Rapid Fire Update

Months . . . It's been MONTHS since I've been able to write an update about Ainsley.  This has been partly due to time, but mostly due to emotion.  For whatever reason I just haven't been able to go there...maybe more on that with another post.  For now, I'll just go for a rapid fire update.  

In June we had an amazing experience with the Angles for Ainsley's Army barrel racing event that my friend Carmen and her fantastic crew put together for us!  Over 150 horses came to run the barrels.  Our neighborhood and church friends went ABOVE and BEYOND in ways we never imagined.  Tubbs and Steed families, and so many more, we cannot thank you enough!

There were many highlights from that day:  Friends, horses, prayers for my baby girl...  One new friend drove Missouri to support our girl!  She was in the hospital and we were hoping to get her home in time to "see her horses run" as she had been telling us for months that she wanted to see.  That morning things didn't look very promising, but by that afternoon, and thanks to some fancy footwork by the nurses and doctors, she was able to be out that afternoon.  She arrived just after the last horse had run, but she didn't know the difference.  There were still horses in the arena and she was full of smiles.  Then, a fellow cancer survivor and barrel racer brought her horse over and asked Ainsley if she'd like to ride.  She led her around and you couldn't wipe the smile off of Ainsley's face.  She looked down, patted the horse, and said "this is awesome!"  Here's the picture of her on the horse.  As you can see, she came STRAIGHT from the hospital.  

A few weeks later we got to see fireworks!  Here in Owasso, they have the big firework show the night before the 4th!  It is AWESOME!!!  It's like Christmas Eve, it adds a whole other day to the celebration and gets you into the right mood for sure!  On the 4th of July we went over to our friends, Andy and Sarah, and had our own firework show, along with almost everyone else in Roger's County, where the high-flying fireworks are legal.  We had hours more fun!  Finally on July 6, we got invited to another firework show put on by some friends that run a firework stand.  They were firing off some of their left overs.  Ainsley was in heaven.  We held the drawing for the gun raffle that had been going for the few weeks before!  

The rest of July was a blur as we finished our preparations to move.  The lease on our home was finishing and we needed to lease a new place.  Now August is gone and we are in another house that better fits our day to day needs.  I'm so thankful for the many miracles along the way that made this move possible, especially in the short time-line that we had.  Many thanks again for the angel hands that have helped us in our move.  The kids are now in a new school and doing well.  

A couple of weeks ago we got to go to the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) event in Tulsa thanks to the Turn Tulsa Pink organization.  We got to see JB Mauney ride Bushwhacker!!!  (Reportedly the best bull in history and unridden since 2009).  It was exciting!   As we walked out at the end of the night, a kind stranger walked up and handed us a hat signed by all the riders that night!  It was a fun evening for us all.  The girls and even Hudson were troopers and stayed awake through it all.  

That picture wasn't meant to be a QT advertisement, but it looks good doesn't it?  Last week was a major accomplishment for Ainsley's battle with Leukemia!  She finished the 4th of 4 in-patient Methotrexate treatments.  Those are the weeks that have been the hardest for us since the first month of treatments.  Each is a 4-5 night stay in the hospital.  Thankfully Grandma Sue was able to be here for most of them and I was only on call for 2 of them.  The next round of treatments will be more outpatient based and only require a few overnight treatments.  There will be more at home medications as well.