Allie and Abbie
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If you've been reading my blog, you'll probably recall the story about a precious family we have grown to love here in Tampa. Their youngest daughter, Allie, was diagnosed with ITP in 2006. She is absolutely precious and has such a spunky personality! For their family, this year has been one full of many ups and downs, but their faith and trust in the Lord is unwavering!

Abbie is their oldest daughter, and is incredibly smart and beautiful too! She is so thoughtful and concerned for her sister that it brings tears to my eyes as I realize how strong she is for her age. Abbie is in our Wednesday night kid's group at church and is a complete joy to be around.

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On this particular day, Allie was at the hospital receiving another treatment, and we thought it would be great to give her big sister a special girl's day, full of one on one attention, some pampering and enough stuff to keep her from worrying about Allie. So, we brought her to the BCM and gave her a "spa" treatment! She picked out makeup, fingernail polish, hair clips, the works and some of the girls from my Bible Study loved on her for the entire afternoon. It was a blast and blessed our hearts far more than we think it could have ever blessed hers!

The first activity - and the only one I allowed my boys to be a part of: making snowmen out of Oreos, marshmallows, red hots, twizzlers, pretzel sticks and icing, which I discovered Abbie is not a big fan of! The icing that is!

The boys working hard...

The final product... a little scary I know. The Kraft test kitchen did not perfect this recipe, I promise! Otherwise, it wouldn't have looked this frightening!

Abbie getting the treatment and talking on my cell phone with her mom all at once!

Enjoying getting her hair all styled!

How beautiful is she?!

Seeing the finished product for the first time...

So cute and such a sweet smile!

Then it was time to make a scrapbook (to put all these pictures in)!

Showing off her work of art- after the glitter was removed from her clothes! :-)

Posing with the girls and her new bear from Miss Rachel!

Finally, we asked Abbie where she wanted to go for dinner- any where - it was her pick. I was expecting her to say something like McDonalds or Chick-Fil-A. Normal responses for a kid her age!
Do you know that she asked to go to Longhorn?! This girl's got some taste! She cracked me up when she told me her favorite things there were the sweet tea, the bread and a baked potato- all of which she gobbled up!
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Spending this time with Abbie was such a joy! Please continue to pray for her as she works so hard at being a good big sister, as she waits expectantly with her family for God to heal Allie and for her tender heart to be full of joy and peace. Pray also for Allie's platelets to rise, for her continued protection and for her parents, Wally and Renee, as they provide, sustain and bring up their girls in a Godly home, as they walk this difficult road please pray that they will find strength, peace, hope and rest in our Heavenly Father.