and hugs,
for patching knees and catching bugs...
for running races, climbing trees,
for helping with his A - B - C's...
For hatching plots and planning schemes,
for listening to his thoughts and dreams.
Let me tuck him in at night,
hear his prayers, turn off the light.
And when my busy day is done,
let me thank God I have a son.

Good morning~ Thanks to Sam for emailing the poem above.

Will is still sleeping - I can't imagine how with all the commotion the little ones cause in the morning. His appointment today is not until 12:15 so he gets to sleep late. Today Will will get chemo and blood counts done. He will also start his precautionary meds to get him ready for Dex(UGH) next week. We are also planning on going over to the Ronald McDonald House and looking around.

We will be able to come home on occasion once ReInduction 1 starts next Monday. These will be the days the doctor feels that Will is doing well enough to be this far from the hospital. I know it would be better to be here for everybody elses' sake but I have to do what is best for Will right now. I am so lucky to have such a great family that understands how important this time in Will's life is. We are going to get him well so that we can return to "normal" life as soon as possible.

I went to Wal-Mart the other day and saw school supplies and uniforms out and I got so sad. Be thankful if you have healthy children that are going on with daily life. I so long to get back to kids in school and me tutoring. It's kind of crazy the things you miss when you are going through something like this.

We have no big plans for this week. We are just hanging around the house. Alison and Kendal will go to Ole Miss this week for a cheerleader camp with the SGA stars. We wish them all good luck. Will is excited that he gets to go down there Friday to watch them on their last day. He has never been to Ole Miss so he is VERY excited.
Good luck girls:)

Well, please keep the prayers going up that everything will continue to go as planned. Thank you so much for all you do - we couldn't do it without you all!!!

Love, Ali

Saturday, July 16, 2005 8:37 AM CDT

Good morning! Sorry it has been a couple of days since my last entry. Things are always so hectic around here. I need a full time nanny to help me - any volunteers?!:)

Will has been feeling alright. He has had a runny nose but it is from allergies. Hopefully all the rain will help settle all the dust everywhere. He had such a good time at Thomas' house on Wed night when we went out there to eat. It was so nice to get out of our own house. Thanks Tim and Kim! Emma Kay and Belle played so good and Ben really took to Tim because Tim kept giving him food!

Will is excited about Gabe's party today. They are going to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'm sure he will have fun and enjoy seeing some of his friends from school.

Thank you so much to Susan Bouchillon and Jennifer Long for the BBQ and fruit tray. It was delicious. Sorry we missed you - we had to run to Wal-Mart for the 50th time!

Will goes back to the hospital on Monday for chemo and our schedule for ReInduction(hopefully). Sometimes they wait until the day it is suppose to start to give us a schedule but maybe we can talk it out of them on Monday. So we have one more week in Senatobia. What will we do? I have no idea - I just keep dreading this next stage but I know it will be over with before we know it.

We are going to go do a "walk through" on Monday to see what all we will need to take to the Ronald McDonald house. Many of yu have asked what we will need - hopefully I will have a better idea after Monday.

Thanks so much for checking on Will!

"A child of God will never face a circumstance that exceeds His grace. When we have no resources of our own, His resources have not begun to be depleted.
When we are weak - He is strong."

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 7:28 AM CDT

Good morning!

Will had a pretty good day yesterday. He laid around most of the morning resting and then went to the movies with Yates. They had a great time and then he went to their house to play. It was a much needed break for us both from each other. They went to eat at El Charro's (Will's favorite place) and then came back here and everyone-excluding me, the nonathletic one- played kickball. Needless to say, Will had a great time.

He slept OK. He has trouble sleeping right now. His legs cramp and the Dex that is still in him can cause sleep problems. I'm sure that will resolve itself soon.

Will and Emma Kay are going to a skating b-day party today. Knowing us, someone will break an arm or leg. Kim and Tim Robertson have invited us out to eat tonight at their house tonight and I think a change of scenery will be good for us all! Emma Kay and Will are both excited about going out there. Will is also excited about Gabe's birthday party on Saturday. They are going to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Emma Kay has her cheer camp again on Thursday. She learned a new cheer and does it constantly. Ben is throwing everything in the toilet!

Thanks for all the messages and emails. Will loves to read them all.

Love,
Ali

I got this poem from Jordan's page. He always has great things on there. I really liked this poem.

The Big C


The Big C I heard someone call it
Another just whispered the word.
That we don’t even dare to say cancer out loud
Gives it power it does not deserve.

So I’m giving that letter a new meaning
And refusing to give in to fear
By reclaiming the power for you and for me
And by saying these words loud and clear:

Let C be for Cure and Compassion.
Let it stand for Candles we light,
And a Chorus of voices shouting, you CAN!
To all who will take up this fight.

Let C be for Cash Contribution
(Credit or Check will work too).
Let it stand for Commitment and Check-ups And Cheer,
And the Children who are counting on you.

Let it mean that we know out Creator
Is beside us each step of the way,
And remind us to Call on His strength and His love,
And celebrate every new day!

To everyone facing this Challenge,
I say it is a fight we can win.
Tell all who will listen that, starting today,
The C is for Courage, my friend.

Monday, July 11, 2005 8:08 PM CDT

What a day!

We left town at 8:00 to get to the hospital by 9:00. I cannot stand driving in the rain but we made it there ONLY to find out that Will had school at 9:00 and wasn't due in Assessment Triage till 10:45! Will wasn't planning on going to school today and with the Dex still in him, I wasn't going to push it so we just hung out for a while. Then Rebecca's doctor called (she was with us) and she needed to be at the cardiologist's office by 3:00. SO... off mom and Greg come to pick her up and take her back to Horn Lake. BUT they missed the exit and ended up almost in Millington. While all this was going on we were waiting, waiting, waiting... on bloodwork, doctors, chemo, the pharmacy, you name it! They finally got there and they were off. Will and I finally got to leave the hopital and returned to Senatobia around 3:30.

Will's day was good as far as his counts. Dex is a steroid so his counts were wonderful. He is very tired and has had his "moods" today. I'm sure he will be getting better by tomorrow. He is excited that Yates has invited him to the movies tomorrow.

Rebecca will be having a kidney catherization on July 26 (the day AFTER Will and I leave for Re Induction One). This will check for any blockage that could be causing her blood pressure to be so high. This seems to be found in young females that have this problem. If there is blockage found then they will (more than likely) put a stint in that day. This would require her to stay a night in the hospital. If no blockage is found then they will regroup and try to control her blood pressure some other way. I think I have gotten this all correct. I am sure Rebecca will let us know if I messed up (highly unlikely:))

Thanks to everyone for your prayers, thoughts, cards, dinners,.... EVERYTHING!

Will continues to check his mail at the hospital and will be checking it daily starting July 25. Please drop him a card or postcard if you get a chance. It takes a while for them to get to him so mail early!

Thanks - we appreciate you all so much!!!

Love,
Ali
Devotion for the night:

Lamentations 3:25
The LORD is wonderfully good to those who wait for him.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us..... comfort your hearts and give you strength in every good thing you do and say.

Sunday, July 10, 2005 9:40 AM CDT

PAIN! Will is in pain today. He says he is hurting all over. I gave him morphine a little while ago so hopefully that will help. His mood is pretty "off" also. Just pray that this will pass soon.

I want to thank our family and friends for giving up so much to help us during these times when we need you so much. Veo and I both had our lives stopped on March 4 and have done nothing put care for Will and try to provide Ben and Emma Kay with a somewhat "normal" life. I don't say this to make you feel sorry for us. I do not mind at ALL giving up things, activities, time, etc. for Will because I love him SO much. Thank you to those who have also given up so much to help us. You will never know how much you are appreciated!

We are about to get to the point we were in the beginning where Will and I will be in Memphis. Please pray for my strength as I cannot imagine how I will survive again without my babies. I need from you guilt free days of you all telling me how wonderful they are doing even without me here! Please, that is what we need now also. Guilt free days as our tension and stress builds during days and nights of no rest.

It is so hard for us to see everyone elses lives continue with fun filled days. Will wants to go to Blake's b-day party so bad tonight. Hopefully he will be able to go even if for only a little while. It makes him feel almost "normal" when he gets invited to things and included. Thanks Blake!

Well, I must go rock Will for a little while longer. Thank you for checking in on us. Please leave Will a message. He lets me read them to him.
Love,
Ali

Saturday, July 9, 2005 3:23 PM CDT

Quick update:

Will is not having a good day at ALL! He is very upset and agitated. He is having some pain but it is not as bad as before. His altered mood is what is so bad. I have spent most of my day holding him. Hopefully he will wake up tomorrow a new person. He has three more doses of Dex to take with the last one tomorrow at noon.

Rebecca is a little better. She is taking a new medicine and her doctor is sending her to a cardiologist. I told her she was just rotten on the inside. I mean, how many times do I get the chance to say that to her?! Please keep her and her upcoming appointment in your prayers also.

Well, Will is crying - gotta go!

Love,
Ali

Friday, July 8, 2005 9:19 AM CDT

Good morning!

Will is a bit on the moody side this morning but maybe as the morning goes on he will level out. He is not having any pain yet which is wonderful!

Rebecca is not feeling too well. Her blood pressure is really out of wack and she is at the doctor right now. She has to get to feeling better - we need her to help keep us all organized and clean:) I am sure the doctor will get her all straightened out. We know Alison had a wild night with the ambulance and all but we hear she was a real 'big' girl and we are proud of her.

Ben is absolutely into everything. You get on to him and he laughs and so do Emma Kay and Will so it is just a lost cause! Will and I stayed up until 11:30 last night working on scrapbooks for him and Emma Kay so you need to ask him to see his when you see him. He has several pages completed now.

Will, Emma Kay, Mimi, and I are going to Hernando today to watch Haley, Alison, and Kendal play ball. Good luck to everyone again - maybe you will all WIN today:)

Keep praying for Will as the new meds continue. We are so blessed that he is not in pain right now.

Love,
Ali

Thursday, July 7, 2005 8:56 AM CDT

Good Morning!

Will seems to be feeling good this morning. He slept good last night and has only been up for a little while. We will pray that he keeps feeling good and the meds won't make him hurt this time.

Emma Kay is excited. She is going with her friend Ryan to McDonald's for Ryan's b-day. They aren't picking her up until 10:30 and she has been dressed since 8:00.

Ben is his usual self - into EVERYTHING! He has cut a new tooth and it is a big one. Hopefully he won't be quite as fussy now that it has broken through.

Thanks to Ms Audrea for the presents for the children. We were at the hospital when she came by and it was a nice surprise for them when we got home. Thanks and we are sorry we missed you. We would love to see Hunter!

I will try to update tonight with a report on how Will is doing today on the medicine. He is just so full of energy from the steroids it is hard to do anything! Thanks to all of you for your messages-Will loves to read them!

Good Luck to Alison, Kendal, Haley, and the Senatobia All Stars in their ball tournaments! We know you will all do great - HAVE FUN!

Love,
Ali

*We made homemade muffins last night with Will's blueberries and they were delicious!*

I try to include some of the devotions that I have. This is today's.

He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.
Psalm 40:2
Ever feel like you can go no further? At such times all God asks is that you keep walking. He knows when to rescue you.

Tuesday, July 5, 2005 8:43 PM CDT

Hello everyone~ sorry I am so late updating today. Will is just a HUGE ball of energy! He and his daddy are play playstation right now, Emma is watching them and I just laid Ben down. One down and two to go before I can hit the sack!

Will's doctor's visit went good today. Sam and Emma Kay went with us. We saw Anne Raegan and some of Will's other St Jude buddies while we were there. He even made some new ones. They were so busy today because yesterday was a holiday. Will got his chemo, Vincristine, and he will continue his 6MP(a type of chemo I give him at home) and the dreaded Dex.

Will has discovered three blueberry bushes in our back yard and has been picking blueberries. With all the fertilizing Veo has been doing to get the grass to grow we have got a lot of blueberries. Will says he is going to sell them. What a true Moore! You will have to let him know if you want some:)

Well, hopefully all the meds he took last week will make this week smoother. Thank you to Shirley Young and Mary Agnes Kirkland for dinner tonight. We really appreciate you all thinking of us!

Love,
Ali

LIFE is an opportunity- benefit from it-
LIFE is beauty, admire it.
LIFE is a dream, realize it.
LIFE is a challenge, meet it.
LIFE is a duty, complete it.
LIFE is a game, play it.
LIFE is a promise, fullfill it.
LIFE is sorrow, overcome it.
LIFE is a song, sing it.
LIFE is a struggle, accept it.
LIFE is tragedy, confront it.
LIFE is an adventure, dare it.
LIFE is luck, make it.
LIFE is too precious, do not destroy it.
LIFE is life, fight for it.

Mother Teresa, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and founder of Missionaries of Charity

Monday, July 4, 2005 8:10 AM CDT

Good Morning~

Will had a good day yesterday. His mood even seemed a little better. He just has trouble settling down when it is time.

Today I THINK we are planning on just resting. Now, everyone might change my plans on me but we'll see.

I want to thank everyone who has offered their help to me this coming week. You are all so sweet to offer. Will gets Vincristine tomorrow and starts Dex. Last time it took about a day and a half for it to hit so Thursday should be the day. So many of you have offered to keep Emma Kay or Ben and to provide dinner for us. It helps so much since we all know that last time I held him for 5 solid days. Veo works the firehouse this Thursday. I think he planned that:)

We hope everyone has a great fourth!
Love,
Ali

But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
When you know Jesus, you're continually refreshed. Even when you are most weary, God will come to you. He'll gently carry you when you can't walk on your own.

Sunday, July 3, 2005 9:48 AM CDT

Good morning!

Will had a blast last night at the cook out. He played and shot fireworks. When he came in and I was helping him get ready for bed he said that he had had a great time. Emma Kay stepped on a sparkler and burned her foot. Yes, she was shooting fireworks without any shoes on, doesn't everyone?:) Anyway, Will got some MORE cool new birthday presents and just got to be a kid last night.

Will has a runny nose this morning but I contribute that to allergies. We will just watch it and hope a cough doesn't come on. He is looking forward to eating hamburgers at the firehouse today. He got new tennis shoes last night and a new wallet and he has them laid out to sport today. He is really happy so far today.

I have posted some important dates coming up for Will. Please remember him on these days and say a special prayer for him. We want zero percent leukemia blasts found in his bone marrow on the bone marrow aspirate.

Also, please remember that he will start Dex and Vincristine on Tuesday. We are going to keep praying that the medicine he has been taking this past week will help prevent what he had to go through last time. He will get the Vincristine at St Jude on Tuesday and I give him the Dex at home starting Tuesday with the last dose being next Sunday at lunch.

Will had a great time at the ballgame yesterday. He was able to sit in the dugout with all his buddies, eat lunch with them and they also signed an "Autograph Baseball" he had taken. We hear the other game they played didn't go as well as the first.

Remember, if you ever need a wake up call on the important things in life, you are welcome to come live a day in my life. I feel some of your perspectives on things would change. I know mine have!

Thank you to everyone who helped us clean up last night. My house is back in order this morning and I don't have the stress of cleaning up today. Veo is at the firehouse. Hopefully everyone will save their fireworks for tomorrow so he won't have too many fires to fight today. I'm sure Fireman Greg will be on call to help him if he needs it!:)

Happy Fourth to everyone! Be safe and have fun,
Ali

Sunday, July 3, 2005 9:48 AM CDT

Will's message (read by Mimi) on June 3 at the Relay for Life.
My name is Will Moore and I am 6 years old. About 6 months ago I can remember my legs and stomach would hurt. It was hard for me to run across the playground at school and I had to get glasses to help me see. Then I started to run fever. My mom and dad took me to the doctor on March 2. I remember I was mad because my mom said I would have to go back to school that afternoon when we got home, but I didn’t get to come home. My pediatrician stuck my finger and checked my blood and sent us to Lebonheur Children‘s Hospital. They really didn’t know what was wrong with me so they sent me to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. On March 4, 2005, the doctors came into my hospital room and told us that I have a cancer disease called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, also called ALL. I really didn’t know what that was but I was scared. I could tell that all my family was scared too, and very sad and even crying. I wanted to know when I was going home and what was wrong with me. My mom told me that I had “bugs” in my blood and that the doctors were going to make me better. I was able to come home 7 weeks later.
I still have to go to St Jude all the time and I will get my chemo for 3 years. I get lots of medicine through my central line, pills, and some needle pokes. I have to be put to sleep a lot and they poke me in my back. Right now I don’t have any more “bugs” in my blood so I am in remission. After 10 years of no cancer, I can say I am cured.
My mom says that in 1962, the cure rate for my cancer, ALL, was only 4%. Now it is 80%. I know that is a big difference. I am glad that people give money to help find cures for cancer so that I will be able to grow up. I think that is cool! Thank you!

Saturday, July 2, 2005 11:01 AM CDT

Matt. 17:20 "IF YOU HAVE FAITH, AS SMALL AS A MUSTARD SEED, YOU CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS"


Good morning!

Will is having a good morning so far. Beck has taken him and Emma Kay, along with Alison and Kendal, to Batesville to watch the 7 year old All Stars play. Will was on their team last year and is an "honorary" member this year. He was very excited this morning getting ready. They even had him a jersey made up. Hopefully Emma Kay will behave. You know, she sometimes acts like her Aunt Beck and Alison:) Ben has taken a trip to Grammy's so I can actually get things together around here.

Will is also excited about us having family and friends coming for a cook out tonight. We went and got some fireworks last night and he can't wait to get his hands on them!

Will is looking forward to Blake Pugh's birthday party next weekend. This is the first birthday Will has been invited to since he got sick so he is thrilled. Hopefully he will feel like going. He starts the dreaded Dex and Vincristine on Tuesday. UUGHH!

Will is also looking forward to seeing Mr David Lunceford and his pictures from their trip to Alaska. He can't imagine taking a trip where you see fox and bears!

We hope that everyone has a great holiday weekend and a safe one!

Love,
Ali

Friday, July 1, 2005 3:28 PM CDT

Hello~ Will is having a good day. He isn't dizzy like he was yesterday and his mood is a little better. We went to Hernando to the scrapbooking store. Will is really getting into working on his scrapbook and it keeps him busy. Then we saw a parade with some of the children in Hernando. He got to see Avery Norwood, Ms. Paige and Ms. Beverly Ward. Will and Emma Kay really enjoyed just a change of scenery.

Will is excited that he is more than likely going to go to the All Star game on Saturday. If all goes as planned, his "Beck" is going to take him.

Thanks to all the Sunday School classes and JA for the food this week. You will never know how much it helps:)

Sorry I am so late updating. Just remember that no news is USUALLY good news. The children have been keeping me VERY busy!

Have a great holiday!
Love,
Ali

Thursday, June 30, 2005 9:34 AM CDT

Will's Corner:
hey every body i am dizzy hopefully i'll be sleeping in my new room soon i need a blind for my window i got my hat and shirt today from cabelas that i ordered the hat is too small so i have to send it back the shirt fits and has a deer on the back BYE WILL ******HAPPY BIRTHDAY TUCKER!!!

Good morning! Well, the new medicine has made Will very dizzy. We knew that was a possible side effect. Hopefully this medicine will help with the pain next week. If it doesn't then I don't want him to take it anymore. It has made him moody (not as bad as he has been) and now dizzy. He is sleeping good, thankfully! I also had to start him back on Adavan for the irritability. I think all of us in our house could all use a dose of it:)

Will is right - the blind I got for his room didn't fit so he won't sleep in his new room without a blind. I don't blame him though. He did order some stuff from Cabela's with some of his money that the SGA dancers gave him at Emma Kay's recital.

Well, he is very "loopy" today. His speech is even slurred. Emma Kay is on her way to the Country Club with Sam. I have to take them since Sam doesn't have a car today. Maybe we can get someone to cut the Webb's a deal on Sam a car for her Senior year. We'll have to see what we can do:)

Thank you for all your prayers, emails, cards, calls, .............
Love,
Ali

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 7:33 AM CDT

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. John 16:33 - God doesn't promise to protect us from problems on this earth. Instead he promises to give us the courage to face our problems with his strength.

This was my devotional for last night. Kind of fits right now, doesn't it?

Hello!

Will had a good day yesterday. His mood is somewhat to be desired but we will make it through. The new medicine is making him sleepy so at least he is sleeping good. He is excited that today Linda Webb(aka M&M to Emma Kay), Sam, and Haley are taking Will and Emma Kay to Chuck E Cheese. He has been looking forward to it and I know he will have a good time. Emma Kay said last night she wasn't going to go because she didn't like that thing(the mouse, Chuck E Cheese). So we all acted like we were calling him and telling him not to be there today, but knowing Emma Kay, she will still stress today over it! She is so crazy:)

We are almost halfway done getting everything in our house put into the right place and then the painting will begin. Our house has wood stained trim but we weren't able to get it for the addition, so we are going to take one room at a time and try to get it all painted. New doors will also have to be bought but that will also have to happen room by room. Maybe when Will is considered cured (in 10 years), we will have it all finished:)!

Well, please continue to pray for good days for Will.
Love,
Ali

Tuesday, June 28, 2005 7:14 AM CDT

THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR US AND WE ARE FILLED WITH JOY! Psalm 126:3

Good Morning! Sorry I didn't update yesterday. Things are kinda crazy around here. The children are a "bit" wild!

Will seems to be feeling OK. He was a bit moody yesterday but I think that was from starting the new medicine. It made him feel kind of different and I think the mood was just his way of adjusting to it. Hopefully he will be a little better today. We'll see. His doctor was very happy with how much better Will was compared to last week. We will continue with the precautionary medicine and he also got chemo yesterday. If all goes well - we don't have to go back until next Tuesday. They are giving us a break on Monday. Nice of them, huh?

Thank you to the Sunday School class that brought dinner last night. It was so nice to not have to come in from the hospital and cook.

We will talk to you all soon!
Love,
Ali

Sunday, June 26, 2005 7:25 AM CDT

Good morning~ Hope you all had an enjoyable and restful Saturday. It was so hot that it was hard for us to stay outside. Will had a good day just messing around. He's still asleep right now.

Will will start his new medicine tomorrow morning. The doctors are trying this to see if it will help prevent some of the pain he experienced with his chemo called Vincristine. He will also start Potassium tomorrow.

If you haven't noticed, Will got onto the computer and signed his own guestbook. He was being so silly last night. It's just nice to see him smile and act half way like his old self.

I want to thank everyone so much for all you do. I know I say it everyday but I feel like I can never say it enough or big enough (if that makes sense). You have all supported Will in ways I could never have imagined. You have wrapped your arms around our family and loved us. Thank you! You will never know how much it means to us:) You have made me feel "good" about my decisions for Will and my other children. You haven't placed guilt on me or Veo for things you have done and expected recognition. You have given in an unselfish way and we know that one day you will be rewarded. You may not be rewarded publicly for all to see, but you still continue to give to us. I think that is AWESOME! You will all always have a special place in our hearts.

Thanks for letting me ramble on. Since I didn't have any "big" news to report on Will, I felt like I had time to thank you all. I borrowed the list at the top of the page about Leukemia. I thought it was really neat and I have added a new link at the bottom of the page.

Please pray today that next week will go as smoothly as possible for Will. Please pray that the new medicine will work. Please pray for Veo and me, it is hard to have a child with cancer and watch the things he has to endure.

Have a happy "Sonday",
Ali

Something new that Will learned yesterday that he told me to put on his page:
FROG - Fully Relying On God

Saturday, June 25, 2005 8:45 AM CDT

Good morning~

Will is up and resting this morning on the couch. He seems to be feeling OK. He has a runny nose this morning which I contribute to allergies. He has been taking zyrtec since his chemo started but it only helps a little. He will start his neurotin and potassium on Monday to prepare him for his Dex and Vincristine on the next Monday. This Monday he will only get Methotrexate. It really doesn't affect him other than hair loss and occassionally some mouth sores.

We hope everyone has a great weekend. We have no big plans. Will is still getting his "new" room situated. I will post pictures of it when we get it a little more cleared out so that you can all see.

Thanks so much for checking in on us today.
Love,
Ali and Will

Friday, June 24, 2005 7:39 AM CDT

***NEW PHOTOS ON VIEW PHOTOS!***

Good Morning! Well, Will had an awesome birthday! He got lots of calls, cards, emails, and presents. Our surprise for him was we took him to the Memphis Riverqueen boat ride. He LOVED it! When we got back in the car he said he had so much fun. When we got home, we had a hot dinner waiting on us from the Pepper's - Thank you! Then all of our family came over and we surprised Will again with a birthday cake. Granddaddy also surprised Will with a fruit basket that he had spelled Will's name out on the handle with grapes. Everyone enjoyed it - especially Will! I can not tell you the difference in Will in the past two days. It is WONDERFUL!

He will start neurotin on Monday to prepare him for the chemo on the 4th. This drug can have the side effect of kind of "zoning" you out so I really dread giving it to him since he is finally back to his old self. We will just enjoy the next few days in case it does do something like that.

We are working on new pictures! Thank you all for everything!
Love,
Ali

1 Samuel 1:27-28

For this child I have prayed and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord. So they worshiped the Lord there.

Thursday, June 23, 2005 7:13 AM CDT

Run Through the Rain

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Target. She must have
been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of
innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over
the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time
to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just
inside the door of the Target.

We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up
their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in
the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the
world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came
pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day. The little
voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught
in "Mom, let's run through the rain," she said. "What?" Mom asked. "Let's
run through the rain!" She repeated. "No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied. This young child waited about another
minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain," "We'll get
soaked if we do," Mom said.

"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young
girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get
wet?

"Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer,
you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through
anything!"

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear
anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in
the next few minutes.

Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now
some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even
ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young
child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it
will bloom into faith.


"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD
let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said.

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as
they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their
shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they
were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the
way to their cars.

And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing. Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday.

To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.


Good Morning! Well, everyone in our house has been up since 6:00. Will is so excited it is his birthday! He has already opened up presents this morning from all of us.

We went to St Jude yesterday because his stomach was still hurting. They wanted to make sure his bowels had not been paralyzed. Good news, they aren't! They sent us home with lots of laxatives to take and if they didn't work we would need to be back up there this morning for enemas every 30 minutes until he went. I just kept telling them that it would be his birthday. We got home and guess what?! He went - I never thought we would ever be so excited over someone going to the bathroom:) Oh well, we were!!!

So today, Veo has to go into work for a little while since he went to the hospital with us yesterday afternoon with us but then we are taking Will to do a "surprise". It is nothing BIG but something Will has been wanting to do. I put the poem at the top today because we are going to make a memory today with Will that can never be taken away. A man recently told Veo that when his children were growing up that he may not have always been able to do things with them but he made enough money to give them things. Well, since this has all happened, Veo and I think we would rather be with our children more and live in a plain old house, drive a plain old car, and wear modest old clothes BUT have a great relationship with our children and make lots of memories as a FAMILY. Don't get me wrong, Veo has to work two jobs to keep things going but we will make the most of our "other" time!

Thank you so much to Beck, Alison, and Kendal for staying all day yesterday and getting Will's new room ready! He loves it:) We don't know what we would do without you even if Will does say you are all crazy!! Thank you so much to everyone for the dinners and presents for Will. He has gotten lots of cards and e-mails that he is also enjoying! Thanks to whoever decorated our house last night for Will's birthday. He 'thinks' he knows who did it, we'll see! Thank you to Pops and Grammy for the air conditioning unit which is now ALL finished. It was something that Will needed and we could never afford. I am so sorry if I ever leave anyone out of the Thank You's. We have SO many people to thank. I guess my mind does not function like it should anymore.

Love,
Ali

**********HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL**********

Wednesday, June 22, 2005 7:17 AM CDT

Hello! Well, Will slept better last night until around 3:00. His legs started hurting so I had to give him codine. He is asleep on the couch right now. He still has not gone to the bathroom. I will give him until around lunch, then I will have to call the doctor. Will is also coughing on top of everything else.

Ben has strep throat. Isn't that great!? He is the happiest baby I have ever seen that has strep throat. He has been taking his medicine since yesterday when they got home (thanks to mom and Beck for taking him to the doctor) so I am thinking he will go to Phyllis' today. Sam and Ms. Linda are taking Emma Kay to Memphis with them. They're brave!

Will's floor got put down yesterday so it is all FINISHED! Yea! I think that it looks great. Will is itching to get his stuff in there so Beck is coming over and we are going to try and start getting some stuff in there. My mom bought Will new bedroom funiture so he is pretty pumped about that also. We had all already bought his presents when I found the furniture but Mimi felt he deserved an extra special birthday this year. I agree.

Thanks to Denise Vannucci and Mary Anne Sinquefield for dinner last night. Will actually ate!:) The watermelon is already all gone! Will is also looking forward to catching "whoever" keeps leaving him happies on the porch, ringing the doorbell, and then leaving. He has a "REALLY" good idea of who it is. Hey, it made him smile, so you know who you are and THANKS!!!!!

Well, Will is slowly improving. My wish is that he would be 100 times better by tomorrow for his birthday but I know that is too much to ask. Hopefully he will be free of pain tomorrow and he can enjoy himself! He said to me last night that he is "just so excited about his birthday!"

We love you all,
Ali

If you are looking for something to wake you up and make you appreciate your children, visit the page of a little boy sent home on hospice. It is oh/ryan. He is so precious and it makes me feel like our past week was nothing when compared with what they are experiencing.
Hug your babies, whether they be yours, your grandchildren, your nieces and nephews, or just your friends children!

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 7:14 AM CDT

Good morning ~ Our night went a little better as far as Will is concerned. Ben coughed all night and is going to go to the doctor today with his Mimi(my mom).

Will's mood seems to be a little better but the pain is still with him. It is not AS bad, but is still pretty bad. He did have to take morphine during the night, along with Adavan for anxiety. The doctor mentioned us staying yesterday and Will flipped out so we got to come home with lots of medicine. Thank goodness we live close! Will still has not been able to go to the bathroom. He was given IV morphine yesterday when we got to the hospital and they gave him a laxitive drink. The drink didn't work so he drank another 1/2 of one last night but still nothing. I will try to get him to drink another one this morning and let's pray it works. I will have to call them if he doesn't go.

Since we have had such a bad time with this medicine this time, they have a plan for the next time we take this. Starting next Monday, which is one week before we start these 2 meds again, Will is going to take Potassium twice a day and a medicine called Neurotin three times a day. Hopefully with this medicine getting in his system a whole week beofre the Vincritine and Dex, he won't have the pain. They really have nothing to give for the mood swings and crying(except Adavan) but they HOPE that if he is not in so much pain, his mood might be better.

He did get chemo yesterday, Methotrexate. He will get that next Monday also. Then on July 4(or 5) he will start back on Dex(ughhh!)for 5 days and get the dreaded Vincristine.

We so appreciate everything you all have been doing. To Yates (and his parents), THANK YOU for the goodies you have been leaving! Kristina Bozeman and Jana Powell for wonderful REAL (not in a bag) food last night for dinner - THANK YOU! Thank you also to Mr Wayne for Will's b-day present. He got it before we went yesterday so we were able to listen to it on the way up there. He is also excited over the gift card to Wal Mart. He's ready to go spend it!

Please keep praying for Will and that the Will we all know will be back with us soon!
Love,
Ali

Monday, June 20, 2005 7:24 AM CDT

Hello~ I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day.

Will did not sleep well AT ALL last night. He was up most of the night in pain. We have had to start back on the morphine. I was trying to wean him off of it, and he took only codine yesterday but the pain was bad last night. He is now having hot flashes. That is what I call it. He started last night and has since been keeping a cool wet washcloth on his face or head. His stomach is also hurting pretty badly. He still has not been able to go to the bathroom. We have to be at St Jude at 12:00 today for his doctors appt. Rebecca and Alison are going with me to help me and Sam and Ms. Twinkie are on "baby patrol". Will is very moody this morning and of course only wants me to hold him. He has started letting Veo hold him more than he was at first.

We did get him to get in the wheelchair and let us push him up and down the street yesterday. I thought it would do him good to get some fresh air and sunshine. I'm not sure how much it helped.

Well, Will is calling. Thanks so much for all the prayers you have been sending up. I know they will be answered in His time.

Love to you all,
Ali

Sunday, June 19, 2005 8:59 AM CDT

Well, this has to be quick. We finally went to bed around 1:00 and Will slept OK. He is still in a lot of pain and is now having problems going to the bathroom. As far as what he does all day, he sleeps, sits in my lap and cries. He says he wants to be normal again and he doesn't understand why he has to have cancer. I feel like some of it is the medicine talking and some of it is that this is really the first "bad" spell we have had. I also feel like the medicine loosens him up enough to tell me how he feels. He is normally so quite. We have been using codine instead of morphine for the past few hours. Hopefully we can wean off the morphine. I joke to Veo that Will is going to have to go to detox soon. We have to cry or laugh so we might as well laugh.

Thank you so much for all the goodies that have been brought by and all the messages and prayers! We appreciate EVERYTHING so much:) Will loves his messages.
Please say a special prayer for Will at church this morning.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads! I no longer have my dad here with me so hug your dads tight. Veo does a great dad being a father and husband. He helps hold us together even when his patience is running thin. My children are so lucky to have him as their dad. Happy Father's Day!

We love you all
Holding tight,
Ali

Saturday, June 18, 2005 9:10 AM CDT

Saturday Morning.......9:10AM

I just checked in with the Moore's to see how the later part of their night went. When the recital was over, Ben went home with Mr. Buck and Mrs. Twinkie and Mom went to spend the night with Ali, Will, and Emma. Veo was working at the firehouse. I know everyone is wondering if Emma danced and YES she did. By the time the finale got there, she thought she was a real pro. She is CRAZY and she keeps us all laughing!

Ali said that Will slept a little better than the night before, but still not great. Will is in ALOT of pain. It is hard to tell you exactly where he is hurting, it seems to pretty much be everywhere! His legs, eyes, throat, head.....everywhere.

He is taking Morphine every 4 hours. His doctors also have him on Adavan and potassium. All of these meds are to help offset the dreaded DEX! This medicine is much needed in the treatment plan , BUT it has VERY bad side effects. Basically, Will sits in Ali's lap in their den recliner and cries. IT IS THE SADDEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. It is so hard to imagine that this is the same Will that went to school on Monday and then came to Alison and Kendal's ballgame. But....it is.

He gets his last dose for this week at around noon today. Then he will be off of the DEX for 5 days. Ali said this morning that she can not imagine having to start this all back up in 5 days! She told Mom and I that she wasn't going to do it, they could just put her in jail! But I think the best way for us all to cope right now is to make jokes and laugh! In fact Will got mad at me yesterday and said that I laughed and smiled too much! It is all I know to do in our current situation! I would really rather SCREAM!

I know that all of you reading this feel like there is nothing you can do, because even us his family feel helpless. He ONLY wants his Momma and we know she needs a break too!

Will has a doctors appointment at Noon on Monday, if they don't end up having to go sooner.

Please continue to leave him messages and send him cards. His 7th birthday is Thursday ( June 23rd). Their home address is 103 Tim Street, Senatobia, MS. He still checks his mail at the hospital too.

Everyone continues to be very supportive. This week Mark Massey bought Will a guitar and case and set him up with lessons when he is up to it. He is VERY proud of his guitar. The 7 year old ALLSTAR team, got Will, Ali, and Veo t-shirts with Will's name on them and the Junior Auxiliary sent their weekly meal. Miss Sandy and the SGA Dancers dedicated their recital to Will and presented him with a plaque and card. It was all very sweet! THANKS TO ALL OF YOU. The things you do or say may seem little and insignificant to you, but they mean ALOT to all of us.

PLEASE don't stop praying for Will's speedy recovery! Say a special prayer today for the entire family. Energy is running low and tempers can flare! It is all due to feeling so helpless!

I will update if anything changes! Have a great weekend! Good luck to all the ball teams that are playing in tournaments this weekend!

Love~ Rebecca

Friday, June 17, 2005 6:30 AM CDT

**UPDATE 9:10AM** Will is in a lot of pain so he wasn't able to get up to go to school. He has had morphine at 7:00 this morning but still is in pain. Hopefully it will all pass soon. He cries alot and just wants to be held, so that is what I am doing.



Hello!

Well, Will is still asleep and I would like to say that we had a good night, but we didn't. He was up most of the night. He started itching(who knows what that is from) and his eyes hurt. I gave him benadryl. Then he just couldn't get settled. I finally had to give him the anxiety medicine so he is finally sleeping. He told me before he went to sleep (around 4:00AM) that he still wanted to go to school today. They are making something for Father's Day. SO- I am afraid not to wake him up seeing that his mood has been out of wack lately. I will wake him in a while and let's just pray that he will have a wonderful day!

Will did have a great surprise yesterday. Mark Massey brought him his own guitar and has talked to Tobie Town Music and they have set up a great rate on guitar lessons. He strumed it all night long and even said he was going to take it in the car this morning. Thanks Mark! You made a really bad day into one where I saw Will smile:)

Thank you so much for all your messages and personal emails. They help me so much. Now if you have something that helps me function with no sleep, send it over too!

Emma Kay's recital is tonight. We'll see if see actually goes out there. She was up a good bit also due to Will so maybe she will get her sleep out and not be grumpy.

We love you all!
Ali

Thursday, June 16, 2005 10:21 AM CDT

5:30 PM Thursday~~~We just got home from the hospital. They gave him morphine for the pain and also some extras in pill form since Will did not like the liquid I had here. They are also starting him on potassium which can help with the leg pain and help level him off some to help with the mood. Since his mood was so drastically changed this morning, they also gave us an anti-anxiety medication that I can give him when it gets that way. They were very concerned, due in part to the fact that Will is always so happy and feeling so well. Hopefully this will get things straightened out.
Thank you so much for keeping up with Will through this all. Also, a BIG THANK YOU to Beck and Angie Archer for coming over and getting my house straightened up while we were gone this afternoon! It was so nice to get home and everything be where it was supposed to be. You both are SO good to us - I don't know what I would do without you. Rebecca and Angie Stuart also brought dinner tonight. Yea!!!!Thanks:)


UPDATE 12:45 PM **We are going to St Jude. Will is not getting any better so they want to see him. We will update later to let you know how he is doing. ***********

Hello~ Just a quick update.

This is probably one of Will's worst days yet. He has had leg pain all night and is soaking in the bathtub right now to try and relieve it. The codine has helped very little. I have morphine but I will need to wait a while since I just gave codine this morning. The mood swings and irritablity is horrible so far. He has said things I know he didn't mean. He has cried and cried and is really down.

Hopefully as the day goes on he will get better. I feel it is so unfair for Emma Kay and Ben that so much attention needs to be on Will right now, especially today.

Also, a Happy Belated birthday to Scottie. I am so sorry I forgot! I guess now, everyone knows who used to get the presents and cards for occassions. As things slow down, maybe I can get things back to normal.

Well, Emma Kay has dance at 11:00. Her dance recital is tomorrow night. Hopefully all will go well:)

Please keep Will in your prayers. He really needs them today.

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, June 15, 2005 5:50 PM CDT

Hello~Sorry it's been longer than usual since I updated.

Will had a good day today. He just loves his new school program. They are practicing for a skit they will do when these 3 weeks are up. It goes along with the book Where the Wild Things Are. He is feeling OK. He is really tired but wants to play. He's hungry but it doesn't taste good. Get the picture? But we all know this will pass....so on we go.

Pops and Grammy brought Austin over for a visit last night. Ben loved to play with Austin. Austin liked it at first but then thought he liked his world of being "only him" only better. I remember those days of only having one child - barely - they are distant memories! One week at my house and he'd be a totally different child - I would do that for a "small" fee Scottie!

Anyway, Will is scheduled to go back Friday and then again on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. He will get chemo on Monday.

Well, I have no great words of wisdom tonight. I know that I am tired. For some reason the daily trips to St Jude don't stop the clothes from getting dirty, bathrooms from needing cleaning, furniture from getting dusty,........ so on with my daily chores:)

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, June 14, 2005 6:40 AM CDT

Good morning!

Will is still sleeping. He was up and down all night. We started the new medicine. Let's hope tonight goes better. He had a great time at the softball field last night. He was so happy to see Tucker, Blake, and some of his other buddies. Thank goodness we don't have anything we have to do today! We are going to have a LAZY day~ Actually Will has planned for today to go to Mr Steve's house and sit on a giant turtle float in their pool. It's the closest thing to swimming he can do. Mom took Will to get all three children floats this weekend. Will and Emma Kay's are so big we need another room just house them:) Ben's legs are so fat they stick in his. Oh well, at least he's walking now.

*New photos! Theses were taken for the Country Cares CD interview we did! They turned out SO good. Also, there is one of Will and Steven Seagal.*
They now have children's sizes in the St Jude bracelts in the gift shop there. If anyone needs one that size just let me know. They are $3 and we will be going every week.

Thanks so much for all your words of encouragement. As Veo and I struggle daily to do the best things for Will, it is so nice to have such wonderful family and friends to back us up. This has most certainly been the hardest thing I have ever gone through but we are learning such positive lessons. Each time we go to the hospital I am reminded of a different world. Ask anyone who goes up there, it really makes you sit down and say "thank you" for your life and everything you have. It is easy for me to almost "forget" that Will is sick until we go back to St Jude.

Please remember that Will has started his new medicine and we will see a change in him. It is hard to give him something I know is going to change him from my "little sweet Will" but I know it will help him in the end ~ Please pray for us all, especially Will.

Love,
Ali

Isaiah 41:10

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous hand.

"God has some extremely exciting things in mind for His children. For some it may happen next month or next year or five years down the road. We don't know when. For some it could happen today. But the beautiful thing about this adventure called faith is that we can count on Him to never lead us astray. He knows exactly where He's taking us. Our job is to obey."

Monday, June 13, 2005 4:16 PM CDT

Hello everyone!

We just got in from St Jude. Will really enjoyed his school this morning. He was so nervous at first but ended up loving it! Yea! They are even going to do a skit at the end of the three weeks for us all to watch. Will says he is a lion in it. We will see:)

All went well with his treatment. His counts are good so he got chemo today. He will also start a new medicine tonight called Dex (for short). This medicine can be compared to the steroids he took before while we were at the apartment but they are way more potent. SO.... I am warning everyone now that you did not see Will when he was on steroids before and you were not around him because we were in Memphis... he will probably change some in the way he looks and majorly in the way he acts. This medicine is part of his chemo so it is very important BUT it kills me to have to gove him something knowing what I had to live through before. It worries me that we are home now and have the other children in our house and his friends around. Just consider yourselves warned! :)

I want to share a small lesson I have come to realize through this journey we are on. Please don't be quick to judge others in things they say, write, do,.... UNTIL you have walked in their shoes.

We will talk to you all soon!
Love,
Ali

~We saw Anne Raegan and her mom, Brandi, today. Please pray them as Brandi's sister has been diagnosed with melanoma. She has a 3 month old and a 2 year old. Brandi says she will start treatment soon and asks for prays.~

Sunday, June 12, 2005 1:43 PM CDT

Good afternoon everyone!

I am so excited to tell you all that Will made it public today that he has been saved. On Wednesday at VBS, Kristina went through the ABC's of salvation with the children and Will really let us know then. On Thursday, he and Brent prayed together and he asked God to come into his heart. Will and I have been talking about this for a while but I was so stuck on age. Brent made it all better when he first expalined there is no "right" age and secondly, from Will's recent experiences he has developed a serious side. He is now able to understand some things, such as this, that some children his age aren't able to understand.

Thank you so much to all that expressed to Will this morning how proud you are of him. It means so much to us to be part of such a special church family. I don't think I have ever been more proud than I was this morning of my sweet little boy!

Will is going to start a summer school tomorrow at the hospital. He will also get chemo tomorrow. I am a little nervous that he will get sick since it has been so long since he got the kind of chemo he will get tomorrow. Rebecca has offered to ride with us in case I need her, Sam will have Emma Kay in order to make sure she makes it to her dance practice, and Phyllis will have Ben. Hopefully we will make it on schedule, as Alison and Kendal have ballgames and I hear their coach can be pretty tough on them:)(they also have to live with him). Veo's at the firehouse so luck for him, he gets to miss out on all the running around tomorrow!

Also, a big thanks AGAIN to the JA group. The dinners they bring help out more than they will ever know! I know they are busy and there are better things they could be doing but they faitfully help us! THANK YOU!!!

Well, sorry to bore you with all that, but I feel I don't say thank you enough to all of you. I will have to let Will update tonight. Will has gone to play golf with his Uncle Greg. It is so hot, I don't see why anyone would want to go play golf! I promised him we would take time for him to update when he gets home. Talk to you all soon~

Love,
Ali

Friday, June 10, 2005 4:09 PM CDT

Good afternoon! I guess no update from Will right now because he is busy eating and watching Grease(he takes after me on both of those!) He'll catch up with you all later he says. He's really looking forward to his baseball team party tonight. Even though he didn't make it to too many games, they are so thoughful to include Will.

He is continuing to improve everyday. He is struggling today with not being able to do some of the things other chidren are doing. He cries that it is unfair and I agree that it is unfair. I want to get angry that he has to miss out on so much but I have to remember that God is in control.

VBS is over and Will have a WONDERUL time! It was great. A big thanks to Rachelle Storey and Sherry Townsend for heading it up this year!

I received this poem today. How it fits Will's life so perfectly!


The Littlest Soldiers

The medals on our chests
Are port-a-caths for meds
Helmets won't stay on
'cause no hair is on our heads.

Our weapons of destruction
We take every day
We fight the battle within us
While we struggle on to play.

We fight with honor and courage
No Marine could do as well
We are only little children
Living in this hell.

So bring on the medals
The Purple Hearts of Wars
The Gold Cross, The Silver Star
To place upon our scars.

For We are the Children of Cancer
No one has fought so hard
But every day we struggle on
Our life is our reward.

Author: Cheryl Jagannathan

We have been following a little boy named Gage Edwards for a while now. His page is ne/gageedwards. Please pray for their family as they have maybe only hours left with their child. We have never met this family but I know they need more prayers for strength than we will ever be able to give.

Love,
Ali

Thursday, June 9, 2005 4:39 PM CDT

Will's corner:
my daddy's picture is on the fire website he is real mad at beck and mr brian hale for doing that i had fun at bible school again i got to help bro clay in music tomorrow is the last day we are going to pizza hut tonight daddy is at station 2 tonight BYE BYE BYE BYE
$$$$$$#####!!!!~~~~~~WILL MOORE~~~~~~~~!!!!!!!!#####$$$$$$$

Hello everyone! We have had a pretty good day. I am really tired. These children are running my legs off! Thank goodness Emma Kay loves Sam so much so she wants to be with her more than me. She thinks she is as big as those girls at Sam's. She is so silly!

Will is still feeling good. He had some leg pain this morning but after some codine he was fine and had a great time at bible school. Only one more day of getting everyone up and going. I love VBS, but getting everyone together with everything they need is so tiresome! Oh well, I guess I'll make it.

Good news - Ben is walking everywhere! Yea - finally! He thinks he is so BIG! He is very proud of himself.

The fire website Will is talking about is linked at the bottom of the page. It is a source of controversy right now with Veo and Rebecca(who gave the picture to the Fire Dept.)!

Please continue to pray for Will's continued healing.
Love,
Ali

This is a piece of a letter another St Jude mom received that I thought I would share with you all.

"YOU HEAR PEOPLE TALK ABOUT BEING ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP WITH JESUS AND HOW WONDERFUL IT IS, AND HOW DISCOURAGING IT IS TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE VALLEYS THAT WE ALL SEEM TO BE ALLOWED TO GO THROUGH. BUT HAVE YOU EVER REALLY NOTICED THAT NOTHING GROWS ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP? LOOK AT THE VALLEY - - IT'S GREEN AND PLUSH AND EVERYTHING IS GROWING THERE!! IT'S LIKE WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH A VALLEY TO GROW. AND THEN IT'S GREAT TO GET BACK UP ON THAT MOUNTAIN TOP AND look what HE brought us through and helped us through. IT'S ACTUALLY QUITE A COURAGEOUS ACCOMPLISHMENT TO GET TO THE MOUNTAIN TOP, ALTHOUGH WE DON'T ALWAYS REALIZE THAT AS WE ARE CLIMBING - - - or being PUSHED!"

Wednesday, June 8, 2005 3:03 PM CDT

Will's corner:
hey i get to help paint my room COOL i am going to church tonight and eat hot dogs and show my daddy my vbs room i am going to be 7 on june 23 my new room is brown i start school at st jude on monday my new classroom looks really fun BYE BYE
Will


Good afternoon! Will had a great day at VBS today. Emma Kay wanted to know why we had to go to bible school so much. I have to say, she takes after her dad and Aunt Beck. Just kidding! Will seems to be feeling a little better and has had a better appetite today.

Please keep in your prayers all of the children attending VBS this week. I am seeing wonderful things happening there. It is really an awesome experience to be there watching them.

I received the following in an email (thanks Christina!) and I want to share it with you. I am not going to put all of it on here because if most of you are like me, you don't have lots of time to sit without someone needing you. I thought that these were the high points of it and I know I need help in these areas.

In an interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond, In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you got to the mountaintop, back and forth.

I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or........ you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?


Love,
Ali

Wednesday, June 8, 2005 8:28 AM CDT

Will's corner:
i am going to have a birthday soon my room is getting painted today VBS is cool my Mimi got me a new sprinkler and it was fun and a new water gun it was cool


BYE
Will
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$Send me some mail please

Good Morning! Sorry for not updating yesterday. We tried but something was wrong with the computer. We could read your messages but couldn't update. Will's line has been bothering him a good bit. We will again watch for fever or any more redness. Will is feeling OK. It is still hard for him to eat. He has lost a good bit of weight. I can tell in his clothes. We will go back next week for chemo and his new "school".

Clay Blair has come to paint Will's room. He also gave us a great price on the rest of the addition so he will be finishing up on the painting. There's not enough hours in the day for Veo to do it around his jobs. I'm sure you all can relate to that.

Well, we are off to VBS again.
Please continue to keep our family in your prayers.
Love,
Ali
*Hope you enjoy Will's update above. He did it by himself(with a little help on spelling)!

Monday, June 6, 2005 5:56 PM CDT

Hello! Well, we just got in from St Jude. Will had a checkup this afternoon after VBS. Will had a great time at VBS this morning. Everything was good at the check up. Will's counts are down a little but that is to be expected. He will get chemo next Monday(the start of seven weeks of chemo).

Will is going to start a school program on Monday at St Jude. He is very excited. He will go for a couple of weeks on Mon., Wed., and Friday. He will already be there on Monday's for chemo so we will just have to make extra trips on Wed and Friday. I know he will benefit from it.

I am sorry to tell you all that while at the hospital I saw Emma Grace's grandmother and nurse and knew something was wrong. She earned her angel wings this afternoon while we were there. The sad thing is, is that Emma Grace was cancer free. She encountered complications. Once again, this is why we are adding rooms for infection reasons and have gotten a new air unit to kill bacteria. Her caring bridge page is ar/emmagrace.


IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES

If I knew it would be the last time
that I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly
and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time
that I see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss
and call you back for one more.

If I knew it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word,
so I could play them back day after day.

If I knew it would be the last time,
I could spare an extra minute or two
to stop and say "I love you,"
instead of assuming you would KNOW I do.

If I knew it would be the last time
I would be there to share your day,
well I'm sure you'll have so many more,
so I can let just this one slip away.

For surely there's always tomorrow
to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance
to make everything right.

There will always be another day
to say our "I love you's,"
And certainly there's another chance
to say our "Anything I can do's?"

But just in case I might be wrong,
and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you
and I hope we never forget,

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved one tight.

So if you're waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you'll surely regret the day,

That you didn't take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today,
whisper in their ear,
Tell them how much you love them
and that you'll always hold them dear,

Take time to say "I'm sorry," "please forgive me,"
"thank you" or "it's okay".
And if tomorrow never comes,
you'll have no regrets about today.

~Author Unknown~

Please continue to pray for all our St Jude buddies.
Thank you all so much!
Love,Ali

Sunday, June 5, 2005 9:32 PM CDT

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great day. Will did much better today. Everything that went down, stayed down. Yea!!! He didn't eat much but he did keep some fruit down and that is good news. Will is so excited about VBS this coming up week. He is a little nervous about being around everyone in case he gets sick or in case he isn't able to
participate in some of the physical activites so I am going to stay there. It will be good for him to have some social interaction!

Will has a doctor's appt tomorrow afternoon at 2:15. No chemo tomorrow. This is the week for his body to rest and recover from the last high dose. Next week we will start chemo again. He will go and get his counts checked. If everything is good he will get his scheduled chemo. This should start next Monday and happen every Monday for 7 weeks. Please pray that everything goes as scheduled so that we are not delayed.

We all had a great time at the family get-together at church tonight. Will and Emma Kay both really enjoyed the inflatables. It was fun.

Thanks again for all your love and support!
Love,
Ali

~Just an interesting fact. In the past 3 weeks, St Jude has at least 30 new cases of Leukemia. Most of them being local. Isn't that strange? Scary at the same time.~
This is posted at St Jude in Assessment Triage. This is where all patients go everytime they come to the hospital to get their labs done, weight, etc.

YOU SAY
GOD SAYS
BIBLE VERSES

You say: "It's impossible"
God says: All things are possible
(Luke 18:27)

You say: "I'm too tired"
God says: I will give you rest
(Matthew 11:28-30)

You say: "Nobody really loves me"
God says: I love you
(John 3:16 & John 3:34 )

You say: "I can't go on"
God says: My grace is sufficient
(II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)

You say: "I can't figure things out"
God says: I will direct your steps
(Proverbs 3:5-6)

You say: "I can't do it"
God says: You can do all things
(Philippians 4:13)

You say: "I'm not able"
God says: I am able
(II Corinthians 9:8)

You say: "It's not worth it"
God says: It will be worth it
(Roman 8:28 )

You say: "I can't forgive myself"
God says: I Forgive you
(I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)

You say: "I can't manage"
God says: I will supply all your needs
(Philippians 4:19)

You say: "I'm afraid"
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear
(II Timothy 1:7)

You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated"
God says: Cast all your cares on ME
(I Peter 5:7)

You say: "I'm not smart enough"
God says: I give you wisdom
(I Corinthians 1:30)

You say: "I feel all alone"
God says: I will never leave you or forsake you
(Hebrews 13:5)

Saturday, June 4, 2005 7:08 PM CDT

The Relay for Life was AWESOME! I have never been to anything so wonderful. It was really unbelievable all the people that came out to support all the survivors and remember the ones lost. I thought that Will did a great job helping Journey hold the flag and standing with Mimi while she read his message he had written. I will leave his message for a while so that you can all see what took a whole day for him to write. That perfectionist in him coming out again.

Thanks so much to all our family and friends that came out to support us and especially Will. The Copeland's even made it until we did. I know that is hard with little ones but we really appreciate all the support. We couldn't make it through something like this without a great support group!

The JA's tent looked wonderful! Congrats to them for Best Looking Tent and raising $1600 just themselves. Violet and Gretchen also looked lovely and would have won if they would have let them put their money in together. But we do appreciate their efforts and being such good sports about the whole thing!

Well, Will is still having trouble keeping anything down but you wouldn't know it by the way he is running around. The mood swings are still with us but have been a little better today. His line still has a bad rash around it. It seems to be coming from his dressing so I have trimmed it to allow for the rash to heal. Hopefully it won't take too long. It itches and just bothers him.

I have taken up enough space so I will update tomorrow with hopefully good news and maybe Will will be able to hold some food down. He has VBS coming up this week and a doctor's appt on Monday afternoon.

Thanks again for all your love and support!
The Moore's

Thursday, June 2, 2005 8:40 PM CDT

Hello~ I am going to try and update with Emma Kay calling my name every 2 seconds! Unfortunately, the mood swings are back for Will. I can not even attempt to explain what our afternoon has been like. Will is also sick to his stomach. His medicine is usually good about keeping him from actually throwing up but today he has gotten sick more than usual. Everything was good at the doctor's visit except his kidney functions are a little off. The chemo works wonders on the kidneys. We will keep a watch on that for now. We are having some issues with his line. It is sore where is has grown inside of him to the tissue. It shouldn't really be sore. We will watch it for redness or swelling. So, a few things to overcome.
Hopefully the mood swings will pass soon. It's hard on us all when you don't know what to expect.

Will and Emma are excited about the beauty review tomorrow night. They have named Veo - Violet. I think that's cute. We might just all start calling him that!

Well, hopefully we will see you all tomorrow night at the Relay for Life. Remember to bring your money with you to vote for Violet(aka Veo) and Gretchen(aka Greg).

Love,
Ali
~I got this from a caring bridge site I visit alot. It was exactly what I needed tonight so I thought I would share it with you all.

I asked God to take away my habit.
God said, No.
It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
God said, No.
His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary

I asked God to grant me patience.
God said, No.
Patience is a byproduct of tribulations;
it isn't granted, it is learned.

I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, No.
I give you blessings; Happiness is up to you.

I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No.
Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares
and brings you closer to me.

I asked God to make my spirit grow.
God said, No.
You must grow on your own! ,
but I will prune you to make you fruitful.

I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, No.
I will give you life, so that you may enjoy all things.

I asked God to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me.
God said...Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.

Thursday, June 2, 2005 6:11 AM CDT

Good morning! Well, we actually came to our own house last night. I talked the doctor into letting us come home instead of the Grizzlies House. Will has just done so good and I really wanted to sleep in my own bed! Thank goodness nothing happened and Will slept good. We have to be back up there by 8:45. He has a blood level that has to be taken at that time. If we are late they will be really mad! Will also has a medicine that I have to push through his line every 6 hours starting at 8:50. It takes about 6 syringes to get it all done. This is the medicine that I have to set my alarm for tonight(or this morning) at 2:50! Oh well, whatever it takes. He only takes it 5 times after a high dose.

Will is excited that we are done with high doses. Now we will move on to another part of his treatment. I will let everyone know exactly what that will be when I am told exactly what that will be.

We really hope to have a big turnout at the Relay for Life on Friday night. My mother was asked to read a cancer fact and share any personal cancer story. Will has written something that she will be reading. I think that he did a great job telling me what he wanted to write. He says he is going to stand with her while she reads it. If Veo can wear a dress, I think Will can stand with Mimi while she reads his story he wrote about his cancer. Hope to see you all there!

Thanks again for all your support! Also, Will has read your messages. We were up at 10:00 last night reading the new ones. Thanks more thank you'll ever know.

Love,
Ali

I got this poem from another caringbridge site and wanted to share:

As children bring their broken toys
With tears for us to mend
I brought my broken dreams to God
Because He is my friend.
But then, instead of leaving Him
In peace to work alone
I hung around and tried to help
with ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried,
"How can you be so slow?"
"My child," He said, "What could I do .....
you never let them go."

Lauretta P. Burns

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 12:58 AM CDT

Hello Everyone! I am so sorry that I did not get to update yesterday. Will's back was hurting him from the spinal tap so he just wanted to stay in the bed yesterday. He's feeling much better today so we are out and about. They had Silly Day today. They had silly sting wars, which Will thought was really cool. Then outside they had games and a dunk tank. One of his favorite nurses, Reagan, took him and his new buddy Foster outside so they could play the games. Foster is getting his first high dose where Will is getting his last.

While outside, Will got to meet Steven Seagal! I took their picture but I was so nervous, it will probably come out as a picture of the wall or something else. He was really nice to Will. He is SO tall. He told Will he was going to have to bend down because Will was too short. Will wanted to know if Veo knew who Steven Seagal was. I told him EVERYONE knows who Steven Seagal is! It was really cool. We will be sure to get the pictures developed as soon as we get home.

Will seems to be tolerating the chemo really well this time. Hopefully we will get to leave later on. The couch didn't sleep too well last night. Thank goodness this is our last high dose. We shouldn't have to stay in the hospital any more unless Will gets sick. Then I think we would be so busy getting him well, it wouldn't be as bad as feeling good and being in the hospital. I will have to say I was very homesick last night. Will is much better at this than I am.

Well, we will talk to everyone soon!
Love,
Ali and Will
*I almost forgot to tell everyone to come out and support the Relay for Life Friday night. There will be a womanless beauty review and guess who is going to be in it!? Veo and Greg will be representing JA! Can you believe that? The way they win is to get the most donations in their bucket. That is how you vote is to put money in a bucket they will have with them. The woMAN with themost money wins. They definitely need to win so please come out and vote for them!~

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 6:52 AM CDT

*** This coming up Friday is the RELAY FOR LIFE event in Senatobia. The Tate-Panola Junior Auxiliary has entered a team. As a team member, I have to collect donations/sponsors. ALL money raised at this event goes directly to the AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring me or making a donation, please let me know ASAP. Tomorrow night is "Bank Night" where each team turns in what they have collected so far. This amount will be displayed at the event for all to see! Our chapter is walking in honor of Master William and we want to really make a difference.

Thanks! Have a great holiday!

Love, Rebecca

Good Morning! I see that Rebecca has left everyone a message on yesterday's journal so I was nice and moved it on to todays. Will is really excited about coming to the Relay for Life. If you can, please help sponsor Rebecca.

We went last night and got Will's fluids. We have to be there today at 10:00. Hopefully we will be back home Thursday afternoon.

Will is also excited that Friday night is "Trophy" night at the ball field. We will take a break from the relay and go get Will's trophy.

Sorry but I have to go get everyone and everything together. Have a great day! I will update later and let you all know how it all goes today!

Love,
Ali

Monday, May 30, 2005 7:33 AM CDT

Proverbs 18:10
God is:
The shepherd who guides,
The Lord who provides,
The voice who brings peace in the storm,
The physician who heals the sick, and
The banner that guides the soldier.

Good Morning! Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone is sleeping in. My little ones are still sleeping. It won't last too much longer:)

Will is still feeling pretty good and is actually doing better with the mood swings. Keep your fingers crossed that it continues! I am trying to keep him pumped up that this is the last high dose! I try to have things for him to look forward too. Once again, I want to tell you how much he enjoys reading your messages. Thanks so much!

Ben took several steps yesterday so I think he has finally decided to walk. He knows that we will clap for him now, so he will take a few steps, sit down, laugh, and clap for himself. Will and Emma Kay are having a great time messing with him! I'm glad I was here for that.

We hope that everyone has a great day and wonderful "short" week! Rebecca has a side note that she wants to add.

Love,
Ali

*** This coming up Friday is the RELAY FOR LIFE event in Senatobia. The Tate-Panola Junior Auxiliary has entered a team. As a team member, I have to collect donations/sponsors. ALL money raised at this event goes directly to the AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring me or making a donation, please let me know ASAP. Tomorrow night is "Bank Night" where each team turns in what they have collected so far. This amount will be displayed at the event for all to see! Our chapter is walking in honor of Master William and we want to really make a difference.

Thanks! Have a great holiday!

Love, Rebecca

Blessings in Disguise
Emily Matthews

The world is full of miracles
to those who recognize them,
But we have to look the right way
since God sometimes will disguise them.
He shines His light in places
where we'd least expect Him to,
And often does the opposite of what
we think He'll do..
He has a way of bringing out
the best within the worst
The moment we stop worrying
and choose to put Him first,
And if we do,
He'll pull us through
and help us find the door
that opens to the very thing that we'd been looking for.

Sunday, May 29, 2005 9:30 AM CDT

Good Morning~ Sorry I haven't updated in a day or two. Friday night Will was sick during the night and then we had Emma Kay a tea party with a few of her friends for her 3rd b-day. I knew that I felt tired but after the party I had to get in the bed and I am just now able to get up. I ran some fever late yesterday and my stomach was hurting. I must have had a virus. I'm still not feeling 100percent. I feel just wiped out. I imagine alot has just caught up with me lately. I wouldn't have been able to rest yesterday without my family stepping in with the children. I am so lucky to have them. All 3 of the children have gone to church so I thought I would update and then rest some more before the tornadoes get back. Veo is at the firehouse today so hopefully he will get some rest.

Will is feeling much better. We go tomorrow night for his fluids and then will be in St Jude Tues-Thurs. Relay for Life is Friday night so hopefully everything will go good and we can go to that.

Emma Kay had a great birthday party. Today she is officially 3 years old and I can't believe it. Time flies too fast. Now Will is counting down the days till his birthday in June. We are trying to come up with something to do for his b-day. With it being June 23, we have always swam or had a big water slide. That is out of the question with his central line so we are struggling for something to do.

We hope everyone has a good weekend. Get lots of rest and spend some family time together. Please say an extra prayer for Will that all goes well this week. This is his last high dose so hopefully no more hospital stays.

Thank you all so much for your encouraging emails. Sometimes I can't reply to all, but please know I read them all and they really help!

Love,
Ali


Side note from Rebecca......The Tate-Panola Junior Auxiliary is participating in the RELAY FOR LIFE EVENT this coming up weekend. As a team member, I have to get sponsors. If anyone is interested in making a donation to the AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY, please let me know. All money raised at this evet goes directly to them.

It is interesting that I signed our chapter up BEFORE we knew anything about Will's illness. Of course now, I am determined to make this turn out to be a success. We will be walking that night in honor of Will!

Again, if anyone would like to sponsor , please get with me ASAP.

love, Rebecca





Someone you care about
Has a broken heart
You want to be a friend
But you don’t know where to start
There are no words to speak that could ever be enough
But how can you show them your love

Help somebody cry
Be there for the tears
God will use your life
To show that he is near
There’s no easy way
To make it feel alright
When you don’t have the answers to why
Help somebody cry

Time may heal the wound
But that doesn’t matter now
So lend a friend your faith
To walk them through the doubt

Sometimes there’s nothing you can do
But hold somebody’s hand and pray them through.

Friday, May 27, 2005 6:26 AM CDT

Good morning to everyone. Thank you so much for all the prayers you have sent up for Will this week. His mouth felt much better as the day went on yesterday. I will never be able to tell you thank you enough for being our prayer warriors! Will is struggling right now. I can't really pinpoint what it is. His mood swings are unbelievable. After spending all day yesterday dealing with it, I was ready to scream last night. Hopefully today will be a better day. I had discussed this with his doctor and he thinks reality is settling in on Will. That this is Will's way of dealing with the situation. It has gotten worse since we saw the doctor and if it continues, I will talk with them again on Tuesday when we go for his LAST high dose! Yea!!!!!!!!

We will go on Monday night to get Will's fluids. Then we will go on Tuesday morning for his spinal tap (high dose in the spinal and brain fluid), and then up to floor 2 for his 24 hour chemo. If all goes well, which we just know it will, we will be home on Thursday.

Relay for Life is Friday. We are planning on being there. Will is excited.

Thank you to Angie Stewart, Kim Steinman, and Kim Haas for the delicious dinner you brought last night. The JA group is wonderful to us! Thank you!

Hopefully Veo will get some more of the pictures on today. I have some of Amy Grant. The ones of Bill Murray and some of the other celbs are still in my camera so watch for them soon.
~*NEW PICTURES ON VIEW PHOTOS~*
Thank you so much for all your continued support. I have put something I got in an email at the bottom. I know it is long so I put it at the end in case you are as pressed for time as I am. I just really liked it.

Love,
Ali


"I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow."
"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights."
"I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.
"I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as "making a life."
"I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
"I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back."
"I've learned that when ever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision."
"I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one."
"I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back."
"I've learned that I still have a lot to learn."
"I¹ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel

Thursday, May 26, 2005 7:30 AM CDT

Good Morning! Well, once again my sleepy heads are sleeping late and of course I am up. I'm having trouble sleeping lately. For those of you who know me, I usually require ALOT of sleep.

Will had a great time yesterday at the St Jude golf tournament. Thanks to Neal and Richie for going with us and helping make the day even more special. We got to see lots of golfers and celebs. Will couldn't get all their autographs but he got lots. He had a BLAST! Emma Kay had a great time too. Look at all the new photos. One is of Emma Kay and her new friend Cassidi.

Special thanks to Mike and Becky Rivalto for inviting us into their home. What a home it was! I think you could have fit about 25 of our house into their's. It was unbelievable. They served a wonderful lunch and the children even got to get their faces painted. Will maganged to get two of the gofers golves and two balls from them also. We got to sit up in a tent and when they came off the green, they would come by and sign anything the St Jude kids had and talk to them. Truely amazing. I don't know if they will ever know how much that means to children.

We have lots of pictures, so we will be changing them out. Some of the pictures we put on today are of the Fire Dept. golf tournament and the St Jude one also.

Will's mouth is still hurting pretty bad. He had the chance yesterday to meet some older St Jude guys who talked with him about the mouth sores. I think it helped to talk to the cool older guys and know they had had them and they hurt them too!

I have no words of wisdom today. Just a big THANK YOU to everyone!

Love,
Ali

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 6:27 AM CDT

Good Morning!

I have to start with a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who helped and participated yesterday. So many things were donated for door prizes and silent auction items; so many people came to play; and SO many people worked VERY hard to make it a great day. Will enjoyed being with all the guys and watching them play. It's is so humbling to have that many people care. We are so lucky! I also want to thank everyone for the opportunities you have given Veo and me to spend with Will. My mother said to me when my grandmother passed away, "I have no regrets." Meaning she had spent wonderful moments with Bud and taken care of her. I will be able to say that one day. None of us know what tomorrow will bring for any of us, but I will not let ANY opportunities pass me by so that one day I can say the same.

Veo and I are up getting ready to take Emma and Will to the St Jude Fed Ex Golf Tournament. I am kind of tired of golf so I think after today we need to focus on another sport!

Will is feeling OK. He is having such a hard time eating. It hurts his mouth so bad to eat. He wants to eat but can barely eat anything. The doctors assure me the mouth sores will go away but they aren't going away fast enough for me. I feel sorry for Will because he feels so good and wants to run and play but then gets SO hungry. Hopefully they will heal up before his next high dose of chemo next week. Please pray for speedy healing.

Thanks for everything!
Love,
Veo, Ali, and Will

James 4:10
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up"

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 6:45 AM CDT

Good Morning! I am up getting everybody's stuff ready for the day. They are all being sleepy heads so I had some time to update. Will is feeling pretty good. We went to Alison and Kendal's ballgames last night and he really enjoyed playing with Tucker. When we were walking to the car he looked at me and said he was glad that Tucker was there to play with him. I am glad he was too.

Please pray for everybody as we travel to Tunica today. I hope everyone will express to all that are doing this for us how wonderful I know it will turn out to be. We are so grateful!

I received the below in an email and I just had to share it with you all. It touched me so deeply. Someone asked me just yesterday how I could be so strong through this. I never really think of myself as strong. I do have a strong support group; my family, friends, church, and community. Thanks to everyone!!!!!

The Choosen Mother

Most women become mother by accident, some by choice and a few by surprise; did you ever wonder how mothers of children with life threatening illnesses are chosen? Somehow I visualize God hovering over the earth selecting His instruments with propagation and with great care and deliberation as He observes, He instructs the angels to make notes in a giant ledger...
"Armstrong, Beth, son patron saint Matthew""Forrest Marjorie, daughter patron saint Cecilia""Ruthledge, Carrie, twins patron saint Gerard".
Finally, He passes a name to an angel and says , "Give her a child with caner." The angel is curious, "Why this one GOd?" She is so happy. "Exactly" smiles God, "Could I give a child with cancer to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel." But, does she have patience, asked the angel. "I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in the sea of sorrow and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off she will handle it." "I watched her today" said God, "she has that feeling of self independence that is so rare and necessary in a mother. You see, the child I am going to give her already has its own world. She has to make it live in her world and that is not going to be easy." But Lord, I don't think she believes in you, said the angel. "No matter, I can see that. This one is perfect, she has enough selfishness." God says. The angel gasps. "Selfishness that is a virtue?" God nods, "If she can't seperate herself from the child occasionally she won't survive. Yes, here are the women I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she will be envied. She will never take anything her child does for granted. She will never consider a single step ordinary. I will permit her to see clearly the things I see...ignorance, cruelty, predjudice...and allow her to rise above them." "And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen in hand. God smiles and says...a mirror will suffice.

Love,
Ali

Monday, May 23, 2005 3:02 PM CDT

Good afternoon! Well, I know you all want to know who Will got to meet this morning. He say 2 celebrities - Amy Grant and Renay Pugh(aka Ms. Pugh to Will, Blake's mom to many) Amy Grant was filming for the show that will air in August nationwide to raise money for St Jude and guess who got to sit right beside her?! of course, Will! He really enjoyed it and she was SO nice. Alison and Emma Kay went too. Alison is also in the film. Emma Kay didn't last long. She was VERY good, she just wanted to be in my lap and watch. Amy Grant sung to the children and talked about St Jude asking people to call in to pledge money. It was really cool.

We were standing in the hallway waiting on filming to begin and Renay Pugh and Emily Williams walk by in one of the tours. I think that is just GREAT that they took time to go up there. We got to talk to them but didn't want to steal the show from their tour guide. Thanks for caring about all the children and coming to visit. I know it was probably emotional. It will put things in perspective.

I will let you all know when I find out exactly when the show will air. Hopefully we will all get to see Will and Alison. They might have gotten some of Emma Kay, I'm not sure. Isn't it wonderful that Amy Grant took time to come to the hospital to do that? She is a big supporter of St Jude. She talked to the children and even asked Will if he had any loose teeth.

Will's appointment also went well. His counts are down some but not too bad. His mouth is very sore but he handles it well. Beck had to tear up his chicken nuggets so he could eat and I don't think he even said thanks! So I will thank her for him - Thanks!!

Love,
Ali

Monday, May 23, 2005 6:38 AM CDT

Monday morning's here~ We are up at getting ready for the hospital, at least I am. Will has a doctor's appointment today. We "heard" there might be someone famous visiting Will's clinic today, so Will is excited. I will update later and let you know how it went. Hopefully Will will get a good report and we will come back home for the rest of the week. He feels OK. The mouth sores are starting to move down his throat. He can eat jello and things like that. He doesn't really complain, at least not like I would. He's a trooper!

Will and his daddy played golf with his Pops and Greg yesterday. He enjoyed that. Emma Kay and I helped Rebecca and Mandy get things together for the golf tournament tomorrow. I wasn't supposed to help but I couldn't leave them with all of that to do. Thanks Mandy and Rebecca - I hear you stayed up late! Also, special thanks to Cliff and Nicole O'Connor. They are going over with Neal and Mandy tonight to get set up for the tourney. I know Nicole had to take off work and find somenone to keep the baby. It would have been so easy for her to say she couldn't help but she took that extra step and offered. She will never know how much we appreciate it! I hope they can get some rest before Tuesday.

We will talk to everyone soon! Thanks for everything:)

Love,
Veo and Ali

*I thought you all might like this as much as I did. Enjoy!*

The Holy Alphabet:

Although things are not perfect
Because of trial or pain
Continue in thanksgiving
Do not begin to blame
Even when the times are hard
Fierce winds are bound to blow
God is forever able
Hold on to what you know
Imagine life without His love
J oy would cease to be
Keep thanking Him for all the things
Love imparts to thee
Move out of "Camp Complaining"
No weapon that is known
On earth can yield the power
Praise can do alone
Quit looking at the future
Redeem the time at hand
Start every day with worship
To "thank" is a command
Until we see Him coming
Victorious in the sky
We'll run the race with gratitude
X alting God most high
Y es, there'll be good times and yes some will be bad, but...
Z ion waits in glory...where none are ever sad!

Sunday, May 22, 2005 8:10 AM CDT

Good morning!

We are trying to get ready for church. Don't you feel that you NEED to go to church after all the comotion that happens in you house before church. Maybe your houses aren't like mine.

Will felt better yesterday. His stomach was a little upset, but that is a side effect of the chemo. He played in the yard and helped Veo when he got home from work. They cut down another one of my many trees. It was the last one that needed to come down. The yard is slowly coming along.

Emma Kay's b-day is coming up. I can't believe she will be 3! Then Will will be 7! They are growing up to fast!

Will says to tell everyone that he is SO excited about next week! He likes it when he has something to look forward to! He also said to tell you all that you are slacking on your messages. The number of visits keeps going up but there aren't that many messages. I told him that most of you see him so you don't leave messages. I took up for all of you this time!

Well, everyone is yelling for "Mommy", of course! We will update soon!

Love and thanks!
Veo, Ali, and Will

Saturday, May 21, 2005 9:11 AM CDT

Good morning everyone!

Well, Will is still sleeping. He had to leave his ballgame last night. He started not feeling well. I think it was the heat. He just has so much medicine in him right now and his body is just not well. I was very proud of him in the way that he handled it. He is trying to deal with not being like the other children. They all talk of swimming and vacations and all he has to look forward to are hospital visits. I can tell by some of his actions it is taking a toll on him.

We did get a surprise yesterday. St Jude called and wants us to come to the Fed Ex St Jude Golf Tournament on Wed. for ProAm day. He picked some of the firemen and his Pops to go with him. He asked Richie and Neal because they have done so much for him. Emma Kay and I will just go along for the fun of it. All of the golfers will come by and sign autographs and they will serve us lunch. Sounds like fun. The fire dept golf tourn. is Tuesday and Will is also going to be there to thank everyone for playing. I hear it is going to be great and so many people have given to help make it great.

Through this I have come to the realization that I don't do enough for other people. People have been so good to us. They have bought t-shirts, wristbands, donated their time and money, cooked for us and most of all prayed for us. I will never be able to thank everyone enough.

I know I ask this alot but please continue to pray for Will as he struggles with this disease. I know it is hard for him to understand.

We hope that everyone has a great weekend! Spend some family time together! Don't work your life away.

Love,
Veo and Ali

~Will wants to update by himself today so be prepared - it won't be me!:)~

Friday, May 20, 2005 10:43 AM CDT

Good morning! Will is feeling pretty good this morning. He has a sore that has come up on his tounge but he had mouth sores with the last treatment so we expected this. He and Emma Kay are playing right now and they aren't fighting! YEA!

Please check out Will's new pictures on View Photos. They are from when the Ole Miss Football players came to see him. They are really cool.

There is an article on www.riverkings.com about Will if you want to check it out. It is toward the bottom of their webpage and just click and the whole article will come up.

I came across this devotional and thought I would share it with you all.

Contentment

Phillipians Chapter 4 Verse 12 Paul writes:
"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty; I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."

~You have children- love them, play with them, let them sleep with you, let them make a mess once in a while, most importantly: spend time with them.

~You have a house/a car- don't worry it is not as big as your neighbors. Make it a home - it is not how big it is BUT what you do and teach inside of it that counts.

~You have God- share him with as many people as possible. His is the ONE love that can NEVER be taken away.

This really hit home with me. I will be the first to admit that I have struggled with wanting material possesions. BUT I have learned through our current situation that all that is above is true. Maybe this will help one of you out there!

Will really like the part of the above that said let them make a mess. Our house is always a mess from our children. Ask Rebecca - it drives her crazy. Her children don't make messes! Just Greg!

Will says "Hey" to everyone. He is excited that he has a ballgame tonight at 5:45. Hopefully he will continue to feel good so that he can play.

We'll talk to you all soon!
Love,
Ali and Will

*Thank you to Cindy Jones for the dinner last night. It was wonderful!*

Thursday, May 19, 2005 3:48 PM CDT

~**CHECK OUT NEW PHOTOS ON
VIEW PHOTOS!~***
Good afternoon! Well, Ben's shots went OK this morning. He is so sweet, he didn't even cry! He couldn't get the chicken pox shot or another one because they are live vaccines and we will have to clear it with our St Jude doctor on Monday. Ben's head also measures a little bigger than normal and he isn't walking so we will have to go for a head ultrasound. Emma Kay had to do the same thing and everything was fine. Dr Narayanan just wants to check it out jto be safe. Before all of this with Will, I would have been irritated to have to go since I just "know" nothing is wrong but now I feel it is better to safe than sorry. I will let everyone know when we schedule it.

Will has felt a little sick to his stomach today but it hasn't slowed him down. He is on his way to DSU for a baseball game right now. This is the farthest away he has gone since he got sick and I am NERVOUS!

Well, we will see you all soon!
Love,
Ali

Thursday, May 19, 2005 7:51 AM CDT

Good morning! We are home and excited to see that we now have light fixtures in Will's new addition! Yea! It's coming along~ slowly but surely! Will was SO tired last night. He is still sleeping. We have to have been at the Dr.s office at 9:30 for Ben's shots. It's time for the chicken pox shot. Chicken pox can be deadly for Will to be exposed to so we have to take lots of precautions.

The golf tournament is fast approaching. I know it will all go smoothly even though they all seem to be stressing right now! Just calm down~ I've learned to do that and it helps.

Thanks to Lucille Brewer for bring dinner last night. You will never know how much that helps! We had gotten in around 3:00 and between trying to play with Emma and Ben(who I hadn't seen in 3 days, unpacking suitcases, and giving Will his LONG list of med's at CRAZY times - I just hadn't been able to cook dinner. Can't imagine why?! I used to be able to do everything and I just can't seem to get it all done now. I am washing my 3rd load of clothes right now. Where do all the dirty clothes come from? Someone needs to come up with cheap disposable clothing!:)

Well, I guess I need to round up my "crew" and get on the ball to get to Olive Branch by 9:30. Emma Kay is even still asleep!

Talk to you all soon! Thanks again for all you do!
Love,
Ali

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 7:44 PM CDT

Hey! We are in the Grizzlies house, room 3009. WE went and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe before it got dark. It is usually dark and Will never gets to go anywhere so we were able to do that this evening. Will and Alison really enjoyed it. Alot better than St Jude food! Alison is taking great care of Will. She carries his back of fluids and makes sure he is OK. She is quite the "little mama".

We have to be back at the hospital at 8:30 for level checks and as long as everything is OK we will get to come home after we see the doctor, consult with the pharmacists,......... everyone has to see us. There is a carnival tomorrow hosted by Target at 10:00 so hopefully we will be able to do some of it. The HULK is even going to be here. As you can see, they don't give the children (or the parents) any time to linger on why they are here. They like to keep them busy. If you have never been here, I would really recommend coming for a tour. I promise, your life will never be the same!

Isn't it strange that we don't really think of it as anything unusual now that we are here. We just are. I was thinking today, "I cannot believe I am sitting in St Jude and that my child has cancer." I wonder if it will ever sink in.

I got the chance to meet Emma Grace's mom today. Emma Grace has been in ICU for 7 weeks now and continues to struggle. Her parents have a wonderful attitude and are so positive. Her page is ar/emmagrace.

Well, we will talk to everyone tomorrow. Pray for good results tomorrow so we can come home. I'm sure Veo is ready for us to get home! He is so wonderful!!!!(I should get diamonds for telling you all that:)!)

Love,
Ali, Will, and Alison

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 10:33 AM CDT

Good morning! Alison has made it here and her and Will are, of course, playing on the computers. Will is excited to have her here. He had a good night. His kidneys weren't clearing the chemo like they should last night so they had to change the fluids he was on. All is well now, thanks goodness. He slept really well last night. I think he is getting used to them coming in and getting blood and his blood pressure. He never woke up last night when they took his temperature. He must have been really tired.

Well, is all goes as planned, we will go to the Grizzlies House this afternoon and then come back to the hospital tomorrow. Then we will be coming home! Yea~~~~~

We will update later to let you all know what is going on!
Love,
Ali, Will, and Alison

Monday, May 16, 2005 3:14 PM CDT

Hello everyone! Well, we are all settled in our room. We are in room 2020. Will has been doing OK. They gave him some medicine when they put him to sleep for his runny nose and it made his mouth horribly dry. He could barely talk. They think the medicine might have been a little strong. You think?! He is playing on the computer right now but is in one of those moods where nothing suits him. I think he needs to take a nap, but what do I know?

Will is very excited about Alison coming up tomorrow. We have found out that they are having Irish singers come visit tomorrow with a little "party" on our floor. Will also got to see "Winnie" off of The Wonder Years today. She looked exactly the same as she did on the show just a little taller. She was promoting Math-A-Thon.

Well, we will update soon. Nothing exciting is happening so there isn't much to say. Thanks for the messages, Will really enjoys reading them!

Love,
Ali

Sunday, May 15, 2005 9:28 PM CDT

Good evening~ We hope you all had a good weekend. Ours has been very busy. Veo has been trying to work on Will's room. Of course the weather did not cooperate with him on Saturday. We did finally get some bushes planted out front. Mandy and Carly had given me a gift certificate to the Baddour Center and I went and got some bushes. It is looking better daily!

We went tonight and get Will's fluids. We ALL went so Veo and I are exhausted and our nerves are SHOT! We have to be at the hospital at 8:45 tomorrow morning. Will should be going to sleep around 10:00am for his spinal tap. Please pray for him. This is the first time he has said that he did not want to go to the hospital. He is getting used to being here with us as a family and he just doesn't want to go. I don't either. I wondered today if all the parents feel this way when it gets time to go back.

If all goes as plans, Pat is bringing Alison up on Tuesday morning and she will spend the night with us at the Grizzlies House Tuesday night and we will come home on Wednesday afternoon. Will and I are both looking forward to her coming up. It gets really lonely up there. Tuesdays are usually busy at the hospital. They have the dogs come in for pet therapy and they usually have Kareoke for the patients and their families. Will is looking forward to showing Alison what he does while he is in the hospital and especially the Grizzlies House. Pray that all goes as planned!

Well, Will has fully recovered from his last high dose right in time for his next one. We will never be able to thank you all enough for the prayers you send up for our family. Last week was tough on our entire family with the lose of Bud. When I think that I can take no more, God shows me that I can , but only through him. Please pray for me and Veo as this room addition and normal family stresses continue along with Will's sickness. Sometimes I feel we are running low on strength! You have all been such wonderful prayer warriors for us, we truly do not know what we would do without you!

I also want to mention my cousin Jim's baby. Liam Connor Taylor was born on Thursday morning (the day of Bud's funeral) and he weighed 2 1/2 pounds and was 13 inches long. He was airlifted to the MED where is on a ventilator. The last update I got was that it is really an hour by hour situation. Jim is Ronnie and Janice's son, so this is their grandson. Please add them to your prayer list.

Well, I have asked enough of you now! Thanks again and I will try to update as soon as I can while at the Jude! Let Veo know to update the pictures. We have lots of new ones: Ole Miss football players, Redbirds game, Will and baby Grisham Warren.............

Love,
Ali

PS THANKS to the JA group! You are awesome and Will is excited over his goodie basket for the hospital tomorrow. Beth Little just brought it over! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, May 13, 2005 3:46 PM CDT

Good afternoon! We finally have the internet again! I have felt so out of touch without it. Thanks to Rebecca for updating so often and letting us know Will's new messages! It's great to have an OLDER sister to help out!

I want to say Thank You to everyone who has called, visited, sent food and flowers and prayed for our family since we lost Bud. I had a horrible shock on Tuesday morning after finding her but she is at peace now. It will be hard not having her tell me what to do now! She was so good at it. My life will be so different now without her. She seems to have always been such a big part of it. I had lived in the house with her for ten years and then not many days went by that I didn't see her. When Will got sick, it just about got her then. I think she was at peace that Will is going to get better and she was just able to rest. She always worried so much about us all.

Will is doing OK today. He didn't make it to Awards Day this morning. He was just too worn out. His mouth sores are better, thank goodness! I felt so sorry for him. We will go on Sunday to get his fluids and then back on Monday morning to stay until Wed. (as long as all goes good) Please continue to pray for us all!

Have a great weekend! Thanks so much!
Love,
Ali

Thursday, May 12, 2005 7:07 AM CDT

Good morning~

Just wanted you guys to know that we were checking the page and I "report" to Will his new messages. Hopefully, their internet problem with be worked out soon and he will be back to checking it himself.

We had vis. last night at CO Pate for Bud. The funeral is today at 2:00PM at First Baptist Church here in Senatobia.

Will seems to be doing pretty good. He still has the mouth sores and a few sores have spread to other places on his body. This is all from the chemo. The mouth sores make it difficult to eat. He is doing alot of drinking right now!

They go back to the hospital Sunday afternoon to pick up his fluids. Before each stay in the hospital , they give him a "backpck" full of fluids that run through his central line to get him good and "hydrated" before the chemo. He will go back to St. Jude on Monday and start the chemo. Hopefully, things will go smooth like last time and he will be home by Wednesday. He is dying for Sissy (Alison) to come up there with him this go around. We are trying to get it all worked out where she could go up Tuesday and spend the day and night with him. I really think he and Ali want the company!

Will's room is coming along. It is unbelievable how generous everyone is being. If you see anyone that you know has been helping out, please give them a pat on the back. No one made them give of their time, sweat, or resources. They did it because they wanted to! A special THANK YOU to Zander Billingsley and Joey Ward for the sheetrock work that is going on and Bricky Cole for helping at this stage with the siding. THANKS THANKS THANKS

The golf tournament is coming up quick. I think that Friday is the absolute last day to register or become a hole sponsor. Last I heard they had around 26 teams to enter. It will be May 24th at Tunica National's. I hope the weather is just as pretty as it is today.

The t-shirts and visors for the golf tourny are still for sale. You can get them at Firehouse 1 or by calling Neal or Mandy Copeland. These 2 people have worked EXTREMELY hard on all this and definetly need a pat on the back! YOU GUYS ARE GREAT!

I will continue to update. When Ali and Will do go to St. Jude he always gets on the computers there to check his messages, so keep them coming.

Thanks for the prayers! We love you!
Rebecca

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 12:40 AM CDT

Today finds us with very sad news. Our grandmother
(Marcelle Taylor, a.k.a Bud) passed away this morning in her sleep. Although we know that she is free from pain and resting well, we are very sad for our loss. She was an incredible, strong lady who has ALWAYS been there for Ali and I and all of our families.

Please remember our family in your thoughts and prayers. Arrangements are not known at this time. I will update later.

Love~
Rebecca



Update at 5:00PM, Tuesday.....Visit. will be Wed. from 6-8PM; Funeral will be Thursday at 2:00PM in the Sanctuary at First Baptist Church Senatobia.


(Bud is Will's great-grandmother....she lived with my mom right across the street from Will)

Monday, May 9, 2005 11:46 AM CDT

Here's the latest update.....

Will and Ali had to be at St. Jude at 9:15AM this morning. Will's levels are still good and he should be home this week if all continues well.

On Wednesday they will go back to St. Jude for a dentist appointment. Will does have mouth sores that are causing him some discomfort . They sent him home with mouthwash to help ease the pain.

Will had a very busy weekend. Between his end of the year party ( which I heard was AWESOME), ball, MayFair, and church he was pretty worn out. It is hard for Will to realize that he needs to rest more now than usual.

One special thing that happened this weekend was a SURPRISE visit from about 15 of the Ole Miss football players! Mike Garrett ( a Senatobia Fireman) and his son ( an Ole Miss Rebel) arranged the meeting. Will and many of us were at Firehouse 1 when they all arrived. They brought him a signed football and an Ole Miss jersery with his name on the back. After meeting everyone and enjoying some Coleman's barbque, they escorted Will to his baseball game. They sat right behind his dugout for the game and cheered him on! IT WAS GREAT! Many thanks to those who organized the whole event! Will sure felt special! Look for pictures in the Democrat soon.

Will's room is coming right along. MANY, MANY people are giving of their resources, time, and energy to make it all happen. I know that these individuals will be blessed becasue of their efforts! THANKS! THANKS! THANKS!

If Ali has more news when they get home, I will update again. They are having some internet problems, so I will try to keep everyone up to date.

Keep in touch~ Will loves to hear from everyone!

Love,
Rebecca ( Will's Aunt)

This is a special note to Mrs. Kaye at MHS...........aren't you glad that I am well and can update for my lovely, concerned sister! What would she do without me? hahahah

Friday, May 6, 2005 6:28 AM CDT

Good morning! We are getting up to get ready for Will's end of the year party. It is at Sardis and is a Treasure Hunt. Sounds like fun.

Will is doing good. He did not get sick all day yesterday! Hopefully he won't get sick anymore. He's hoping to play baseball tonight. I hope he isn't too tired from his party. He doesn't understand why he has to rest so much.

We did get to go to Alison and Kendal's ballgame last night. I was a bad mother and took everyone to a late softball game. They had fun though! I needed some social interaction. Ben was good. He fell asleep with his "adoptive grandma" Miss Linda. We are thinking of a name for them to call her. Any suggestions?

Will is also very excited about Mayfair on Saturday. I know everyone will have a good time. Well, I better go make sure Will gets dressed up like a pirate! They have to dress like that for their party. He really looks the part since he already has no hair. His bandana fits better than anyone else's will!

Thanks for all the prayers and support!
Love,
Ali

Thanks to Susan Bouchillon and Jennifer Long for bringing us BBQ last night! It had been a very hectic day so they couldn't have picked a better night to bring it! They are so sweet! Thanks again!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, May 4, 2005 8:55 PM CDT

Hello! Sorry I didn't get to update this morning. We got home around 10:45 this morning. We surprised Emma Kay by picking her up at school. She was very excited. Then Will, Carly, Drew, Emma Kay, and Ben all played at the Copelands house while Veo and Neal hung the rest of our insulation. Then we all came over here to our house and ate pizza. Will got sick after eating but was fine after he got it all up. Yuck! He is so good about it though. He is just getting sick to his stomach like the last time. It hits him and then it is over. We won't have to go back to St Jude until Monday as long as we stay well.

Kendal is now sick with the stomach virus. Rebecca is feeling better but is not all the way well. Hopefully nobody else will come down with it.

Will thinks his new room is really cool. It actually looks like a room now! We got our new air unit but I'm not sure if they are all the way finished hooking everything up. I can't keep track of it all.

Well, we don't have anything big on the agenda for tomorrow. Thank goodness. Veo works the fire house tomorrow.

We will talk to you all soon. Veo is going to get new pictures on the page soon!

Love,
Ali

Tuesday, May 3, 2005 8:06 PM CDT

Well, we are at the Grizzlies House. We will go back to the hospital at 8:00 tomorrow morning and do some tests. As long as everything checks out ok, then we will get to come home. I am sure that Veo is ready for us to come home.

Rebecca does have the stomach virus. Please pray that my two babies don't get it. They were both around her last night. Will just cannot get that. We would have to come back. I know that it is going around pretty heavy right now but maybe we will miss it.

Will is very excited about his end of the year party on Friday and Mayfair on Saturday. It doesn't seem to excite him that Mother's Day is on Sunday.

Well, we will see you all soon! Please keep us in your prayers, along with all the families and children that are battling this horrible disease.

Love,
Ali