My Little Runner

This was the moment we had been waiting for, training for!...The Jr. Bix7 race, Vada's first!

We arrived early and had time to get a perfect place in line...right in front!

Vada had all of her biggest fans with her and we were ready to cheer her on!

Somehow this beautiful girl of mine caught the eye of an amazing woman, Joan Benoit Samuelson!!! For those of you who don't know who that is she won the GOLD at the 1984 summer Olympics, which was also the first year that the woman's marathon was introduced, making her the first-ever woman's champion. Joan has an overwhelming list of achievements and having spent about a half an hour speaking with her I couldn't help but be impressed with how down to earth and laid back she was.

We waiting for about an hour watching the other ages do their races before Vada's age group was up and believe me, once it was her turn, she was ready!

Vada was in the "Special Needs" sections and as it turns out for the three year olds, Vada was the only racer. She began the race for the three year olds and had a small head start. You should have heard the crowd chear for her! It was AMAZING! As we were passing by complete strangers were clapping and yelling for her to "go, go, go!", I even heard children excited for her. It was great! She was great! And you know what? She went. She ran her little heart out and she didn't stop until she reached the end! (A whole seventy yards!)

Look at that face! I love it! She was SO excited! I kept yelling "You did it, you did it! Your all done!"

The lady holding the medals reached out to give Vada her very own medal but Joan grabbed it and said that she wanted to give it to her! 

Vada stood still and proudly awaited her prize.

Joan and I told her what a good job she had done. Joan was really impressed that she had run the entire length and said that she should continue to run/race. I agree. I then told Vada why she got the medal and then as if completely understanding what I was saying she lifted her medal and looked at it and laughed.

...and then she hugged it!!! 

Being Heart Healthy

Last week Vada had a scheduled cardiologist appointment. Everything checked out well. She still has her small VSD and the leaking valve but is showing no signs and is having no symptoms of struggling from her heart conditions in any way. In fact, her cardiologist, Dr. Bramlett said she is "Amazing!" and he went on to say how impressed he is with her constant growth and successes. His amazement isnt because of her having Down syndrome, he has a lot of patients with Ds, he is amazed because of the obstacles that she has overcome and yet she is thriving and strong and she is constantly reaching her goals and moving on to meet new ones!

 I like this doctor a lot. He's very nice and he is so great to Vada but there is a time shortly after Vada's heart surgery where he kind of put me in my place and set me straight with God again and he has no clue about it...

It was during a check up, maybe a month or two after her heart surgery. Dr. Bramlett mentioned that Vada still had the VSD and the leaky Valve in her heart. I was floored, angry and shocked. I didn't understand why the actual heart surgeon hadn't filled me in on this huge piece of information directly after the surgery and I why I was just finding out about it all at that moment, weeks after the actual surgery. Most of all, out of all that I was feeling, I was terrified for my little girl and out of that fear I spit out a question asking why the surgeon hadn't "fixed" her heart when he was "in there" in there first place. Dr. Bramlett turned to me, looked me in the eyes and calmly stated that the surgeon wasn't God and wasn't capable of "fixing" everything or everyone. His statement stung but he was right and I knew it. Dr. Bramlett's reply has stuck with in many situations. I think a lot of patients or parents of patients may have been angered by his matter-of-fact reply but it was just what I needed. 

Yes, God creates all things perfectly in His image. Sometimes however, we want to "fix" or help when something isn't quite as right as we would like them to be, like for us with Vada's heart condition or when she was suffering with seizures. However, ultimately, it's still all out of my control as well as the doctors. Ultimately, God is the best medical Specialist available and He is the chief of surgery. He'll make the final call and I have faith in Him and in Vada, they are both so strong, stronger than I will ever know. 

Now, that I have rambled on and your all probably wondering what the heck I am trying to say... All is well. Really. Vada's check up went well. She is doing great and while she still has heart conditions that are of concern, they are not changing or getting worse or causing her any problems, so we are as happy with this check up as we possibly could be, (short of being told her heart had miraculously healed).

P.S. Check out how much Vada has grown since September of 2011!

Flashing Back: Turning Ten

This week our church is doing Vacation Bible School "VBS". Therefore, we will be "flashing back" to some recent days in May of this year (2013), that I was unable to post about but that are totally post worthy -because our family will be taking full advantage of VBS!

My middle daughter Kiliegh turned ten years old May 20th of this year. Isn't she beautiful? Again I may be being a little biased but I am her mother... Anyway, almost everyone says she must look like her biological dad and she does but she looks my biological mom too. I used to think that she must have got that strawberry blond hair from her dad as well but now that Vada is here and with that same color of hair, ill take credit for that as well, thank you very much! My great grandmother was a red headed Irish woman with a temper to boot. Thank God Kiliegh didn't get the temper!

For Kiliegh's cake this year my husband, Justin, and I decided to do a iPhone cake. It was perfect since at ten years of age you get you first chance at having a phone in our house.

My husband left no detail of the iPhone out but I did forget to take a picture of the top of the phone.

If you look closely, you'll see that the phone says "Happy Birthday Kiliegh" and then the day and date of her actual birth date.  Due to the fact that Kiliegh was at her dad's this year for her birthday and with my mothers passing we celebrated Kiliegh's birthday a little later than expected.

I always make Justin serve the cake to the girls. He has to, he works to hard on the cakes not to!

After blowing out the candles and without Kiliegh noticing, Justin make a phone call and all of a sudden the actual cake starts vibrating as well as ringing!

That's right folks my husband is sexy, he can decorate cakes and he is clever! He made a special "compartment" for Kiliegh's iPhone in the cake!

Kiliegh had to dig in her cake for her birthday gift! Too funny!

Monday, May 20th, 2013 my sweet girl, Kiliegh turned ten! Wow, I am getting old!