Two years ago today was our first official family vacation.  We woke up early to get on the road to Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Cassidy and Alec were so excited, we all were, this was huge.  Up until now, we had only felt comfortable staying close to The Jimmy Fund and Children's hospital.  Because Alec had a port,  if he got a low grade fever for a few hours or a temp of 101 once, then we had to get him to the Clinic or the Hospital quickly for IV antibiotics in case of infection.  So the furthest we ever went was 3 hours away (which was still scary to be this far) . We also could not afford to do a full week vacation, so it was usually just a few days or a free camp for families with children with an illness or my Mom sharing her time share with us.  On one of our trips, we stayed at Terri's  (my bosses house in NH, she was so kind to offer it to us),  Alec and Cass both ended up so sick with colds and Alec got a fever,  Keith called the clinic and we were borderline on whether to head to the Hospital or hope his fever went down,  we decided that we would drive back to Boston if he needed antibiotics because we were scared that the hospital in NH was not used to children with ports and would hurt Alec even more.  Luckily his fever lowered and we got to stay.  The next day we went up to StoryLand  with our Best Friends Nicole and Kevin and their kids and while we were there we bumped into one of Alec's head Doctor's at the Jimmy Fund.  We told him what had happened and our plan to drive back to Boston for care,  he told us that we would need to always take Alec to the nearest hospital for immediate care and going to Boston was not an option, it was too risky to wait that long.  This made us want to stay close even more.
 
But now, Alec had gotten his port out in April,  so we could treat Alec like any child with a fever if he got one. This was all new to us and so wonderful and unusual to be able to know we didn't have to call the clinic if he had a fever.  So we felt now was the time to take off, to finally go on a real family vacation,  just us.
Alec has always had the chance for a wish from Make-a-Wish ,since he was a baby .  He was too little to make a wish and we wanted it to be his wish.   We now offered it to him because he had said he wanted to go to Disney and the only way we could afford Disney was to use the wish.  So we told him about the wish and told him he could use it for Disney or we could go to Hershey Park and he could save his wish.  He decided that he wanted to go go to Hershey Park,  (this relieved me, I always had a fear of using the wish).   I had this very strong feeling that we had to go on vacation before Alec's next MRI, which was in July. We had to go while his port was out or else we may not get to.
 
We had the best road trip, it was so fun to be traveling together and following where we were on the maps. Cass and Al were so excited.  It took about 8 hours and then we got to The Hershey Lodge.  It was huge;  and the best part?  They had escalators!!  Alec loved escalators,  we were just as excited as him,  I mean what Hotel has escalators?
And Giant Candy Bar Characters and a kids check in.  Wow , it felt so great to be together, having fun, no worries,  just us.

 Me and mom were driving to my horseback riding lesson Today and there is a  car dealership place on the way there. a They have all the cars lined up at the front of the place. Usually they say SALE on the cars but this time it only said AL!!!! The car that was suppose to say E was gone and the car that was suppose to have the S on it was there with no S on it.!

                                                           Cassidy

(I just read a story online about an 11 year old boy who is a Minister.  He said God spoke to him in a dream and told him to read  psalm 23.  He said he gave his first sermon at 7 years old.)     He reminded me of Al.

 As Halloween 2009 was approaching, I kept asking Alec what he wanted to be for Halloween.  He didn't know, so I kept suggesting things;  I said do you want to be a dinosaur?,  he said , NO.  I said do you want to be a Giraffe?,  he said, NO.  I suggested many more ideas and he said NO to them all.  Then I said,  Hey Al do you want to be a Priest for Halloween,  like Father McCormick?  And he excitedly said,   YES!   He said I want my priest costume to be Green like Father McCormick's.  So I got Green fabric and cut a hole in the middle to slip over his head , then I put a white cross on the front.  Alec did not approve, he wanted the cross bigger.  So I made it bigger,  Alec still did not approve he wanted it even bigger ,  he was very particular and wanted it to look just like Father McCormick's.  I was not sure exactly what I was doing wrong,  but it took me like 5 times of changing the cross before  Alec was happy with it.  He had to have  it  just right.  I even asked him if he wanted to be something else and he said NO,  he only wanted to be a Priest like Father McCormick.  He was so proud of his costume, he loved being a Priest and he looked so adorable.  It melted our hearts  and it was quite fitting for Alec.  Since he always had Great Faith and Love for God.  

Father McCormick loved this and it was clear it melted his heart to see Alec dressed like him and that Alec  wanted to be him for Halloween.



Here's a picture of Alec and Cassidy in their Halloween costumes 2009.
 Cassidy is a Witch and Al is a Priest in prayer .

  When we would  visit my Nana ,  Cassidy and Alec's Great Nana, who they call Vovo ,  Alec loved to play with her cane.  He always wanted to hold it and touch it . He always tried to keep it.  Every time he'd ask if he could have it and we had to explain that she needed it to help her walk.
  One day we were driving in the car,  me , Cass and  Al.  And Al  said to me, 
"Mom,  when Vovo  goes to heaven will she need her cane?".   I said, I don't know Al,  but I don't think so.
Then he said all excited,  "Then can I have it !?"

When Alec was a baby and we were home with him, while he was slowly getting better,  about a month or two after the  healing service , My Mom had brought over a prayer to St. Theresa.  It was a prayer to pray to St. Theresa for a miracle  and she would send you a rose or roses to let you know that your prayer was being answered.  I was new to all these Saints,  but I prayed with everything I had to St. Theresa to get Alec better-- to heal him-- for the miracle we needed.  While we knew Alec was doing better and felt so strongly that he was being healed,  we had  no proof,
(it was on faith alone),  we were not able to get an MRI on Alec until August-- and this was either June or July.     After I prayed to St. Theresa  (maybe a day or few days later),  the four of us went on a walk in our neighborhood  ( I think we were going door to door to collect money to donate to The Brain Tumor Society and The Leukemia Foundation,  this now seems crazy that we were doing this,  but I felt we  had to do our part to help and make a difference as a thank you for having Alec with us).
  On our walk , right  there in the middle of a side street,  I see a ROSE,  one long stemmed RED ROSE  just laying in the middle of the road.  I didn't say anything to Keith , I couldn't,  I froze in awe.  I just kept staring at it. I wanted to pick it up, but I was so afraid of touching germs as we were so scared of Alec getting sick.  So I just watched that rose til I could see it no more.  I knew that was my Rose sent from Saint Theresa to let me know my prayer was being answered.  I knew this because you don't just see a long stem rose laying in the middle of the street.
   After this Saint Theresa became a very special Saint to us.  She sent us many roses when we needed them.  Also  Alec was baptized at St. Theresa's Parish,  I had been to baptisms there after we had Cassidy baptized at our Church of St. Mary's, and it was done much more beautiful at St. Theresa's, so we chose to have Alec baptized there.  Despite the fact that I had to approve it with St. Mary's,  whose secretary was very rude and said that we would not remember that we had one child baptized at St. Mary's and one baptized at St. Theresa's.   Really lady.  
   This was all before Alec was diagnosed and it is proof that St. Theresa was watching over Alec then.  Deacon Tom baptized Alec, and it was the most beautiful and touching moment, I couldn't stop the tears.  ( I don't remember crying at Cassidy's baptism).  After Alec was diagnosed, Deacon Tom would come over our house and pray and sit around  and talk. We were nervous around him at first because we weren't church goers and didn't know how to act around him,  we didn't know all the words to the prayers . He made us feel so comfortable , he was so real with us.  I even felt comfortable enough to ask him the words to a  prayer I didn't know, because I needed to know them for one of my prayers for Alec. 
 Just to show that St. Theresa has been with us all along, --
Back before we got married, I decided to receive my first Holy Communion and Sacraments because I never got to receive them. I had always wanted to and I knew if I didn't do it then , that I would  never do it.  So I went to RCIA, a program for adults held at St. Theresa's, even though my church was St. Mary's-- this is where the classes were. I did not understand anything. I tried but it didn't make sense, the bible was like reading a foreign language. But I did get to meet Father Mc Cormick there, we actually asked him to marry us, the first time Keith and I went to meet him, he told us on the phone to look for him, he'd be the guy wearing a Patriots sweatshirt,  we thought he was kidding,-- he was not-- he had it on over his Priest clothes.   He could not marry us because he had a family wedding to go to that day.  But Father McCormick is amazing, he's a regular guy, he's fun, he's understanding and he makes you feel so comfortable and so special.
    I had to go on a retreat for my Religious classes and we all had to go off on our own  and then come back together and share how we had felt God. I was the only one that did not feel anything, I had nothing to share. I didn't know whether to make something up or be honest-- I was honest.
 And I had my first confession face to face with Father McCormick there, he made me feel so comfortable, I was trembling with nerves. From then on I would only have my confessions with him, face to face.  He too has become such a special part of our lives in so many ways.  (He has even played hangman with all of us in the hospital and at home, and he's GOOD.)
  All  of this I feel was meant to bring us close to God,   God was working and preparing us, and leading us to to St. Theresa's,  because we would need God and faith and would find comfort and a home with the people of St. Theresa's.
  I shared my story of  The Rose that was sent  to me with Deacon Tom, and he shared it with Father McCormick.   They were in awe of this and asked me many times to repeat it for them.  It made them so happy, and it even amazed them.