He made it... Day 165 26APR09

FIRST COMMUNION & CONFIRMATION

Shortly after Joshua was diagnosed, Father John, our Pastor at St Anne Parrish, came to me and wanted Joshua to make his First Communion and Confirmation at Easter Vigil Mass. We asked Joshua and he said definitely, Yes. He was very eager to receive First Communion, but I  had my doubts about having him sit through a 3 hour mass at night, so I asked if we could do the ceremony at the morning mass on the following Sunday. That was the plan but.....Joshua's fever had a different plan. When we got out of the hospital this week, I immediately set it up for this Sunday. After a very stressful Saturday evening, we finally did it. Joshua had a very special morning. Not only did he get to make his First Communion and Confirmation but Jarrod also received his Confirmation by his side. Jarrod was originally scheduled to make Confirmation with his class at the end of May but he said he wanted to stand by his brother and do it at the same time.  Lee and I were very proud of Jarrod today standing with his little brother. We were also very proud of Joshua for "hanging in there" when he was obviously tired from a "heated" Saturday. Lee and I would like to give a special thank you to Father John and the parishioners of St Anne for helping us celebrate our sons special day.  We would also like to thank our friends and family that came and those that could not make it but really wanted to be there. We are very blessed to have our  families close to us helping us through everything!

It was an early morning for all of us but well worth it. Joshua was very handsome in his confirmation outfit. Jarrod was not only handsome but looking mighty grown up standing next to Josh. Afterwards we all gathered over at Grandma and Pa peters house for brunch with family and friends. Josh got a chance to hang out with the gang and have a little fun. He was pretty tired early in the afternoon so he went back to our house with Jamie and Christian to rest. After everyone left this afternoon he managed to get in a good nap and had a good amount of energy this evening. Tomorrow we go back to the clinic for labs to check and see where Joshua's counts are. We are hoping that they are high enough for us to escape on Tuesday and Wednesday and go over to Cocoa beach. Joshua really misses going to the beach and being in the water, it was always one of his favorite things to do. We will keep our fingers crossed. We could all use a little R&R time.