The Magic Kingdom

Day two, we woke up and headed to mine and Sophie Kate's favorite place...Disney's Magic Kingdom.  Our first order of buisness was going to see Anna and Elsa.

While the boys were riding roller coasters, Sophie Kate and I went to see Rapunzel and Cinderella...

 I love all the conversations they have together.

 Sophie Kate's face in these pictures with Cinderella is priceless.

This wasn't even close to what all we did in the Magic Kingdom that day.  With the special pass (the Genie pass) they gave us (you can see it on Jacob in the picture below), we went around the Magic Kingdom seeing all of our favorites...

 Princess Belle with our Princess Belle...

 Sweet Minnie, SK smiled so big for her...

And along the way we rode all the rides too, many of them multiple times.  Sophie Kate rode the Teacups, Buzz Lightyear, Pirates of the Carribbean, Dumbo and the Haunted Mansion.  Part of the reason I love Disney so much is that they let our girl ride anything she wants to ride.  

There was plenty of time along the way for ice cream and funnel cakes too.  We had to pace ourselves because the Magic Kingdom was open from 8am-1am that day.

One of the neatest things that happened that day was that we were pulled out of a 45 minute wait at Be Our Guest Restuarant.  We had just walked up to the back of the line and had asked how long the wait was, when one of the Disney cast members saw our pass and told us to follow them.  She took us straight to the counter to order and then took us to a seat.  That, I have to say, was quite lovely because we really wanted to eat there but didn't want to wait that long...that to me was Disney at it's best.

Sophie Kate was in her Princess Belle dress that day too, so it could not have worked out any more perfectly...of course it did, we were at Disney.

We saw many of these characters after the sun went down. We love late night at Disney.  One of my favorite things at Magic Kingdom at night is the Electrical Parade.  We caught the later of the two parade times that night, so we found ourselves sitting and watching the Electrical Parade at 11:00pm.  The perfect ending to a magical day.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Our first day in the parks was spent at Universal Orlando, Islands of Adventure.  Now y'all know that I am a Disney girl at heart, but being pretty huge Harry Potter fans we were really excited about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  It did not disappoint, although I have found myself saying that there is only one place that could have done Harry Potter any better than Universal Orlando...yep that's Disney, ha...but seriously we really did love it.

We all tried the Butterbeer.  Jacob and I ended up being the only ones that liked it, but at least we can all say we did.

 I told y'all we all tried it, you didn't believe me did you?

Hogsmeade

 Diagon Alley

These last two pictures are only going to mean something to real Potter fans...this was the train we rode at King's Cross station it looked like it was straight out of the movies, in fact the whole place was like that.  We really felt like we were at King's Cross, Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley...such a fun day.

We were off and running on our first day, 9a-9p...done.  

Our Arrival

There is so much to share from our Magic Moments/Give Kids the World (GKTW) vacation that I don't even know where to start.  How about from the very beginning...

Our friends from Magic Moments met us at the Birmingham Airport on Valentines' Day to send us on our way in style.  Yes, we left to go to the happiest place on earth on Valentine's Day, not too bad, huh?  Magic Moments (www.magicmoments.org) is the organization that sent us on this trip of a lifetime and Give Kids the World Village is the place we stayed at in Kissimmee, FL.  Sophie Kate was given a little Mickey Mouse and some glow sticks and bracelets for all the parades and nighttime shows we would be attending on our trip.  The boys were given a bag of snacks and candy for the trip thus kicking off a week of over indulugence (in a good way) like we could have never imagined.

On the plane, Sophie Kate was fussed over by the flight attendants of course.  And in true SK fashion, she did better than I did on the flight over and let's just leave it at that.  We were then met at the Orlando airport by a sweet lady holding this sign...

Yeah, we were feeling kind of like celebrities at this point. She took us to get our luggage, took us to our rental van and then made sure we had our directions to Give Kids the World Village.  Once we made it to the village, our children received even more welcome gifts and then we were taken to our villa.

Our villa was just beautiful and fit our family of 6 perfectly. It backed up to a lake and was on a quiet little street just around the corner within walking distance from all the fun stuff.  Magic Moments ordered all the medical equipment and supplies Sophie Kate would need for the week and they delivered it all to our villa.  The only things we brought with us, medically speaking where the things we needed for her on the plane and her medicines.  When I say we were completely taken care of, it doesn't even begin to describe it.

We arrived at GKTW around 4:00 on Saturday, Feb. 14, so after unloading we spent the rest of the evening exploring. We played Putt Putt golf, in which Sophie Kate proceeded to beat all of us unmercilessly.  Of course, everything and everywhere at the Village is completely accomodating and accessibile for wheelchairs.

We had dinner at the Gingerbread House, where would be having many meals during our stay.  

Cooper and Jacob even got involved in some of the games that evening. We found out very quickly that there is always something going on at the Village.

Their cup stacking skillz came in handy.

I went to a parent meeting that night where my mind was blown even further.  We received tickets to Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Seaworld Orlando.  In addition, we received a special pass for all three parks that only GKTW families receive.  Those passes gave us access to a once in a lifetime trip.  

As special as this trip was for our family and y'all all know how much I love Disney, equally special was the time we spent at GKTW.  The village is run mainly by voluteers. The actual employees we saw paled in comparison to the huge amounts of volunteers.  These folks made us feel so special during our stay.  Give Kids the World Village was started by Henry Landwirth, who is a survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp.  Please go to their website (www.gktw.org) and read about his story and how his vision for the Village has grown into the amazing place it is today for special needs children and their families. 

Well, that was our arrival day.  It was packed full and set the stage for an unforgettable week of suprises, experiences and memories.  

Here is a small glimpse into our week at the parks...

Y'all know I will give each day its due.  I am going to have so much fun reliving this trip through pictures with you. Thanks for continuing to share in this journey with our family...it's gonna be fun!

Where we've been...

We have just returned from a week long vacation at this place...

I cannot wait to share all of the details of our Give Kids the World trip, but at the moment I am finding it all so much to process myself.  It was a once in a lifetime experience for our family.  There were so many memories made and so many neat things we were able to experience together.  I will get to them all, but for now we are trying to deal with the harsh reality of returning to normal life, haha.

Sooo much more coming soon!

A New Nurse

I have the neatest story to share with y'all about how we met Sophie Kate's new nurse.  We still have our nurse and friend Kelly, who has been with us for 4 years now, it's just that we have been approved for more nursing hours than one person can work.  We have been looking for a new nurse since September and all along I have consistently said, "I know God already has this special person picked out for us we are just really ready to meet her."  And that's the really cool part...how we came into each other's lives.

Every December our church hosts a dinner for families in our area.  It's a special time of eating, presents and getting to know new folks.   In December 2013,  our family did not get to participate because Sophie Kate was so sick. However, all of us were back together and well this past December and able to participate.  In the course of talking to the family we were sitting with, I shared with the mother that we were currently looking for a nurse to care for our daughter.  Immediately, she said, "I might know someone," and proceeded to call them right then and there.  Well, a text led to a phone call and a phone call led to a visit and well the short version is....we have a new nurse for Sophie Kate.  

She is just precious.  I love how she has jumped in unafraid to take our girl on.  Yes, she's a nurse and that's her job, but Sophie Kate can strike fear in even the most confident caregiver.  The quality I love most about her is the sweet way she interacts with SK.  I can teach just about anyone the medical aspects of caring for SK.  I can even teach non-medical folks how to take care of her, but I can't teach them to love her.  I can't teach them to be tender and gentle and kind.  I can't make them connect with her.  So it's not just job competentcy that allows me to leave the house worry free, it's their connection, it's the relationship I see already forming that sets my mind at ease. 

The things I see that encourage me is the way she brushes Sophie Kate's hair and the soft sweet way she talks to SK when she doesn't even know I'm listening...that is what going above and beyond the job of hanging a feeding bag looks like.  Isn't it neat to look back and consider things...in September and even before that, before we even knew we had a need for another nurse God was already preparing.  Preparing us and preparing her for that meeting on December 10th...I knew she was out there, we are so glad to have met her...I am encouraged. 

Philippians 4:19, "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."  

Homebound

Things have been quiet around here because quite frankly there is not a lot to report...and that's a good thing.  Sophie Kate hasn't been seen around town much these days because it is "sick season."  She is home from school, she is home from church and she is home from just about all extracurricular activities.  I would normally have a huge problem with that because there is always a part of me that gets sad that she can't get out and go places with us during the winter.  However, when I look back on this season so far, I know without a doubt that we have made the best decision for her.  She has been so healthy so far this winter. And it's not just that she is sitting at home with her boring mama either.  Sophie Kate gets 3-4 visits a week from the homebound services through our school system.  Her teacher and her therapists are coming weekly to work with her and she is making wonderful progress while being in an environment that does not compromise her health.

This would normally be the time where I would tell y'all how mad it makes me when parents send their children to school sick and how my "well" child can't go to school because of the selfishness of some parents.  And yes that still makes me sooo mad so don't get me started on that because I'm not doing that today.  She is doing so well and is accomplishing so much here and I am just not going to go there today.

Last year was our first experience with homebound school and it came about as a result of a very serious illness that SK battled in December of 2013.  So, homebound school last year was very limited for Sophie Kate because she was recovering and was so very weak.  This year, however, we took her out of school in November to try and keep her well through the winter.  So homebound school this year has looked quite different...she has soared.  I even get the benefit of seeing her teachers and therapists work with her and let me just tell y'all that is a privilege.  I wish everyone could see how hard these folks work and how much they put into these children and in turn how the children respond.  It is nothing short of amazing. 

Sophie Kate is using her switch to talk for her, she is making choices and she is staying strong and healthy.  So as you can see, my feelings about her homebound status this season have changed a bit when I see how well she is doing.  Now you know why my answers to your questions about her might be short and sweet...she's good, she's healthy.  It's really not a bad thing that I don't have a lot to say about what's going on here, it's a nice change of pace.  

Psalm 71:6, "By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother's womb; my praise is continually of You."