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!

Dylanne wins again!

Dylanne won the free throw shooting contest again this year! I wish I had a picture, but I forgot the camera. She was very hesitant about doing the contest this year. She couldn't decide if she wanted to do it until the day before the contest and finally decided that she would give it a try. We got to the contest and she started practicing. There were 5 girls in her class competing and during warm-ups she wasn't doing that great and I worried that I pushed her into it and she was going to be mad at me if she did really bad. When it was time to go, she was up first and did amazing! 11 free throws in 2 minutes! I was so proud of her and she was very proud of herself, especially when she got her trophy! We are so proud of her!

I Have Some Catching Up To Do!!!!!!!

Okay, so I have been off the blogger wagon for a while and I guess it's time to get back on. My wife pointed out to me the other night that the last time I udated this website was on Dylanne's birthday, so I guess I have some catching up to do.

The rest of the summer has been full of fun and excitement, with a little trouble mixed in to keep it interesting. I figured I would just update by person instead of trying to piece everything in order.

Micheala - Kla has been getting use to using the diabetic pump. It has not been an easy road, but a road that is getting smoother. She really has a great deal of anxiety when we have to change her pump site. It is a painless process and only has to be done every 3 days, but she still gets all worked up about it. We have good days and bad days. Some days she'll really embrace the fact that her and her daddy are a lot alike, and other days she'll say that she doesn't want to have diabetes anymore. There's been a few days in which she had some moments that absolutely broke my heart. On day she asked me who gave her diabetes and I had to tell her that I did. We had a long talk about it afterwards in which I stressed that being diabetic didn't mean she was bad, just that she had to take extra special care of herself. I also walked in on one of her friends tell a group of kids at our house that "having diabetes is bad and it means you're going to die". Once this kid spotted me, they were quick to change their story. Kla didn't react to what was being said, but it just made me wonder, why would anyone say such hurtful things around her. She is now a 4 year old preschooler and really loves going to school. She is doing quite well and is managing her diabetes in school really well with the help of our school nurse. She has just started dance, which seems to be the highlight of her winter.

Dylanne - Heather and I have tried to focus more on Dylanne as she seems to find herself on the back burner most of the time. We have spent some one on one time with her really pushing positive enforcement. She is super smart and is really progressing well at school. She is losing her hair and nobody seems to have an answer why. Right now they are saying it is due to stress, but who knows. My heart breaks for her as she sometimes gets dumped on by her friends. Dylanne by all means is no angel, but on a few occassions, mom and dad had to sit in talk with a crying child after some mean and hurtful things were said to her. I chalk it up to growing up and am trying to teach her to be nice at all times and things will come full circle. Dylanne is starting cheerleading camp this week and will be performing this Friday at the football game. She has also started dance class and really enjoys dancing with her friends.

Heather - well the whole cancer thing has resurfaced which pretty much puts my life on hold. It is very scary having to wait for test results and think about what or could happen. Luckily the lumps in her throat are going to be treated with medication and an additional, more scary cancer that was believed to be present, ended up not being present. Heather and I have talked laetly about how we are in a "good place" right now. Despite some of the scares that we've had and our busy agendas, we love the way things are going. Heather just started a new job with the Health Department and really likes it so far. I'm not real crazy about it only because now I have to get up early in the morning and take the kids to school.

Mike - what to say about me. Hawkeye football is in full swing and that consumes many of my thoughts. I have been busy painting cornhole boards for people, which is nice to make some extra cash and I love to do it. The insulin pump has changed my life, not only health wise but mentally as well. I seem to have a more positive outlook on things and quite frankly stopped caring about what people think of me and my crazy ways. I just figured that I am having fun, and that's what matters to me. I really love this time of year because I get to spend every other weekend with my parents at Hawkeye football games. I wish my wife was able to come, but somebody has to watch the kids. Soon enough Heather, soon enough. My job is still up in the air. The Linn County Board of Supervisors seem to think that shelter care is not priority, even though that all the shelters in Linn County and Johnson County are currently full of kids. In the last 2 days we had to turn 8 kids away due to being full. I think there is a need.

I hosted the 2nd Annual Schrock's Black and Gold Blowout on September 26. This year my neighbor and I built a 9' X 12' screen and projected the game outdoors. The early rain was a bit of a scare, but it cleared away and 75-100 of our friends and family got to watch the Hawkeyes upset Penn State. The evening was highlighted with many beers, plenty of food, great people, an airbrush tattoo artists and everyone dressed in Hawkeye gear. Alan Brecht won the annual Keepin It Real award for showing the most Hawkeye spirit by dressing in the full Hawkeye uniform. Although the party takes a lot of little pety work, and is stressful in preperation, it was all worth it in the end. Thanks to all that came. Below is a picture of the party right before game time.