Guest Poster

Hi! My name is Stacey and I'm Shelley's sister (Abbey's Aunt). My sister is giving me the opportunity to take over her blog for the day :). First, let me say thank you so much to you all for being an incredible support to my sister and her family as they've gone through this difficult time in their lives. I know I can speak for many when I say that watching the Colberts journey through their sweet daughter's leukemia has been both amazing and heart wrenching. They have overcome so much and their faith in God is an example to us all. Yet watching their child suffer is something that no parent should ever have to go through and seeing Shelley and Jim have to do that has been very hard. They have shared their story so openly with the world and have clung to the hope that is only found in Christ. So, first of all, thank you to you all! They have been prayed for and encouraged each step of the way and loved on by many of you. Some of you are family and friends, and others strangers, but each note, prayer, gift and word of encouragement has been so helpful to them!

Shelley and I with some of our kids. (so far we have 7 total :)

Us last Christmas (I think we need to get a more recent picture of just the 2 of us :)

I know Shelley has put a couple things on here about Versatile Dance Company and the "Praying for Abbey" show that is being done for their family. Since this is a benefit for them, I know they feel like they can't keep asking people to come or donate, so that's what I'm here to do ;)!! Since the day Abbey was diagnosed, October 2nd, 2008, people have been asking me what they can do for this family. EVERYONE wants to help when they hear of a beautiful, three year old little girl being diagnosed with cancer and then whether you know this family or meet them through this situation, you really want to do something! Yet at times I think we all feel helpless as to what to do. Well, here is your chance to be a part of this amazing story and to help.

First, if you live here and know this family whether through their blog or church or the community or in whatever way, you do not want to miss the show! The creator of this show is doing this to benefit this family and others battling leukemia. That's his vision and this isn't just a spaghetti dinner (which is wonderful too), but it is a huge amazing production that they are putting on. Not only will you be financially helping the Colberts and others dealing with leukemia, but you will get to experience a show like no other. One that is actually portraying their journey through dance! Sounds cool? It will be! And not only that, but Quest Crew (if you don't know them yet, you will never forget them after you see them perform) will also be there! Very cool!

So for those of you who live close. Let's fill up the Canton Palace Theatre on January 10th and wrap our arms around this beautiful family! Let's show them how much we care by being there that day and making it a sold out show! There are 1500 seats and we don't want one seat to be empty! Let's bless them as they've blessed so many!

So if you're thinking that you can't be there because you live far away, I have good news! You can still help :)! You can make a donation to the show, which will in turn go to the Colberts and the leukemia society. Whether you can give $5 or $500 it will all add up and will be a huge blessing to them and so many others. Please, please find it in your heart to give.

When Abbey was first diagnosed, several people approached them asking if they wanted a benefit to be done for their family. At first they were so overwhelmed with the diagnosis and were so focused on just getting her better that the very last thing on their mind was money. They would have lived in a box to be able to get her everything she needed to beat this disease. Thankfully, they do have very good insurance through Jim's job. But, there have been times in her treatment that she has been on 8 medications a day. For each medication that she has been on for the last 15 months (and will continue to be on for over another year) there is a co-pay. It adds up! They have gone through the ER countless times and each time there is a co-pay. They have traveled to and from the hospital in downtown Cleveland more times than they can remember, not to mention gas and parking. Jim has missed work to be at the hospital for Abbey's treatments and he rarely picks up overtime like he used to as their whole lives have been turned upside down. This is our chance to help!

So, if you can make it to the show, excellent! And if you can't, please donate however you feel led. If you have any questions about the show or giving or anything, please feel free to contact me. My e-mail is joeandstacey@yahoo.com I would be more than happy to talk to you about it :)!

Here's all the details about the show and/or how to donate....

When: Sunday, January 10th, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. at The Canton Palace Theatre

To Benefit: The Colbert Family and The Leukemia Society

Ticket Price : $40 per person

Discount: 10 or more $35 each

Get your tickets today as there are still good seats left! Call the Canton Palace box office or purchase tickets online at www.CantonPalaceTheatre.org

And, if you can't be there, but would like to make a donation. Go to Versatile Dance Company's website at www.versatiledancecompany.com and click on the support button at the top. Mitchel will be putting all donations toward this show, "Praying for Abbey" which in turn will go to the Colberts and leukemia society.

*Versatile Dance Company is an official 501c-3 non-profit organization, therefore all ticket purchases and monetary donations are tax deductible. *

Thank you for your time and most importantly, thanks for your love and support to my dear sister and her beautiful family :)!

Promo for "Praying for Abbey" on Local News

Here's a clip of our friend Mitchel Federan founder of Versatile Dance Company on the local news promoting the "Praying for Abbey" show. Great job Mitch!!! Don't forget to pause the music in the bottom right corner before watching the clip.

Merry Christmas

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas as we celebrate our Savior's birth.

For unto us a child is born. Isaiah 9:6

With Much Love,

Jim, Shelley, Jacob, Abbey, Micah & Caleb

p.s. - I promise to get back to blogging after Christmas... Been busy shopping, wrapping, baking, eating cookies, sipping hot chocolate and most importantly spending time with my five favorites! Love to you all and many blessings to you and yours. :)

Hi :)! Hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season :)!

I think every year Christmas gets funner as the kids get older and get more into our traditions. We enjoyed decorating all our trees this year as we have a big one in the family room and then each kid has their own personal small one in their rooms. The lights of trees just make the house so cozy and warm. I love this time of year! We had fun with Christmas pictures too! The picture of the four of them is one of the many that we took for our Christmas card picture. It was a runner up, but I'm saving the one that we are using on our card. Jim always does great getting the kids to laugh and I snap away until I get a good one. We make a good team :)!

Caleb will be 6 weeks tomorrow (see new pictures of him below :)! It is so amazing how fast that time has gone. It feels like we just had him, but then again we can't remember him not being here. He is doing great! We can see him growing already and he is giving us some smiles here and there. I have yet to catch him smiling to show all you, but I'm sure I will get a good shot of it soon. He also is starting to make some cooing sounds, which has got to be one of the most rewarding things early on.

Abbey has been feeling great since her last fever. She's had no issues since then so for that we are thankful! We went to clinic last Friday for her vincristine in her port. Her numbers looked great and she is tolerating her medications well. She just finished her 5 days of steroids (yay!!)! We had lemon chicken 2 times this week (if you've been following us a while, you know how much she loves that when she's on the steroids), but other than her increased desire for salty food and being a little more sensitive then normal, she handled them well. The picture of her with her blonde, fluffy hair is from clinic Friday. Her doctor said he thinks she gained 5 lbs. from her hair coming in so much :)!

I had a really awesome opportunity yesterday to speak at our church's mom's group. It's called MnM's (Moms Need Moms) and I shared our journey through Abbey's leukemia. I have been devoting every free minute the last couple weeks in preparing my talk (hence my lack of posts!). There were about 35 women there and it was a wonderful group of ladies! It went really well and I truly felt God's presence there. My prayer was that they would see the peace and hope that could only come from God in a situation like ours and I truly felt God use our story.

Next week is Jacob's last week of school before Christmas break. We are very much looking forward for him having two weeks off! His Christmas program is this Friday at school. On Saturday evening we have something really fun coming up too. Continental Airlines puts on a really fun night for kids with cancer. We will go to the airport Saturday evening (along with many other families with children with cancer) and we will board a plane. The plane will taxi on the runway (pretending to fly and land) and we will land in the "north pole." We then will get off the plane, meet the reindeers and go to a party where santa will come with gifts for all the kids. It is supposed to be an amazing night and we are very much looking forward to it! We are really living it up this weekend with going two places as a family :). Can't wait to get out and do some fun things. Please pray that Abbey is protected from sickness as we will be a little out of our comfort zone.

Thanks for checking in! I will be sure to get pictures of Jacob in his Christmas program and pics of our trip to the North Pole :)!