One Last Stand

I love a catchy beginning--but I've got nothing this time around. So here it goes:

We are moving. June 18 will be our last lemonade stand in our front yard in 08021.

Of course, not our last lemonade stand forever. Just our last one here, in our first home. The home where we brought home all our babies and made so many memories. The home where we hosted our first Alex's Lemonade Stand in 2009. The home we raced home to after Lily was released from the NICU in 2006 and the PICU in 2007. The home tiny Chloe came home to in February 2009 and the home our sweet surprise Nicholas first slept in and made our family complete in 2012.The home where we hosted 7 lemonade stands and planned our #BigLemonade World Record breaking cup.

Our home.

We are sad to leave. We are excited for the new house (not far! Just a couple towns over and closer to our church.). We will miss this bungalow that has long been overcrowded with stuff and lemonade and love and memories and chaos and glitter (note to all potential new owners: you must love glitter, I think it seeps from the walls.).

Our children will miss our front yard lemonade stands the most. When we first announced the move and made it clear this was happening--Lily said: " What about my lemonade stand? Will the lemonade stand butterflies follow?"

Lemonade stand season is ideally timed with butterfly season. Lily once heard Jay Scott, Alex Scott's dad, tell the story of the butterflies in their front yard every lemonade season. The stories of Alex's life and legacy are so deeply entrenched in Lily's memories and in her own life story. Lemonade and butterflies and hope and strong, warrior little girls who change the world--are not fairy tales but true life stories.

Our front yard is filled with lilies (both the human and flora kind) and lilacs and lavender and daisies and other blooming delights. There are always butterflies in June, along with lemonade, in our front yard.

For our kids--our annual Alex's Lemonade Stand is so much more than tradition--it is truly part of our home and the story of our lives.

Someday, the new house (which we've nicknamed "Eldridge," for the street it is on) will also have butterflies and lemonade and truly be our home. It is hard for all of us to fully see that now--we have such an amazing community here and there is always the fear that our community now; won't follow us a few miles up the road and well, the new community won't see the butterflies and lemonade.

However, we've learned that Alex Scott's legacy of lemonade, hope and childhood cancer research is infectious. I am pretty confident wherever the Adkins Three land, the butterflies and lemonade will follow. We have Alex to thank for that.

There are 5 days until our one last stand in the Front Yard of 08021.  We can't wait to see you. Bring friends. Bring hope. And bring yourselves. Oh and save the date, we already have our first Eldridge Lemonade Stand planned, just at the tail end of butterfly season: September 18, 2016.

We'll see you there too.

Every donation funds innovative, cutting-edge childhood cancer research. Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation has an amazing Scientific Advisory Board that works to identify the most promising projects and to fund breakthroughs. Because of your support, Lily's annual lemonade stands for ALSF have funded over 40 weeks of research. 

If you can't swing by for a cup of lemonade on 6/18 (from 10-2pm in our front yard.), then donate online! Please share the link to Lily's stand! Link: https://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/1234636