Michael Phelps!!!!

Justin and his brothers are meeting super star 8 time Olympic gold medalist swimmer, Michael Phelps on this Tuesday to shoot hoops with him for Justin's Quest and watch him practice. The whole family is so excited and are honored to meet Michael. This weekend was very busy with alot of friends and family in town. Justin , his brothers' Jordan, Jacob and Joey, and cousins' Carey, Courtney, Alex, Jared and Michael shot hoops during the day Saturday and totaled 110 baskets. Saturday night cousin Alex R. shot 64 baskets.

Thank You Mr. Robert C. Tapella, Public Printer Of The United States

WOW, WHAT A DAY!!! Justin had a dream come true to meet someone of great political importance and shoot hoops with him for Justin's Quest. Well guess what? Justin was supposed to meet Mr. Robert C.Tapella, Public Printer Of The United States, Government Printing Office(GPO) for one half hour today at the YMCA located at 1711 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Washington DC. To our surprise, Mr. Tapella brought with him the GPO basketball team and some staff, Paul Erickson ( Deputy Public Printer), Beth Ann Telford( who works for the GPO,organized this event and a brain tumor survivor herself), and the photographer who works for the GPO. Also, present were the gracious members of the YMCA staff and Donielle S. Griffin, Director of Mission Advancement of the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington and NBTS staff members including Vice Chair of the Board, Jeff Kolodin. We were blown away at this event. Justin's eyes lit up and he had a big smile as Mr. Tapella presented Justin with an autographed official NBA basketball signed by Mr. Tapella and his Deputy, Mr. Erickson with the inscription " Justin you are an inspiration!". Justin then presented Mr. Tapella with an autographed picture of himself taken at the DC Race for Hope in his yellow survivor t-shirt with the inscription "Mr. Tapella thank you for supporting Justin' Quest" and a yellow Justin's Quest rubber bracelet. There were alot of pictures taken but the most fun for Justin was him playing a pickup game with the GPO basketball players and Justin was hitting jumpers all over the court. Everyone made shots for Justin's Quest. Audrey and I were so deeply moved and incredibly humbled by the experience. It seemed almost surreal to see our son with a brain tumor doing what we all dreamed of and that was to raise awareness and help find a cure for this disease, it was emotional. The fun did not stop there, as Mr. Tapella invited us back to the GPO complex for a tour. Our one half hour allotted time thankfully turned into over 2 hours of fun for all of us. Mr. Tapella showed us his unbelievable office, it was huge and so beautiful and very stately looking. Mr. Tapella was so kind to give us the tour and gave us a fantastic tutorial of the GPO and it's history. The GPO complex is over 1.5 million square feet. Justin even had the chance to do marbleized printing with Peter James, the Head Forwarder of the GPO. Mr. James worked with Justin to make a sample that he got to take home. We would like to thank the YMCA for providing this wonderful venue and the shirt they presented Justin. We would also Like to thank the basketball players from the GPO, they were so awesome with Justin and they even picked up Justin so he could dunk the ball. We would like to thank NBTS and Beth Ann Telford for helping to organize this event and she truly is an inspiration to everyone in the brain tumor community. We would like to thank Mr. Erickson and Mr. James of the GPO for their time and effort spent with Justin. Most Importantly, We cannot thank Mr. Tapella enough for a man so important and so busy, to take the time to spend with Justin and us was unbelievable. Mr. Tapella was so genuine in his concern for this cause and Justin. Justin still cannot stop talking about this wonderful experience as it really brightened his spirits and this was needed today because he had additional medical testing in the afternoon which he was very nervous about. Overall 60 shots were made today. This will be a day that our family will never forget. I hope that today's important event will lead to many others and raise awareness and hopefully a cure for brain tumors.

Big News

Justin and our family are honored to shoot hoops with Mr. Robert C. Tapella, Chief Executive Officer of the Government Printing Office, GPO this Tuesday. The GPO is an agency that produces and distributes information products for all branches of the Federal Government. Mr. Tapella was appointed by President George W. Bush to this office on October 4, 2007. Yesterday, Justin shot hoops with cousin Ava and Roger. Ava and Roger made 25 baskets and they did a great job. Justin and his cousin Jared along with brothers Jacob and Joey went to Uncle Bobby's complex indoor basketball court and shot 100 baskets.

Busy 2 Days

Yesterday was a tough day for Justin as he spent 3 hours at the doctors getting different testing. He came home from doctors and went straight to his uncle Bobby's house where there is an indoor basketball gym at his complex. Justin shot hoops with his 2 younger brothers Jacob and Joey. Also, there was a bunch of friends from his school, Frost Middle School, and they had a pickup game. Yesterday 125 shots were made. Today Justin went to his friend's house, Justin(another Justin) and shot hoops outside with Isaac, Brian and Justin. Then the 4 of them came to our house and shot hoops inside. Overall the 4 boys shot overall 310 baskets. It was a better day for Justin.

MLK's Birthday

Justin and his brothers were off of school on Monday in honor of MLK's birthday. Justin, his 3 brothers and 3 of his cousins spent the day at our house. They played basketball and shot hoops most of the day for Justin's Quest. They had a blast and ate lots of pizza and drank Gatorade during their breaks. They shot 350 hoops that day. Justin and I played 5 games of horse when I got home from work and believe it or not I won 2 out of 5 games.

Cold and Rainy Weekend

I had friends sleep over on Friday night. We shot hoops watched NBA basketball and watched a movie. Saturday I had a party to go to and shot some hoops with my brothers. Sunday morning I had soccer practice and a basketball game, my team won 38-4. I came home and shot more hoops while I watched the NFL playoffs with my dad and brothers. Overall this weekend we made 500 shots.

Busy Week!

I had a lot of homework this week and was very busy with after school activities. I still was able to shoot 250 hoops this week. But I hope and plan to shoot a lot of hoops this weekend.

Cold Monday

It is freezing here and still snow on the ground. I rushed home from school to get all my homework done so I could shoot baskets with my brothers inside. Yesterday, we watched the playoff games and shot hoops. Overall we shot 325 hoops in 2 days.

My First Post

I decided that I wanted to write the blogs and asked my dad if I can. He said no problem. Today it snowed and we had a 2 hour delay. It gave my brothers and me a chance to shoot some hoops in morning. We went out to Rio Grande to eat tonight and came home and shot more hoops with my brothers. today we shot 250 shots.
Justin

Wizards vs Cavaliers

Big basketball night in our household. Justin's 2 favorite basketball teams played and we watched and shot hoops during the game. Lebron James was awesome as was Antwain Jamison. The cavs won 121 to 98. We shot 250 shots tonight.

The First Shots in 2010

It has been very cold and windy the first few days of 2010. The whole family shot baskets with Justin over the weekend in the basketball room in the basement. It was a nice family weekend as we spent alot of time together. Uncles Peter and Bobby and cousins Corey, Jared, Darian and Courtney shot baskets with Justin on New Year's Day. The total baskets made this weekend were 710. School starts tomorrow and the kids will be back in their daily routine. Justin is eager to find time to shoot some hoops this week.

Christmas Vacation

Justin and his family visited his grandparents house in Florida. It was a great vacation and Justin had a chance to shoot some hoops when he was away. Upon returning before New Years, Justin and his brothers had been shooting baskests everyday to make up for lost time while on vacation. Overall Justin and his brothers shot 650 baskets.