As for me, I’ve been heading “back to school” now for over 30 years. I love it, but I’m also a veteran to say the least. 

 

As for the boys, it’s a dream come true. Pre-school wasn’t even on the table pre-transplant and while Jacob has fought and suffered and endured, it’s been one of those “lights at the end of the tunnel” that we’ve hoped for in the dark moments. And this week the light shone. Check out the new pics on our “Photos” page and look at those smiles. I had a little moment at Family Orientation night when I was standing on the playground watching JT play with more kids than he’s ever even seen before…he was laughing and running and Justy was in the mix too and I thought, “Yes…this is why we did the transplant – this is why he’s gone through so much.” 

 

I wrote a letter to the other parents about Jacob so that they’d have straight answers to their kids’ inevitable questions. We really hope the proactive approach helps. His first day was Friday and all seemed to go well. Justy goes for his first day tomorrow.

The other really cool part of our week was Saturday’s radio show. If you didn’t catch it, here’s a copy of the announcement from the Home page: 

This past Saturday, August 30, the Grove City band “Treebeard Brown” played live on the Saturday Light Brigade, a radio program produced in Pittsburgh and carried throughout our region on a variety of channels.  These guys are a talented bunch and the six songs they played sounded incredible.  The host called us on the air and we were able to share a bit about our story; Jacob capitalized on his live radio spot by thanking everyone "for helping me get my big immune system."  It was sweet.  If you missed the show live, you’ll be able to listen once it appears in the "Archive" this week at http://www.slbradio.org/ .  I believe the guys went on air about 11:15 a.m. and you should be able to scroll to this segment of the show.  Many thanks to Vince, Ken, Bruce, and Richie!

Yeah, it was cool. We were laughing and dancing it up and lots of folks heard the story and JT was live on the radio at age 5.  Very cool.

Otherwise, it’s life as we know it here: Jodi’s packing for the weekly 3-day road trip to Cincinnati. She’ll take off with JT early tomorrow morning. I’ll be putting on a tie for the first day with a new bunch of 9^th graders and Justy will be gearing up for his first day of pre-school. It’s a big week for all of us. Please keep us in your prayers, and especially JT, that the photopheresis will work, that his little body will be healed, that these small tastes of a full life will only keep coming. Thanks.