The BIG day

My idea of what this special day would be like was different that how it really turned out. I was hoping for sun and lots of friends, a big party to celebrate S. Our family friends did not come out, and the forecast was cold with 80% chance of rain. But I tried my hardest not to let that damper my joy. I felt like it was a wonderful day to honor a brave little guy.

My brother in law took time off work and drove three hours to come help, along with my mom. We had C. stay home from school. God is so good, because at the last minute, more P.D. family decided to come help! A few other officers came out on their day off with their families. We had many hands to help put together the play set. It took longer than we expected, about four hours.

Uncle Nick shows C. how to work the power tools.

K. at the entrance to her fort.

E. loved hanging out by the snack/drink table!

I spy...

S. and E. liked working with the tools a friend brought to share.

It started to pour rain, so my mom and I took the little kids inside and hung out while they played. We had pizza and pop, donated by a local pizza place. There was a cake too, but by the time everyone was finished, they were cold, wet and ready to get going so we had to eat it all! Make A Wish had a few surprises too. A new bike and helmet for S. (with a name plate), balloons, and tickets for our family to the nearby zoo.

We were all so tired and ready to get to bed early. The next day we had nicer weather and the kids were able to spend a long time trying out all the fun features and played HARD.

THANK YOU so much to all who were involved

in making S's wish come true.

He will enjoy this for many years. We feel so blessed!

Day one work party

We had a big day last Tuesday getting things ready for the playground set up. Rock and wood chips needed to be loaded up and spread, and the wood frame to contain them needed to be put together. All these materials were donated and delivered by local companies and individuals.

J asked co-workers to come out on their day off to help. We were surprised by how many people came out! What a blessing to be part of a wonderful "family" and support system. The sun even came out for a while. Someone brought out a gadget (transit) to level the wood frame as it was built and make sure it was all straight. We were loaned a big sound system for music. Most people brought extra tools and wheelbarrows. Muffins, juice, water and granola bars were brought in by Make A Wish. Some people came out and stayed just a while, and some stayed until the project was finished. We are so happy by the way it turned out and thankful for the hard work everyone gave for S!

crushed limestone...hard work!

S. and Dad

S. would not take off his bike helmet

but we figured it was good protection with all the hazards around!

S. got lots of rides!

S. and his Make A Wish grantor (and Jackson the dog)

most of the work crew

For some reason the pictures we took were blurry on one side. Maybe the lens was dirty from little fingers. I hope others got some quality pics!

Site prep

Yard BEFORE:

We woke up early to the sound of machinery in our yard!

Coast Construction came out to help finish the job for S's wish.

First they brought in several dump trucks of a sand/soil mix.

Then they used a backhoe to level out some of the dirt.

Next they laid out this road fabric to help keep down moisture and displace weight over the peat bog muck.

And with several trips moved the dirt closer to the site and eventually onto the fabric.

They spread and leveled it, making it look nearly perfect!

We met Skip who finished the job (there were two guys who traded shifts). He was great, going over the ruts left by the trucks and even sweeping the driveway. Coast Construction donated all of this for S. I was overwhelmed by the scope of the whole project, and they saw it through to the end. All their work ended up being worth about $2000. Two machines, fuel, 3-4 loads of dirt, road fabric, electrical repairs and 12 hours of labor. We couldn't thank them enough!

On Tuesday a group of J's coworkers and friends are coming to help set up a wooden barrier and bring the wheelbarrows full of wood chips in. Then on Wednesday more friends are coming to help set up the playground and create a limestone bike path around it. We would like it to be more of a celebration of S. than a chore. If you would like to come out, let me know!

PLEASE pray for no rain.

Rippin' Dirt

25 yards of wood chips to go under and around the play structure was delivered today, all donated. The man who delivered has a grandson who received a trip from Make a Wish about eight years ago, from the same wish grantor as ours! What a small world.

Poor S. was scared of the HUGE truck.

Quite a big pile!

Yesterday we had the big CAT come out to the house.

S. was really uneasy and sometimes frightened by the big machine.

three big stumps were pulled up!

Long days

I have been busy lately! I am always a bit busy but the last few weeks seem like a whirlwind.

We had a wonderful Easter. J led worship at church and we enjoyed a wonderful message. Then we went to our friends' house to have a yummy lunch and fun, chaos filled Easter egg hunt. We left there and drove to my parents house to visit and have dessert.

I have been cleaning and organizing the house to get ready for our home visit for our foster care license. It took me a LONG time. Partly because I procrastinated.

We did have the visit on Monday. It went well we think. The licensor will write up the report by the 11th. There is a 90 day deadline by state law to have paperwork completed starting the day we applied. I can't believe it's already been that long! After the office looks over the report we could have our license a week or two later. Wow.

I also got a job on Monday. A friend of a friend needed childcare for her son for two to three days a week. I am on day two of caring for him and so far so good! He is a cute little guy and fits in well with everyone.

Make a Wish volunteers came out this morning to do some site prep. Coast Construction volunteered to come out and pull stumps and level the ground. We ran into some issues...muddy, poor soil and cut electrical lines (yes we did try to locate them first but were misinformed). Thankfully the owner of Coast was a gracious and helpful man and had some good ideas. He brought in some heavy duty road fabric to lay over the muck. Then called in a load of sand to put over the fabric in the low areas. This will be delivered Friday or Saturday. We will have a bunch of wood chips delivered to put over that and then the playground. It is quite a process. J had to come home from work to help with the power line situation and stopped by the hardware store to get supplies to splice the wires. The Coast guy spliced and repaired the cut lines like a pro. He gave up so much time, resources and energy for us and S. Really made me feel good that he did such a great job.

Sigh

Busy getting ready for an impromptu garage sale. I don't enjoy it, but we really need the extra cash to pay some nagging medical bills. Plus it will be a huge plus to have less clutter around! Hoping it's successful and sunny tomorrow and Saturday.

The Make a Wish project has become a HUGE stressor for me. I know it is not supposed to be. I think because it involves our property, some big prep work projects going on before the big day, and finding friends to help, it's been difficult. I am getting very discouraged trying to find volunteers to help for the day of May 11. It should be a lot of fun. I hope it is kind of like a big party with lots of friends, food and celebration of a wonderful kid.

Spring has yet to find it's way to our area. It was actually snowing the other day! I know I am super tired of rain, cold and muck.

Baseball has been fun for L. And J. has been putting in a lot of time helping coach when he is able. And soccer for E. was quite entertaining last night. He was more concerned about his (girl)friend A.J. than listening to the college students running the practice! Too funny.

Confirmed

We got a confirmed date for the playground! May 11 it is. If you are local and would like to help, volunteers are needed.

Not Much

Some little updates, but nothing much is going on here. I feel like there is a lot of stuff just hanging, waiting...hoping and praying.

• The Make A Wish project is slowly coming together. People are trying to make it happen May 11th. S. is ready!
• Our home visit for foster care is scheduled for May 2. There are just a few things we need to do to get ready. We recently ripped apart our old deck, and rebuilt a platform/steps to the ground. We need rails put up before then. And I need to find a one way CPR mask. Our house is most of the time cluttered and/or dirty thanks to five kids, so that is a never ending project.
• L. has his first Pony League baseball game today, actually a double header. He is catcher for his team, first time. Pray for safety!
• I am signing E. up for soccer. It starts next week. That should be interesting!

Migraines and such

My C. has been having migraines this week. Every day for nearly seven days. Yesterday and today she has been feeling a bit better, so that is hopeful. It concerns me because it came out of no where. She has never had issues with headaches before now. She goes to the doctor on Monday to discuss this and her ADD medication. She needs to have gained weight since her last check up three months ago.

L is on his way with dad to Grandma's house. They will be leaving tomorrow morning for Florida. I am not far behind them! He is so excited.

We are preparing the back yard for the playground to be set up. We figured out we will need to move our fire pit which will be a bit of work, but it's the only place in the yard where the big set will fit. We also pulled out our ugly rotten deck. It was such a hazard and I couldn't wait to pull it down. Now J. will be working on rebuilding some stairs down from the house. When we have some more money we can build a nice replacement deck or patio. The playground has been ordered and we are thinking it will be put in early May. We will have some volunteers (anyone?) to come out to help set it up and do some celebrating too!

E. and S. had a school conference the other day. Teacher G had a lot of good things to say but also noted some of the areas that concern us too. E. will be trying Kindergarten in the fall. He will enter with an IEP and he may have to go two years in a row if we feel it's best. S. is doing pretty well, with learning classroom rules and routines. He bit a little boy a few weeks ago and we discussed that. He were also told he has a willful side and gives the teachers the stink eye often!

It's approved!

S's Make A Wish for a playground was approved by his pediatrician. So now we are trying to work on getting a local contractor out to look at the yard and see what needs to be done. I really want to give you a peek of the set S. selected. But that would ruin the final reveal.

Here is the backyard before (taken from our roof):

When we told S. he was going to be getting his playground, he said "Me want a BIG playground!" I think he is going to be one active little guy this summer!

What's been going on?

It's been awhile since my last post. My computer crashed. Yes, our two year old imac decided to stop working. We tried all the tricks and needed to take it in to the shop. They discovered the cooling fan stopped working, therefore frying our hard drive. We stupidly had not backed all our files up in a long time. Since we have dial up it's next to impossible to upload to a remote system. So we lost pictures, files, adoption paperwork, tax info, etc. etc. After $250 we were able to get a new fan and hard drive installed. But they were not able to recover our data. I am still sad. I am thankful that I have this blog, we have pictures on here at least!

Make a Wish came out to our house last week. The two volunteers visited and talked with S. and our family. They asked all sorts of questions to get to know him like what his favorite movie is, favorite foods, favorite color, etc. They brought him some gifts too, animal cookies, a John Deere t-shirt and hat, and two new tractor toys. Tractors are S's favorite. He was so excited. For his big wish: a playground. The next step is to wait for doctor approval, to be sure he does not have any medical restrictions. Waiting for the doctor seems like it's taking forever! In the meantime, we were able to pick out a playground from Rainbow Play Systems, and once we get the go ahead from Dr, then the planning begins.

Cookies, pink (as S's request)

S. and his new J.D. stuff

Volunteers for MAW

I finished the CPR/First Aid/BBP training for DSHS. The two oldest kids came too. It was great to get this out of the way, but I found it very informative too. The protocol for CPR has changed, and it's been years since I was trained. I mailed in the last of our paperwork, proof of our pets' vaccinations and J. and my training certificates yesterday. We should be close to a home visit. We also purchased and set up a new crib and fireplace barrier this week. We are nearly ready!

C. got a big part in the musical Annie Jr. at school! She is playing Ms.Hannigan. She is excited, it was her second choice (guess what the first one was?). She practices every friday after school and the play is in June. I can't wait to see her perform.

Make A Wish

We got some good news today. Our S. is qualified to receive a Make A Wish! It took quite a while and a lot of advocating for him, but it is starting to come together. Our doctor was able to speak with the MAW chapter person, and she explained to the doctor what criteria does qualify. It was decided that having the VP shunt does qualify him for a wish.

If there is any question if having a shunt is considered a having life-threatening condition, read this:

Hydrocephalus is almost always treated successfully with surgical placement of a shunt or an ETV; but rarely does either treatment last a lifetime without complications. A critical aspect of managing hydrocephalus is being well informed and staying vigilant about potential life-threatening complications. Most problems associated with shunting or ETV occur weeks or even years after the surgery. When things are going well, it is easy to forget about hydrocephalus and having a shunt or an ETV. We encourage you to stay alert and informed.

Knowing what symptoms to watch for will help you become more at ease. Although the early symptoms of shunt malfunction or infection in children—fever, vomiting and irritability—are similar to many childhood illnesses, you will learn to determine the symptoms associated with shunt failure in a particular individual. Adults tend to exhibit the symptoms they experienced before treatment when there is a problem. If you have any doubt about symptoms, don’t hesitate to contact a doctor. If you suspect there is a problem with the shunt, you are wise to have it checked by the neurosurgeon rather than ignore it. It is better to have a false alarm checked than to leave it unattended. Remember, although shunt complications can be very serious and become life threatening, they can be treated successfully when they are discovered early.

An estimated 50% of shunts fail within two years and 20-50% of ETVs close up within five years. Either treatment can fail at any time. Infections are less common, but still not infrequent. Be informed and vigilant. Be prepared to act quickly. Mere hours can mean the difference between a resolvable complication and brain damage or even death, especially in children.

I am so thankful for the time Make A Wish took to work on behalf of S. They didn't just dismiss him at the first stage of the application. They really cared and made many phone calls to get things sorted out.

Now we will have S's paperwork sent to two local MAW volunteers who will be meeting with our family and S. They will talk with him and try to see what his most heartfelt wish is. This will be complicated, since the whole concept is not really understood by a 3 year old. Once we asked him if he could have anything in the whole world, what would it be? He said, "a cookie!"