Micheala's been busy

Micheala has been a busy girl! As you can see in the pictures Micheala was a flower girl in Mike's cousin Aaron's wedding in March. She did such an amazing job! For the girl that doesn't want people to look at her and laugh she walked down the aisle and did a great job! She danced all night with her sister too. It helped having so many cute and young bridesmaids that helped Micheala. Then in May, Micheala had her dance recital. She is in the picture above with one of the seniors that she says is, "beootiful!" She loves the dance recitals and getting to wear makeup. Dylanne didn't dance this year, but at the recital it was easy to see that she missed it. We will see come this fall what she decides to do. With softball and soccer all summer, she may just want a break!

I took some pictures of Dylanne playing softball that I will upload and she has her first soccer game tonight. I will post them soon!

God Bless!

K'la lost her first tooth!

Micheala has had a loose tooth for several weeks now. Actually the permanent tooth is already in behind it. Well, Tuesday night she finally decided she was getting that tooth out! She worked that thing like crazy and had it bleeding and finally it came out! I didn't think her eyes could get any bigger but the look on her face was priceless as she was so excited! She borrowed her sister's tooth fairy pillow and slept with it all night and was so excited the next morning when she woke up to find a $2 bill with fairy dust all over it! She has carried that $2 bill all over and has shown anyone that will look at the fairy dust!

JDRF Walk for the Cure 2011 and the Kool-Aid Stand

It started with a promise to Micheala. I promised her that I would do everything that I could to raise $10,000 for the JDRF Walk this year. I had to explain to her that this will not make her "undiabetic" today, but this money will go a long way in helping find a cure in what we hope is the near future. Well.....WE DID IT! I have not got the official total yet, but as of the Saturday morning of the walk, we raised $10,464! It was a lot of hard work an generous donations by a lot of people. We had about 67 people walk and support us the day of the walk and it was a fun time had by all. I have this check hanging in my office today to remind me that you can do anything you put your mind to....focus and don't listen to the doubters...have faith in yourself. Thanks to everyone that helped us meet our goal!

I also wanted to include the Kool-Aid story:

The Kool-Aid Stand

As parents, there are certain times that we couldn't be more proud of our children. This just happens to be one of those moments for me.

As we near the end of our fundraising efforts for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), I have been stressed out to the max. Friday evening, Heather and I were having a conversation about what to do to raise the final bit of money that we need to reach our team goal of $10,000. We had already raised quite a bit of money and were really close, but close doesn't cut it as I made a promise to Micheala to do everything that I could to raise $10,000. Micheala and I were both suffering from a virus; she had a temp of 103 and I was not feeling the greatest. Heather and I went back and forth; we've exhausted all of our friends and family, had a silent auction, sold t-shirts and even cleaned carpets for a day. What else was there to do? How were we going to meet our goal? As our discussion ended, I got up and took our dog outside to go to the bathroom.

After 10 minutes, I came back into the house to be greeted by Micheala; who was once laying down but now was sitting upright. She says to me, "Dad, I have an idea how to raise money to make me undiabetic!" I said, "Ok Micheala, let's hear it."
She proceeds to tell me that tomorrow she can build a kool-aid stand and sell our kool-aid in our driveway to people and that will raise money for kids to be undiabetic.

I left the room and was followed out by Heather. I am man enough to admit that this put me in quite an emotional state. Here lays my 5 year old diabetic daughter, with a fever of 103, barly with enough strength to get up and use the bathroom, wanting to build a kool-aid stand and sell kool-aid to help out. How does a 5 year old have so much unselfish perspective?

We told K'la that she could do this if she wanted to and she quickly got her older sister Dylanne on board. So we purchased 2 pieces of poster board and some plastic cups and told K'la that if she was feeling better by Wednesday that she could follow through with her idea. She was excited.

I gained a great deal of perspective from this. Micheala knows only through her experiences what diabetes is. She doesn't understand that this disease is killing her dad and may cause her complications in the the future. She doesn't understand what "research" means nor does she have a total grasp on the importance of the JDRF Walk for the Cure and why we raise money. To her it is simple.....raise money to be undiabetic. What she knows or feels is that she needs to do something to help and this is the best way in her mind to do just that. A cup full of pennies is a lot of money to her, which brings me to understand that it's not entirely just about raising money, but about being part of something special...being part of the cure.
So Wednesday night, in 40 degree weather, K'la, Dylanne, Heather and myself will be in our driveway, in Urbana Iowa, selling our sugar free Kool-Aid to raise money for Team Pump Princess and JDRF. We may only sell a glass or two, but I think the real victory will be watching my 2 girls contribute to a great cause, not because they were told to do so by some adult, but because they chose to.

Thanks to our friends, family and neighbors...The Kool-Aid Stand made $343 on Wednesday night between the hours of 5pm-6pm. The girls were so proud.

Halloween and Updates

The girls had a lot of fun at Halloween this year. Dylanne was the Wicked Witch of South St and Micheala was Alice from Alice in Wonderland. Halloween honestly gives me a lot of anxiety. First, they don't make costumes for Iowa weather. So, the girls get costumes and then are all mad at me because we have to bundle up. Then the candy! O my goodness, there is so much candy and we have two diabetics in the house. Not a good combination! We went Trick or Treating with a bunch of friends and made it down one road when Micheala decided she was done. It's a lot of work to ask for candy and to be honest she had some and was dying to eat it! Micheala and I headed home, but I don't buy Halloween candy so we went to the neighbors and they let her help hand some candy out.

The girls did the free-throw shooting contest this year. This is Dylanne's third year and Micheala's first. Dylanne has gotten old enough that she is now using a real basketball and the hoop is much higher, which frustrated her a bunch. She got first place the last two years and was very frustrated with only third place this year. Micheala on the other hand, made no baskets, but thought it was a blast because there were High School girls there helping them and that is all she needed. Micheala really wanted a trophy and out of 5 girls, Micheala was tied for 3rd place so she got a trophy! She was excited and Dylanne ticked off! Ah, the emotions of girls.

That's about it for the Schrock house right now. They keep us on our toes and busy. They want snow now and are ready with their winter gear. I hope we don't get any this year. I have a feeling I will be disappointed.

JDRF and misc catching up to do!

Wow! I have some catching up to do.

Last spring Micheala and Mike participated in a photo shoot for JDRF. The hope was to use the pictures for the JDRF Gala that is held every fall. These are two of the pictures that were taken! They turned out amazing! The one of both Mike and Micheala was used on the invites for the JDRF Gala. The one of just Micheala was used as a big picture on the stage at the Gala. We were able to go to the Gala (thanks to so many wonderful people) and enjoy the evening in honor of Micheala. We had a wonderful time and were joined by our great friends Jason and Erica.

We have been busy since the last time I posted. School has started and Micheala is finally beginning to adjust. We had some health problems and those are posted at www.caringbridge.org site name: schrock.

Mike has been busy working his new job in Waverly. He drives an hour back and forth to work everyday, but he loves his job. He spent the summer coaching a 10U baseball team and really enjoyed working with the boys and other coaches. We had a blast going to the games and felt honored that those families allowed us to be a part of their boys lives.

The girls keep us busy. Dylanne is doing sports and enjoys school. She is a social butterfly so the second she gets home from school she wants to go somewhere to play. She enjoys the neighbor kids and she is usually at someone elses house or someone is at ours. Micheala learned to ride her bike without training wheels. She mastered it in no time and is now trying to pop wheelies and ramp off of things. Micheala's best friend is our neighbor Erica and everyday as soon as Erica gets home from work, Micheala is over at her house. Sometimes Micheala just goes inside and sits on the couch and snuggles with Erica.

That's us in a nutshell. Hopefully soon, I can get up some pictures of the actual Gala night.

School Begins!!

School has started! Dylanne started school on the 17th and Micheala started the 18th. The pictures shown are of the girls on Micheala's first day of school. They were both very excited about school starting. Dylanne has moved to a big kid pod in the school. She has an actual desk that opens and is very excited about it. Micheala is full-time school this year. After much discussions with the teacher and the nurse, I am feeling about as comfortable as I can be about her being there and eating lunch. She is very excited because her friend Madison is in her class with her. It is amazing to me how grown up they are getting.

Changes

We have had a lot of changes since our last post.

Mike:
First of all this Friday marks Mike's last day working for the Linn County Youth Shelter. He will have worked there for not quite 8 years and the County Board of Supervisors has decided to shut the doors. Mike will begin working for Bremer County on May 3rd as the CCO of Community Based Services. He will finally be working a day job and be home in the evenings and on weekends with the rest of us and we are very excited to have him at home! Mike has been spending a lot of his free time working with the CPU Storm baseball team. He has been helping coach and has really enjoying working with the boys. Their first game is tonight.

Dylanne:
Dylanne is doing well is school. She started softball yesterday and is very excited! She is growing like a weed and it won't be too much longer and she will be taller than I am! Both of the girls are finishing up dance and have their dance recital in a couple of weeks. Dylanne does not wish to do dance next year, but has shown interest in gymnastics. We had a friends birthday party at Twisters and Dylanne got to try out some of her gymnastic skills and she does actually have some raw talent. We will have to see if she gets to sign up this fall.

Micheala:
Micheala is getting so much better at working with her diabetes. We still struggle at times, but I think this is the nature of the beast and is something that we will just have to go with the flow. Micheala just celebrated her 5th birthday! Where did the time go? I can't believe our baby is 5! She had a wonderful day! We got her a bike and as soon as the garage door opens every morning, no matter the weather, she is on the bike and riding it in the driveway! She loves to ride her bike! She also got some seeds from her friend Erica and she planted them and they are sprouting and everyday she has to check to see how much more they have grown. She still struggles a little with going to school and hates riding the bus, but is getting better. She doesn't hate it, but would just rather hang at home with mom and dad. She will go to Kindergarten full days next year! She is a little frustrated that Dylanne gets to do sports and she doesn't. She will continue to do dance next year as she loves it!

Me:
I am working as usual. I switched jobs to the Health Dept. It keeps me busy and I travel a lot which I do not like. I made contact with my dad last November and that has been amazing and we talk (usually through email)several times a week. May 3rd marks 2 years since my Mom has been gone and I struggle with it everyday! People often tell me it will get easier and I am still waiting. Hopefully someday it will. The girls and Mike keep me busy and that helps a lot! We have great friends and I spend a lot of time with them and that is also wonderful!

Hopefully we can be a little better about keeping this updated.

God Bless!