Jack Jr. is Published...

When Cash was diagnosed back in February 2010, Jack Jr. was 3 and a half years old. At 3 and half years old (or any age for that matter), the response to a sibling that is sick can obviously vary. We've seen kids whose sibling is sick and he/she will act out and try and pull some of the attention their way. Other children will go inwards and get quiet. What Jack did, however, was extraordinary. He became tender, compassionate, loving, funny, silly, kind, and basically just awesome. Just say AWESOME.

We spent months and months either in the hospital with Cash, at appointments, etc...Cash and I even moved to Houston for months without Jack before he joined us towards the latter part of our stay there. He spent the night at our siblings' houses, cousins, grandparents, and friends during Cash's treatment. Even through all of these adventures, he remained awesome. He was/is a gift from God. He encouraged Cash, made him laugh, and helped him however he could. He brought him books, milk, M&M's, Kleenex, 'barf bowl', etc. He was truly a blessing to our family and I know for a fact that Cash loved him, looked up to him, and appreciated what Jack did for him.

Wendi wrote down all the sweet things Jack said, and took note of all the ways in which he helped, and 'Jack's book of good ideas' was formed. Jack Jr. hopes that the book would help other siblings in their response to a sibling that is sick; to give them ideas of What to do when your brother (sibling) is sick.

I'm excited to announce that Jack Jr.'s first book, "What to do when your brother is sick." is published! We sought out a publisher for the book early on in the process, but if you've tried to publish a book you'll know how difficult it is...With a gentle push from Wendi's sister, Laura, we were able to self-publish with Lulu.com (it will be available on Amazon.com in March).

It was a tremendous effort to get to this point and it took many people to help - Wendi and Hana worked on the artwork, Isabella wrote the text you see in the book, Jodi worked on the photography, obviously Jack Jr. put the words to the book, and Laura readied the book for publishing and worked tirelessly the past few weeks to get it ready.

Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to families who have kids with cancer here in our community, Relay for Life, and the Seattle Run of Hope. Wendi will be giving copies of the book to Seattle Children's Hospital in the next few weeks with the hope that Jack's words will help other families. We'll also be ordering a bunch of copies to sell at Cheeks Jeans and Willemina's (availability mid-February).

We are thankful and excited to be able to have the book published - Cash's journey continues to leave a lasting impact on us and if other families can benefit from Jack Jr's journey with Cash I'm even that much more thankful...


Thank you for your help and support as always!!!