Steadman Family

We had to redistribute the train cars on the dining room wall to avoid it from wrapping around the corner and into the refrigerator. We took advantage of the shuffling to blend in the larger sized cars.

Missed the train thread? Click here to see what it’s all about.

Thank you for sharing the holiday with us.

The Christmas train has officially left the station with our first eight cars added over the last two days. As seen in this awesome photo, keeping a photo update on the trains progress may be a little harder than I thought.

Howard, do you have any advice for taking a picture of a wall? Less flash, different angle? You’ll have to come out for the holiday and show me how it’s done.

And an extra shot to get you into the holiday spirit.

To say that we’re excited for this Christmas is an understatement. We feel blessed to have such a wonderful family, an amazing group of friends and an entire community supporting us. Melinda and the Grandma’s have decorated the inside our home with their artistic magic and I’ll string the outside lights once I’m finally off of the computer (should happen around June at this rate). The kids are singing Christmas songs, dancing with excitement and dreaming of presents.

And our eyes have been opened to the ravages of cancer. 1.3 million people in the US alone have been diagnosed with cancer this year and Ben is one of the 3,000 children who have been diagnosed with brain cancer. I guarantee you that many of these children don’t have the amazing support that Ben has.

We’ve seen our support network perform miracles this year. The dinners, presents, financial assistance, loving cards and comments on this site have done more to help us than you can ever imagine. We’re getting questions on what people can do for us for Christmas and the truth is that we’re buried in new toys and the generousity of our support network. Instead of gifts, we are asking for one more miracle from all of you. We have selected two charities to support this holiday season and ask that each of you make a donation in Ben’s honor.

Child’s Play was started three years ago by the creators of an online comic strip and has given over $1 million to children’s hospitals across the country. They give 100% of the money raised directly to the hospitals - not many charities perform this amazing act. You can donate money directly via PayPal or select a hospital and buy items from their Amazon.com wish list if you want that shopping experience for yourself. Items range from Playstation’s ($150) to books ($3) and do wonders for the kids in the hospitals.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation has helped over 144,000 children with life-threatening medical conditions realize their one wish over the last 25 years. Their gifts have had a great impact on Ben - from the confidence and joy he had Christmas shopping to the excitement that he has for his trip to San Diego. They have several donation options available at their website.

Share your gift with Ben!

We want a way for Ben to share in your generosity and see how many people care about kids just like him. Melinda (the clever half of our partnership) came up with the idea of creating a paper train car representing each gift. Our goal is fill an entire wall with train cars. We’ll be posting images of the trains progress throughout the holidays. You can either:

The challenge of fighting cancer may seem insurmountable, but families live on hope and take small steps everyday. Your gift, no matter how large or small, adds to our hope. Please share the love and support that you have shown Ben to other families.

Thank you and may your holiday be as miraculous as ours.