The birthday week comes to an end

Many apologies for being so late in posting an update. It has been a BUSY week of birthday celebrations for Cameron. Last weekend kicked off the celebration with our family and friends; I think we had about 50 people over last Saturday. Sadly, for the first time since Cameron's last hospital stay, he woke up with a headache and didn't feel good most of the day. I have to be honest, it just made me mad. For weeks I had been praying for Cameron to feel great so he would be able to enjoy his birthday parties and well, it didn't seem to be the case. But we still moved forward with the plans. To much surprise, Ms. Germano's son (who works at the local Dodge dealership) came by in an amazing Dodge Viper ACR and brought along with him a Dodge Challenger as well. It was so cool...we actually heard them before we saw them. Cameron was happy; had he felt better he would have been super thrilled. The excitement of the evening came with the cutting of Cam's super amazing Mario Kart cake (see photos). Many thanks to Posh Confections (http://www.poshconfections.com) in Raleigh for creating this for our little guy.

On Monday, his actual birthday, he again didn't feel great. He rested for a good portion of the day and then we had a Coldstone ice-cream cake with the neighborhood kids after school. It was great to have all the kids over for cake to celebrate with Cameron. We are definitely blessed to have such a good group of people around us. My parents were still in town and per Cameron's request, we went to Zaxby's for some chicken fingers for his birthday dinner. That night as we kissed Cameron goodnight, EJ and I both became emotional. It is truly a miracle in itself that we were able to celebrate Cameron's 10th birthday with him.

Yesterday we had his third party with his friends from school at the Jump Zone. He's talked about having his party there since his last birthday. A few months ago, I scheduled it with hesitation because I anticipated Cameron being unable to "jump". I even asked him if he was sure he wanted to have it there and my heart broke when he responded "its ok if I can't jump, I'll watch everyone else have fun." And that is what he did. He sat in his wheelchair, except for about 10 minutes when he played air hockey, and watched everyone have fun around him. It broke my heart on so many different levels, especially when he told me today, "I had such a great time yesterday." Ugh! One thing is for certain though, Cameron has the sweetest friends anyone could ask for. It is evident how much they love and adore him.

Needless to say, it has been a bittersweet week for us. We are super blessed with the miracle of having Cameron still with us but completely heart-broken that he continues to decline and has started having headaches again. This week especially, we have felt like everything we pray for, we seem to get the opposite. So its kind of quiet around the house these days. We continue to try to make the most of each day but it is getting harder and harder. I do ultimately know God has a plan and purpose but I just cannot begin to image what that is.