Bennett is doing good. He had basketball practice at 9:30 a.m this morning.  He raked leaves with Hamilton and made a fort. Hamilton thought it was pretty cool. The leaves are beautiful as they are falling.

Bennett was interviewed by Jim Muir, publisher of SI sports connection magazine a couple weeks ago.   Jim is doing an article about Bennett being named on the So IL Jr. High All Star baseball team in his Nov. magazine. He also is televising one of his stories every Sunday at 12:30 on channel 3.    We thought Bennett was going to be on this Sunday but now we think it’s next Sunday, Nov. 16th at 12:30 p.m. on WSIL (channel 3).

A special prayer request for my sister-in-law who lost her Dad last night with his fight against a brain tumor. My brother is coming home from Iraq. He will not have to go back to Iraq and they live in New Jersey. That is a blessing but I just hate of how many lives are destroyed by this horrible disease.

Praying for all the kids on 9west, they are true heroes. May God bless all of the people affected by cancer, their family and care givers.

Benton Rangers are #1 !!!!!!

DuQuoin tournament Champs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We won by 7 points 31-24!!!! It was a very close game. I think this was the biggest lead we had in the game. We stayed a head most of the game. Bennett started the 2nd quarter and played all of that quarter. He had 2 rebounds and the other team was called a charge while Bennett was guarding them. Bennett seemed very tired after that period and during half time. He is was ready for bed tonight. Below is a pic of the team, cheerleaders, coaches and the ball boys. Hamilton is ball boy again this year.

Hamilton is feeling much better. He woke up this morning with no fever and he was ready to go to school. He made it all day and night without running a fever again. He has no cough, sore throat or any other symptoms which makes it strange.  It must of been viral because he got better  without medicine.  We’re thankful.

Thank you for checking in. God bless you and your family.

Bennett is doing good. He is getting geared up for his championship game tomorrow night. At school today, they had their baseball banquet during lunch and Bennett was awarded the leadership award by his coach. We are so proud of him!

Hamilton is about the same. My parents took him to the Dr. today and they did a strep test and it came back negative. The Dr. believes it’s a viral infection. He ran a temp most of the day and went I got home tonight from work, his temp was 102. We are using more Lysol and trying to wipe down everything so Bennett doesn’t catch it. They have been doing pretty good about staying apart. We pray for Hamilton that this doesn’t last long, he hates being down.

Thank you to God for answering our prayers on Ethan’s scan today! Great results showing his treatment is working! We pray that the continued treatment kills the rest of the disease forever!

Bennett’s team won tonight against Trico 49 to 28 in the DuQuoin tournament. Bennett played ever quarter but didn’t have a good chance to make any shots. He played good one on one defense but seemed a little more hesitate on the rebounds. We play Friday night for the championship against DuQuoin. It should be a good and close game.

Hamilton came home today from school complaining of his stomach bothering him and a bad headache. He said he threw up in the school bathroom. He did eat a pretty good lunch and dinner at Grandpa/ma Page’s. We took his temperature tonight and it was 100.5. We pray that he isn’t coming down with something and feels better. It makes us nervous that Bennett could easily get it since his counts are not that great to fight off any infections. Therefore causing fever, lower counts and hospitalization. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long fall and winter.

Election Day!

Hope everyone voted today. The boys went with me before school/work. Hamilton went in with me to the polling booth and helped me vote. He thought that was pretty cool. Bennett did that too when he was younger. Bennett had to point out tonight that the next presidential election that he will be old enough to vote.

Bennett is doing good. He had basketball practice after school. They play again tomorrow night in the DuQuoin tournament against Trico. It was really an emotional night to see him out on the basketball court playing ball and making that first basket.   It was  hard to recognize him with his longer curly hair at first. It’s different since he isn’t playing with the same boys he has played with since future Rangers in 1st grade. We pray that he stays healthy so he can play and he continues to improve.  Also, we pray that he doesn’t receive any injuries. It can turn into a physical game pretty quickly.

It’s Tuesday again already.  Bennett took his weekly methotrexate chemo pills tonight.  His Dr. said for him to stay on the same dose of 10 pills because his ANC was lower this week.  He also received the methotrexate chemo through his spine two weeks ago and maybe it’s had a time to go through his body and kill off the white blood cells therefore lowering his numbers yesterday.

Congratulations to our friend Tyler from Thompsonville for starting his maintenance phase after 10 months of intense treatment! What an accomplishment!    He was diagnosed with ALL in January. We pray for his continued healing.

Thank you for checking in and all of your prayers, love, and support.

Bennett’s ANC today was 1,104 from 2,278. He had 2.4 WBC from 3.4 and 46 neutrophils from 67. Sometimes I can’t figure out why it drops so quickly, it makes it difficult to be too excited with his numbers. We pray for some consistency and that they won’t drop anymore. His hemoglobin was good at 11.5 from 11.9 and platelets at 106 from 112.

Bennett’s basketball ball team tonight won against Sparta 45 to 21 in the DuQuoin tournament. He came in with about 2:50 left of the 1st quarter and made his first basket! He played every quarter. He had one other shot but missed. He also had an assist, 2 rebounds, 1 save, 2 fouls and took a charge. He plays big man.

He fell on his ankle which worried me but he got right back up. He says it happens quite a bit in practice when he running and his legs/ankle gives. The side effect of the vincristine chemo he gets monthly causes “jello” legs and loss of balance. He seemed to keep up good with the plays and running up and down the court.

Bennett said he was nervous tonight about playing. It has been two years since he has played. He was afraid that he would have an air ball and instead he made his first shot. He would prefer to be playing a lot better but considering his physical strength a few months ago, he has come along way! Thanks to our Almighty God!

Another month gone and it’s November already. Time sure does slip away from ya. Bennett had a good day, he rested up this afternoon after church so he is ready for his first basketball game of the season. His team plays in the DuQuoin tournament this week. We play Sparta tomorrow night.

We go to our local hospital in the morning to check Bennett’s counts. We pray that they are good and his ANC is at least 1,000 or greater.

Sid had another blood test and received results back that he does not have rocky mountain spotted fever anymore. His tests came back negative and clear of the disease! Amen! We are thankful that is one less thing we have to worry about.

Hamilton’s neck got better. He went to the chiropractor several times and he doesn’t complain about it anymore nor does he favor it.

Praying and thinking about all the kids on 9west. A special prayer to Ethan as he has his follow up scans this Thursday.

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4