Birthday Party Complete

Wow! I am pretty sad to be finishing my last birthday blog. I have enjoyed telling each of you about Hayden's birthday celebration. If this is your first blog to read in awhile, you can go back and read from the beginning four blogs ago.

We enjoyed Hayden's birthday week! Hayden started the week out in Florida. He concluded the week with a birthday party at Black Bayou Hunting Club. We had many loved ones travel from across the United States to see Hayden turn one! We are blessed with so many people that care. More importantly blessed with so many people that express their caring hearts to us directly. Brent and I would not have strength to continue with our lives if it was not for the positive thoughts and words from friends and family. We have gained so many friends through this difficult time in our lives. Thank you for treating our child equally. Thank you to such an awesome group of supporters that love Hayden like their own!!

Hayden began his pre birthday dinner with a meal at Shermans. He was so excited that his Uncle Andrew could celebrate with him. Andrew had to go out of town for Hayden's birthday. He was devastated. We surely missed Uncle Drew. I am so thankful for the bond that each of my brothers have developed with Hayden. As young men, I must admit that yall are truly going to be awesome father's one day! The meal was amazing. He even ate a bite of lemon ice boxed pie. He then got lots of kisses from his Aunt Meg and Aunt Kelli. Kelli snuck alot of birthday loving as Hayden was in an amazing mood!

The following are pictures from the family and friends that attended the Sherman's Pre- Birthday Celebration! THANK YOU for helping kick Hayden's Birthday party off right!!!!!

 Thank You God for the Perfect Birthday week!

 He is so thankful for his Aunt Meg and Aunt Kelli! He loves both of them dearly!

 Aunt Kelli and Uncle C! Wow where would I start? Helpers, Encouragers, and friends through THICK and THIN! Thank you for your love for our child. We can not wait to return the favor one day!

 Miles and Miles to come celebrate a birthday party! Thank you Linda and Paige for driving 14 hours to celebrate this special day!

 Nona and PawPaw Love!

 Nana and PaPa Love!

Hayden had his birthday lunch with his Nona and Papa at the Yacht Club. He was pretty excited about turning one! He decided to sleep through lunch to prepare for his birthday celebration.
Hayden then went to visit his Nana, Cousin Linda, and Paige. He stayed with them while Mommy and Daddy rain to the grocery store. He loved getting some Nana love!

Hayden then had a birthday party at Brown's Pharmacy. The girls wanted to give him a birthday gift! They love Hayden. We LOVE them too!

Hayden hurried home to get ready for his birthday dinner at the Cowpen. He was able to meet his cousin Cash for the first time. I am pretty sure they could become best buddies! We enjoyed seeing Mindy, Missy, Matt, and Micheal! I sure wish I could see our family more often! We are so fortunate to have some awesome family! Dinner was great! Hayden received another piece of pie!


Cheesecake for the Birthday BOY!

 Cousins were worn out after a late night dinner!

We hurried home to sleep and rest up for our big celebration on Saturday. He was greeted at the birthday party by many loved ones and friends. My grandmother's family all came down. We were only missing our sweet Aunt Jerry and Uncle Lee. Mrs. Angie's family was all able to make it! Hayden's great grandma Mrs. Mrytle even made it! We were so excited that she felt well enough to arrive! WOW! So many family members were there to encourage, love, and show our family support! Remember support is what gives Brent and I strength!

FAMILY!

 MORE FAMILY!

 FAMILY LOVE AGAIN:)

 AGAIN:)

 LOTS OF LOVE:)

AUNT MEG LOVE

 

FAMILY LOVE

COUSIN LOVE

 MILES AND MILES OF FAMILY

MINUS DREW:(

They love each other! Uncle B was able to get a large smile out of  His Chi!

We are so thankful for Aunt Patricia. She does not care what time of night we call her. She always seems to make us feel better. A nurse in the family is a plus! Especially a caring nurse!

My Daddy is awesome! He has an awesome family! So glad they made the drive for Hayden's day! Cash is an amazing cousin!



Friends! Wow! What would we do without each of you? Thanks to each of you for caring so much. The friends section is nothing more than a simple thank you. With over 100 people at his birthday party, I'd never be able to place a picture of everyone. I just selected a few random pics:) Our friends seem to understand us so perfectly. They are such encouragers. They pull us out of the hole when we fall deep. They invite us over when we need a smile. They bring us supper when we have a bad day. They send simple messages when we are down. Thank you to each of you for being apart of our life.

Thank  you to each of you for being such great friends. Lauren: We've been friends for awhile! Thanks for becoming even a closer friend when we are at our worse. Thank you for understanding our heartache. Thank you for loving Hayden like your own! Lacey: Thank you so much for being such a supporter to Hayden. Your prayers are heard. Your meals have been wonderful! The love your child gives Hayden is memories in my heart for a lifetime.

  Lisa: Thank you so much for all of your tears, screams, and yells with me. Thank you for all of your hospital visits. Thank you for allowing your children the opportunity to understand that Hayden is just as wonderful as a healthy one year old. Thank you for allowing us to love your kids like our own. Thank you for loving Hayden like your own.

 Hmm... Where do you begin? Thank yall! Thank yall! Thank yall! The love that yall give our child is something that brings tears to my eyes. The way Hayden looks at yall is amazing. We would not be the people we are today without all of yalls advice. Lauren, I know your not very strong. I know you love to cry. I know you have left my house crying a ton of times. I do thank you for not giving up and staying strong for Hayden and myself. Hayden loves each of you like family.

 Hmm. Where do you begin! A HUGE THANK YOU TO BOTH OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES. FROM GREENVILLE TO INVERNESS, WE LOVE THE DILLS AND GRECO'S! We are so glad to call yall friends! Thank you for all of your sweet morning messages! Hayden loves each of u!

 We are so thankful for all our friends that came to Hayden's party. Thank you for stopping your busy schedules to be apart of Hayden's special days! Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your motivation! Hayden can not wait for you to move back home Miss Carrie!

 We are so blessed with so many new friends that have hearts of gold. We are so blessed with awesome supporters and friends! Thank you Leah for all of your help with the fundraiser and more importantly your kind messages and genuine prayers.

 Neighbors? Hmm! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! We had dreams of our boys playing on a dirt pile. We had dreams of running around chasing our boys. Our dreams have been slightly altered. Thank you for still loving us! Thank you for not giving up on our dreams. I can not wait to watch the boys run around together one day! Oh what a glorious day!

 Okay, I am getting slightly emotional as I think of how blessed we are. Thank you friends from new to old. Thank you Holly for being there for us. Thank you for explaining how you dealt with your brother. Thank you for sharing your amazing mommy with me.  Thank you to my high school bestie for treating Hayden like your own. Thank you for the kisses to the outfits to the feedings etc as the list could go on. Thank you for being the first person that I called to scream at. Thank you for driving to Jackson to hear the doctors say our little boy would never walk and talk. Thank you for not leaving my side as my dreams were crushed. Thank you for reminding me of how lucky I am!

Thank you to all of the other friends that are not picture. Everybody is amazing. Hayden's birthday party was amazing. I am slightly upset as I do not want to end this blog. I am ending this blog with a large amount of emotions and questions in my mind. What does the next year hold? Thank you God for answering my prayers. Thank you God for allowing me to see his first birthday. I am slightly selfish as I want to start planning his second birthday. My prayers have changed. I hope that I can write this blog again next year. I pray that this is only the beginning and not the end. I am going to do my best to remember that tomorrow is not promised for Hayden or anyone in pictures above. I am thankful for the 376 days that you have given me with Hayden. I hope that you give me more.

Well I guess it is that time. Time to end this blog. I hope that I am blessed with the opportunity to write a blog this exciting again in my lifetime. I never thought I would see Hayden's first birthday. God answered this huge prayer for us. We are so thankful! I am going to pray that I receive the opportunity to plan a rainbow and sunshine party next year.  Brent and I rarely saw each other until the end of the party. We took all of the balloons outside together as a family of 3. We had a moment together to make a wish and a simple prayer. We released the balloons into the sky. We wished for a good year of zero suffering. We sent the balloons to heaven to Thank God for allowing us to celebrate with Hayden on Earth.

As the balloons floated into sky, we simply smiled a happy smile. A smile of joy, a smile of hope, and a smile of receiving a miracle. Hayden Brent is the Sunshine in our life. Without Hayden, we would not have such a large ray of sunshine! Thank You God for the best year of our life!

Wow! I am back! I LOVE LOVE LOVE to BLOG on Hayden's Birthday!

I would never be able to blog on each individual gift that Hayden received so this is more of a simple thank you! Opening gifts for Hayden was once again bittersweet. The main reason was the word TOYS. I WISH that Hayden could get a tractor, car, and a swingset. Instead people had to use their imagination. I had thought about donating toys to Batson like we did at 6 months. I then decided that I wanted to VOID the hospital out of his first birthday. I wanted Hayden to be treated like every child in America. Remember the saying Treat others as you would want to be treated?  I am mighty proud to say that Hayden has some creative friends. The first gift that I opened was a card from some dear friends. They had made a slide show to all of Hayden's photos from the year. I cried and cried! Creative and Awesome. Hayden received a football signed by Archie and Eli Manning. He received adorable clothing. He received crosses, angels, frames, albums, books, paintings, gift cards, money, pediasure and the list goes on. We are so proud that our friends made his birthday perfect. Thank you for giving us a lot of smiles. Thank you for helping us make his first birthday a special memory.

WooHOO Diapers:)

I am thinking of hanging this above his bed and redoing his bedroom!

He even received creative outfits that matched his birthday theme. This outfit made me so excited that I changed him during the party:)

 He received many inspirational verses. He loves his bean bag chair from Aunt Meg too:) He is relaxing:)

 He has a wardrobe FULL of adorable new clothes:) Mommy loves her stylish little angel:)

Hayden also received many cards in the mail. He LOVES getting mail. ENCOURAGEMENT is the way  to staying strong. Hayden received over 50 cards during his birthday week! He even received some extra ordinary gifts. Hayden has an angel friend  watching over him in heaven. She asked her mommy to give Hayden a gift card to red leaf  for deer handprints. We are going to do our deer handprints Thursday. Thank you Landry for caring so much for our angel! I would love to blog on the 60 plus gift he got. Unfortunately, I'd never be able to say enough great things about everything.

I had an Elementary friend named Mary Beth. She has followed Hayden's blog. She went through the trouble of getting Hayden an autographed shirt, ball, and cardinal mascot. WHAT an awesome birthday surprise! Hayden was so excited! I am going to frame his shirt. We will have a wall of autographs for Hayden in his "big boy" room. Mitchell Boggs #41 from the St. Louis Cardinals has a new number one fan! I am sure to him its nothing more than a signature. To our family, its so much more. His signature is a memory, a precious smile, and an experience. We are so thankful for his simple signature. We are so thankful for Mary Beth's creativity! We love the fact of allowing Hayden the opportunity to experience more in a few  years than many kids do in a lifetime. How many one year olds have Eli Manning and Mitchell Boggs autograph??? Hmmm.... We might have to take him to a football and baseball game instead of the beach :)

An autograph is nothing more than a signature to a famous person or an athlete. An autograph to a parent of a terminally ill child is tears, smiles, and memories. I am so thankful for these awesome people!

GO CARDINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the worse parts of Hayden's disease is that I have nobody to talk to. It is so rare that finding somebody living with it is few and far between. HEARTBREAKING. Well until my blog ended up on Christine's computer screen. She has been such a rock to me! Bethany and Christine sent Hayden this book!

Do you believe in Miracles? Do you believe in angels? Do you believe in HOPE? Do you believe in teaching your children life lessons? If you answer YES to these questions, I'd recommend ordering this book. Thank you Christine for a simple reminder of why I will NOT give up on Hayden. Thank you Christine for reminding me that I HAVE HOPE FOR HAYDEN!

Wow! I feel like my blog was SOO long last night! The problem is thats only the beginning. Our angel turned one! Our angel beat all odds! I am sure that you now understand how PROUD we are! We spent 4 months planning for the perfect day. I would go look for Micheals and Hobby Lobby's over baby stores on vacations. The one thing that I did not have to worry about was the cake. Most of you are probably thinking YEAH RIGHT! You are always buying unique cakes monthly for Hayden so why would I not worry about this one. Well believe it or not! I did not see Hayden's cake until everyone else. I will admit this made me extra anxious!I applied Hayden for Icing Smiles in December. He was accepted to their cake program in February. I figured that I would have to drive to Jackson to pick the cake up. Little did I know they would be 40 minutes from me. Little did I know they would be the sweetest people ever. 

Icing Smiles is a nonprofit organization that provides custom celebration cakes and other treats to families impacted by the critical illness of a child. Icing Smiles brings together a long-held passion for service to families affected by childhood illness with my newly discovered ability to turn cake batter and icing into smiles and joy!

I am sure many people think I have lost my mind for making such a huge deal out of the first birthday or infact have monthly celebrations. The following quote was found on the icing smiles website:

"We all celebrate birthdays.  But cancer parents?  We relish these days.  Birthdays are no longer celebrations of the day our child arrived - they are moments to scream to the Heavens - "She's still here!  THANK YOU!" This is exactly how Brent and I feel about Hayden's birthday! THANK YOU GOD, THANK YOU GOD! We had the BEST DAY EVER! THANK YOU ICING SMILES AND THE SWEETERY BAKE SHOP FOR MAKING OUR DREAM CAKE.

Please visit their website at http://www.icingsmiles.org/

What a great organization to donate too??!!!!

You can also find them on Facebook!

I received an email from icing smiles 6 weeks before Hayden's First Birthday. They informed me that The Sweetery from Cleveland had agreed to making Hayden's cake! I was in tears! This was a Bake Shop close to home! We would be able to easily pick the cake up! We would not have to drive to Jackson! WOOHOO!

All I did was tell them that my main colors were orange, aqua, and yellow. I also told them that I was wanting an outdoor, happy,  and You Are My Sunshine theme! The rest was up to them! They were creating Hayden's dream cake! I told them to only worry about it feeding 40! Well Guess What??? They chose to make it feed 100 plus. I told them a flat cake was perfectly fine. Well Guess What??? They chose three tiers. Have I mentioned that it was the best cake ever! I told them that we would come pick it up because it was a long drive and early in the morning. Well Guess What??? They insisted to come set the cake up! Can you tell how awesome these people are? They were just as excited about the opportunity as we were! ( I am glad that I let them bring it) The cake had to be touched up from driving down the rough levee. I am pretty sure it would not have made it if I would have picked it up!

 Hayden is so sick. I was so discouraged that he would never eat nor smash his face into his small cake. I have loved and had a sad heart seeing all these one year olds smashing cake all over their face. I just wish my angel could do the same thing. Well guess what? They still brought Hayden a cake! We even let him have a bite! It was so sweet!

 The finished product was so so so sweet! We LOVED the cake! We never imagined it being this cute! We are so blessed. Many of you are probably thinking that a cake this cute can't taste very good! WRONG! BEST CAKE EVER! It was still MOIST and FRESH a week later! The top of the cake will be his 13 month cake celebration!
                               
 The cake had the words to "You Are My Sunshine"! We LOVED IT!

Each layer was different. We had choc, white, and then a swirl of both:) We had over 100 people at the birthday party! Look how much cake we had left:) I would definitely say that they outdid themselves just to make us have a HUGE SMILE.

 An upclose picture of Hayden's Dream Cake.  Hayden's brain does not allow him to recognize and express his thoughts and feelings. I have learned to DREAM BIG for him! I am SOOO proud of our DREAM CAKE! Hayden's birthday was a dream come true!

Hayden would like to thank Icing Smiles, The Sweetery Bake Shop, and the supporters and contributors to icing smiles! Without the organization, we wouldnt have had the opportunity for a suprise dream cake. We would like to thank The Sweetery too! Without their caring hearts, they would have never known about Icing Smiles organizations. They spent hours making Hayden's dream cake. They spent time away from their families to give our family the opportunity to smile. We can not thank The Sweetery Bake Shop enough. We also would like to thank the people that have contributed to this organization. I am sad to say that it took me having a terminally ill child to find out about this organization. I am so proud to know that so many people are supporting an organization that is allowing parents and childrens dreams to  come true. A birthday to a family of a terminally ill child is simply a PRAYER ANSWERED AND A MIRACLE GIVEN.

Hayden's Birthday

Wow!  I must say the past week has been CRAZY busy! I have had SOOO much that I have wanted to write about! I have wanted to tell you all about Hayden's Birthday. I have wanted to share information about his hope bracelets. I have wanted to inform you of some awesome gifts and cards that he received. I have also wanted to inform you of our seizure increase.

I love using my blog as a journal from the past year or so. I have decided to break his birthday party into 3 sections so that I will be able to smile to precious memories in our future.

1. Planning/Decorating/ Meaning

2. Gifts/ Icing Smiles

3. Caring Loved Ones

On July 18, 2011, our life was changed forever. We were in a hospital room hearing that our precious 6 week old would live a critical life. I remember Dr. Davis informing us that our child had white matter damage. I remember my father-in-law being there only because he could not find a rental car in Jackson. (God's way of making sure he would be here with us to hear this devastating news. ) I remember my best friend Whitney never leaving my side. I remember my mom and mother in law making sure we ate. I remember crying and hitting the floor begging and screaming that my life was over. In September, I heard that my child would never walk or talk. I remember hearing that he would live a short life. Really???? How much can a young couple handle? How much pain can a 3 month old endure? How many needles and IVs? In January, I remember calling my husband saying HELP, He is not breathing. I remember heading to Jackson via ambulance with a 3.5 hour seizure. WOOO, Hayden was 7 months old. We had experienced a rollercoaster. We started preparing for our future. We started facing reality. Wow, A NIGHTMARE. Little to say, I will never complain about stupid things in life anymore. Instead, I will complain about how to keep my child comfortable and out of pain.

When we came home from the hospital, I placed a goal. I started to beg, plead, and pray to make it to a year. I decided that I would start decorating and planning. I informed Lauren, Holly, Whitney, and Lisa what I wanted to do. I informed them to look in my upstairs bedroom for decorations if they ever needed to bring them to the hospital. I was determined that Hayden would have a YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE birthday party. We would celebrate early if we had too. I was going to plan early so that I could have it all together incase of a tragedy. I prayed so often that we would have a 1st birthday. In April, reality struck again. Hayden had another spell. I became hard headed and determined. I wanted to have the sweetest sunshine party ever. We always sing "You are my sunshine" to Hayden during good and bad times.

I started by shopping on ETSY, pinterest, and facebook. I found Tali from A Party Studio. She helped design it all! She was my angel on Earth! I would highly recommend her! Below is pictures of decorations and the meaning behing each of them.

Hershey Kisses: Hayden receives more kisses than anyone in the world. I sometimes kiss him 50 plus times a day. Hayden is also sweet. We decided to use kisses to represent our love for our angel. We hand glued his name, sunshines, happy birthday etc on the bottom of the kisses. Our SWEET and KISSABLE angel was finally getting to celebrate his SUNSHINE DAY!

 Hayden helped mommy work on the door decoration. Many balloons were pinned to this wreath. I had seen the balloon wreath on Pinterest. Sunflowers remind us of a pretty spring day without seizures. Sunflowers remind us of happiness. Sunflowers remind us of God's Miracle that we are the parents of :)

 ??? Does this confuse you? I had the sweetest Great Aunt and Great Uncle. I know Uncle Lee and Aunt Jerry are watching over Hayden in Heaven. They both past away last spring. Their daughter (my 2nd cousin) drove 14 hours for Hayden's party on her 50th birthday. So we decided to SUPRISE her too!

 Orange, Yellow, and Blue. The main colors of the birthday party. These colors are bright and happy. Happiness was the main key for Hayden's birthday party!

 My grandfather's cousin gave me this frame before Hayden's Gtube surgery. HOPE: Hope is what helped us make it to the 1st birthday. We never stopped believing in our angel. This frame was displayed to show our love and hope for Hayden. The other frame says "MY FIRST HUNT" : Hayden and Marley are sitting with their ducks. This is a dream crushed for our family. We would love to watch Hayden play sports and hunt. As Dana Warrington told me after Hayden's diagnosis "it's okay, we will do it for him" See Hayden still received his first hunt. Brent and I will continue to play, run, talk, hunt, etc for him!

 Hayden is our light. Hayden  is our joy. Hayden is our SUNSHINE. These paintings are done by Hayden's Thumb. He has a special art talent. I love his artwork! We spent countless hours making this perfect.

 Sunshine represents happiness. Happiness occurs when the sun is shining. In the Delta, you see tractors outside on sunny days. We decided to represent our hometown by using tractors in the decorations. The tractors have a sun tying them together. We chose to only drink bright colored drinks and ofcourse water. The water was labeled with suns. Are you getting the picture yet???? The party was bright and happy.

 Hayden's Guest Book: Hayden's guest book was a picture walk of the good and bad days from the past year. Many people cried as they signed the book. He was so healthy and peaceful in the beginning. Towards the end, he was spending so much time in a hospital bed. Man oh Man how time changes.

 The book is now filled with favorite memories from each of the guest. Some people encouraged him to keep fighting and stay strong. Some people told him how awesome he was. My favorite was from Kelli Davis: She discussed the facial expression on Brent's face as he cut the cake to see the color BLUE. We were having a BABY BOY. We were proud of you then. We are even prouder of you now.

 Food: Whats a party without Yummy Food??? We had bright platters, napkins, and silverware. We were so proud of our angel for turning one!

 Hershey Bars and a DUM DUM bouquet for OUR SWEET and KISSABLE ANGEL!

 I am obsessed with photobooks. We had photobooks from the past year displayed for people to look at. The brown one is my mother in laws. She suprised Brent and I with it on his birthday.

 Whats a party without favors? Bubbles for the kids. Hershey Bars for the teenagers. Hope for Hayden bracelets for everyone:) (More to come on this topic later)

 A timeline of Hayden's first year. The yellow flowers are representing happiness, blessings, and faith. I wrote at the bottom a description of each picture for a photo album in the future.
1 Week: Outfit from Emily Lewis
Month 1: Outfit from Robby and Meg at the Beach
Month 2: Photo session by Beth Giachelli at Photo Tech
Month 3: Another photo session by Beth, on the day of our first emergency room visit in Greenville.
Month 4: First Smile in Jackson
Month 5: Halloween as a Puppy
Month 6: Photo Session by Cindy Hensley Self in Lake Village
Month 6.5: Christmas
Month 7: First Wagon ride outside
Month 8: Lolly Wolly Doodle Shamrock outfit pictures at 27 break
Month 9: Nana's Condo in my outfit from Smockaroos
Month 10: Easter Party (day before 3 weeks in the hospital)
Month 11: Beach trip with the Oakes
Month 12: Onesie from Mandy Warbington with a sunshine, tractor, and the number one:) How fitting and perfect?

 I found this frame while shopping in Baytowne. I chose this picture from Florida. Hayden was pain free and peaceful in this picture. Oh what a happy sight!

 Sweets once again for an extra sweet little boy!

 Cheese and grape platter to represents our happiness. Thank you Lord for blessing us with a happy and good 1st birthday.

 Table Decorations: WOW, I bet Hayden was worn out. His precious hands helped me paint the Dollar tree mason jars blue.

 Sunshines and Tractors are such a simple reminder of the Mississippi Delta. The Delta is our HOME. We love the memories in which we have made at home. These items are not found in Jackson. These items are not found near the hospital. These items represent happiness of being healthy and home:)

We had the best birthday ever! Hayden woke up early. He tried so hard to smile. He NEVER cried until bed time. He had the BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER! I hope you are excited to hear the story coming up next about Icing Smiles and The Sweetery teaming up to make the most incredible birthday cake ever!

God answers prayers. The pictures from above would not be displayed on my blog if it was not for answered prayers. Thank you God for allowing us to fight through the bad days to have a 70 degree not a cloud in the sky type of birthday!



I am SOOOO excited about UPDATING my BLOG from HAYDENS BIRTHDAY WEEK! BRENT AND I ARE SO THANKFUL FOR THIS FIRST YEAR. We have SOOO Much to Blog about. I will do it this week. Today, I have a much more important blog to write about. Today I need to ask a favor. I need my friends to start by BELIEVING in MIRACLES. I then need you to PRAY for a MIRACLE. I then need you to ask all of your friends to PRAY, BELIEVE, and HOPE!

In 2004, I was introduced to a guy and a girl at a funeral. Little did I know that they would become my closest friends. Little did I know I would be her Maid of Honor a few years later. Long story short, not only did we become friends with Josh and Lisa but their families. We have barged in on many family occasions. We have spent many days, nights, and vacations with their entire family. We have developed a love for their daughters that is indescribable. We also spent many of nights hanging out with their cousin Little Bryan. He was so much fun to hang out. Bryan eventually got married to Amy. I had never heard of Amy Williams. They had a sweet little boy two years ago. I would speak to her at birthday parties etc. Just a simple hello, how are you? Nothing more.

In December, I saw her at Chloe’s birthday party. She was eager to come speak to me. Yes, I am sure it was difficult because she was pregnant and introducing herself to a mother of a terminally ill child. She had to have COURAGE to come speak to me. God was telling her what the right thing to do was. I hear so often that people just don’t know what the right thing to say is. Luckily, Amy was not one of the ones that looked at me like “I feel sorry for her.” She welcomed me with open arms. She informed me that she was a nurse. She informed me that she would help in any way possible. She gave me her CELL PHONE number. WOW, WE BECAME INSTANT FRIENDS. (I have found out that some of the people that support Brent and I the most are friends we’ve met throughout this difficult journey.) I couldn’t believe how KIND this girl was. How she treated my child like a normal healthy child.  She looked at him in the same way I look at healthy children. Wow that’s such a great feeling. Unfortunately, it’s a stab directly in the heart when people treat us differently. Remember treat everyone as you want to be treated.

Within the next month, we became close friends. She constantly checked on Hayden. I will never forget the day she texted me a message. She said I need your strength. Wait, what? I was so confused. I got off the eliptical and went to the treadmill so I could gather information. She informed me that her doctor was sending them for test. Test of a rare disorder. A terminally ill disorder. I instantly lost it. How can a family that I am close to ENDURE the same pain and heart ache that my family is enduring. I prayed and begged for the test results to be negative. Unfortunately, they were not. Ava Grace Oakes will be born two weeks from tomorrow with Trisomy 18 and Spina Bifida. I feel like I AM suffocating. I DON’T like seeing a family so dear to me enduring heart ache just like my family.

Ava Grace has an awesome family. A family that will support her through the good and bad days. A family that will love her. The problem is she has to FIGHT! FIGHT Angel Baby FIGHT! The doctors are not God. They are only basing her prognosis on research. God is the final decision maker. I AM asking you to spend the next two weeks praying for this entire family. Please pray for Bryan and Amy to have strength. Please pray for Ava Grace to be a beautiful healthy baby girl. A girl that the doctors shake their heads at. An angel that the Doctor’s can’t believe the miracle before their eyes. I beg and pray she doesn’t suffer. I beg and pray she comes out screaming and hollering. I beg and pray that GOD grants Ava Grace a miracle. I AM asking you to pray with me. I AM asking you to beg and plead with me. God answers prayers. God is the final decision maker not Doctors. Please pray the Doctors are wrong. Please pray for the extended family and friends. I AM at AWE that GOD would place a friend in a similar situation. I believe this is an example of God working miracles. God Bless Each of You!

Please remember in the next few months to hold onto each other. Hold onto Faith. Never stop believing. PRAY without ceasing. Keep your HOPE. Keep your LOVE for each other. Lean on the ones that are supporting you. They will be your backbone. And last but not least don’t hesitate to call for anything even if it’s to cry, yell and scream. We are praying without ceasing for a beautiful Earth Angel to be born a miracle two weeks from tomorrow. As for you Amy, I AM so BLESSED to call you a friend. Without, these challenges, I would have never known you. I now consider you a close friend. I wish our circumstances were different, but I do thank God for you! Now as I conclude this blog, please start praying for this precious family!

If you are thinking negative about this blog. If you dont have much Hope for this story, I'd like to ask you to look at this PHOTO. Fight for Ava Grace and Hope for Hayden bracelets. The pink is Ava Grace in Amy's belly and Hayden is in the background. What is Hayden doing? He is smiling:) Hayden has HOPE for Ava Grace and we hope you do too!