10th Birthdays - and 400 Posts!

This is our 400th post on ye olde blog! Three years and nine months ago today, we wrote the first one, and so many of you have stayed with us ever since. You've left an even 1,000 comments, and you've shared Georgia's story with folks around the world - and beyond! You've celebrated every milestone and victory with us and generously donated nearly $100,000 to childhood cancer research. We couldn't have made it this far without your support, so we thank you and love you, our dear Friends of Georgia.

Today, we're celebrating Ivy's 10th birthday. After a putt putt golf party on Sunday, she was showered with love, gifts, and chocolate cake and ice cream before and after school today. That's how we do around here! Ivy is so kind and funny and loves her sis something fierce. And as my Momma friend, Monica says, she is a childhood cancer survivor, too. I'm not sure we'll ever truly understand the impact this journey has made on her life, but she has come through it strong and smiling, and we are so proud of her. Happy Happy Birthday, Ivy Francis Moore!

Finally, I shared this on my Facebook page yesterday, and it seems like a fitting way to close this 400th post. Thanks for everything, y'all, and for always Keepin' Georgia on Your Mind.

"In the waning hours of Childhood Cancer Awareness month, and on the eve of Ivy's 10th birthday, I can't help but think about this picture from December 30, 2009 - Georgia's 10th birthday. We had been sent to Dell Children's a few hours earlier, after her pediatrician reviewed her "abnormal" blood work and wanted us to rule out "something like leukemia." Of the handful of things they thought it could be, I was sure it was anything *but* cancer because it would be ABSURD for my healthy child to have cancer. But the next morning's bone marrow biopsy confirmed it, and she started 28 months of treatment on New Year's Day. Three years and nine months later, what I now find absurd is the lack of attention and abysmal amount of funding that is directed towards childhood cancer. I have met legions of people who feel the same way, and we're all doing our darnedest to make a difference. I have been inspired by parents facing their worst nightmare and rising to their best selves to fight for their child and mine. I have been held up by so many hands - an incredible treatment team, my precious family and friends, and my fierce and beautiful Mommas - that it's my obligation and absolute honor to continue banging the drum until we END this. No more getting cancer for your birthday."