Easy not-so-breezy Saturday

 Aubrey made it home yesterday, we were so glad to hold her tight.

 Today was a hot day, so we headed out to the book warehouse, books were 25 cents today!

We loaded up our box, and headed out.

 Then we ran by Goodwill, we got a few new action hero shirts.

And...this cute jar!

 I got a few images to help support our CHANGE effort, for GAN!

 CHANGE, starts somewhere!

 Cents...make CHANGE!

 State of CHANGE!

 Kelly came over to play, and ended the evening with a movie!

 Jamie called Granddaddy for his birthday...which is coming up on "Tuesday"!

 A little ice cream on the porch!

 A wanted to share a few of our finds from the book ware house, adding to our classics!

CHANGE...and our 600th post!

 Please watch this video.

October 1, 2008...Steven started in a new direction with his career, that has created a entire new family for us.  Our GAN family! Hannah's Hope Foundation for GAN has funded Steven's research for GAN.  However, it has meant so much more to us, it is personal!  That is why the Gray Family will be out and about asking for your change!  The families of GAN are collecting change the entire month of July to raise money for towards funding a clinical trial.  These families mean so much to us, and we hope that you will be willing to help us, help them.

Here is an insert from Hannah's Hope For GAN's Facebook page:

The Lonely, Suffering Kids

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Jimmy

By Jimmy Reilly

Posted Jun 19, 2012 in Health

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Imagine waking up one day, and discovering that there is something terribly wrong. Your child is being attacked, but you have no idea what is invading your life. Your parental instincts take over. They've always served you well in the past. A case of the sniffles, no problem. An upset tummy, easily remedied. Kiss a boo-boo and it's all better. A little TLC always goes a long way. But on this day, all the love in the world is doing no good. It's every parent's nightmare. "I can't help my child." The attacker moves slowly at first. A few stumbles, a couple of falls maybe. You watch your child begin to lose his abilities: the ability to run, to ride a bike. The very essence of childhood is the joy of playtime, and this assailant is sapping that joy in a very slow and steady onslaught. The spirit of a child allows him to be resilient, to bounce back, but this evil is very powerful. This evil is something called GAN, short for Giant Axonal Neuropathy. It's a horrible disease that takes its toll on a child's body in awful ways. It is an illness that affects the bodies of kids in ways that are very difficult for non-medical professionals to even understand. It's a nightmare that can't easily be identified or defined. You look for help. The world will always rally behind a child in distress, and your belief is that you can count on that sentiment to find relief for your child. After all, who wouldn't go any distance to help a youngster? The facts of the situation are these: The disease affects a very small number of children. Right now, there are probably fewer than 50 confirmed cases in the whole world. But should the fact that such a small group of kids is being hurt sentence them to a life of suffering? There is no cure for this disease. There isn't even a viable treatment available for the young people who are battling this illness. They simply lose all control of their bodies, and death usually comes very early in their lifetime. Imagine looking for help for your suffering child, and finding little or none. Imagine fighting this war with very few people on your side. Imagine this were your child. Would you want help? Would you go to any lengths to get that help? Or for that matter, would you meet one of these children and turn your back? There is no national "foundation" behind this group of suffering families and children. It's what you might consider an "orphan" illness. No telethons, no celebrity crusaders, no mass "awareness" programs. Most people will live their whole lives without ever hearing the name GAN. We should do something about that.

http://www.active.com/donate/teampayitforward

A few more days and Aubrey will be back!

 We have stuck to the normal routine without Aubrey, we miss her but she will be back soon.

Yesterday we had an ice cream cone...well Jamie had 2!  

He dropped the first one on the ground in the mulch, but he was really happy when I replaced it!

 I wanted to show you sweet, sweet Noah!

He is growing so big.

This little fellow is so serious.

 I think Jamie likes being the older guy!

 We got a letter from camp:

 Not as exciting as I wanted it to be...but, it was informative to what was going to happen at pick up,

 it wasn't a letter from Aubrey!

Since Aubrey was gone Jamie decided to do Aubrey's chores to get her money!

I just wish he knew not empty the kitchen trash...oh well!  That is how he learns.

 

 But things got better!

 The trash got done...

 he is still smiling.

 I swung over to church to help decorate for VBS!

We can't wait, we love VBS!

 Just think about all the sweet children breaking down those doors Sunday night!

 So, this morning Jamie picked out his outfit!

Again, all black! 

These pants are too little, they look like Capri Pants, but if he is happy so am I!

 This bundle of joy never has dull moment!

Here he is singing about his tattoos.

 Look, what that stinking boy is doing now!

 That is right...Cheerios on the toilet...a game, he likes to pee on them!  

Stinking Boys!

On that note...Cheerio!

Day 2...while Aubrey is at camp

 Tonight, was swim.

 Waterboy is loving it!

I love to watch him jump.

As far as Aubrey this was her update via the camp site:

All Camps are events that the entire camp participates in. We held one Sunday night to welcome everyone to camp and introduce this week's Superhero theme.
Camp was divided into 2 teams: The Avengers and The Justice League. Campers had to sneak from their home bases to the ampitheatre stage where they recieved missions to complete. If the campers were caught by counselors they had to return to home base and try again. The first team to complete all missions would be declared the winners.
Amazingly both teams finished at the same time in a tie! Girls had great fun learning knots and polishing their archery skills during the missions.

From the pictures, it looks like she is rocking this camp!  We miss her and look forward to see her on Friday!

Monday w/o Aub...

 For our workout tonight, 

we chased Jamie around the hood.

The little booger can book it!

 Stop signs kinda get in the way...

 but he is a good boy.

 So with Aubrey gone...the mice will play.

We sent Aubrey her first letter via email tonight, we had an opportunity to send a picture,

after thinking what would make her happy...her mice quickly came to mind.

So we took a few shots, and this is the one we sent.

They are "reading" Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!

 Dill gave a little smooch.

 Oh, will go as far as to say...they are kinda cute.

 These are lazy cats!

 Jamie picked "Tickle Monster" tonight.

 He loves this book.

 Steven getting those "Toesies"!

 We love the hug at the end.

We are so blessed and love nights like this.

We miss our Aubrey,

The news letter for yesterday went like this:

 June 17th,

After the girls arrive and get unit assignments and go through our health check-in process they will begin meeting friends by playing games in the units. Swim test also occurs today. It consists of swimming a length of the pool, treading water for 30 seconds and lastly completing a tip test. Tip tests are where the girls put on a life jacket and jump into the water (this simulates what being in the lake feels like and makes them comfortable with life jackets). Depending on skill level the girls will get a red yellow or green bracelet .

She should receive our email tomorrow!  She is doing great we just know it!