Family

Two years ago, when I was pregnant with Dillon, we went to the Jimi Flowers Classic swim meet. I found out about the swim meet, initially, from a news story about Breanna Sprenger, which I found from google-ing, about a zillion times, "limb loss" or "no limbs." We went to the swim meet, held at the Olympic Training Center, and watched Breanna swim, as well as Kayla Wheeler. These two girls are "lefties" as well - they were also both born without their legs or their right arms. As a pregnant mamma with a soon-to-be-boy with limb loss, it was a great blessing and comfort for me to see these girls swimming! Today, two years later, we went back to the swim meet (http://gazette.com/paralympic-swimmers-of-varying-ages-unite-at-jimi-flowers-classic-in-colorado-springs/article/1521820) and were able to take all four of our kiddos - including Dillon - to see Kayla and Breanna swim. We also got to see Gabe, a boy with the same limb loss as the other three. What a great event, and a fun time watching them compete! I wasn't real sure how to meet them as I didn't want to get in the way of their swim focus in the paralympic meet. I had been chatting with Breanna's mom and left a message for her dad, but it was still difficult to figure out how to connect. I didn't have to wait long though, before Gabe's mom came walking over to introduce herself and welcome us to the "one arm family." She then introduced us to Breanna, her dad, and Kayla and her mom. What a great "family" that we now get to be a part of! It is an absolute joy to now call these families friends, and I so look forward to learning from them on our journey. Oh, and some of these kiddos will be on the next Paralympic swim team, so we get to root for them too!

Hubs and the babe

Jason always wants D to be included in every activity that we are doing. I absolutely love it. He's an amazing dad, and is the perfect father for our sweet kids. Last week we had a summer picnic at the park with our base camp (small group). We love our small group. We ended up playing baseball the entire time (well, I can't technically say that I played, but I did cheer!), and D wanted to participate. So Jason just jumps right in and helps him bat then runs with him around the bases. D lights up...smiles and talks about it the rest of the night. We love how he personifies it all: "I run!" "I play baseball!" "I hit!" It's so fun hearing him take ownership in the sport or activity and genuinely have a fantastic time. I love watching him get excited, and love watching my husband and the way he includes him. He helped him horseback ride last week at a community event, also. See the joy, folks, see the joy. Yes, Jason is the absolute perfect dad for Dillon. We got J a bike rack for Fathers Day so we had to put it to use right away! Went to the park for a little bike ride, and took D's wheelchair along. We are so proud of him and how he's maneuvering his chair! Ah, and speaking of bike riding, Jason is once again going crazy and riding over 150 miles over three days in the Courage Classic to raise funds for Children's Hospital. You can find his fundraising site here:

http://www.couragetours.com/2014/prouddaddymez 

Step Into My Shoes

I took my oldest two boys to Compassion International's Step Into My Shoes event today and was blessed beyond measure. They were able to step into the shoes of a child living in poverty in Burkina Faso. They literally took their shoes off and wore skinny flip-flops, then walked a field (the "dump") searching for items that they needed to survive. My boys found buckets, water, clothing, plastic bags, boxes, a tarp, and wood. They came up with amazing ideas to collect and boil water and to make shelter. It was such a joy to see them in this environment! I, as the mom, was working as a seamstress and made $.50 for the whole day. $.50! The kids then had to go to a market and purchase what they could to eat for the day. The market also had toys and other appealing items that kids would want...it was so interesting watching all of the children go first to the toy tables looking for what they could buy, before they realized they couldn't afford to buy anything there, and needed to buy food for their family to eat. My boys were creative. I was proud of them. After the dump experience we all went into the building where a live Skype call with a Compassion center in Bolivia took place. I got teary-eyed as the kids in this center had never met their Compassion sponsor before, and we were that representation to them. Wow. I encourage you, if you sponsor, try to go meet your sponsored child. It has been an amazing experience for our family to meet so many of our sponsored children, and I pray that many, many people we know make the investment in that relationship to meet their child and their family. It will be life-changing for all involved, I promise. Today our oldest asked the Bolivian children some questions, and even shared his favorite verse with them ("Great is our Lord, and mighty in power." Ps 147:5). What a blessing, and a wonderful experience. There are some more dates this summer for Step Into My Shoes, so if you are in Colorado, go! compassion.com/stepintomyshoes