Thank You Is Not Enogh

How is it even possible to quantify the gratitude that you feel when 85 people come together on one weekend to support your family in the fight to beat cancer? How can you describe the overwhelming feeling of support and love that fills your sole when everyone around you honors your battle with pink shirts, hats, ribbons, sunglasses and likely pink underwear? How do you thank 40+ people for traveling in from 8 different states to walk next to you in a showing of solidarity?

This post is difficult to write because the words "thank you" are not enough to express our deepest gratitude for all of the support, kindness and joy that we received this past weekend during our first annual involvement in the Susan G. Komen "Race for the Cure". It is impossible to convey how much it meant to us to be completely surrounded by the love and strength of our friends and family.

The idea first started shortly after the diagnosis with a desire to show support for Amy's battle. Amy's sister-in-law, Dani Reich, wanted to bring people together to remind Amy that she is not alone. When she initially registered "The A Team" on the race website, she set a stretch goal of 25 participants with a fundraising goal of $5,000. One thing that I have learned about Amy's vast family roots is that they always pull together to support each other in a time of need. Their strength and fortitude is unfounded. Needless to say, it did not take long to quickly double and triple the goals. By racetime, we had over 85 participants and an excess of $11,000 raise to support breast cancer awareness!

Our support portfolio included sub-pockets from the Rozek/Kiener family, Earle family, Ault family, Keller family, Longwood neighbors, Reich group and numerous other families that joined us for this special event. Much like a wedding, we stretched the festivities throughout the weekend and coupled each event with an abundance of food.

On Friday evening, we hosted over 40 out of town guests for a fun dinner at Captain's Quarters on the Ohio River. The staff of CQ did an amazing job at arranging the perfect venue on the enclosed deck, complete with pink table cloths and napkins. The food and service was amazing. We enjoyed every minute of the evening filled with laughter, food, drinks and a few late-night future blackmail stories.

Saturday morning started very early with a dark drive down to Iroquois Park for the event. The tent area for "The A Team" was donned with pink pumpkins, fresh baked pastries and an abundance of positive support. Amy was the guest of honor, much like the bride in pink (with a scarf for a veil). Within moments of our arrival, she was whisked away for a television interview. Before long, she returned to be surrounded by family and friends. We even brought along our own paparazzi for the event.

The Survivor March may have been the most emotionally difficult moments of the event. On one hand, it is the ultimate proclamation that cancer is forever a part of your life. On the other hand, it is a complete immersion into the support of countless women who have fought this battle and won. As Amy marched with the other women and closely supported by our good friend and mentor, Joanie Dunn, tears streamed down her face in a complete montage of emotion. As a husband, my heart was both filled with pride and breaking with sorrow for her pain.

Joy and festivity continued as we ribbed Brandon about his upcoming dreaded run (committed by the final push hours before to exceed his fundraising goal). The actual 5k walk was a massive movement of people, children and strollers all decorated in pink from top to bottom. The weather was perfect and the fall colors completed the framing of the symbolism of strength.

During the award ceremony, "The A Team" took Second Place for the fundraising portion by family and friends. This was quite an honor to achieve in the first year of activity. Where should the goal be set next year?
Our joyous day was concluded with a outdoor dinner at the Dan and Sally Keller's house in Goshen. In true Kentucky form, we rolled out the tables and chairs right on the driveway. It was the perfect evening to spend time outside with family and friends. The kids enjoyed running around and the parents enjoyed the much needed reprieve.

As with the end of a wedding weekend, we spent much of Sunday saying goodbye to family and friends as they embarked on their travels back home. For a few nameless people who missed their flight, we were blessed with an extra day to spend more time with them.

The weekend was everything that we could have hoped for and more. We were truly strengthened by the show of support and Amy's resolution to fight this battle is only stronger for it. Words cannot come close to describing the feeling of knowing that so many people love and support your wife and family. I can only attempt to explain it by sharing that tears flow uncontrollably down my face when I try to covey how much this means to us. There are no words, just tears of joy.

For more updates on Amy's battle, please follow her story on our CaringBridge site.

Evan Turns Three

It’s hard to believe it has been three years since I first sat paralyzed holding my newborn son in the L&D operating room. Our storybook delivery process was cut short by a rapid C-section arrival and I was utterly unprepared to be holding my swaddled son so quickly. Fortunately for me (and probably Evan), we were surrounded by helpful nursing staff to provide subtle direction and guidance. Yes, it was my first diaper change.



This week we celebrated Evan’s 3rd birthday and honored him with lots of parties, activities and family. It is truly a blessing that we have enjoyed three full, action-packed years with our oldest son. He has challenged us, humbled us and most importantly…made us laugh. He keeps us on our toes, sometimes tries our patience and might be responsible for the lack of hair that clings to my head. in spite of of the temper tantrums, melt-downs and occasional moments of insanity, Evan and Henry absolutely fill our hearts with joy and love. Sometimes I question how we could love two people so much. They are our joy, loves and our blessings. As every parent knows, they give full meaning to our lives.

The celebration of Evan’s big day included a splash park, family pizzeria dinner, fire station party and family cookout. Not bad for a 3rd birthday! I hope we don’t have to top the previous birthday each successive year.



The fire station party was a true hit. I’m not sure who had more fun playing with the big shiny trucks, Evan or Daddy. Amy did an amazing job preparing for the festivities by filling the station with special fire decorations and balloons. The cookies, sandwiches and Jell-O were cut in shapes of fire trucks, hydrants, and Dalmatians. The pièce de résistance was a creative fire truck cake that Amy modeled and decorated…complete with hoses, lights and ladders.



The kids enjoyed watching a fireman dress in full turnout gear, playing on the fire trucks, special rides on the fire truck and a “hose-down” by the big ladder truck. Of course, Daddy was full of pride showing the neat fire “toys” to Evan and his friends. Evan wasn’t keen on playing in the water, but he loves to look at and name the tools on the fire truck.



A special thanks needs to be made to the North Oldham Fire Department and Lieutenant Vikre for hosting the parting and helping with all of the logistics. I also need to give credit to Amy for the great idea to collect donations for Supporting Heroes. It is an amazing organization with a difficult, but needed mission.

It was a great birthday weekend with lots of fun, friends and food. We are blessed to be surrounded by so many great people. Also, we are blessed to have such an amazing little thee-year-old boy.

Happy Father's Day

Earlier this week, my amazing wife presented me with an interesting conundrum: How would you like to spend your special Father’s Day? The initial idea starters she offered included golf, canoeing, hiking relaxation time alone or just spending time with the family. While alone time is always enticing to parents of young children, I could not imagine a better way to celebrate fatherhood than to saturate myself in joy (and the occasional temper tantrum) from my wonderful family.

I was blessed today to spend a relaxing day with my two boys and beautiful wife. It was nice to throw the agenda out the window and stay in pajamas past noon. I enjoyed wrestling around on the floor and tickling the boys relentlessly until the room was filled with laughter. After a quick trip to the pool with Evan, we capped the day off with a family dinner spanning three generations.

Today we give thanks for our fathers. We thank them for the guidance, discipline and love they have unselfishly shown us throughout our lives. We thank them for being our role models, mentors and friends. As a father of two young boys, I am especially grateful to my father for teaching me how to be a caring and loving father to Evan and Henry.

Fun in Florida

After missing our family at Christmas time, we broke down and bought tickets to go see the Parris family for a few days. It's a quick trip, but we are getting to spend some quality time together. The cousins are loving getting to hang out and play together. Evan is a little mini-me to Paul.

Both of our boys have been great travelers on this trip. Fortunately, the flight was direct and only 2 hours. That said, we had a 1.5 hour drive before and after the flight. The boys were troopers.

As usual, Nikki and GT have been great hosts and kept us entertained. It's great to be able to spend time with family.


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Location:Vero Beach, Florida

Our Little House Band

Our boys are growing up fast and having fun. Here is a short video clip from a recent Saturday morning jam session in Mommy and Daddy's room. Evan can rock out the plastic guitar.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Goshen, KY

Happy 5th Anniversary!

My wife and I just had the pleasure of celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary at the Murphin Ridge Inn. The experience far exceeded our expectations and quickly moved into a tie at the top of our list for favorite B&B/Inn. It was the perfect blend of historic farmhouse, cozy log cabin and mouth-watering farm-to-table culinary creations.

The cabins have been eloquently designed to blend rustic appearance with modern architecture, amenities and comfort. Almost more impressive than the sunken whirlpool tub, two-person rain shower, vast windows and exposed beams and the double sided fireplace, was the immaculate cleanliness of the cabin. I have honestly never stayed in a cabin that didn’t have at least one cobweb. Before drifting off to sleep for my afternoon nap, I stared hard at the ceiling, but never located even one remnant of cabin critters. Other small pleasures about the cabin included a checker board painted on the table, a black hand towel for makeup removal, comfortable bed and pillows, coffee mugs and wine glasses (both came in handy) and well thought out placement of lighting controls and dimmers.

For our anniversary, we sprung for the added feature of fresh garden flowers in the room and an awaiting plate of fresh fruits and cheeses. We snacked on the cheese and crackers for two days. Well worth the special treat.

Culinary delight is an area of special appeal (and weakness) for my wife and me. The meals at MRI left our palates thirsting for more of the amazing flavors while our stomachs were maxed out on available space to store the delicious foods. A treat at Murphin Ridge is being able to dine on such culinary pleasures for both breakfast and dinner. If it were not for the relaxation of the pool and much needed afternoon nap, I might have tried to spend the entire day in the restaurant. Honestly, ever item that was served, from the muffins, to the soups, to the seasonal watermelon salad, down to the raspberry ice cream, each plate of food and ever side item was worthy of praise, comment and a strong desire for a second helping.

Owners Sherry and Darryl McKenney go out of their way to meet and spend time with every guest. Their exceptional hospitality and attention to every small detail is the obvious cornerstone of success that makes Murphin Ridge so well rated and visited. A testament of this success is the number of return visitors that proudly boast the number of return stays that each trip marks. While we sheepishly confessed our “newbie” exposure to Murphin Ridge, we are already looking forward to progressing to the classification of “alumni” for our next visit. After only being home 6 hours, we are already looking for dates on the calendar to return to Murphin Ridge Inn.

Birthday Party Saved from Dispair

After some last minute scrabbling, we managed to pull off a fun (and slightly warm) 2nd Birthday Party for Evan.  We found ourselves throwing together a party at home because the local Gymboree Play Center notified us three days before the party that our reserved date and time was no longer available.  Fortunately, thanks to great family and a rainless sky, we were able to throw a fun party that Evan enjoyed.

We relied on a bouncy house from my father and a few pool/water toys that we own.  Mix in a few balloons and streamers and you have the perfect party for a two year old.  The weather was a bit warm and muggy, but we used a couple of tents for shade and a few fans to create our own breeze.  With a cold beer in hand, it was actually pretty tolerable.

Amy's mother, June, came down from Northern Ohio to lend a hand in the preparation, celebration and clean up activities.  As always, she is a blessing to help out with all of the details.  There is one thing for sure, my mother-in-law is a hard worker.

We were also fortunate to have help in the kitchen from my cousin Alicia.  After hosting her nieces for a few nights, she headed out the the country and started dicing tomatoes for our taco bar.  She does a great job putting up with our insanity and silliness.

Evan really enjoyed the party.  He spent a lot of time in the small pool with Carter while other kids jumped in and out of the water.  Honestly, the kid could spend an hour playing with his watering can.  The highlight of the party (at least for me) was watching Evan crack up while his basked in the serenade of "Happy Birthday" song from family and friends.  While he did not try one taste of his birthday cake or cookies (he has a strange uninherited aversion to sweets), he thoroughly enjoyed open presents and playing with his toys.

As always, we are truly blessed to have such an amazing family.  Obviously, not all of our extended group could be here for the party, but we recently spent some great time with the Parris and Ault families.  The Rozek clan was here earlier this summer and will soon be in town to move Ben into college (at The 'Ville).

Thanks to all of our family and friends for the help, well wishes, presents and memories.