Wonderful Weekend

Hey there Caden fans. It is Wednesday night on a great fall day and I am writing to tell you about the wonderful weekend we had and give you a quick Caden update. If you live in the Chicago land area you know that we were blessed with fantastic weather over the last week.

Saturday Melissa, Caden and I headed up to Milwaukee to participate in Al’s Run/Walk for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin I use the term “participated” very loosely as we did not actually do the walk/run portion. We registered, received our bib numbers, and got to the starting line yet just did not cross it. As you know Melissa is currently cooking BS2 and she has been uncomfortable lately so we took a pass on the walk portion as just used the day to run into friends and socialize. We were on the fence about going at all but we were both glad we did. The weather was perfect and we got to bring Caden this year to meet/catch up with everyone. Some of this year felt just like the last.

Last year I remember showing up to the race and being overcome with the wonderful feeling of actually doing something that makes a difference and to give back to the place that gave Melissa and I so much. Having the opportunity to walk in solidarity with the thousands of people all out to support CHW was amazing. This year was not much different but it also brought on new emotions. You see when you stand at the start line you see all these people that have aligned into teams that raise money and walk in the name of children, family and friends that have been treated at CHW it can be overwhelming. There are signs all over indicating where their teams muster points are. There are lots of hugs, smiles, tears, and laughing. Some of the teams have these wonderfully personalized shirts made to honor those that have been treated. Team Carsyn (Wings of Angles), Team Braden (Heart of Gold Charities, and Team Neveah (Playroom of Hope) are some of the signs that we are familiar with as their children shared the same HLHS CHD Caden has. Each of these teams had as many as 40+ people walking with them. Awesome, just awesome. Teams walk for the work that CHW does,and will do, as well as the attention they give not only children but the families that sit there and look over them. Some teams walk in support of children that have been successfully treated and other teams walk in the memory of a child (like each of the named teams above) God has chosen to take each of these afore mentioned children home early. Neveah and Braden made it home and God took them as toddlers where Carsyns parents had to leave CHW without ever being able to take their beautiful daughter home. These families have lost more than most can imagine yet they rally their crew around to support CHW. I believe they understand that CHW gave their children the best chance at life. And even though their story is tragic they raise money and walk to ensure sick children to come have that same, if not a better, chance. I admire each and every one of these families and pray that they can find a bit of peace in each of their days going forward. These are the types of great people that walk for CHW. They walk along side other families that may have similar stories, triumphant stories or no personal experience with CHW at all. Being surrounded by all these great people made for an emotional day. A day of sorrow and one that is filled with hope and the understanding that we all were there to make a difference and potentially make the lives of others better through our support of CHW.

Getting in the car I had kind of a weak moment. I remember asking Melissa on the ride over to the summerfest grounds: Why us? Are we lucky? Are we more blessed? Why did He take the other children? We had a good cry and just decided it was Gods plan. There is no other explanation. As I type this Caden is pulling diapers from his basket and placing them on the keyboard of my laptop. I stopped and I hugged him tight struggling to understand God’s plan for the other children and praying for a different plan for Caden. I know that we are blessed to have Caden every single day and that we can not take the next for granted. We live trying to balance hope and fear and a good day is when hope out ways the fear. When Caden has a cold or his sats are low fear may win the day. When we dance with him and watch him explore hope is the winner. I am happy to report that hope wins most days.

Just to wrap up Saturday, Melissa, Caden and I went out to lunch with our friends Julie and Poul and headed home. As always a wonderful time. We were all exhausted by the time we got home.

Sunday was another beautiful day. Caden and I worked outside in the back of the house washing down the siding, sweeping the patio, disconnecting the hose and such. Caden was not much help but he did have fun walking up the small incline in the grass and then running down it. It was funny because one out of every 5 times or so he fell down from his momentum and he and I both thought it was funny. After his nap we got up and headed to the local farm for a fall festival. We had a good time watching Caden climb around and explore and I got to have what is likely my last ear of roasted corn (yum). After leaving the farm we ran into my friend Kevin driving home. Kevin was going to pick up his family to check out the new recreation area that just opened up in Crystal Lake. We decided to join him as we did not want the nice day nor the weekend to end. It was great to see Kevin, Kim and their kids Kaylie and Kaiden. You can see a pic of their family with Caden above. A great end to a great day

This weekend was so good because of the weather but mostly because Caden Marshall was healthy all weekend. The previous weekends he had fighting pink eye, ear infections or some of the other joyful things he picks up at daycare. Caden is anxiously awaiting BS2 and is beginning to realize that Melissa is not hiding something under her shirt. We are looking forward to Halloween and are deciding on what to dress Caden as. I have some ideas but all my ideas make Melissa’s eyes roll. What did she get herself into.

That’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures above. I know my favorite pirate Allee will ;)

Xoxo

David