Pictures of Brady Bash

Here you go folks:

Mommy steals a kiss from the guest of honor


Party tent


Candy Buffet



Photo Display and Picture of Brady that the guests signed



The HUGE pile of donated items for the Ronald McDonald House!



Bounce House!


Collin jumping and sweating!


Cara Beara jumping around!


Mugsy! The amazing clown and artist! Check out her work:)





Thank you!


Grandma Sandy, Eli, and Brady. This is the only shot of Eli that we got! He never stops!


Cara Kathleen


She got a little hot!


Then she climbed in the bounce house!


Allie Elizabeth was there too!



All of this to celebrate one very special little boy!

More Great Pictures to Share

I raided my mom and my mother in law's camera cards today and saved a bunch of pictures that I just have to share! Before I do I should tell you that I spoke with two secretaries at Sloan today. Both are forwarding our request to do scans in August on to the Neuroblastoma team who needs to "ok" it in order to start the scheduling process. Before anyone gets upset at August versus July, remember that these things take time. Remember how long it took to get us there in the first place? Brady needs anesthesia for his MRI so there is a lot of coordination that needs to happen. We also have to make travel and other arrangements. So although August seems forever away, Matt and I think it is reasonable. After all, the NB team recommended November, so we will see if they agree to doing it early. If not, we will schedule here at Strong.
Now the fun stuff!!

Allison Elizabeth...couldn't love her more!

Sunny days make Brady silly!

The Williams Family Harmonica Band!

A rare snuggle with Eli who is always on the move!

We had a Choo Choo Wagon Wash day!

My sweet pea!

While they do this they say, "Teeter-totter, teeter-totter!"

Home run Brady!

Sunday Thoughts and PICTURES!!

Well, the Williams family has a picture...hooray! Our new friend Laura came to our house this morning and did a fantastic job capturing some picutes of us. She was kind enough to share some with me before they are printed and has given me permission to put them on the blog. She is an up and coming photographer, please check out her blog at momentsphotographybylaura.blogspot.com to learn more about her photography. We ended up taking most of the shots in our bedroom because of the beautiful natural light and fact that there is no "kid junk" to be found! You'll notice Eli and Cara doing their silly smile in one of the pictures. I LOVE the way they turned out. It is impossible to get catalog-smiles from a family of 6 with 4 under 2, so we are more than satisfied with the more natural look.

We were done with the shoot by 10, so I packed up Cara and went to church. I've been really missing time to praise and worship, so it did my heart so much good to be there today. The teens led the service and it was a wonderful blessing to see them using their talents to the glory of God. One of the songs we sung was "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." I've always loved this song, but never more than this morning;

Jesus, Lover of my soul.
Jesus I will never let You go.
You've taken me, from the miry clay.
Set my feet upon the rock, and now I know.
I love You, I need You,
though my world may fall, I'll never let you go...

So many people say "how are you doing, how are you handling all of this." Truth be told, I feel like our world has fallen. I'm trying every day to just put one foot in the front of the other. I'm trying desperately to choose to focus on the good God is putting in our lives: the wonderful miracles I have in Eli, Cara, Brady, and Allie (Matt too), the amazing support of friends, family, and strangers, and the hope I find in God's promises. As we approach this second round of chemo, please be praying in the following areas:
1. Pray that God will comfort Brady while in the hospital.
2. Pray that the chemo will destroy this cancer beyond all expectation.
3. Pray that Matt and I will continue to find strength in God and in each other.
4. Pray for our wonderful parents and friends who are helping us take care of our precious family while we are away.
5. Pray that we will have a clear direction after this round of chemo pertaining to surgery at Sloan Kettering versus more chemo.

That's a lot of prayers, but I know God is listening if we just keep them coming!!! Love to all of you...

Say Cheese!

Tomorrow is going to be a monumental day in the Williams family. We are having our first ever professional pictures taken of our family. Can you believe we have never ever had a professional picture taken of our children? A local photographer is coming to the house to try and capture a picture of all 6 of us and some shots of the kids. This was something that has been on my mind since Brady's diagnosis and it is amazing how God just answered this silent prayer in my heart:)

Of course trying to coordinate what all 6 of us will wear, and only making plans to do this last night, made things a bit challenging. I think we are all going to wear white shirts and jeans. I had to make a run to Batavia today and try to fill in the gaps in my plan for our white outfits. Luckily WalMart and Target came through for me as always! The baby is going to wear pink, so I have pink sweaters for Cara and I as an option too. Planning matching outfits in 24 hours was certainly a challenge, even for me! I'm just so excited to have some pictures to capture this time in our children's lives.

We are starting to make plans for Round 2 of chemo that will begin on Tuesday. The nurse is coming to the house Monday to do bloodwork and change Brady's dressing. That way we avoid having to do it in the hospital. The hospital will call us Tuesday morning to tell us when we need to arrive. I'm just hoping there will be a private room available for us. Last time was so challenging and at least we had privacy. I can't wrap my head around dealing with chemo and tyring to get Brady to sleep all while sharing a room with another child.

Hopefully I will be able to share so amazing pictures with you in the coming weeks!