Hope4Peyton

First let me just start off by saying how much I truly appreciate you all supporting my daughter’s efforts to get me to shave my head. Thanks…no really, thanks….now knock it off!!!!

Our friend Kay treated Peyton to a hair pretty today, the cutest little white bow with two tiny roses on it and she encouraged Peyton to pick a big showy one. However, Peyton’s take on it is “I have little hair, I need little bows!”

We went down to the Children’s Cancer Center this morning for our Little Tales fix. The first thing that happened was that the reps from the Badge Bowl came out to announce the family that would be the beneficiaries of this year’s charity game! Our friend Brooke Martin is a leukemia patient, her family has struggled over the past year with many of the issues that face a family with a health crisis. But mom Tiffany is so sweet and they have never complained, they are always smiling and it was just awesome to see their shock and amazement at being picked. My prayers are for a hugely successful event that will rock this family’s world.

Brooke at Flight Camp

Just for those who might have forgotten what Badge Bowl is: Tampa PD and Tampa Fire Fighters have a charity flag football game. They pick a family in the Tampa area who are dealing with childhood cancer and they give 2/3 of the proceeds of the money raised to that family. The other 1/3 goes to the Foundation of Courage. Last year’s Badge Bowl benefited our friend Jimmy, the one who got the mini extreme makeover that provided them with a new trailer, all new furniture and a huge helping hand in getting back on their feet. I just can’t wait to be a part of Badge Bowl this year, it’s going to be an extraordinary night.

I invite you all to come out and be a part of the fun. It’s on Dec 15th, at Wharton High School and it’s sure to touch your hearts and to be a great night.

After we got over the excitement of the Badge Bowl announcement, it was time for a more somber job.

We sat in the room where we’ve talked and laughed and cried with Lisa Deal for many months. We’ve shared our lives and our children’s struggles. Today, we sat and put together ribbons that will be worn tomorrow as she and her husband Shawn and their son Matthew say goodbye to their beloved Hannah. It was so hard to do. With every ribbon I put together I just thought of her sweet smile, the way her eyes lit up the day we put in her garden, the joy she just radiated throughout her too short life. I wish I’d taken a picture of the bows, they came out very pretty. We made special ones that were red and pink with tiny ladybug on them, as ladybugs will always be a part of who Hannah was. We made gold/pink and gold/red ribbons for all the other guests who will be there tomorrow to wear in her honor as red and pink were her favorite colors.

I was blessed to receive an email from a teacher who reads Peyton’s site and she shared that she had her students pray for these sweet kids. In honor of Hannah, they are all going to either wear red shirts or somehow incorporate pink into their uniforms. I would ask that you just take a moment tomorrow and say a prayer for Hannah’s family, maybe just take a moment of silence in your day to stop and think of the many blessings that you have and to thank God for His special grace.

I have to share with you that in making the ribbons, I found out something very important about myself.

I am dangerous with a hot glue gun.

These things should absolutely require a license and training. I can’t tell you how many times I glued a ribbon or a button to my skin. It hurt. A lot. Really a lot with the burning of the skin! So when I say a little piece of me is in every ribbon I put together, I mean that in the most literal way possible, I think there are probably little burnt pieces of my fingers on every ribbon.

f.r.o.G….fully relying on God
–Anissa

ps…We also wanted to just ask for prayer for a new friend Tim Lee. He is the man who is participating in the IronMan competition in Kona, Hawaii this Saturday. Again…2 miles swimming, 124 miles biking, 26 miles running….I don’t get it, but I fully admire it. He’s doing this in honor of a lost cancer child, Taylor Arrington and the Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Let’s just pray for strength of both his body and heart as he undertakes this amazing event.

I once got a leg cramp on the way to the mailbox. I just don’t get it.

If anyone would like to send Tim a message of support, just send it through the Contact Me link and I’ll send it on to him!

I would like to send a huge thank you out to Extreme Home Makeover.

Their show tonight had a little girl with a brain tumor on it and while I'm very happy for the family to get the house of their dreams and thrilled that the show raised awareness of pediatric cancer….they HAD to show video of the little girl shaving her dad's head.

Peyton turns and looks at me….just looked at me for a second…..and I think it just dawned on her.

She's decided that tomorrow she's shaving my head.

I'm seriously praying that she forgets all about it. I have a feeling that Peter will be keeping that episode on Tivo to blackmail me!

I would totally have done it at the beginning when she was first losing her hair…..but now? Come on!!!

—Anissa

Ok, I just heard something that is so funny that has NOTHING to do with Peyton, the family, cancer, or anything remotely contextual to this website.

But it has to be shared!

Taco Bell just opened its first restaurant in Mexico.

Am I the only one that finds that hysterical??

Would you like hot sauce with that? Si!

Rachael, Meridith Edwards and Sam Lee

Sam Lee, Nikki Hawkins, Peyton and Will

We spent the weekend camping….urban camping, I guess, not so much the get-back-to-wilderness camping. We stayed in cabins with air conditioning and running water…about as rustic as I care to get when camping with a toddler.

Peyton and Jessica

The Children’s Cancer Center brought us out to the same campgrounds where Nathaniel and Rachael go for their church summer camp. Flight Camp is an opportunity for the families of pediatric cancer to get together and have some fun. We had a lot of it!

Peyton at the drum circle

Rachael played the drums with her forehead and the tambourine with her neck…she’s a special girl, that Rachael.

Nathaniel and Rachael split up to stay in the boys’ and girls’ cabins but both of them made their way back to us on Saturday night. Peyton, Pete and I were bunked with two other families in what I affectionately thought of as “the prison barracks”. Penny Hawkins and her crew were bunked with us and that gave us the chance to spend lots of quality time together, Peyton and Will (her 3 year old) bonded in a special way over the weekend.

Will – “Peyton, do you want to sleep with us?”
Will – “Nikki, move over, Peyton doesn’t have enough room!”
Will – “You want to go to my house? You want to come play with my toys?”

In the world of a 3 year old, they might as well be married.

Peyton and Meridith

Nathaniel and his best buddy Jared Hawkins

It was a torrential downpour Friday night, so after dinner we had to skip the bonfire and hang in the cabins, but Saturday was a nonstop activity barrage. There were arts and crafts…I think much of what we did was a glue company’s dream…swimming, canoeing, fishing, a princess makeover for the girls and moms (which Peyton and I skipped in lieu of a princess nap), a very cool drum circle, Night Stryker volleyball (in the dark with everything lit up with black lights) which was a huge hit with both kids and adults, and dancing with a DJ.

There was a lot of time to just sit and talk, to watch the kids playing and being the kind of crazy they only achieve when in large groups.

Rachael and Bella Cerchione

Peyton and Will being too cute for words

At one point, the boys cabin decided to build a haunted house in the cabin. There is a wall of cubbies where they store all of their stuff and they draped all of them with blankets so they could hide behind them and jump out at some unsuspecting soul and hopefully scare them into a seizure.

The site of the infamous cubby-gas incident

So they waited…and suddenly, someone yelled “Who farted!!!???”….then the blankets began waving as the boys searched desperately for fresh air. I thought I might just pass out from laughing.

We had such a good time that as we drove away Peyton burst into tears. “I wanted to stay for 40 more days!!!!!” Really? I’m not sure what was planned for the next 37 days, but we packed an awful lot into the 3 we were there.

“Who wrote on the window sill!??”

“Not me”
“Not me”
“ummmm……not me?”
“Try again, Rachael.”

We have the most amazing friends from the Center, we are so blessed by the staff and volunteers who give of themselves so graciously and compassionately to ease the stress and strain of our lives. I never dreamed that this would be our life, but I also never thought that we would have so much love poured on us by so many. The relationships we have made over the past 15 months are priceless and beyond words.

On a sadder note, the Center hosts a ribbon making time when a child passes. We will be gathering on Tuesday to put together ribbons to be worn at Hannah’s funeral on Wednesday. I just feel an ache in my stomach whenever I think about it. In fact, in reviewing the pictures from camping, I’d forgotten that I hadn’t downloaded my pictures from Thursday. So I was browsing goofy picture after goofy picture and then there was one of Hannah at hospice. Her beautiful little face just brought back the reality of why were all there at camp. That it goes beyond just having a chance to get out of the house, but these are the chances to brighten the lives of these kids who live with life-threatening illnesses. We pray for healing, we hope for the best, but we never really know for sure, so we embrace every precious moment.

Hannah’s funeral will be on Wednesday and I was touched by the family’s request that we all wear red or pink as those were her favorite colors. They also asked that instead of flowers, toys be donated to the Lady Bug Toy Drive that was so very important to Hannah in her last days. In case you didn’t know, Hannah decided that with the huge influx of presents, she wanted to share them with others. The Deal family decided that they would have a toy drive that would benefit the kids of hospice in Hannah’s honor and they call it the Lady Bug Toy Drive. They surpassed their goal of 1000 toys, but they continue to see an outpouring of generosity from those touched by Hannah and her huge heart. They will keep the Toy Drive going until the last of October and if you’d like to contribute a toy to honor Hannah you can do so at:

Ladybug Toy Drive, P.O. Box 4424 Seminole, FL 33775

Please continue to pray for Hannah’s family and friends as we prepare for a week to celebrate the life that Hannah shared with us and to remember the joy she brought to so many and to honor the valiant battle she waged.

This is a wonderful article that the St. Pete Times wrote about Hannah.

f.r.o.G….fully relying on God
–Anissa

I had planned to go down to Hospice to see Hannah and her family yesterday. Everything seemed to get in my way so that I couldn’t make it down there. I went to bed last night pretty ticked off with life that I hadn’t made it, irked that things didn’t work out the way I wanted.

God works on His own timeline and He makes darn sure that we fall where He wants us to be on it, no matter what our plans are.

When I walked in the Hannah’s door today, Lisa looked up at me and told me that I’d just made it in time. They’d taken everything off of her except pain meds and they were just waiting. The entire time I was there her bp and heart rate dropped rapidly and her breathing slowed visibly. I has just returned to the room from taking Hannah’s brother Matthew out to play and Lisa and the grandmothers had just stepped out when Shawn said that Hannah’s breathing had suddenly changed. He told me to run for Lisa. I took off to get her as fast as I could and found her quickly in the hallway, and she took off for the room running.

Lisa had just enough time to pull Hannah into her arms and hold her close to her heart and Hannah took her last breaths on this earth. Lisa put her head to Hannah’s chest to see if there was a heartbeat and we all knew that Hannah had left this world of cancer and pain to go to her Heavenly body. Lisa’s desire was to hold Hannah in her arms as she left this world and I thank God that she was blessed to be granted this wish. Hannah left surrounded by her family, fully loved and treasured.

Hannah Deal earned her angel wings at 1:40 pm today. She will be missed and cherished and loved, not for as long as she lived, but for as long as we do. Her beautiful smile, the twinkle in her eyes, her love of treasures and her zest for life will be a part of every heart that had the honor of knowing her.

We are joyful that she no longer endures the pains of her cancer, that she leaves behind her sick body. We grieve for her family who now has to face a future without this sweet girl and make their way in the world without her in their life.

Please pray for the strength, peace, comfort and faith the family and friends will need to get through these days ahead.

Hannah Deal 10/30/02-10/4/07

f.r.o.G….fully relying on God
–Anissa