A Very Merry Christmas Wish!

Dear friends and family,

We wanted to wish you all a very blessed Christmas and New Year.  Our hearts will be with you during this holy season.  

May we not forget the true meaning of Christmas:

⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”  (Luke 2: 9-14)

May you all be blessed with the spirit of Christmas who is Christ Our Lord!

All of our love, Nancy, Scott & Hannah

Hannah Shares her Team's Trophy with her School

I was finally able to get this video to upload.  Here is Hannah sharing her trophy and performing St. Patrick's Day for her school.

An Amazing Three Year Re-Birthday!

Wow, what a great night!  It is so awesome that with Christian groups you can actually meet and talk with them.  I told Hannah how lucky she should feel that she has had the chance to meet Hawk Nelson three times and be in the front row for each concert.  That is an opportunity I never had when I was a kid.

These guys are true sweet hearts.  There is nothing put on with them, they are genuine and that is really special.  Though they may think Hannah and I are stalkers, they sure didn't treat us like that.

The guys seemed to be thrilled to get their shirts.  As soon as Dan saw them he looked at Jason and said, "It's the Hawk shirt!" with excitement.  Well worth the time they took to make.

Hannah's t-shirt was dedicated to the drummer, Justin Benner, because of his sweetness in saving his drumsticks for her at the last concert.  I wish you could have seen the joy her shirt brought to him, it made me so happy!

We also got to meet the headlining band, Family Force 5.  I did not know what to excpect, but they were great!

Because we had VIP tickets, we were able to have the meet and greet with the bands, but we also got a special acoustic set, that was hilarious and tons of fun!

I am sure you can't tell from this picture how happy we were!

The first band who played was Manafest.  Jon from Hawk Nelson played the guitar with them and it was terrific!  He is such an incredible musician!

When Hawk Nelson took the stage, Hannah and I were in our glory.  Front row, yet again, so we had the best views of...

Jason Dunn

Daniel Biro (he is actually pointing right at Hannah in this pic)

 Jon Steingard

 And, though he is hard to see, Justin Benner.

The snow was falling (yes indoors, during the show) and everyone was filled with Christmas cheer!

Life is to be celebrated and enjoyed.  We all need to stay focused on the blessings we have been given.  Each day is a gift and we must treasure it!

I LOVE my Hair!`

Sorry about the self photo, it doesn't really capture my new do, but I just wanted you all to know that I love it! It was just what I needed.

Getting ready to head to Cleveland for an awesome concert tonight!

Can't Catch Up!

So, I realize I said I was going to post more pictures from our trip to Philadelphia, but to be honest, as soon as we got home I got a terrible head cold, so I have been in slow motion.  I had to cancel a speaking engagement last week, and did two this week, though I am not sure how well they went since I could not hear out of my right ear and I kept having the "tickle" cough.  Today was my last presentation for the year and I am relieved, I love going out and talking with students, but I am RUN DOWN!!!

Tomorrow I am going for a pampering morning of hair cutting and frosting (haven't you always wanted to "frost" yourself?).  I need it, I have been feeling a little down about my physical appearance lately.  I guess it really never occurred to me that I would gain 50 lbs. and go up 10 pant sizes after transplant.  If one more person tells me I look "healthy" I think I will scream!!!  Please don't get me wrong, it is great to have some weight on these bones, but it is something you really do have to adjust to, and I am still working on that.  I am hoping a new hairstyle might make my Prednisone face a little less roundly!

I am getting really excited!  I have the most incredible date for the eve of my transplant anniversary.  I get to spend this Friday with some of my favorite people, get ready for it... Hannah, Scott, AND the guys from HAWK NELSON!!!!  Yes, we get to see them in concert again.  Who knew my 12 year old could make me a freak over a band again (sorry Goo Goo Dolls, sorry Bon Jovi, you have been replaced in my heart!).  We have VIP tickets to a Christmas show where we get to spend time with the band two hours before anyone else (well, us and 47 other VIP members).  Of course, Hannah and I created a new shirt for the occasion.  We also made each of the guys a shirt like the one they loved at the last concert (Here is the picture the bass player took of it):

Hopefully they will like their Christmas present!

I am not going to make any promises about posting again before the weekend, because I hate to let anyone down.  I will think of you all as I celebrate THREE YEARS POST-TRANSPLANT this weekend and I want to send out a HAPPY 4 YEAR RE-BIRTHDAY to JAMIE on Saturday also!!!

God's blessings to all of you!!!  Nancy

What a GREAT Weekend!

We are home from the Mid-Atlantic Oireachtas (Every Thanksgiving, the Irish dancing schools from the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Irish Dance Teachers Association of North America gather in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the regional Irish dancing championships.  Dancers and teachers, with their families and fans, travel from Delaware, New Jersey, New York and across Pennsylvania for solo and team competitions and coveted regional Irish dancing titles.) in Philadelphia and what an awesome weekend we had!  I have tons of pictures to share, but especially wanted to let you know how Hannah did.

Here is a picture of all of the kids who competed for Hannah's school, Rince Na Tiarna.

Hannah's first competition was at 8:45 Friday Morning and there were a lot of amazing dancers!  This was a solo competition and she took 19th for our Region, quite amazing for her first time at Oireachtas!  We are very proud of her!

Hannah's team competition was the last one of the day yesterday.  She was on the Under 12 girls figure team that consisted of 16 girls who did an amazing choreographed routine.

Here they are practicing on two different occasions.  Unfortunately, we are not allowed to video during the competition, so this is as much as I can show you.  There is no music, but hopefully you can get an idea.

All the girls on the team need to look the same, so here they are gluing the socks.

Hannah with her friend Katie.

Posing before they go to the competition.

The girls took 1st!!!!  Here they are going on stage to accept their trophy!

Some of the girls from Hannah's team were waiting for awards in another room, but here is the group that received the trophy.

Mary Kay Heneghan, Hannah's teacher is with the girls (on the left).

Each girl gets to have the trophy for a week, guess who has it first?  HANNAH!!!  She will share it with her school tomorrow.

Hannah with her friends Katie and Maddie!

We couldn't be prouder of RNT or our little girl!