Monday, June 29, 2009

Ramirez Family

Hannah and I had the wonderful opportunity and pleasure to meet the Ramirez family this weekend. They have two amazing kiddos - Sophia just turned 7, and Eli is 2 1/2. Eli has some of the same issues Hannah has, plus a few more. He is facing leg amputation surgery in the future, and Hannah and I went so they could see what they have to look forward to with Eli.

Sophia met us in the driveway. After just a couple of minutes, the girls were fast friends and scrambled up the stairs to the play room. Seeing Hannah scamper up the stairs brought tears to Melissa's eyes. It was soon obvious to them, that having no legs wasn't slowing our little dynamo down.

Soon Eli was finished with his lunch and was down and on the move to see what the girls were doing. Watching him scoot around brought back memories of the way Hannah maneuvered before she was actually walking. It may take him a little longer to get where he wants to go, but he gets the job done. It was quickly obvious to me that even though Eli has a very limited vocabulary, he can get his point across. This little guy has soooo much personality.





The girls were upstairs coloring and playing in the "tent" Sophia's dad, David, had made for them. Eli had to get in on the fun too. He LOVED scooting under the tent going after the girls.

We took all of Hannah's legs so they could see what Eli's legs would most likely look like. I tried to share the pros/cons of the different legs. Our main goal was to help them feel better about the decision they were making for Eli. I personally know how big a decision it is to make such a seemingly drastic decision for your child. We know now that the choice for surgery was most assuredly the best choice we could have made for Hannah.

Please keep this family in your prayers. Eli is facing thumb surgery - making one of his four fingers a thumb - on August 12. Eli has a history of having complications with each surgery, so please pray with me that this surgery will be the easiest one yet. Also, please keep dad - David - in your prayers as well. He is dealing with a slipped disc in his back, and this is causing him a lot of pain.

You can go read more about Eli's story here: http://prayforeli.blogspot.com/

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Oklahoman

AMAZING WEEKEND!!

WOW!! That's about the best way I know to express the events of the past few days. Every time we are privileged to be able to spend time with other kids and adults like Hannah, we are just blown away. We were able to make the trip to Edmond to participate in the 10th annual Endeavor Games hosted by the University of Central Oklahoma.
There were over 300 athletes representing 30 states and various continents. Participants ranged from age 4 to in their 60's, and had varying challenges - including but not limited to - amputations, blindness, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and most touching, our wounded soldiers. Events ranged from track and field, to archery, volleyball, swimming and others.
This was an awesome opportunity to catch-up with old friends and make new ones. Hannah participated in several clinics and one event. The clinics offered her a glimpse into what she CAN do. She got to try out a hand cycle, which was way too big, but she can't wait until she gets one her size. I also think we may just have an upcoming sitting volleyball star on our hands. She also brought home the SILVER MEDAL for the 60 meters in her classification. Several classifications run at the same time, and she was a little disappointed that she didn't win her heat, but when she found out that she had won silver, she got excited. Now she has her sights on the gold in the 100 next year. She has assured us though that she doesn't want to do the 400 because "that is way too long".

Considering Hannah's condition of being born without both tibia is a 1 in 3,000,000 occurrence, there just happened to be five there (ranging in age from five to ten) this weekend, of which Hannah was the youngest. She was really excited to have a female friend to help her with the boys.
I'm going to close with a few pics of this weekend. We did have a blast!!