13 July 2007

Sweet Dreams are Made of Lemons

Carrie Hudson (Kansas City area; extended family in St. Louis) has what I'd call double vision. She sees her own life with the joys and struggles of a cancer survivor, and she sees the greater joys and struggles of exercising her vision to make life better for other people. She's 12 and cancer free after 26 long months of treatment. She's also our great-niece, and great in this case is totally appropriate. Here's the story:


Leawood — Everyone’s heard the old adage: “When life hands you lemons, make some lemonade.”
But seldom has someone as young as Carrie Hudson been called upon to heed its advice — or taken it so literally.
For a couple of days this past June, however, the 12-year-old parishioner of CurĂ© of Ars Parish in Leawood, ran her own Alex’s Lemonade Stand as a way to take the lemons she’d been dealt — cancer — and turn them into “lemonade” for others facing their own cancer journeys. The proceeds from the lemonade stand went directly to pediatric cancer research for treatment and cures.


"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (MT 18:3)." Children see with bigger imaginations than grown-ups; maybe because they are so small their egos don't stand in the way, blocking the vision of what is possible in life.

06 July 2007

Fun on the dock

Whose legs are these?



Grammy teaches Jon how to unhook the fish.

New York in the Summer



The people in New York stand out in a crowd.

The artist of this bejeweled "girl" stood next to me in the audience at the Today show. The cameras did not scan our section until AFTER she left. But she did get to talk to Natalie in person off camera.

Other photos of the NY trip can be viewed here.

second attempt
http://picasaweb.google.com/meister.home/NewYorkSummer07