Back in St Louis... and grab a tissue

Okay, I know this is a bit of a shocker but I'm back in St. Louis with Cody for another soccer tournament.

We started off with another hectic Friday just trying to get out of town. I had Carson home with an ear infection, laundry to catch up on since we had 5 doctor appointments this week, soccer 4 days, and so on. So I finally dropped off Carson at Kelley's house around 4:00. She thought it would be better for her to keep him so Carson didn't get any worse (Thanks Kelley, that means a lot to me). I then dropped Cody off at my mom's house. She is taking him to buy new cleats since the ones he has that are less than 2 months old and cost over $100.00 ripped out on the side. How convenient, right before a tournament. After that I was off to work to do payroll. Yes, Denise, I started payroll on a Friday at 4:30PM. I did break my own record and had paychecks printing at 5:15. I have a lot of paperwork to do when I get back in town because I skipped a lot of steps. But I did what I had to do. So Chris came and got Coltan for me and my dad came over and got me loaded up and off we went. I picked up Charlie ( this is the soccer player I told you about earlier that his mom and dad own Carolyn's pumpkin patch). So we left Kansas City at 9:00PM. Yes, it was midnight again before we pulled in to town.

Saturday morning was a very precious day for me. Charlie, Cody, My dad, my niece Alison, and I went to St. Louis Children's Hospital and met with Klye and his family from Kyle's heart. What a beautiful family. I'm standing there and thinking to myself the whole time how this could so easily be me in her shoes. They are such a strong family and I just love Kyle's spirits. He is going to be back playing football in no time. I think that this is just the beginning of a wonderful friendship and bond between our families.

Cody and Charlie wanted to score a lot of goals for Kyle and boy did they keep their word! Here is how it went. We started our first game at 12:00PM and within the first 2 minutes of the game Cody scored. Then by the 5th minute of the game, Cody scored the second goal. Two more goals were scored and then it was half time. Coach decided that since we were up 4-0 he would reserve Cody for the next game. He did come out for maybe 10 minutes of the second half and I'll be darn if he didn't run a ball up and score a third goal. I could see the determination in his body and just knew he was going to be unstoppable. We beat this Kentucky team 7-0.

After the game we took my dad to the Arch. He has never been there and so we walked around and took some pictures and then off to eat lunch. While at lunch I asked Cody why so much determination and he said he was playing for Kyle. I about cried right there. (okay, I teared up and Cody asked me not to cry). Very proud moment to see how big hearted my 12 year old is. He is something all right.

So our next game started and we were playing the Chicago Magic's. They are supposed to be rated as one of the top 10 teams in the nation. Well not today boys. Cody got up and played hard and once again within 5 minutes of the game he scored! I was so excited. He ended up scoring the third goal and had three more that were so dang close. We beat this team 4-1. Again, he did it for Kyle.

I will post more about my trip later and post some of my pictures. I just wanted to tell Cody how your actions today made me realize what a great man you are growing up to be. Your actions today melted my heart. I'm very proud to call you my son.

If everyone could please pray for Kyle I know his family would be so grateful. They are staying in St. Louis until his new heart arrives. They were told that it typically takes 6-8 weeks and since they live in Iowa and it is about a 7 hour drive, it would be best for them to stay put. I also want everyone to stop and just hug your babies. You just cannot take anything for granted.

I will post tomorrow when I get home to let everyone know how Cody finished. Coltan was also in a tournament this weekend in Kansas City and I will post more on that as well. I also had one more nice surprise this weekend. Denise and Alec were also playing in the same tournament and since Carson was sick, she didn't think I was going to be there. When she found out, I was walking up to the fields and she called me and asked were I was at. I knew immediately that she was there looking for me. So I got some pictures of us that I want to post later as well. Don't worry, I'm going to get all of it done this week. I may double up on post but by golly, it'll be done.