Joel's Journey: Ride em' Cowboys....and Cowgirl!!!!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Ride em' Cowboys....and Cowgirl!!!!

Andrew coming out of the chute

Micah on the fence

Partners

Hosanna...supposed to be on top of the sheep, not under!

Gettin' ready to ride!

Jeremiah comin' off

Micah and Andrew rode steers, Jeremiah rode a calf, Josiah and Hosanna (she really did it!!!) were "Mutton Buster's," riding sheep!!! Great fun!!!! If Andrew's hand had not touched the steer, he was a split second away from the buzzer!! Jeremiah was the only one who took in "prize money," a whopping $11.00!!! Hosanna did not get hurt, even though the pic looks pretty scary!!! I know if Joel were here he would have been a little "Mutton Buster" too!!!!

Have a great Saturday!!!!

Cindy

4 comments:

Unknown said...: Dear Cindy,I met yor father @ stepmother in Hot Springs a few days ago. Somehow in conversation I realized Your dad was the father of a very special young lady that I remember coaching @teaching at Chapel Academy. My name is Brenda Fratesi. They both filled me in about you @ your beautiful family. I really enjoyed visiting with them @ learning about your family. They even showed me the video of your children playing music at their church. They are so proud of you. I remember you as a very well rounded young lady with a beautiful smile. It is good to see Gods work in your life. Iam proud of you Cindy. May God bless you @keep you. Your old coach Fratesi.; August 17, 2008 at 10:23 PM
Unknown said...: Dear Cindy,I met yor father @ stepmother in Hot Springs a few days ago. Somehow in conversation I realized Your dad was the father of a very special young lady that I remember coaching @teaching at Chapel Academy. My name is Brenda Fratesi. They both filled me in about you @ your beautiful family. I really enjoyed visiting with them @ learning about your family. They even showed me the video of your children playing music at their church. They are so proud of you. I remember you as a very well rounded young lady with a beautiful smile. It is good to see Gods work in your life. Iam proud of you Cindy. May God bless you @keep you. Your old coach Fratesi.; August 17, 2008 at 10:23 PM
The Morris Family said...: Hi Brenda,
Wow!!! Can not believe you visited with my dad and made connections...been so long! E-mail me so we can stay in touch
Cindy; August 18, 2008 at 1:20 PM
alane said...: Wow, crazy stuff! Thinking of you all and keeping your family in my prayers.
Love, Alane; August 18, 2008 at 4:59 PM

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Joel's Story

Joel, our 11th of 13 and a twin of Josiah, at age 3 was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, on December 6th, 2006. Joel had three perfect years of health and he and Josiah celebrated their 3rd birthday Sept. 13th, 2006. The first of Oct. Joel started having unexplained fevers for a few days and would return to active play. After the fourth round of fevers we took him to our family Dr. which they said his iron was low, so we treated that for a few weeks and took him back only to have his hemo. showing lower than before. We were referred to a hematologists and saw him a few weeks with blood checks twice a week. At a visit on Dec. 4th we showed the Dr. the bumps, (which were tumors but we did not know at the time) on Joel's head and he was very concerned and we were told we needed to admit him immediately and start extensive tests the following day. Joel went through rigorous testing and then the dreaded results were given. Joel was at a stage IV the most extensive stage, but we were hopeful that the Lord would use the means of Chemotherapy treatments to restore Joel's body. Joel endured 8 1/2 days in the hospital, came home for Christmas, and returned for his second round of chemo Jan. 3, 2007. Joel had a seizure that night after midnight and went into a coma due to a tumor bleeding in his head area and causing his brain to swell. After tests the following days, the Dr. declared Joel "brain dead" and took us to court to force us to take Joel off life support, as we did not agree with the medical field's definition of death. Our family sought to stand with the scripture, "life is in the blood,"and until Joel's heart quit beating naturally, he was living. We were making arrangements to bring him home and on January 23, 2007 his little heart stopped beating and he went to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven. Our lives are changed forever. God is faithful in the midst of this trial and we look with great hope to be with him someday.