Champ Camp

Will and I went to Champ Camp at our church last Wednesday through Friday. Champ Camp is kinda like VBS but different. The theme was "Indescribable". We both had a great time. I worked with the 4 yr olds on Wednesday evening and then with the 5 yr olds (Will's class) the last two evenings.

Wednesday evening at Champ Camp the 4 yr old class and the 5 yr old class went into our worship center toward the end of the night. The 4 yr old teachers and I got our kids over there and then the 5 yr old class came over behind us. All of the children were standing together listening to Mr. Mike. All of them except Will. I asked one of his teachers, Leigh, where he was. She said he's right there, pointing to the middle of the group. I said, where? She said, right there in front of Hanna. Well, he wasn't there so I wondered off to his room. Once I got in there I didn't see him but it's a big room and I thought he might be there anyways. So I said, Will? He replied, what? And then stood up from behind a little movable shelf type play station. I asked him if he knew his class was gone and he said no. I then asked him if he had heard them leave and he said in his typical way, no...I guess I got distracted playing with those cars and trucks.

So, I took him into the worship center to rejoin his class and the look on his teachers faces was priceless. They just laughed and Leigh said, "I counted". Well I told her she can't count. I made sure to give Leigh and Stacey a hard time the rest of the evening.

On Thursday I came up with an idea to make a t-shirt announcing Leigh and Stacey had lost my child. I went to a friend who has a business that prints t-shirts and all sorts of things. I knew he could make me something on short notice so I went over to his place to get started. We sat down and in about 20 minutes I was walking out of there with my newly made shirt.

That evening I walked into the church so proud of my new shirt that read, "Stacey and Leigh LOST my child" with "It was Indescribable" in parentheses below. To make sure no one missed it, I had it printed on the front and back. The t-shirt was a huge hit. I had people offering to buy one if I would have more made up. Stacey and Leigh were good sports and laughed with the rest of us.

I wore the shirt to church on Sunday as well. Again it was a hit. Two friends suggested a t-shirt that read, "Where's Will?". They offered to buy one as they laughed hysterically.

At least it was my child.

The t-shirt was made by Michael Whitson of Sports Graphics at 3000 Old Greenwood Rd in Fort Smith. If you need a custom shirt done quickly, he's the one to go to. I'll get a picture of me wearing it uploaded soon.

Walking, Swimming & Tubing

Zach is walking all over the place now.

Will is swimming like a little fish.

Zach is getting tubes on July 29th.

MLB All-Star Game

Well tonight is the MLB All-Star Game. What used to be a game with the best players in MLB has turned into a game of the most popular players voted on by the fans. I guess that's okay but it just doesn't seem as pure as it used to. The fans can vote online multiple times which doesn't seem fair to me.

I will say that I was disappointed that Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard weren't in the Home Run Derby last night but I sure was impressed with Josh Hamilton. I had never heard of him until last night. He blasted 28 homers in the first round. That shattered the previous record for a single round.

He didn't actually end up winning the derby but it sounds like he's already a winner. The media reported that he is a recovering heroin addict who had found religion. I believe he found more than that. He spoke of how he wouldn't have been there if it weren't for God and also said he wanted to thank his personal Savior Jesus Christ.

Rick Ankiel has a similar comeback story although it wasn't from drugs. Ankiel should probably be playing in the game tonight. He has 20 homers, 50 RBIs, and an .880 OPS and can play center field like he was born to play it. Maybe he was? He also takes every opportunity to thank his Savior Jesus Christ.

Enjoy the game!

Weekend

Will and I made an unplanned trip to Missouri this past weekend. I decided on my 3 minute drive home from work on Friday that I wanted to go visit my parents, brother, nieces and friends. We had a good visit.

Saturday afternoon Will and I went to Incredible Pizza (buffet and go-carts) in Springfield and then went over to the Discovery Center at his request. The DC was having a special day. We got to see a demonstration of rescue dogs and some other special science experiments.

Saturday evening my dad and I went to a Springfield Cardinals game. They blew an early lead and ending up losing. We had a good time even though we got rained on the last few innings. I was smart enough to bring my umbrella.

Swimming Lesson's

Will had his last day of swimming lesson's today. He did great! He is swimming with his face in the water and even did the breast stroke. What a difference Mr. Ian has made in getting Will comfortable with the water.
Note: The bottom image is a video.

New Header

I finally figured out how to make my own header. Isn't that an awesome picture. I took this picture while on a trip in the Smokey Mountains. I have to obviously give God the credit for the picture. I only took the picture. He created it.

Hello to Aplastic Anemia

The following is an email from my Uncle Kent:

My son Sean B. Stewart will be 30 years old July 19, 2008. In May of this year Sean was diagnosed with "Aplastic Anemia".

Aplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. The term 'aplastic' means the marrow suffers from an aplasia that renders it unable to function properly. Anemia is the condition of having reduced hemoglobin or red cell concentration in the blood. Typically, anemia refers to low red blood cell counts, but aplastic anemia patients have lower counts of all three blood cell types: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

To make it simple, Sean will need a "bone marrow transplant". Sean’s immediate family has been tested and we are not matches. We are now searching the bone marrow banks for the perfect match.

Each year, more than 140,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with life-threatening blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.

Leukemia is the most common disease children in the U.S. die of. For many patients, marrow transplants are the only hope for a second chance at life.

Less than 30% of patients in need of a transplant can find a match within their family, the other 70%+ depend on YOU.

Only 2 out of every 10 patients will receive the transplant that could save their lives.

Every five minutes, someone is diagnosed with blood cancer, such as leukemia and lymphoma.

Every ten minutes, blood cancer takes a life.

This is why we need YOU!

Ten minutes of your time, might help save a life.

More registered donors + more hope = more lives we can save together.

We are planning a "bone marrow donor drive" in Springfield, MO. We are working with a non-profit organization called DKMS Americas & this is a link to their website http://www.dkmsamericas.org/

It costs $65.00 to register one donor on the DKMS bone marrow bank. We would like to register as many as we possibly can & I would hate not to be able register someone that did not have the funds. We are seeking sponsors to help those that would like to be donors but without the funds to do so.

In a recent drive in New England 14,000 people showed up to become marrow donors

Think about it!

F. Kent Stewart

Gas prices

Why not talk about it on a blog? It seems as though the local and national news has to talk about it every single freaking night! I swear it's one of the top 3 stories every evening. I know gas prices seem high. Everyone in the U.S. that has a heartbeat and brain activity knows the gas prices seem high. I don't honestly know if they are high or where they should be. I don't know if we have just been spoiled and underpaying for years. I do know I'm tired of hearing about it on the news.

What's goin' on?

Zach has started walking. He's probably about 50/50 right now. Sometimes he'll walk halfway and then crawl the rest. He loves his big brother and his big brother loves him. Will likes to try to make him laugh. Usually after I have already started trying to get him to laugh myself.

Will started going to swimming lessons last week. He finished that up and he has gone back this week for another round. He's loving it. He is jumping in with little or no hesitation and is swimming with his face in the water.

Will has been sleeping with us pretty much since he was a toddler with ear infections. Becky started working on getting him to sleep in his own bed a couple of weeks ago. He is doing great! He is sleeping through the night and rarely getting up in the middle of the night. If he does get up, he will get back in his bed. All this without any arguing or fussing about it. He told Becky last night that he wanted to start trying to sleep without his lamp on. It has definitely gone better than expected.